OB Chapter 5 - Stress

Stage of Exhaustion

If the stressor or stressors continue beyond the body's capacity, the resources become exhausted and the body is susceptible to disease and death.

Four main types of stressors

Work Hindrance, Work Challenge, Nonwork Hindrance, Nonwork Challenge

Time Pressure

- A type of work-related challenge stressor - A sense that the amount of time you have to do a task is not enough usually these situations are more challenging than hindering - Success in meeting demands is intrinsically satisfying

Role Conflict

- A type of work-related hindrance stressor referring to conflicting expectations that other people may have of us - Ex. call center operator = needs to be as responsive to questions and concerns while also spending as little time as possible with the person they are talking to - Impossible to meet both expectations!

Training Intervention

- Aimed at increasing job-related competencies and skills - Promotes sense that demands are more controllable, increases problem-focused coping strategies

Cognitive Behavioral Techniques

- Attempt to help people appraise and cope with stressors in a more rational manner - "Self-talk" = Speaking about stressful demands with rationality and optimism instead of disaster and doom - Also tools that foster effective coping - Prioritizing demands, managing time, seeking support

Problem-Focused Coping

- Behaviors and cognitions intended to manage the stressful situation itself (CONTROLLING SITUATION ITSELF) - So when there is time pressure, focusing effort on meeting demand rather than trying to avoid it (whether it be by working harder or more efficiently) behavioral methods: - working harder - seeking assistance - acquiring additional resources cognitive methods: - strategizing - self-motivation - changing priorities

Negative Life Event

- Certain life events are perceived as quite stressful, particularly when they result in significant changes to a person's life - Many of these events do not occur at work - Could be classified as hindrance stressors because they hinder the ability to achieve life goals and are associated with negative emotions - Ex. highest = death of a spouse, then divorce, marital separation, jail term - Middle: pregnancy, child leaving home, change in residence - Lower end: vacations, holiday season, minor violations of the law

Recovery

- Degree to which energies used for coping with work demands are replenished from a period of rest or relief from work, and is a factor that influences the stress process - Time away from work = reenergize! --But time away from work is not always equal in respect to recovery value ----Leisure activities (reading, TV, hiking, friends) are better at restoring energy than activities requiring physical, cognitive, or emotional effort (grocery shopping, driving children to school, household chores) --Also sleep is important for recovery process! And it has negative correlation to strains like anxiety, depression, fatigue, etc.

Burnout

- Emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion that results from having to cope with stressful demands on an ongoing basis - Changes of heart are frequent if the job is exciting - a break from stressors gives time to recharge, but also think of excitement and challenge of performing again

Challenge Stressors

- Having to deal with additional responsibilities or stressful demands that people tend to perceive as opportunities for learning, growth, and achievement - Perceived by most employees as having long-term benefits (more positive emotions) - Exhausting, but trigger positive emotions such as pride and enthusiasm work challenge: - time pressure - work complexity - work responsibility nonwork challenge: - family time demands - personal development - positive life events

Supportive Practices

- Help employees manage and balance the demands that exist in the different roles they have --I.e. allowing employees to take breaks - Also flextime (i.e. flexible hours), onsite child care, compressed workweek (work more some days and less others), telecommuting on part-time basis, etc. - These also reduce turnover, increase innovation and productivity - And managers may attribute employees' use of these practices to low organizational commitment = less pay raises and promotions (maybe why they are underutilized)

Emotional Support

- Help people receive in addressing the emotional distress that accompanies stressful demands - Ex. supervisor being understanding and sympathetic to employee's situation

Instrumental Support

- Help people receive that can be used to address the stressful demand directly - Ex. coworker helping with work

How does stress affect job performance and organizational commitment?

- Hindrance stressors have a weak negative relationship with job performance --Result in strains and negative emotions that reduce the overall level of physical, cognitive, and emotional energy that people could otherwise bring to their job duties --Negative emotions and thoughts = counterproductive work behavior --Also illness, exhaustion = lower employee effectiveness - Hindrance stressors have strong negative relationship with organizational commitment --They evoke strains, dissatisfying to people, and people who work at jobs that are dissatisfying/cause them to feel sick/exhausted are less likely to want to stay with the organization -Challenge stressors have a weak relationship with job performance and a moderate relationship with organizational commitment - but they are both positive instead of negative --So employees who experience higher levels of challenge stressors also have higher levels of job performance and organizational commitment - Challenge stressors trigger positive emotions and problem-focused coping strategies that are characteristic of employees who are highly engaged in their jobs - Net benefits of these positive emotions/problem-focused coping strategies, and engagement outweigh the costs of the added strain - But they could have consequences over the long term! May become sick but come to work anyway

Psychological Strains

- Includes depression, anxiety, anger, hostility, reduced self-confidence, irritability, inability to think clearly, forgetfulness, lack of creativity, memory loss, and loss of a sense of humor - includes burnout

Job Sharing

- Indicates that two people share the responsibilities of a single job, as if the two people were a single performing unit - not splitting one job in two - ex. two people splitting role as VP of a company, but they shared one desk/email and one set of goals

Behavioral Coping

- Involves the set of physical activities that are used to deal with a stressful situation - DOING - can be problem or emotion focused problem-focused: - working harder - seeking assistance - acquiring additional resources emotion-focused: - engaging in alternative activites - seeking support - venting anger

Health and Wellness Programs

- Like employee assistance programs helping people with personal problems such as alcoholism and other addictions - Can include health screenings and health-related courses and information - Also fitness centers or memberships - Exercise can prevent a downward spiral where an employee feels burned out

Physiological Strains

- Occur in at least four systems of the human body 1) reduce effectiveness of immune system 2) harm body's cardiovascular system (i.e. heart races, increase in blood pressure) 3) cause problems in body's musculoskeletal system (headaches, tight shoulders/back pain) 4) gastrointestinal system problems (stomachs, indigestion, etc.)

Relaxation Techniques

- Progressive muscle relaxation, meditation - Teach people how to counteract effects of stressors by engaging in activities that slow heart and breathing rate, and blood pressure

Reducing Stressors

- Reducing stressors is more beneficial when focus of the effort is on hindrance stressors than challenge stressors - organizations can provide resources (training interventions, supportive practices) - eliminate or significantly reduce stressful demands (job sharing and sabbatical) - reduce strains (relaxation techniques, cognitive-behavioral techniques, health and wellness programs)

Financial Uncertainty

- Refers to conditions that create uncertainties with regard to the loss of livelihood, savings, or the ability to pay expenses - Relevant during recessions or economic downturns

Work Responsibility

- Refers to the nature of the obligations that a person has towards others - Level of responsibility in a job is higher when the number, scope, and importance of the obligations in that job are higher - Ex. air traffic controller - very high bc people's lives are on the line - High levels of responsibility are not only stressful, but potentially positive as well

Cognitive Coping

- Refers to the thoughts that are involved in trying to deal with a stressful situation - THINKING problem-focused: - strategizing - self-motivation - changing priorities emotion-focused: - avoiding, distancing, and ignoring - looking for the positive in the negative - reappraising

Daily Hassles

- Relatively minor day-to-day demands that get in the way of accomplishing the things that we really want to accomplish - Ex. unnecessary paperwork, office equipment malfunctions, annoying coworkers, etc. - 40% of executives spend between ½ to 1 full day each week on communications that are not useful or necessary

Work-Family Conflict

- Special form of role conflict in which the demands of a work role hinder the fulfillment of the demands of a family role (or vice versa) - Generally, work-family conflict can be thought of as something that upsets the balance or our work and nonwork lives "Work to family conflict": - Work demands hinder effectiveness in the family context - Stress at work carries to home "Family to work conflict": - Family conflict hinders effectiveness in work context - Stress at home carries to work - These create negative consequences which can create more work-family conflict - This conflict tends to be higher for employees who are strongly embedded in their work organizations and their communities

Hindrance Stressors

- Stressful demands that people tend to perceive as hindering their progress towards personal accomplishments or goal attainment - Usually trigger negative emotions like anxiety and anger - people may feel like they have less control over hindrance stressors Work Hindrance: - role conflict - role ambiguity - role overload - daily hassles Nonwork Hindrance: - work-family conflict - negative life events - financial uncertainty

Type A Behavior Pattern

- Strong sense of time urgency and tend to be impatient, hard-driving, competitive, controlling, aggressive, and even hostile - Annoyed with people doing things too slowly - Direct influence on the level of stressors --Hard-working people, may receive promotions/rewards in the form of increases of the amount of work required --Also aggressive and competitive, more prone to interpersonal conflict - Influences the stress process itself --Hard-driving competitiveness makes people hypersensitive to demands that could potentially affect their progress - Also type A is linked to coronary heart disease and other physiological, psychological, and behavioral strains

Coping

- The behaviors and thoughts that people use to manage both the stressful demands they face and the emotions associated with those stressful demands - there are methods of coping and focuses of coping methods of coping: - behavioral methods - cognitive methods focuses of coping: - problem-focused - emotion-focused

Work Complexity

- The degree to which the requirements of the work - in terms of knowledge, skills, and abilities - tax or exceed the capabilities of the person who is responsible for performing the work - Being stretched beyond capacity is well worth the associated discomfort (according to managers)

Social Support

- The help that people receive when they're confronted with stressful demands, and there are two major types: instrumental and emotional - can also come from family/friends outside of the work context - Most research on social support focuses on how it buffers the relationship between stressors and strains - Ex. supervisor supporting employee makes stressful demands seem more fair and less threatening compared to another supervisor that does not engage in supportive behaviors - Low levels of support = does not have extra coping resources - Social support is a "moderator" of the relationship between stressors and strains (they tend to be weaker i.e. stressors lead to less strains at higher levels of social support and stronger at lower levels of social support)

Family Time Demands

- Time that a person commits to participate in an array of family activities and responsibilities - Traveling, attending social events, hosting parties, making home improvements, etc.

Behavioral Strains

- Unhealthy behaviors such as grinding one's teeth at night, being overly bossy, smoking, compulsive gum chewing, alcohol abuse, and compulsive eating

Emotion-Focused Coping

- Ways in which people manage their own emotional reactions to stressful demands (CONTROLLING PERSONAL EMOTIONAL REACTION) - Reactions to daily hassles - either avoiding unpleasant emotions or trying to mentally make it seem better behavioral methods: - engaging in alternative activities - seeking support - venting anger cognitive methods: - avoiding, distancing, and ignoring - looking for the positive in the negative - reappraising

Role Overload

- When the number of demanding roles a person holds is so high that the person simply can't perform some or all of the roles effectively - This source of stress is becoming very prevalent for employees in many different industries, and studies have shown that this source of stress is more prevalent than both role conflict and role ambiguity - Ex. 80 hour work weeks, still not completing all the work

Stress

- a psychological response to demands that possess certain stakes for the person and that tax or exceed the person's capacity or resources - A response to demands where there is something at stake and where coping with the demands taxes or exceeds a person's capacity or resources - depends on both the nature of the demand and the person who confronts it - People differ in terms of how they perceive and evaluate stressors and the way they cope with them - As a result, different people may experience different levels of stress even when confronted with the exact same situation stressors -> stress -> strain

Stress Audit

- assess level and sources of stress in the workplace with managers asking themselves questions about the nature of the jobs in their organization to estimate whether high stress levels may be a problem - Questions may involve degree to which the organization is going through changes that would likely increase uncertainty among employees --Ex. company merger = uncertainty in job security -Center on the work itself --Focus on the level and types of stressors experienced by the employees -Involve quality of relationships between not only employees but also employees and the organization --Do organizational politics play a large role in administrative decisions?

Sabbatical

- gives employees the opportunity to take time off from work and engage in an alternative activity - But since stress of job never changes, employees feel stressors upon returning to work

Role Ambiguity

- hinders performance the MOST! - Refers to a lack of information about what needs to be done in a role, as well as unpredictability regarding the consequences of performance in that role - Working on projects with very few instructions (how long it should take, how much $ to spend on it, what finished product should look like) - Usually with new employees or students - it gets stressful when directions are not clear!

Benign Job Demands

- job demands that tend not to be appraised as stressful (so a normal day-to-day cashier job demands) - But if cash register broke down, it prevents them from achieving their goal of being viewed as an effective employee and it may become stressful!

Positive Life Events

- nonwork challenge stressors - Ex. marriage, addition of new family member, graduating from school

Primary Appraisal

- occurs as people evaluate the significance and the meaning of the stressor they're confronting - Occurs when people first encounter stressors - People first consider whether a demand causes them to feel stressed, and if it does, they consider the implications of the stressor in terms of their personal goals and overall well-being - asks "is it stressful" (evaluate the significance and meaning of stressors encountered) -- if no -> benign job demand -- if yes -> secondary appraisal "how can i cope"

Yerkes-Dodson Law Stressors

- performance will increase with an increase in stress until the optimal level of stress is reached. Then, it goes down. - In terms of performance (y-axis), stress should ride at the peak (activation zone), and avoid the right tail (exhaustion zone).

Presenteeism

- results in prolonged illness or spread of illness, is when employees are engaged in their jobs and come to work despite being ill - causes larger reductions in productivity than employee absenteeism

General Adaption Syndrome

- stating that an event that threatens an organism's well being, a stressor, leads to a three-stage bodily response: 1) alarm 2) resistance 3) exhaustion

Strain

- the negative consequences that occur when demands tax or exceed a person's capacity or resources - The negative physical and psychological/ emotional consequences of stress - Mechanism in your body that gives you the ability to function effectively also can cause problems in reaction to stress - physiological, psychological, and behavioral strains

What steps can an organization do to help employees manage stress?

1) primary: attempt to alter the source of the workplace stress by making changes such as redesigning jobs to give employees greater flexibility or more decision control. Ex. Redesigning work hours and/or spaces of a job 2) secondary: help employees better recognize and manage stress symptoms as they occur. Ex. When All Health Breaks Loose! - relaxation techniques (secondary) are most popular because they are cheap and easy to implement. 3) tertiary: help employees recover from stressful events. Ex. Onsite counseling after a crisis

Secondary Appraisal

Center on the issue of how people cope with the various stressors they face

Transactional theory of stress

Explains how stressors are perceived and appraised, as well as how people respond to those perceptions and appraisals Stress-> primary appraisal -> secondary appraisal (stressful) or benign job demand (not stressful)

Individual factors in regards to strains

Not everyone reacts to stressors in the same way! - some cope better: hardiness; resilience - others cope worse: Type A behavior pattern - social support can also help manage stress: instrumental, emotional - sufficient recovery helps! - the source, approach to manage, and one's personal hardiness and resilience make one more or less "stressed" than others

Personal Developments

Participation in formal education programs, music lessons, local government, volunteer work

Stage of resistance

The body resists and compensates as the parasympathetic nervous system attempts to return many physiological functions to normal levels while body focuses resources against the stressor and remains on alert.

Alarm Reaction

Upon perceiving a stressor, the body reacts with a "fight-or-flight" response and the sympathetic nervous system is stimulated as the body's resources are mobilized to meet the threat or danger.

Stressors

the demands that cause people to experience stress types of stressors: - work hindrance - work challenge - nonwork hindrance - nonwork challenge