Chapter 11 Managing Stress and Employee Job Satisfaction

General Adaptation Syndrome “Fight or flight” response is based on classifications made by Dr. Hans Selye regarding a person’s response to stress Involves three stages: Alarm Stage Resistance Stage Exhaustion

Three Stages Alarm Stage: muscles tense, respiration rate increases, blood pressure and heart rate increase Resisting Stage: causes poor decision making and physical illness

Three Stages (cont.) Exhaustion: when a person cannot sustain resistance indefinitely, and may cause illnesses such as ulcers or headaches

General Adaptation Syndrome (cont.) The General Adaptation Syndrome viewpoint suggests that people can only take so much stress before a serious, debilitating condition results

Benefits of Stress To maximize performance, low levels of stress are preferable to stimulate individuals to work harder and accomplish more Eustress: term for “good” stress, level of stress that is productive

Causes of Stress Personal Factors Interpersonal Factors Organizational Factors

Personal Factors Type A personalities: impatient, competitive, aggressive, always feel like they’re under pressure, do lots of things at once, and have a hard time relaxing Type B personalities: more mild-mannered, in less of a hurry, and far less competitive

Personal Factors (cont.) Type A men are twice as prone to heart disease and fatal heart attacks as type B individuals

Personal Factors (cont.) Type A’s are predisposed to be managers, yet their climb through the ranks may be made at the expense of the company because a type A’s job performance in upper level management is not as good as a type B’s

Personal Factors (cont.) It’s very hard for someone who is a type A to change their behavior and adopt a type B style due to the deeply ingrained patterns of behavior

Personal Factors (cont.) Changes in one’s life also produce stress, e.g., death of a spouse, or getting fired Demographic attributes: Men, whites, and individuals with high income levels report relatively less stress in their lives. Job attributes of women and minorities may be responsible for higher stress levels

Interpersonal Factors Negative emotion at work: employee jealousy and employee envy Employee jealousy: thoughts, emotions,and behaviors that result from loss of self-esteem and loss of outcomes associated with a working relationship

Interpersonal Factors (cont.) Employee envy: thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that result from loss of self-esteem in response to another individual obtaining outcomes desired by self Studies show: Males have greater workplace envy Females have greater workplace jealousy

Interpersonal Factors (cont.) Greater jealousy and envy result in lower job satisfaction and intentions to quit Envy and jealousy are stress inducers because they arise from the perception of threats in the work environment

Interpersonal Factors (cont.) Workplace Romance: Positive personal emotions Observers of romantic relationships fear favoritism might occur, or charges of sexual harassment may occur when it turns sour As more women are in workforce and longer work hours occur, the likelihood of workplace romance increases

Interpersonal Factors (cont.) Known to stimulate gossip and potential fear of exploitation

Organizational Factors Responsibility, particularly for other people, is a common organizational cause of stress Working conditions: Assembly lines and piece-rate systems are stressful due to employee’s lack of control and pressures to produce

Organizational Factors (cont.) Work that is not intrinsically rewarding also creates stress Emotional labor: an “occupational mask” donned by employees who must always display a positive demeanor to customers, for example, flight attendants

Organizational Factors (cont.) Role conflict: when two or more sets of demands are made on an employee so that compliance with one set of demands makes it more difficult to comply with another Role ambiguity: the absence of clarity regarding how to perform one’s job

Organizational Factors (cont.) Role overload: when too many activities are expected of an employee, given the time available and ability level of employee Shift work: involves 20% of the U.S. workforce, and it causes loss of sleep, appetite, depleted social interaction, etc.

Reactions to Stress Physical problems: Ivancevich and Matteson have developed a model for estimating the annual costs associated with replacing employees lost to heart disease; it is based on: Number of employees Employees in age range of 45 to 65 Estimated deaths due to heart disease per year, [.6% of total number of employees]

Reactions to Stress (cont.) Estimated premature retirement due to heart disease Company’s annual personnel losses Annual replacement costs: cost of hiring and training Alcoholism and drug abuse: affects between 6 and 10 percent of all employees; both are linked to higher levels of stress

Reactions to Stress (cont.) Absenteeism, turnover, and dissatisfaction are correlated with stress levels Workplace violence: violence and sabotage may result from stress Involves fairly petty expressions of aggressive behavior

Reactions to Stress (cont.) Characterized as: covert, verbal, involving brief displays of intense anger Mass Psychogenic Illness Five common symptoms: Headaches Dizziness Nausea Abdominal cramps Cough

Reactions to Stress (cont.) Burnout: a reaction to prolonged and energy-depleting difficulties Primary symptom is feeling drained or used up Typically affects people who are highly conscientious and work in helping professions Employees may feel that they are not being properly rewarded Frustrations lead to apathy and feelings of failure, with physical symptoms of high blood pressure, ulcers, mental symptoms such as depression

Coping with Stress Flight or fight Exercise Social support Job redesign Relaxation techniques

Coping with Stress (cont.) Time management Time logs Structuring time Saying no Making “to do” lists

Job Satisfaction Refers to one’s thinking, feeling, and action tendencies toward work Managers realize that an organization’s performance should be measured in human dimensions as well as financial

Job Satisfaction (cont.) Reasons why concern about job is so important to managers: Moral obligation to make job personally rewarding Physical and mental well-being correlated with job satisfaction Affects company’s ability to attract and retain qualified workers

Job Satisfaction (cont.) Low levels of job satisfaction are related to: Turnover Absenteeism Union-organizing activity Filing of grievances

Sources of Job Satisfaction Variables consistently correlated with job satisfaction include job level, length of service, and race Intrinsic sources: come from within individual, self-administered, e.g., autonomy, sense of challenge, feelings of recognition

Sources of Job Satisfaction (cont.) Extrinsic sources: come from outside the individual from the external environment, e.g., working conditions, job security, opportunities to interact with co-workers Dual purpose sources: relate to both intrinsic and extrinsic sources, e.g., high salary, rapid career progress

Sources of Job Satisfaction (cont.) Expectations often influence satisfaction New employees have particularly high expectations Job-orientation programs that present a realistic point of view

Sources of Job Satisfaction (cont.) Dispositional Influences Individuals may be predisposed to feel good or bad about their employment situation, regardless of actual specifics of situation Negative affectivity: describes the predisposition to feel dissatisfied with one’s job or life

Consequences of Job Dissatisfaction Withdrawal behaviors Absenteeism Tardiness Turnover Union activity Hostile Actions

Job Satisfaction and Productivity Most people believe, intuitively, that people who are satisfied with their jobs are more productive Research does not support the above statement

Job Satisfaction and Productivity (cont.) Factors that influence productivity include: informal work norms, task interdependence, and machine pacing of production process The extent to which satisfaction and performance are positively correlated indicates the degree to which an organization is “healthy”