Chapter 10: Stress and Worker Well-being Flashcards
What is work stress?
External pressures (stressors), that create a specific tension (stress reaction or strain). The limit of tolerance, dependent upon personal and situational factors.
Fight-or-flight reaction
Is an adaptive response to stressful situations exhibited by humans in which they choose to either fight or escape.
Eustress
A type of stress that provides challenges that motivate individuals to work hard and meet their goals.
Distress
At type of stress resulting from chronically demanding situations that produces negative helaht outcomes.
General adaption syndrom (GAS)
A identical response to almost any disease or trauma.
Alamr reaction
Is a stage of the general adaptation syndrome in which the body mobilizes resources to cope with added stress.
Stress hormone
A chemica relased in the body when a person encounters stressful situations.
Resistance
In a stage of GAS in which the body copes with the orginal source of stress but resitance to other stressors is lowered.
Exhaustion
Is a stage of GAS in which overlal resistance drops and adverse consequences can result unless stress in reduced.
Problem-focused coping
A type of coping directed at managing or altering a problem cuasing the stress.
Emotion-focused coping
A type of coping directed at reducing the emotional repsone to a problem by avoiding the problem.
Stressor
A physical or psychological demand to which an individual responds
Strains
A reaction or response to stressors
Physical stressors
- Physical conditions like noise, heat, cold, heavy (physical labor).
- Work demands like work pace, workload, work hours.
Interpersonal conflict
Negative interaction with co-workers
Role stressors
Is a collective term for stressors resulting from the multiple tasks requirements. The role is the expectations regarding the responsibilities and requirements of a particular job.
Role ambiguity
A stressor that occurs when employees lack clear knowledge of what behaviro is expected in their job.
Role confilict
Is a stressor that occurs when demands from different soruces are incompatible.
Role overload
Is a stressor that occurs when demands for differen soruces are incompatible.
Role overload
Is a stressor that occurs when an individual is expected to fulfill too many roles at the same time.
Work-family conflict
Is a situation that occurs when workers experience when they have not enough time for both.
Emotional labor
A regulation of one’s emotions to meet job demands. Can be achieved through surface acting and deep acting.
Surface acting
Emotional labor that consits of managing or faking one’s expressions or emotions.
Deep acting
Emotional labor that consists of managing one’s feeling including emotions requried by the job.
Work stressors
Cause of Work stress
- Physical stressors
- Psychological and emotional stressors
- Lack of control/predictability
- -Interpersonal conflict
- -Role stressors, abiguity, conflict, overload
- -Work-family conflict
- -Emotional labour
Strains
Consequences of Work Stess
Physical/physiological;
- (stress) hormonal changes.
- Cardiovascular, biochemical, immune system.
Phychological;
-Burnout, mental exhaustion
Behavioral;
- Decreased information processing, reduced task.
- Performance, counterproductive work behavior.
Change-related stressors
Work demands that have gains for individuals but can be stressful.
Hindrance-related stressors
Are job demands that tend to limit individuals work
Burnout
An extreme state of psychological strain resulting from a prolonged response to chronic job stressors that exceed an individual’s resource to scope.
Emotional exhaustion
A burnouts that occurs when individuals feel emotionally drained by work.
Depersonalization
A burnout that occurs when individuals become hardened by their job and tend to treat clients like objects.
Low perosnal accomplishments
A burnout in which individuals feel they can’t deal with problems effectively and understnad or identify with other problems.
Shift work
Scheduling work into temporal shifts
Circadian cycle
24h cycle with people sleeping and being active while it’s light outside.
Fixed shift
A particular shift that is permanently assigned to a worker.
t
Rotating shift
A shift that changes over a certain period of time.
Flextime
Is a schedule in which individuals choose their own times to work.
Work Stess Moderators/resources
Personal resources;
- Locus of control
- Hardiness (control, commitment, challenge).
- Self-esteem
- Type A behaviroal pattern (performance orientated, irritable, time, urgent).
Situational resources;
- Social support (colleagues, friends, family).
- Job characteristics (variation, autonomy).
- Feedback, rewards, appreciation.
Person-Environment Fit model
French et al, 1982
The extent to whcih a personal experience stress is dependent upon the fit between person and environment.
- Person-Job fit
- Person-organization fit
Person-job fit
Extent to which the skills and interest of individual are compatible with the job.
Personal-organization fit
Extent to which the values of an employee are equal to the values of most other employees.
Demand-control model
Karasek 1979
A model suggesting that two factors are prominent in producing job stess:
1. Job demands - workload and/or intellecutal demands.
2. Job control - autonomy, opportunities (different) skill use.
Type a behavior pattern (TABP)
A set of characteristics exhibited by individuals who are enganged in a chronic struggled to obtain an unlimeted number of poorly defined things from their environment in the shortest period of time.
Honstility (feeling)
Is a subcomponent of TABP with increased section of stress hormones.
Achivement striving (AS)
The tendency to active and to work ahrd in achiving one’s goal (subcomponent of TABP)
Impatience
Subcomponent of TABP that reflects intolerance and frustation resulting from being slowed down.
Time urgency
Is a TABP behavior pattern that refers to the feeling of being pressured by inadequate time.
Occupational health psychology
The area of psychology that involves the improvement of quality of work life and protecting wellbeing of workers.
Primary prevention strategies
Are stress provention strategies conerned with modifying or eliminating** stressors of work**. Adaptation of work situation.
- Job (re)design
- Individual Congitive restructering.
Secondary prevention strategies
Stress response so if people are stressed. Enhancing coping skills/ wyas of dealing with stress (proactive and reactive).
- Builing social support systems at work.
- Individual skills training.
Tertiary prevention
Stess consequences (people with burnout) to get people back to work. Healing of stress consequences (reactive).
- Employee Assistance programmes at work.
- Medical care, psychotherapy, counseling for individual.
How can we trive at work?
- Positive emotions
- Positive self-image
- Commitment
- Engagement
Balance between work demands and resources;
- Eliminate stressors
- Increase resources
- Enhance coping skills.
Fair working environment;
- Fair reward
- Information and voice
- Respectful treatment
