Chapter 7

Stress and Well-Being at Work

1. Define stress, distress, and strain.
Learning Outcomes

2. Compare four different approaches to stress.

3. Explain the psychophysiology of the stress response.

4. Identify work and nonwork causes of stress.

5. Describe the consequences of stress.

6. Discuss individual factors that influence a person’s response to

stress and strain.

7. Identify the stages and elements of preventive stress management

for individuals and organizations.

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1 Learning Outcome

Define stress, distress, and strain.

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 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 (or strain)] – the adverse
psychological, physical, behavioral, and
organizational consequences that may
arise as a result of stressful events

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2 Learning Outcome

Compare four different

approaches to stress.

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4 APPROACHES TO STRESS

Homeostatic/Medical

Stress occurs when an external demand

upsets an individual’s natural, steady-state
balance.

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COGNITIVE APPRAISAL
• Individuals differ in
their appraisal of
events and people
• What is stressful for
one person is not for
another
• Perception and
cognitive appraisal
determines what is
stressful
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 COGNITIVE APPRAISAL

Problem-focused coping Emotion-focused coping

emphasizes managing emphasizes managing
the stressor your response

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PERSON-ENVIRONMENT FIT
• Confusing and conflicting
expectations in a social role create
stress.

• Good person-environment fit occurs

when one’s skills and abilities match
a clearly defined set of role
expectations.

• Stress occurs when expectations

are confusing or when they conflict
with one’s skills.

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PSYCHOANALYTIC

STRESS

Discrepancy between the idealized self

and the real self-image

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3 Learning Outcome

Explain the psychophysiology of

the stress response.

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 The Stress Response
Activation of
Release of chemical sympathetic
messengers nervous and
endocrine
systems

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 Beyond the Book:
Stress Check

How often do the following happen to you? Always (3), often (2), sometimes
(1), or never (0)? Rate each statement on a scale from 0 to 3, as honestly
as you can and without spending too much time on any one statement.

Am I Overstressed?
1. I have to make important snap judgments and decisions.
2. I am not consulted about what happens on my job or in my classes.
3. I feel I am underpaid.
4. I feel that no matter how hard I work, the system will mess it up.
5. I do not get along with some of my coworkers or fellow students.
6. I do not trust my superiors at work or my professors at school.
7. The paperwork burden on my job or at school is getting to me.
8. I feel people outside the job or the university do not respect what I do.

Record your score as the sum of your responses.

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 Beyond the Book:
Stress Check

How often do the following happen to you? Always (3), often (2), sometimes (1),
or never (0)? Rate each statement on a scale from 0 to 3, as honestly as you can
and without spending too much time on any one statement.

Am I Angry?
1. I feel that people around me make too many irritating mistakes.
2. I feel annoyed because I do good work or perform well in school, but no one
appreciates it.
3. When people make me angry, I tell them off.
4. When I am angry, I say things I know will hurt people.
5. I lose my temper easily.
6. I feel like striking out at someone who angers me.
7. When a coworker or fellow student makes a mistake, I tell him or her about it.
8. I cannot stand being criticized in public.

Record your score as the sum of your responses, and add it to your score from
the previous section.
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 Beyond the Book:
Stress Check

To find your level of anger and potential for aggressive behavior, add your scores
from both quiz parts.
40–48: The red flag is waving, and you had better pay attention. You are in the
danger zone. You need guidance from a counselor or mental health
professional, and you should be getting it now.
30–39: The yellow flag is up. Your stress and anger levels are too high, and you
are feeling increasingly hostile. You are still in control, but it would not
take much to trigger a violent flare of temper.
10–29: Relax, you are in the broad normal range. Like most people, you get
angry occasionally, but usually with some justification. Sometimes you take
overt action, but you are not likely to be unreasonably or excessively
aggressive.
  0–9: Congratulations! You are in great shape. Your stress and anger are well
under control, giving you a laid-back personality not prone to violence.

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4 Learning Outcome

Identify work and nonwork causes

of stress.

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Sources of Stress: Work Demands

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Stress Source: Nonwork Demands

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5 Learning Outcome

Describe the consequences of

stress.

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 Positive 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

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Yerkes-Dodson Law

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 Individual Distress

Beh
avio
l i l l n es s (sub ral pro
a
Medic se, strokes, viole stance a blems
i s ea e s) nce, b
(h e a rt d
, b ac k a c h acci use,
ach e s dent
he a d s)

Work-related psychological disorders

(depression, burnout,
psychosomatic disorders)

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Organizational Distress

Participative Problems –absenteeism,

tardiness, strikes, and turnover

Performance Decrement –poor quality or

low quantity of production, grievances, and
unscheduled machine downtime and repair

Compensation Award –court awards for job

distress

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 Stressed-out in Corporate India
• A study by the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations
found that India’s rapid economic expansion has enhanced corporate profits and
employee incomes, but has also increased workplace stress and lifestyle
diseases
• 45 per cent of Indian workers are mainly stressed by the increased focus on
profitability that has arisen during the recession.
• This pressure is stressing out Indian employees more than workers in any of the
other countries surveyed.
• A major factor for 33% workers is the pressure to maintain excellent customer
service.
• Workers in mid-sized Indian companies (50-249 employees) have experienced a
greater rise in workplace stress ( 61 per cent of employees in mid-sized firms
have reported higher levels of stress against 55 per cent people in smaller
businesses.
• This could be due to the potential for downsizing
• (Source : “Stress levels rising in India Inc: Survey”, Business Standard , November 27, 2009)

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6 Learning Outcome

Discuss individual factors that

influence a person’s response to
stress and strain.

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 The abysmal state of
corporate health in India
• A research conducted by Apollo Life, an initiative of Apollo
Hospitals ,indicated amongst corporate India :
• Overweight - 32 % , Physically unfit - 48 % ,Stress - 50 % ,
Smoking - 24 %.

• Obesity, sedentary lifestyle, high work pressure, smoking and

excessive alcohol consumption – all modifiable risk factors – are
manifesting in chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension,
hyperlipidemia, cancer and cardiac ailments.

• (Source : http://www.apollolife.com/ApolloLifeWellnessPrograms/CorporateWellnessPrograms.aspx

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 Occupational stress-induced
diseases
• A survey on 81 Indian companies, sponsored by the
Indian Council for Research on International
Economic Relations (ICRIER), revealed :
• the losses from occupational stress-induced
diseases could total a staggering $200 billion
(approx. Rs7,800 trillion) in the next 10 years.
• The study especially points to India’s outsourcing
industry, where maximum incidents of work-related
stress are being reported

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Individual Differences

Achilles’ heel
phenomenon –
a person breaks down at
his or her weakest point

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 Gender Effects

Sexual Harassment
Vulnerabilities

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 Type A Behavior Patterns

• Competitiveness
• Time urgency
• Social Status Insecurity
• Aggression
• Hostility
• Quest for achievements

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 Personality Hardiness

[Personality Hardiness]
– challenge (versus threat)
– commitment (versus alienation)
– control (versus powerlessness)

[Transformational Coping]
active process of modifying one’s
perception of an event in order to reduce
stress.

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 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.

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7 Learning Outcome

Identify the stages and elements

of preventive stress management
for individuals and organizations.

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 Preventative Stress
Management
an organizational philosophy that holds that

people & organizations should take joint

responsibility for promoting health and

preventing distress and strain

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 Preventative Stress Management
Organizational philosophy according to which
people and organizations should take joint
responsibility for promoting health and preventing
distress.

Primary Prevention – designed to reduce, modify, or eliminate

the demand or stressor
Secondary Prevention – designed to alter or modify the response
to a demand or stressor
Tertiary Prevention – designed to heal symptoms of distress and
strain

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Preventative Stress Maintenance

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 Beyond the Book:
Non-effective Stress Relief Techniques

• Staff at a Nova Scotia prison tried to relieve

their work stress by taunting and abusing
inmates.
• Various companies sell “relaxation” drinks that
promise to help consumers unwind. One of
them appears to evoke the effects of
marijuana.
• Some employees gossip about a co-worker to
express their negative attitudes about them.
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 Organizational Stress Prevention

• Job redesign
• Goal setting
• Role negotiation
• Social support systems

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 Job Strain Model

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Social Support at Work and Home

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Individual Preventive
Stress Management

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 What Can Managers Do?
• Learn how to create healthy stress
without distress
• Help employees adjust to new
technologies
• Be sensitive to early signs of distress
• Be aware of gender, personality, and
behavioral differences
• Use principles and methods of preventive
stress management
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 1. Separately assess the stressors
affecting Terry and Denny. View
Part I for Terry and Part II for
Denny.

2. Are Terry and Denny having a

The Upside of distress or eustress response?
Anger Give examples of behavior in the
film sequences to support your
observations.

3. Review the section, “The

Consequences of Stress.” What
consequences do you observe or
predict for Terry and Denny?

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