Developing employee resilience to organisational change: the development of a practitioner intervention framework

Purpose – Recent research has explored employee resilience as a personal resource capable of development for both individual and organisational outcome benefits. Reviews examining programmes to build employee resilience have identified only a small number of empirical studies. Whilst one to one modes of resilience programme delivery have been identified as being potentially more effective than other modes, review authors conclude the current literature to lack coherence and call for further work. This thesis focuses upon employee resilience in the context of organisational change, a context with a current literature gap. The thesis sought to develop and trial an intervention framework, to examine impacts on participant psychosocial variables and to compare delivery modes. Design/methodology/approach - Qualitative interviews with n=16 public and third sector employees experiencing organisational change were conducted and results analysed using template analysis. Findings along with factors from the adult resilience literature informed the development of an intervention framework consisting of seven areas - optimistic style, getting perspective, using strengths, self-efficacy, social support self-care and goal setting - which was piloted with n=12 public sector managers. A quasi experimental study comparing group and one to one delivery modes was conducted with n=44 public sector employees randomly allocated to the two delivery modes. Pre and post intervention (1 week and 4 weeks) measures of participant resilience, well being and change efficacy were analysed using mixed between subjects ANOVA’s. A final controlled trial involving a three session group based delivery programme was conducted with n=27 intervention participants and n=27 waiting list control participants from a public sector organisation. Participant resilience, change efficacy and well-being were measured in both groups one week prior to the intervention delivery, one week after completion and four weeks later. After controlling for level of change impact using ANCOVA’s, results were analysed using mixed between subjects ANOVA’s. Findings – One to one delivery was associated with positive gains in participant well-being and change efficacy and some, but not all aspects of participant resilience. Group workshop delivery modes did not lead to any increases in study variables. Research limitations – Design limitations mean it is not possible to distinguish the most efficacious components of the interventions. The small public sector sample restricts generalisation of findings to other contexts. The outcome focus of the studies prevents clarifying the extent to which process variables impacted findings. Overall results should be viewed as preliminary/exploratory. Practical implications – Some support has been provided for the use of one to one resilience intervention for public sector employees experiencing change. The thesis intervention framework provides a potential template for resilience intervention design. Piloting and a process evaluation approach are recommended for any future application. Originality/value – A focus upon employee resilience in an organisational change context offers an original contribution to the literature. Support for resilience as a functional personal resource with development potential is also offered

Resilience training in the workplace from 2003 to 2014: a systematic review

Over a decade of research attests to the importance of resilience in the workplace for employee well-being and performance. Yet, surprisingly, there has been no attempt to synthesize the evidence for the efficacy of resilience training in this context. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to provide a systematic review of work-based resilience training interventions. Our review identified 14 studies that investigated the impact of resilience training on personal resilience and four broad categories of dependent variables: (a) mental health and subjective well-being outcomes, (b) psychosocial outcomes, (c) physical/biological outcomes, and (d) performance outcomes. Findings indicated that resilience training can improve personal resilience, and is a useful means of developing mental health and subjective well-being in employees. We also found that resilience training has a number of wider benefits that include enhanced psychosocial functioning and improved performance. Due to the lack of coherence in design and implementation, we cannot draw any firm conclusions about the most effective content and format of resilience training. Therefore, going forward, it is vital that future research uses comparative designs to assess the utility of different training regimes, explores whether some people might benefit more/less from resilience training, and demonstrates consistency in terms of how resilience is defined, conceptualized, developed, and assessed

Evaluation of prognostic risk models for postoperative pulmonary complications in adult patients undergoing major abdominal surgery: a systematic review and international external validation cohort study

Background Stratifying risk of postoperative pulmonary complications after major abdominal surgery allows clinicians to modify risk through targeted interventions and enhanced monitoring. In this study, we aimed to identify and validate prognostic models against a new consensus definition of postoperative pulmonary complications. Methods We did a systematic review and international external validation cohort study. The systematic review was done in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. We searched MEDLINE and Embase on March 1, 2020, for articles published in English that reported on risk prediction models for postoperative pulmonary complications following abdominal surgery. External validation of existing models was done within a prospective international cohort study of adult patients (≥18 years) undergoing major abdominal surgery. Data were collected between Jan 1, 2019, and April 30, 2019, in the UK, Ireland, and Australia. Discriminative ability and prognostic accuracy summary statistics were compared between models for the 30-day postoperative pulmonary complication rate as defined by the Standardised Endpoints in Perioperative Medicine Core Outcome Measures in Perioperative and Anaesthetic Care (StEP-COMPAC). Model performance was compared using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROCC). Findings In total, we identified 2903 records from our literature search; of which, 2514 (86·6%) unique records were screened, 121 (4·8%) of 2514 full texts were assessed for eligibility, and 29 unique prognostic models were identified. Nine (31·0%) of 29 models had score development reported only, 19 (65·5%) had undergone internal validation, and only four (13·8%) had been externally validated. Data to validate six eligible models were collected in the international external validation cohort study. Data from 11 591 patients were available, with an overall postoperative pulmonary complication rate of 7·8% (n=903). None of the six models showed good discrimination (defined as AUROCC ≥0·70) for identifying postoperative pulmonary complications, with the Assess Respiratory Risk in Surgical Patients in Catalonia score showing the best discrimination (AUROCC 0·700 [95% CI 0·683–0·717]). Interpretation In the pre-COVID-19 pandemic data, variability in the risk of pulmonary complications (StEP-COMPAC definition) following major abdominal surgery was poorly described by existing prognostication tools. To improve surgical safety during the COVID-19 pandemic recovery and beyond, novel risk stratification tools are required. Funding British Journal of Surgery Society

Can resilience be developed at work? A meta-analytic review of resilience-building programme effectiveness

Organizations have increasingly sought to adopt resilience-building programmes to prevent absenteeism, counterproductive work behaviour, and other stress-related issues. However, the effectiveness of these programmes remains unclear as a comprehensive review of existing primary evidence has not been undertaken. Using 42 independent samples across 37 studies, the present meta-analysis sought to address this limitation in the literature by summarizing the effectiveness of resilience-building programmes implemented in organizational contexts. Results demonstrated that the overall effect of such programmes was small (d = 0.21) and that programme effects diminish over time (dproximal = 0.26 vs. ddistal = 0.07). Alternatively, moderator analyses revealed that programmes targeting individuals thought to be at greater risk of experiencing stress and lacking core protective factors showed the opposite effect over time. Programmes employing a one-on-one delivery format (e.g., coaching) were most effective, followed by the classroom-based group delivery format. Programmes using train-the-trainer and computer-based delivery formats were least effective. Finally, substantially stronger effects were observed among studies employing single-group within-participant designs, in comparison with studies utilizing between-participant designs. Taken together, these findings provide important theoretical and practical implications for advancing the study and use of resilience-building in the workplace