Published: 2008-02-15
ISBN:
ISSN: 1650-3686 (print), 1650-3740 (online)
Health is a major issue for companies and individuals alike. Traditionally; the emphasis in research has been on identifying and limiting ill-health. has defined two ways of approaching health. The traditional approach; ‘patogenes’ focuses on the reasons for lacking health. The objective is to identify reasons for and contributors to health problems. The other approach; ‘salutogenes’ take an opposite focus. It aims to identify factors that promote good health.
Health influences the competitiveness of companies in several ways. Also in this regard; two major alternative approaches can be envisioned. Firstly; health can be seen from the problematic side. In that case; the objective will be to avoid the costs of ill-health. An alternative possibility is to view health as a resource for corporate quality; success and competitiveness. Ultimately; the success of all companies is dependent on the abilities of their employees.
The purpose of this paper is to develop a measurement system for leadership for health promotion based on earlier research on the connection between quality management and health. Valid and reliable measuring systems are useful for all forms of improvements. Correlations between employees’ perceptions of their health and the quality management values ‘leadership commitment’ as well as ‘participation of everybody’ have been found.
Dimensions of leadership commitment and participation of everybody that were of importance for employee health have been identified by . For ‘leadership commitment’ the dimensions of integrity; presence and communication; empathy and continuity were found. The dimensions for ‘participation of everybody’ were development; being informed and influence. However; the models need to be further validated in other settings and this development of a measurement system is a first step in that direction.
A well developed measurement system for leadership for health promotion can be used as a management tool in order to assess and improve employees’ well-being; satisfaction and motivation. Measuring these dimensions; the managers can also receive information about the employees’ health. This can help them to implement health related quality management. According to and many other authors; workplaces and society as a whole will gain substantially if the number of employees suffering from ill-health can be reduced. A measurement system could help to detect ill-health at an early stage which obviously would be valuable for all involved.
TQM; health; quality management; measuring system; leadership commitment; participation of everybody
