TY  - JOUR
A1  - Muschalla, Beate
A1  - Fay, Doris
A1  - Seemann, Anne
T1  - Asking for work adjustments or initiating behavioural changes - what study on the reactions towards colleagues with a personality disorder
T2  - Fundamenta informaticae
N2  - People with mental disorders, especially personality disorders, often face low acceptance at work. This is particularly problematic when returning to work after sick leave, because it impedes reintegration into the former workplace. This study explores colleagues’ reactions towards a problematic worker dependent on the returning person’s reintegration strategy: The returning person undertaking changes in their behaviour is compared with the person requesting adjustments of the workplace. In an experimental study, 188 employed persons read one of four vignettes that described a return-to-work-situation of a problematic co-worker. Across all vignettes, the co-worker was depicted as having previously caused problems in the work team. In the first vignette, the co-worker did not change anything (control condition) when she returned to work; in the second, she asked for workplace adjustments; in the third vignette she initiated efforts to change her own behaviour; and the fourth vignette combined both workplace adjustments and behavioural change. Study participants were asked for their reactions towards the problematic co-worker. Vignettes that included a behavioural change evoked more positive reactions towards the co-worker than vignettes without any behavioural change. Asking for workplace adjustments alone did not yield more positive reactions compared to not initiating any change. When preparing employees with interactional problems for their return to work, it is not effective to only instruct them on their statutory entitlement for workplace adjustments. Instead, it is advisable to encourage them to proactively strive for behaviour changes.
KW  - Workplace
KW  - personality disorders
KW  - mental health
KW  - sick leave
KW  - acceptance
KW  - social distance
Y1  - 2016
UR  - https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/45772
SN  - 1354-8506
SN  - 1465-3966
VL  - 21
SP  - 856
EP  - 862
PB  - IOS Press
CY  - Abingdon
ER  -