The Hour Between Dog and Wolf: How Risk Taking Transforms Us, Body and Mind

by John Coates

Equally effective in combating the effects of uncertainty and uncontrollability in the workplace is a policy of devolving control. In their pioneering book Healthy Work, mentioned in the previous chapter, Theorell and Karasek investigated a highly influential management model in which specialized workers mechanically execute plans handed down by upper management. Most jobs in companies adhering to this model had a high workload and low control; they also had a high incidence of stress-related illness. Theorell and Karasek asked whether illness in the workplace is the inevitable price we pay for higher profits. They concluded that it is not, that a healthy worker is a productive one. Moreover, a healthy worker is one with far lower medical costs, and these can add up to substantial savings both for the employing company and for the economy as a whole. Their research, and other studies like it, suggests that levels of workplace stress and worker health should become goals of management just as much as short-term profits. Theorell and Karasek cite the case of a Volvo car plant in Sweden that devolved control over many details of production to small groups of workers, and found that the incidence of stress-related illness dropped noticeably.