Means, Goals, and Outcomes of a Comprehensive Occupational Health Program for Telephone Operators

Abstract

A means-goals analysis requires a plan with some degree of distinctness, which is worked out beforehand and specifies reasonably clear goals and intended means. This article draws its material from a broadly designed strategy for organizational change that meets these criteria. A service division of Swedish Telecom underwent a program of comprehensive organizational change; major efforts were made to improve the occupational health of 300 telephone operators in manual service operations. Over a full three-year period, a number of specific problems were to be resolved. An independent research team evaluated the implementation of the program prospectively. The team followed an evaluation model in which stringent distinction was made between: (1) action areas, (2) intended specific means, (3) intended immediate goals, and (4) the longer-term favorable effects of achieving these immediate goals. In addition, an attempt was made to interpret and understand the findings of the means-goals evaluation by paying systematic attention to the implementation process and factors that might permit an understanding of the final outcomes of the program. Compared with other efforts to improve telephone operators' work conditions as reported in the research literature, this strategy for the promotion of change is broad and ambitious.