Aim: The aim of this study was to examine potential benefits provided by dailyvisual management tool use and explore its association with systems performanceand working conditions among hospital nurses.Background: Visual management tools used in everyday work and improvementwork in health care theoretically contribute to shared understanding of complexwork systems and provide certain user benefits. Cognitive load, miscommunicationwithin and between professional groups, and pressure to engage in care processredesign add to nurses’ strained working conditions.Design: Quantitative longitudinal.Methods: Questionnaires were distributed at T0, (N = 948, 66% response rate), T1(N = 900, 70% response rate), and T2 (N = 621, 72% response rate) to nurses atfive hospitals. Three groups of users (daily users, start users, and non‐daily users)were compared by means T1–T2 (significance tested with Wilcoxon signed ranktest) and by mixed model repeated measures T0, T1, T2.Results: Daily use associated to better overview of work, collaboration, social capital,and clinical engagement. Job resources were rated higher by daily users. Mentalstress increased and development opportunities decreased over time among nondailyusers. There were associations between use and perceptions of systems performance,though the differences between groups were small.Conclusion: This study specifically explores visual management tool use in the hospitalsetting, which contributes to research by broadening the understanding of cognitive,social, and emotional benefits provided by visual management tool use. Dailyuse was associated to positive working conditions, small but positive differences insystems performance, and indicated a buffering effect on nurses’ mental stress.

Aim The aim of this study was to investigate how restricted decision-making autonomy and conflicting demands impact operational managers' work performance and health. Background Managers at operational level (first- and second-line managers') in health care organisations are commonly exposed to strain in their work situation with high demands and a challenging work context. Although they play an important role, the knowledge about the causal associations between stressful job demands and their consequences is limited. Methods A prospective design with questionnaire data collected at two points in time, 1 year apart, from a sample of operational managers (N = 162) at five Swedish hospitals was used to conduct a structural equation model analysis with cross-lagged paths. Results Restricted decision-making autonomy was negatively associated with both the managers' health and their managerial work performance over time. Conclusions Health care managers' work performance and health may be sustained by the top management allowing them a higher degree of autonomy in their decision-making. Implications for nursing management This study suggests that nursing leaders should create the circumstances for operational managers' to have higher levels of autonomy in their area of responsibility and the freedom to prioritize their managerial workload.

The Swedish health care system is reorienting towards horizontal organization for care processes. A main challenge is to engage health care clinicians in the process. The aim of this study was to assess engagement (i.e. attitudes and beliefs, the cognitive state and clinical engagement behaviour) among health care clinicians, and to investigate how engagement was related to work resources and demands during organizational redesign. A cohort study was conducted, using a questionnaire distributed to clinicians at five hospitals working with care process improvement approaches, two of them having implemented Lean production. The results show that kinds of engagement are interlinked and contribute to clinical engagement behaviour in quality of care and patient safety. Increased work resources have importance for engagements in organizational improvements, especially in top-down implementations. An extended work engagement model during organizational improvements in health care was supported. The model contributes to knowledge about how and when clinicians are mobilized to engage in organizational changes.

The aim of this article is to describe a theoretical framework, i.e., theoretical underpinnings and pedagogical principles, for leadership programs that support managers' evidence-based knowledge of health-promoting psychosocial work conditions, as well as their capability to apply, adapt, and craft sustainable managerial work practices. First, the theoretical framing is introduced, i.e., a system theory that integrates key work conditions with a practical perspective on managerial work and organization. Second, pedagogical principles and measures for leaders' training in integrated handling across system levels are described. Last, we present summarized results from an intervention study applying the theoretical framework and pedagogical principles. The complexity of interactions among different factors in a work system, and the variety in possible implementation approaches, presents challenges for the capability of managers to craft sustainable and health-promoting conditions, as well as the evaluation of the program components. Nevertheless, the evaluation reveals the strength of the program, in providing holistic and context-sensitive approaches for how to train and apply an integrative approach for improving the work environment.

Hälso- och sjukvårdens arbetsmiljö är viktig för både medarbetare och patienter. Syftet med denna artikel är att beskriva vad som karaktäriserar en hälsofrämjande arbetsmiljö, varför den är viktig inom hälso- och sjukvården och hur en hälsofrämjande arbetsmiljö kan utvecklas. Resultat från vår forskning och tidigare forskning, visar att medarbetares arbetsmiljö, hälsa och engagemang är viktigt för att ge bästa möjliga förutsättningar för att främja patienters hälsa. Viktiga arbetsmiljöfaktorer är i detta sammanhang ett starkt socialt kapital i form av erkännande, ömsesidighet och tillit mellan människor, ett verksamhetsnära ledarskap samt verksamhetsnära utveckling utifrån en systemteoretisk bas där man stödjer och förstår flera faktorer och förhållanden. Det sociala kapitalet kan liknas vid bränslet i ett kretslopp som skapar arbetstillfredsställelse, engagemang och nya arbetssätt. Det verksamhetsnära ledarskapet är viktigt för att skapa förutsättningar för hållbarhet i kretsloppet.

Work environment issues in health care have importance not only for employees but also for patients. The aim of this article is to describe important conditions for a health-promoting work environment, the significance of this for health care service, and how health-promoting work conditions can be developed. The results from our, as well as from others’, previous research show that employees’ work environment, health and engagement are critical for the improvements of quality of care and patient safety. Important factors are social capital (i.e. recognition, reciprocity and trust between humans), as well as practice-oriented approaches to developments based in system theory perspectives. The social capital can be compared to the fuel in a cycle creating work satisfaction, engagement and new ways of working and a practice-oriented and a servant leadership facilitates the development and the sustainability of this cycle.

Despite decades of using lean, there is little knowledge of how lean managerial practices affect working conditions. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate in what ways managerial practices support socially sustainable working conditions (SSWCs) during a lean transformation. A mixed methods approach was used in this multiyear case study in a midsize Swedish manufacturing company. Assessment of work characteristics was combined with employee questionnaires and interviews with managers. Four practices were identified as instrumental for SSWCs: 1) a coherent lean approach with clear direction, 2) a value-creating leadership style comprising a participatorypromoting and caring leadership approach with joint focus on production and well-being, 3) conscious involvement of employees in a stepwise fashion, and 4) a focus on promoting meaningful jobs and health, aided by work environment management. Thus, managerial practices actively supporting important job resources as an integral part of the lean system seemed to support SSWCs.

Studies of lean production’s effect on working conditions are mixed but point toward worsened conditions. The aim of this longitudinal study was to assess how lean contributes to transforming work characteristics in a medium-sized specialized industrial family business. A mixed methods approachwas used to combine an external assessment of work characteristics with selfreported employee questionnaires. Favorable psychosocial working conditions were indicated, with role conflicts decreasing over time. The assessment of work provided descriptions of how lean practices contributed to decreased task control due to standardized work and simplified work processes. At the same time, employees still had opportunities to influence their long-term work assignment. There was also a trend toward job enlargement through new, higher-skilled tasks, multiskilling, and extended opportunities to influence work through different continuous improvement activities. The participative lean approach and type of skilled jobs may have contributed to this transformation.

Background: Healthcare managers are expected to lead and manage planned organizational change intended to improve healthcare process quality. However, their complex working conditions offer limited decision control, and healthcare managers often feel ill prepared and inadequately supported to perform their duties. Healthcare managers have previously described their need for organizational support, but we lack knowledge of the preconditions and resources that help managers implement planned change.Methods: This prospective cohort study examined healthcare managers at three Swedish hospitals implementing lean production and two Swedish hospitals implementing their own improvement model. Questionnaire data from 2012, 2103, and 2014 were used in following up. We used t-tests and a linear mixed model design in analysing the data.Results: Healthcare managers who perceived strong support from managers, employees, colleagues, and the organization and managers with the longest managerial experience had the least negative appraisal of change. Managers who perceived strong support from employees, management, and the organizational structure perceived higher levels of healthcare process quality.Conclusions: Long managerial experience and strong support from managers, employees, and the organization are important formanagers’ appraisal of, work on, and successful implementation of planned change. Top management must therefore ensure that the healthcare managers have sufficient managerial experience and support before they delegate to them the responsibility to implement planned change.