PSYCHOSOCIAL WORK-ENVIRONMENT IN HUMAN-SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS - A CONCEPTUAL ANALYSIS AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE DEMAND-CONTROL MODEL

This paper concerns two models that were introduced in two different r esearch domains during the 1970's. The first model regards human servi ce organizations (HSO) as a specific type of organization. The second model, the demand-control model (DC model), concerns the joint effects of job demands and job control on worker health. In the HSO model, th ere are analyses of the content of jobs, considering the specific char acteristics of HSOs, but little is said about the health effects of su ch work. Those effects stand in focus in the demand-control model. The aim of this paper is to analyze the relevance of the DC model for hum an service organizations. The paper argues that the object of human se rvice work-the client relation-makes a difference for demand and contr ol in the job. Demand is analyzed into work load, emotional demands an d role conflict. Control is divided into administrative control, outco me control, choice of skills, closeness of supervision, control within and over a situation and ideological control. The conclusion is that in applications on HSOs, the basic concepts of the DC model must be de veloped. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd