Can organisational behaviour lend a health-promoting hand?

Abstract

Issues addressed: Effective health promotion in all settings requires behavioural and environmental changes that influence health. What can health promoters learn from organisational behaviour theory and models to enable these changes? Methods: This is a conceptual paper, based on selected health promotion, organisational behaviour and occupational stress literature. Results: Heath promoting workplaces could benefit from organisational design interventions, including: job redesign; role definition; job control; employee involvement and participative leadership; communication; social support; flexible working arrangements; and reward systems. These interventions alter the organisation of work and have been found to be effective in minimising stress in the workplace, thereby tackling a source of poor health. Workplace health promotion programs could be enhanced through the use of organisational development theories, such as the Six Step Model of Change Management and Lewin's Field Theory for Change Management. These models could guide health promoters in modifying the environments that shape people's behavioural choices and in improving organisations' abilities to sustain change. Conclusions: Organisational behavioural theory and models are potentially most relevant to health promoters for health promoting workplaces through organisational design, workplace change and organisational development. (author abstract)