Industrial Psychology Chapter 10: Worker Stress
transactional
Lazarus view of worker stress; saw stress as resulting from the worker's perception that a certain environmental event is a threat or a challenge, factoring in your perception of how capable you will be at managing the threat; different people may interpret the same event very differently
Conflict
______ between roles can occur ad can become and additional source of stress; worker's job may require excessive overtime that conflicts with the worker's family roles of spouse and parent
Job Stress Survey (JSS)
a 30-item instrument that measures the severity and frequency with which workers experience certain stressful working conditions.
Job burnout
a syndrome resulting from prolonged exposure to work stress that leads to withdrawal from the organization; especially high in human service professions; occurs in 3 phases: 1. emotional exhaustion 2.depersonalization 3.feelings of low personal accomplishment
Leadership self-efficacy
ability for one to lead a work team
Worker and work organization/environment
according to the P-E fit approach, a mismatch between the _______ and the _______ is believed to be a primary cause of worker stress
Distress
also known as negative stress; can cause stress related illness and can affect absenteeism, turnover, and work performance.
Stressor
an environmental event that is perceived by an individual to be threatening; can have both negative and positive effects
Self-efficacy
an individual's beliefs in his/her abilities to engage in courses of action that will lead to desired outcomes; one's sense of effectiveness and competence
Internal
assistance programs offered at a work site; convenient for employees though expensive to maintain.
external
assistance programs that the company contracts with an outside agency to provide counseling for employees
counterproductive work behaviors (CWBs)
deviant, negative behaviors that are harmful to an organization and its workers; Meta-analysis suggest that they are more prevalent in younger employees and those with lower job satisfaction; this and workplace aggression and violence, are linked to trait negative affectivity, anger, and other personality variables; The incidence of these are negatively related to the incidence of organizational citizenship behaviors
Social Readjustment Rating Scale
does not accurately asses the effect of an additional stressful event when an individual is already experiencing other stressful events
lack of control
feeling of having little input or effect on the job and/or work environment; common in lower-level jobs or in highly structured organizations
emotional exhaustion
first phase of job burnout; caused by excessive demands placed on the worker; detachment from coworkers, negative self-evaluations, and lowered self-esteem
Job-related self-efficacy
important factor relating to a worker's ability to perform his or her job.
Alcohol and drug use
in the workplace is related to workplace accidents, decreased productivity, increased absenteeism and turnover, costing billions of dollars annually; Workers who report problems with have greater job instability and lower job satisfaction;Employee assistance programs (EAPs) involve counseling provided for a variety of worker problems, particularly in abuse
individual sources of stress
include a person's history of exposure to stress as well as certain stress-related personality characteristics and behavioral patterns
Individual sources of stress
include a person's history of exposure to stress as well as certain stress-related personality characteristics and behavioral patterns; there is evidence that certain personality traits make people more prone to stress and others seem to make people more resistant to stress and its negative outcomes.
psychological effects of stress
include anxiety, depression, and chronic fatique
physiological measures of stress
include blood pressure monitoring, EKGs for heart rate, or blood tests for stress-linked hormones (cortisol) and cholesterol; Difficulties with such measures include variation of such physiological processes within each person throughout the day and variation between individuals; Medical personnel are needed to administer such measures
stress related illnesses
include ulcers, colitis, high blood pressure, heart disease, migraine headaches, and stress can worse common colds and infections; The relationship between stress and performance is complex, and generally is curvilinear (involving an inverted U), where both very low and very high stress are associated with poor performance.
physical work conditions
includes extreme temperatures, loud/distracting noises, crowding, poor lighting, and ventilation; dangerous work conditions; night shifts
Organizational change
including mergers, changes in work technology, personnel/managerial changes
harassment
including sexual harassment, harassment due to group membership (gender,race,sexual orientation) and being singled out by a coworker or supervisor; increase stress, decrease job satisfaction
Maslach Burnout Inventory Human Services Survey (MBI)
instrument that assesses the three hypothesized components of burnout; emotional exhaustion component related to both voluntary turnover and declines in job performance over a 1 year period
Employee assistance programs (EAP)
involve counseling provided for a variety of worker problems, particularly drug and alcohol abuse; External (company contracts with outside agency) and internal (services provided at work site) programs
Measurement of stressful life events
involves self-reports of significant events in a person's recent history that can cause stress; one measure is the Social Readjustment Rating Scale, a checklist where individuals total the numerical "stress severity" scores experienced in the past year; research suggests that persons with high personal stress indexes perform more poorly, have higher absenteeism, and change jobs more frequently.
emotional labor
involves that demands of regulating and controlling emotions in the workplace; can cause workers to become dissatisfied and cynical about their jobs, reduce job satisfaction, performance, and lead to frequent absenteeism and turnover
worker stress
involves the physiological and/or psychological reactions to evens that are perceived to be threatening or taxing.
subcategories
it is argued that the concept of P-E fit is too broad and that _______ are needed, such as P-E fit, person-job fit, and the extent to which a particular job fits an individual's motivational needs.
job uncertainty
may better refer to the uncertainty caused by a lack of regular performance feedback concerning how well or how poorly workers are doing their jobs
Stress Diagnostic Survey (SDS)
measures worker's perceptions of stress in 15 work-related areas, including time, pressure, workload, role ambiguity, and supervisory style
cognitive reassuring
method of coping the entails changing the way one thinks about stressors; often used to treat PTSD
Stressful occupations
occupations that include air traffic controller, healthcare provider, police officer, and firefighter; characteristics include heavy work load, poor working conditions, physical dangers, and dealing with difficult clients and coworkers
Coping self-efficacy
one's ability to cope with stressful situations
relationship self-efficacy
ones ability to deal effectively with relationships at work
improve communication
organizational coping strategy; better the communication among workers, the lower the stress created because of misunderstandings
improve employee training and orientation programs
organizational coping strategy; companies can help eliminate some stress due to the mismatch between expectations and outcomes by ensuring that new workers receive proper job training and orientation to the new organization
Remove hazardous or dangerous work conditions
organizational coping strategy; elimination or reduction of dangerous situations in the workplace
Eliminate punitive management
organizational coping strategy; if organizations take steps to eliminate company policies that are perceived to be threatening or punitive, a major source of work stress will also be eliminated; training supervisors to minimize the use of punishment as a managerial technique will also help control this common source of stress
improve the person-job fit
organizational coping strategy; maximizing the person-job fit through careful screening, selection, and placement of employees, organizations can alleviate a great deal of stress due to the mismatch between a worker's interests or skills and job requirements
increase employee's sense of control
organizational coping strategy; programs such as job enrichment, participative decision making, and systems of delegating authority all help the lack of sense of control over one's job
provide a supportive, team-oriented, work environment
organizational coping strategy; social support in the workplace reduces perceptions of threat, lessens the perceived strength of the stressors, and helps in coping with work-related stress
type A behavior pattern
personality characterized by excessive drive, competitiveness, impatience, and hostility; dispositional stressor; more likely to develop stress related coronary heart disease, including fatal heart attacks
withdrawal
process of ______ may include such reactions as increased tardiness and absenteeism and decreased work performance and work quality
Person-environment fit (P-E fit)
refers to the match between a worker's abilities, needs, and values, and organizational demands, rewards, and values; positively related to organizational commitment and well being, and negatively related to turnover (Hult, 2005); Measurement involves assessing worker skills and abilities, along with job demands and features of the work environment
self report measurements of stress
reports about organizational conditions and reports about psychological and/or physical states; Reports on organizational conditions involve questions about job autonomy, feedback, task identity, task significance, skill variety, workload, etc.; Self-reports measures of psychological/physical stress include the Stress Diagnostic Survey, the Occupational Stress indicator, and the Job Stress Survey
High
research suggests that people with _____ personal stress indexes tend to perform more poorly, have higher absenteeism, and change jobs more frequently
underutilization
resulting from workers feeling that their knowledge, skills, or energy are not being fully used
interpersonal stress
results from difficulties dealing with others (coworkers, customer, supervisors) in the workplace; can include social isolation; conflict situations; providing good customer service
work family conflict
results from efforts to balance competing demands of work and family
work overload
results when a job requires excessive speed, output, or concentration; also known as role overload; one of the greatest sources of work stress; related to physiological symptoms such as elevated serum cholesterol and increased heart rate; psychological measures, and lower quality of work and job satisfaction; ex: college graduates low-level clerical work
depersonalization
second phase of job burnout; the development of a cynical, insensitive attitude toward people (other workers or customers) in the workplace
Stressful life events
significant evens in a person's recent history that can cause stress; include events such as divorce, death of a loved one, major illness, and financial or legal trouble; positive events such as marriage, birth of a child, and vacations included.
Situational stress
stress arising from certain conditions that exist in the work environment or the worker's personal life; stress of life can carry over to the workplace
Organizational sources of worker stress
stress derived from work environment; two subcategories: stress derived from work tasks and stress resulting form work roles; include work task stressors such as work overload, underutilization, job ambiguity, lack of control physical work conditions, interpersonal stress, emotional labor, harassment, and organizational change.
dispositional stress
stress that arises from an individual's personal characteristics
Individual coping strategies
techniques such as exercise, meditation, or cognitive restructuring that can be used to deal with work stress; More efficient work methods, including time management, may also be used, although their success depends on individual commitment; Vacation time and voluntary absences may also be used to reduce worker stress, although the missed work may increase stress upon the employee's return to work
Organizational coping strategies
techniques that organizations can use to reduce stress for all or most employees; include improving person-job fit and employee training and orientation; increase employees' sense of control; eliminating punitive management; removing hazardous work conditions; providing a supportive work environment; and improving organizational communication.
Negative affectivity
the expression of negative emotions such as anger, hostility, anxiety, impatience, and aggression; combined with Type A behavior can increase stress-related health risks.
negative affectivity
the expression of negative emotions, such as anger, hostility, anxiety, impatience, and aggression, is what combines with type A personality to increase stress-related health risks.
hardiness
the notion that some people may be more resistant to health-damaging effects of stress; individuals view a stressful situation as a challenge rather than a threat
Eustress
the positive kind of stress
feelings of low personal accomplishment
third phase of job burnout; workers feel a sense of frustration and helplessness and begin to believe that their work efforts fail to produce the desired results, and they may quit trying
Coping skills
training for hardiness involves the development of workers' _________ and combination of relaxation training, a program of diet and exercise, and developing supportive networks to help reduce stress; successful in helping college students
Jenkins Activity Survey (JAS) and Framingham Type A Scale (FTAS)
two popular self report instruments designed to assess Type A behavior
bottom line variables
variables such as productivity, absenteeism, and turnover
Job ambiguity
which results from lack of clearly defined jobs and/or work tasks; also known as job uncertainty