Work life and organizational changes and how they are perceived by the employees

The aim is to investigate the association between different kinds of organizational changes during the last years and how the working conditions have been affected. In a study of working conditions for women and men in Swedish work life of today (the MOA-study(1)) data were collected on the organizational as well as on the individual level. Characteristics of 72 private and public work sites were assessed by using interviews with managers and written documents about the organizations. More changes were identified in the public compared to the private sector. Five different patterns of organizational changes were identified by means of a cluster analysis. 104 women and 104 men were selected for the investigation of working conditions by using open personal interviews and questionnaires regarding perceived consequences of the changes. The results of logistic regressions showed that the pattern of organizational changes was significantly associated with self-reported work load, development and control possibilities, job security and salary in relation to effort. Organizational changes directed at lean production systems seem to have a great impact on psychosocial working conditions, particularly for women.