problem 6 - job stress

Question 1

what is Cannon’s fight or flight reaction theory?

Answer 1

adaptive response to stressful situations exhibited by animals & humans in which they choose to either fight or attempt to escape
- In response to sudden, episodic/acute stress

Question 2

eustress vs distress

Answer 2

Eustress = type of stress that provides challenges that motivate individuals to work hard & meet their goals

Distress = type of stress resulting from chronically demanding situations that produces neg health outcomes

Question 3

what is Selye’s general adaptation syndrome?

Answer 3

stress occurs in 3 stages:
1. Alarm = body mobilizes resources to cope w added stress – heart rate increases & stress hormones (e.g., adrenaline & cortisol) are released
2. Resistance = body copes w the og source of stress but resistance to other stressors is lowered
3. Exhaustion stage = overall resistance drops & adverse consequences (e.g., burnout, severe illness, etc) can occur unless stress is reduced

In response to chronic stress

Question 4

what are strains?

Answer 4

reactions or responses to stressors – strains that can result from chronic or persistent stress are burnout, anxiety & physiological consequences

Question 5

what are physical/task workplace stressors?

Answer 5

• Uncontrollable noise is particularly stressful & leads to lower task P & decreased motivation
• Demands of a job (e.g., pace of work, workload, hours worked) can cause stress & strain

Question 6

how does lack of control/predictability cause work stress?

Answer 6

the individual’s perception of control or predictability determines their response to the situation + perceptions are affected by characteristics of the job & work env
- Also related to autonomy
- Interventions that enhance perceptions of control reduce stress & subsequent strains

Question 7

how does interpersonal conflict cause work stress?

Answer 7

negative interactions w co-workers, supervisors or clients – can distract workers from imp tasks & can have physical health consequences
- Link between interpersonal conflict & subsequent health problems is sig
- Can also cause depression, job dissatisfaction, aggression, theft & sabotage

Question 8

role stressors

Answer 8

includes role ambiguity, role conflict & role overload – based on idea that most jobs have multiple task requirements & responsibilities (roles)
- A job is likely to be stressful if these roles conflict with one another or are unclear

Question 9

how does work/family conflict cause stress?

Answer 9

occurs when workers experience conflict between their work roles & roles in their personal life

Question 10

challenge vs hindrance related stressors

Answer 10

Challenge-related = work demands or circumstances that, although potentially stressful, have potential gains for individuals

Hindrance-related = job demands or circumstances that tend to limit or interfere with an individual’s work achievement

Question 11

what are behavioral consequences of stress?

Answer 11

Information processing: chronic stress has detrimental effects on memory, reaction times, accuracy & performance of a variety of tasks + ppl under stress have difficulty focusing

Performance: arousal & performance have an inverted-U relationship: indicates that when stress increases, performance also increases up to a certain point
- When stress is too high, performance decreases again
- When you experience very low stress or too much stress, you perform such-optimally
- Average stress leads to higher motivation, energy & attention (eutress)

Counterproductive work behavior: stressors from the work env increase perception of stress, which leads to neg emotions & counterproductive work behaviors

Question 12

what is burnout?

Answer 12

a chronic workplace stress and state of mental & physical exhaustion
- indicated by exhaustion, cynicism and poor cog functioning – has many neg outcomes

Question 13

what are situational antecedents of a burnout?

Answer 13

Job demands are more imp predictors of a burnout than a deficiency in job resources – demands are associated w physical & psychic costs
- Demands that are best predictors of burnout: role ambiguity, role conflict, role stress, stressful events, amount of work & work pressure

Resources still hold a consistent neg relationship w burnout (especially cynicism)
- When employees can’t develop themselves, don’t receive feedback & can’t work on several tasks at once = score higher on cynicism measures

Question 14

what are individual antecedents of a burnout?

Answer 14

• Env factors are generally more imp predictors of burnout than personality, but it still plays a role
• Personality can cause ppl to experience the work env in a certain way, regardless of the objective env
• Low-order personal factors have a significant relationship w burnout: self-esteem, self-efficacy, locus of control, pos/neg affectivity, optimism, proactive personality

Question 15

what are health related consequences of a burnout?

Answer 15

Employees who are chronically fatigued & cynical about their job report more mental & physical problems
- Predict depressive symptoms & life dissatisfaction
- Bad health most strongly related to the fatiguing part of burnout

Question 16

what are work related consequences of a burnout?

Answer 16

only emotional exhaustion predict P – high correlation between exhaustion & P
- Depersonalization & personal achievements showed inconsistent relationships
- burnouts predict the duration of absence, not the frequency

Question 17

what are organizational level interventions that may prevent burnout?

Answer 17

focus on groups of employees
- Optimism demands: lowering restrictive demands & increasing challenging demands
- Increasing job resources: by job redesign & training programs
- Improve personal resources: such as optimism, self-efficacy & feasibility can be taught = training

Question 18

what are individual level interventions that may prevent burnout?

Answer 18

focused on certain life events that lead to restrictive demands – a personal coach can help to balance demands & resources
- Job craft training
- Strengths use training: how they can set goals and use their strengths to their advantage
- Recovery training: learning what activities can help recovery (relaxation, mindfulness)

Question 19

what is the job demands resources theory (JDR model)

Answer 19

suggests that all job characteristics can be modeled according to 2 categories: job demands & job resources

There are 2 processes:
- Health impairment process = demands are the most imp predictors of fatigue, psychosomatic health complaints & repeated strain injury
- Motivational process = job resources are the most imp predictors of motivation, work engagement & enjoyment

Question 20

what is job crafting (JDR model)

Answer 20

physical & cog changes made by individuals to tasks or relationship boundaries – the process of ‘shaping’ your job
- Physical = changes in the shape, scope & number of tasks
- Cog = how the individual views the job

Research showed that ppl who engaged in job crafting = increase job resources = increased work engagement & satisfaction

Question 21

what is emotional labour?

Answer 21

the regulation of one’s emotions to meet job or org demands
- The stress of managing emotions when jobs require that workers only display certain expressions to clients & customers

Surface acting = managing or faking one’s emotions/expressions
Deep acting = managing one’s feelings, including trying to actually change one’s emotional state to match the emotions required by the job

Question 22

what is the demand-control model

Answer 22

suggests that the og & primary sources of stress lie within 2 basic characteristics:
- Job demands: associated w pre pending psychological effort
- Job decision latitude: a combination of job control (autonomy) & skill use (the opportunity to enact one’s capabilities)

4 different types of jobs

Question 23

what are the 4 different types of jobs according the DCM

Answer 23

High strain jobs = high demands & low decision latitude = most likely to show extreme job stress reactions – e.g., call-center operator

Low strain jobs = low demands & high decision latitude = lower than average levels of stress reactions – e.g., wildlife photographer

Active jobs = high demands & high decision latitude = motivation, learning & personal growth + eustress – e.g., physician

Passive jobs = low demands & low decision latitude = skills & abilities may atrophy + learned helplessness – e.g., janitor

Question 24

what is the demand-control-support model

Answer 24

Improvement/extension on DCM - evolved to include workplace social support: another factor that is useful in preventing demands from causing strain

WSS = helpful interactions w supervisors & coworkers

Question 25

what is the strain hypothesis (DCSM)

Answer 25

job control & social support can offset the detrimental effects of job demands on health
- Job control & WSS buffer the adverse impact of job demands on health

Question 26

what is the active learning hypothesis (DCSM)

Answer 26

goes on step further than the strain hypothesis – bcuz control & WSS facilitate coping, they may facilitate one particular form of coping related to better productivity

This is called active coping & refers to coping directed at solving problems caused by high job demands