Managing Professionals and their Stress Flashcards
What’s the definition of professionals?
- People doing work that requires specific knowledge/expertise
- People who belong to a professional association (eg. law society)
Studies show that professionals want what?
- Want meaningful work
- Want to serve the interests of the public or their clients
- Want ongoing connections with their profession
- Value autonomy in their work
What are the pressures of being a professional?
- Own personalities
- -> driven to work hard, competitive, strive for perfection, anxious about many things
- Client expectations
- Conflicting commitments at work
(keep quality when quantity is high) - Heavy workload
- Time demands
(due to travel (jet lag), work scheduled (not just 9 to 5))
Looking at a model of workplace stress, it starts with what?
STARTS WITH:
- Work Stressors
- -> Interpersonal
- -> Work overload
- -> Other demands
- -> Low task control
- Non-work stressors
- -> Family
LEADS TO:
- Stress
Looking at a model of workplace stress, what are the consequences of stress?
CONSEQUENCES OF STRESS:
- Physiological
- Psychological
- Behaviour
- Possibility of job burnout
What is one severe consequence of work overload?
- According to article Coffin
- The Japanese concept of Karoshi
- -> death from overwork
- First case reported in 1969
- Karoshi related law suits are common
- In 1996: 25 male died unexpectedly at work –> his fam successfully sued his employer
- Cases have been reported in Korea, China, Taiwan
- Note: Karoshi is difficult to diagnose –> can be because of other reason.
- Impt question: is the workload controllable?
What are the different individual factors that makes people react differently to the same stressors?
- Type A / Type B personality characteristics
- “Workaholism”
- Resilience
Under “Moderators of Stress Response”, describe the individual factor - Type A/ Type B personality characteristics?
- Type A = hard-driving, competitive, strong sense of time urgency, show irritation and hostility
- Type B = work steadily, more even-tempered
- Type A more prone to suffer distress but it seems to be the irritation and hostility aspect that is not dangerous
Under “Moderators of Stress Response”, describe the individual factor - workaholism?
- Different to work overload
- People can be addicted to work (ie. working hard, long hours)
- Is a stable characteristic – like personality traits
- More prone to ill-health due to stress
- If you truly enjoy your work then working hard is good for you.
- Note: stop and reflect if you enjoy doing what you do
ARTICLE: Campeau
- A workaholic (work addict) is different from a hard worker
- The workaholic’s work excessively all the time because:
- -> Their sense of self-worth is fuelled by addiction
- A personal problem on health, relationship, etc
- Hard workers (long hours) are rewarded in workplaces
- Note: organisations (and their leaders) must be able to identify workaholics and help them “recover”
- “Workaholics Anonymous” is an organisation dedicated to this cause
- Under “Moderators of Stress Response”, describe the individual factor - resilience?
- And what is adversity in this context?
- How is cortisol helpful and harmful?
- (def.) Resilience:
- An ability (partly due to beliefs and attitudes, largely due to skills)
- To Cope Well (in the face of potential stressors – not be too greatly affected by stressful situations)
- And to Bounce Back (to normal functioning after adversity)
- People with a high level of psychological resilience differ from those who don’t have much resilience. - (def.) Adversity:
- Cover a range of events that we experience (ie. major life events, traumatic events, or day-to-day stressors)
- How we perceive these situations can trigger a release of the hormone cortisol (aka. Stress hormone)
- Cortisol release in part of our “flight or fight” response to perceived danger – can be helpful or harmful. - Cortisol
Helpful:
- Longer-term effects than adrenaline
Harmful:
- Long level of cortisol lead to high blood pressure
- Lost of muscle function
- Can be unhealthy
Psychological resilience is due to 3-factor approach. What are the 3 factors?
- Personality: proactive – optimistic, confidence, sense of humour, etc
- Coping skills: emotional intelligence, problem-solving (able to improvise)
- An inner force that life has meaning
- (Additional factor) A strong social support networks, close relationships with peers, a strong sense of community.
What can you do to increase resilience?
- Learn to avoid negative self-talk
- Regular exercises
- Mindfulness meditation
- Build a strong social support network
- Spend more time with, or try to make new friends who are good listeners, honest, help solve problems
How will you know if resilience-building techniques are working?
- Use functional magnetic resonance imaging: measures brian activity of blood flow in your brain. Not freely available yet
- Check if you have low blood pressure
- Check if you are willing to face new/fearful situations
- Dwelling less on negative events
- Improvement in your well-being
What constitutes workplace support?
- Work/life balance, good conditions, supervisor support and social support
What is the definition of social support?
The quality of interpersonal relationships at work, and outside work. (How strong your relationship is with a few key people) (Make close relationships)
