Workplace stress (sos)

• Workplace stress comes in 2 forms

  • Workload = the amount of time/effort required in a job (can refer to underload but is usually overload)
  • Control = extent a worker feels able to make own decisions, work independently, have more flexibility to set own pace (eg scheduling tasks themselves)
• job demands-control model

  • Karasek’s job demands-control model
  • States stressful demands of a job (eg workload) can lead to poor health, dissatisfaction and absenteeism
  • BUT this relationship is modified by the amount of control the employee has over work
  • When 2 people have equally demanding workloads, only the one who lacks control over work becomes ill
• Bosma et al, civil servants and stress study (procedure)

  • Series of prospective studies of over 10,000 civil servants (Londoners) in a wide range of job grades
  • A questionnaire measured workload and job control
  • pps were also examined for symptoms of CHD and followed up after 5 years
• Bosma et al, civil servants and stress study (findings/conclusions)

  • No correlation between workload and illness - so job demands were not a significant workplace stressor
  • BUT employees who reported low job control at the start of the study more likely to have CHD 5 years later - even when other risk factors were statistically accounted for (eg lifestyle, diet)
  • Findings existed across all job grades - status and support given to higher grade civil servants did not offset risk of developing CHD if job lacked control
• Johansson et al, Swedish sawmill study (procedure)

  • Natural experiment in Swedish sawmill compared group of wood ‘finishers’ and group of cleaners
  • Measured employee illness, absenteeism and levels of the stress hormones and adrenaline and noradrenaline
  • Finishers had little control over work because it was set by the machine - BUT job demands were high because it was complex, skilled and carried a lot of responsibility
• Johansson et al, swedish sawmill study (findings/conclusions)

  • Researchers found higher levels of stress hormones in finishers overall - higher even before they got to work and increased over the day (but cleaners’ levels decreased)
  • More stress-related illness and absenteeism among finishers
• Strength = workload is a culturally generalisable concept

  • Liu et al = asked workers in china (collectivist) and the US (individualist) to describe stressful work events in the previous month (qualitative method)
  • Chinese and US workers differed in views on several work-related stressors but not perceptions of workload - both groups rated it as the third most stressful workplace stressor
  • Suggests that workload is understood in very different cultures and can therefore be generalised
• Counterpoint to workload being a culturally generalisable concept

  • Gyorkos et al = found job control was perceived as more stressful in individualist cultures - control may be hard to generalise in collectivist clusters
  • => ‘workplace stress’ has many concepts, not all of them can be generalised across cultures
• limitation = job demands-control model is simplistic

  • Lack of control and workload are stressors for many workers (in some cultures) but not the only ones - stress depends on interaction of other factors
  • these include the kind of work they do and how well they use coping mechanisms
  • Also the perception of control/workload is importantly
  • The job demands-control model lacks validity because of its simplistic focus on just 2 major workplace stressors
• limitation = evidence that having job control is more stressful

  • Depends on self-efficacy = a persons belief in their ability to perform tasks
  • Employees with low self-efficacy feel stressed in jobs giving them control
  • Control means taking decisions, but people with low self-efficacy find this difficult so control is another workplace stressor for them
  • Shows that job control is not stressful but depends on individual differences such as self-efficacy
• extra evaluation = validity

  • Workplace stress research is fourteen in real workplaces not labs => tend to have high external validity because people are going about their usual jobs
  • BUT = these studies are usually natural experiments - job roles are already assigned so employees could differ in ways affecting the outcome => reducing internal validity
  • => findings of real-world studies ultimately lack validity