New Ways of Working and Organizational Health: Insights from Research & Practice

You are invited to the fourth ‘New Ways of Working: Research and Practice’ seminar on Wednesday, October 29, 2014, hosted by the Erasmus@Work research centre.

This seminar and panel discussion at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University will present the latest knowledge in research and practice regarding new ways of working and employee well-being. The seminar takes on a holistic approach including both physical and psychological aspects of well-being and aims to address (1) whether the new ways of working hamper or promote well-being and (2) how employees can stay healthy when working flexibly. For example, do people feel more alienated from colleagues when working in a disturbed manner? What intervention strategies can organizations use to increase the “we-feeling”? What can employees themselves do to retain their happiness? Are there general differences in well-being between employees working in assigned office spaces and employees working in a distributed manner?

Background
An increasing number of Dutch organisations have embraced New Ways of Working (Het Nieuwe Werken) in recent years. Its supposed benefits – such as higher performance, decreased costs and increased sustainability- are touted by many organisations. However, little is known about the consequences of workplace flexibility practices for individual’s well-being and health. Constant availability, flexibility demands, workplace choices or distant working ‒ to only mention a few factors that put employees under pressure ‒ are likely to negatively affect employee well-being. In fact, a recent report from the World Health Organization (WHO) has revealed that mental illnesses have become more prevalent in recent decades. They now represent one of the main causes of work disability. Poor mental health and well-being not only hamper employee productivity but also have negative effects on the financial health of organisations and their competitiveness.

Speakers
Keynote speaker for this event is Eva Demerouti, Professor of Organizational Behavior & Human Decision Processes at Eindhoven University of Technology. Her research interests focus on the processes enabling performance, with special emphasis on the effects of work characteristics, occupational well-being and work-life balance.

Polly Boon from RIVM and Eline Bomhof from ASR will present two detailed cases from practice.

Preliminary Programme

Registration
Please register by sending an email with your name and organization to Cheryl Blok (cblok@rsm.nl) by October 15 2014.

Speakers & Panel Members

Eva Demerouti is a full Professor of Organizational Behavior & Human Decision Processes at Eindhoven University of Technology. She obtained her PhD in Work and Organizational Psychology in 1999 on the topic of the Job Demands-Resources burnout model from the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg in Germany. Her chair focuses on the processes enabling performance, including the effects of work characteristics, decision making, occupational well-being, and work-life balance. She has published over 85 national and international papers and book chapters on these topics and her work has been published in journals such as Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, and Journal of Vocational Behavior.

Eric van Heck is a Professor in Information Management and Markets at the department of Decision and Information Sciences at RSM. He teaches and conducts research into the strategic and operational use of information technologies for companies and markets. Professor van Heck is the co-author and co-editor of 14 books, including the well-received Making Markets (Harvard Business School Press, 2002) and Smart Business Networks (Springer, 2005). His articles have appeared in top academic and practitioner-oriented journals.

Peter van Baalen is a Professor in Information Management and Digital Organisation at Amsterdam University. He is Director of College Economics and Business. His research focuses on online knowledge sharing, network co-ordination, IT adoption and implementation, digital platforms, online communities, new media, management education, e-learning, and New Ways of Working. Peter van Baalen has published eight books and more than 100 articles in national and international journals, including Decision Support Systems, The European Journal of Information Systems, and Organizational Change Management, in addition to numerous book chapters.

Michaéla Schippers is Associate Professor of Leadership and Management at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University. She received her PhD from the Psychology Department at the Free University in Amsterdam. Her research interests include team reflexivity, reflection on media use, quality of the work environment, goal-setting, and academic achievement. Her work has been published in journals such as Annual Review of Psychology, Administrative Science Quarterly,  Academy of Management Learning &  Education, Journal of Management, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Personality and Individual Differences, Applied Psychology: An International Review, and Human Relations. She is member of Erasmus@work group and scientific director of the Erasmus Center for Behavioural Operations Management.

Christina Wessels is an ERIM doctoral student at the department of Technology & Operations Management at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University. She holds a BSc in International Business from Maastricht University and a MSc in Business Administration-Organisational Change & Consulting from RSM. Her PhD project, which she is conducting in co-operation with RIVM, aims to unravel the link between workplace flexibility practices and employee well-being.

• This seminar is organised in co-operation with the Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM) and Stichting Forum Duurzaam Werken.