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

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 Homeostasis – a steady state of bodily functioning and equilibriuim

4 Stress Approaches: Homeostatic/Medical Approach Homeostasis Fight Flight External environmental demand + =

 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 4 Stress Approaches: Cognitive Appraisal Approach Problem-focused coping emphasizes managing the stressor Emotion-focused coping emphasizes managing your response

 No undue stress Good person-environment fit: a person’s skills & abilities match a clearly defined, consistent set of role expectations  Stress, strain, and 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 4 Stress Approaches: Person-Environment Fit Approach

4 Stress Approaches: Psychoanalytic Approach Ego Ideal - the embodiment of a person’s perfect self = the difference between ego ideal and self-image Self-Image - how a person sees oneself, both positively & negatively

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 Release of chemical messengers, primarily adrenaline, into the bloodstream Sympathetic nervous system & the endocrine (hormone) system activated

Sources of Stress at Work

Stress Sources at Work

Stress Benefits and Costs

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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)

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.

Preventative Stress Management - an organizational 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 organization’s response to a demand or stressor Tertiary Prevention - designed to heal individual or organizational symptoms of distress & strain Preventative Stress Management

Preventative Stress Maintenance Stress responses Individual Organizational Asymptomatic disease Secondary prevention response directed Distress Individual problems Behavioral Medical Psychological Organizational costs Direct Indirect Symptomatic disease Tertiary prevention symptom directed Organizational stressors Task demands Role demands Physical demands Interpersonal demands Health risk factors Primary prevention stressor 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 Copyright 1986.

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

Job Strain Model Unresolved strain (ill health) Workload Low High Self- determination Low High Passive job Active job SOURCE: 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 © Reproduced with permission of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc., Westport, CT. High-strain job Low-strain job

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

Individual Preventive Stress Management