11:45 – 13:00 – Special Session: New Directions for IGLOO and Realist Evaluation: Extending Professor Karina Nielsen’s Contribution to Intervention Research

This symposium examines the continuing influence of multi-level intervention frameworks and realist evaluation methodologies in occupational health psychology, building on foundational research established by Professor Karina Nielsen. Her work fundamentally shifted intervention research beyond the traditional “what works?” question to examine what works for whom, in which circumstances, and through what mechanisms. This realist evaluation approach recognises that interventions are complex events whose success depends on contextual factors and underlying mechanisms that activate change. Her development of the IGLOO model (Individual, Group, Leader, Organisation, Overarching context) provided a systematic approach to designing and evaluating interventions, proving especially influential in sustainable return-to-work research where it guides understanding of how resources at multiple organisational levels support employee wellbeing and maintaining long-term work participation. These methodologies transformed how researchers design, implement, and evaluate workplace interventions, advancing understanding not just of whether interventions work, but crucially, how, why, for whom, and in what circumstances they produce effects on employee wellbeing. Collectively, these presentations illustrate the enduring value of theory-driven, intervention research. They exemplify the power of moving beyond simple outcome evaluation to understand mechanisms and contexts determining intervention success, whilst maintaining solid commitment to research that provides actionable insights for improving employee wellbeing. This symposium thus demonstrates how these foundational frameworks continue to inspire and guide intervention research and practice in occupational health psychology.

The four presentations demonstrate how these frameworks continue to generate new research directions. The first presentation by Løkling and colleagues extends realist evaluation’s focus on mechanisms by applying Conservation of Resources theory to understand conflict evolution during organisational interventions, examining how resource and risk caravans shape conflict trajectories and thereby advancing understanding of the dynamic processes through which interventions produce change. The second presentation by Abildgaard and colleagues applies realist evaluation methodology to an innovative intervention context, a serious-game simulation for change leadership, investigating how, why, and for whom change management training influences leader competencies and employee outcomes, thus extending the methodology’s application to technology-enabled leadership development. The third presentation by Can and colleagues extends the IGLOO framework into the sustainable return-to-work domain, systematically examining which multi-level resources facilitate long-term return-to-work outcomes for individuals with common mental disorders, demonstrating the framework’s applicability beyond primary prevention to tertiary interventions. The fourth presentation by Topakas and colleagues offers a theoretical extension by conceptualising POWIs as sensemaking infrastructures, advancing five propositions that link collective prospective sensemaking and organisational memory to the development of enduring organisational change capability.

Chairs: Cris Vasquez and Christine Ipsen

More information can be found here. 

Escalatory and De-Escalatory Spirals: The Role of Resource and Risk Caravans in the Dynamic Evolution of Intragroup Conflict

Trond Løkling1, Kasper Edwards2, Jonathan Freitas3, Karina Nielsen4, Marit Konstad1, Marit Christensen1
1Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway. 2DTU, Copenhagen, Denmark. 3Federal University of Minas Gerais, Minas Gerais, Brazil. 4Sheffield University Management School, Sheffield, United Kingdom

Background: Acknowledging the challenges workplace conflict creates, organisational scholars have devoted substantial effort to understanding how conflict escalates and de-escalates over time. However, existing frameworks of conflict management offer limited insight into the micro-processes unfolding within the broader job context, in which perceptions of conflict issues emerge impacting its trajectory in everyday organisational life. Therefore, to enhance employee wellbeing through more effective conflict prevention and intervention, our study aims to clearly identify, define and understand the critical mechanisms impacting conflict levels.
Method: Presenting original process data from organisations in four different sectors (hospital, nursing home, child protection and correctional service) (N = 30 employees), this study charts the evolution of intragroup conflict from the point of view of employees. First, employee and leader representatives in each organisation were allocated in two separate groups. Second, using a newly developed narrative method, Effect Modifier Assessment (EMA), we asked the participants to recall and describe significant events, modifying conflict levels in the working environment over a specified intervention period. Third, we applied an abductive research philosophy and Conservation of Resource (COR) theory as a sensitising lens to identify patterns of themes explaining conflict escalation and de-escalation, mirroring the concepts of gain and loss spirals.
Results: First, our data trace the evolution of emerging narratives through three distinct escalatory spirals (Unfairness narratives, Polarisation narratives, and Contagion narratives) and three de-escalatory spirals (Trust narratives, Cohesion narratives and Alignment narratives). Second, we identified several dominant combinations of events leading to increased and decreased perceptions of conflict. Third, we found that conflict levels evolved in a non-linear way during the intervention period. Fourth, in line with previous research on organisational interventions and conflict management, we found that both planned intervention activities and contextual conditions shaped the trajectory of conflict.
Conclusion: We conclude with reflections on the lessons these cases can provide for identifying critical pathways for conflict evolution, how and when to intervene in organisational context to promote cooperative behaviour.

Does Serious-Game Simulation Based Training Lead to Better Change Leadership?
Johan Simonsen Abildgaard11, Esben Langager Olsen2
1Copenhagen Business School, Copenhagen, Denmark. 2The National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Copenhagen, Denmark

Background: The current paper presents the results from an intervention (the Change Competency Intervention CCI) using serious game simulations of change events to improve the change management competencies of managers and other change agents. The specific context of the intervention is Novozymes A/S, a Danish biotech company whose production plants were conducting a long-term change process towards more systematic and widespread use of Lean management tools. A primary element in CCI is training leaders to understand readiness and resistance towards change and how these can be addressed. In relation to both change resistance as well as change success, a key element in CCI is that situations, contexts and people are different and hence change impacts differently. The CCI project aims to teach the managers these change concepts through a mix of dialogue tools and board game-based leadership simulations. Using so-called ‘serious games’ allows for the participants to play through, and learn from, a simulation in a training setting. The programme theory for CCI is that implementation of Lean management can both improve production and be strenuous for employees in the sense production and organisation of work will be changed. CCI is theorised to help managers implement Lean more efficiently hence improving the effects of Lean on productivity and reducing the strain on employee wellbeing.
Method: The intervention consisted of four full days of workshops focusing on developing an understanding and a vocabulary for the human side of change management. Key topics were handling resistance, balancing stability and change, managing stakeholders. Personal and departmental action plans were developed at the workshops. All board games and dialogue tools were developed by the change consultancy agency Workz A/S, whose consultants facilitated all workshops in the project. Ten departments in Novozymes were enrolled in the study. These consist of two production plants with each maintenance supply chain and production departments. Cluster randomisation was conducted between matched pairs of departments. In total 700 employees participate in the study. For the evaluation of the project a mixed methods approach was used which included: audio/video data from workshops, workshop evaluation questionnaires, baseline and 12 month follow-up questionnaires and finally interviews with consultants,
stakeholders and participant. We employ a mixed methods realist evaluation approach inspired by the Kirkpatrick training evaluation model.
Results: We present both quantitative and qualitative results from the intervention following the sequential mixed methods analysis. We demonstrate how training reactions are linked to both change specific and generic learning. The results show that the two departments in the second round of training had a significantly better learning from the course and that these high-learning departments had significantly improved change fit, and change management (assessed via repeated measures ANOVA on employee data compared to its matched comparison department). No significant effects were found in the low-learning departments.
Conclusion: The study is a unique research opportunity to examine the effects of simulations and board games as novel intervention tools. It also contributed to knowledge on the impact of change management training on employee, change resistance and change success. The randomised design and the potential to collect comprehensive quantitative and qualitative data additionally strengthens the CCI project results.

Applying the IGLOO Model to Sustainable Return-to-Work: Understanding Resources and Outcomes for Individuals with Common Mental Disorders
Zoe Can1, Cristian Vasquez1, Suean E. Peters2, Karina Nielsen1, Jeremy F. Dawson1
1Sheffield University Management School, Sheffield, United Kingdom. 2Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, USA

Background: Common mental disorders (CMDs) are a key cause of sickness absence around the world. Supporting individuals with CMDs to return to work (RTW) is important, as absences have high associated economic costs, and missing out on work can be detrimental to individuals. Within research on RTW, there has been growing recognition of the importance of a longer-term approach, leading to sustainable RTW (SRTW) receiving greater attention. The IGLOO Model is a framework which categorises resources which can facilitate SRTW across five levels: individual, group, leader, organisation, and overarching context.
Method: This research project explores SRTW for individuals with CMDs. First, a systematic review was conducted to understand which IGLOO Model resources influence long-term RTW outcomes for individuals with CMDs and to explore conceptualisations of SRTW for people with CMDs. This found that various factors could support or hinder an SRTW for people with CMDs, that there was a lack of research at certain levels, and that there was a lack of a unified definition of SRTW for people with CMDs. Following this, a narrative review was also completed which explored the role of healthcare workers in supporting SRTW for people with CMDs, demonstrating them as key actors. Currently, semi-structured interviews are being conducted with individuals with experience of RTW following mental health-related absence, line managers with relevant experience, RTW coordinators, and researchers of the topic. This interview study aims to answer the following two research questions: what are the main elements that should be considered in a comprehensive definition of sustainable return-to-work, and is there alignment in stakeholder views on what an SRTW for people with CMDs is?
Results: Preliminary findings suggest that the timeframe for an SRTW for people with CMDs should look at the period following return for up to one year.
Conclusion: Overall, the project aims to provide a deeper understanding of what an SRTW for people with CMDs looks like, and how it can be achieved with the support of various resources across the IGLOO model.

Remembering Forward Together: How Organisational Memory and Prospective Sensemaking Shape Participatory Organisational Wellbeing Interventions
Sofia Topakas1, Cristian Vasquez1, Tiziana Sardiello2, Anna Jansson2, Steven Vanderstichelen3, Klaus Wegleitner4
1Sheffield University Management School, Sheffield, United Kingdom. 2Lulea University of Technology, Lulea, Sweden. 3Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium. 4University of Graz, Graz, Austria

Background: Participatory organisational wellbeing interventions (POWIs) are widely promoted as effective approaches to improving employee wellbeing by involving organisational members in the design and implementation of change. Despite promising short-term outcomes, many POWIs fail to generate sustained change or build lasting organisational capacity. This paper addresses this gap by adopting a prospective sensemaking perspective to explain how POWIs can contribute to organisational change capability over time.
Drawing on sensemaking theory, schema theory, and organisational memory, we conceptualise POWIs not merely as technical change mechanisms but as sensemaking infrastructures through which organisational members interpret, enact, and sustain wellbeing-oriented change. Central to our framework is the concept of prospective sensemaking, understood as the collective process through which organisational members project possible futures, frame emerging meanings, and coordinate present action based on anticipated outcomes. We argue that prospective sensemaking during POWIs is grounded in organisational memory, comprising accumulated knowledge and experience from prior interventions and wellbeing initiatives. Organisational members evaluate new intervention cues in relation to existing cognitive schemas, perceived source credibility, and the recency, relevance, and significance of past experiences, all of which shape the plausibility of intervention narratives and the effectiveness of sensegiving.
Propositions: Building on this conceptual model, we advance five propositions linking interpretive cues, organisational memory, and collective sensemaking to the development of organisational change capability. We argue that when prospective sensemaking becomes collective and stabilised through shared meanings, POWIs are more likely to foster enduring capacity for wellbeing-oriented change.
Conclusion: By theorising the temporal and interpretive dynamics through which participatory interventions mobilise organisational memory to shape future-oriented action, this paper offers a novel explanation for why some POWIs become embedded and sustainable while others remain episodic. The framework contributes to research on wellbeing interventions, organisational change, and sensemaking, with implications for both theory and intervention design.