Transactional model of Stress and Coping

Question 1

Lazarus & Folkman (1987)

Answer 1

Appraisals are critical for managing stress

Question 2

(1) Identify the potential stressor

Answer 2

What is causing the stress? (a work task, multiple assignments)

Question 3

(2) Primary appraisal

Answer 3

Determine if the stressor is important to you, is it a threat to you? Am I okay, or in trouble?

Question 4

(3) Secondary Appraisal & Evaluation

Answer 4

If it is a threat to you, ask yourself: what can I do about it? (can I run away? can I talk to someone?)

Question 5

(4) Coping Strategies

Answer 5

You can cope with stress with physical, material, social, & psychological mechanisms (e.g. you don’t run away, you decide to talk about your problem with your friend, tutor, or therapist)

Question 6

(5) Stress Outcome

Answer 6

After using the coping mechanisms, you can now determine if you experienced stress, or no stress. (YOU CAN COPE - NO STRESS/ YOU CANNOT COPE- STRESS)

Question 7

when work is a source of stress, this could be because of…

Answer 7

• the nature of the work (qualitative; difficulty; cognitive, emotional, physical)
• the speed and pace of the work (quantitative; work overload; work pressure & intensity)
• the people we work with (interpersonal conflict)

Question 8

Life stress is not…

Answer 8

work stress

Question 9

Prolonged work stress often leads to…

Answer 9

Burnout

Question 10

Burnout is …(Malasch, 1979)

Answer 10

• a feeling (physical, emotional, mental exhaustion)
• an attitude/ behaviour (cynicism towards others)
• a feeling of low personal accomplishment (but this is an inconsistent feature)

Question 11

Customer abuse on a day-to-day basis and is prolonged over a period of time..

Answer 11

this is when it builds up and becomes burnout.

Question 12

WELL-BEING

Answer 12

A healthy physical, emotional, and mental state, whereby you can maintain a strong perseverance mindset (“bounce-back”)

Question 13

Well-being involves positive and negative attitudes about work

Answer 13

which influence our well-being!

Question 14

Well-being constructs include…

Answer 14

• job satisfaction
• work engagement
• burnout
• stress and strain

Question 15

JOB -CORE DIMENSIONS (WORK2218)

Answer 15

Job characteristics influence critical psychological states & individuals growth need, which then influences personal and work outcomes

Question 16

LIMITATIONS of the Job Core Dimensions

Answer 16

• too simplistic and does not account for the dynamic nature of work (individual doesn’t enjoy the work; may not be just these 5 characteristics)
• this model is too theoretical, not as practical, there still needs to be an interpretation by the manager (it’s a blanket approach to solving a nuanced problem; there are different roles in different industries)
• Managers could use very biased experiences to evaluate why an employee is not motivated (e.g.
• there are definitely more than 5 job characteristics that would impact one’s satisfaction/dissatisfaction, stress levels of work.
• there are no bad characteristics of work mentioned in the model (but there are many factors that would reduce employees wellbeing) & 5 bad characteristics & 5 good characteristics - do they cancel each other out? it probably doesn’t work like that here.
  + positives: guides our
  thinking as a integrated model.
• negatives” research-practice gap.

Question 17

JOB DEMANDS-RESOURCES MODEL

Answer 17

Job Demands (costs)- Primary Appraisal - Stressors (increase strain!)

Job resources - Coping mechanisms - achieve work goals, reduce costs/ demands, & stimulate personal growth and development (manage costs) (Increase motivation!)

Question 18

Job demands & job resources WORK TOGETHER

Answer 18

Note, you may be having a very challenging work week, and you have a very supportive family. Yet, just having family support is not the solution for reducing strains. You need to reduce job demands & increase social support, feedback, & have family support.

Question 19

Job demands

Answer 19

• Qualitative demands (physical, emotional, mental, work- home conflict)
• quantitative demands (work overload/ underload/ pace of change- directly affects you)
• organisational demands (bureaucracy & policy- high level - indirect effect on you/ interpersonal conflict - much worse with power dynamics in play)

Question 20

THERE WILL ALWAYS BE THINGS THAT COST YOU IN YOUR WORK!

Answer 20

• managing computer systems, working overtime, managing conflict

Question 21

Job Resources

Answer 21

• social resources
• work resources
• organisational resources
• Developmental resources
• personal resources (+ personal demands; work & life stress are different)

Question 22

Life stress (home) is less likely to influence our satisfaction with our job; that’s the key difference.

Answer 22

• work stressors have a direct influence on how positive, motivated, or satisfied we are with our work (e.g. burnout; chronic work-related stress; work overload)

Question 23

Personal resources

Answer 23

• resilience
• self-efficacy
• optimism
• flexibility
• setting one’s own limits (personal values/ value congruence)
• proactivity
• goal directedness
• self-development

Question 24

Resilience, Optimism, setting one’s own limits

Answer 24

• daily walks at lunch break to keep you feeling happy
• No work phone calls after a certain time, only allow calls between 9-5pm hours
• Meditation (reading the bible, prayer every morning) to build up mental resilience

Question 25

CONSERVATION OF RESOURCES (Hobfoll, 1989) (other perspectives)

Answer 25

- proposes that stress is not so much external events only, but more about resources.

Question 26

Resources are defined as ..

Answer 26

valued objects, states, and conditions

Question 27

You experience stress when you there is a threat of resource loss

Answer 27

- a work deadline causes stress when you worry, have no one to ask questions, have to skip lunch because you're behind on it , etc.

Question 28

You experience stress when you actually lose resources

Answer 28

- you get more work, work overtime, your favourite colleague leaves the organisation, boss bullies you (losing resources e.g., social support)

Question 29

you experience stress when you lose resources and you can't gain those resources back after investment

Answer 29

- when job demands > job resources , you don't gain any resources, so whatever happens will cost you more, spiral downwards (negative feedback), no buffer or resilience, then you experience burnout, leave the organisation etc., - ON THE OTHER HAND, you may have resources, then negative things happen, but you can bounce back because you have those resources (e.g., good night's sleep)

Question 30

Difference between Job Demands-Resources Model, Transitory Cycle of Stress, & COR?

Answer 30

COR focuses more on how we manage the situation, not so much on the stress itself. (much more internal focused, than external)

Question 31

BURNOUT & WELL-BEING

Answer 31

You have to make sure the training, yoga, meditation is really addressing stress & mental health & well-being. It's helpful, but it's actually adding to the WORKLOAD of nurses, company workers, students.

Question 32

High work overload cause/ relationship

Answer 32

Too much work given to each employee - employees working overtime - role overload, too much to complete within the time available - could be related to role conflict / lack of clarity of individual tasks, some employees feel that they have too many responsibilities, hence, employees perceive high workload, increased stress, tension, fatigue, and job burnout (emotional exhaustion, cynicism).

Question 33

High work overload solution (resources) (from the perspective of the manager: what he/she can do)

Answer 33

- social resources > role clarity > fulfilment of expectations (supervisor support - reducing expectations, the speed and amount of work is too great) - Work resources > availability of tools - Organisational resources > Communication - Personal resources > self-efficacy > setting one's own limits

Question 34

REMEMBER the data from your research is supposed to help you figure out what are the causal relationships/ correlated relationships

Answer 34

more surveys may help manager's figure out what is the cause of the high work overload, high work-home conflict, and high interpersonal conflict in the team.

Question 35

THE THEORY can help support your ideas

Answer 35

your interventions, put them in, then after a month see if employee's perspective of workload has changed; it's helpful for systematically changing the system - to see what has helped, or not helped in improving employee's wellbeing.