Promoting performance and the quality of working life simultaneously

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to answer the question: how can organizations be developed in such a way that it improves simultaneously performance and the quality of working life (QWL). The focus is particularly on diverse organizational and management practices and the nature of development process. Design/methodology/approach The empirical data consist of self‐assessments of development projects implemented at workplaces as a part of the Finnish Workplace Development Programme (1996‐2005). The self‐assessments have been gathered separately from management, staff and experts used in the project. The data are based on a sample of 1,113 responses from 409 development projects. The research approach is solution‐oriented, seeking factors that can promote concurrent improvements in both performance and the QWL. Findings Concerning the work, management and organizational practices the findings show that comprehensive development of organization, i.e. implementation of practices is associated with simultaneous improvement in performance and the QWL. Second, concerning the nature of development method, the study shows that employee participation in planning and implementation phase, close collaboration during the process, the methods used by the experts and external networking were related to simultaneous outcomes at workplaces. Originality/value This paper makes a contribution to the debate on the effects of organizational development on performance and the QWL, and adds some new empirical findings. It also emphasizes the increasing importance of discussion between organizational development and innovation literature in the future.