Matakuliah : L0064 / Psikologi Industri &
Organisasi 1
Tahun
: 2007 / 2008
STRESS DI TEMPAT KERJA
Pertemuan 19 & 20
Learning Objectives
After reading this chapter, you should be able to
1. Describe the physiological effects of stress
2. Identify the contributions of individual
differences in stress responses
3. Understand the nature of work-family conflicts
4. Identify the causes and effects of stress in the
workplace
5. Describe the various approaches to treating
stress in the workplace
What is Stress?
• Stress physiological and psychological
responses to excessive and usually unpleasant
stimulation and to threatening events in the
environment
• Stress effects all levels of employees
• Stress is costly to employers and correlates
positively with health care claims and costs
• Up to half of all physician visits are precipitated
by stress
– Many physical complaints may be psychosomatic
Stress-Related Physical Problems
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High blood pressure
Ulcers
Colitis
Heart disease
Arthritis
Skin diseases
Allergies
Headaches
Neck and lower back pain
Increase in infectious diseases
Occupational Health Psychology
• The field of study dealing with the health effects
of job stress and other aspects of well-being
• Proposed as a name in 1990 by Jonathan
Raymond
• Focus group in the Organizational Behavior
Division of the Academy of Management
• APA launched formal development of the field
with NIOSH
– Started Journal of Occupational Health Psychology
Physiological Effects of Stress
• Adrenaline is released, blood pressure rises,
heart rate increases, extra sugar is discharged
into the bloodstream
• Males and females respond differently to stress
– Male - fight-or-flight response
– Female - tend-and-befriend response
• Prolonged exposure to stress leads to physical
and psychosomatic illness
• Stress doesn’t affect everyone the same way
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Job Satisfaction and Feelings of
Control
Those with high job satisfaction suffer few harmful
effects of stress
• Those with high levels of job dissatisfaction show
considerable stress-related effects
• Challenge-related stress includes time pressure and
high levels of responsibility
– Leads to fulfillment and achievement
• Hindrance-related stress includes excessive job
demands and constraints
– Leads to frustration and low satisfaction
• Top executives seem to handle stress better than middle
managers – have 40% fewer heart attacks
Coping with Stress
• High job satisfaction and control over working
conditions reduce a person’s susceptibility stress
• Social support helps coping with stress and a lack
of social support correlates with heart disease
• Employees with high levels of skills and abilities
are more resistant to stress
• Those in good general physical health suffer fewer
negative effects from stressful working conditions
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Individual Differences in Stress
Responses
Type A and Type B personalities
Hardiness
Self-efficacy
Locus of control
Self-esteem
Negative affectivity
Type of occupation
Sex characteristics
The Type A and B Personalities
• Type A personality is characterized by high
competitive drive and a constant sense of time
urgency
• Friedman and Rosenham (1974) found that
Type A personalities have been associated with
heart disease, anger, hostility, time urgency,
competitiveness, and depression
• Type B personalities are more relaxed, rarely
have heart attacks before age 70, and
experience less stress
Hardiness
• Hardiness is a personality variable based on
the idea of control that may explain individual
differences in vulnerability to stress.
• Components:
– Control
– Commitment
– Challenge
• Hardy persons develop fewer physical
complaints under highly stressful conditions
than those who are not hardy
• How does this differ from locus of control?
Self-Efficacy
• Self-efficacy is our belief in our ability to
accomplish a specific task
• It is our sense of how adequate, efficient, and
competent we feel about coping with life’s
demands
• Two levels of self-efficacy:
– traditional - individual-focused
– collective - group-focused
• Those with high levels of self-efficacy feel more
control and are more stress resistant
Locus of Control
• Locus of control (LOC) refers to belief about
how much influence individuals have on the
forces and events that shape their lives
• Internal locus of control
– Those who believe that job performance, pay, and
promotions are under their control and dependent on
their own behavior
• External locus of control
– Those who believe that life is outside their control
• High Internal LOC correlates with less stress
Self-Esteem
• Self-esteem refers to how we feel about
ourselves
• Organization-based self-esteem (OBSE) is a
personality dimension relating to our
assessment of our adequacy and worth with
regard to our place in the employing
organization
• High OBSE see themselves as important,
effective and worthwhile
• People low in OBSE are more affected by stress
and are more passive in coping with it
Negative Affectivity
• Negative affectivity (NA)
– A “Big 5” personality dimension characterized by a
generalized life and job dissatisfaction and by a focus
on negative aspects of events
• Closely related to neuroticism
• People high in NA are likely to experience
distress and dissatisfaction in all areas of life
• Research results are mixed
Type of Occupation
• High stress jobs include laborer, secretary,
clinical laboratory technician, nurse, first-line
supervisor, restaurant server, machine operator,
farm worker, and miner
• Also stressful: police officer, firefighter, computer
programmer, computer programmer, electrician,
plumber, and social worker
• College professor is one of the least stressful
Sex Differences
• Women consistently report higher levels of stress
than men
– Also more headaches, anxiety, depression, sleep
disturbances, and eating disorders
– Also more likely to smoke, drink and use drugs in
response to workplace stress
– But more likely to use social support networks to cope
• Women in highly stressful jobs more prone to
spontaneous abortion and shorter menstrual cycles
• Women homemakers experience higher levels of
stress than those in paid positions
Work-Family Conflicts
• Both men and women report conflicts, but the
difficulties are usually greater for women
• Stresses of work-family conflict are independent
of type of job and working conditions
• Employed women enjoy better health than those
who stay at home
• Presence of women managers increases
organizational responsiveness to work-family
conflicts: flexible scheduling, supportive
supervisors, FMLA absence and maternity leave
Causes of Stress in the Workplace
• Work overload and work underload
• Organizational change
• Role ambiguity and role conflict
• Other stressors
Work Overload and Underload
• Work overload results if there is too much work
to perform in the time available (quantitative), or
work that is too difficult for the employee to
perform (qualitative)
• Work underload results from work that is too
simple or insufficiently challenging for one’s
abilities
• Both conditions are positively correlated with
stress
Organizational Change
• Organizational change is stressful
• Those who view change as exciting and a
challenge are less vulnerable than those who
resist change or view it as a threat
• Older workers experience increased stress with
the increase in younger worker and ethnic
diversity which brings to the workplace
unfamiliar habits and cultural values
• Introduction of employee participation in
decision making can be stressful for higher-level
managers
Role Ambiguity and Role Conflict
• Role ambiguity results when job responsibilities
are unstructured or poorly defined
• Components of role ambiguity
– Performance criteria
– Work method
– Scheduling
• Role conflict results when there is a disparity
between job demands and the employee’s
personal standards
Other Stressors
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Supervisors and managers
Problems of career development
Taking responsibility for subordinates
Working under a deadline
Having to fire a subordinate
Other stress carriers
Assembly line work
Computer-controlled performance monitoring
Cataclysmic events (e.g., September 11)
Effects of Stress in the Workplace
• Research has linked stress to long-term psychological and
behavioral consequences, including tension, depression,
anxiety, spousal and child abuse, and overt hostility in the
workplace
• Other effects include
– Mass psychogenic illness
– Burnout
– Workaholism
Mass Psychogenic Illness
• Mass psychogenic illness is a stress-related
disorder manifested in a variety of physical
symptoms
• Popularly called “assembly-line hysteria”
• Typically afflicts more women than men, strikes
suddenly and spreads swiftly
• Dizziness, nausea, trouble breathing
• Social isolation,work-related stress, and poor
working conditions may be factors
Burnout
• Burnout is a condition of job stress that results
from overwork
– Emotional exhaustion
– Depersonalization
– Reduced sense of accomplishment
• Burnout victims tend to become rigid about their
work, following rules and procedures compulsively
• Characterized by exhaustion, apathy, depression,
irritation, and boredom; work quality deteriorates
but not necessarily quantity
Burnout
• Measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory
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Emotional exhaustion
Depersonalization
Sense of accomplishment
Personal involvement
• Women managers show more intense effects than men
• Those under 40 more likely to experience burnout
• Burnout victims may feel insecure and have unfulfilling
personal lives, and lack self-esteem and personal
recognition off the job
• Higher among Type A’s, external LOCs and those low in
hardiness and self-esteem
Workaholism
• A workaholic is an employee who is addicted to work
stemming from anxiety and insecurity, or because of a
genuine liking for the job
• Workaholics can be a source of stress to others
• Healthy workaholics are said to be high in Job
Engagement
• Unhealthy workaholics are highly involved but derive little
satisfaction from their work
• Compulsive addiction to work can lead to negative
situations (e.g., too controlling, rigid thinking, and hard on
colleagues and subordinates)
Treating Stress in the Workplace
• Organizational techniques
– Alter the organizational climate
– Provide treatment under employee assistance
programs (EAP)
• Individual techniques
– Relaxation training – relax one part of body after
another
– Biofeedback – monitor physiological responses to
stress and use results to control responses
– Behavior modification involving the conditioning of
positive emotional responses to stressful events
Organizational Techniques
• Controlling the organizational climate by
allowing for participation
• Providing control
• Defining employee roles
• Eliminating work overload and underload
• Providing for social support
• Bringing pets to work
• Providing stress-management programs
• Providing fitness programs
Key Terms
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Biofeedback
Burnout
Hardiness
Job engagement
Locus of control
Mass psychogenic illness
Negative affectivity
Occupational heal
psychology
• Organization-based self
esteem
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Relaxation training
Role ambiguity
Role conflict
Stress
Type A & Type B
personalities
• Work overload
• Work underload
• Workaholism
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