Understanding the outcomes of work transformations: evaluation of organizational interventions

This chapter suggests a novel framework for reporting and evaluating the quality of organizational interventions (FRAQOI) that aim to transform the way work is organized, designed, and managed. First, the chapter critiques what has been considered the gold standard for intervention evaluation, the randomized controlled trial design, which is arguably insufficient to capture the complexity of organizational interventions because the intervention process has been found to impact intervention outcomes. The chapter then reconsiders the evaluation of organizational interventions based on the realist evaluation and implementation literature. Such reconsiderations require us to rethink what we consider good quality research and the information we provide in publications to enable the synthesis of what works for whom in which circumstances. The FRAQOI provides guidelines as to how we may report organizational interventions and what elements are in determining what may be considered a good quality organizational intervention study.