Sources of Stress in the workplace

Question 1

Basic examples of sources of stress in the workplace

Answer 1

meeting deadlines, people not pulling their weight, confrontational customers, lack of control, ambiguity in a task

Question 2

Statistically how many employees suffer from workplace stress?

Answer 2

• 1 in 5 employees suffer from work-based stress

Question 3

Who concluded ‘Failure to address workplace stress can lead to physical and mental exhaustion’

Answer 3

Maslach (1892)

Question 4

What did Maslach (1982) conclude?

Answer 4

‘Failure to address workplace stress can lead to physical and mental exhaustion’

Question 5

What 4 factors constitute workplace stress? (PROL)

Answer 5

Physical Environment
Role Ambiguity
Work Overload
Lack of control

Question 6

Sources of stress in the Workplace:

Physical Environment

Answer 6

Space, temperature, lighting and arrangements of an office can affect individuals
Physical stressors make work more difficult and more energy has to be expended to overcome them

Question 7

Sources of stress in the Workplace:

Role Ambiguity

Answer 7

Occurs when requirements for a particular work role are unclear or poorly defined
Result of no clear guidelines defining roles, or, contradictory roles
Contributes to other aspects of workplace stress such as relationships with co-workers

Question 8

Sources of stress in the Workplace:

Work Overload

Answer 8

Taking on too much work, increasing pressure is seen as the most stressful aspect of the workplace (Dewe 1992) this also includes the impact of long hours on an individual’s social structures (home-work interface)

Question 9

Sources of stress in the Workplace:

Lack of control

Answer 9

Work load and work patterns determined that a perceived lack of control increases the stress response and contributes to depression and illness

Question 10

Which three researchers did research into Lack of control?

Answer 10

Seligman and Maier (1967)

Marmout et al (1991)

Schaulbroeck et al (2001) - too much control - contradictory research

Question 11

Workplace stress - Research into Lack of control:

Seligman and Maier (1967) ‘learned helplessness’

Answer 11

‘Learned helplessness’
>Demonstrated that when dogs were given a series of inescapable electric shock, they would not take subsequent opportunities to escape
>Seligman suggested that humans unable to control what happened to them could experience a similar state which could lead to depression

Question 12

Workplace stress - Research into Lack of control:

Marmout et al (1991)

Answer 12

3 year longitudinal study of 10,308 civil servants aged 35-55 (67% = men ; 33% = women)
>Research methods included questionnaires and observations – job control was measured through self-report and independent assessment – Job control was assessed on two occasions, 3 years apart
>Those with low autonomy in their workplace were 4x more likely to die of a heart attack than those with high autonomy
>There is an inverse social gradient in stress related illnesses amongst civil servants:
As job control decreases, illness increases
>Negative correlation suggests that low control is a stressor that could lead to poor health

Question 13

Workplace stress - Research into Lack of control:

What was Schaulbroeck’s contradictory research for ‘too much control’

Answer 13

Schaulbroeck et al (2001) Too much control
Contradictory A02 evaluation point!
>High level of control can be a source of stress
>Schaulbroeck found that people with higher autonomy showed lower levels of antibodies in their saliva making them more susceptible to colds and flu – therefore it can be as stressful as a lack of control

Question 14

Who conducted the KEY STUDY that applies to Lack of Control and Work Overload, and when was it conducted?

Answer 14

Johansson et al (1978) – ‘the workplace as a source of stress’

Question 15

Johansson et al (1978) – ‘the workplace as a source of stress’ - Explain the Key Study

Answer 15

Aim –
Investigate stressors such as repetitiveness, machine regulated pace of work and high levels of responsibility in relation to any increase in stress-related physiological arousal and stress-related illness
Procedures –
1. Identified a high risk group of 14 ‘finishers’ in a Swedish Sawmill.
a. Their work was machine paced, isolated, very repetitive yet highly skilled and their productivity determined the wages for the rest of the work place
2. The ‘finishers’ were compared to a low risk control group of 10 cleaners with almost opposite conditions
3. Levels of stress hormones (adrenaline and noradrenaline) were taken on work and rest days
4. Records were kept of stress-related illness and absenteeism
Findings –
>The high risk group secreted more stress hormones on work days than rest days, and more than the control group
>They also showed significantly higher levels of stress related illness, e.g. headaches, and higher levels of absenteeism
Conclusion –
The combination of work stressors lead to chronic physiological arousal, this in turn leads to stress related illness and absenteeism
 By reducing stressors in the workplace, employers will reduce the stress-related illness and absenteeism in their employees (e.g. introducing variety)
Evaluation –
1. important variables such as individual differences are not controlled in this study; it may be that people who are vulnerable to stress are attracted to high risk and demanding jobs, such as ‘finishing’ in a Sawmill.
2. Study does not identify which of the various work stressors may be the most stressful

Question 16

What are the 5 potential evaluation points for stress in the workplace?

Answer 16

\:-) Real Life impact
\:-( Correlational Vs. Causality
\:-( Job Control
\:-( Extraneous Variables / natural environment
\:-( Individual differences

Question 17

Evaluation points for stress in the workplace:

Answer 17

:-) Real Life impact –
the productivity of companies is important and the health of workers is vital. Research is having enormous impact on organisations which has seen a rise in the amount of occupational psychology jobs. Therefore, the impact of the research shows its strength

:-( Correlational Vs. Causality –
Only establishes a correlational link between work and illness, no specific causations.
Partly because it is unethical to manipulate workplace stressors experimentally in order to observe effects

:-( Job Control –
Contradictorily, having high levels of control can be stressful for some people (See Schaulbroeck et al 2001)

:-( Extraneous Variables/ natural environment –
Different types of people are attracted to the job of director than to the job of an office worker. It might be these differences that cause increased stress rather than the jobs themselves

:-( Individual differences –
Age/Gender/Culture/ Cognition and Personality all affect how people react to stress. Both high and low job control can have different effects on different people.
Someone who is low on confidence may be more stressed with high than low job control as they doubt their ability and feel stressed by the decisions they make.