The Effect of Occupational Stress on Job Satisfaction - Research Paper Example

The Effect of Occupational Stress on Job Satisfaction Outline Introduction Concept of occupational stress Relationship of stress with other factors Factors associated with occupational stress Chandra and Sharma’s (2010) study Types of stress Eustress and distress McGowan, Gardner & Fletcher’s (2006) study Research in stress Relationship between stress and job satisfaction Conclusion References Introduction Occupational stress is an often used term to describe the experiences of employees in an organization. Selye (1976 in French, Rayner, Rees & Rumbles, 2011) has defined occupational stress as a non-specific response to the demands made on the individual within the organizational context. On a majority of instances, the term ‘occupational stress is used in a negative manner; but there is evidence that occupational stress can be a positive experience that improves the productivity and experience of challenge for an employee(McGowan, Gardner & Fletcher, 2006). Relationship of Stress with other factors Stress has been found to correlate to a number of other experiences of an individual (French, Rayner, Rees & Rumbles, 2011). Occupational stress has been found to be associated with a number of factors associated with the organization as well as to factors associate with the individual (Wegge, Schmidt, Parkes, & van Dick, 2007). Typical organizational correlates of occupational stress may include task related factors, interpersonal relationships, career development, predictability of events, climate and culture of the organization, and others (French, Rayner, Rees & Rumbles, 2011). Personal characteristics of the individual that are often found to be associated with stress are locus of control, tolerance of ambiguity, decision making processes, and a number of demographic factors like age and gender. Research has shown that some of these factors are better predictors of stress as compared to the others; and these factors are often used to understand the experiences of employees in an organization (French, Rayner, Rees & Rumbles, 2011). In a study by Chandra and Sharma (2010), the researchers found that organizational climate was a significant factor that predicted the individual manager’s experience of stress. They studied a number of personal and situational factors and the associations these factors had with occupational stress; and found that although most of the studied variables were strongly correlated to occupational stress; only two factors – Benefits available and objectivity of the situation were able to predict occupational stress significantly (Chandra & Sharma, 2010). These variables shared a negative relationship with stress; so that as the benefits and objectivity increased; the less a person would experience occupational stress. Both these factors are covered by the concept of organizational climate – an umbrella term that is used to explain the global experiences of the employee at an organization (French, Rayner, Rees & Rumbles, 2011). This study highlights the importance of organizational factors in the experience of stress in the workplace. Eustress and Distress Although the Chandra and Sharma (2010) study qualifies stress in a somewhat negative manner; the experience of stress is not always negative. Selye (1976 in French, Rayner, Rees & Rumbles, 2011) has described two types of stresses; and calls them distress and eustress (McGowan, Gardner & Fletcher, 2006). According to Selye (in McGowan, Gardner & Fletcher, 2006), stress is not always a negative experience; and can lead to positive experiences like motivation, excitement and a desire to overcome a challenge. The negative aspects of stress that lead to negative emotional and physical reactions like anger, sadness, fear, depression among others is called distress; while the positive aspect of stress that is associated with thrill, excitement, motivation and other such factors is called Eustress. This notion has been researched and substantiated by a number of studies over the years; and the positive aspects of stress have found a fair amount of recognition. Another study conducted by McGowan, Gardner and Fletcher (2006) highlights another important aspect of stress associated with the organizational setting. They found that tasks and situations that were viewed as challenges and were considered exciting and engaging were associated with eustress; while tasks that were perceived as threatening and troublesome were associated with distress. Eustress was associated with objective task focused coping mechanisms and solutions while distress was associate with emotional coping (McGowan, Gardner & Fletcher, 2006). Eustress was also associated with satisfaction about the final outcomes of the task, while distress was associated negatively with satisfaction (McGowan, Gardner & Fletcher, 2006). Research in Occupational Stress The research by McGowan, Gardner and Fletcher (2006) highlights the fact that stress in itself is not always a negative experience; and positive aspects of stress (eustress) are associated with involvement in the work at hand, task oriented solutions and experiences of satisfaction. Building on this knowledge; it may be possible to suggest that eustress is positively associated with Job Satisfaction and Distress is negatively associated with Job satisfaction. Job satisfaction is the extent to which an individual employee experiences positive experiences towards their job and the organization and the extent to which they are content with the experiences they are having in the organization (French, Rayner, Rees & Rumbles, 2011). Job satisfaction is a somewhat global appraisal of the work experience, and is associated with task factors, inter-personal factors, and personal factors (French, Rayner, Rees & Rumbles, 2011). Stress has been found to be associated with many of these factors as well (Chandra & Sharma, 2010). Thus, on the basis of the understanding of stress and its types gained; it would be possible to hypothesize that eustress would be associated with high job satisfaction; while distress would be associated with low job satisfaction. In order to conduct a study that tests these assumptions with the employees in a particular organization, it would be necessary to collect data on the different types of stress as well as on job satisfaction. A number of instruments have been developed over the years to capture employee experiences of stress and satisfaction among other variables. As described by McGowan, Gardner and Fletcher (2006), the Job related Affective Wellbeing Scale developed by van Katwyk et al (2000; in McGowan, Gardner & Fletcher, 2006) helps is assessing the extent to which individuals experience positive as well as negative emotional reactions in context to their work and workplace. The data on positive responses may be used to describe the individual’s experience of Eustress whereas the data on negative responses to situations can be used to assess the individual’s experience of distress. The Job Satisfaction Scale developed by Hackman and Oldham (1975; in Wegge, Schmidt, Parkes, & van Dick, 2007) can be used to measure global job satisfaction quite effectively. Thus, with the help of these two instruments, it would be possible to assess both occupational stress in context of its positive as well as negative experiences and job satisfaction. These instruments are self – report instruments – that is – the participants in a study can easily understand and fill them out with minimal assistance(French, Rayner, Rees & Rumbles, 2011); and thus it is possible to rapidly collect data from a large sample of employees in a relatively short period of time. The collected data can then be evaluated for relationships shared by the variables. The hypotheses that are described can be accepted if the researcher finds that scores for eustress are positively correlated with job satisfaction while scores on distress are negatively correlated. Although it seems to be quite intuitive that these results would be achieved, it is possible that the same person experiences eustress associated with some factors on the workplace and distress associated with other factors (French, Rayner, Rees & Rumbles, 2011). For example, an employee may experience eustress associated with tasks that he is required to do at work; but may be experiencing distress about documentation activities at the same time. For such an individual, both types of stress will affect the extent to which they experience job satisfaction; and thus each type of stress can affect the relationship shared by the other with job satisfaction. When assessing the relationship shared by these variables; it would become necessary to control the effect of one type of stress when measuring the relationship shared by the other. Conclusion Occupational stress seems to be an omniscient phenomenon that is reported by individuals in all workplaces. This occupational stress is associated with a number of personal and organizational factors and has been found to predict and be predicted by a number of factors including many related to organizational climate. Although stress is often thought to be a negative thing; its definition encompasses both the positive and well as negative responses to situations. Thus, an individual may experience eustress (positive stress) as well as distress (negative stress) at work. Eustress motivates and engages employees and so it expected to be positively associated with job satisfaction; while distress is associated with emotional responses and outcome dissatisfaction, and so is expected to be negatively associated with job satisfaction. Regardless of these relationships, it may be said in conclusion that stress cannot be (and possibly should not be) eliminated from the workplace. Rather, the primary area of concern needs to be in finding ways to increase positive occupational stress and reduce negative occupational stress. References Chandra, A. & Sharma, B.R. (2010). Predictors of occupational stress: An exploratory study. The Indian journal of industrial relations, 46(2), 300 – 312. French, R. Rayner, C. Rees, G. &  Rumbles S.( 2011). Organizational Behavior (2nd ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons. McGowan, J., Gardner, D & Fletcher, R. (2006). Positive and negative affective outcomes of occupational stress. New Zealand journal of psychology, 35(2), 92 – 98. Wegge, J., Schmidt, K., Parkes, C., & van Dick, K. (2007). ‘Taking a sickie’: Job satisfaction and job involvement as interactive predictors of absenteeism in a public organization. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 80, 77-89. Read More