Healthy Work: Stress, Productivity, and the Reconstruction of Working Life

by Robert Karasek and Tores Theorell

Book Overview

Evidence is accumulating that in many contemporary work environments people are literally working themselves to death. But what do we really know about job-related stress and illness? Based on a ten-year study of nearly five thousand workers, this path-breaking book by a distinguished industrial engineer and sociologist and a specialist in industrial medicine identifies a clear connection between work-related illness and workers' lack of participation...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0465028977
• ISBN13: 9780465028979
• Release Date: April 1992
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 398 Pages
• Weight: 1.24 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.1" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

A Classic

This is a classic in the area of Stress research. It outlines the most widely used model of occupational stress and gives a good understanding if its development and use. It is n't a perfect model but it has advanced our understanding of stress in the workplace. Should be on everyones shelf.

A classic

Healthy Work is a classic--though currently under-appreciated--work on organizations. It is a book of great breadth and richness that deserves more than one reading. Healthy Work is a "must read" for those concerned with creating healthy organizations. It describes the demand-control model, which has had a huge influence on research on work and health. The model was prompted by Karasek's concern about the consequences of demand-control imbalances in the workplace. Karasek and Theorell provide a vision of humane organizations in which employees can master challenges and experience personal growth. Healthy Work is not an easy read, but it is a "must read" for OD practitioners, OB professors, and those concerned with improving life in organizations. It challenges us to improve the "psychic prisons" in which many employees--unfortunately--spend much of their waking hours.