The contribution of office design to the appraisal of job control: A longitudinal study.

The appraisal of control over work intensity and decisions at the workplace is a well-established determinant of health and well-being among employees. Building on job design theories, the overarching aim of this study was to determine office layout as a predictor of perceived job control. Specifically, we investigated between-group differences in control by contrasting employees in cellular offices with employees in shared/open offices, as well as effects on control among employees transitioning from one office design to another. This is a longitudinal study with three survey points across 48 months comprising 3,415 Norwegian office employees. Data were analyzed with latent growth curve analyses, adjusted for gender, age, leadership responsibility, and teleworking. Employees in cellular offices reported significantly higher control over work intensity and control over decisions when compared with employees in shared/open workspaces. Transitioning from a shared/open workspace to a cellular office led to a significant increase in perceived control regarding work intensity. As the experience of control may buffer the negative impact of job demands, organizations that rely on shared or open office solutions may benefit from identifying tools that can contribute to enhancing their employees' perceived control.

Are Leadership Fairness, Psychological Distress, and Role Stressors Interrelated? A Two-Wave Prospective Study of Forward and Reverse Relationships.

While previous research has mainly considered leadership as an antecedent to psychological distress and role stressors (i.e., role ambiguity and role conflict) among subordinates, a reverse relationship where these variables influence reports of leadership is also possible. To determine the directionality of the associations this two-wave prospective study assesses bidirectional relationships between fair leadership and role stressors and examines whether psychological distress mediates the reciprocal associations between fair leadership and the role stressors. Analyses were conducted in a sample of 6,790 Norwegian employees with a 2-year time-lag between measurement points. Fair leadership was associated with lower stability adjusted role ambiguity, but not role conflict, over time. Role conflict, but not role ambiguity, was related to subsequent reports of the immediate leader as less fair. Psychological distress did neither mediate the relationship between fair leadership and subsequent reports of role stressors, nor the association between role stressors and subsequent reports of fair leadership. The findings suggest that the fair leadership - role stressor association is not a one-directional process, but that exposure to role stressors also influence subordinates' perceptions of leadership. An implication of the findings is that theoretical models of organizational leadership should include this reverse impact of role stressors. To reduce the effects of role stressors, organizations could set consistent, clear and attractive goals and provide employees with necessary information for conducting their work tasks in order to help workers understand and master their roles at the workplace.