Based on insights derived from the socio-technical systems theory, a recent study carried out in the Flemish metalworking sector makes a specific yet fundamental contribution to the topical debate regarding the connection between organisational design and quality of working life. The study among blue-collar metalworkers shows that working in a team has only a limited impact on workers’ stress levels. Assembly line work remains the determining negative factor.
Testing socio-technical systems theory
Recent research carried out in the metalworking sector in the Flanders region in northern Belgium specifically aimed to examine the impact of various forms of teamwork on stress symptoms among workers. The team concept implies a number of specific changes in the structure of the division of labour in companies. A production structure based on ‘mini companies’ or parallel streams, a deconcentration of preparation and support tasks and a reallocation of the regulating capacity are possible interventions. The socio-technical systems theory suggests that a broader range of tasks and increased ability to regulate and intervene by using job control measures induced by teamwork leads to better quality of work, thereby reducing stress levels among team members.
This assumption has only been tested empirically to a limited extent. For example, the few studies conducted to date on this subject reveal contradictory results. In the Flanders study, the research attempted to achieve more conclusive findings. Based on the available literature, hypotheses were formulated for a series of structural characteristics at the level of the department, the team and the job, in terms of their causal relationship with the stress levels experienced by workers. The stress effects were evaluated in relation to five dependent variables: general psychological well-being, burnout, job satisfaction, organisational commitment and intent to leave the company.
Multi-level case design
In order to verify to which extent a company’s organisational design, and more particularly the different forms of teamwork, result in jobs causing more or less stress reactions, a comparative company case study was carried out in the metal manufacturing sector in Flanders. Based on a number of theoretical and methodological arguments, the restriction of the study to this sector and areas of the country was deliberate. Dependent on the number of teams working within the assembly section of each company, a random sample of teams was selected to ensure the study was representative of each case. Cluster sampling was then applied since all of the team members belonging to the selected teams were automatically involved. In total, 139 teams and 1,853 individual employees participated in the study.
Main findings of study
Regarding the structure of the division of labour and the structural characteristics of the teams, it emerged that various hypotheses could not be confirmed. Team size, task rotation, role of the team leader, type of team meetings and team output did not generate significant effects in terms of stress reactions among employees. Whether teamwork is implemented within the boundaries of an assembly line turned out to be the most important predictor of stress levels. Being tied to a specific work pace and location for assembly line tasks strongly determined stress levels among workers; the various team models seem to have little remedial influence in this respect. In other words, the assembly line work proved to be the determining stress factor.
Some of the job characteristics at the individual level were also significant. Team leaders and relief operators seemed to score better than other team members. Working conditions and terms of employment, included in the model as control variables, also turned out to be important predictors of stress levels. Some inconveniences in the physical workplace and undesirable behaviour of colleagues or supervisors were significantly related to the five stress reactions. The characteristics of group dynamics and socio-demographic traits of employees only had a limited impact.
Reference
Delarue, A, Teamwerk: de stress getemd? Een multilevelonderzoek naar het effect van organisatieontwerp en teamwerk op het welbevinden bij werknemers in de metaalindustrie [Does teamwork matter? A multilevel study on the effect of organisational design and teamwork on the psychosocial well-being of employees in the metalworking sector], Doctoral thesis, Catholic University of Leuven, 2009.
Guy Van Gyes, Higher Institute of Labour Studies (HIVA), Catholic University of Leuven (KUL)