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Impact of Stress on the Performance of Construction Project Managers
Abstract
The work of construction project managers (CPMs) is often highly stressful, due to time pressures, and due to the uncertainties and the dynamic social structure involved in construction projects. This study aims to investigate the impact of stress on the performance of CPMs. Correlation analysis and structural equation modeling are employed to uncover the relationships between different types of stress (i.e., objective stress, burnout, and physiological stress) and the work performances (i.e., task performance, interpersonal performance, and organizational performance) of CPMs. Data were collected from 108 CPMs who work in a variety of construction sectors, including prime contractors, subcontractors, developers, consultant firms, and the public sector. Results showed that (1) objective stress reduces the task performance of CPMs while burnout can have a positive effect on it; (2) interpersonal performance is maximized with a moderate level of objective stress (i.e., an inverted-U-shaped relationship between these two variables) and increases in line with the improvement of the task performance of individuals; and (3) organizational performance has U-shaped relationships with both burnout and physiological stresses and is worsened by objective stress. Last, it is suggested to stakeholders that regular reviews of job allocation, stress appraisals, stress management workshops, group or individual counseling, and psychological treatment or physiotherapy be carried out to optimize the stress and the performance of CPMs.
... The competitiveness of the construction industry drives rapid-paced working environments which put pressure on employees. Construction professionals (CPs) are widely recognized as working in some of the most stressful environments in the world (Ajayi et al., 2019;Leung et al., 2008;Love et al., 2009). Due to the nature of construction projects, including tight time Impact of mindfulnessbased stress reduction ...
... Emotional stress refers to negative emotional states (Maslach and Jackson, 1996), including feelings of being drained, burned out, used up by work, chronically tired, and so on (Gmelch, 1982;Leung et al., 2008). Physical stress refers to the physiological adjustments made by individuals under stressful conditions (Leung et al., 2014;Liang et al., 2021b). ...
... However, if the stressful condition influences an individual continuously for a long time, physical adjustments may manifest themselves in stress symptoms (Nixon et al., 2011). Symptoms of physical stress include muscle tension, raised heart rate, headaches, body pain, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, and so on (Leung et al., 2008(Leung et al., , 2016. ...
Purpose
Construction professionals (CPs) are often exposed to various challenges and pressures at work including urgent deadlines, high demands, uncertainty in tasks, and complex problems, which may induce stress and affect performance directly. Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) training has been used for several years to reduce stress among various types of people, such as nurses, teachers, and family caregivers, but its application to CPs with highly dynamic environment remains uncertain. This study aimed to investigate the impact of MBSR training on the performance of CPs via an intervention study involving two groups (MBSR and control).
Design/methodology/approach
Participants in both groups were assessed using a questionnaire survey and a semi-structured interview at the pre- and post-intervention stage. Multiple research methods were used to derive quantitative and qualitative analyses, including factor analysis, independent t -test, Pearson correlation, and contextual analysis.
Findings
The findings overall confirm that MBSR has a direct effect on CPs, improving their mindfulness characteristics and enhancing performance by reducing their stress.
Practical implications
A number of practical recommendations are made such as (1) arranging standard eight-week MBSR training for CPs; (2) giving special leave for attending the full mindfulness training; (3) establishing a suitable environment in the office for meditation;(4) allowing CPs an opportunity to pause at difficult moments to create space to respond instead of simply reacting; and (5) expressing love and kindness through gratitude, recognition, and regular feedback.
Originality/value
This research can be considered as valid evidence to convince construction organizations conducting MBSR to the CPs, which is indeed not too remote to enhance their performance as well as the holistic construction performance.
... Stress experienced by CPPs contributes to the performance of construction projects (Leung et al., 2008b;Leung et al., 2011;Xiong et al., 2015), due to their critical role in project delivery. Three prominent performance metrics, namely, task, interpersonal and organizational performance are adopted to prove relationships between stress and project performance (Leung et al., 2008b;Leung et al., 2011;Senaratne and Rasagopalasingam, -Fotwe and Mccaffer, 2000), which contributed to the adverse effects of work stress on project performance (Leung et al., 2012a;Leung et al., 2008b). ...
... Stress experienced by CPPs contributes to the performance of construction projects (Leung et al., 2008b;Leung et al., 2011;Xiong et al., 2015), due to their critical role in project delivery. Three prominent performance metrics, namely, task, interpersonal and organizational performance are adopted to prove relationships between stress and project performance (Leung et al., 2008b;Leung et al., 2011;Senaratne and Rasagopalasingam, -Fotwe and Mccaffer, 2000), which contributed to the adverse effects of work stress on project performance (Leung et al., 2012a;Leung et al., 2008b). Although substantial studies have shown the relationship between stress and project performance through the quantitative method; but in-depth analysis of why stress influences project performance is unclear. ...
... Stress experienced by CPPs contributes to the performance of construction projects (Leung et al., 2008b;Leung et al., 2011;Xiong et al., 2015), due to their critical role in project delivery. Three prominent performance metrics, namely, task, interpersonal and organizational performance are adopted to prove relationships between stress and project performance (Leung et al., 2008b;Leung et al., 2011;Senaratne and Rasagopalasingam, -Fotwe and Mccaffer, 2000), which contributed to the adverse effects of work stress on project performance (Leung et al., 2012a;Leung et al., 2008b). Although substantial studies have shown the relationship between stress and project performance through the quantitative method; but in-depth analysis of why stress influences project performance is unclear. ...
Mental ill-health among construction project professionals is a significant, persistent and unresolved problem that sparked the proliferation of literature worldwide. Despite the diverse research publications, a systematic review to reveal forms of mental ill-health, cause of mental ill-health and coping is lacking.
This paper systematically reviews the existing body of knowledge on mental health in the construction project by analysing 60 papers published between 1989 and 2020 (years inclusive) using preferred reporting item for systematic reviews and meta-analysis (PRISMA). Academic journals between 1989 to 2020 were selected for this study because first published paper on mental health of construction managers commenced on 1989 and current studies are published in 2020.
The findings show that stress, job burnout, depression, anxiety and substance use disorder (SUD) are prominent forms of mental ill-health among CPPs, with an absence of project-related measuring scales for evaluating the mental ill-health symptoms. Moreover, generic stressors including long working hours, time pressure and work overload were used to established the root causes of mental ill-health by ignoring construction project related stressors for mental ill-health. Problem focused coping is more efficient than emotional focused coping in mitigating work stress, job burnout, depression, anxiety, but little is known on the influence of coping strategies on SUD. Knowledge gaps and future research directions were identified. This research contributes to a comprehensive understanding of the implications of mental health management on construction projects
Findings of this study contribute towards understanding the need to investigate individual mental ill-health as against the existing practices of considering all forms of mental ill-health as one umbrella. It also challenges limitation in the utilization of generic stressors to determines factors for mental ill-health by the introduction of Swisse cheese theoretical model.
... Physiological stress is created from a constant source of continual reaction by either physical pain or from a stressful situation which may be constantly reoccurring (Leung et al., 2008). The human body tries to combat these chronic or reoccurring features via physiological adjustments. ...
... Leung et al. (2011) created a detailed description on the key stress-related areas which impact a project manager's performance, including task performance, interpersonal performance and organization performance. Thus, three issues are the foundation of the PM practitioners' performance: the time at which a project manager gets a project completed, the project must be profitable and lastly, the ability to meet the construction standards to satisfy the client's expectation (Dadkhah, 2004;Leung et al., 2008). Interpersonal performance does not only impact the mental state of the project manager but also the employees they work with. ...
Purpose-The problem of stress is increasingly gaining attention in the construction industry in recent years. This study is aimed at examining the causes, effects and possible alleviation of stress of project management (PM) practitioners so that their stress could be appropriately managed and reduced, which would contribute to improved mental health. Design/methodology/approach-Primary data were collected in an online questionnaire survey via Qualtrics. Questions ranged from PM practitioners' stressors, stress and performance under stress to stress alleviation tools and techniques. One hundred and five PM practitioners completed the questionnaire. Their responses were compiled and analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation and regression. Findings-The results confirmed that the identified stressors tended to increase stress of PM practitioners. All stressors tested in this study were found to have negative impact on the performance of PM practitioners. In particular, the burnout stressors were seen as the key stressors that influence the performance of PM practitioners and have a strong correlation with all the other stressors. It was also found that a number of tools and techniques can reduce the impact of stressors on PM practitioners. Originality/value-This study has taken a specific focus on stress-related issues of PM practitioners in the construction industry due to their critical role in this project-dominated industry. Using the Job Demand-Resource theory, a holistic examination was not only conducted on stress and stressors but also on alleviation tools and techniques. This study has thus made significant contribution to the ongoing research aimed at finding solutions to mental health-related problems in the project-dominated construction industry, thereby achieving the United Nations' social sustainability development goals.
... The construction industry is a high-risk industry for work stress associated with excessive workloads, timed constraints and deadlines (Leung et al., 2008) Formal institutions (. . .) institutions such as lawmakers of labor and education system are supporting, regulating and preparing for projectified work life (Ekstedt, 2019) Family and friends' support/ issues (. . ...
... Project factors include project-related aspects impacting project participants' work outcomes (Leung et al., 2008) and health (Darling and Whitty, 2020). Within project factors, seven interrelated determinants can be recognized: (1) job demand and job resource issues, (2) role problems, (3) teamwork issues (e.g. ...
Purpose
Project work usually has a positive connotation and is considered innovative and modern. However, many project workers suffer from chronic stress, work overload and burnout. This study aims to integrate the determinants of the negative aspects of project work and their implications for individuals involved in projects.
Design/methodology/approach
A systematic review was used to analyze 290 papers from various disciplines to identify the most used theories, determinants of the negative aspects of project work and the consequences of these aspects for project participants' work-related and overall well-being.
Findings
Based on the findings of the review, this paper develops a multi-level framework that includes determinants at the levels of society, organizations, projects and individuals and discusses opportunities for further research. The findings show that socio-psychological theories and occupational health theories are the dominant theories used in research. The most frequently studied individual outcomes are affective symptoms and work-related outcomes. Detrimental individual outcomes are mostly associated with psychosocial work factors.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the literature by providing a comprehensive review of research on the negative aspects of project work and their implications for project workers. The multi-level framework can serve as a guide for future research and provides important insights for practitioners.
... The magnitude of stress (i.e. low, moderate, or high) has severe consequences on work performance (Leung et al., 2008). A low magnitude of stress impairs individual functioning due to a lack of interest or ability to motivate stimulating work performance. ...
... Instead, the stress of a moderate magnitude is neither too little nor too much stress and can actually contribute toward optimal work performance. But an excessive or a high magnitude of stress, without adequate support or resources, can reduce individual ability to function at an optimal performance level (Leung et al., 2008). However, when stress is moderate in nature and coupled with the knowledge and resources needed, can lead to optimal work performance. ...
... In our model, we conceptualize group potency and affect-based trust as mediators of the relationship between cognition-based trust and project team resilience. We chose the construction industry because previous research has shown that construction management teams have a high degree of interdependence (i.e., team processes and states are experienced in a deeper manner) (Buvik & Rolfsen, 2015), are exposed to high levels of uncertainty and pressure (Bowen, Edwards, Lingard & Cattell, 2014;Nordqvist et al., 2004), and work in contexts that can produce occupational stress (Bowen et al., 2014;Leung Mei-yung, Yee-Shan & Paul, 2008), burnout (Yang, Li, Zhu, Li & Wu, 2017) and other health problems (Lingard & Turner, 2017) that decrease performance. Thus, in the construction industry, project team resilience cannot only play a role to improve project performance but may also act as a protective factor to restore (or enhance) the wellbeing of construction professionals. ...
... We studied construction management project teams because, due to the nature of their job, they are subject to constant pressures, uncertainty, and adversities (Atkinson, Crawford & Ward, 2006;Leung Mei-yung et al., 2008), and are likely to have experienced team resilience. Following a deductive pragmatic approach, we gathered data using surveys from construction project management team members in Chile who work for companies that develop projects in residential building, commercial and institutional building, and industrial facility construction. ...
Project teams are likely to work under a high degree of stress and interpersonal demands that usually diminish performance. The ability of a team to prosper in these adverse conditions has been studied using the construct of team resilience, but there is still little knowledge about the determinants of team resilience in a project-based environment. Therefore, we propose a model in which interpersonal trust (i.e., cognition and affect-based trust) and group potency drive the perception of team resilience in project team members. We tested the model in a sample of 214 construction project management team members belonging to 50 teams. Our results suggest that affect-based trust and group potency mediate the relationship between cognition-based trust and project team resilience. We discuss the implications of these results for research on project team resilience and, more generally, how these findings could help enrich the literature on project management.
... Workplace stressors are the most common factors that increase individuals' stress ( Nakao, 2010 ). Paradoxically, stress is both negatively and positively related to performance ( Leung et al., 2008 ;Patching & Best, 2014 ). ...
... In the literature of project management, stress studies have been mainly conducted on construction workers ( Leung et al., 2008 ;Leung et al., 2011 ;Cattell et al., 2016 ;Liang et al., 2018 ;Naoum et al., 2018 ). To the best of our knowledge, the GAS model has not been applied in project management. ...
Despite the extensive literature on career development and project management, there is no standalone systematic review examining the career paths of project managers based on academic studies. To fill this gap, we summarize a sample of papers selected from a systematic literature review (SLR), involving research papers published from 1985 to 2019. Based on a review of this literature, we: (1) Characterize three stages within the careers of project managers, namely start-career, interaction-career, and end-career; (2) Use Selye's general adaptation syndrome (GAS) model to link stages and intra-stage periods with learning and growth opportunities for project managers. We enhance our study through a focus group of 18 senior project managers in order to obtain a richer picture of the career path landscape. Our study adds a new theoretical dimension to career path planning for project managers. It can also benefit organizations in designing their talent management structures for project managers and serve the academic community by providing valuable insights into research on the careers of project managers over time.
... Construction project managers (CPMs) play a critical role in a construction project team and are responsible for work such as making process plans, controlling the budget, communicating with stakeholders, managing people, and so on to achieve project objectives (Leung et al. 2008). These complex job demands cause both psychological and physical stress for CPMs (Pinto et al. 2016). ...
... Existing research focuses on the stress factors that may lead to CPM job burnout. Leung et al. (2008Leung et al. ( , 2011Leung et al. ( , 2016b indicated that time pressures, uncertainties, and project dynamic social structure are job stressors could influence CPMs' performance. Bowen et al. (2013) examined the work stress encountered by South African construction experts and noted that long working hours were the main stress factor for CPMs. ...
... These dimensions are made on the basis of forty risk factors (Wallace, Keil, & Rai, 2004). IT personnel have high tendency to leave their job (Leung, Chan, & Olomolaiye, 2008), especially, the retention of IT managers is important as the irms highly rely on their professional skills of managing riskier and complex projects (Bourne & Walker, 2006). Studies have shown that the perception of risk plays an important role, the project managers that perceive higher levels of risk shows less commitment to a failing project (Keil et al., 2000). ...
... Most of the literature of project management has studied the impact of psychological distress on the performance of the project managers working in construction projects (Bowen, Govender, Edwards, & Cattell, 2018;Haynes & Love, 2004).The results of such studies showed that the stress decreased the construction project manager performance. Also it is suggested that the positive appraisal by stakeholder and proper stress counseling can help project manager in dealing with stress and can improve their performance (Leung et al., 2008). H1: Psychological distress will mediate the in luence of project risk on project managers' intention to leave. ...
... The demand to meet up with tight project schedules, stringent project budgets and project risk management resulted in poor mental health among PM practitioners [6]. Poor mental health negatively impacts productivity, well-being and project performance, which makes it a significant occupational health concern in project management [7,8]. ...
The introduction of COVID-19-related psychosocial risks to the Australian architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) project organisation has triggered the development of innovative organisational interventions for mitigating the risks and promoting of positive mental health among project management (PM) practitioners. Therefore, the paper aims to explore the COVID-19-related organisational interventions for improving mental health in the AEC project organisation. Through a comprehensive literature review, 20 organisation interventions were retrieved, and an online expert
forum was conducted with nine industry experts. The results of the expert opinion confirmed the 20 organisational interventions identified from the literature. Moreover, the organisational interventions were used to develop a questionnaire survey distributed among PM practitioners via convenient sampling. Mean score ranking analysis was used to analyses the survey responses from 58 participants. The research findings show that the identified organisational interventions are important, but are ranked differently by architecture, engineering and construction sectors based on their importance in promoting mental health.
... It is often stated that project work is stressful (Richmond & Skitmore, 2006;Haynes & Love, 2004;Leung et al., 2008;Aguilar Velasco & Wald, 2022). Stressors attributed to project work (that have been linked to mental unwellness) include: the occurrence of unexpected incidents that thwart the attainment of project goals (Gällstedt, 2003); a lack of resources (Richmond & Skitmore, 2006); project overload (Zika--Viktorsson et al., 2006); goal ambiguity, insufficient time, conflicting roles and adversarial or dysfunctional relationships (Darling & Whitty, 2019); excessive involvement in work, destabilisation of professional identities and unclear or precarious career pathways for project workers (Asquin et al., 2010). ...
... The study revealed that despite the prevalence of ADSA among CPPs as a coping strategy for stress, empirical evidence suggests that avoidance coping is inimical in reducing job stress (ibid). Furthermore, other studies have suggested that problem-focus coping is more effective than emotional coping in stress management, depression and anxiety among CPPs (Leung et al., 2008;Wang et al., 2017;Bowen et al., 2014). Although previous studies have revealed that positive coping strategies improve mental health wellbeing, it remains unclear whether there is a direct relationship between coping strategies and CPPs performance, which subsequently translates into project performance (Tijani et al., 2020). ...
There is a sympathetic need to address the drawbacks of mental health studies in the South African construction industry. Most studies on occupational stress in construction have been conducted in developed countries. South Africa is characterized by extreme socioeconomic issues, such as inequality and crime and therefore, the nature of mental health issues requires a uniquely South African solution. This preliminary study examined job stressors, organizational culture about mental health and coping strategies of the construction workforce in South Africa. The results were analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics in IBM SPSS V25. From the findings of the study, most workers were knowledgeable about common mental health problems and contended that their work is stressful. The most prevalent stressors were long working hours, working at night, too much workload and job insecurity. In relation to organizational culture, there was stigma associated with mental issues and most workers felt they would be judged if they talked about their mental problems at work. Further, workers used adaptive coping strategies for stress. The findings of this study are beneficiary for the development of appropriate interventions. However, there are several limitations associated with self-report questionnaires and challenges with perceived knowledge about mental health. Further, the population was conveniently sampled due to time constraints.
... The consequences of inadequate safety measures can have a significant impact on employees, their families, local communities, and the employer (Arboleda and Abraham, 2004). By reducing the frequency of workplace accidents, injuries, incidents, and illnesses, occupational safety can enhance efficiency, competitiveness, production, and profitability (as shown by studies from Chan et al., 2008;Hon et al., 2012Hon et al., , 2014. Accurate documentation of these incidents helps raise awareness and promotes the sharing of important safety information within the organization (Ra and Merisalu, 2010;Hussi, 2005). ...
Safety culture is a critical aspect of ensuring safe and productive construction sites. However, many studies in the field of construction that focus on safety culture overlook the unique attributes of construction environments. Current models for safety culture in construction fail to fully encompass the dynamic and diverse nature of construction sites where individuals with differing backgrounds, professions, and levels of experience collaborate to complete projects. These individuals not only come from different cultures and speak different languages, but they also have various psychological, behavioral, and knowledge traits that can affect their safety practices and behaviors. Moreover, different organizations have different settings and perceptions about the safety of their workers and workplace, which can further complicate the development of effective safety cultures in construction. Therefore, there is a clear need for research that focuses on developing more context-specific models for safety culture in construction that can account for these unique attributes and complexities (Hallowell et al., 2016; Hinze and Tracey, 2016; Lingard et al., 2018). The present study presents a framework that incorporates multiple facets of safety culture, including psychological factors, organizational factors, knowledge and awareness, behavioral factors, safe working conditions, safety-oriented climate, resilience, and unsafe behaviors. The proposed framework captures the relationship between these variables and the safety culture of the construction industry in Nepal. The results inferred from the analysis of the survey showed that among the eight variables included in the study (psychological dimension, organizational dimension, knowledge dimension, behavioral dimension, safe workplace, safety climate, resilience, and unsafe behavior), seven of them (excluding unsafe behavior) had a direct positive impact on safety culture in the construction industry of Nepal. In other words, these seven variables were found to be positively associated with the development of a strong safety culture in the construction industry of Nepal. On the other hand, unsafe behavior was found to have a negative impact on safety culture, implying that if workers engage in unsafe behavior, it can undermine the development of a positive safety culture in the workplace.
... Several security surveillance systems relying on closed-circuit televisions [2], stereo-vision cameras [3], unmanned aerial vehicles [4,5], and LiDAR [6] have been developed to provide remote solutions for project monitoring. However, operators who monitor these captured image data for hazard inspection face several inherent cognitive challenges, such as bias [7], fatigue [8], complacency [9], stress [10], and distractions [11]. As a result, up to 50% of hazards are unrecognized during manual observation [12,13]. ...
Automated vision-based hazard detection algorithms are being rapidly developed to provide hazard alerts for construction workers. However, these alerting systems often apply a fixed low-beta alerting threshold, which can cause excessive false alarms, followed by distractions and human distrust in automation. In this study, we propose a novel adaptive automated hazard alerting system capable of adjusting alert threshold levels based on environmental scenarios and workers’ hazard recognition performance evaluated using a wearable electroencephalogram (EEG) sensor system. We designed a hazard recognition experiment consisting of multiple hazardous scenarios and acquired behavioral data and EEG signals from 76 construction workers. We used the linear ballistic accumulator model to decompose hazard recognition into several psychological subcomponents and compared them among different scenarios. Subsequently, our proposed strategy includes clustering of participants’ hazard recognition performance levels based on latent profile analysis, wavelet transform of EEG signals, transfer learning for signal classification, and continual learning to improve the robustness of the model in different scenarios. The results show that the proposed method represents a feasible worker-centered adaptive hazard alerting approach. The anticipated system can be leveraged in a real-world wearable headset application that aims to promote proactive hazard intervention and facilitate human trust in automated hazard alerting technologies.
... Generally, at any construction project, numerous stakeholders are simultaneously involved in a complex process to complete various tasks within a specific time. 13 Project managers and supervisors of contractors on a construction project are key entities for the success of a project 14 as they have to plan construction, organise human resources, and involve machinery to control operations and budget. 15 Therefore, at any stage of a construction project, the enhanced role of supervisors cannot be ignored. ...
Turnover has been one of the major concerns for organisations since the start of the industrial revolution. Construction project managers and supervisors bear greater job strain (JS) than other fields because of tight deadlines and budgets. This study examines the role of JS in the determination of employees' Turnover Intentions (TIs) with mediating and moderating role of Emotional Exhaustion (EE) and Perceived Supervisor Support (PSS) respectively, specifically in projectized construction organisations in Pakistan. Data for this quantitative study from 181 middle management employees from construction enterprises of Northern Punjab was collected through a questionnaire. The statistical analysis carried out using Baron & Kenny method confirmed that in projectized construction organisations of Pakistan, EE strongly mediates the relationship between JS and TIs. Contrarily, the analysis also indicated that such organisations lack a hypothesised buffering role of PSS between EE and TIs. Conclusively, it has been recommended that employers conduct focused training to determine the well-being of their staff and take extra measures to lessen the JS of employees. This study aims to provide a base for future research on JS and TIs in projectized organisations operating in developing countries. Furthermore, it will help define suitable turnover policies for employees of various sectors and organisations.
... Komitmen afektif menunjukkan keterikatan emosional individu untuk dengan proyek konstruksi dan organisasi (Leung, Chan, & Olomolaiye, 2008). Itu berarti anggota secara sukarela ingin berkomitmen pada organisasi dan pekerjaan, dan menikmati pekerjaannya (Allen & Meyer, 1996). ...
Project manager is leader of project organization who take responsibility for whole projects in purpose to get it wrapped succesfully. Commitment is an important thing for a project manager. A project manager who isn't committed might impact into the failure of a project, as well as inflated costs, late project completion and unmet quality. This studi aimed to analyze the relationship between project manager commitment to the success of building construction projects. This research was conducted on a building construction project in the Sarbagita Urban area (Denpasar City, Badung Regency, Gianyar Regency, and Tabanan Regency). Collecting data through a survey using a questionnaire. Respondents selected based on the purposive sampling method, includes the criteria of people who have been / are handling the implementation of building construction projects, have at least three years of experience, have the position of project manager, Site Manager, Operational Manager, which includes 60 respondents. Data processing using Partial Least Squares analysis with SmartPLS 3.0 software. The results of the analysis show that the Project Manager's Commitment has a positive and significant effect on the success of building construction projects. The most dominant commitment variable was a career commitment of 0.241, followed by a normative commitment of 0.237, a continuance commitment of 0.228, and an affective commitment of 0.217
... Kim, Liu, Lee, & Kamat, 2019;Roberts, Bretl, & Golparvar-Fard, 2017), and LiDAR (Gargoum & Karsten, 2021) have been developed, providing remote solutions for project monitoring. Operators who monitor these captured image data for hazard inspection are however faced with several inherent cognitive challenges, such as bias (Hinze, Godfrey, & Rinker, 2003), fatigue (Marcora, Staiano, & Manning, 2009), complacency (Haslam et al., 2005), stress (Leung, Chan, & Olomolaiye, 2008), and distractions (Chen, Song, & Lin, 2016). As a result, up to 50% of hazards are reported to be unrecognized during manual observation (Hardison & Gray, 2021;Sun & Liao, 2019), raising concerns for both practitioners and researchers in the construction industry. ...
Computer-vision technologies have emerged to assist security surveillance. However, automation alert/alarm systems often apply a low-beta threshold to avoid misses and generates excessive false alarms. This study proposed an adaptive hazard diagnosis and alarm system with adjustable alert threshold levels based on environmental scenarios and operator's hazard recognition performance. We recorded electroencephalogram (EEG) data during hazard recognition tasks. The linear ballistic accumulator model was used to decompose the response time into several psychological subcomponents, which were further estimated by a Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm and compared among different types of hazardous scenarios. Participants were most cautious about falling hazards, followed by electricity hazards, and had the least conservative attitude toward structural hazards. Participants were classified into three performance-level subgroups using a latent profile analysis based on task accuracy. We applied the transfer learning paradigm to classify subgroups based on their time-frequency representations of EEG data. Additionally, two continual learning strategies were investigated to ensure a robust adaptation of the model to predict participants' performance levels in different hazardous scenarios. These findings can be leveraged in real-world brain-computer interface applications, which will provide human trust in automation and promote the successful implementation of alarm technologies.
... Additionally, the problem becomes more complex 42 as the number of projects increase (Hendriks et al., 1999;Silva & Costa, 2013). As a result, project 43 management (PM) staff are often over-or underutilized, resulting in uneven workloads, employee 44 stress, and ultimately, impaired performance (Leung et al., 2008). Several studies in literature have 45 ...
Accurate labor resource allocation ensures that tasks are assigned to the most suitable individual(s) and the optimal number of staff are available to complete certain tasks, making it essential for the success of construction projects. This study proposes a methodology for forecasting labor resource requirements for upcoming projects using data mining techniques. The framework consists of two components, a data acquisition model and a forecasting model. The data acquisition model provides a structured approach for tracking and storing project data, while the forecasting model uses the stored project data and applies machine learning algorithms to predict labor requirements. A case study is used to illustrate the application of the framework in actual projects. The results indicate the usefulness of machine learning in providing low error estimates compared to methods currently adopted in the industry. The results also revealed that forecasting accuracy considerably increases as the number of historical projects increases which signifies the importance of the data acquisition model. The models presented in this study are expected to help guide and promote the application of more accurate workforce forecasting techniques.
... One of the reasons for the persistent nature of this problem in design-build is the late completion of designs, which is concurrently executed with construction activities. Additionally, the high-pressure environment and the demanding workload of a project manager are major contributors (Leung et al. 2008). The dynamic nature of a project and the typical shortfall of managerial resources onsite places additional responsibilities on the project manager, who, for smaller projects, also acts as the procurement manager. ...
As projects evolve into complex and specialized temporary initiatives, accountability shortfalls in material flow are a major reason for schedule and cost overruns in construction. To date, researchers and practitioners are unresolved regarding the causes of material handling challenges and eminent solutions to improve material flow accountability. Consequently, inefficient supply chain management practices persist, leading to ineffective handling methods. This research, therefore, focused on identifying critical material challenges encountered by contractors and presented solutions to alleviate schedule and cost overrun failures. The fuzzy Delphi approach was used to refine opinions and achieve group consensus from 15 specialists on the ranking of material handling problems and potential solutions associated with design-build projects. The research revealed that complexity, material flow, and lack of information sharing are the top three main causes of onsite material problems. Potential solutions identified were a faster response mechanism (as an alternative to a slower build schedule), increasing material handlers' worker power, subcontractors' involvement in the procurement process, and prefabrication. The research highlighted subcontracting as a material handling paradox as apart from being a solution, it creates non-value-added costs in the supply chain and often inappropriately transfers risk. The findings showcased the potential to improve onsite material handling praxis by considering decision-making uncertainties in material flow and recognizing the importance of procurement methods in construction supply chain solutions in resolving scheduling and cost inefficiencies.
... Construction hazard inspections rely heavily on manual observations. However, some inherent human factors, such as bias [1], fatigue [2], complacency [3], stress [4] and distraction [5], are likely to result in poor hazard recognition in the construction industry. As a result, the high rate of injuries in the industry remains a concern for both practitioners and researchers. ...
Monitoring brain activity is a novel development for hazard recognition in the construction industry. However, very few empirical studies have investigated the causal connections within the brain. This study aimed to explore the brain connectivity of construction workers during hazard recognition. Electroencephalogram data were collected from construction workers to perform image-based hazard recognition tasks. The Granger causality-based adaptive directed transfer function was used to simulate directed and time-variant information flow across the observed brain activity from the perspective of cognitive psychology. The results suggested a top-down modulation of behavioural goals originating from the dorsal attention network during hazard relocation. The sensory cortex predominantly serves as the information outlet center and interacts extensively with the frontal and visual cortices, reflecting a top-down attention reorientation mechanism for processing threatening stimuli. Our findings of brain effective connectivity supplement new evidence underpinning parallel distributed processing theory for workplace hazard recognition.
... The existing literature shows that the construction industry is often associated with a family-unfriendly environment (Ling and Ho 2013) and regarded as a demanding industry due to long working hours, excessive workload and stress, cost and time pressures, and poor job security (Budayan 2019;Gurgun et al. 2013;Leung et al. 2008Leung et al. , 2007Lingard and Sublet 2002;Sutherland and Davidson 1989). The complexity of construction projects is expected to increase in the future (Jung et al. 2018), which may consequently increase the stress levels of individuals working in the industry (Van Staveren 2006). ...
Projects in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry are known for cost and time pressures that cause stress, which brings excessive workload to employees. As candidate professionals, civil engineering (CE) students often worry about the balance between work and life due to the adverse reputation of the industry in this regard. This study aimed to assess the work–life balance (WLB) perceptions of CE students and how their perceptions differ based on their demographic characteristics. To achieve these objectives, a questionnaire survey was administered in three civil engineering programs in Turkey and the US, and a total of 357 responses were collected. The results showed that statistically significant perception differences were observed in eight of the 12 questions related to WLB concepts with respect to country—more than the differences observed for any other classification of the students, such as gender or internship experience. The findings of this research highlight possible root causes of the issues by establishing clear baselines for the work and family life satisfaction-level perceptions of possible future industry professionals, thereby helping the industry identify strategies for attracting more qualified students as future employees.
... In another survey in 2017, the construction organisation is urged to improve the employment benefits package offered (Ipsos Loyalty, 2017). These findings show the importance of life quality through the role of the organisation management (Madihie & Siman, 2016;Ofori, 2015;Worrall, Harris, Stewart, Thomas, & McDermott, 2010) where employee turnover as among the adverse outcomes (Frufrek & Pansanato, 2015;Leung, Chan, & Olomolaiye, 2008;Sang et al., 2009). Besides, employee motivation affected by the nature of the industry. ...
Among the approaches to improve employee's life quality is through the balance of the work-life that connected to the high turnover. A systematic literature review offers an overview of the present state of research concerning the turnover antecedents in the construction industry. Based on Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses, three main themes of employee turnover antecedents are identified, namely: organisation, individual, and external antecedent. Two recommendations are made, including the development of life quality strategy and to conduct more employee turnover. Identification of adverse outcomes of turnover assists in improving employees life quality in the construction industry. Keywords: SLR; Life Quality; Construction Industry eISSN 2514-751X © 2020 The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians / Africans / Arabians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ajebs.v5i17.376
... One can visualize the strength of identification among employees who are closely involved in key aspects of projects and are reluctant to leave at a critical time. This is more evident for employees who demonstrate a sense of responsibility (Walker 2011;Leung et al. 2008). Given all that has been mentioned so far, one question that needs to be asked is whether the patterns of these interactions in the construction industry are different from other industries, where previous studies on the subject have been conducted. ...
Voluntary turnover of key employees with scarce skills and tacit knowledge has a potential influence on the competitive advantage of construction organizations. Although much research has been conducted to find out causes of turnover intention, there is limited research in the construction context, particularly considering the influence of the psychological perspective. In this study, using data from 351 construction professionals in the Turkish construction industry and utilizing a three-way moderated moderation model, we examined the interaction effects of psychological factors, operationalized in terms of organizational identification and perceived external prestige, on turnover intention within the boundary of gender differences. Analysis of the responses demonstrates that considering organizational identification, perceived organizational prestige, and gender independently may lead to the underprediction of the turnover intention of employees in construction organizations. The results indicate that organizational identification and perceived organizational prestige have an impact on construction professionals’ turnover intention in a condition boundary for gender differences. On this basis, this study may provide important insights for human resource practitioners in identifying potential employees that are likely to have lower turnover intention. It is also of relevance to managers in retaining valued professionals in construction firms.
... Examples of negative psychological/mental effects include anxiety, depression, lack of motivation, irritability, loss of memory, poor decision making, and unpunctuality (University of Cambridge 2011). Factors contributing to burnout in construction professionals include job conditions, job schedule irregularity, number of hours worked per week, unfair reward and treatment, role ambiguity, lack of job security, workload, work-family conflict or worklife imbalance, role conflict, limited resources, and working environments (Bowen et al. 2014;Enshassi et al. 2016;Lingard and Francis 2005;Leung et al. 2008;Wu et al. 2019;Yip and Rowlinson 2009). Construction professionals experiencing stress avoid client interactions and have fewer positive interactions with clients (Enshassi et al. 2016). ...
... Manager's stress leads to poor performance. As according to Leung et al. (2008), stress reduces task performance (e.g., project's task performance) (Kluge et al., 2019), which in return leads to failure of the project. It not only reduces task performance, but it also reduces the organisational performance (i.e., project success) (Joy, 2020). ...
... Further, role conflict has been linked to poor WLB among engineers (Lingard 2003b). Role conflicts refer to a situation where job demands cannot be met concurrently (Leung et al. 2008). Usually, construction project management entails a tradeoff between cots, time, quality and safety (Lingard and Sublet 2002). ...
Over the past decade, work-life balance (WLB) has induced growing attention in the
construction industry due to the concomitant effects on the mental health of
construction workers, turnover rate and project performance. Numerous empirical
studies have been conducted on various themes on WLB in the construction industry.
Nevertheless, a systematic review of the extant studies, which is critical for future
venture is scanty. This paper systematically reviews 40 extant literature on WLB in the
construction industry from 1999 to 2019 (years inclusive). Main research method,
causes of poor WLB, WLB interventions and WLB initiatives of both developed and
developing countries are identified in the literature. The findings of the study contribute
to the comprehensive understanding of causes of poor WLB, WLB interventions and
initiatives in the construction industry and sparked future research study based on the
identified significant knowledge gaps. To the practitioners, the identified causes of poor
WLB would assist in determining construction project management practices leading to
work-life imbalance, and strategic interventions to mitigate the causes. Drivers of WLB
initiatives retrieved from previous studies would help practitioners to manage
organizational, team and individual factors shaping the adoption of the initiatives.
... Mei-Yung Leung et al. (2008) measured construction project participant satisfaction. There is a significantly positive relationship between commitment and satisfaction in construction project management, while a high level of conflict is stimulated in the goal-setting process amongst the participants [34]. Now it is evident, the topic of perception has emerged indeed in the project management literature. ...
... Moreover, construction project performance characterized by time, cost and quality is important for construction project success (Eriksson and Westerberg, 2011;Takim and Akintoye, 2006). Performance of construction projects predict client satisfaction, value for money and social obligations (Takim and Akintoye, 2006); unfortunately, project performance are impeded by stressors causing poor mental health among construction workforce (Leung et al., 2008c). ...
Purpose - Stressors emanated from construction projects are causative factors for occupational stress inherent in the construction industry. Concomitant implications of stressors ignite a burst of empirical evidence, which necessitates a systematic review to capture the state of art of the extant literature. Therefore, this paper addresses this significant gap by conducting a systematic review of mental stressors.
Design/methodology/approach- A three-stage screening and data extraction method were employed to retrieve 38 papers that met the inclusion criteria for the study. The content analysis technique was employed to analyse the retrieved publications.
Findings- The annual publication trends and contributions of selected journals were elucidated. Moreover, this review identified 49 stressors from 38 selected peer-reviewed journals between 1997 to 2020. The most frequently reported mental stressors include work overload, home-work conflict, poor working environment, role ambiguity and poor working relationships. The 49 stressors could be classified into five main categories, namely; organizational stressors, task stressors, personal stressors, physical stressors and gender-related stressors.
Originality/value- The findings of the study broaden the understanding of the practitioners and policymakers on the dynamics of stressors for the development of stress interventions. Future research should focus on exploration of mental stressors specific to construction projects and different occupational trades.
... Role demands had a significant influence on psychosocial stress symptoms and psychosocial stress symptoms had a significant influence on both safety compliance and safety participation offering some support for previous studies. 9,32, 76 Asumeng, Asamani 77 highlights that stressors have short-term effects such as psychological and behavioural stress symptoms and long-term effects such as poor workplace safety performance. By effect, our findings show that psychosocial stress symptoms fully mediate the relationship between role demands and safety compliance. ...
Purpose:
This study aimed to investigate the effects of role demands on safety performance in mining companies under the mediating role of psychosocial stress symptoms. Three dimensions of safety leadership were also tested as moderators on the relationship between psychosocial stress symptoms and safety performance.
Methods:
To collect data to analyze the hypothesized relationships in the present study, a total of 850 questionnaires were distributed to mineworkers in Ghana. Hierarchical regression analysis was employed as the main statistical technique in analyzing the data using SPSS version 21 software.
Findings:
Results from hierarchical regression analysis showed that psychosocial stress symptoms fully mediated the relationship between role demands and safety compliance but showed no mediation on role demands and safety participation. Also, only safety coaching from safety leadership demonstrated to have a moderating effect on the relationship between psychosocial stress symptoms and safety compliance of safety performance.
Conclusion:
The study proposes that it is important to examine the effects of role demands on specific job performance. The importance of safety coaching as a key element of planning to improve safety performance should not be underestimated.
The success of international construction projects depends on the effective performance of construction expatriates. However, cultural issues often hinder their performance in the new overseas working environment. To address this challenge, organizational supports in the process of adaptation and integration are crucial, but often overlooked. This study aims to develop a research model linking cultural intelligence to the individual work performance of construction expatriates by considering other constructs that contribute to this association based on a systematic literature review. Our findings suggest that cultural adjustment plays a mediating role in the relationship between cultural intelligence and individual performance, while perceived organizational support may have a moderating effect. The proposed research model provides a framework for further analysis, enabling organizations to better support construction expatriates in their adaptation and integration process.KeywordsCultureperformanceconstruction expatriateoverseas assignmentinternational projectwork integration
Obviously, individuals all over the world make a solid effort to stay aware of the hustling scene. Nonetheless, thus, every man and lady is managing interesting wellness issues, one of the most notable of which is misery or stress, which can prompt passing or other horrifying demonstrations. These inconsistencies are alluded to as bipolar problem, which can be treated by following a couple of expert suggested medicines. Victims who have been determined to have psychological wellness issues have their circumstances analyzed to assist them with approaching their regular routines. Positive conditions, such as Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder, have a higher likelihood of continuing crises. Mental health professionals are responsible for reducing the risk of patients experiencing crises. Machine learning is being used by neuroscientists and therapists all around the world to widen treatment regimens for patients and to identify some of the key signs for mental health issues before they manifest. One of the benefits is that device learning helps practitioners to predict who might be at risk of a specific condition. For this study, statistics were gathered from working humans, and the dataset was ran through a few machine mastering algorithms, which included all forms of queries for depressed identification. When compared to DNN and Logistic Regression, the Random Forest algorithm delivers the best accuracy of 81.02% after applying a few algorithms to the data set.KeywordsMachine LearningLogistic RegressionRandom ForestDeep Neural Network
A necessidade de gerar produtos cada vez mais competitivos e com maior rapidez faz com que as pessoas em projetos que geram esses produtos sejam pressionadas por menores prazos, custos e sofram com restrições de recursos tanto materiais como humanos. Nesse contexto surgiu a necessidade de pessoas que atuam em gerenciamento de projetos se desenvolvam e demonstrem competências técnicas, sociais e funcionais, para assim atender a este ambiente competitivo, com melhoria de performance e manutenção da qualidade no atendimento aos requerimentos. Neste contexto, o objetivo dessa pesquisa foi identificar e descrever as práticas de desenvolvimento de pessoas que atuam em gerenciamento de projetos. Esta pesquisa adotou uma perspectiva exploratória com base em uma revisão sistemática da literatura (RSL). Os artigos resultantes das fases de seleção, triagem e elegibilidade, foram analisados e categorizados, objetivando estudar o fenômeno pesquisado, como meio de identificar categorizar e descrever o fenômeno do desenvolvimento de pessoas que atuam em projetos. Como resultado da análise de possíveis lacunas (gaps), foi identificada a oportunidade de novas pesquisas sobre o desenvolvimento de competências em projetos com abordagem Ágil, colaborando ao colocar uma luz sobre a necessidade de tratar o desenvolvimento de competências socioemocionais de pessoas que desempenham papeis no gerenciamento de projetos, futuros gestores e squads, considerando diferentes frameworks desde os estudos em nível universitário, bem como durante todo o ciclo profissional.
Recent advances in physiological computing have been made due to Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, which have profoundly begun to influence occupational health and safety (OHS) in construction. Acknowledging the current and future use of physiological computing, we address the following research question in this paper: What developments in physiological computing can be used to improve OHS in construction? Using a narrative systematic review, we examine studies that have used physiological computing in construction to monitor people OHS. Our review indicates that there is a need for physiological computing systems to be: (1) more accurate; (2) portable and easier to use; (3) generalizable across varying work tasks; and (4) accepted by users and their benefits realized. Considering our observations derived from the prevailing literature and practice, we suggest that future research should aim to mitigate OHS risks by focusing on: (1) development of high-quality database; (2) feature engineering extraction by using an array of machine learning techniques; (3) understanding the context and enacting intervention strategies. The upshot of performing such a review is to provide a signpost for future research in physiological computing of OHS in construction.
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore the U-shaped relationship between ambidextrous leadership and employee silence by examining power distance orientation as a boundary condition and role stress and relational energy as mediators.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors tested the theoretical model with 212 matched samples collected across three-wave-data from 21 companies and branches in China.
Findings
Results revealed that ambidextrous leadership showed a U-shaped relationship with employee silence through role stress and relational energy. Moreover, the authors found that the curvilinear relationship was more significant for employees higher in power distance orientation.
Practical implications
Organizations should be aware of the negative side of ambidextrous leadership as well as its stimulation on employee silence. The leaders should pay more attention to subordinates and judge whether they are under too much stress, as well as treat employees more cautiously in both work and non-work situations.
Originality/value
This study provides a first step to the understanding of curvilinear influence of ambidextrous leadership through investigating the mediating effects of role stress and relational energy, and integrating the moderating role of power distance orientation in the process.
The use of smart wearables provides an opportunity to improve construction safety and productivity. Because the healthcare industry has been at the forefront of applying such technologies, this paper investigates available ubiquitous wearables, their metrics, and types of measurements; how existing healthcare systems detect hazards and unhealthy behaviors; and the potential for cross-fertilization between healthcare and construction domains. A comprehensive review of 173 papers is used to examine existing developments in the use of smart wearables in the construction and healthcare industries. The literature survey identified applicable healthcare metrics, measurements, and ranges that can be readily utilized in the construction industry. This information can facilitate further studies related to improving work ergonomics, health and safety, and worker stress analysis. Future research can also help develop efficient construction schedules that dynamically monitor workers' fatigue, and accordingly devise corrective actions that minimize the impact on workers' safety and work productivity.
Purpose
This study aims to investigate how to manage the stressors that facility managers (FMs) face with the aim of reducing their stress and strain levels.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the job demands-resources (JD-R) model, stressors are operationalized from job demands, job resources and personal resources constructs. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from FMs based in Singapore.
Findings
FMs have significantly high levels of stress, but they are able to manage this well. Job demands that cause stress and strain are those relating to insufficient time to complete the work and difficulties in handling the work. The lack of job resources in terms of lack of organizational support and inadequate stress mitigation programs are associated with high levels of stress and strain.
Research limitations/implications
The limitations are the relatively small sample size and absence of a database of FMs in Singapore, and correlation is not causation when determining the association between stressors and stress and strain.
Practical implications
Based on the recommendations, employers and FMs may manage the specific stressors identified so that FMs’ stress and strain levels are under control to enable them to work optimally.
Originality/value
This research discovered that the JD-R model is moderated by certain features of facilities management and FMs. When these features are present, FMs are predisposed to more stressors, and higher stress and strain. For the facilities management profession, the discovery is that there are significantly more job demands: for in-house FMs compared to those working for outsourced firms; for FMs who need to carry out estate and asset management, landlord activities and facility planning compared to FMs who focus on operations and maintenance; and for FMs who work longer than five days compared to those who work a five-day week.
This chapter overviews the Australian construction industry and introduces the concept of psychological stress and its drivers, particularising it to construction project managers. It summarises findings from a pilot study regarding attitudes to stress among construction project managers and explains how curiosity regarding the extent to which findings from that pilot study might apply more broadly across the Australian construction industry motivated undertaking the more extensive research presented in this book. The chapter also identifies five important questions that arose from the knowledge gap identified from the aforementioned pilot study and proposed hypotheses, the testing of which would provide answers to those questions. Finally, chapter one describes the design of the research design with emphasis on the reasons for a mixed method approach, quantitative to identify differences between aspects of stress as perceived by construction project managers working in organisations of different size categories, and qualitative to determine reasons for statistical differences in attitudes to stress and its management identified between participant categories. The chapter also addresses the techniques used to determine participant sample size and the methods of sourcing participants, and collecting and analysing data. The chapter presents important comments about research rigour, researcher effects, weaknesses in the study and ethics before concluding with a presentation of the book structure including a summary of each chapter’s content, and chapter one references.
This chapter, based on a survey of the literature, investigates the nature of stress from both physiological and psychological perspectives. It addresses various concepts including Hans Selye’s general adaption syndrome and the function of the hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal axis (HPA axis) in reaction to stress. The chapter reviews several definitions of psychological stress to provide some deep insights for leaders and managers of construction project management, and for academics who might not be familiar with psychology terminology. After establishing this firm foundation, the chapter progresses to investigate a particularisation of the impacts of psychological stress on the construction industry and especially on construction project management professionals. A discussion regarding aspects of the science behind stress leads into practical application aspects via a review of the impact stress can have on a person's sleep patterns. The increasingly concerning incidence of the stress-related medical condition known as metabolic syndrome is discussed before an in-depth review of the literature regarding workplace stress specifically and especially how it relates to construction workplaces. Stress impacts on individuals are addressed and impacts on national economies are presented, providing a useful contextualisation of the scale of the problems caused by psychological stress impacts on workplaces. After reviewing the effects of stress from long working hours, the chapter proceeds to examine the extent to which stress-initiated industry and broader economic problems are recognised by those working in the construction industry. The chapter concludes with a description of a gap identified in the existing knowledge, and a chapter summary.
Construction project managers are subjected to high levels of job stressors, while extra-role behavior (e.g., citizenship behavior) is simultaneously required of them. We propose the intervening processes of work-related psychological well-being in the path from job stressors to project citizenship behavior and investigate the moderating effect of leader-member exchange on the link between job stressors and well-being (i.e., work engagement and psychological strain). Consistent and competing hypotheses are proposed by integrating the challenge-hindrance stressor framework and the job demands-resources theory. The conceptual model was examined with time-lagged data collected from 236 construction project managers of owners and contractors. Results confirm that hindrance stressors are “bad” stressors because they positively influence psychological strain, whereas challenge stressors are not “good” stressors as expected because they negatively influence work engagement. Further, both challenge and hindrance stressors have a negative indirect relationship with project citizenship behavior via work engagement and psychological strain, highlighting the value of considering project managers’ well-being. Contrary to expectations, the moderating effect of leader-member exchange is not supported. These findings contribute to the research on occupational stressors and project citizenship behavior, as well as the link between them.
This article aims to summarize existing research on various sources of uncertainty and to classify them based on the determinants and antecedents addressed in projects. A systematic review is conducted using a total of 140 research published in peer-reviewed scientific journals during the last three decades. We classify various uncertainty based on their individual, relational, group, organizational, project-oriented, and managerial characteristics. Additionally, we uncovered a few gaps such as, how uncertainties differ based on the size of the organization, the need for exploring uncertainty from a more cross-disciplinary perspective, differentiating the concept of complexity and risk with uncertainty and the role of chaos theory, that require future study. By leveraging significant findings, this is study contributes from the perspective of theory and practice to academic, project, and industrial management discipline.
Construction project organization is a stressful working environment that exposes project management practitioners (PMPs) to poor mental health, which is a significant social and economic problem in Australia. The New South Wales (NSW) government, Australia government launched training on how businesses can attain mentally healthy workplaces through indicators for mental healthiness evaluation of project organization, where construction projects are executed. While acknowledging the significance of NSW initiative in promoting mentally healthy construction project environments, indicator assessment tool to assist construction businesses in NSW in evaluating mental healthiness of construction project environments is lacking. The paucity of an assessment tool for mentally healthy construction project environment prevented detection of unprecedented risk inimical to the mental health of project management practitioners in NSW, Australia. In this regard, this paper aims to develop an indicator assessment tool in the form of a data spreadsheet, using mental health indicators. Mental health assessment tool would assist project managers and stakeholders to accurately and reliably evaluate the mental healthiness of their construction project organisations in NSW, Australia. More importantly, with the mental health assessment tool, project managers can compare the mental health status of different project organisations on the same basis. The paper adopted systematic literature review to identify indicators for mentally healthy environments from various sectors to build a user-friendly indicators assessment tool for evaluating mental health level of construction project organizations.
The current chapter is organized according to the crucial factors representing the construction workers’ health integral models. These models describe some of the critical health risks associated with the works in construction and highlight the need for implementing adequate control measures for the recognized hazards even though the incidence of the risks associated with the construction workers’ health, and management is mostly focused on mitigation of the incidents/accident associated; that is concentrating on worker’s safety instead of issues related to health. Thus, it is essential to systematically manage and identify hazards related to health in the working areas. The present chapter considers the association between health in the workplace and risks calling diseases related to lifestyle, which frequently attract interest in the health programs. These programs are appraised critically, and occupational health in the construction industries have been highlighted as these factors connect to the organization’s and design to address the health workers’ problems.
Construction is a demanding work environment. Many construction professionals experience workplace stress, leading to physiological, psychological and sociological strain effects. They adopt a variety of coping mechanisms to manage these effects. A purposive sample of 36 construction professionals (architects, project managers, construction managers, civil engineers and quantity surveyors) in Cape Town, South Africa, were surveyed regarding their perceptions of workplace strain effects and stress counter measures. The Mann–Whitney and Kruskal–Wallis non-parametric tests were used for data analysis. The findings show that the highest-ranked strain effects in terms of impact were (in descending order): “frustration”, “fatigue”, “strain on personal relationships”, “strain on professional relationships”, and “anger/irritability”. Male professionals identified greater fatigue and frustration effects than females; while females felt a greater lack of self-confidence. The highest-ranked coping mechanisms in terms of impact were “travel”, “non-competitive sporting activity”, “music”, “increased caffeine intake”, and “walking”. Males preferred more intensive physical activities than did females. Architects experienced anxiety more frequently than other professional groups. This study confirms important strain effects experienced by construction professionals and highlights the nature and effectiveness of counter measures. Limitations of the study include its exploratory nature and small sample size. Future research should establish the associations between strain effects and coping measures, in terms of how construction organizations can better support wellbeing among their professional employees.
The aim of this chapter is to bridge the gap between literature about leadership studies and engineering education to develop future engineering leaders. The chapter focuses upon the hindrances that are faced in integrating leadership programs in the engineering circular. To this end, the chapter employed qualitative methodology under which it reviewed literature on multiple lines such as identifying significance of leadership for engineering students, identification of leadership practices and skills taught to engineering students, and the way this can be improved. Key findings of chapter emphasized on leadership as an important skill for future engineers thus demanding need for equipping engineers with skills needed to become an effective leader. It is found that having engineers to develop leadership skills will enable them to perform their role effectively, effectively allocate and utilize available resources. Thus, the chapter recommends integration of leadership knowledge and skills in engineering curricula through usage of variety of tools such as experiential learning and self-awareness.
High levels of stress at work, great responsibilities, hazards and lack of balance between tasks and deadlines are common in the daily lives of many construction workers. E-health applications can help manage stress. Accordingly, an App is being designed to enable construction workers to (1) detect the onset of stress quite early, (2) track their stress status, (3) empower persons to cope with stressful and/or demanding situations in an adaptive way, (4) improve and streamline the operability of job tasks and (5) optimise efficient solutions for the construction industry. The development of this innovative app, known as Streblo, is part of a wider research that is studying stress management in the construction industry. Streblo’s blueprint will match personality traits with coping strategies in real-life situations. Its inputs are being generated from a field study that has commenced, where 23 structured interviews have been used to collect data from construction workers on their (1) personality and (2) behaviours while experiencing stress. Results of the data collection and analysis are being used to develop Streblo (an App) with IT experts. The paper reports the detail development and performance of Streblo’s prototype. Ultimately, users will be able to engage Streblo on electronic devices (mobile phones, tablets and computers) through both text and image-based communication, obtain real-time solutions and feedbacks on their stress status. Streblo will enhance and support attitude and behavioural changes in people who suffer from stress symptoms in the construction industry.
RESUMEN La inteligencia emocional (IE) se refiere a la forma en que las personas perciben, valoran y expresan emociones, y a las habilidades personales, cognitivas y/o sociales que determinan la eficacia de las personas para comprender y afrontar los problemas diarios. Hasta hace unas décadas, poco se sabía acerca de la IE ya que, se consideraba a la inteligencia cognitiva como el único predictor de "éxito" en una persona. No obstante, en los últimos años, ha habido un creciente interés de los investigadores por identificar las connotaciones que tiene la IE con la salud. En esta revisión se muestran los resultados de diferentes investigaciones sobre IE y variables relacionadas con la salud y el desempeño laboral en poblaciones poco estudiadas relacionadas con la salud (trabajadores del sector fitness, cirujanos y podólogos). Se proponen algunas claves para mejorar la IE con el objetivo de reducir el estrés, mejorar la salud mental y social y aumentar la eficacia del afrontamiento ante diferentes agentes estresores (carga laboral, enfermedad o muerte de un familiar, etc.). ABSTRACT The emotional intelligence (EI) refers to how people perceive, value and show emotions, as well as those individual, cognitive and/or social skills which define the efficacy of the people to understanding and confronting the daily problems. Up until a few decades ago, there wasn't much knowledge about EI. Nonetheless, recently, there has recently been an increasing attention by research community for identifying the relationship between EI and health. In this review, results of different investigations about EI and its relationships with health and job performance in samples such as health (fitness center workers, surgeons and podiatrist) are presented. In addition, some key aspects are proposed to improve the EI aiming at reducing stress, enhancing social and mental health and increasing the human resilience to different stressor agents (workload, disease or death of a relative, etc.).
Construction work is physically demanding, and incidences of physical injury and work disability are high. This study explores musculoskeletal bodily pain and the impact this has on construction workers’ mental health. A mixed-method approach incorporated survey and interview data. Sixty-seven construction workers completed a survey consisting of work ability and mental health measures. Eighteen workers who completed a survey participated in an interview exploring the occurrence and management of body pain, and the impact of pain on mental health. Survey findings indicated that participants whose pain had originated from work had significantly higher levels of depression, anxiety, and stress severity. Findings also revealed that depression, anxiety, and stress had a negative relationship with work ability indicators, suggesting that work ability is likely to decline when workers experience poor mental health. Key themes emerging from the interview data comprised of the expectation of pain, managing pain, impact of pain on mental health, pressure to work with pain, work ability and planning for the future, and the stigma of mental health. A conceptual model is presented which illustrates the relationship between work tasks, pain, mental health, and work ability. The model identifies that anticipated and experienced bodily pain creates harmful psychological demands for workers which impacts on their mental health.
Examined relationships among stress, coping behaviors, and performance for 93 owner-managers of small businesses damaged by hurricane floods. It was hypothesized that (a) perceived stress and performance display an inverted-U relationship, and (b) emotional coping mechanisms increase under higher stress. Ss were interviewed regarding their handling of critical incidents under stress and completed a subjective stress scale by H. H. Kerle and H. M. Bialek (1958). Type of recovery effort following the flood was recorded, organizational performance was rated on a 5-point scale, and final loss data were acquired. Perceived stress and organization performance displayed a curvilinear, nearly inverted-U relationship. Actual financial loss (or stress level) did not account for performance differences. Problem-solving coping behaviors revealed an inverted-U relationship with perceived stress, while emotional coping behaviors displayed a positive linear relationship.
This paper reports on the findings of a piece of research work aimed at investigating and analysing the impact of stress on the effectiveness of site managers as leaders. The sample of the study included semi-structured interviews with 71 site managers at the sharp end of production and their superiors. The investigation was more specifically concerned with the impact of three types of stressors, namely boss stress, job stress and environment-job stress. It was revealed, among other findings, that the impact of stress on site managers followed to a great extent the typical inverted U-shaped pattern. Moreover, the results showed that the impact of stress is contingent to a large extent upon the type of stressors.
This study evaluated the effectiveness of an on-site chair massage therapy program in reducing anxiety levels of employees. A quasi-experimental pretest/posttest control group design was used to determine changes in anxiety levels due to the massage therapy intervention. Eighteen subjects participated in the chair massage therapy program for 6 weeks. Fifteen control group subjects participated in break therapy. For 15 minutes weekly, subjects either received a massage or were allowed a break, depending on their assignment to either the treatment or control condition. Participants' stress levels were measured with the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory Self-Assessment Questionnaire. This measure was administered twice during pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest to achieve stable measures. Significant reductions in anxiety levels were found for the massage group. Future research and implications for management are discussed.
Customer satisfaction and continuous improvement are the fundamental goals of construction logistics. While much research has been focusing on exploring the relationship between the contractors and the ultimate customers, known as the owner, to improve the understanding of the significance of customer satisfaction, the need to examine the relationship between material suppliers and contractors is highly in demand. The purpose of this study is to extend the framework for construction material logistics in customer satisfaction from owner to project manager level. This paper examines how construction logistics affect a project manager's level of satisfaction. A survey established the general importance that a project manager must place on the construction logistics. Accordingly, the most significantly correlated factors in customer satisfaction were obtained from a project manager's point of view. Two hundred twenty-three experienced project managers provided valuable data to the study. Five important factors related to satisfaction were found through interviews with project managers and a literature review. These included personnel, material flow, schedule adherence, contractor's organization, and information flow. The study results suggest that material flow and information flow are worthy of the most attention. Satisfying the above factors will greatly improve the construction logistics that will, as a result, immensely increase the project manager's level of satisfaction.
A framework for understanding the different types of stress management interventions and their possible outcomes is provided. The various empirical investigations into worksite stress management interventions are then reviewed within the context of this paradigm. Questions are raised about the efficacy of these interventions in terms of individual and/or organisational outcomes, and where future programmes and research should be undertaken.
This paper investigates the joint effects of academic self-efficacy and stress on the academic performance of 107 nontraditional, largely immigrant and minority, college freshmen at a large urban commuter institution. We developed a survey instrument to measure the level of academic self-efficacy and perceived stress associated with 27 college-related tasks. Both scales have high reliability, and they are moderately negatively correlated. We estimated structural equation models to assess the relative importance of stress and self-efficacy in predicting three academic performance outcomes: first-year college GPA, the number of accumulated credits, and college retention after the first year. The results suggest that academic self-efficacy is a more robust and consistent predictor than stress of academic success.
Decisions are made everyday in construction processes based on incomplete information, assumptions and the personal experience of the construction professionals. Project changes and/or adjustments are inevitable as they are a fact-of-life at all stages of a project's life cycle. Managing changes effectively is crucial to the success of a construction project. Change management in construction requires an integrated solution to discipline and coordinate the process, for example, documentation, drawing, process, flow, information, cost, schedule and personnel. The construction industrial needs an effective construction change management process. This paper summarizes various aspects of the existing construction change management processes and provides a comprehensive literature review as well as some comments on possible future directions. Chaque jour des décisions sont prises relativement à des processus de construction, qui sont fondées sur une information incomplète, des suppositions et l'expérience personnelle des professionnels du domaine. Il demeure inévitable que surviennent des changements et/ou ajustements aux projets, car ce sont là des faits concrets intrinsèques à tous les stades de leur cycle de vie. Il est crucial pour le succès du projet que les changements qui y sont apportés fassent l'objet d'une gestion efficace. La gestion des changements dans la construction requiert une solution intégrée aux fins de la rigueur et de la coordination du processus, par exemple, en termes de documentation, de dessins, de procédé, de déroulement des opérations, d'information, de coûts, d'échéanciers et de personnel. L'industrie de la construction a besoin d'un tel processus efficace de gestion des changements dans les projets. Ce document résume divers aspects de ces processus de gestion et fournit une analyse documentaire exhaustive ainsi que certaines observations au sujet des avenues éventuelles à explorer à cet égard. RES
The main task of contractors' estimators is to predict the likely costs involved in executing a future project. This is an onerous job as any errors made can undermine project success and ultimately reduce the contractors' profit margins. The inherent uncertainty of most construction work, however, together with the often very short time periods involved, make errors unavoidable. Unsurprisingly, therefore, estimation is considered to be a very stressful business. To identify the nature of the stress involved, a survey of construction estimators in Hong Kong was conducted. Using correlation analysis, regression analysis and structural equation modelling, the relationships amongst the causes (stressors or stress factors) and effects (stress) were examined and a causal structural model developed. The results indicate work overload, role conflict, job ambiguity, and working environment to be the most critical stressors, with work underload and distrust being the main indirectly influencing factors. These results are similar to those of a previous study with site managers, suggesting that job ambiguity and work overload are the common problem in the construction industry. The study of the manageability of stress is expected to inspire other similar research involving other professionals in the construction industry. This is expected to be of particular significance in the long-term development of stress management in the industry in general.
We developed a multidimensional coping inventory to assess the different ways in which people respond to stress. Five scales (of four items each) measure conceptually distinct aspects of problem-focused coping (active coping, planning, suppression of competing activities, restraint coping, seeking of instrumental social support); five scales measure aspects of what might be viewed as emotional-focused coping (seeking of emotional social support, positive reinterpretation, acceptance, denial, turning to religion); and three scales measure coping responses that arguably are less useful (focus on and venting of emotions, behavioral disengagement, mental disengagement). Study 1 reports the development of scale items. Study 2 reports correlations between the various coping scales and several theoretically relevant personality measures in an effort to provide preliminary information about the inventory's convergent and discriminant validity. Study 3 uses the inventory to assess coping responses among a group of undergraduates who were attempting to cope with a specific stressful episode. This study also allowed an initial examination of associations between dispositional and situational coping tendencies.
Comorbidity of psychological and physical disorders is substantial. This article presents a broad theoretical framework for identifying factors that contribute to and maintain comorbid conditions. The authors propose heuristic models of how co-occurrences of psychological and physical disorders are developed and maintained. The models specify biological, behavioral, cognitive, and social pathways that may account for comorbidity. Although the authors' discussion of psychological disorders is limited to the role of affective disturbances (subclinical negative moods as well as mood and affective disorders), the pathways they identify are thought to contribute to co-occurrences of other psychological disorders and physical disease as well. The authors emphasize that pathways linking comorbid states are bi-directional and that operative pathways differ depending on the specific affective response, illness behavior, disease, or disease stage.
This study evaluated the potential positive effects of stressors on job performance by examining the shape of the relation between stressors and job performance. The 281 respondents were a demographically and organizationally heterogeneous group from the Detroit area, who were employed during the study. They were given four structured in-home interviews, approximately 6 weeks apart, over a period of 18 weeks. Interviews were also conducted with a significant other, nonminated by each respondent from work life. Stressors examined were role ambiguity, role conflict, and job insecurity. Strains, also examined as potential stressors, were job dissatisfaction, anxiety, depression, and anger. Technical and social aspects of respondents' job performance were measured separately, as were absenteeism and tardiness. All zero-order Pearson correlations were either statistically significant and in predicted directions or essentially zero. All relationships were monotonic, suggesting that, for these stressors, their optimal amounts are generally zero. Results are discussed in terms of arousal and activation, information-processing, and expectancy theory.
It was our privilege, some twenty years ago, to assemble a group of Canadian and American investigators to examine the status of research in the then newly burgeoning field of psychological stress (Appley & Trumbull, 1967). As noted, in Chapter 1 of the present volume, there has been rapid development of the area since then. The conference on which the current volume is based was designed to do three things: 1. to further update the field, 2. to bring European and other perspectives to the subject, and 3. to focus on the status of theory of stress. We believe the reader will agree that all three objectives were accom plished, though in so vast and active a field, one can never be totally satisfied. The authors included in this volume are among the leading inves tigators in the field. They represent active research centers and programs in Austria, East and West Germany, Great Britain, Israel, Sweden, and the United States. Their chapters make contributions to stress theory and methodology, inform us meaningfully of the perspectives of the various research programs they represent, and provide, collectively, a description of the dynamics of the stress process as currently emerging.
The construction-driven project management approach recognizes that the achievement of shorter schedules and lower costs during the construction phase is dependent on supportive drawing and material deliveries to the job site. To accomplish this, the needs of construction must be identified very early in the project, given priority, and used to plan engineering/procurement production schedules. In addition, construction input is used to ensure constructability of the engineering design.
It has been hypothesized that an inverted U-shaped relationship holds between perceived stress and effectiveness of performance. Difference in coping responses among 90 entrepreneurs was investigated as a possible moderator In this relationship. It was demonstrated that stimulus levels had no apparent relationship to performance while Class I coping mechanisms closely corresponded to effectiveness of performance. Class II mechanisms increased markedly at levels of high perceived stress while total coping mechanisms increased in a linear manner with perceived stress. It was suggested that changes in the pattern of coping responses as one moves from moderate to high stress levels account for the inverted-U relationship.
A solution is suggested for an old unresolved social psychological problem.
The study of Type A behavior (Friedman & Rosenman, 1974) is developing a research tradition in related streams of literature in organizational behavior. The predictive characteristics and diversity of these studies are encouraging since they signal improved understanding of the organizational, personal, and economic effects of coping with work-generated tension and stress. The research presented here is consistent with these scholarly developments. The research attempts to illuminate the relationships between: (1) Type A behavior (Friedman & Rosenman, 1974), (2) role conflict and ambiguity (Rizzo House, & Lirtzman, 1970), (3) Locus of control (Rotter, 1966), (4) symptoms of adaptation to stress, and (S) tension discharge rate (Rose, Jenkins, & Hurst, 1978). The relationships between these constructs are studied in three samples: (1) registered nurses, (2) executive MBA students, and (3) female middle level managers in the telecommunications industry. Excellent comparative results were obtained across the occupational groups. Type A behavior and symptoms of adaptation to stress were strong predictors of tension discharge rate. Role variables played a less significant predictive role. These results are discussed relative to current research on adaptation to job stress.
This study examined the coping behavior of a sample of young professional engineers in response to stress “incidents” experienced at work. Subjects were specifically asked to limit their recall to an incident occurring within the preceding 14 days. A primary analysis was made of the coping behavior exhibited, from which five classes of coping behavior were derived. Coping behavior was then examined in relation to the subjective appraisal of the stress encountered, and to characteristics of both the individual experiencing the stress and of the work environment in which it occurred. Analysis indicated that all three predictor groups (stress appraisal, individual, and envrionmental characteristics) were important in relation to the coping behaivor reported. Evidence also emerged suggesting that certain types of coping response are behavior correlates of particular individual characteristics, whereas others were more likely to be related to differences in the environmental context and to the way in which the stress incident is appraised. The results question the relevance of attempts to derive “effective” coping techniques which can be applied universally regardless of differences between individuals or environments. In addition, they do not support a theoretical emphasis upon the subjective appraisal of stress as primary in modeling coping behavior, since individual and environmental characteristics appear to be equally important and may directly effect the range and choice of coping options available.
In this paper a definition and a conceptualization of stress in organizations are offered. Stress is defined as a perceived dynamic state about something important. The model developed in this paper incorporates organizational and individual stressors, individual appraisal of the stressors and individual responses to the stress including short term, intermediate and long term responses, both voluntary and involuntary. Critical to the model is the definition of stress based on individual need for the resolution of dynamic states of uncertainty. Previous research from the medical and health sciences are used along with that from organizational sciences to develop the integrative transactional process model. Finally several hypotheses based on the model are suggested.
This study investigates the sources or organizational stress among information systems (IS) managers, the resulting symptoms of strain, and whether social support can reduce symptoms of strain. A field study comprised of a survey questionnaire was chosen as the most appropriate design for this investigation. The respondents were IS managers, ranging in organizational hierarchy from vice president or director to project manager, in both governmental and private sector organizations of varying sizes. The study reveals that job stresses among IS managers are positively related to psychological and physiological strains. While all of the stressors included in this investigation are significantly related to strain symptoms, certain stressors emerge as having the greatest impact. Likewise, certain strains that result from these stressors are more prevalent than others. Concerning social support, the study reveals that the level of social support among IS managers is lower than among other managers. When social support exists, strain among these managers is significantly lower. The implications of the study's findings are considerable both for the health prognosis of IS managers and their job performance.
The author presents a discussion of the steady states (homeostases) of the body, with the explanation, so far as such is possible, of the mechanisms controlling such conditions. The account is closed with analogies between the regulation of the body and the regulation of social processes. Brief bibliography. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Provides a comprehensive, research-based examination of the relationship between occupational stress and job performance. The author presents an overview of the field, an explanation of terms and concepts, and a summary of relevant theoretical models of the stress process. Jex examines the relationship between major job-related stressors (such as workload, interpersonal conflict, and lack of control) and a variety of performance indexes. In addition, he explores a number of other factors that may affect the relationship between occupational stress and job performance, including gender differences, age, personality, and job experience. This book is intended for students, scholars, and readers who do not have an extensive background in the behavioral sciences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Knowledge about stress and its management has grown dramatically since the first edition of "Stress and Coping" appeared over a decade ago. The eagerly awaited third edition of Alan Monat and Richard Lazarus' classic features some of the most important current thought by leaders in the study of stress. The engrossing articles collected here—over three-quarters of them new for this edition—form a sound guide to understanding stress and coping. New articles investigate such topics as health psychology, natural disasters, gender difference and stress, the lives of people with AIDS, new approaches to stress management, and stress management programs in the workplace. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The literature presents role conflict, role ambiguity and role overload as psychological stressors which arise when a person plays conflicting roles, receives conflicting signals of what the environment expects of him, or both. Complexity increases when a role or a plurality of roles involves more activities and when a person functions in more than a single system (environment) and hence is faced with a variety of role senders. Research into this kind of stress has not covered active labor union members, even though their position would seem to make them likely stress candidates. In this article we demonstrate that active union members do indeed face role problems. We also report findings that are generally supportive of the expected positive association between active union members' experience of the central component of burnout (viz. emotional exhaustion) and each of the examined role problems individually and in combination (i.e. an index of overall role stress). Further, the results of a multiple regression analysis showed that emotional exhaustion was most strongly associated with intra-sender conflict and qualitative role overload.
Subjective work load, time urgency, and other stress/motivation variables were measured for management personnel taking a demanding problem-solving exam at the end of a two-week training course. Comparing measures of precourse ability and final exam performance, the primary findings were that the corrected performance scores had strong negative linear (not inverted-U) relations with both subjective work load and time urgency. General state anxiety and task involvement did not substantially relate to performance. The results are discussed in terms of the nature of this particular task and the predictions of various stress/performance theories. In problem solving or other tasks requiring novel responses, these data suggest that increases in psychological stresses like subjectively high work load and time urgency uniformly impair performance across the whole range of these variables.
The present, cross-sectional study explored whether self-reported symptoms are related to physiological stress indicators in a group of 43-year-old women representing the general population in Sweden. Analyses were performed both on raw scores of physiological indicators and on a multisystem summary index of allostatic load as a measure of cumulative biological burden. Participants answered a health questionnaire and underwent a medical examination including blood pressure, heart rate measurements, determination of blood lipids and stress hormones. Urinary epinephrine and norepinephrine were measured both on a working day and a work free day at home. In addition, salivary morning cortisol was measured on a non-work day. The physiological profiles based on raw scores from 222 women showed that women with a high symptom load had significantly higher levels of cortisol (p < 0.05), and higher heart rate (p < 0.05) than did those with a low symptom load. In contrast, women with a low symptom load had significantly higher levels of epinephrine on a work free day than did women with a high symptom load (p < 0.05). No significant differences were found in norepinephrine responses. When analysing the summary measure of allostatic load in relation to symptom prevalence no significant difference between the symptom groups emerged. One possible explanation for this result could be that a majority of the study population was healthy, reporting a low level of symptoms in general. However, the results support the notion that common, medically unexplained symptoms among women are associated with certain biological parameters known to play a role in the development of ill health. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Cost estimation not only requires precise technical and analytical input from estimators but also involves the use of subjective judgement. An investigation on the impact of stress on estimation performance was conducted involving 177 professional estimators in Hong Kong. Using correlation analysis, regression analysis and structural equation modelling, the relationships between stress and various aspects of estimation performance are examined and a causal structural model is developed. The results indicate that stress is a cause of negative estimation performance (resulting in weak interpersonal relationships, unfamiliarity with organization and ineffective process), while, simultaneously, it is beneficial to the professional estimation performance. Furthermore, there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between stress and the organizational relationship.
This study examined how job stress and work support predict the experience of burnout and how burnout is related to absenteeism and job performance in a sample of 73 registered nurses. The current study expanded on previous findings by including supervisor ratings of performance and employee records of absenteeism in addition to self-report measures. It also examined the extent to which burnout may mediate the relationships of job stress and social support with these performance indicators. Analyses indicated that levels of work support and job stress were both significant predictors of burnout. Additionally, higher burnout levels were significantly associated with poorer self-rated and supervisor-rated job performance, more sick leave, and more reported absences for mental health reasons. Finally, further analyses suggest that level of burnout served as a mediator of the relationships between social support and self-rated job performance, absences for mental health reasons, and intentions to quit. The findings suggest that burnout not only may negatively impact healthcare providers, but also may influence objective absenteeism and supervisor perceptions of employee performance.
Intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) injection of oxytocin was followed by an enhancement of novelty-induced grooming in male and female rats. This effect was dose-dependent, in a dose range of 0.1 – 10 μg. Grooming activity of rats injected i.c.v. with 10 μg of oxytocin was 9-fold higher than that of saline-injected controls. The analysis of behavioral element composition revealed an increased occurrence of genital grooming in oxytocin-injected rats. A time-course study revealed a sustained increase in grooming activity of oxytocin-treated rats during 45 min of behavioral testing. Intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection of the dopamine antagonist, haloperidol, totally suppressed oxytocin-enhanced grooming. Furthermore, i.p. injection of the opiate receptor antagonist, naloxone, was followed by an attenuation but not a suppression of grooming enhanced by i.c.v. administration of oxytocin. In addition, a small but significant increase in grooming activity was observed after subcutaneous injection of oxytocin. These results suggest that oxytocin-enhanced grooming behavior involves central mechanisms, e.g. dopamine and opioid transmission in the brain.
Texto comprensivo sobre el estrés, cuyo autor busca dar cuenta de los aspectos físicos, psicológicos, sociológicos y espirituales de este mal cotidiano. Tras la exposición de las bases científicas del estrés, son presentadas propuestas de intervención como las técnicas de relajación, la estimulación psicológica y la modificación de conducta, para concluir con una revisión de apliaciones más puntuales concernientes a la tensión en el trabajo, la familia, la educación superior y durante la vejez.
Incluye índice Incluye bibliografía Contenido : Introducción a la conducta organizacional; conducta individual; comportamiento grupal e intergrupal; organizaciones; procesos organizacionales.
The accuracy of an estimate may directly affect the success or failure of a project. Therefore, it is common for estimators in the construction industry to experience a great deal of stress. An appropriate coping behaviour can help estimators to adjust to stress, thereby optimizing their estimation performance. This study aims at identifying estimators' stress-coping behaviours and the impact of these behaviours on estimation performance. In order to understand the stress management of estimators in the industry, the paper investigates the impacts of stress-coping behaviours for two experienced estimator groups with different working experience in Hong Kong. Using correlation analysis and regression analysis, the relationships among stress, coping behaviours and estimation performance were examined. The results revealed that senior estimators normally apply problem-focused coping behaviours to alleviate the stress encountered in their jobs and to improve their estimation performance. A moderate level of stress supports project estimation for project estimators and the cooperative relationship between colleagues for senior estimators. It is suggested that time and stress management training be provided to senior estimators in order to relieve their stress effectively and ensure work efficiency, while a good team spirit should also be fostered in a company to encourage constructive relationships and thus improve estimation performance.
Construction project managers work under conditions of uncertainty and high risk, and this can contribute to an excessive level of work-related stress being experienced. To date, there has been limited research that has examined how project managers cope with work-related stress. This paper investigates whether coping and affect (both negative and positive) influence adjustment (anxiety, depression and stress) among project managers. A sample of 100 male project managers from Australian contracting organizations completed a questionnaire that measured coping strategies, affect state and potential stressors. Hierarchical regression analyses demonstrated that specific work-related characteristics such as work experience, project size, age and level of education influenced the psychological adjustment of the project managers sampled. Further, those who engaged in a more problem-focused style of coping, such as active coping were found to be better adjusted than those who engaged in more emotion-focused styles of coping such as cognitive avoidance coping, social coping, accepting responsibility and self-controlling coping. In addition, it was revealed that increased adjustment of project managers was associated with positive affect. It is concluded that the psychological adjustment of project managers is influenced by specific work-related characteristics, the types of coping strategies they use and their affect state.
Examined relationships among stress, coping behaviors, and performance for 93 owner-managers of small businesses damaged by hurricane floods. It was hypothesized that (a) perceived stress and performance display an inverted-U relationship, and (b) emotional coping mechanisms increase under higher stress. Ss were interviewed regarding their handling of critical incidents under stress and completed a subjective stress scale by H. H. Kerle and H. M. Bialek (1958). Type of recovery effort following the flood was recorded, organizational performance was rated on a 5-point scale, and final loss data were acquired. Perceived stress and organization performance displayed a curvilinear, nearly inverted-U relationship. Actual financial loss (or stress level) did not account for performance differences. Problem-solving coping behaviors revealed an inverted-U relationship with perceived stress, while emotional coping behaviors displayed a positive linear relationship. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This study evaluated the effectiveness of a 15-min. on-site massage while seated in a chair on reducing stress as indicated by blood pressure. 52 employed participants' blood pressures were measured before and after a 15-min. massage at work. Analysis showed a significant reduction in participants' systolic and diastolic blood pressure after receiving the massage although there was no control group.
The relationship between four job stresses (role ambiguity, role overload, underutilization of skills, and resource inadequacy) and two employee withdrawal behaviors (absenteeism and turnover) was investigated. The joint prediction of employee withdrawal from measures of job stress and selected backgroundd variables was also investigated. Data were obtained regarding 651 employees in five organizations through personal interviews and company records. Analysis indicated that job stress is related to employee withdrawal behaviors, that prediction of subsequent behaviors is stronger than prediction of prior behaviors, and that the predictive power of job stress and background variables taken together is as strong as, or stronger than, the predictive power of background variables alone. Confidence in the strength of the findings is enhanced by the use of multiple data sources and multiple data points.