Investigating Managerial Qualities to Support Sustainable Intervention Effects in the Long Term

Abstract

It is crucial to understand how interventions can be designed and implemented in order to support successful and sustainable effects in the long term. Intervention management can be important in this regard, but we have limited knowledge on the managerial strategies that can help to sustain the effects of an intervention over time. In this paper, we present a qualitative study of an intervention that had a duration of five years. We carried out 11 in-depth interviews on the role and qualities of the manager in the intervention process and effects. Results from the intervention unit showed that an engaged line manager was essential for promoting employee motivation and involvement in the longer term, which was achieved through building empowerment and trust, establishing a work group, and use of some support by external consultants. In conclusion, this intervention indicated that building good intervention management is important for sustainable intervention effects.

A Six-Year Effect Evaluation of an Occupational Health Intervention – Considering Contextual Challenges

“…This was essential, because employees who perceives intervention activities as relevant and proximal to their daily work are more prone to show participation and engagement [25]. The HSEP action consisted of four workshops: 1) establishing a shared understanding of the intervention's purpose, 2) employee training in the organization's conflict management policy, 3) [26]). The researchers (and authors of this study) were involved in the evaluation of the intervention but not its implementation.…”

“…The contextual analysis was based on a review and narrative interpretation of the contextual variables, with secondary data from organizational records, intervention records, notes from meetings, and material from interviews with stakeholders that were carried out as part of the short term evaluation (see [1,3]). The contextual analysis covers a comprehensive assessment of the contextual factors around the intervention over its course and describes the merger, support from the external consultant firm, turnover, and the working group.…”

“…When an intervention leads to substantial outcomes, it is important to understand which components contributed to that success: to identify what works, for whom, why, how and under which circumstances [8]. In this intervention, such a process evaluation was undertaken in 2016 [3]. This showed that an engaged line manager is essential for maintaining employee motivation and involvement in the longer term, and that this is done through building empowerment and trust, establishing a work group, and integrating support from internal and external consultants; concluding that the intervention had been successful overall (Authors, [1 -3].…”