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Work, Employment & Society
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For better or worse? Workplace changes and the health and well-being of Norwegian workers

Ståle Østhus

University of Oslo, Norway, stale.osthus{at}sosiologi.uio.no

Previous research has not always distinguished between downsizing and broader organizational redesign, or at least not analysed the two together, and may therefore have confounded the effects of the two on employees' health and well-being. Analyses of cross-sectional data on Norwegian employees ( N = 1944) suggest that downsizing and internal reorganization affects employees in predominantly negative ways. Neither downsizing nor internal reorganization of work are related to employees' level of task discretion. Internal reorganization is related to high work demands, job insecurity, low job satisfaction and work related health problems. Downsizing is related to high work demands and job insecurity, but the associations with job satisfaction and work related health problems are rather weak. Downsizing is more closely related to job insecurity than is reorganization, but reorganization is more closely related to high work demands, low job satisfaction and work related health problems than is downsizing.

Key Words: downsizing • health • job insecurity • redesign • task discretion • well-being • work demands

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Work, Employment & Society, Vol. 21, No. 4, 731-750 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0950017007082881
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