Workplace stress: job stressors and models

Résumé du document

The objective of this literature review is to outline the state of the different authors dealing with stress. Therefore, in view to understand the stress concept, this review will deal with job stressors, and different models which try to explain the stress process. This is a complex concept and the myriad of definitions proposed by the researchers and the methodology used, present some of the research limitations.
Stress is constantly credited to one of the major concerns in the workplace, which organizations and companies have to deal with. During the last several years, the workplace has witnessed rapid expansion of the information technology, globalization, differences in the nature of work and the type of scheduling. All these factors have changed the tasks and the environment of work. This evolution is at the origin of an increase in job stress. (Cooper et al, 2001).
Researchers have done a lot of studies on the main aspects of the stress notion. (Cooper and Dewe, 2004). It is becoming a subject of number of discussions in the academic world. Organizational stress is a rapidly growing concern to researchers and management practitioners because of the relationship it shares with a "magnitude of costly individual and organizational symptoms". (Schuler, 1980).

Extraits

[...] Figure Job strain model. (Karasek, 1979: 287) In the situation job decision latitude and job demands the strain increases with the demands. Whereas in the situation both characteristics are matched: the activity of the job rises if the job decision latitude increases. Karasek underlines the fact that a level of strain can be beneficial for the organisations. Nevertheless, too much strain conducts to an inefficient workplace situation. (Karasek, 1979). This model has allowed testing a large number of studies. (Bernhard-Oettel, 2005) One of them has been conducted by Bernhard-Oettel et al on two Swedish hospitals. [...]

[...] In fact, most of the authors used in this review have chosen a positive method. In effect, they have employed quantitative methods and objective interpretations. This paradigm relied on the belief that the world is objective, measurable and testable. Nevertheless, as Jones and Bright underlined stress is a “psychological process”. (Jones and Bright, 2001). So, stress cannot be only tested and theorised through quantitative data. It should be useful to use also through qualitative data. The interpretivism approach could be an efficient means to understand the real meaning of stress. [...]

[...] They emphasise the weakness following: the ambiguity between current methodologies and alternative methodologies provided. The use of both kinds of methods could enhance the wish of help the people studied on their feelings and their thoughts. They initiate the problem of how the “methodological pluralism” can help researchers to understand more efficiently and deeply the processes which link the individuals to the environment. (Cooper and Dewe, 2004: 116). The third problem is about the diversity of the sources of the research. [...]

[...] The first author who deals with the stress was Hans Selye. His contribution has been cited by many authors as of great importance” (Cooper and Dewe, 2004: 20). For him, the stress is a “non-specific answer of the organism face to a demand”. He has created the General Adaptation Syndrome. When face with a stressor stimulus, the organism reacts in three phases: alarm, resistance and exhaustion. During the first phase of alarm, some hormones, catecholamine, are liberated. The effects of these hormones are to increase the cardiac frequency, the arterial pressure, vigilance level During the second phase of resistance, new hormones are secreted, the glucocorticoid, which raise the sugar rate in the blood, in view to bring the necessary energy. [...]

[...] Cooper C.L., Sparks K., Faragher B Well-being and occupational health in the 21st century workplace, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology pp 489-509. Cooper C.L, Dewe P Stress: A Brief History, Malden, Oxford and Carlton: Blakwell. De Jonge J., Van Breukelen G.J.P., Nijhuis F.J.N., Landeweerd J.A Comparing Group and Individual Level Assessments of Job Characteristics in Testing the Job Demand-Control Model: A Multilevel Approach, Human Relations pp 95-122. Driskell J.E., Inzana C.M., Salas E., Johnston J.H Effects of Preparatory Information on Enhancing Performance Under Stress, Journal of Applied Psychology pp 429-435. [...]