Module 5: Managing Stress and Emotions

(1) Distress

(A) Bad or negative stress (B) When there is too much stress, and nothing is done to eliminate, reduce, or counteract its effects (C) Hinderance stressors

Section 7.5:

Emotions at Work

(2) Give Employees Autonomy

Employees' stress levels are likely to be related to the degree that organizations can build autonomy and support into jobs

(2) Self-management

Exists when you are able to direct your emotions in a positive way when needed

(4) Relationship management

Exists when you are able to help others manage their own emotions and truly establish supportive relationships with others

(3) Social awareness

Exists when you are able to understand how others feel

Type A Personality

present adverse physiological reactions in response to stress

Human brains respond to outside threats to our safety with a message to our bodies to engage in a...

"fight-or-flight" response 🡪 our bodies prepare for these scenarios with an increased heart rate, shallow breathing, and wide-eyed focus.

3 Steps of Fear Response

(1) Alarm phase (2) Resistance phase (3) Exhaustion phase

(2) Psychological

(1) Depression and anxiety... can lead to heart disease, high blood pressure, and strokes (2) Changes in brain function: especially in the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland - may play a key role in stress-induced emotional problems

Individual Lifestyle Choices Affecting Our Stress Levels:

(1) Diet (2) Exercise (3) Sleep (4) Social Support Network (5) Time Management

Part 2: Stress can be distinguished as either...

(1) Distress (2) Eustress

(P1 Stressors) Types of Stressors

(1) Hindrance Stressors (2) Challenge Stressors (3) Role Stressors (ambiguity, conflict overload) (4) Workload (5) Time Pressure (6) Job Complexity

JDRM: this model recognizes...

(1) variety of demands other than workload (2) provides more resources than just autonomy 🡪 can lead to more persona resources (being optimistic, having emotional stability, etc.) (3) Looks at positive outcomes as well as negative outcomes 🡪 motivation

The Holmes-Rathe scale: (a) ascribes different stress values to life events ranging from the death of one's spouse to receiving a ticket for a minor traffic violation (b) higher scores on the stress inventory mean you are more prone to suffering negative consequences of stress than someone with a lower score

(1) If you scored fewer than 150 stress points, you have a 30% chance of developing a stress-related illness in the near future (2) If you scored between 150 and 299 stress points, you have a 50% chance of developing a stress-related illness in the near future (3) If you scored over 300 stress points, you have an 80% chance of developing a stress-related illness in the near future

Occupational Stress models

(1) Karasek's Demand Control Model (2) Job-Demand Resources Model

(1) Karasek's Demand Control Model: Job control

(1) Low job demands but high job control 🡪 low strain (2) high demands and control 🡪 active (eustress)

Organizational Approaches to Managing Stress: (1) having more clear expectations of them, creating jobs where employees have autonomy and control, and creating a fair work environment (2) Larger organizations normally utilize outside resources to help employees get professional help when needed.

(1) Make Expectations Clear (2) Give Employees Autonomy (3) Create Fair Work Environments (4) Telecommuting (5) Employee Sabbaticals (6) Employee Assistance Programs

Work-Family Conflict

(1) Occurs when the demands from work and family are negatively affecting one another (2) May be incompatible with each other such that work interferes with family life and family demands interfere with work life (3) Individuals who have stress in one area of their life tend to have greater stress in other parts of their lives, which can create a situation of escalating stressors (4) Work-family conflict has been shown to be related to lower job and life satisfaction 🡪 work-family conflict more problematic for women than it is for men

Outcome of Stress

(1) Physiological (2) Psychological (3) Work Outcomes

Negative Emotions

(1) Play a role in the conflict process, with those who can manage their negative emotions finding themselves in fewer conflicts than those who do not (2) Negative emotions help a company's productivity in some cases (3) can inspire bursts of valuable individual action to change situations that aren't working the way they should

3 individual strategies for managing stress...

(1) Problem-focused coping (2) Emotion-focused coping (3) Avoidance coping

3 Role Demands:

(1) Role ambiguity (2) Role conflict (3) Role overload

Four building blocks of high level emotional intelligence:

(1) Self-awareness (2) Self-management (3) Social awareness (4) Relationship management

The Stress Process: relevant biological systems

(1) Semiconscious Limbic System: plays a large part in human emotions (2) Amygdala: responsible for stimulating fear responses

Work Outcomes

(1) Stress is related to worse job attitudes, higher turnover, and decreases in job performance in terms of both in-role performance and organization citizenship behaviours (2) Stressed individuals have lower organizational commitment than those who are less stressed (3)

(1) Physiological

(1) Stress manifests itself internally as nervousness, tension, headaches, anger, irritability, and fatigue 🡪 stress can also have outward manifestations (2) chronic stress causes the body to secrete hormones such as cortisol, which tend to make our complexion blemished and cause wrinkles (3) The human body responds to outside calls to action by pumping more blood through our system, breathing in a shallower fashion, and gazing wide-eyed at the world 🡪 to accomplish this, our bodies shut down our immune systems. (4) Individuals under stress engage in behaviours that can lead to heart disease such as eating fatty foods, smoking, or failing to exercise

Basic Stress Model:

(1) Stressors: conditions that have the potential to induce stress (2) Stress: psychological reactions inherent to the demands of the stressor (can make a person feel tension, anxiousness) (3) Strain: reactions or consequences to the stress (4) Personality: affect how individuals perceive the stressor and how these individuals react to stress

3 major levels of emotional labor

(1) Surface acting (2) Deep acting (3) Genuine acting

Individual Approaches to Managing Stress:

(1) The "Corporate Athlete" (2) Flow

Individual Differences in Experienced Stress:

(1) Type A Personalities (2) Type B Personalities

Men and women handle stress differently...

(1) Women: estrogen may heighten response to stress and their tendency to depression as a result (2) Women: may become depressed more often than men. May also have better tools for countering emotion-related stress than their male counterparts

Cognitive Dissonance

(1) a mismatch among emotions, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviour. (2) experience discomfort or stress unless you find a way to alleviate the dissonance (3) Can reduce conflict by changing your behaviour, changing your belief, or by adding a new fact that changes the importance of the previous facts.

(1) Karasek's Demand Control Model: job demands

(1) extent of the demands of your job 🡪 workload (2) demands of the job low = passive (distress) (3) High strain 🡪 when job demands cause distress

Part 3: Personality and Stress...predicted to affect the stress process in two ways

(1) extent to which the employee perceives the stress as stressful (2) extent to which the stressor causes strain; the impact it has on the individual

3 organizational strategies for managing stress...

(1) make expectations clear (2) create fair work environments (3) redesign jobs to increase autonomy

Burnout

(1) ongoing negative emotional state resulting from dissatisfaction (2) Jobs that are high in negative emotion can lead to this as well as frustration 🡪 frustration is more active whereas burnout is more passive

Part 3: Strain the outcomes of stress

(1) physiological reactions (2) psychological reactions (3) behavioural reactions

(1) Type A Personalities

(A) Display high levels of speed/impatience, job involvement, and hard-driving competitiveness. (B) The hostility and hyperreactive portion of the Type A personality is a major concern in terms of stress and negative organizational outcomes

(2) Eustress

(A) Good or positive stress (B) When stress results in feelings of challenge or achievement which can lead to more motivation and higher levels of performance (C) Challenge stressors

(2) Deep acting

(A) Instead of faking an emotion that a customer may want to see, an employee will actively try to experience the emotion they are displaying (B) Helps align the emotions one is experiencing with the emotions one is displaying

(4) Workload: amount of work an employee has to do in a given period of time.

(A) Objective vs subjective workload: Two employees may have the same objective workload, but different subjective workloads 🡪 ex. For one employee the task may be easy whereas for a new employee it may be more subjectively difficult (B) Quantity versus qualitative workload: It is possible that there is a high volume of work or the quality/difficulty of the task is higher resulting in bigger workload

(3) Genuine acting

(A) Occurs when individuals are asked to display emotions that are aligned with their own (B) If a job requires this, less emotional labor is required because the actions are consistent with true feelings

(2) Type B Personalities

(A) They think through situations as opposed to reacting emotionally (B) Their fight-or-flight and stress levels are lower as a result

(3) behavioural reactions

(A) burnout, absenteeism, turnover, addictive substances (B) Performance -Too little stress = low motivation; poor performance -Moderate stress = alert, engaged, challenged, optimal performance -Too much stress = high anxiety; poor performance

(1) The "Corporate Athlete"

(A) proactive (action first) rather than a reactive (response-driven) approach (B) ward off the potentially overwhelming feelings of stress by developing strong bodies and minds that embrace challenges, as opposed to being overwhelmed by them.

(2) Flow:

(A) state of consciousness in which a person is totally absorbed in an activity (B) feel strong, alert, and in effortless control (C) key to flow is engaging at work

(1) Role ambiguity

(a) vagueness in relation to what our responsibilities are (b) strongest predictor of poor performance

(3) Avoidance coping

-denying any negative emotions and avoid thinking about the stressor -may be appropriate when the stressor is acute 🡪 acknowledging the stressor immediately may be too difficult -does not resolve the stress in the long-term

(2) Job-Demand Resources Model: Background

-developed because they felt the job control model is too limited -Working conditions put into two categories (1) job demands (2) job resources

(1) Problem-focused coping

-do something about the stressor -problem solving; time management -deals with the root cause of the problem resulting in a long-term solution

(1) Karasek's Demand Control Model: Background

-relates how characteristics of a job affect employee health and well-being -can understand mental health consequences of work if we consider two key workplace factors (1) Job demands (2) Job control

(2) Emotion-focused coping

-trying to reduce the emotional negative response associated with stress -Meditation; drinking alcohol -Best used when the source of the stress is outside of the person's control -does not lead to long-term solutions

(5) Time Pressure

Amount of time needed to complete task is not quite enough. Deadline may motivate you so it is considered a challenge stressor as it can motivate employees to get work done

Section 7.3

Avoiding and Managing Stress

(4) Telecommuting

Higher autonomy of working from home resulted in lower work-family conflict for these employees 🡪 also findings of higher job satisfaction, better performance, and lower stress as well

Module 5 Lecture Videos: Managing Stress and Emotions

Managing Stress and Emotions

(6) Employee Assistance Programs

Many companies offer their employees outside sources of emotional counselling. Are often offered to workers as an adjunct to a company-provided health care plan. EAPs offer help in dealing with crises in the workplace and beyond 🡪 EAPs are often used to help workers who have substance abuse problems

(5) Employee Sabbaticals

Paid time off from the normal routine at work.

(1) Surface acting

Requires an individual to exhibit physical signs, such as smiling, that reflect emotions customers want to experience

General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS):

Stress plays a general role in disease by exhausting the body's immune system.

Emotional Labour Diagram:

The closer to the middle of the circle that your actions are, the less emotional labor your job demands 🡪 the further away, the more emotional labor the job demands

(6) Job Complexity

The knowledge, skills, abilities, required of the work tax or exceed the capabilities of the employees -Example: Depending on the job level, how much it exceeds the KSAs can be either viewed as a challenge stressor (if it is a stretch goal) or if it is too complex for the person than it would be considered a hinderance stressor

Section 7.4:

What are Emotions?

Section 7.2:

What is Stress?

(3) Create Fair Work Environments

Working in an environment that is seen as fair helps to buffer the effects of stress 🡪 this reduced stress may be because employees feel a greater sense of status and self-esteem or due to a greater sense of trust within the organization

AET: Studies have found that the positive feelings resulting from work experience may inspire you to do something you hadn't planned to do before, your action would be an...

affect-driven behaviour

(3) Role Stressors (ambiguity, conflict overload)

all three are positively related to anxiety, attention to turnover, and are negatively related to satisfaction and performance

(1) Alarm phase

an outside stressor jolts the individual, insisting that something must be done 🡪 "fight-or-flight" moment in the individual's experience

AET: six emotions are affected by events at work:

anger, fear, joy, love, sadness, and surprise

Stress

body's reaction to a change that requires a physical, mental, or emotional adjustment or response

Emotional Contagion

both positive and negative emotions can be contagious, with the spillover of negative emotions lasting longer than positive emotions

Research shows that emotions are...

contagious and that team members affect one another even after accounting for team performance (fight or flight tied to lingering negative emotions)

(2) Challenge Stressors

demands that can potentially be reduced through motivated action by the employee. perceived as stressful yet they may also potentially challenge and engage employees. -Example: heavy workload, time pressure, and job complexity

(2) psychological reactions: involve emotions and thought processes rather than overt behaviour...

depression, anxiety, anger, sleep problems

Downsizing

downsizing and job insecurity (worrying about downsizing) is related to greater stress, alcohol use, and lower performance and creativity.

Creativity and most creativity-supporting aspects of the perceived work environment declined significantly during the...

downsizing.

(1) physiological reactions: evidence that work stress is associated with...

electrocardiogram irregularities, elevated levels of blood pressure, cholesterol, and pulse rates, illness, headaches, joint pain

(P1 Stressors) Workplace Stressors:

environmental events or conditions that have the potential to induce stress (e.g., presenting in front of audience)

Stressors

events or contexts that cause a stress reaction by elevating levels of adrenaline and forcing a physical or mental response.

(1) Self-awareness

exists when you are able to accurately perceive, evaluate, and display appropriate emotions

(2) Role conflict

facing contradictory work demands

Positive Emotions

generates a sensation of having something you didn't have before 🡪 as a result, it may cause you to feel fulfilled and satisfied

(3) Role overload

having insufficient time and resources to complete a job

JDRM: High job resources and high job demands would...

help mitigate negative effects of strain

Having high role ambiguity is related to...

higher emotional exhaustion, more thoughts of leaving an organization, and lowered job attitudes and performance

research shows that surface acting is related to...

higher levels of stress and fewer felt positive emotions, while deep acting may lead to less stress

Emotional Intelligence

how people can understand each other more completely by developing an increased awareness of their own and others' emotions

AET: Job satisfaction in the AET model comes from the...

inside-in-from the combination of an individual's personality, small emotional experiences at work overtime, beliefs, and affect-driven behaviours

JDRM: showed that there is a relationship between strain and...

motivation

(2) Job-Demand Resources Model: (1) job resources, lead to...

motivation Examples: (1) autonomy (2) support (3) feedback (4) coaching/mentoring (5) advancement

Type B Personality

not likely to experience the same negative outcomes of stress as Type A individuals

Persona

professional role that involves acting out feelings that may not be real as part of their job

Emotional labor

regulation of feelings and expressions for organizational purposes

Our ability to recognize, manage, and maximize our response to stress can turn an emotional or physical problem into a...

resource

Those high in emotional intelligence have been found to have higher...

self-efficacy in coping with adversity, perceive situations as challenges rather than threats, and have higher life satisfaction, which can all help lower stress levels

Affective Events Theory (AET):

specific events on the job cause different kinds of people to feel different emotions 🡪 these emotions, in turn, inspire actions that can benefit or impede others at work

JDRM: People that have low job demands and low resources 🡪 experience a lot of...

strain

(2) Job-Demand Resources Model: (1) job demands, lead to...

strain Examples: (1) Workload (2) Time pressure (3) Emotional and mental aspects (4) Physical aspects and conditions of the job

Job challenge has been found to be related to higher performance the key is to keep challenges in the optimal zone for stress...

the activation stage - and to avoid the exhaustion stage

(2) Resistance phase

the body begins to release cortisol and draws on reserves of fats and sugars to find a way to adjust to the demands of stress (only a temporary fix)

(3) Exhaustion phase

the body has depleted its stores of sugars and fats, and the prolonged release of cortisol has caused the stressor to significantly weaken the individual (Selye referred to stress that led to disease as distress and stress that was enjoyable or healing as eustress)

Information Overload: when the information processing demands on an individual's time to perform interactions and internal calculations exceed the supply or capacity of ...

time available for such processing.

(1) Hindrance Stressors

work demands that employees appraise as obstacles to successful performance that cannot be overcome through increased effort (inhibit progress) -Example: high levels of uncertainty, low levels of control, highly political work environment, role stressors, etc.