Evaluating employee involvement programs: A case study of a union-based worker trainer program in health and safety.

The literature in employee involvement and health education suggests that worker initiated programs aimed to improve workplace safety operate more effectively when supported by the organizational environment. Theories on empowerment, authority, and control also suggest that prior experiences in participatory activities and leadership positions prepare individuals for favorable performance in employee involvement programs. This dissertation used case study methodology to explore these relationships. Twenty-seven worker trainers from a union-based involvement program in occupational health and safety participated in the study. With extensive training in technical areas and adult education techniques, worker trainers were expected to conduct health and safety training programs through opportunities they recruited at their own worksites and others represented by their regional union. Worker trainers provided qualitative and quantitative data through their participation in focus group interviews, individual interviews, and biographical questionnaires. Content and thematic data analyses explored three proposed relationships between performance and a set of predictor variables representing organizational support and individual experiences. Results showed that receiving organizational support was positively related to successful performance in the worker trainer program. Results also showed a modest, positive relationship between prior participatory experience and successful performance, but results did not yield a significant relationship between prior leadership experience and performance. Results showed that organizational support was a better predictor of performance than leadership experience and participatory experience. Approximately half of the participants successfully arranged at least one training program; however, others may have succeeded with the assured support from their constituents. Workplaces that address the study's findings and recommendations should be better able to institute successful preventive programs in occupational health and safety through worker-centered practices.PhDPsychologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/104964/1/9624644.pdfDescription of 9624644.pdf : Restricted to UM users only