Chapter 7 Stress and Well-Being at Work Learning Outcomes 1 Define stress, distress, and strain. 2 Compare four different approaches to stress. 3 Explain the psychophysiology of the stress response. 4 Identify work and nonwork causes of stress. 5 Describe the consequences of stress. 6 Discuss individual factors that influence a person’s response to stress and strain. 7 Identify the stages and elements of preventive stress management for individuals and organizations. © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 1 Learning Outcome Define stress, distress, and strain. © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. What Is Stress? [Stress] – the unconscious preparation to fight or flee that a person experiences when faced with any demand [Stressor ] – the person or event that triggers the stress response [Distress ] – the adverse psychological, physical, behavioral, and organizational consequences that may arise as a result of stressful events [Strain] – distress © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 2 Learning Outcome Compare four different approaches to stress. © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Homeostasis a steady state of bodily functioning and equilibrium © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Homeostasis + External environmental demand = Fight Flight 1 OF 4 APPROACHES HOMEOSTATIC/MEDICAL COGNITIVE APPRAISAL © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 2 OF 4 APPROACHES • Individuals differ in their appraisal of events and people • What is stressful for one person is not for another • Perception and cognitive appraisal determines what is stressful COGNITIVE APPRAISAL Problem-focused coping emphasizes managing the stressor Emotion-focused coping emphasizes managing your response © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. • No undue stress Good person-environment fit: a person’s skills and abilities match a clearly defined, consistent set of role expectations • Stress, strain, and depression occur when role expectations are confusing and/or conflicting, or when the person’s skills and abilities do not meet the demands of the social role 3 OF 4 APPROACHES PERSON-ENVIRONMENT FIT Ego Ideal – the embodiment of a person’s perfect self Self-Image – how a person sees oneself, both positively & negatively = the difference between ego ideal and self-image 4 OF 4 APPROACHES PSYCHOANALYTIC 3 Learning Outcome Explain the psychophysiology of the stress response. © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. The Stress Response Release of Sympathetic chemical nervous system messengers, and the primarily endocrine adrenaline, (hormone) system into the activated bloodstream • Blood redirected from the skin and internal organs to brain and large muscles • Increased alertness: improved vision, hearing, and other sensory responses • Release of glucose and fatty acids for sustenance • Depression of immune system, digestion, and similar restorative processes Beyond the Book: Stress Check How often do the following happen to you? Always (3), often (2), sometimes (1), or never (0)? Rate each statement on a scale from 0 to 3, as honestly as you can and without spending too much time on any one statement. Am I Overstressed? 1. I have to make important snap judgments and decisions. 2. I am not consulted about what happens on my job or in my classes. 3. I feel I am underpaid. 4. I feel that no matter how hard I work, the system will mess it up. 5. I do not get along with some of my coworkers or fellow students. 6. I do not trust my superiors at work or my professors at school. 7. The paperwork burden on my job or at school is getting to me. 8. I feel people outside the job or the university do not respect what I do. Record your score as the sum of your responses. © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Beyond the Book: Stress Check How often do the following happen to you? Always (3), often (2), sometimes (1), or never (0)? Rate each statement on a scale from 0 to 3, as honestly as you can and without spending too much time on any one statement. Am I Angry? 1. I feel that people around me make too many irritating mistakes. 2. I feel annoyed because I do good work or perform well in school, but no one appreciates it. 3. When people make me angry, I tell them off. 4. When I am angry, I say things I know will hurt people. 5. I lose my temper easily. 6. I feel like striking out at someone who angers me. 7. When a coworker or fellow student makes a mistake, I tell him or her about it. 8. I cannot stand being criticized in public. Record your score as the sum of your responses, and add it to your score from the previous section. © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Beyond the Book: Stress Check To find your level of anger and potential for aggressive behavior, add your scores from both quiz parts. 40–48: The red flag is waving, and you had better pay attention. You are in the danger zone. You need guidance from a counselor or mental health professional, and you should be getting it now. 30–39: The yellow flag is up. Your stress and anger levels are too high, and you are feeling increasingly hostile. You are still in control, but it would not take much to trigger a violent flare of temper. 10–29: Relax, you are in the broad normal range. Like most people, you get angry occasionally, but usually with some justification. Sometimes you take overt action, but you are not likely to be unreasonably or excessively aggressive. 0–9: Congratulations! You are in great shape. Your stress and anger are well under control, giving you a laid-back personality not prone to violence. © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 4 Learning Outcome Identify work and nonwork causes of stress. © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. [Sources of Stress] Stress in the work place – comes from either WORK DEMANDS OR NONWORK DEMANDS © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Sources of Stress at Work Work Demands Task Demands Change & uncertainty Lack of control Career progress New technologies Work overload/underload Interpersonal Demands Abrasive personalities Sexual harassment Leadership styles Role Demands Role conflict: Interrole Intrarole Person–role Role ambiguity Physical Demands Extreme environments Strenuous activities Hazardous substances Stress Sources at Work Nonwork Demands Family Demands Personal Demands Marital expectations Religious activities Child-rearing/day care Self-improvement arrangements tasks Parental care Traumatic events Stress Benefits and Costs Benefits of Healthy, Normal Stress (Eustress) Performance Health Increased arousal Cardiovascular efficiency Bursts of physical strength Enhanced focus in an emergency Costs of Distress Individual Organizational Psychological disorders Participation problems Medical illnesses Performance decrements Behavioral problems Compensation awards 5 Learning Outcome Describe the consequences of stress. © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Positive Stress • Stress response itself is neutral • Some stressful activities (aerobic exercise, etc.) can enhance a person’s ability to manage stressful demands or situations • Stress can provide a needed energy boost © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Yerkes-Dodson Law Performance arousal High Low Low (distress) Optimum (eustress) High (distress) Stress level Boredom from understimulation Optimum stress load Conditions Distress from perceived overstimulation as stressful Negative Stress Negative stress results from – a prolonged activation of the stress response – mismanagement of the energy induced by the response – unique personal vulnerabilities © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Beyond the Book: Friends with the Boss Columnist Jared Sandberg often addresses the absurdities resulting from employer-friend inter-role conflict in his Wall Street Journal column “Cubicle Culture”. Informal or “friendly” behavior from bosses (e.g. sharing strange hobbies, or friend requests on social-networking websites) can result in uncertain, unusual, and potentially stressful social dynamics at work. What do you do when your boss strikes up a casual conversation about information from your Facebook profile? © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Individual Distress Work-related psychological disorders (depression, burnout, psychosomatic disorders) Copyright ©2006 by South-Western, a division of Thomson Learning. All rights reserved Organizational Distress Participative Problems – a cost associated with absenteeism, tardiness, strikes and work stoppages, and turnover Performance Decrement – a cost resulting from poor quality or low quantity of production, grievances, and unscheduled machine downtime and repair Compensation Award – an organizational cost resulting from court awards for job distress © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 6 Learning Outcome Discuss individual factors that influence a person’s response to stress and strain. © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Individual Differences in the Stress–Strain Relationship Achilles’ heel phenomenon – a person breaks down at his or her weakest point © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Are There Gender-Related Stressors? Sexual harassment Early age fatal health problems Long term disabling health problems Violence © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Type A Behavior Patterns Type A Behavior Patterns – a complex of personality and behavior characteristics – sense of time urgency “hurry sickness” – quest for numbers (of achievements) – status insecurity – aggression & hostility expressed in response to frustration & conflict © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Personality Hardiness [Personality Hardiness] – a personality resistant to distress and characterized by – challenge (versus threat) – commitment (versus alienation) – control (versus powerlessness) [Transformational Coping] – a way of managing stressful events by changing them into subjectively less stressful events (versus regressive coping – passive avoidance of events by decreasing interaction with the environment) © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Self-Reliance Self-Reliance – a healthy, secure, interdependent pattern of behavior related to how people form and maintain supportive attachments with others Counterdependence – an unhealthy, insecure pattern of behavior that leads to separation in relationships with other people Overdependence – an unhealthy, insecure pattern of behavior that leads to preoccupied attempts to achieve security through relationships. © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 7 Learning Outcome Identify the stages and elements of preventive stress management for individuals and organizations. © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Preventative Stress Management an organizational philosophy that holds that people & organizations should take joint responsibility for promoting health and preventing distress and strain © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Preventative Stress Management Primary Prevention – designed to reduce, modify, or eliminate the demand or stressor causing stress Secondary Prevention – designed to alter or modify the individual’s or the organization’s response to a demand or stressor Tertiary Prevention – designed to heal individual or organizational symptoms of distress and strain © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Preventative Stress Maintenance Organizational Context Organizational stressors • Task demands • Role demands • Physical demands • Interpersonal demands Preventive Medicine Context Primary prevention Health risk factors stressor directed Stress responses • Individual • Organizational Secondary prevention response directed Asymptomatic disease Distress Individual problems • Behavioral •Medical • Psychological Organizational costs • Direct • Indirect Tertiary prevention symptom directed Symptomatic disease SOURCE: Based on J. D. Quick, J. C. Quick, and D.L. Nelson. “The Theory of Preventive Stress Management in Organizations,” in C. L. Cooper, ed. Theories of Organizational Stress (Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. 1998), 246-268. Beyond the Book: Political Skill and Role-Conflict Recent studies suggest that employees with greater political skill are able to moderate physical and mental effects of stress from role conflict. Does the use of political skill enable workers to reconcile conflicting roles and eliminate discrepancies in expectations? © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Organizational Stress Prevention • Focuses on people’s work demands • Focuses on ways to reduce distress at work • Most organizational prevention is primary – job redesign – goal setting – role negotiation – social support systems © 2009 Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Job Strain Model Workload Low High Low Selfdetermination Unresolved strain (ill health) Passive job Active job SOURCE: B. Gardell, “Efficiency and Health Hazards in Mechanized Work,” in J. C. Quick, R.S. Bhagat, J. E. Dalton, and J. D. Quick, eds., Work Stress: Health Care Systems in the Workplace. Copyright © 1987. Reproduced with permission of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc., Westport, CT. Social Support at Work and Home Organizational Supervisor Colleagues Subordinates Clients Professional Physicians Psychologists Counselors Lawyers Family Spouse Children Parents In-laws Individual Clubs Business associations Social clubs Athletic groups Church Minister/Rabbi Friends Support groups Copyright ©2006 by South-Western, a division of Thomson Learning. All rights reserved SOURCE: From J. C. Quick J. D. Quick, D. L. Nelson and J. J. Hurrell, Jr., in Preventive Stress Management in Organizations, 1997, p. 198. Copyright© 1997 by The American Psychological Association. Reprinted with permission. Individual Preventive Stress Management Primary Prevention Alters the person’s internal self-talk and reduces depression Time management: Improves planning and prioritizes activities Leisure time activities: Balance work and non-work activities Learned optimism: Secondary Prevention Physical exercise: Relaxation training: Diet: Improves cardiovascular function and muscular flexibility Lowers all indicators of the stress response Lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease and improves overall physical health Tertiary Prevention Opening up: Professional help: Releases internalized traumas and emotional tensions Provides information, emotional support, and therapeutic guidance What Can Managers Do? • Learn how to create healthy stress without distress • Help employees adjust to new technologies • Be sensitive to early signs of distress • Be aware of gender, personality, and behavioral differences • Use principles and methods of preventive stress management © 2009 Cengage Learning. 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