Occupational Stress and Stress Management Interventions
The Job Demand-Control model of occupational stress involves two aspects of the work environment: psychological job demands and the degree of decision latitude or control that an individual has in fulfilling these demands (Beehr, Glaser, Canali & Wallwey, 2001). Psychological job demands include a wide range of qualitative and quantitative demanding aspects of the job such as time pressure, workload and job complexity which are defined as psychological stressors present in the work environment (de Jonge, Mulder & Nijhuis, 1999). Job decision latitude or control is defined as the extent to which employees can control the pace of work, decide when and how to perform different tasks or having …show more content…
As a basis to explain Pamela’s work stress, the Job Demand-Control model allows for four different types of jobs. Already mentioned, a job with high demands and low control is ‘high strain’ whereas a job high in control and low in demands is classified as ‘low strain’ (Gronlund, 2007). An employee has many skills and resources to respond to the demands presented in their job but the work itself does not present many demands, so although an employee may not perceive such situations as stressful, there is still an incongruity between the limited demands of the job and their high decision latitude (Dean & Pollard, 2001). When job demands are reasonably balanced with higher degrees of control, the job is defined as an ‘active’ job (Dean & Pollard, 2001). Such jobs lead to well-being, learning and personal growth allowing for the individual to develop even better strategies for dealing with the job demands (Gronlund, 2007) and do not experience problematic degrees of stress. The last type of job the model depicts is ‘passive’ jobs, which includes work situations in which both demands and control are low and might induce average levels of job strain (Cox & Griffiths, …show more content…
An EAP offers counselling and advice as well as access to preventative healthcare (Highley-Marchington & Cooper, 1998). Pamela is experiencing significant problems health-related as well as work-related and she is also experiencing problems outside of work because she feels guilty for not spending time with her son. Training and education programmes is one of many primary interventions, and is aimed at effective training in the use of new work methods and schedules for reducing strain (Bunce & West, 1996). Role ambiguity, poor job design and work-non-work interface are psychosocial interventions that are at the interface between the individual and the organisation and underlie many of the issues and stress that employees face (Van der Hek & Plomp, 1997). Psychosocial interventions are designed to cause change that is perceived by employees, and include enhancing job control, improving social support and reducing role ambiguity (Randall, Nielsen & Tvedt, 2009). In Pamela’s work situation, she is experiencing stress as a result of the organisation’s structure or features and because she does not have the skills needed to respond to work-related stressors. Because of these two issues, she is experiencing significant problems with her
The Job Demand-Control model of occupational stress involves two aspects of the work environment: psychological job demands and the degree of decision latitude or control that an individual has in fulfilling these demands (Beehr, Glaser, Canali & Wallwey, 2001). Psychological job demands include a wide range of qualitative and quantitative demanding aspects of the job such as time pressure, workload and job complexity which are defined as psychological stressors present in the work environment (de Jonge, Mulder & Nijhuis, 1999). Job decision latitude or control is defined as the extent to which employees can control the pace of work, decide when and how to perform different tasks or having …show more content…
As a basis to explain Pamela’s work stress, the Job Demand-Control model allows for four different types of jobs. Already mentioned, a job with high demands and low control is ‘high strain’ whereas a job high in control and low in demands is classified as ‘low strain’ (Gronlund, 2007). An employee has many skills and resources to respond to the demands presented in their job but the work itself does not present many demands, so although an employee may not perceive such situations as stressful, there is still an incongruity between the limited demands of the job and their high decision latitude (Dean & Pollard, 2001). When job demands are reasonably balanced with higher degrees of control, the job is defined as an ‘active’ job (Dean & Pollard, 2001). Such jobs lead to well-being, learning and personal growth allowing for the individual to develop even better strategies for dealing with the job demands (Gronlund, 2007) and do not experience problematic degrees of stress. The last type of job the model depicts is ‘passive’ jobs, which includes work situations in which both demands and control are low and might induce average levels of job strain (Cox & Griffiths, …show more content…
An EAP offers counselling and advice as well as access to preventative healthcare (Highley-Marchington & Cooper, 1998). Pamela is experiencing significant problems health-related as well as work-related and she is also experiencing problems outside of work because she feels guilty for not spending time with her son. Training and education programmes is one of many primary interventions, and is aimed at effective training in the use of new work methods and schedules for reducing strain (Bunce & West, 1996). Role ambiguity, poor job design and work-non-work interface are psychosocial interventions that are at the interface between the individual and the organisation and underlie many of the issues and stress that employees face (Van der Hek & Plomp, 1997). Psychosocial interventions are designed to cause change that is perceived by employees, and include enhancing job control, improving social support and reducing role ambiguity (Randall, Nielsen & Tvedt, 2009). In Pamela’s work situation, she is experiencing stress as a result of the organisation’s structure or features and because she does not have the skills needed to respond to work-related stressors. Because of these two issues, she is experiencing significant problems with her