Stress in the Workplace - Example

RUNNING HEAD: STRESS IN THE WORKPLACE Stress in the Workplace Name: Course: Institution: Date: Abstract The incidence of work-related stress (or occupational stress) is on the rise in Australia with nearly two thirds of employees reporting extreme stress at work. Stress hinders the job performance of many employees due to burnout. This study seeks to investigate whether the experience of stress varies due to occupational characteristics and whether different individuals experience different levels of stress due to individual demographics such as age, gender and personality. The study was conducted using two questionnaire interviews held with respondents who experience different levels of occupational stress- a kindergarten teacher in a public school and a dental hygienist working as an assistant to a dentist in a private clinic. The results of the study support the hypothesis that occupational stress has been correlated with occupational characteristics and individual demographics indicating those employees’ experiences of stress vary across occupations and demographic characteristics such as age, gender and personality Stress in the Workplace The incidence of work-related stress (or occupational stress) is on the rise in Australia with nearly two thirds of employees reporting extreme stress at work (McShane and Travaglione 2005). This trend has negatively affected organizational productivity since among many other effects, work related stress leads to severe physical and psychological consequences such as burnout, fatigue, depression, anxiety, frustration and in extreme cases suicidal intent (Caulfield et al 2004). Stress hinders the job performance of many employees and there is increasing need to develop and implement interventions aimed at mitigating the negative effects of work related stress in organizations (Narayan et al 1999). This study aims to examine how occupational stress varies across different occupations in Australia. From a theoretical perspective, occupational stress has been correlated with occupational characteristics and individual demographics indicating that employees’ experiences of stress vary across occupations and demographic characteristics such as age, gender and personality (Dewe 1991, Narayan et al 1999). Different occupations are characterised by the presence of different stressors which account for the different levels of stress across occupations (Chang and Lu 2009 ,Cherry 1978). Similarly, different individuals cope differently with work related stress with factors such as age, gender and personality either mitigating or exacerbating the experience of stress (Cooper et al 1988). This study seeks to examine whether stress actually varies across occupations by interviewing two employees from occupations listed as high stress (kindergarten teacher) and low stress (dental hygienist) by Safe Work Australia (AAP 2009). The objectives of the study are to investigate whether the experience of stress varies due to occupational characteristics and whether different individuals experience different levels of stress due to individual demographics such as age, gender and personality. The first hypothesis is that difference in the levels of occupational stress is due to occupational characteristics or the nature and characteristics of the job/profession. The second hypothesis is that the experience of occupational stress is different due to gender, age, personality type and other personal characteristics and not the specific occupation. Method The study was conducted using two questionnaire interviews held with respondents who experience different levels of occupational stress- a kindergarten teacher in a public school and a dental hygienist working as an assistant to a dentist in a private clinic. Respondents The two respondents for the interviews were a female 26 year old elementary school teacher working for a public school in Sydney and a male 25 year old dental hygienist working in a private dental clinic in the Sydney suburbs. The respondents were recruited based on convenience since they worked and lived in the Sydney area which made them accessible to the researcher for the study. The respondents were selected based on a classification of the levels of occupational stress across different occupations by Safe Work Australia which reported that teaching was one of the most stressful jobs in Australia wile on the other end of the scale dental hygienists were reported to experience lower levels of work-related or occupational stress (AAP 2009). The researcher used a combination of snowball and convenience sampling (purposive) to identify the respondents from conversations with fellow students who enabled the researcher identify the two respondents as candidates for the interviews. The respondents were contacted using their personal cell phone numbers and email addresses obtained from the referring students and their consent was sought for participation in the interviews. The researcher introduced themselves and clearly stated and explained the purpose of the interview. The respondents were assured of the confidentiality of their identities and of the information from the interviews. The interviews were scheduled at the respondents’ convenience at a location in close proximity to their places of work. Questionnaire The overall strategy used for the questionnaire interviews was to conduct semi-structured interviews where the researcher would complete the questionnaire based on the respondent’s responses to a variety of open ended and structured questions. The questions in the questionnaire were segmented into themes to enable data analysis. The questions in the first part of the questionnaire were essentially assessment questions which were formulated to establish the respondents’ perceptions of their levels of and experiences of occupational stress. These questions included introductory closed ended answer questions such as “Do you consider you work to be stressful?” to open ended questions such as “Which aspect of your job do you consider to be the most/least stressful?” Several forced ranking questions were also used such as “In your opinion, how would you rate the stress you experience at work? 5= Very High 4= High 3= Average 2= Low 1= Very Low 0= None (Not Stressful). The responses to the open ended questions would be subsequently used to complete other sections of the questionnaire. The second part of the questionnaire was designed to measure work stressors based on the respondent’s ranking or rating of occupational stressors. The scale used in the questionnaire was developed from the Occupational Stress Indicator developed by Cooper et al (1988). The four subscales were factors intrinsic to the job, relationships with others, career and achievement and the home-work interface. The respondents were also requested to indicate which aspect of their jobs they felt needed to be changed or modified that would significantly reduce these work stressors. These questions were straightforward and open ended such as “Which aspect of your job would you consider modifying to reduce the level of stress you currently experience?” A forced ranking question was also used as an alternative to help respondents identify these aspects such as remuneration/compensation, working hours, relations with supervisors, relations with co-workers, quality of interactions with students/clients, working hours, opportunities for personal development, support, adequacy/availability of resources required to work effectively and others. This section, in combination with the first section, was designed to collect data to test the hypothesis that the difference in the levels of occupational stress is due to occupational characteristics or the nature and characteristics of the job/profession. The final part of the questionnaire focused on the theme of coping strategies. This section entailed open ended questions which enquired how each respondent coped with occupational stress. These were straightforward questions such as “What strategy/strategies do you use to manage occupational stress?” or “Would your experience be less or more stressful if you were of a different age, gender, personality type, under different managers/supervision and with different working conditions?” These questions were meant to test the hypothesis that the experience of occupational stress is different due to gender, age, personality type and other personal characteristics and not the specific occupation. Procedure Both interviews with the respondent were conducted in private setting in close proximity to their places of work. The researcher asked the questions from the questionnaire and recorded the conversation using a tape recorder with the respondents’ permission. The interviews each lasted approximately 30 minutes. The questionnaires were completed as the respondent answered the questions. Gaps or omissions were completed using the recorded conversation. Results There were differences in both the two respondents’ perceptions of occupational stress and their individual rankings of work stressors. The kindergarten teacher generally considered her job to be more stressful than the dental hygienist and ranked her job as very stressful (5) as compared to the dental hygienist who ranked 2 (Low). The female kindergarten teacher’s response was also consistent with Kelly and Berthelsen’s (1994) findings which indicated that preschool teaching was a very stressful job. Some of the aspects of the job that the teacher indicated as stressful included the demands on her time, coping with young children’s needs, non-teaching tasks, and issues with the children’s parents, interpersonal relationships with co-workers an superiors, remuneration and the pressure of maintaining early childhood education philosophy and practice in her day to day activities. The kindergarten teacher also admitted to frequently experiencing burnout. On the contrary, the dental hygienist only noted pressure from his employer, contact with uncooperative patients and the lack of interaction with other co-workers for support since the private clinic is only staffed by four employees. The incidence of burnout was lower. For the kindergarten teacher, factors intrinsic to the job were the highest ranked stressors followed by relationships with others while the home-work interface was ranked as the lowest. For the dental hygienist, factors intrinsic to the job were also ranked highest but career and development was ranked second with the home-work interface ranked the lowest as well. To answer the question whether the nature and characteristics of the job determine the levels of occupational stress, it was found that different occupations present different stressors for individuals. These results therefore confirm the hypothesis that the different levels of occupational stress are due to the nature or characteristics of the profession itself. The respondents also had different perceptions of what they would modify about their work and work environment to reduce the levels of stress. The female kindergarten teacher desired more autonomy in the workplace, a reduced workload in terms of fewer classes to teach that would enable her develop relationships with a selected group of children and higher compensation in terms of pay for her work. On the other hand the dental hygienist indicated that he desired more opportunities for career advancement into private dental practice and to work in an environment with higher levels of interaction with co-workers. The female kindergarten teacher added that she felt that gender and role played a significant part in the levels of stress experienced due to a stereotype that females are more suited for kindergarten teaching jobs while her superiors were mainly male. She also felt that had she been older and more experienced she would have coped better with the stress and that her personality significantly regulated stress levels as she was conflict adverse and extroversive. The dental hygienist did not perceive age or gender to be of any consequence but instead quoted personality as a mitigating factor for stress. To answer the question whether the experience of occupational stress is determined by unique personality characteristics, it was found that factors such as age and gender are significant in some careers while personality is common as a mitigating factor to stress in most (if not all) professions. Therefore, the hypothesis that the experience of occupational stress is different due to gender, age, personality type and other personal characteristics and not the specific occupation was confirmed. Discussion The results of the study interviews confirmed the a priori expectations. As hypothesized, different levels or perceptions of occupational or work related stress were associated with the unique characteristics or the nature of the profession. The kindergarten teacher’s responses indicated that teaching is a stressful job while the dental hygienist reported experiencing significantly lower levels of stress in the workplace. Therefore, work related stress is strongly correlated with the nature of the profession and the demands it places on the individual. This confirms the findings by Chang and Lu (2009) that stressors varied across different occupations and professions. The results of the study also confirmed the second hypothesis that the experience of work-related stress varies with the individual’s demographic characteristics such as age, gender and personality type (McShane and Travaglione 2005). The experience of occupational stress can be mitigated by factors such as age, gender and personality type as also concluded by Narayan et al (1999) and Kelly and Berthelsen (1995). The implication for the findings of the study are that to mitigate the levels of work related stress and burnout in an organization, human resource managers should focus on job redesign in a manner that addresses both the occupational characteristics of the job and the tasks involved and ensure that workers are hired whose individual demographics closest match those required to mitigate against occupational stress. Job tasks should be redesigned to mitigate stressors such as provision of careers development opportunities and through incentives such as performance based pay. Professions such as kindergarten teaching should emphasize on recruiting more experienced and extroversive individuals as these characteristics would help mitigate the experience of occupational stress and the consequent burnout and decline in organizational productivity. There are several methodological limitations which may affect the generalisability of this study. The study’s sample was purposively and conveniently selected and the choice of only two professions and respondents may not capture the variability in occupational stress. The generalisability of the findings of this study can be improved through a larger sample size which implies interviews with a wider range of workers from more diverse occupations. The findings of this study should help direct future research into occupational stress on factoring in and matching individual demographic characteristics to the stressors anticipated in specific jobs/job tasks as an intervention to reduce occupational stress in human resource management. References AAP (2009). Nursing and Teaching the Most Stressful Professions. The Epoch Times, July 22, 2009. Retrieved on 13 August, 2012 from < http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/australia/nursing-and-teaching-the-most-stressful- professions-19946.html > Caulfield, N., Chang, D., Dollard, M., & Elshaug, C. (2004). A review of occupational stress interventions in Australia. International Journal of Stress Management 11(2): 149 –166. Chang, K. & Lu, L. (2009). The influence of occupation on stressors and work behaviours. The International Journal of Human Resource Management 20(3): 591-605. Cherry, N. (1978). Stress, anxiety and work: A longitudinal study. Journal Occupational Psychology 51 (2): 259-270. Cooper, S.L., Sloan, S.J., and Williams, S. (1988). Occupational Stress Indicator. Windsor, UK: NFER-Nelson. Dewe, P. (1991). Measuring work stressors: The role of frequency, duration and demand. Work and Stress 5(2):77–91. Kelly, A.L. & Berthelsen D.C. (1995). Preschool Teacher’s Experiences of Stress. Teaching & Teacher Education 2(4): 345-357. McShane, S., and Travaglione, T., (2005). Organizational Behaviour on the Rim. Boston: Irwin McGraw Hill. Narayan, L. Menon, S. & Spector, P.E. (1999). Stress in the Workplace: A Comparison of Gender and Occupations. Journal of Organizational Behaviour 20(1): 63-73. Read More