Centre for Performance-Led HR research project
Philip Gibbs, Doctorate gained 2010
“Building a Positive Organisation: Measuring and Managing Employee Well-being in AstraZeneca International”
Philip’s doctoral research investigated the concept of ‘wellbeing’ within AstraZeneca, a multi-international pharmaceutical company.
This study explored one of the most prevalent and influential models of occupational stress. The central aim was to explore the extent to which this model could be extended to incorporate broader organizational climate and culture factors as well as more positively orientated mediating phenomena. Occupational stress has been the focal point of research and practice for several decades. However in recent times this research has been criticised for focusing primarily on the individual level of analysis, not acknowledging research contributions from outside organizational and health psychology, and studying overly negative orientated phenomena.
Consequently this study proposed a conceptual model which expands upon Cooper and Marshall’s (1976) model of occupational stress. This conceptual model hypothesised that incorporating broader macro-level factors as potential sources of stress and more positively orientated mediating psychological states could add a meaningful amount of value and further understanding of the occupational stress process.
A secondary analysis of global employee opinion survey data was performed to identify and develop a macro- level climate assessment tool. The formulation of a statistical model of wellbeing based on data for over 54,000 employees from a global attitude survey to develop a Global Wellbeing Diagnostic Indicator (GWDI). A sample of employees within the R&D function was then assessed using the same macro-level climate tool as well as two other validated assessment tools. These included a traditional stress risk assessment and a more recent positive psychological assessment tool.
The study found that both the macro and positive psychological state variables were able to account for a significant proportion of additional variance in psychological well-being and physical health. The study also found some preliminary support for extending Cooper and Marshall’s model to incorporate the macro-level factors as sources of stress and positive psychological states as mediators. The final model identified that macro and micro level perceptions appeared to have differing effects upon individual health outcomes through the mediating positive psychological states. It was hypothesised that this may be due to the level of proximity of these variables in relation to employees.
