Julian BarlingNova Scotia Safety CouncilMarch 2004 Transformational leadership and occupational safety Julian Barling Queen’s University March, 2004.

Julian Barling Nova Scotia Safety Council March 2004

Transformational leadershipand

occupational safety

Julian Barling

Queen’s University

March, 2004


Scope of the problem

In 1995 in the US, more than 6,000 fatal work injuries At the same time, 3.6 million disabling injuries Between 1993 and 1996, 1.1 million injured per year at

work in the UK 1996 estimate in Ontario: each workplace fatality

costs the system $496,000 Major consequences in terms of work attitudes for

people injured in workplace incidents


The productivity costs of safety

Comparison of days lost from injuries vs strikes (in Canada, in millions; Stats Canada data)

1993 1994 1995 1996

Strike 1.5 1.6 1.6 3.3

Injury 15.8 17.6 16.6 14.8


The societal costs of safety in Canada

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Work fatalities


The societal costs of safety in Canada

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Work fatalities

Murders


Comparing murder and occupational fatality rates in Canada

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Work fatality rate

Murder rate


Why the focus on management?

Management practices affect well-being, employee attitudes and performance

Could they also affect workplace safety behaviors?


Assumption

Most frequent approach to safety in organizations is the control of “accidents”, usually through:Implementation of management controls, and sanctions for deviations

Conformity with government regulationsConformity with the terms of collective agreements


Problem and Opportunity

People simply do not like being controlled. They prefer to be trusted, encouraged and treated with

dignity—and they will respond accordingly The data now support the differences between a

control orientation and a commitment orientation by management


The challenge

Can we move to use this information to enhance safety in the workplace (and perhaps elsewhere, too)?

Transformational leadership is the most widely researched leadership theory, and has shown positive effects in many different areas, such as:IndustryMilitaryEducationUnionsSports teams

The challenge: We need to motivate people to ensure they want to do the best work they can, and this includes working safely


The 4 “I”’s of transformational leadership

Idealized influenceDoing it because it is the right thing to do

Inspirational motivationRaising the individual’s and group’s expectationsTelling stories to communicate values

Intellectual stimulationGetting people to develop their own solutions

Individualized considerationListening, showing concern, empathy


We have completed three studies on the effects of transformational leadership on safety performanceTransformational leadership and injuriesTraining teenage supervisors for safety-specific transformational leadership

Transformational leadership as a part of a “high performance work system”


Safety specific transformational leadership and occupational safety

Julian Barling

Catherine Loughlin

Kevin Kelloway

Journal of Applied Psychology, 2002

[email protected]


Studied 174 participants (64% males) Average age = 27 years (range: 15-64) All in the restaurant industry


Transformationalleadership



Safetyconsciousness



Safetyconsciousness

Perceivedsafety

climate



Safetyconsciousness

Perceivedsafety

climate

Safety-Relatedevents



Safetyconsciousness

Perceivedsafety

climate

Safety-Relatedevents

Occupationalinjuries


Conducted a replication study Young workers, for whom safety is a major issue Expanded the focus on the predictors of injuries 164 participants (49% female) Mean age = 19 years (range = 14-24)



Safetyconsciousness

Perceivedsafety

climate

Safety-relatedevents




Safetyconsciousness

Perceivedsafety

climate

Safety-relatedevents


Roleoverload



Safetyconsciousness

R2 = .33

Perceivedsafety climate

R2 = .42

Safety-related events

R2 = .10

OccupationalinjuriesR2 = .34

Roleoverload


Training young supervisors in safety-specific transformational leadership

Niro Sivanathan

Julian Barling

Nick Turner

A work in progress


Next challenge

Can we actually training leaders to behave more transformationally so that they influence subsequent safety?

Strong evidence from our previous research Deliberately chose to focus on a vulnerable group

(teenage employees) completing a highly responsible task (swimming pools instructors) in a hazardous setting (municipal swimming pools) who usually do not receive much safety management training

Entire study took place during a 12 week swimming session


Design of the study

Weeks 2-3: Surveys completed by 18 swim supervisors and 81 swim instructors. Ratings in terms of safety-specific transformational leadership and safety attitudes and behaviors

Week 5: Six hour training session for 9 supervisors in the “experimental” group (all at the same pool)Taught the concepts of transformational leadershipFocused on leaders they identified and examined their behaviorsFocused on stories about famous transformational leadershipFocused on the importance of safety in their jobs and the role of transformational leadership


Week 9: Booster session for the experimental group2 hour session for 9 swim supervisors in “experimental” groupSummarized the major concepts of transformational leadershipGroup discussions of their own successes and lessons learned in transformational leadership

Weeks 11 & 12: All swim supervisors and 81 swim instructors complete all the transformational leadership ratings, and surveys on safety attitudes and behaviors


Transformational leadership training works with teenage swim supervisors

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Pretraining

Posttraining

Control group

Treatment group


Transformational leadershiptraining

Changes intransformational

behaviors

Personalsafety

orientation


Safety-specific transformational leadership is one component of a high performance work

system

Anthea ZacharatosJulian BarlingRick Iverson

Journal of Applied Psychology, in press


Transformational leadership does not exist in isolation Generated a high performance system, comprising:

Transformational leadershipTransformational leadershipEmployment securitySelective hiringExtensive trainingTeams and decentralized decision makingInformation sharingReduced status distinctionsContingent compensationJob qualityMeasurement of management practices


Organizational level analysis

Surveys sent to health and safety managers and HR Directors of 1471 industrial organizations

147 HR directors responded (10.2%); reported on HR practices and occupational injuries

247 health and safety managers responded (17.1% response rate); reported on occupational injuries

High performance work systems then significantly predicted company’s annual injury record


But…

This study does not explain how HPWS affect safety Therefore we conducted a study at the employee level 196 employees from two different organization

(petroleum and telecommunication industries), both safety-sensitive situations

Hypothesized that HPWS affect safety indirectly, through the effects of safety climate and trust in management


Highperformancework system



Trust inmanagement

Positivesafetyclimate



Trust inmanagement

Safetyincidents


1st aid Nearmiss



Trust inmanagement

Safetyincidents


Personalsafety

orientation

1st aid Nearmiss

Comply Initiative Knowld Motivate


Transformational leadership affects safety:Some concluding thoughts

Expands our understanding of the extensive effects of transformational leadership

Opens up new avenues for enhancing safety (vs. minimizing injuries)

Need to focus more on evaluation studies of the effects of transformational leadership training

Provides an optimistic perspective of what can be achieved with part-time, teenage supervisors


Thank you!

Julian BarlingNova Scotia Safety CouncilMarch 2004 Transformational leadership and occupational safety Julian Barling Queen’s University March, 2004.

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