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
equilibrium
 4 Stress Approaches:
1.Homeostatic/Medical Approach
Homeostasis
+
External environmental
demand
Fight =
Flight
 4 Stress Approaches:
2.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 Emotion-focused coping
emphasizes managing emphasizes managing
the stressor your response
 4 Stress Approaches:
3.Person-Environment Fit Approach
No undue stress
Good person-environment fit: a
persons 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 persons skills & abilities do not
meet the demands of the social role
 4 Stress Approaches:
4.Psychoanalytic Approach
Ego Ideal - the Self-Image - how a
embodiment of a person sees oneself,
persons perfect both positively &
self negatively

= the difference
between ego ideal and
self-image
 The Stress Response
Blood redirected from the
skin & internal organs to
brain and large muscles
Release of Increased alertness:
Sympathetic
chemical improved vision, hearing,
nervous system
messengers, & other sensory
& the
primarily responses
endocrine Release of glucose & fatty
adrenaline,
(hormone) system
into the acids for sustenance
activated Depression of immune
bloodstream
system, digestion, &
similar restorative
processes
 Sources of Stress at Work
Work Demands
Task Demands Rol e Demands
Change & uncertainty Role conflict:
Lack of control Interrole
Career progress Intrarole
New technologies Person-role
Work overload/underload Role ambiguity
Interpersonal Demands Physi cal Demands
Abrasive personalities Extreme environments
Sexual harassment Strenuous activities
Leadership styles Hazardous
substances
 Stress Sources at Work

NonWork Demands
Fami l y Demands Personal Demands
Marital expectations Religious activities
Child-rearing/day care Self-improvement tasks
arrangements Traumatic events
Parental care
 Stress Benefits and Costs

Benefits of Healthy, Normal Stress (Eustress)

Performance Heal th
Increased arousal Cardiovascular efficiency
Bursts of physical strength Enhanced focus in an
emergency
Costs of Distress
Indi vi dual Organi zati onal
Psychological disorders Participation problems
Medical illnesses Performance decrements
Behavioral problems Compensation awards
 Yerkes-Dodson Law
Performance arousal
High

Low
Low Optimum High
(distress) (eustress) (distress)

Stress level

Boredom from Optimum Conditions Distress from

understimulation stress load perceived overstimulation
as stressful
 Positive Stress/Negative Stress

Stress response itself is neutral

Some stressful activities (aerobic exercise, etc.) can
enhance a persons 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

Beh
avi o
il ln e s s (sub ral pro
i c al s,
M e d
a s e ,s t ro k e viole stance a blems
r t d i s e c he s) nce, buse
(he a b a ck a acc i ,
a ch e s , dent
he a d s)

Work-related psychological disorders

(depression, burnout,
psychosomatic disorders)
 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
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
individuals or the organizations response to a demand or
stressor
Tertiary Prevention - designed to heal individual or
organizational symptoms of distress & strain
 Preventative Stress Maintenance
Organizational stressors Primary
Task demands prevention
Role demands Health risk factors
Physical demands
stressor
Interpersonal demands directed

Secondary
Stress responses
prevention Asymptomatic
Individual
response disease
Organizational
directed

Distress
Individual problems Tertiary
Behavioral Medical prevention Symptomatic
Psychological symptom disease
Organizational costs
Direct
directed
Indirect
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.
 Organizational Stress
Prevention
Focuses on peoples 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
Workload Unresolved
Low High
strain
Low

b (ill health)
Self- jo
Passive a in
determination r
job - st
gh
Hi

job
ain
tr Active
-s
ow job
High

L
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 1987. Reproduced with permission of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc., Westport, CT.
 Social Support at Work & Home
Organizational Family
Supervisor Spouse Children
Colleagues Parents In-laws
Subordinates
Church/Religious
Clients
Group
Minister/Rabbi
Professional Individual Friends
Physicians Support groups
Psychologists Clubs
Counselors Business associations
Lawyers Social clubs
Athletic groups
SOURCE: 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.
 Individual Preventive
Stress Management
Primary Prevention
Learned optimism: Alters the persons internal self-talk & reduces
depression
Time management: Improves planning & prioritizes activities
Leisure time activities: Balance work & non-work activities
Secondary Prevention
Physical exercise: Improves cardiovascular function & muscular
flexibility
Relaxation training: Lowers all indicators of the stress response
Diet: Lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease &
improves overall physical health
Tertiary Prevention
Opening up: Releases internalized traumas & emotional
tensions
Professional help: Provides information, emotional support, &
therapeutic guidance