ABSTRACT
The statistical analysis showed a strong connection between resources for control, job demand, and reported ill health. When focusing on the social character of the work process, the issue of individual autonomy within a collective work process becomes central, although studies linking the social character of work to stress reactions are limited. To cope successfully with stressors, the individual must have possibilities and resources to exert individual and/or collective control over external events, conditions, and processes. The distinction between control within and control over a situation corresponds to the distinction between horizontal and vertical job discretion in organizational theories. The horizontal/vertical work dimensions may be used when initiating or analyzing different types of work reform activities. The idea behind New Factories was to find a type of work organization that, while preserving profit, could adjust the companies to the new requirements imposed by research and work legislation.
