Dealing with psychosocial risks (PSR) in the context of organisational change
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Organisational change is at the heart of modern organisations. Many authors have examined this phenomenon which, over the years, has become commonplace and even unavoidable for most companies. It is therefore important to understand what organisational change is in order to understand the impact it has on individuals and to identify actions that can be taken to reduce its negative effects.
What is meant by organisational change?
In social psychology, Bélanger (1994) defines change in a general way as “the passage from a current state to a desired state, from a current original situation, judged to be inadequate, to another considered to be more suitable, which better meets the requirements of the environment or the new aspirations of the people concerned”.
For Grouard & Meston (1998), in a professional context, organisational change is the “process of radical or marginal transformation of structures and skills which punctuates the process of evolution of organisations”.
It should be noted that the content of organisational change in companies has mainly been studied from two perspectives: on the one hand, desired change and on the other, change that is undergone. Based on this distinction, Grouard & Meston emphasise that organisational change is generated by external factors imposed by the environment – change is then undergone – or internal to the organisation, i.e. desired by managers. The authors have identified six external factors and internal factors associated with the organisation itself.
6 external factors |
Internal factors |
| Economic factors | Internal conflicts |
| Competitive factors | Confrontation between different value systems |
| Sociocultural factors | Personnel |
| Politico-legislative factors | Psychological conflict |
| Technology development | Etc. |
| Ecological factors |
The individual at the heart of change
This definition refers to the content of change, but not to the human dimension which is the keystone of successful organisational change. According to Bareil (2004), ‘organisational change cannot be achieved without the contribution of individuals’. Until now, organisations have been more concerned with the content and the way of introducing changes than with the way of managing them, and therefore of accompanying the individuals who make them up. Indeed, it is the people who will give meaning to the changes, who will make them live and last. This is why a company can only achieve change if its members also change. For individuals, this means adapting to a new working environment (working conditions, hierarchical relations, new learning, etc.).
Thus, in a situation of change, individuals may be confronted with the unknown, sometimes producing a feeling of malaise, which may manifest itself in the form of stress, for example. Vinet et al. 2003, speak of “the erosion of working conditions which has jeopardised the health of workers, particularly their mental health”. Consequently, the implementation of a system for dealing with psychosocial risks in a context of organisational change becomes necessary to reduce their impact on employees.
What are PSRs?
In scientific literature, there is no consensus on a definition. Coutarel (2011) indicates that “stress, decision making, social support, work demands, recognition, monotony are concepts evoked in and around the theme of PSRs, the boundaries of which vary according to the authors, and which overlap to a greater or lesser extent. This variety of themes under the heading of “psychosocial risks” is a source of great confusion. Moreover, they do not constitute a complete definition of PSRs, since they cover their determinants and impacts, without distinguishing between their causes and consequences.
As Gollac (2009) points out, what makes a risk to health at work psychosocial is not its manifestation but its origin. We will therefore adopt his definition, according to which psychosocial risks are “risks to mental, physical and social health, generated by employment conditions, organisational and relational factors likely to interact with mental functioning”.
The danger is therefore created by the interaction of a social situation (organisation, status, economic condition) with the individual’s psyche. In this respect, the author points out that “research converges to show that organisational and relational causes have adverse consequences on physical working conditions, but also on psychological working conditions, and vice versa”.
Gollac groups these risk factors around six axes relating to :
- work intensity and working hours
- emotional demands
- lack of autonomy
- poor quality of social relations at work
- value conflicts
- insecurity of the work situation.
These factors may be all the more present in the context of organisational change. In order to better manage these changes and to support employees, it is therefore necessary to take an interest in the organisational and relational factors at the origin of these risks, by setting up a system for dealing with PSR.
Consultant in Organisational Transformation @ MindForest Group
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