Skip to main content

The Role of Organizations in Promoting Health and Wellbeing

  • Chapter
Innovations in Stress and Health
  • 275 Accesses

Abstract

The performance and financial health of any organization is dependent upon it having a physically and psychologically healthy workforce who are appropriately trained, well motivated and focused on their work. Interest in the concept of the ‘healthy organization’ has continued to grow amongst researchers, employers and policymakers throughout the developed economies as evidence mounts that absence due to psychological disorders, mainly the result of work-related stress, is growing. Implicit in the traditional concept of a healthy organization is the notion that an aggregation of individually physically and psychologically healthy workers equals a healthy company and that the foci of health promotion and wellness programs should be directed at changing the lifestyles and behaviors of the individual to reduce the risk of them becoming ill.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

REFERENCES

  • Alexander, C. N., Swanson, G. C., Rainforth, M. V., Carlisle, T. W., Todd, C. C. and Oates, J. R. (1993) ‘Effects of the transcendental meditation program on stress reduction, health and employee development: a prospective study in two occupational settings’, Anxiety, Stress and Coping, 6: 245-262.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arthur, A. (2000) ‘Employee assistance programmes: the emperor’s new clothes of stress management’, British Journal of Guidance and Counselling, 28 (4): 549-559.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arthur, A. (2001) ‘Mental health problems and British workers: a survey of mental health problems in employees receiving counselling from employee assistance programmes’, Stress and Health, 18 (2): 69-75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baumeister, R. F. (1991) Meanings of Life (New York: Guildford).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bibby, R. W. (2001) Canada’s Teens: Today, Yesterday and Tomorrow (Toronto, ON: Stoddart).

    Google Scholar 

  • Black, C. (2008) Working for a Healthier Tomorrow (London: Department of Work and Pensions).

    Google Scholar 

  • Cartwright, S. and Cooper, C. L. (1997) Managing Workplace Stress (Thousand Oaks CA: Sage).

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, A. E. and Oswald, A. J. ( 2002) ‘A simple statistical method of measuring how life events affect happiness’, International Journal of Epidemiology, 31 (6) 1139-1144.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cooper, C. L. and Sadri, G. (1991) ‘The impact of stress counselling at work’, in P.L. Perrewe (ed.), Handbook of Job Stress (Special Issue), Journal of Social Behaviour and Personality, 6 (7): 411-423.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooper, C. L., Dewe, P. J. and O’Driscoll, M. P. (2001) Organizational Stress: A Review and Critique of Theory, Research and Applications (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage).

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooper, C. L., Field, J., Goswani, U., Jenkins, R. and Shakian, B. (2009) Mental Capital and Well Being (Oxford: Wiley Blackwell).

    Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., Lucas, R. E. and Oishi, S. (2003) ‘Personality, culture and subjective well-being: emotional and cognitive evaluations of life’, Annual Review of Psychology, 54: 403-426.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Donald, I. (2001) ‘Emotion and offices at work’, in R. L. Payne and C. L. Cooper (eds), Emotions at Work (Chichester: Wiley), pp. 281-306.

    Google Scholar 

  • Finegold, D. L. and Mohrman, S. (2001) What Do Employees Really Want ? The Perception vs the Reality (New York: Korn Ferry International).

    Google Scholar 

  • Fineman, S. (2006) ‘On being positive: concerns and counterpoints’, Academy of Management Review, 31 (2): 270-292.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Foresight (2008) Mental Capital and Well Being (London: Government Office for Science).

    Google Scholar 

  • Forgas, J. P. (2001) Feeling and Thinking: The Role of Affect in Social Cognition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedman, S. D. and Greenhaus, J. H. (2000) ‘Work and family- allies or enemies?’ Psychology of Women Quarterly, 25 (3): 259-279.

    Google Scholar 

  • Health and Safety Executive (HSE 2005) Survey of Workplace Absence Sickness and (ill) Health (London: HSE).

    Google Scholar 

  • Herriot, P. (2001) ‘Future work and its emotional implications’, in R. L. Payne and C. L. Cooper (eds), Emotions at Work: Theory, Research and Applications for Management (Chichester: Wiley).

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoar, R. (2004) ‘ Work with meaning’, Management Today, May: 44-50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holbeche, L. And Springett, N. (2004) In Search of Meaning in the Workplace (UK: Roffey Park Institute).

    Google Scholar 

  • Industrial Society (2001) Improving Skills in the UK Workforce (London: Industrial Society).

    Google Scholar 

  • Isen, A.M. (1999) On the Relationship between Affect and Creative Problem Solving (London: Taylor and Francis).

    Google Scholar 

  • Jeurissen, T. and Nyklieck, I. (2001) ‘Testing the vitamin model of job stress in Dutch healthcare workers’, Work and Stress, 15 (3): 254-264.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kahn, R. L., Wolfe, D. M., Quinn, R. P., Snoek, J. D. and Rosenthal, R. A. (1964) Organizational Stress: Studies in Role Conflict and Ambiguity (New York: John Wiley).

    Google Scholar 

  • Kompier, M.A. (2005) ‘Dealing with workplace stress’, in C. L. Cooper (ed.) Handbook of Stress, Medicine and Health (London: CRC Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Levi, L. (2005) ‘Spice of life or kiss of death’, in C. L. Cooper (ed.), Handbook of Work and Health Psychology (London: CRC Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Maslow, A. (1943) ‘A theory of human motivation’, Psychological Review, 50 (4): 370-396.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McLeod, J. (2001) Counselling in the Workplace (London: British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy).

    Google Scholar 

  • Peterson, C. (2000) ‘The future of optimism’, American Psychologist, 55: 44-55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • PwC 2008 (a) Building the Case for Wellness (London: PwC). Available online at: www.workingforhealth.gov.uk.

    Google Scholar 

  • PwC 2008 (b) Graduate Survey: Millennial Expectations and Attitudes (London: PwC).

    Google Scholar 

  • Quick, J. C., Cooper, C. L. Quick, J. D. and Gavin, J. H. (2002) The Financial Times Guide to Executive Health (London: FT/Prentice Hall).

    Google Scholar 

  • Roberts, L. M. (2006) ‘Shifting the lens on organizational life: the added value of positive scholarship’, Academy of Management Review, 31 (2): 292-306.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robertson, I. T. and Flint-Taylor, J. (2008) ‘Leadership, psychological well being and organizational outcomes’, in S. Cartwright and C. L. Cooper (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Organizational Well Being (Oxford: Oxford University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruff, C. D. and Singer, B. (1998) ‘The contours of positive human health’, Psychological Inquiry, 9 (1): 1-28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seligman, M. E. P. and Powelski, J. O. (2003) ‘Positive psychology: FAQs’, Psychological Inquiry, 14: 159-169.

    Google Scholar 

  • Snyder, C. R. and Lopez, S.J. (2002) Handbook of Positive Psychology (Oxford: Oxford University Press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Super, D. E. (1957) The Psychology of Careers (New York: Wiley).

    Google Scholar 

  • Warr, P. B. (1982) ‘A national study of non-financial employment commitment’, Journal of Occupational Psychology, 51 (2): 183-196.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Copyright information

© 2011 Susan Cartwright & Cary Cooper

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Cartwright, S., Cooper, C.L. (2011). The Role of Organizations in Promoting Health and Wellbeing. In: Cartwright, S., Cooper, C. (eds) Innovations in Stress and Health. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230321007_7

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics