Chapter 7 Test 2

Preventative Stress Management

An organizational philosophy according to which people and organizations should take joint responsibility for promoting health and preventing distress and strain.

Nonwork Demands

Broadly identified as impositions from an individual's personal life environment (home) and self-imposed restrictions.

Sources of Work Stress

Caused by factors in the work environment as well as by nonwork (external) pressures that spill over into the workplace. Ex. for External - Working mother or father are called at work to go pick up their sick child at school. Ex. for Internal - Role conflict

Stress Response

Characterized by a predictable sequence of mind and body events. Begins with the release of chemical messengers, primarily adrenaline, into the blood stream. Prepares the person for fight or flight response. Body shifts from a neutral posture to an offensive posture.

Psychoanalytical Approach

Ego-deal: the embodiment of a person's perfect self. Self-image: how the person really sees herself, both positively and negatively. Stress results from the discrepancy between the idealized self (ego-ideal) and the real self-image.

Interpersonal Demands

Emotional toxins, such as sexual harassment and poor leadership in the organization, are examples of interpersonal demands, often generated at work by abrasive personalities.

Non-Western Managers

Experience less role ambiguity and more role overload.

Physical Demands

Extreme environments, strenuous activities, hazardous substances, and global travel create physical demands for people at work.

Tertiary Prevention

Intended to heal individual or organizational symptoms of distress and strain. Symptoms may range from early warning signs such as headaches or absenteeism.

Secondary Prevention

Intended to modify the individual's or the organization's response to a demand or stressor. Employees must learn to manage the inevitable, unalterable work stressors and demands to avert distress and strain while improving health and well-being.

Primary Prevention

Intended to reduce, modify, or eliminate the stress-causing demand or stressor. (source of the problem)

Challenge Stressors

Promote personal growth and achievement are positively related to job satisfaction and organizational commitment.

Person - Environment Fit Approach

Robert Kahn - emphasized the idea that confusing and conflicting expectations of a person in a social role create stress for that person. Stress occurs when the role expectations are confusing and/or conflict with one's skills and abilities.

Role Stress - Two Parts

Role conflict: results from inconsistent or incompatible expectations. The conflict may be an inter-role, intrarole, or person-role conflict. Interrole conflict: caused by opposing expectations related to two separate roles, such as employee and parent. Ex. Employee with a major presentation and a sick child at home. Intrarole conflict: caused by opposing expectations related to a single role. Ex. Manager who presses employees for both very fast and high quality work may be viewed at some point as creating a conflict for employees. Person-role conflict: Ethics violations. Employees expected to behave in ways that violate personal values. Role Ambiguity: which is the confusion a person experiences in relation to the expectation of others. A misunderstanding of what is expected, not knowing how to do it, or not knowing the result of failure to do it.

Role Demands

Social-psychological demands of the work environment may be every bit as stressful as task demands.

Work Demands

Task Demands Interpersonal Demands Physical Demands

Task Demands

Technological innovation creates change and uncertainty for many employees, requiring additional training, education, and skill development. Lack of Control, especially in positions that are difficult and psychologically demanding. Concerns over career progress and time pressures (or work overload) - fewer people doing the same amount of work or more creates time pressure.

Home Demands

The wide array of home and family arrangements in contemporary American society has created a great diversity in the arena of home demands. Ex. loss of a good day care for children

Personal Demands

Workaholism, a form of addiction, maybe the most notable of these stress-inducing demands. Civic activities, volunteer work, and organizational commitments to religious or public service organizations. Traumatic events, such as the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan in March 2011.