ABSTRACT
Most of the employed people in the United Kingdom work in organizations and think of themselves as working for organizations. For them, their employer is an organization: that organization provides them with not only their job but also the context within which that job exists. Not surprisingly, many of the problems that they report, which are known to affect their health and behaviour at work, and which they consequently have to cope with, appear to originate in organizational and related management issues (Cox, Leather and Cox, 1990). More widely, the organization, and the context that it offers for work, shape the behaviour of its employees and can determine not only the quality of their working life but also their general health. It is, therefore, important to examine the nature of organizations, and the relationship between the characteristics of those organizations, and the experiences, behaviour and health of their employees. It is suggested that an important mediating factor may be the perceived 'quality' of the organization and its healthiness. Adopting this framework has obvious implications for the management of work-related stress and improving employee health, emphasizing the importance of organizational-level interventions and coping responses. This chapter provides a framework for those that follow, and explores the organizational context to employee health, stress and coping in terms of the concept of organizational healthiness.
