Stress in the workplace Flashcards
To investigate stress in the workplace
According to Karasek’s ‘Job Strain’ model, what are the 2 main sources of stress in the workplace?
- High workload 2. Low Job Control
What do we mean by ‘high workload’?
Workload could refer to the amount of hours that employees are required to work during the week or could also refer to the amount of work an employee is asked to complete within a given time. Tight deadlines, amount of paperwork, number of tasks could all be features of increased workload. Breslow & Buell found that those working over 48hrs per week were twice as likely to develop CHD than those working less than 40 hrs per week.
What do we mean by ‘Low Job Control’
Not being able to make the decisions that impact your working day and having to follow the directions of more senior colleagues. Executives could also experience low control if the environmental conditions (eg. market forces) force them to act in certain ways. Fox et al found that a combination of low control and high demands for nurses was linked to stress related illness.
Key Study - Johansson et al (1978) aimed to find out how workplace stress affected health and productivity. PROCEDURES - Where and with who whom did the study take place?
- Studied Saw Mill workers in Sweden - They compared 2 types of worker. - ‘FINISHERS’ were the final link on a conveyor belt system. They had high levels of responsibility for the output of the company, a high workload and little control over their highly skilled work. - The other group were maintenance staff responsible for cleaning with more control over their time and little responsibility for the output of the company.
Key Study - Johansson et al (1978) aimed to find out how workplace stress affected health and productivity. PROCEDURES - What was measured?
- Stress hormone levels via urine samples. - Levels of absenteeism
Key Study - Johansson et al (1978) aimed to find out how workplace stress affected health and productivity. What were there FINDINGS?
Finishers’ (high stress job) had much higher levels of stress hormones on work days than the control group of cleaners. They also had high incidences of stress related problems and higher absenteeism.
Key Study - Johansson et al (1978) aimed to find out how workplace stress affected health and productivity. What can we CONCLUDE?
The workplace can be a source of stress which reduces the effectiveness of the immune system and can lead ti illness, days off and impact on productivity.
Key Study - Johansson et al (1978) - Can you identify and STRENGTHS of the study?
Strengths - There was a control group - Objectives measures were used (hormone levels) adding to validity - Real life setting added to ecological validity - Marmot et al (1997) support the findings with a study of civil servants in London.
Key Study - Johansson et al (1978) - Can you identify and WEAKNESSES of the study?
Weaknesses - The research is endocentric (men only) and therefore reduces population validity and the finding cannot be generalised to women - The research assumes that workers stress hormone levels are linked to the workplace via correlation. There could be other factors in the life of the workers contributing to stress hormone increases. - Culturally biased to Sweden where working practice and expectations of workload may be different to other countries and cultures - They also provided ideas such as rotation of work roles to reduce levels of absenteeism in the sawmill.
Key Study - Marmot et al (1997) - aimed to investigate the impact of workload and control with civil servants in London - Can you remember any more details regarding the PROCEDURES?
- 7372 Civil servants working in London (large sample) - Questionnaire on workload, job control and social support given - There was a medical check for CV disease - To reduce the demand characteristics there was an independent assessment of workload and control via checking of job specification and role responsibilities - It was a longitudinal study in that participants were reassessed 5 years later
Key Study - Marmot et al (1997) - aimed to investigate the impact of workload and control with civil servants - What were the FINDINGS?
- no link between workload and stress related illness - Job demands were NOT a significant factor in stress - 5 years later those who had reported ‘LOW CONTROL’ were more likely to have developed Coronary Heart Disease - The was no link to the CHD through other risk factors such as smoking or the grade of job
Key Study - Marmot et al (1997) - aimed to investigate the impact of workload and control with civil servants - What did they CONCLUDE?
That the critical factor in stress levels and resulting illness was whether or not you are in control of your working day.
Strengths of Marmot et al (1997) study with Civil Servants?
- Large sample size - they came back to reassess - the medical checks were an objective measure - the independent assessment added internal validity
Weakness of Marmot et al (1997) study with Civil Servants?
- The self report questionnaire could still have some demand characteristics associated with it. People are more likely to say that there workload is too high. - Population validity weaknesses as the study only looked at Civil Servants who may not be representative of the whole workforce - The study was also focused on one city (London) so difficult to generalise to workers in other places.
Individual differences may have some impact on how we deal with stress. What were the findings of Schaubroeck et al (2001)? What do the finding suggest as their conclusion?
They found that some people had a good immune system in low control situations. It suggests that some people see negative outcomes being their fault so are quite happy with not having control as when in control (with extra responsibility) it can increase the effects of stress.
