Chapter 7 Stress & Well-Being at Work Nelson & Quick 1 1 1 1 1 1

What is Stress? Stress - the unconscious preparation to fight or flee that a person experiences when faced with any demand Stressor - the person or event that triggers the stress response Distress - the adverse psychological, physical, behavioral, and organizational consequences that may arise as a result of stressful events Strain - distress 2

4 Stress Approaches: Homeostatic/Medical Approach Homeostasis - a steady state of bodily functioning and equilibrium Fight Flight External environmental demand 3

4 Stress Approaches: Cognitive Appraisal Approach Individuals differ in their appraisal of events & people What is stressful for one person is not for another Perception and cognitive appraisal determines what is stressful Problem-focused coping emphasizes managing the stressor Emotion-focused coping emphasizes managing your response 4

4 Stress Approaches: Person-Environment Fit Approach No undue stress Good person-environment fit: a person’s skills & abilities math a clearly defined, consistent set of role expectations. Stress, strain, depression occur when role expectations are confusing and/or conflicting, or when the person’s skills & abilities do not meet the demands of the social role 5

4 Stress Approaches: Psychoanalytic Approach Ego Ideal - the embodiments of a person’s perfect self Self-image - how a person sees oneself, both positively & negatively Ego- Ideal Self-image = the difference 6

The Stress Response Blood redirected from the skin & internal organs to brain and large muscles Increased alertness: improved vision hearing, & other sensory responses Release of glucose & fatty acids for sustenance Depression of immune system, digestion, & similar restorative processes Sympathetic nervous system & the endocrine (hormone) system activated Release of chemical messengers, primarily adrenaline, into the bloodstream 7

Stress Sources at Work 8

Stress Sources at Work 9

Stress Benefits and Costs 10

Yerkes-Dodson Law Performance arousal Stress level High Low Optimum (eustress) High (distress) Low (distress) Stress level Boredom from understimulation Optimum stress load Conditions perceived as stressful Distress from overstimulation 11

Positive Stress/Negative Stress Stress response itself is neutral Some stressful activities (aerobic exercise, etc.) can enhance a person’s ability to manage stressful demands or situations Stress can provide a needed energy boost Negative stress results from a prolonged activation of the stress response mismanagement of the energy induced by the response unique personal vulnerabilities 12

Work related psychological disorders psychosomatic disorders) Individual Stress Behavioral problems (substance abuse, violence, accidents) (heart disease, stroke, Medical illness headaches, backaches) Work related psychological disorders (depression, burnout, psychosomatic disorders) 13

Organizational Stress Participative problems - a cost associated with absenteeism, tardiness, strikes & work stoppages, & turnover Performance decrement - a cost resulting from poor quality or low quantity of production, grievances, & unscheduled machine downtime & repair Compensation award - an organizational cost resulting from court awards for job distress 14

Dealing with Stress Achilles’ heel phenomenon - a person breaks down at his or her weakest point 15

Are There Gender-Related Stressors? Sexual harassment Early age fatal health problems Long term disabling health problems Violence 16

Type A Behavior Patterns Type A Behavior Patterns - a complex of personality and behavior characteristics sense of time urgency “hurry sickness” quest for numbers (of achievements) status insecurity aggression & hostility expressed in response to frustration & conflict 17

Personality Hardiness Personality hardiness - a personality resistant to distress & characterized by challenge (versus threat) commitment (versus alienation) control (versus powerlessness) Transformational coping - a way of managing stressful events by changing them into subjectively less stressful events (versus regressive coping - passive avoidance of events by decreasing interaction with the environment) 18

Self-Reliance Self-reliance - a healthy, secure, interdependent pattern of behavior related to how people form and maintain supportive attachments with others Counterdependence - an unhealthy, insecure pattern of behavior that leads to separation in relationships with other people Overdependence - an unhealthy, insecure pattern of behavior that leads to preoccupied attempts to achieve security through relationships. 19

Preventative Stress Management Preventative stress management - an organi-zational philosophy that holds that people & organizations should take joint responsibility for promoting health and preventing distress & strain Primary prevention - designed to reduce, modify, or eliminate the demand or stressor causing stress Secondary prevention - designed to alter or modify the individual’s or the organizations’ response to a demand or stressor Tertiary prevention - designed to heal individual or organizational symptoms of distress & strain 20

Preventative Stress Maintenance Organizational stressors Task demands Role demands • Physical demands Interpersonal demands Primary prevention stressor directed Health risk factors Secondary prevention response directed Stress responses Individual Organizational Asymptomatic disease Distress Individual problems Behavioral •Medical Psychological Organizational costs Direct • Indirect costs Symptomatic disease Tertiary prevention symptom directed Source: J. D. Quick, R. S. Horn, and J. C. Quick, “Health Consequences of Stress,” Journal of Organizational Behavior Management 8, no. 2, figure 1 (Fall 1986): 21. Reprinted with permission of Haworth Press, Inc., 10 Alice Street, Binghamton, NY 13904. Copyright 1986. 21

Organizational Stress Prevention Focuses on people’s work demands Focuses on ways to reduce distress at work Most organizational prevention is primary job redesign goal setting role negotiation social support systems 22

Job Strain Model Work load Unresolved strain (ill health) Self- Low High Low Self- determination Passive job High-strain job Active job High B. Gardell, “Efficiency and Health Hazards in Mechanized Work,” in J. C. Quick, R.S. Bhagat, J. E. Dalton, and J. D. Quick, (eds.), Work Stress: Health Care Systems in the Workplace. Copyright © 1987. Reproduced with permission of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc., Westport, CT. 23

Social Support at Work & Home Organizational Supervisor Colleagues Subordinates Clients Family Spouse Children Parents In-laws Individual Church Minister/Rabbi Friends Support groups Professional Physicians Psychologists Counselors Lawyers Clubs Business associations Social clubs Athletic groups From J. C. Quick J. D. Quick, D. L. Nelson and J. J. Hurrell, Jr. in Preventive Stress Management in Organizations, 1997, p. 198. Copyright© 1997 by The American Psychological Association. Reprinted with permission. 24

Individual Preventive Stress Management 25