Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
www.emeraldinsight.com/0140-9174.htm
MRN
29,10
Cooperation and stress
Exploring the differential impact of job
satisfaction, communication and culture
618 Rachid Zeffane
Department of Business and Public Administration,
College of Business Administration, University of Sharjah, Sharjah,
United Arab Emirates, and
Dominic McLoughlin
The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of the case study was to examine the varying impact of job-level and
organization-level characteristics on team-level cooperation and feelings of stress. In attempting to
highlight the relevance of sub-cultures, it compares these relationships across two departments in an
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) company operating in Australia.
Design/methodology/approach – Uses survey data from a medium size company in the ICT
industry operating in Australia. There were 397 respondents to the survey.
Findings – Statistical analyses show that job satisfaction and positive communication with
managers are strong predictors of feelings of stress and perceived cooperation. Further scrutiny of the
data at sub-unit levels, clearly suggests that the cultural variant is a strong mediator of these
relationships.
Originality/value – Adds to the evidence that the social and organizational aspects of the
workplace are potential explanatory variables in finding lasting cures for workplace stress.
Keywords Job satisfaction, Stress, Organizational culture, Group behaviour, Communication,
Information industry
Paper type Case study
Job Satisfaction
Stress
Communication
with
Managers
Cooperation
Figure 1.
Factors affecting stress Perceived
and cooperation Company Culture
The context of the study: ICT industry Cooperation
Behavioural and attitudinal outcomes can result from the general climate that an
industry, as a whole, may be experiencing. The context of the ICT industry is therefore
and stress
relevant and worthy of consideration. Although, our study does not incorporate
contextual variables as such in the analysis per se, readers need to appreciate the
pertinent characteristics and trends of that industry.
The OECD (2002) define the ICT industry as ‘‘a combination of manufacturing and
services industries that capture, transmit and display data and information
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electronically’’. In the Australian context preceding the survey, between 1999 and 2001
the Australian ICT sector grew 20 per cent in employment terms, from 240,539
employees to 289,958. The Australian industry is characterized by fluctuation and this
was demonstrated in the 1990s where the first half of the decade was a period of rapid
growth followed by a remarkable decline in the second half (Houghton, 2001, p. 1).
This declining trend continued into 2002 as seen in a media release from the
Australian Information Industry Association showing that redundancies and
performance related dismissals were 18 per cent between August 2001 and August 2002
(AIIA, 2003). In March 2004 the same figure was reported as 6.3 per cent, down from 9
per cent in 2003 (AIIA, 2004).
The development of new technology and globalization have been commented upon
as changing everyday life and potentially causing significant increases in stress related
complaints (Schabracq and Cooper, 2000) and the Australian ICT industry been
subjected to both new technology and globalization.
The organization considered in this study is part of this trend. The turbulent
environment that it had experienced may have been detrimental. This provides further
reasons for examining the resulting impacts in terms of levels of job satisfaction,
communication, perceived cooperation and degrees of experienced stress.
Standard ANOVA
Factors Departments Mean deviation F Sig.
Table III. Notes: aDependent variable: I do not experience excessive stress in my job (*p < 0.001, **p < 0.05,
Factors affecting ***p < 0.10). bDependent variable: The people in my work team co-operate to get the job done
cooperation and stress (*p < 0.001, **p < 0.05, ***p < 0.10). cDependent variable: Reduced stress and increased cooperation
(results of regression (PS; Here we use a factor combining stress and Cooperation since these are highly correlated)
analysis) (*p < 0.001, **p < 0.05, ***p < 0.10)
Job Satisfaction
Enterprise Department
0.35***
Communication
with Stress
Managers Reduction
Figure 2.
Factors affecting stress Service Department
(comparisons between Perceived 0.21**
departments) Company Culture
*** p<.001, ** p<.05
Job satisfaction seems to have a significant impact on work-team cooperation, but only Cooperation
in the Services department. However, communication with managers seems to have a
significant impact on cooperation in both departments. This latter relationship is
and stress
understandable and may reflect the likelihood of employees tying cooperation to the
leadership of the department.
Job Satisfaction
Cooperation
Communication
Sub-Unit &
with
Culture Stress
Managers
Reduction
Figure 4.
Factors affecting stress
and cooperation (sub-unit Perceived
culture as mediator) Company Culture
department was conveyed to the authors informally by senior management. No Cooperation
factual data was divulged though as the organization was undergoing change and
understandably, at the time, senior management considered that releasing such results
and stress
formally would be too compromising.
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