06 Workplace Stressors 2010

8/3/2019 06 Workplace Stressors 2010

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What makes people stressed at work?Is school more or less stressful than work?Why?


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Define the following:

Work overloadLack of control

Role conflict and role ambiguity

Environmental factors


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Johansson et al. (1978)

Compared sawyers (repetitive task, attention

and responsibility) with other workers.


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Findings: Sawyers in Swedish sawmill (high

responsibility/demand) had more illness and

higher levels of adrenaline in urine than low riskgroup (e.g. maintenance workers with more job

flexibility). Highest on work days rather than

rest days.

Conclusions: Shows direct link between jobdemand (with responsibility), stress hormones

and illness.


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Workplace stressors as a source of stress demand versus control

Marmot et al. (1997)

Aim / Procedure / Findings /Conclusions /Criticisms


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To test thejob-strainmodel(stress due to

high demand andlow control).

Comparison madebetween group with

high demand (high-grade workers) andgroup with lowcontrol (low-grade

workers).


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Aim: what idea were they testing? Procedure: who were the participants? What

measures did they use? What was the mainoutcome looked for? Findings: what was the difference between the

groups? What factors were linked to it? C

onclusions: what does the study tell us aboutworkplace stress? Criticisms: what are the strengths of this study?

Why cant we be sure the conclusion is correct?


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Over 7000 high grade (high job demand)

and low grade (low job control)C

ivilS

erviceemployees (men and women) rated for

cardiovascular disease, coronary riskfactors, sense of job control, and amount of

social support. Re-assessed 5 years later.


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Higher grade civil servants developed

fewest cardiovascular problems.

Lower grade civil servants had weaker sense

of job control and poorest social support.

Cardiovascular disease also related to risk

factors (smoking and being overweight).


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Low control linked to higher stress and

cardiovascular disorder, not fully supportingthe job strain model because high demand

was not linked to illness.


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(1)Can explain findings in terms ofSESinstead of control/demand. Confounding

variable due to indirect causes of illness. (2) Biased sample: urban, job-oriented and

ambitious.


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What factors in school could make teachers

and students lives stressful?

In a group of 2-3 design an interview to testwhether the factors identified in your

textbook are significant atCheney.


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Schaubroeck et al. (2001)

Findings: Some people had higher immune

responses (measured in saliva) in low controlsituations.

Conclusions: Some people view negative

work outcomes as being their fault. For theseemployees, control can actually worsen thenegative effects of stress.


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Glass et al. (1969)

Findings: Physical factor (noise) caused stress

(measured by GSR), especially whenunpredictable.

Conclusions: Lack of predictability (control?)

stressful.


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Brady (1958) Findings: Executive monkey (who had control

over lever) died within a few weeks due to aperforated ulcer; yoked control unaffecteddespite equal exposure to shocks.

Conclusions: Stress (linked to control), not

electric shocks, causes ulcer, presumably linkedto the immune system. Criticisms: clever monkeys chosen as

executives. Bacteria may have caused ulcer.


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06 Workplace Stressors 2010