conflicting pressures and concern regarding their own ability to cope when implementing new procedures due to organisational changes. The difficult situations that arise when managing OHS include employees’ mental overload due to work pressure, malpractice and conflicts in the work community, prioritisation of the workload and assessing the work ability and performance of employees. Moreover, taking the employees’ individual characteristics, needs and personal problems into account was considered to be difficult to manage. A particularly difficult situation arose from the lack support provided by the manager’s immediate superior for those few managers who encountered such a situation.
4.2 Experienced and expected support needed in managing
OHS
Based on sub-study 1 conducted in public organisations, the managers in all the studied organisations, at all levels and in different positions, experienced high strain and they expected support in coping with their own workloads, leadership work and the different challenging situations found in the work community. The organisational support was considered especially important during difficult times, during major organisational changes and in difficult decision-making situations, for instance, redundancies. The managers mainly needed support for one-off problematic situations and solving conflicts. When a difficult situation occurred, the managers typically looked for ad hoc help from their superiors, colleagues, HR experts and OHS experts in order to manage the situation. Surprisingly, the managers did not mention financial support from upper management, although more resources would help them to better organise the work. The primary and most important source of support for the managers was their own superior. However, for some managers a lack of support or appreciation from their superior, distance or conflicts with their superior hindered both their own occupational well-being and productivity and that of their entire unit or department.
‘Nowadays, I’m afraid of bringing certain matters to my superior because it will just result in malice.’
The lack of a superior’s support was balanced by the support of, for example, colleagues, families and friends, although they could not replace it completely. A manager’s superior is expected to point the way; to be realistic, open and appreciative; to conduct discussions; to listen; to be present; to provide feedback and support; to encourage and collaborate; to trust; to be reliable; and to provide freedom, autonomy and encouraging and constructive feedback. One of the interviewed managers from the expert organisation even mentioned that, in a difficult situation, he figuratively ‘goes and cries on the superior’s shoulder’, and it helps.
In addition to their immediate superior, the respondents considered the support of their colleagues to be very important. The support available from colleagues (other managers) was seen as important, especially when encountering a difficult situation for the first time. In the expert organisation, the managers expected emotional support and to be able to share the experience confidentially with colleagues. They felt that it was good to be able to confidentially discuss difficult situations, exchange experiences and opinions, and learn solutions from their colleagues:
‘During difficult times we (line managers) discuss things very frankly.’
The managers did not expect formal peer support or mentoring; instead, they sought to discuss matters on an ad hoc basis with the right people in order to obtain peer support and share experiences. It was important and sufficient that their colleagues had time to listen and that they understood the situation and the emotions caused by it. In the social and healthcare organisation, the managers considered “colleague talk” to be both encouraging and motivating in difficult situations.
Other mentioned sources of support were the managing group or board of their own unit or department, with whom difficult and private issues could be discussed confidentially. In some cases, their own subordinates supported and encouraged the managers in identifying solutions to difficult situations.
In some situations, support was expected from occupational healthcare and HR professionals. Such support was needed in dealing with the recruitment, availability and competence of employees, as well as the individual tailoring of work for employees with a reduced working capacity. In the case of managers’ mental burden due to difficult situations, support was sought from an occupational healthcare psychologist. However, such support was considered to be a last resort:
‘Must we line managers visit the psychologist every month so that we can manage here? It shouldn’t be this way.’
Furthermore, the managers called for more training, individual support in coping with their own managerial work and administrative duties, opportunities for counselling and discussion regarding organisational policies and procedures at the management board level. The respondents hoped that such discussions would result in increased clarity, a systematic approach and argumentation, and a foundation for their own decision making in their area of responsibility. The respondents felt that organisational clarity strengthens the experience of being in control of their own work and coping amidst many pressures. They called for harmonised organisational OHS procedures to support their managerial work.
Examples of the mentioned types of organisational support include definitions of their mandate and responsibilities, collective rules (e.g. for appropriate work behaviour), intervention procedures, sanctions for violating directions, remote work agreements, models of early intervention and support, and department meetings and development days. Moreover, they called for a strengthening of skills in the areas of OHS management they considered to be particularly difficult, including administration, managing mental overload, inappropriate work behaviour, conflicts and social interaction. In the expert organisation, some managers perceived continual management training to be extremely important and supportive of OHS management:
‘(Management training) provides new viewpoints and confidence in my managerial work.’
To summarise, the managers expected tools and support for coping with difficult situations and conflicts within the work community. The most important source of support was each manager’s immediate superior. Moreover, the emotional support of colleagues and the managing group was perceived to be especially important when dealing with confidential OHS issues. Other sources of support were their subordinates, as well as OHS and HR professionals. The most important tools for helping managers with difficult OHS issues were top management support, training and uniform organisational OHS procedures.