The Workplace Health Group: A Case Study of 20 Years of Multidisciplinary Research

The Workplace Health Group (WHG) was established in 1998 to conduct research on worker health and safety and organizational effectiveness. This multidisciplinary team includes researchers with backgrounds in psychology, health promotion and behavior, and intervention design, implementation, and eval...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American psychologist 2019-04, Vol.74 (3), p.380-393
Main Authors: Haynes, Nicholas J, Vandenberg, Robert J, DeJoy, David M, Wilson, Mark G, Padilla, Heather M, Zuercher, Heather S, Robertson, Melissa M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Case studies
Cognition
Cooperative Behavior
Diversity
Group Development
Health behavior
Health Promotion
Health psychology
Human
Humans
Interdisciplinary aspects
Interdisciplinary Research
Leadership
Multidisciplinary teams
Occupational Health
Occupational Safety
Organizational Effectiveness
Safety
Teams
Workplace
Workplaces
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Summary:The Workplace Health Group (WHG) was established in 1998 to conduct research on worker health and safety and organizational effectiveness. This multidisciplinary team includes researchers with backgrounds in psychology, health promotion and behavior, and intervention design, implementation, and evaluation. The article begins with a brief history of the team, its guiding principles, and stages of team formation and development. This section provides examples of the roles, team composition, structure, processes, cognition, leadership, and climate played in the various stages of team development, as well as how they influenced team effectiveness. The WHG formed with functional diversity-variety in knowledge, skills, and abilities-in mind, and the impact of this diversity is discussed throughout the article. Illustrations of how the functional diversity of the WHG has led to real-world impact are provided. The article concludes with some lessons learned and recommendations for creating and sustaining multidisciplinary teams based on the WHG's 20 years of experience and the team science literature.
ISSN:0003-066X
1935-990X
DOI:10.1037/amp0000445