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Julian Barling Nova Scotia Safety Council March 2004
Transformational leadershipand
occupational safety
Julian Barling
Queen’s University
March, 2004
Julian Barling Nova Scotia Safety Council 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
Julian Barling Nova Scotia Safety Council March 2004
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
Julian Barling Nova Scotia Safety Council March 2004
The societal costs of safety in Canada
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Work fatalities
Julian Barling Nova Scotia Safety Council March 2004
The societal costs of safety in Canada
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Work fatalities
Murders
Julian Barling Nova Scotia Safety Council March 2004
Comparing murder and occupational fatality rates in Canada
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Work fatality rate
Murder rate
Julian Barling Nova Scotia Safety Council March 2004
Why the focus on management?
Management practices affect well-being, employee attitudes and performance
Could they also affect workplace safety behaviors?
Julian Barling Nova Scotia Safety Council March 2004
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
Julian Barling Nova Scotia Safety Council March 2004
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
Julian Barling Nova Scotia Safety Council March 2004
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
Julian Barling Nova Scotia Safety Council March 2004
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
Julian Barling Nova Scotia Safety Council March 2004
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”
Julian Barling Nova Scotia Safety Council March 2004
Safety specific transformational leadership and occupational safety
Julian Barling
Catherine Loughlin
Kevin Kelloway
Journal of Applied Psychology, 2002
Julian Barling Nova Scotia Safety Council March 2004
Studied 174 participants (64% males) Average age = 27 years (range: 15-64) All in the restaurant industry
Julian Barling Nova Scotia Safety Council March 2004
Transformationalleadership
Safetyconsciousness
Perceivedsafety
climate
Julian Barling Nova Scotia Safety Council March 2004
Transformationalleadership
Safetyconsciousness
Perceivedsafety
climate
Safety-Relatedevents
Julian Barling Nova Scotia Safety Council March 2004
Transformationalleadership
Safetyconsciousness
Perceivedsafety
climate
Safety-Relatedevents
Occupationalinjuries
Julian Barling Nova Scotia Safety Council March 2004
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)
Julian Barling Nova Scotia Safety Council March 2004
Transformationalleadership
Safetyconsciousness
Perceivedsafety
climate
Safety-relatedevents
Occupationalinjuries
Julian Barling Nova Scotia Safety Council March 2004
Transformationalleadership
Safetyconsciousness
Perceivedsafety
climate
Safety-relatedevents
Occupationalinjuries
Roleoverload
Julian Barling Nova Scotia Safety Council March 2004
Transformationalleadership
Safetyconsciousness
R2 = .33
Perceivedsafety climate
R2 = .42
Safety-related events
R2 = .10
OccupationalinjuriesR2 = .34
Roleoverload
Julian Barling Nova Scotia Safety Council March 2004
Training young supervisors in safety-specific transformational leadership
Niro Sivanathan
Julian Barling
Nick Turner
A work in progress
Julian Barling Nova Scotia Safety Council March 2004
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
Julian Barling Nova Scotia Safety Council March 2004
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
Julian Barling Nova Scotia Safety Council March 2004
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
Julian Barling Nova Scotia Safety Council March 2004
Transformational leadership training works with teenage swim supervisors
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Pretraining
Posttraining
Control group
Treatment group
Julian Barling Nova Scotia Safety Council March 2004
Transformational leadershiptraining
Changes intransformational
behaviors
Personalsafety
orientation
Julian Barling Nova Scotia Safety Council March 2004
Safety-specific transformational leadership is one component of a high performance work
system
Anthea ZacharatosJulian BarlingRick Iverson
Journal of Applied Psychology, in press
Julian Barling Nova Scotia Safety Council March 2004
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
Julian Barling Nova Scotia Safety Council March 2004
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
Julian Barling Nova Scotia Safety Council March 2004
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
Julian Barling Nova Scotia Safety Council March 2004
Highperformancework system
Trust inmanagement
Positivesafetyclimate
Julian Barling Nova Scotia Safety Council March 2004
Highperformancework system
Trust inmanagement
Safetyincidents
Positivesafetyclimate
1st aid Nearmiss
Julian Barling Nova Scotia Safety Council March 2004
Highperformancework system
Trust inmanagement
Safetyincidents
Positivesafetyclimate
Personalsafety
orientation
1st aid Nearmiss
Comply Initiative Knowld Motivate
Julian Barling Nova Scotia Safety Council March 2004
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