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The HRD Eustress Model: Generating Positive Stress With Challenging Work
Abstract
Building on existing conceptualizations of stress, we present a model that provides an alternate explanation of the efficacy of human resource development (HRD) interventions. Unlike most stress research that emphasizes the negative side of stress, we view eustress—good stress—as a positive individual and organizational outcome. The HRD eustress model extends theory from the positive psychology and positive organizational behavior literature and positions a role for HRD in creating positive stress as a means to improve performance. We describe how HRD professionals can help challenge employees as a means of attaining individual goals and personal development.
... From the opinion of Hargrove et.al (2015) and Brulé & Morgan (2018), it can be concluded that the notion of eustress is positive stress that is controlled to achieve the financial targets and expectations of the work he does. Hargrove (2015) found a eustress model in the human resources development frame that shows a clear relationship between eustress and performance. There are three models of HRD eustress, including: 1. Transactional Model Of Stress (TM). ...
... Empirical studies on the effect of Eustress on Productive Performance are based on the theory of the effect of eustress on Performance and the effect of eustress on Productivity. The following empirical studies show that eustress improves performance (Hargrove et al., 2015;Natsir et al., 2021;Prasetyo, 2020;Srimulyani et al., 2020). Eustress is also able to increase productivity, this is proven by research (Brulé & Morgan, 2018;Kumar et al., 2015). ...
... Questionnaire questions are prepared by considering the indicators used for each variable. Figure 2 shows that the Eustress variable is constructed by three indicators referring to the theory proposed by Hargrove (2015), including the Transactional Model Of Stress; Preventive Stress Model Challenge Hindrance Framework. The Job Burnout variable indicator uses three components of job burnout as proposed by Ramdan & Fadly (2016), namely Emotional Fatigue; Depersonalization; Personal Accomplishment. ...
Herbal products require employees to maintain cleanliness and product quality, while on the other hand, the demand for herbal products has implications for increasing workloads and becoming stressors for employees. Efforts to optimize employee productivity and performance can be carried out by the company by revitalizing employee performance so that they remain productive. The novelty in this study is a combination of work productivity and performance dimensions that produce five indicators, namely work quality, work quantity, task performance, contextual; performance, and adaptive to timeliness. This study aims to identify the factors that affect the productive performance of employees. This study uses a quantitative approach with a questionnaire as primary data, which is analyzed using multiple linear regression analysis with testing using SPSS version 16 for Windows. The research population is the herbal family business employee in Madura. With the cluster sampling technique, 100 employees were obtained from 4 research locations in Bangkalan and Pamekasan. The results showed that eustress can increase the productive performance of employees. Meanwhile, high job burnout reduces the productive performance of employees. Keywords—Eustress; Job Burnout; Productive Performance
... One of the most important forms of informal workplace learning for young employees is learning through challenging tasks (Eraut, 2004;Hargrove et al., 2015;Noe et al., 2014). Challenging work is believed to improve motivation and confidence (Eraut, 2004). ...
... Challenging work is believed to improve motivation and confidence (Eraut, 2004). Scholars proclaim that encouraging positive stress experiences while preventing distress, can foster employee growth (Hargrove et al., 2015). ...
... Theoretically, these assertions about the positive role of challenging work are supported by the challenge-hindrance model (CHM) (Cavanaugh et al., 2000;Hargrove et al., 2015). The CHM describes that some stressors are related to both positive outcomes and strain. ...
Purpose
In recent years, scholars have questioned the linear relationship between challenge stressors and positive outcomes. Nevertheless, few studies have examined whether challenge stressors and workplace learning outcomes have an inverse U-shaped relationship. Therefore, this study aims to determine whether challenge stressors have an inverse U-shaped relationship with workplace learning outcomes among young Japanese employees.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from 1,257 individuals in two time periods through an internet survey and analyzed using regression analysis.
Findings
The findings suggest that challenge stressors have an inverse U-shaped relationship with workplace learning outcomes.
Practical implications
The relationship between challenge stressors and workplace learning outcomes is positive until a certain point and becomes negative after a certain point. Hence, when promoting learning outcomes among young employees, supervisors should be careful to avoid subjecting employees to very little or excessive amount of challenge stressors.
Originality/value
This study provides evidence supporting the assumption that the relationship between challenge stressors and positive outcomes has an inverted U-shape.
... Firstly, there is a long history of structuralist research in MOS, occupational medicine, psychology and sociology investigating how employee mental health is affected by occupational, organizational and socio-economic factors such as work load, job autonomy and job insecurity (e.g., Bakker & Demerouti, 2017;Karasek, 1979;Landsbergis, 1988). Secondly, there is a functionalist literature in MOS, psychology and medicine, which offers recommendations for managing and improving work-related mental health much based on the assumption that good employee mental health is central to organizational performance (e.g., Hart & Cooper, 2001;Hargrove et al., 2015). Thirdly, there is a critical literature in MOS, which primarily has examined the paradoxical ways in which stress and other workrelated mental health problems are managed in relation to prevailing norms of a neoliberal discourse privileging individual responsibility, choice and self-management (e.g., Karjalainen et al., 2021;Newton, 1995;Pedersen, 2008;Maravelias, 2015). ...
... However, an additional feature of this literature is its concern with 'eustress', or good stress, yet another topic pioneered by Selye, who coined and defined the term as distinct from distress (1975a, p. 37; 1975b, p. 9). While Selye argued that 'stress is not something that necessarily should be avoided' because 'complete freedom from stress is death!' (1976, p. 137), more recent contributions tend to define eustress as the positive aspects and effects of stress which 'can leave employees invigorated, motivated and productive' (e.g., Nelson & Simmons 2003, p. 55-56) and enhance individual performance without impairing wellbeing (Nelson et al., 2008;Simmons et al., 2001; see also Arnetz, 2005;Hargrove et al., 2015;Quick et al., 1997Quinones et al., 2017). ...
... Some of these contributions further assume that there is a best way to design eustress initiatives and that one should do so for the 'greatest organizational benefit' (Quick et al., 2007, p. 190). One such model suggests that HR professionals should work to maximise employee eustress through a variety of interventions; by helping generate positive challenge stressors through increasing work pace, work load, job complexity and other occupational factors, and by helping select best practice wellness programmes, work arrangements and performance management practices such as coaching and flexible scheduling, performance appraisal schemes, employee compensation schemes and career management tools (Hargrove et al., 2015). Furthermore, it has been argued that leaders can create organizational cultures which 'give individuals the opportunity to experience . . . ...
The worldwide spread of work‐related mental unhealth suggests that this is a major problem affecting organizations and employees on a global scale. In this paper, we therefore provide a thematic review of the literatures that address this issue in management and organization studies (MOS) and related fields. While these literatures examine how employee mental health is affected by organizational and occupational structures and managed by organizations and employees, they have paid relatively little attention to the capitalist labour relations which underpin the unhealthy conditions of contemporary working life. They have paid even less attention to how these conditions may be resisted. To help future scholarship in MOS challenge this state of affairs, we draw on some of the most basic but central notions of exploitation, alienation and resistance in classic and current critiques of capitalism, optimistic that this may help strengthen the field's capacity to confront mental unhealth in settings of work and organization.
... Eustress, is a euphoric stress construct that captures this idea. Unlike distress that connotes a negative response to work stressors that result in detrimental psychological outcomes, unhealthy affective functioning, eustress explains that particular stressors can be perceived and responded to positively (Hargrove et al., 2015). According to Nelson and Simmons (2011) and Um-e-Rubbab et al., (2021), this could be an offshoot of the supplied benefits and significance attached to a vocation and the kind of work performed. ...
... It depicts the extent to which an organization can redeploy and adapt its HRPs to different demanding work situations (Bhattacharya et al., 2005;Ma et al., 2021). The literature suggests that HRPf can help employees maintain a healthy stress level (Van De Voorde et al., 2012) by altering threatening work stressors into a potential resource with associated favorable outcomes (Hargrove et al., 2015). Drawing on existing conceptualizations of the behavioral perception process suggesting that HRM can positively affect performance through employee wellbeing (Van De Voorde et al., 2012), HRPf may well interact with emotional labor to increase employees' healthy stress level in demanding work conditions. ...
... The latter indicates that employees' psychological condition, particularly stress, could link the effect of emotion regulation to employees' work behavior (Geng et al., 2014). Though stress is a critical psychological link, earlier studies have frequently focused on the negative response to stress which in turn leads to negative psychological wellbeing and undesirable work-related behavior (Hargrove et al., 2015;Xu et al., 2020). Rather than exploring a negative stress response, this study explores the relationship between emotion regulation strategies and initiative-taking through the connecting effect of eustress-a positive psychological stress response (Le Fevre et al., 2003;Um-e-Rubbab et al., 2021). ...
The paper uses the HRM-psychological wellbeing-performance mechanism to place journalists, a previously overlooked group in the literature as first responders, as the focal point of the HRM-wellbeing-performance discussion. Based on the Job demand-resource theory, job resources can buffer against challenging job demands, such as emotional labor that is peculiar to first responders’ jobs. Our model examines the interacting effect of supervisor behavioral ambidexterity (SBA) and flexibility of human resource practices (HRPf) on the relationship between emotional regulation strategies and personal initiative-taking behavior from eustress— a good type of stress that carries a positive connotation for the employee experiencing it. A multisource two-wave survey amongst employees and supervisors from different organizations was used to explore the variables’ empirical association. Results do not provide support for the moderating effect of HRPf (alone), even at high levels. However, the model showing the moderating effect of HRPf on the relationship between emotional regulation strategies and personal initiative-taking through eustress significantly improves at high levels of SBA, highlighting the linchpin role of SBA in the HRM-psychological wellbeing-performance relationship.
... It is a hope that researchers could build upon these discoveries and methods in an attempt to add clarity to this elusive construct. This construct has similar underpinnings and discoveries to many other discoveries found in similar fields of research, such as: positive psychology, resiliency, challenge, cognition, appraisal, and coping mechanisms (Hargrove, Becker, & Hargrove, 2015;Hargrove et al., 2013;Juster, McEwen, & Lupien, 2010). ...
... The concept of flow in positive psychology had been increasing in popularity, as it connected a psychological experience with engagement or productivity in the workplace. Similarly, the difficult task in a flow state mentioned by Csikszentmihalyi (1990) may be similar to challenge, which could be connected to stress and eustress as evidenced by Hargrove et al. (2015). Thus, the concept of flow may be connected in some way to eustress. ...
... Organizational contexts of stress research have been adopting various attributes from the above-mentioned breakthroughs. Organizations now have a possible understanding of how overly stressed employees could lead to burnout and possible absenteeism, and newer ideals such as a specific type of stress (eustress) (Hargrove et al., 2015), or level of stress (flow/savoring) can possibly enhance employee performance and wellbeing (Nelson & Simmons, 2004;Simmons & Nelson, 2001). Historical stress research would generally pertain to a negative form of stress, but current stress research was starting to discover that a positive potential may lay within understanding stress better. ...
... Consider some examples. When researchers focus on challenging situations, some establish specific events as eustress-inducing (Cavanaugh et al., 2000), whereas others operationalize eustress as emerging from inter-personal interactions (Hargrove et al., 2015;Simmons & Nelson, 2007). When researchers focus on qualities of individuals, eustress is again characterized in different manners, such as a desirable cognitive state (Edwards & Cooper, 1988), a regulatory process (Crum et al., 2020), or as a positive emotion (Rudland et al., 2020). ...
... Positive psychology and health psychology aim to improve individual mental health and wellbeing by providing individuals with skills that produce positive mental states (e.g., optimism; Aspinwall & Tedeschi, 2010). Occupational psychologists promote eustress to increase productivity, for instance, by inducing states of flow (Hargrove et al., 2015;Le Fevre et al., 2003). Educational psychologists promote eustress to increase learning, time management, and personal growth (Rudland et al., 2020). ...
Eustress as a positive response to challenging situations has received increasing attention across diverse literatures, reflecting its potential to improve wellbeing, work performance, and personal growth. In the process, eustress has been defined, measured, and manipulated in myriad ways, leading to fragmentation and vagueness. Because a unified and well-specified construct would significantly support eustress research, we developed one here. Rather than basing it on our subjective views, we developed it empirically, extracting 57 unique features of eustress from 80 theoretical, interventional, empirical, and psychometric articles. Organizing and interpreting these 57 features produced a Comprehensive Hierarchical construct of Eustress (CHE). According to CHE, eustress emerges from three sources: (1) successful goal-directed action, (2) experiencing the moment in an enjoyable, fulfilling, or meaningful manner, and (3) positive stable qualities of the individual. Within each source, CHE establishes specific facets of eustress hierarchically, which in turn organize the 57 eustress features extracted initially. Bibliometric analyses identified CHE’s hierarchical elements addressed most often in the eustress literatures. Overall, these results suggest that eustress cannot be specified with a simple definition but should instead be viewed as a family resemblance structure having statistical properties. Rather than taking a single form, eustress manifests itself as diverse states during successful goal-directed action and fulfilling momentary experience. Regularly producing eustress in these manners likely establishes CHE’s trait-like qualities for generating eustress effectively on future occasions. Interestingly, these qualities overlap highly with well-established elements of wellbeing, suggesting that wellbeing contributes to eustress in challenging situations.
Supplementary Information
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-024-06750-7.
... In 1956, Selye created the term "stress" to embody the way humans respond both physically and mentally to challenges. In the organizational setting, stress has been defined as an "overarching rubric for the domain concerned with how individuals adjust to their environments" (Quick et al., 1997, p. 2), and is important due to its impact on job satisfaction, productivity, turnover, workplace injuries, and absenteeism (Hargrove et al., 2015). Selye considered stress to be a natural response to life's challenges (Le Fevre et al., 2003), and this concept evolved later to include two types of stress: distress 3 International Journal of Instruction, October 2024 • Vol.17, No.4 and eustress (Selye, 1974), embodied in the transactional model of stress and coping (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984. ...
... Distress has been associated with negative stress outcomes and defined as "the degree of physiological, psychological, and behavioral deviation from an individual's healthy functioning" (Quick et al., 1997, p. 5) and it occurs when the body is unable to meet the demands (Le Fevre et al., 2003) or when the individual is unable to cope with the stressful challenge (Hargrove et al., 2015). ...
Digital education transformation introduced a new source of stress for higher education teachers (HETs). Research has studied the effects of technostress, or technology-induced stress, focusing on its harmful consequences (techno-distress). Recent literature further suggests that technostress can also benefit individuals and organizations (techno-eustress), contributing to wellbeing, effectiveness, and performance. However, techno-eustress measurements are scarce. This study aimed to adapt and validate the Techno-eustress Scale for HETs. The scale was translated, adapted, and tested in a nationwide sample of 1,107 Portuguese HETs. Both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used. Results led to a brief 5-item Portuguese version of the techno-eustress scale, exhibiting a one-dimensional structure and robust psychometric qualities, evidencing reliability, construct validity, and strict measurement invariance. The study provided a parsimonious techno-eustress assessment that assists future research and practice. Our work extended technostress research and crosses scientific domains such as education, psychology, information systems, and management. This brief measurement underpins positive organizational studies as it opposes the eternalization of techno(di)stress measurements, in a technology-based era when wellbeing, notably for HETs, is a precious asset.
... Concomitant to eustress literature, such psychological state, mindful focus, and positive perception about one's work determines how demanding aspects and emotional labour required to perform the job are evaluated and responded to (Hargrove et al., 2015). Whether a demanding situation represents distress or eustress is not only determined by how one chooses to interpret and respond to it, but also by the perceived intensity of the said demand (Martenson, 1975). ...
... Unlike surface-acting which has a more deleterious effect on psychological wellbeing and produces negative outcomes at work (Ugwu et al., 2021). Given that eustress can be activated when job stressors are considered as a challenge rather than a hindrance (Hargrove et al., 2015), eustress could be regarded as a response resource among service employees in managing job stressor that stems from emotional labour. It could help these employees sustain their work-related esteem, maintain a positive psychological state and minimise any distress caused by emotional labour that may subsequently affect initiative-taking behaviours. ...
... A demand is positively appraised if it tends to support/enhance the appraiser's well-being and accomplishment of job tasks. A positive demand appraisal is also known as a challenge appraisal, with the outcome being deemed as a positive stressor or challenge stressor (Hargrove et al., 2013(Hargrove et al., , 2015Califf et al., 2020;LePine et al., 2016). On the other hand, if a demand hinders the accomplishments of a job task and personal well-being, its appraisal is referred to as a negative appraisal or hindrance appraisal, and such demands are regarded as negative stressors or hindrance stressors (Hargrove et al., 2013(Hargrove et al., , 2015Califf et al., 2020). ...
... A positive demand appraisal is also known as a challenge appraisal, with the outcome being deemed as a positive stressor or challenge stressor (Hargrove et al., 2013(Hargrove et al., , 2015Califf et al., 2020;LePine et al., 2016). On the other hand, if a demand hinders the accomplishments of a job task and personal well-being, its appraisal is referred to as a negative appraisal or hindrance appraisal, and such demands are regarded as negative stressors or hindrance stressors (Hargrove et al., 2013(Hargrove et al., , 2015Califf et al., 2020). For example, consider the demand of evaluating new surveillance technology for deployment in an organization. ...
Purpose
The impact of stress on personal and work-related outcomes has been studied in the information systems (IS) literature across several professions. However, the cybersecurity profession has received little attention despite numerous reports suggesting stress is a leading cause of various adverse professional outcomes. Cybersecurity professionals work in a constantly changing adversarial threat landscape, are focused on enforcement rather than compliance, and are required to adhere to ever-changing industry mandates – a work environment that is stressful and has been likened to a war zone. Hence, this literature review aims to reveal gaps and trends in the current extant general workplace and IS-specific stress literature and illuminate potentially fruitful paths for future research focused on stress among cybersecurity professionals.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the systematic literature review process (Okoli and Schabram, 2010), the authors examined the current IS research that studies stress in organizations. A disciplinary corpus was generated from IS journals and conferences encompassing 30 years. The authors analyzed 293 articles from 21 journals and six conferences to retain 77 articles and four conference proceedings for literature review.
Findings
The findings reveal four key research opportunities. First, the demands experienced by cybersecurity professionals are distinct from the demands experienced by regular information technology (IT) professionals. Second, it is crucial to identify the appraisal process that cybersecurity professionals follow in assessing security demands. Third, there are many stress responses from cybersecurity professionals, not just negative responses. Fourth, future research should focus on stress-related outcomes such as employee productivity, job satisfaction, job turnover, etc., and not only security compliance among cybersecurity professionals.
Originality/value
This study is the first to provide a systematic synthesis of the IS stress literature to reveal gaps, trends and opportunities for future research focused on stress among cybersecurity professionals. The study presents several novel trends and research opportunities. It contends that the demands experienced by cybersecurity professionals are distinct from those experienced by regular IT professionals and scholars should seek to identify the key characteristics of these demands that influence their appraisal process. Also, there are many stress responses, not just negative responses, deserving increased attention and future research should focus on unexplored stress-related outcomes for cybersecurity professionals.
... Consistent with research on stress in work settings, we identified four major challenge stressors: workload, job scope, responsibility, and pace of work [8,13,36,37]. Podsakoff et al. [45] found evidence that these challenge stressors are positively associated with job satisfaction and organizational commitment which are also manifestations of perceived eustress [8,13,28]. Consequently, we posit the positive impact of the work-related challenge stressors on perceived eustress in form of job commitment, motivation, and satisfaction. ...
... Also, pace of work is only perceived challenging up to a certain degree. If employees find themselves overloaded with work, which needs to be done in a specific time, they might perceive pace of work not as challenging but rather as threatening [28]. Nevertheless, U and EOU have a significant positive impact on the perception of the challenge stressor pace of work. ...
... Though job stress has been identified as a major challenge to the development of human resources, Hargrove, Becker and Hargrove (2015) believe that when there is optimal amount of job stress, the development of human resources can be improved. The authors suggest that job stress enhances creativity and innovation by compelling people to think and put in maximum effort when learning. ...
... All of which have the potential to negatively impact staff performance and productivity. Sapra and Naati, (2013) and Hargrove, Becker and Hargrove (2015) however, present an argument which seeks to highlight some benefits of job stress on the development of human resources. These researchers expound that the challenges presented by stressful working conditions should be regarded as positive since it can lead to improved learning, increased initiative, creativity and innovation and increased performance which also contribute to better development. ...
Human resource development has been one of the core areas of human resource management and organizational studies due to its contribution to organizational sustainability and personal development. Most researchers generally subscribe to the view that anything that affects employees negatively, ultimately constrains productivity and organizational competitiveness. This study focused on examining the effect of job stress on staff development; specifically in the area of employee health, cognitive capacities, well-being and capabilities. The study employed a descriptive research design as well as a linear regression method in its examination of how job stress impact on the development of human resources. A sample of 223 was drawn from the target population, using the convenient sampling method. Data collection was done through a survey questionnaire. Empirical results suggest that job stress has negative effect on all the explanatory variables; with employees’ health registering the highest impact. The results suggest that, if human resource development is perceived as one of the core elements responsible for organizational productivity, then it is cogent that firms and organizations pursue policies geared towards minimizing job stress among employees.
... Similarly, individuals with higher organizational tenure are likely to have established stronger connections with relevant colleagues and project leaders throughout the organization (Ng and Feldman, 2011). These social capital resources may offer critical support in difficult MTM situations (Hargrove et al., 2015;Lin, 1999), for example when multiple teams overload employees with requests (Zika-Viktorsson et al., 2006) or impose incompatible or unattainable demands (Pluut et al., 2014). In fact, higher MTM may offer unique growth opportunities for employees with higher tenure because it may help these employees to expand their knowledge and build new relationships, rather than tediously working on the same task and/or in the same interpersonal setting throughout their prolonged time with the organization. ...
... We acknowledge, however, that this advice may not be practically feasible in all circumstances (e.g., because an organization's procedures and task arrangements may require employees to join multiple teams and projects even in an early stage of their employment). In such instances, organizations could implement HR interventions that ameliorate relatively new employees' role ambiguity and improve their positive work challenge perceptions (for an overview, see Hargrove et al., 2015). Coaching and counselling sessions, for example, enable managers to offer constructive suggestions and help employees to find solutions to complex issues (Whitaker et al., 2007), and this could aid new employees in understanding their complex work demands in high-MTM settings. ...
Many employees in today’s organizations are involved in more than one team at the same time. Building on the challenge‐hindrance stressor framework, this study investigates potential benefits and disadvantages of such multiple team membership (MTM) for individual employees. Furthermore, we extend this framework with insights from the job demands‐resources model to propose that, depending on an employee’s organizational tenure, individual MTM will differentially shape his or her perceptions of work challenge and role ambiguity, subsequently influencing the employee’s job performance and absenteeism. We tested our conceptual model using time‐lagged multi‐source data from a large organization of applied research (N = 1211). Our results demonstrate that, for employees with relatively low organizational tenure, MTM was negatively associated with perceived work challenge and positively associated with perceived role ambiguity, which in turn associated with lower job performance and higher absenteeism. For employees with higher organizational tenure, by contrast, MTM associated positively with their work challenge perceptions and subsequent performance outcomes, whereas MTM was unrelated to perceived role ambiguity as well as absenteeism. These findings identify relevant psychological mechanisms and a key contingency factor that explain when and why MTM may have positive or negative individual‐level consequences.
... Another possible explanation is that stress is job-related, where it has two competing effects. Stressful conditions at work can be linked to the risk of diabetes 66 , possible increased cardiovascular risk 67 , and common mental disorders 68 , which may not be reflected in any well-being measures since they are long-term, while also leading to increased productivity, which leads to higher income despite its negative consequences 69 . This is consistent with the observation that for respondents working for >30 h a week, higher stress is associated with higher income without a turning point, and we only observe the trends of lower stress associated with higher income for the unemployed. ...
Is there a cost to our well-being from increased affluence? Drawing upon responses from 2.05 million U.S. adults from the Gallup Daily Poll from 2008 to 2017 we find that with household income above ~$63,000 respondents are more likely to experience stress. This contrasts with the trend below this threshold, where at higher income the prevalence of stress decreases. Such a turning point for stress was also found for population sub-groups, divided by gender, race, and political affiliation. Further, we find that respondents who report prior-day stress have lower life satisfaction for all income and sub-group categories compared to the respondents who do not report prior-day stress. We find suggestive evidence that among the more satisfied, healthier, socially connected, and those not suffering basic needs deprivations, this turn-around in stress prevalence starts at lower values of income and stress. We hypothesize that stress at higher income values relates to lifestyle factors associated with affluence, rather than from known well-being deprivations related to good health and social conditions, which may arise even at lower income values if conventional needs are met.
... Because challenge-hindrance stressor profiles have not been examined, their predictors are unknown. Given that challenge stressors are used in human resource development (Hargrove, Becker, and Hargrove 2015), the firm size, sex, and LMX may predict challengehindrance stress profiles. ...
Workplace contexts play an important role in organizational socialization after six months of employment. However, few studies have examined how employees’ exposure to job demands can lead to successful organizational socialization. Therefore, this study used a person-centred approach to examine challenge-hindrance stressor profiles and their relationship with socialization outcomes and the antecedents of profiles, among Japanese employees. We identified five profiles, with the high challenge-low hindrance profile showing the most adaptive. These findings deepen the understanding of stressors and socialization, suggesting profile-specific intervention methods. The results also offer new perspectives on interpreting the inconsistent findings of the challenge-hindrance model using a variable-centred approach.
... Cardiac efficiency and respiratory rate may also increase (Aschbacher & Mason, 2020;Crum et al., 2017;Ditzen et al., 2007;Hargrove et al., 2013;Juster et al., 2010;Kozusznik et al., 2015;Lü et al., 2016). Acute eustress speeds up metabolic rates and generates positive emotions, such as enjoyment, satisfaction, and exhilaration (Burton & Hinton, 2010;Hargrove et al., 2011;Hargrove et al., 2015;McGowan et al., 2006;Parker & Ragsdale, 2015). Furthermore, acute eustress increases motivation and proactive behaviors, such as self-initiation, anticipatory actions aimed at goal achievement, taking responsibility, and planning before acting. ...
College students often use music to manage stress. Music majors in particular report high stress levels and may be uniquely impacted by disruptive events. They could use music listening as one potential self-regulation strategy to manage stress by modifying physiological, affective, and cognitive responses. Such responses stem from activity in specific neural structures and pathways that are common to both music listening and self-regulation. This neural overlap helps to explain how music listening can potentially impact and strengthen brain structures underlying self-regulation and mitigate stress.
The purpose of this study was to investigate whether graduate students majoring in music performance use music listening to cope with stress, and if so, how. The study assessed reported stress levels in graduate students majoring in music performance, occurring during the time of a global health pandemic, known as SARS-CoV-2 or novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Additionally, the current study explored what kind of relationship might exist between music listening and stress experienced during the pandemic. Participants (N = 117) were graduate students majoring in music performance in the United States who completed an online survey including three
measures to assess their pandemic-related stress levels, self-regulation approaches, and music listening frequency and strategies.
The Pandemic Music Stress Scale—a researcher-designed scale—was used to measure the stress level in graduate students majoring in music performance during the time of a global health pandemic. Respondents also reported on amount of change in their perceived stress level since the onset of the pandemic. To identify self-regulation approaches, respondents chose their three top options from a given list. The Coping by Music Listening Scale—an adapted scale for the pandemic—measured participants’ frequency of music listening and associated strategies utilized to cope with stress (Miranda & Claes, 2009).
Results revealed that participants on average experienced a moderate level of stress during the pandemic, with a majority of students reporting a high stress level. Music students were most stressed about finances while they also reported stress due to social/emotional and health and safety-related issues. Additionally, students reported that their overall stress level had “increased slightly” since the onset of the pandemic, with a majority of students reporting “increased greatly.” Respondents reported their top three self-regulation strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic, including watching TV/films, venting or expressing thoughts and feelings, and music listening.
Regarding the use of music listening, participants reported an average of “sometimes” as the overall frequency of music listening, with different levels reported across various strategies. Compared with problem-oriented and avoidance/disengagement music listening, emotional-oriented music listening was the most commonly-used strategy to cope with pandemic-related stress. Moreover, the correlation results did not
indicate a consistent linear relationship between college music majors’ stress level and use of music listening during a global health pandemic. This outcome might be primarily due to limitations of statistical analysis and complex nature of the measured variables as revealed through the dataset. More advanced analytic modeling techniques should be considered to explore the involuted relationships between stress and music listening.
This study provides deeper insight into the relationship between music listening and stress management in music students, particularly during a global health pandemic. The findings may also apply beyond a globally disruptive event, since college music students are likely to experience high levels of stress associated with their music studies. Future researchers may identify the most appropriate music listening strategies, as well as the effect of music listening on stress level in college music students.
... The stepwise linear regression analysis outcomes highlight the substantial and positive predictive role of mental health in eustress scores corroborating prior research that identified a positive link between mental health and eustress. [28][29][30] This alignment with recent studies demonstrates that higher eustress levels are associated with improved mental health and greater resilience, particularly in response to academic pressures. [29,31] These findings underscore the importance of recognizing the positive aspects of stress in adolescent development. ...
BACKGROUND
Modern psychological research challenges the conventional view of stress as solely detrimental by introducing the concept of eustress versus distress, emphasizing the potentially positive aspects of stress. In the context of India, limited studies have investigated the distinct effects of eustress and distress on adolescents, a group prone to stress-related health issues. This study aims to bridge this gap by examining the correlation between eustress and both mental and physical well-being among adolescents attending government schools in two districts of Haryana, India.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
A non-experimental quantitative research approach was adopted to achieve this objective. The study involved a sample of 400 adolescent students, equally split between genders, aged 15 to 18 years, enrolled in grades 10 to 12. Participants were selected through systematic random sampling from two districts in Haryana. The assessment tools employed in the study included the Post Graduate Institute Health Questionnaire and the Eustress Scale, which were utilized to evaluate the participants’ mental, physical, and eustress levels.
RESULTS
In our study involving Indian adolescents, we discovered a substantial positive correlation (r = 0.563, P < 0.01) between eustress and mental health, underlining the valuable role of positive stress in enhancing psychological well-being. Notably, male participants exhibited significantly higher eustress scores (mean = 26.63) than their female counterparts (mean = 22.82, P < 0.01), indicating gender-specific variations in stress responses. Furthermore, our findings emphasized the influence of cultural nuances inherent to the Indian context on how adolescents perceived and experienced eustress. These outcomes emphasize the urgency of culturally sensitive interventions to promote adolescents’ well-being.
CONCLUSION
This investigation contributes valuable insights into the nexus between eustress and adolescent health in the Indian context. The study accentuates the potential advantages of leveraging eustress to foster positive development by underlining the differential influence of eustress and distress on adolescent health. Future research endeavors and policy formulation could delve into the mechanisms underpinning eustress and distress, thus guiding strategies to enhance adolescents’ health and overall well-being.
... These health outcomes were selected from occupational stress studies, such as the one from Heerwagen et al. (1995) who writes on stress management through changes in the workplace environment. Other studies that advocate for the necessary amount of stress needed (eustress) to perform high-focus and time-sensitive tasks were also considered (Hargrove et al., 2015). ...
Purpose
This paper aims to propose and provide an overview of a model analysis that considers the main spatial design attributes that influence and produce the most relevant salutogenic outcomes. These results are essential for a healthy work experience, especially in shared workspaces.
Design/methodology/approach
This study departs from the theoretical contributions of the salutogenic approach, principles from supportive design theory, psychosocial supportive design and the environmental demands and resources model. After a scoping literature review covering different fields of workspace design, environmental psychology and evidence-based design of health-care facilities, a conceptual analysis is done on a proposed understanding of work, health and environmental relations to overview spatial attributes that enhance specific salutogenic and well-being-promoting outcomes needed for a healthy work experience.
Findings
The model of analysis, as a theoretical element that helps create methodological tools, combined with the application of a post occupancy evaluation, is thought to assist architects, designers, workspace owners and stakeholders in their new designs or to evaluate existing ones.
Originality/value
Studies on defining spatial attributes and their intended salutogenic outcomes have been formally done in health-care facilities. However, applying this idea to shared workspaces is something new and is expected to contribute to their design and evaluation, especially if the notion of environmental demands and resources is complemented.
... We recognize that this may not always be practically feasible. Audit firms may specifically target auditors with focused human resource interventions that reduce auditor overload and improve their learning opportunities (for a review, see Hargrove, Becker, and Hargrove 2015). ...
Audit firms rely on audit teams where memberships are frequently shared, shifted, and dissolved. In practice, this means that many auditors are part of multiple engagement teams for a given period of time. This paper examines why and when such multiple team memberships (MTMs) may lead auditors to engage in audit quality-threatening behaviors. We analyze data from a survey of 202 auditors—ranging from assistants to partners—working at Dutch audit firms. Our findings demonstrate that serving on MTMs can undermine auditor learning and in so doing leads auditors to engage in audit quality-threatening behaviors. Analyses show that less resilient auditors—those who are less able to bounce back from experienced difficulties—appear most susceptible to these deleterious effects. In addition, exploratory analyses suggest that the negative effect of serving on many MTMs appears to be more pronounced for field-level auditors than for management-level auditors.
... Further, HRD professionals can use performance evaluation systems that account for leader wellbeing to trigger other necessary interventions (e.g., wellness programs) if indicators suggest that many leaders are struggling to manage their well-being. In line with the HRD Eustress Model, interventions that increase positive stress such as job design can positively contribute to the well-being of leaders (Hargrove et al., 2015). For example, evidence from Li et al. (2018) and Sherman et al. (2012) suggest that providing leaders with greater decision-making latitude is important for their psychological and physical well-being, as higher levels of perceived job control lead to more positive well-being outcomes. ...
The Problem
Human resource development (HRD) scholars and practitioners have given considerable attention to the topic of employee well-being; however, scholarship on the well-being of leaders in organizations is fragmented and comparatively understudied.
The Solution
We conducted an integrative literature review of empirical research on factors that influence leader well-being to synthesize research across various disciplines and generate novel insights that could benefit HRD scholars and practitioners. The findings of this review revealed factors that influence leader well-being at five levels: intra-individual, individual, dyadic/group, organizational, and environmental. We mapped these factors onto a model with mediating mechanisms (i.e., constructive or destructive leader behaviors) and outcomes of leader well-being. Outcomes included short- and long-term psychological, physical, and social outcomes in the domains of work and life in general.
The Stakeholders
This article contains implications for leaders in organizations as well as HR and HRD professionals interested in cultivating leader well-being.
... Accordingly, managers should encourage employees to do challenging work instead of reducing challenge stressors when stressors are inevitable in the workplace, especially for employees with high OSE. Hence, our study also highlights the importance to distinguish the challenge or hindrance nature of workplace stressors in organizations' stress management practices (Hargrove et al., 2015;Lu et al., 2016). ...
Based on the challenge–hindrance stressor framework and conservation of resources theory, this study examined the moderating effects of challenge–hindrance stressors on the relationship between occupational self-efficacy (OSE) and job performance. We collected data from 301 employee–supervisor dyads using a time-lagged design with a 6-month interval. The results showed that the combination of challenge stressors and hindrance stressors moderated the relationship between OSE and task performance. Specifically, the relationship was stronger under the low challenge stressors–low hindrance stressors condition, and it even became negative under the low challenge stressors–high hindrance stressors condition. The pattern of the results for organizational citizenship behavior was similar. The results of our study confirm that the combination of challenge stressors and hindrance stressors as situational factors may better explain the inconsistent findings on the relationship between self-efficacy and performance.
... However, our findings highlight such team dissimilarity may not be always negative. Rather, individuals with high CQ mindfully focus more on specific challenges in such stressful contexts and react to stressors with positive emotions such as hope, goodwill, and vigor in a high team dissimilarity climate (Hargrove et al., 2015). When they define it as eustress, they are more confident that they will be capable of overcoming the unique stress by proficiently mobilizing and utilizing coping resources (Simmons & Nelson, 2007). ...
Cross-cultural teams have become integral units of international hospitality enterprises given the rapid development of globalization. How to effectively stimulate team members' performance in a cross-cultural context has thus become a growing concern. This paper aims to explore whether, how, and when cultural intelligence influences team members’ performance in cross-cultural teams. Data analysis from 440 employees nested in 100 cross-cultural teams of an international hotel chain revealed that cultural intelligence is positively associated with individual role performance via cross-cultural adjustment. In addition, the above indirect relationship was found to be stronger when a higher level of team dissimilarity climate was present. Our findings shed light on how situational factors and personal traits interact in a diverse range of work environments. The practical implications for international organizations of fully utilizing the benefits of cultural diversity in the workplace are also discussed.
... It is one way to deliver a "pain message" that is necessary to create a commitment to change (Conner, 1992). Moreover, reducing bonuses leads to a perception of lower performance, which causes work pressure, especially when the organization is applying a performance-based compensation plan; this is considered a challenge stressor that facilitates behavior aimed at improving performance (Hargrove, Becker, & Hargrove, 2015). Equity theory suggests that a cut in monetary pay leads to workers' perceived financial underpayment and dissatisfaction, thereby facilitating the cognitive enhancement of the work environment (Greenberg, 1989). ...
Purpose – During crises, notably the recent COVID-19 pandemic, a heightened sense of urgency has manifested as a catalyst for improvement within organizations. The present study aims to explore the influence of a sense of urgency on individual kaizen performance. Additionally, the study delves into the potential moderating roles of organizational culture in this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach – Data samples include 481 employees who are working at Japanese manufacturing companies. SPSS software is used for data analysis, comprising measurement test, correlation and regression analysis.
Findings –Asense of urgency was found to predict a higher number of accepted suggestions. Moreover, there is a significant and positive interaction effect of adhocracy culture and a sense of urgency on writing and submitting ideas.
Originality/value – As an initial study that empirically tests the relationship between a sense of urgency and individual kaizen performance, this paper contributes to the literature on kaizen, change management and innovation. It also corroborates previous research on the Person-Organization fit framework.
... Many workers experience weariness towards their jobs due to being assigned overly-easy tasks that are not stimulating, whereas many are overwhelmed by the turbulence of having too many tasks at once. For example, a factory worker who is only tasked to move objects from point A to point B for an infinite amount of times could experience extreme boredom which might lead to negative stress, and a hotel receptionist who is tasked to perform multiple chores at the same time such as greeting guests, receiving and making calls, managing reservations, and inputting data could become overburdened, which might also lead to negative stress (Hargrove, Becker & Hargrove, 2015). ...
Stress, as research suggests, can now be considered an epidemic that has pushed humanity on the verge of a breakdown for over a decade, negatively affecting the mental state and physical health of some groups more than others, such as medical professionals (Newbegin, 2014). However, despite stress becoming more and more prevalent and noticed in the 21st century, an often overlooked fact is that stress can be managed and turned into something beneficial (Craig, 1991).
... Following the above reasoning, we argue that employees experiencing high work pressure in the context of HIWPs may perceive a high work pressure as a challenge instead of an obstacle. In support, previous research has shown that positive HR practices are able to convert stress from a threat into a source of energy with positive outcomes for employees (Hargrove et al., 2015). Furthermore, we argue that having HIWPs, such as a good pay incentive and opportunity to learn and grow, this may at least partially reduce the burden associated with sense of insecurity. ...
Previous research has demonstrated the crucial association between employee stressors and workplace bullying. In this article, we argue that a nurturing organizational context will protect employees from exposure to workplace bullying and will interact with individual demands and resources known to have effect on exposure to bullying in the workplace. In specific, we look at high-involvement work practices (HIWPs)-which include participation, information-sharing, competence development, and rewards. Multilevel analyses on the data from 28,923 Belgian employees from 144 organizations show that organization-level HIWPs are negatively associated with bullying exposure. Moreover, HIWPs interact with individually experienced job demands and resources, by decreasing the association between employee work pressure and bullying and by somewhat compensating for the lack of experienced social support from colleagues at work. HIWPs did not moderate the relationship between employee job insecurity and bullying and social support from the supervisor and bullying. These findings highlight the important role HIWPs can play in protecting employees from workplace bullying, while also suggesting the difficulty of compensating for certain individual risk factors. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
... Moreover, stress could be caused by a multi-faceted set of conditions, including poor social working conditions (Černe et al., 2014), feeling like an imposter (Hutchins et al., 2018;Hutchins & Rainbolt, 2017), lacking role clarity (de Villiers & Stander, 2011), or feeling left out and ignored (Rose et al., 2015). Additionally, stress is a fairly common experience and, as Hargrove et al.'s (2015) research suggested, stress is not always negative. Nevertheless, the kind of stress induced by working conditions that influences sleep patterns, overeating, and high levels of mental fatigue and depression is often associated with feelings of emotional erosion, fatigue, and negativity (Shuck, Alagaraja, et al., 2017). ...
Health is complex and involves an interplay of factors. Connected to the complexities of health are those social conditions in which people live. Such conditions are defined as social determinants of health (SDOHs). Little research in the areas of SDOHs has connected, under a guiding framework, how work and/or working conditions influence employee health. The purpose of our work was to introduce a new term – work determinants of health — and a potentially new line of research within HRD. Work determinants of health (WDOHs) were defined as the organizationally attributable employment-related conditions that influence individual and group differences in health risk and health status. Through our review of the HRD literature and neighboring disciplines, we proposed a work experience-based organizing framework of four thematic areas as a starting point and potential structure for understanding WDOHs. Those four areas were stress, capacity, the physical and social environment, and meaning in work. Specific implications for HRD including a call for transdisciplinary research and exploring funding opportunities are presented.
... [9][10][11][12] Quick, Ouick, Nelson ve Hurrel (akt. Hargrove ve ark.) 13 östresi, stresli olaylara olumlu, yapıcı ve sağlıklı bir cevap olarak tanımlarken; Lazarus 14 östresi, olumlu duygulanım ve sağlıklı fizyolojik durumla ilişkili strese karşı yapıcı bir bilişsel tepki olarak görür. ...
Objectives:The aim of this study is to analyze the psychometric properties of Adolescent Distress Eustress Scale developed by Branson, Dry, Palmer and Turnbull, such as validity and reliability, and to carry out adaptation studies to Turkish.Materials and Methods:In the 2019-2020 academic year, a total of 366 high school students, 261 female and 105 male, studying at different official secondary schools in Tuzla, Istanbul, participated in the study. In order to examine the psychometric properties of the Turkish version of the scale, linguistic equivalence, criterion concordance validity, calculation of internal consistency coefficient and confirmatory factor analysis were performed.Results:The construct validity of the scale was examined by confirmatory factor analysis and the dual structure, which constituted the subdimensions of the Adolescent Boredom Estress scale (ADES), was confirmed. As a result of the criterion compliance validity study, negative correlations were found between the ADES-Distress sub-dimension and the General Self-Efficacy scale and positively significant correlations were found with the Perceived Stress Scale. Positive significant relationships were detected between ADES-Eustress sub-dimension and General Self-Efficacy scale, and negative significant relationships were found with the Perceived Stress Scale. As a result of the internal consistency analysis, the reliability Cronbach alpha coefficient was calculated as .81 for the ADES-Distress sub-dimension and .84 for the ADES-Eustress sub-dimension.Conclusion:Based on the findings of the research, it has been revealed that the Turkish version of the Adolescent Distress Eustress Scale is a valid and reliable measurement tool.
... There are two main types of stress we experience: chronic stress (known as distress) and acute stress (eustress). It is believed that a certain amount of exposure to acute stress can actually build our tolerance of greater stresses we will come across (Hargrove, Becker, and Hargrove 2015). If children are not allowed to experience this stress, it is possible that they will not know how to handle the typical stresses of life. ...
The purpose of this study was to examine a possible relationship between overprotective parenting, cognitive rigidity, and aggression. Three different instruments were used to determine the self-perceived levels of parental bonding, cognitive flexibility, and aggression. These instruments were the Parental Bonding Inventory (Parker, Tupling, and Brown, 1979), Cognitive Flexibility Scale (Martin, 1995), and the Buss Perry Aggression Questionnaire (Buss and Perry, 1992). These scales were computerized, copying the items verbatim in order to avoid tampering with the previously determined validity of the instruments. The results of the study showed that there was a significant relationship between maternal protection levels and cognitive flexibility as well as a significant relationship between cognitive flexibility and aggression levels in college students.
... Simply, eustress is defined as good stress. While Hargrove et al. (2015) explore ways to harness eustress for the benefit of the worker and workplace, there is inadequate exploration of the tipping point between eustress and distress. Eustress has been mentioned sporadically throughout the LIS literature (Farler & Broady-Preston, 2012;Nawe, 2002;Petek, 2018), but without in-depth exploration. ...
In the academic librarianship literature, a significant amount of research on burnout, and excessive workload has been conducted. However, researchers frame the issue differently: some view this conflict as a work–life boundary issue, others view it simply as in-role related responsibility conflicts. This study focuses on the in-role related responsibility conflicts of Special Collections librarians in public services. Survey findings revealed that some current responsibilities exceeded the official position description of Special Collections librarians, and professionals were at times ambivalent about those additional responsibilities. Areas for future research are discussed.
... Following the above reasoning, we argue that employees experiencing high work pressure in the context of HIWPs may perceive a high work pressure as a challenge instead of an obstacle. In support, previous research has shown that positive HR practices are able to convert stress from a threat into a source of energy with positive outcomes for employees (Hargrove et al., 2015). Furthermore, we argue that having HIWPs, such as a good pay incentive and opportunity to learn and grow, this may at least partially reduce the burden associated with job insecurity. ...
... Moreover, job complexity may be a greater source of retaining employees. This is so because such practices may lead to increased perceptions of job enrichment and de-jobbing, that result in a positive perception about the organization and job, resulting in positive job outcomes and reduced negative consequences like stress (Hargrove, Becker, & Hargrove, 2015). Moreover, regular training and development programs should be arranged for the faculty members so as to enhance their abilities to give timely feedback to their subordinates. ...
Earlier studies have focusedontheattitudinal and behavioral aspects of employee turnover. However, this study empirically investigates the contextual (i.e.job complexity, developmental feedback and perceived organizational support) and personal (i.e.proactive personality and core self-evaluations) aspectsin order toelucidate turnover intention among the private sector universities of Pakistan. The study used a questionnaire-basedsurvey that was circulated amongst thefaculty members of theprivate universities,and 758responses were usedfor the final data analysis. Moreover, the structural equation modelingwas appliedandrevealed thatcore self-evaluation, developmental feedback, job complexity and perceived organizational support are negatively associated with turnover intention. However, the element of proactive personality was found to haveanon-significantassociation with turnover intention.This study has theoretical and practical implications for universities and recruitment departments.
... Positive or good stress (also known as eustress) stimulates us to face our daily problems and challenges, constituting the catalyst that allows workers to be creative, to take initiatives, and to respond efficiently to the demands that require it. It is in this sense that the authors of [79] showed that a certain type of stress might constitute a good mechanism to improve performance and innovation. Thus, this positive stress is a good way to face challenges and achieve better results for employees' working lives. ...
Many studies sustain that work-related stress exerts pervasive consequences on the employees’ levels of performance, productivity, and wellbeing. However, it remains unclear whether certain levels of stress might lead to positive outcomes regarding employees’ innovativeness. Hence, this paper examines how the five dimensions of work-related stress impact on the employees’ levels of innovation performance. To this aim, this study focused on a sample of 1487 employees from six Italian companies. To test the research hypotheses under assessment, we relied on the use of the partial least squares (PLS) technique. Our results reveal that, in summary, the stressors job autonomy, job demands, and role ambiguity exert a positive and significant impact on the employees’ levels of innovativeness. However, this study failed to find evidence that the supervisors’ support–innovation and colleagues’ support–innovation links are not statistically significant.
... The concept of work engagement is closely related to eustress, but where work engagement is seen as a relatively stable state, eustress is a short-term response to stressors [30,46]. Work engagement may be conceptualized as one of the positive outcomes of experiencing eustress [17]. ...
Background:
Digital services have been found promising in managing different aspects of health, also stress. We developed a web service for cultivating the positive side of stress based on the stress experiences of entrepreneurs. In this paper, we present a field study conducted to evaluate the user acceptance and the user experience of the developed service.
Methods:
Twenty-two participants, working as entrepreneurs or having an entrepreneurial-type job description, used the web service for 6 weeks. User experiences were collected from all participants with electronic questionnaires, and 10 participants were interviewed to gain deeper understanding and to formulate design implications. In addition, usage logs of the web service were analysed to assess how actively the participants used the service and a pre and post questionnaires on stress and work engagement were conducted to evaluate the preliminary effectiveness of the service.
Results:
The usage activity of the service was relatively low, on average, the service was used on 3 days and a total of 101 min. During the usage period, the participants' negative stress measured by the perceived stress scale decreased and their self-reported positive stress experiences had increased. The participants considered the positive perspective to stress useful. In the Eustress Toolbox service, the users appreciated especially the off-line and reflection exercises, as well as the quotations from peers, but the design should have supported more active triggering to use the service.
Conclusions:
Based on user experience, we propose four design implications: Integrate the service into the daily hassle of entrepreneurs, Provide personal guidance while maintaining a possibility to explore, Recognise the user's progress and accomplishments in a meaningful way and Support implicit learning from peer entrepreneurs.
Trial registration:
ISRCTN14739582 , Sept 3 2019, retrospectively registered.
... Similarly, active and passive coping strategies mediated the influence of external stressors (e.g., work overload) on teachers' emotional response and burnout (Montgomery & Rupp, 2005;Van Dick & Wagner, 2001). Work stressors influence coping resources, and determine eustress or distress, which produce positive (e.g., engagement) or negative outcomes (e.g., counterproductive behaviors) (Hargrove, Becker, & Hargrove, 2015). The level of work burnout can be associated with job demands (e.g., work overload) (Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004), and with personal resources (e.g., coping strategies) (Troesch & Bauer, 2017). ...
This study applied structural equation modeling (SEM) to analyze relationships between two teachers’ job stressors (concern for students and work overload), coping strategies (problem-focused and emotion-focused), emotional exhaustion, and autonomy support/suppression (choice, relevance, and control). The sample consisted of 251 secondary education teachers from Portugal. Instructors concerned for their students applied more problem-focused strategies and less emotion-focused coping, experienced lower emotional exhaustion, offered students more opportunities of choice, and enhanced the relevance of learning. The inverse pattern of results was observed in the most overloaded teachers. A similar pattern of opposing results was found in the comparison of problem-focused vs. emotion-focused strategies. Coping strategies mediated the association between stressors and emotional exhaustion, in such a manner that the teachers most concerned for their students and with less work overload experienced less exhaustion because these teachers applied more frequently problem-focused strategies and less frequently emotion-focused strategies.
... Utilizing the cognitive appraisal theory of stress and coping (Lazarus and Folkman 1984), we argue that when individuals experience a stressful situation like bullying, they might not always appraise it negatively as a threat, but on the contrary individuals might interpret it as a challenge. Past research highlights that challenging situations enhance eustress among individuals (Hargrove, Becker and Hargrove 2015;Hargrove, Nelson and Cooper 2013). Research on eustress also highlights that workplace demands and emotional pressures might ignite one to put in efforts beyond what is required, thus creating eustress (Kupriyanov and Zhdanov 2014;O'Sullivan 2011). ...
The present study expands the literature on bullying by unveiling why and when bullying might produce positive outcomes. Employing the cognitive appraisal theory of stress and coping, we hypothesize eustress as an important mechanism through which bullying might enhance the victim's job performance, career success, and creativity. Moreover, we hypothesized psychological capital as a moderator in the workplace bullying‐eustress relationship. We collected temporally segregated field data at three time intervals with a time lag of 2–3 weeks from matched data of employees and their fellow peers (n = 321) belonging to the service sector of Pakistan. Utilizing PROCESS macro, the results substantiated our hypothesized moderated mediation model, in that workplace bullying led to higher performance, career success and employee creativity through the mechanism of eustress and this indirect effect was stronger for individuals who possessed higher psychological capital. Our study opens up a new avenue in the workplace bullying literature by emphasizing the different side of bullying in an eastern cultural context. Key points Employee perception plays a key role in understanding workplace bullying and its outcomes. Workplace bullying, if perceived as a challenge, can result in positive outcomes. Stress is not always negative. In fact, eustress can be beneficial for the employees. Workplace bullying increases eustress which results in increased job performance, employee creativity, and career success. Employees with high psychological capital show eustress as a result of workplace bullying.
... In global academic markets, even prestigious universities must be attentive to this point in the ongoing race to attract the best talents. An alternative explanation is that some degree of stress is a necessary condition for professions that deal with challenging, creative work, such as the work developed by academics, and can act as a motivator and thus be viewed as 'positive stress' (Hargrove et al. 2015). Academics are recognising increased dedication to scholarly work, including the stressful elements that come along with it, and the downsides to personal and family life (Kleinhans et al. 2015). ...
Recent developments in higher education have placed greater emphasis on performance and accountability and raised concerns about increasing levels of stress among academics. Stress not only influences academic productivity but may also affect institutional commitment, which is key to guaranteeing academics’ organisational stability, identity and performance at the university. This study examines how the stress of academics working in Hong Kong, which has a highly competitive and performativity oriented higher education system, relates to an institutional commitment to their universities. Through the use of a methodology that handles endogeneity bias, this relationship was analysed using socio-demographic data, information on characteristics of the institutional environment, and academic-work-related data from the Academic Profession in Knowledge Society (APIKS) questionnaire conducted in Hong Kong in 2017/2018. The main finding of this study is that the more the job becomes a strain, the greater the academic’s institutional commitment to the university. We argue that stress was positively associated with greater institutional commitment due to Hong Kong’s competitive working culture, as no statistically significant differences in stress and institutional commitment were found among those in different academic fields of knowledge and universities. Analysis of determinants of stress and institutional commitment showed that independence in research, interest in current work, availability of career opportunities, and collegial decision-making reduced stress and increased institutional commitment. Conversely, pressure to obtain external funding and excessive administrative work increase stress and reduce institutional commitment. Based on these findings, universities should institute balanced policies that promote research autonomy, collegiality and flexible career opportunities in academic work, whilst designing new ways to more congenially integrate the ubiquitous demand for external funding into academic life, and minimising administrative procedures which are not attuned with creative academic environments.
Purpose: This article investigates the efficacy of mindfulness interventions in reducing stress levels and improving the subjective well-being of special educators at Mano Vikas, in Sasthamkotta, Kollam, focusing on identifying key factors contributing to their overall well-being and job satisfaction. Design/Methodology/Approach: The methodology employed a quasi-experimental study design with a deductive approach. The research uses a quantitative approach to data collection. Further, this study aids in assessing the effectiveness of mindful practices in mitigating stress and enhancing the subjective well-being of special educators at Mano Vikas Special School. A sample of 15 teachers were included in this study. Questionnaires such as Depression, Anxiety Stress Scale -21 (DASS-21), Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ-15) and Subjective Wellbeing Scales were provided to collect information that how their stress, anxiety, depression, and mindfulness positively influence their Subjective Well-Being. Here ‘stress’ acts as a moderate variable. Since this is a quasi-experimental study, controlled groups were not included. Finding/Result: After exploring and analyzing the facts, it is found that a significant presence exists a negative relationship between Subjective well-being, Mindfulness and Stress. Originality/Value: This study employs a quasi-experimental design to evaluate the effect of a structured mindfulness intervention on indicators like stress, well-being, and work satisfaction among participants (teachers). This study also seeks to investigate potential mechanisms for mindfulness therapies, such as enhancing self-care routines, avoiding negative ruminations, and improving emotional regulations which lead one to integral subjective well-being. Paper Type: Quasi-experimental Study Article.
Team status difference (TSD) refers to the difference in the relative ranking of team members based on their levels of respect, prestige, or influence as perceived by others. Much research on TSD has focused on the functional and dysfunctional effects of TSD at the team level, but few studies have explored the paradoxical impacts of status differences on employees. This study draws on the challenge-hindrance demand model (CHM) and transactional theory of stress to explore when and how TSD is associated with employees’ productive and counterproductive behaviors through distinct job-demand appraisal mechanisms. Further, the moderating role of individual personality traits is considered. Data were collected from 1631 Chinese employees within 108 teams using a three-stage team leader-member matching survey method. Mplus 7.0 was employed for multilevel structural equation model analysis. The results revealed that TSD is positively correlated with employees’ perceived job challenge and subsequent innovative behavior, particularly for those exhibiting a cooperative personality. Conversely, for employees with a competitive personality, TSD leads to increased perceived interpersonal conflict and subsequently, higher deviant behavior, but decreased innovative behavior. This study contributes to the literature by extending our knowledge of the impact of TSD on individual employee outcomes and demonstrating how the same status differences can yield both positive and negative outcomes depending on the personality traits of the employees involved. These findings serve as a useful reference for the design of team status structures in modern firms.
Digital stress poses one of the most significant challenges for organizations because of the emerging digital transformation. Numerous reports have discussed the impact of digital work on employees' perceived physical and mental health. Continuous exposure to digital information flow, multitasking, and constant connectivity may lead to cognitive overload and mental fatigue, affecting attention, memory, concentration, and even one's capacity for innovation. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between perceived digital stress, work engagement, and innovation capacity. A large survey was conducted among companies and public organizations in Finland, with 121 respondents. Data were analyzed using SPSS-28, employing Pearson correlations and descriptive methods. The study revealed an indirect association between digital stress and innovation capacity, with digital load and work engagement acting as mediators. However, a moderate correlation was observed between work engagement and innovation capacity. In summary, it can be suggested that moderate digital workload combined with good digital competence may have a positive association with eustress, work engagement, and innovation capacity.
The increased expectation that the majority of young people should attend university, widening access of higher education, introduction of fees for teaching and student loans, and greater numbers of international students have changed the sociodemographic characteristics of the student population. There are many positive aspects of this, but one of the urgent issues that has become apparent is that to increase the likelihood of students completing their studies successfully, universities have the awareness, resources and will to support the emotional and psychological needs as well as the academic needs of their students. This chapter will discuss the nature of the pressures students are under in the current university system, changes over recent years and how this may cause stress. It will review recent research investigating mental health among university students in comparison to non-students of comparable age and review efforts by universities to provide effective support.
Resilience to the effects of stress is a variable that is often overlooked in studies of the effects of stress on behaviour and individuals. Indeed, our models of health provision (both physical and mental health) focus almost entirely on waiting until individuals develop issues and then seeking to treat these via pharmacotherapy and psychological interventions. This method of treating disease is costly and ineffective. Furthermore, science is beginning to unravel ways of living that evidence has shown can reduce the likelihood individuals will become sick in the future. After describing stress resilience, the present chapter presents the results of a literature review on evidence-based factors that improve human resilience to the destabilising effects of stress. It will also examine whether there is a “dark side” of focusing on individual human resilience that benefits organisations.
Although traditional views of workplace stress assume that all job demands have deleterious consequences, research indicates that some job demands may benefit employees. Notably, the Challenge–Hindrance Stressor Framework (CHSF) proposes that, although job demands that constrain, hinder, or thwart personal growth and achievement (hindrance stressors) have negative effects on work-related outcomes, job demands that provide the potential for personal growth and achievement (challenge stressors) have positive effects on these outcomes. Despite the attention generated by the CHSF, several criticisms and limitations hinder the potential of this framework. Thus, this article reviews our current understanding of the CHSF, addresses important criticisms about the nature and effects of challenge and hindrance stressors, and discusses how future research should approach conceptual and methodological challenges to lay the foundation for the next iteration of this framework—CHSF 2.0. Building on this new framework, we discuss some implications for cross-cultural research and for practitioners.
This bibliography contains journal articles, book chapters, books, edited volumes and other resources on the field of Human Resource Development. Although a vast literature exists in the field, the bibliography is focused on recent literature and is restricted to a particular time period covering publications up to July 2020 from Jan 2000. The literature was retrieved by manually browsing many core and periphery sources in the field of Human Resource Development. This bibliography is expected to be of great use to the researchers in the field.
Objective
The aim of the study was to verify if soft-skills training is an effective intervention in reducing work-related stress among miners, that is, people who run the risk of losing health and/or life due to unpredictable natural forces or human error at work.
Background
The motivation for the intervention was based on Job Demands-Resources model where soft skills are job resources that help individuals to cope with or prevent high demands of the environment. The needed skills as well as work demands were first investigated and then a custom training was developed. The rationale for introducing soft-skills training into the work environment can be seen as compatible with the Human Capital Model (HCM) which is designed to stimulate positive organizational behaviour by providing an effective approach to ensure employees’ adequate coping with work-related stress.
Method
96 volunteer employees were assigned to intervention (n = 48) and comparison (n = 48) groups. 16-hour tailored training covered tasks and simulation games related to communication, teambuilding, self-management and conflict resolution skills. Job Content Questionnaire, Occupational Stress Indicator (modified to fit the mining environment) and General Health Questionnaire were used in the study. A MANOVA with effect-size measures was conducted.
Results
Results revealed a significant increase in decision latitude and social support for the trainees. A substantial decrease in stress was also observed, along with a significant decrease in general health problems. There were no such changes in the comparison group.
Conclusions
A soft-skills training, including communication, teamwork, self-motivation and conflict-resolution skills, helped participants to cope better with the stressful environment and improved their mental health. These effects lasted three months later.
Application
The intervention improved miners’ psychosocial health and the strategies of coping with stress, which increased safety and health in the company. Investigating the effectiveness of such interventions included in the general Human Capital Model, as it was done in the study, might be a step forward towards building an interdisciplinary approach for health and safety and human resources.
Usually, the stress symbolises the negative meaning as it is that mental pressure & emotional instability which overpower an individual’s intellectual ability & critical thinking. This impacts their physical & mental health which in turn leads to inefficiency in accomplishment of organisational goals. Here, there is a need to shift in a perception from a negative stress to positive stress. The concept of Eustress becomes important in the present competitive era. It acts as a force that drives & stimulates the employees to fulfil the organisational goals along with their own holistic growth. This is an exploratory study which aims to determine that how public sector & private sector bank employees perceives the circumstances that causes stress and to identify the effect of eustress on job satisfaction & organisational commitment. In this study, the primary data have been collected by using questionnaire method which had given to the employees of four banks in Delhi-NCR named as: State Bank of India (SBI), Punjab National Bank (PNB), Kotak Mahindra Bank, Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited (HDFC) Bank i. e. two each from public sector and private sector banks. In this study, a total of 250 bank employees are as respondents, both from public & private sector banks. The various statistical tools have been used to test the hypothesis. The study concludes that pressure to complete task on time, increase in competence along with conscious efforts to reduce costs; job insecurity and internal competition will encourage the employees to enhance their capabilities & develop necessary skills for promotion & various other incentives.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought about a surge in telework, with many organizations using telework to continue operations. Teleworkers are subject to stress due to the demands of working from home. Despite the common view of stress as being detrimental, stress can also be beneficial. In this paper, we investigate two forms of stress, eustress (beneficial stress), and distress (detrimental stress) using a theoretically-derived model that includes antecedents and outcomes of eustress and distress. We test our model using data from a survey of 525 American teleworkers. Results indicate that job resources (autonomy, managerial support, and technical support), and personal resources (resilience and self-efficacy) affect eustress, while job demands (work overload, social isolation, and resource inadequacies) affect distress. Eustress is positively associated with job and telework satisfaction and negatively associated with telework exhaustion. Distress has the opposite effects. Our findings hold implications for researchers and practitioners.
Employees who are engaged in their jobs will be more committed to the organization,are less often absent, and do not intend to leave the organization (Schaufeli, 2012). Teaching is like any other profession that requires work engagement. The factor that is often used to explain its effect on work engagement are job demands and job resources. Every teachers have to deal with job demands at work and requires job resources to support them. The aims of the study is to determine the effect of job demands and job resources on work engagement. This research was conducted on 184 teachers who teach in elementary school, junior and senior high school. Data was collected by using questionnaire forms of a UWES-9 scale and JDRS scale. The data was analyzed by ordinal regression and the result shows that job demands and job resources did not affect work engagement on teacher.
Soccer players inescapably live under stress during the sportive career, and many real-life aspects of soccer situations operate in the ongoing performance. This study’s main objective was to elaborate the List of Stressors in Professional Indoor and Field Soccer, a self-report instrument designed to measure the impact of 77 soccer situations upon the sport performance. Participants were 138 indoor and field soccer players from the Brazilian Premier League. Each situation was evaluated on a 7-point scale, ranging from the most negative (−3) to the most positive (+3). Data were analyzed according to the players’ perception of the items: distress or eustress and its intensity, and after that, situations perceived as plus −1 and +1 were compared by time in which they were experienced and distributed among five categories established by the literature: Expectations about the Performance, Personal Factors, Competition Aspects, Training Demands, and Relationship with Significant People. Narratives of athletes’ experiences were also used to discuss the results. An Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling using Bi-factorial (BI-ESEM) was employed to assess the factor structure. For the total participants, 49 situations were perceived as distress and 28 as eustress. Using the criteria established a priori, the distribution was among the five categories in the remaining 32 situations. Differences in perception between less and more experienced players were found in 11 situations. The results revealed that Brazilian professional soccer players experience various stressful situations. These events are important representations of environmental demands and could predict the performance as they are perceived as eustress or distress. Some of these stressful situations are inherent in sport and others adjacent to the sports system or environment. Coach pressure to win and conflicts with teammates are examples of stressors in-sport, family problems and disputes with press or fans are examples of stressors external to the team, also called peripheral opponents, and showed the relative social influence of significant others in soccer performance. We can conclude that the knowledge of the direction of a given stress situation has important practical implications in preparing athletes and helping them face the performance stressors that are part of soccer daily life.
This study proposes that self-reported work stress among U.S. managers is differentially related (positively and negatively) to work outcomes depending on the stressors that are being evaluated. Specific hypotheses were derived from this general proposition and tested using a sample of 1,886 U.S. managers and longitudinal data. Regression results indicate that challenge-related self-reported stress is positively related to job satisfaction and negatively related to job search. In contrast, hindrance-related self-reported stress is negatively related to job satisfaction and positively related to job search and turnover. Future research directions are discussed.
We theorize that engagement, conceptualized as the investment of an individual's complete self into a role, provides a more comprehensive explanation of relationships with performance than do well-known concepts that reflect narrower aspects of the individual's self. Results of a study of 245 firefighters and their supervisors supported our hypotheses that engagement mediates relationships between value congruence, perceived organizational support, and core self-evaluations, and two job performance dimensions: task performance and organizational citizenship behavior. Job involvement, job satisfaction, and intrinsic motivation were included as mediators but did not exceed engagement in explaining relationships among the antecedents and performance outcomes.
This article proposes that the variation in perceived job stress by individuals is explained by the interaction between the situational "Other 3" dimensions (locus of control, self-monitoring, and self-efficacy) and the "Big 5" personality traits. Situational stressors primarily impact the "Other 3" dimensions in the general model. The "Other 3" dimensions mediate the stressor-job stress relationship, while the "Big 5" dimensions moderate the "Other 3"-job stress relationship. In the sequential process model, the "Other 3" dimensions and job stress are cross-lagged related to define subsequent variations in the "Other 3" dimensions of personality and job stress. This perspective is consistent with the interactional perspective, wherein personality mediates the relationship of the individual with the environment. We offer several research propositions and conclude with implications for research and practice.
This article examines the plausible interactions and ramifications of chronic and acute stressors in the workplace. Our position is that current organizational change and work stress models inadequately address the subjective experience of employees. We use existing physiological adaptation paradigms as starting points to illuminate the psychological responses to multiple and simultaneous environmental demands. A new framework is developed, the Asynchronous Multiple Overlapping Change (AMOC) model, to account for the complexity of contemporary work settings. We suggest that the net effect of employee response to continuous major and minor organizational changes is a primary contributor to employee resistance to change: The cumulative impact of multiple and sometimes conflicting change initiatives eventually overwhelms cognitive appraisal and coping mechanisms. Other theoretical, empirical, and practical implications of the proposed framework are also discussed.
It is through public reflection that we may create a collective identity as a community of inquiry. But how does public reflection differ from introspection, and how does it contribute to self and organizational learning? In this article, the author uncovers the many traditions which constitute the process of critical reflective practice, as may be practiced as part of a project-based learning experience. After defining the concept, the article illustrates why reflection is fundamental to learning and how it can be brought out in the company of trusted others through dialogue. The article goes on to illuminate the relationships between public reflection and the common good, experience, and time, as well as to characterize the skills associated with reflective practice.
Recent research on reported work stress indicates stress may not always be deleterious for an individual or organization. Research in this area, however, has not yet examined a variety of work outcomes, the mechanism by which stress leads to such outcomes, and the moderators of this effect. The present study hypothesized that two types of reported stress (challenge- and hindrance-related) have a divergent relationship with work outcomes (relating to desirable and undesirable outcomes, respectively) and a similar (positive) relationship with psychological strain. We also hypothesize felt challenge as a mechanism through which challenge stress relates to desirable outcomes and job control as a moderator of the effect. Results from a heterogeneous sample of university staff employees (N=461) supported many of the hypotheses. The two types of stress differentially related to work outcomes yet both positively related to psychological strain. In addition, felt challenge mediated the relationship between challenge-related stress and work outcomes, yet the effect of challenge-related stress did not depend on job control.
Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) provides a holistic model of the learning process and a multilinear model of adult development, both of which are consistent with what we know about how people learn, grow, and develop. The theory is called “Experiential Learning ” to emphasize the central role that experience plays in the learning process, an emphasis that distinguishes ELT from other learning theories. The term “experiential ” is used therefore to differentiate ELT both from cognitive learning theories, which tend to emphasize cognition over affect, and behavioral learning theories that deny any role for subjective experience in the learning process. Another reason the theory is called “experiential ” is its intellectual origins in the experiential works of Dewey, Lewin, and Piaget. Taken together, Dewey’s philosophical pragmatism, Lewin’s social psychology, and Piaget’s cognitivedevelopmental genetic epistemology form a unique perspective on learning and development. (Kolb, 1984). The Experiential Learning Model and Learning Styles
A comprehensive model of work-based learning is illustrated combining explicit and tacit forms of knowing and theory and practice modes of learning at both individual and collective levels. The model is designed to bring together epistemic contributions which are typically studied in isolation. The learning types produced from the model represent processes the intersection of which can contribute to the development of a comprehensive theory for integrating learning and work.
At the individual level, work-based learning might start with conceptualization which provides practitioners with a means to challenge the assumptions underlying their practice. In experimentation, they engage their conceptual knowledge in such a way that it becomes contextualized or grounded. However, within the world of practice, in applying theoretical criteria or advanced analytical techniques, one confronts technical, cultural, moral, and personal idiosyncrasies which defy categorization. Hence, experience is required to reinforce the tacit knowledge acquired in experimentation. In fact, learning acquired through experience, often referred to as implicit learning, is the foundation for tacit knowledge and can be used to solve problems as well as make reasonable decisions about novel situations. Nevertheless, reflection is required to bring the inherent tacit knowledge of experience to the surface. It thus contributes to the reconstruction of meaning.
At the collective level, conceptualization again makes a contribution in informing spontaneous inquiry but is now embedded within the more formal methods of applied science. Scientists seek to describe and explain social reality through the manipulation of theoretical propositions using the rules of hypothetico-deductive logic. The theories of applied science are often not helpful to practitioners, however, unless they are incorporated into practice. This is the purview of action learning wherein real-time experience, especially problems occurring within one's own work setting, constitutes the primary subject matter. As practitioners come together by being involved with one another in action, they may become a community of practice wherein they learn to construct shared understanding amidst confusing and conflicting data. Hence, community of practice returns knowledge back into its context such that groups learn to observe and experiment with their own collective tacit processes in action. Action science is called upon to bring the individuals' and group's mental models, often untested and unexamined, into consciousness. It is a form of “reflection-in-action” which attempts to discover how what one did contributed to an unexpected or expected outcome, taking into account the interplay between theory and practice.
Applications of the model can spur conceptual and practical developments that might lead to a comprehensive theory of work-based learning. The discussion takes up such issues as transition links between learning types, their segmentation by function or process, and implications for epistemology. A sample program, incorporating many of the learning types in the model, is demonstrated. The paper argues that all eight types of learning need to be brought into consideration if learners are to achieve proficiency and become critical while learning at work.
Interest regarding the challenge-hindrance occupational stress model has increased in recent years, however its theoretical foundation has not been tested. Drawing from the transactional theory of stress, this study tests the assumptions made in past research (1) that workload and responsibility are appraised as challenges and role ambiguity and role conflict are appraised as hindrances, and (2) that these appraisals mediate the relationship between these stressors and outcomes (i.e., strains, job dissatisfaction, and turnover intentions). For a sample of 479 employees, we found that although workload, role ambiguity, and role conflict could be appraised primarily as challenges or hindrances, they could also simultaneously be perceived as being both to varying degrees. Support was also found for a model in which primary appraisal partially mediated the stressor-outcome relationship. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Positive psychology is becoming established as a reputable sub-discipline in psychology despite having neglected the role of positive reinforcement in enhancing quality of life. The authors discuss the relevance of positive reinforcement for positive psychology, with implications for broadening the content of organizational behavior management. Specifically, literature in achievement motivation is discussed, and ways to promote success seeking over failure avoiding are entertained.
We propose four alternative predictions regarding the relationship between voluntary turnover and workforce performance and develop the hypothesis that safety and productivity outcomes mediate that relationship. In two intraindustry studies, strong support emerged for curvilinearity: the relationship between voluntary turnover and workforce performance is negative, but it is attenuated as turnover increases. Some modest support for workforce performance as a mediator of the voluntary turnover and financial performance relationship emerged. Implications for organization-level theory and research are addressed.
Responds to comments by A. C. Bohart and T Greening, S. B. Shapiro, G. Bacigalupe, R. Walsh, W. C. Compton, C. L. McLafferty and J. D. Kirylo, N. Abi-Hashem, A. C. Catania, G. K. Lampropoulos, and T. M. Kelley (see records
2002-15384-010,
2002-15384-011,
2002-15384-012,
2002-15384-013,
2002-15384-014,
2002-15384-015,
2002-15384-016,
2002-15384-017,
2002-15384-018, and
2002-15384-019, respectively) on the January 2000, Vol 55(1) special issue of the
American Psychologist dedicated to positive psychology. M. E. P. Seligman and M. Csikszentmihalyi expand on some of the critical themes discussed in the commentaries. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Work is a stressful and effortful activity--and that is not necessarily bad. Stress can be both a positive and a negative, the latter posing serious health risks for individuals and organizations. Positive stress (eustress) is essential to growth, development, and mastery as well as to achieving high levels of performance in a wide range of tasks and activities. The negative side of stress, often known as distress or strain, is accompanied by a variety of health problems and risks. Individuals and organizations pay a price for mismanaged stress, stress that is too intense, too frequent, or too prolonged. Within the last 50 years, organizational researchers have come to understand the effects of stress in the workplace, along with the human and economic costs associated with distress and strain at work. Safeguarding the health of executives, managers, and employees is a first line of defense for organizations to ensure strength while guarding against distress and strain. We suggest that self-reliance is an essential skill for the new age of anxiety. Organizational cultures that place value on cooperation, collegiality, and mutual support create workplaces that are stronger and more resilient in ensuring the health, vitality, and productivity of their employees. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Despite widespread public appeals, the evidence base linking worker health to workplace flexibility remains weak. The goal of this study was to improve understanding of the potential health benefit of promoting schedule flexibility at work. Using data from several businesses across a variety of industries (N = 19,704), this study tested hypothesized associations among employee participation in formal flexible work arrangements, perceived flexibility, and stress and burnout. Results indicated that stress and burnout was lower among workers engaged in all types of formal flexible arrangements, and that 30-50% of observed differences between workers engaged in flextime (either alone or combined with compressed workweeks) and those not engaged in a formal arrangement were explained by perceived flexibility. Evidence also indicated that the generally beneficial effect of schedule flexibility differs by gender and the employment arrangement of a worker's spouse or partner. This study provides clear support for advocates' calls for employers to expand flexible arrangements, particularly flextime. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This overview shows that organizations adopt a variety of programs to prevent and manage stress at various levels of the organization. Programs vary widely in their objectives, structure, and target groups, and there is some skepticism regarding the practicality of using off-the-peg programs that have been developed without considering specific organizational requirements. Organizational policies to sustain and develop employee health and well-being must involve the development of strategies that comprehensively address health and safety issues. These strategies should comprise plans to prevent and manage stress, support individual and organizational needs, and be continually evaluated and reviewed. A framework is presented for developing a comprehensive approach to stress prevention and management in the workplace, encompassing the identification, implementation, and evaluation of bespoke intervention programs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Occupational role stress has received increased attention in recent years. However, there have been few systematic efforts to review potential moderators of the role stress–strain relationship. The few narrative reviews that do exist conclude that the evidence for individual difference moderators is mixed and inconclusive. The purpose of this review was to utilize meta-analysis to determine whether intolerance of ambiguity represents a significant vulnerability factor in the role stress–strain relationship. Results indicated that intolerance of ambiguity does moderate the impact of role ambiguity. The implications of this finding for future job stress research and stress management programs are discussed.
Conventional wisdom in the field of management emphasizes the reduction of stress in the workplace. Although the authors of this chapter recognize the demonstrated destructive nature of negative stress, they argue that the introduction of positive stress has the potential to improve the health and wellbeing for organizations and workers. Five positive pathways through which stress can contribute to building a healthy workplace are explored: strength of character, self‐awareness, power sharing, requisite self‐reliance, and a supportive organizational culture. Following a summary and integration of these five positive pathways, the authors offer essential practical suggestions related to stress interventions which promote healthy organizations and people. Finally, the chapter presents some promising findings from a review of the stress intervention literature.
• Preventive Stress Management in Organizations revises the classic work, Organizational Stress and Preventive Management, which introduced the epidemiological notion of prevention into the domain of organizational stress. The book offers a comprehensive, orderly framework for practicing healthy preventive stress management. The book begins with a panoramic overview of the stress field from its medical and physiological origins in the early 1900s through its psychological elaborations during the second half of the century and its current application and practice in organizations. The authors examine the sources of stress; the psychophysiology of the stress response and individual moderators that condition vulnerability for distress; the psychological, behavioral, and medical forms of individual distress; and the organizational costs of distress. At the heart of the book is a framework for preventive stress management that can be practiced by both organizations and individuals. Specific chapters examine methods and instruments for diagnosing organizational and individual stress; ways to redesign work and improve professional relationships; and methods for managing demands and stressors, altering how one responds to inevitable and necessary demands. Organizational and individual prevention methods are designed to enhance health and performance at work while averting the costs and discomfort of distress. Examples of healthy organizations are illustrated throughout the text, with specific case examples of implementing preventive managements. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved)
• Preventive Stress Management in Organizations revises the classic work, Organizational Stress and Preventive Management, which introduced the epidemiological notion of prevention into the domain of organizational stress. The book offers a comprehensive, orderly framework for practicing healthy preventive stress management. The book begins with a panoramic overview of the stress field from its medical and physiological origins in the early 1900s through its psychological elaborations during the second half of the century and its current application and practice in organizations. The authors examine the sources of stress; the psychophysiology of the stress response and individual moderators that condition vulnerability for distress; the psychological, behavioral, and medical forms of individual distress; and the organizational costs of distress. At the heart of the book is a framework for preventive stress management that can be practiced by both organizations and individuals. Specific chapters examine methods and instruments for diagnosing organizational and individual stress; ways to redesign work and improve professional relationships; and methods for managing demands and stressors, altering how one responds to inevitable and necessary demands. Organizational and individual prevention methods are designed to enhance health and performance at work while averting the costs and discomfort of distress. Examples of healthy organizations are illustrated throughout the text, with specific case examples of implementing preventive managements. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved)
“This is a very important book. It is an essential text for any graduate program in applied industrial and organizational psychology. The First Edition is the best text on the market today, and the Second Edition is a huge improvement. Nice work!” – Bill Attenweiler, Northern Kentucky University Thoroughly updated and revised, this Second Edition is the only book currently on the market to present the most important and commonly used methods in human resource management in such detail. The authors clearly outline how organizations can create programs to improve hiring and training, make jobs safer, provide a satisfying work environment, and help employees to work smarter. Throughout, they provide practical tips on how to conduct a job analysis, often offering anecdotes from their own experiences. New to the Second Edition: New co-author Frederick P. Morgeson's background in business management brings a valuable new perspective and balance to the presentation of material.; Expanded coverage is offered on O*NET, strategic job analysis, competencies and competency modeling, and inaccuracy in job analysis ratings.; New text boxes provide bio sketches of famous names in job analysis to put a personal face on research.; Additional examples and cases illustrate the “how-to” of job analysis in real-life settings. Companion Website! A companion website, offers instructors and students supplemental materials such as course syllabi, examples of data collected as part of a job analysis, task inventory data, the opportunity to practice data analysis, and much more!
Job analysis is the process of discovering the nature of a job. It typically results in an understanding of the work content, such as tasks and duties, understanding what people need to accomplish the job (the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics), and some formal product such as a job description or a test blueprint. Because it forms the foundation of test and criterion development, job analysis is important for personnel selection. The chapter is divided into four main sections. The first section defines terms and addresses issues that commonly arise in job analysis. The second section describes common work-oriented methods of job analysis. The third section presents a taxonomy of knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics along with worker-oriented methods of job analysis. The fourth section describes test validation strategies including conventional test validation, synthetic validation, and judgment-based methods (content validation and setting minimum qualifications), emphasizing the role of job analysis in each. The last section is a chapter summary.
Introduction Too many managers and scholars alike may overlook post-downsizing. There are important considerations in the aftermath of a downsizing event, some of which very much need to be anticipated as the downsizing process begins. These considerations include effects on the organization outcome goals (e.g., surviving versus revitalizing), and effects on individuals. A key question here is: what are the impacts a downsizing climate has on people and their relationship to work? The primary concern of this chapter is the human side of the business and the effects of downsizing on individuals. There are five groups of individuals that are impacted by the downsizing process. These are employees and managers who are downsized and lose their positions as a result (primary casualties) employees who survive the downsizing and remain within the organization (secondary casualties but survivors) managers who orchestrate and execute the downsizing event (secondary casualties but survivors) spouses, family members, and loved ones who have personal, intimate relationships with those who are let go in the downsizing process as well as those employees and managers who remain (secondary casualties) external spectators, care givers, and community members who are witness to the downsizing event and may either have direct or indirect contact with any or all of the above-mentioned groups (tertiary casualties).
This study began with the premise that people can use varying degrees of their selves. physically. cognitively. and emotionally. in work role performances. which has implications for both their work and experi ences. Two qualitative. theory-generating studies of summer camp counselors and members of an architecture firm were conducted to explore the conditions at work in which people personally engage. or express and employ their personal selves. and disengage. or withdraw and defend their personal selves. This article describes and illustrates three psychological conditions-meaningfulness. safety. and availabil ity-and their individual and contextual sources. These psychological conditions are linked to existing theoretical concepts. and directions for future research are described. People occupy roles at work; they are the occupants of the houses that roles provide. These events are relatively well understood; researchers have focused on "role sending" and "receiving" (Katz & Kahn. 1978). role sets (Merton. 1957). role taking and socialization (Van Maanen. 1976), and on how people and their roles shape each other (Graen. 1976). Researchers have given less attention to how people occupy roles to varying degrees-to how fully they are psychologically present during particular moments of role performances. People can use varying degrees of their selves. physically, cognitively, and emotionally. in the roles they perform. even as they main tain the integrity of the boundaries between who they are and the roles they occupy. Presumably, the more people draw on their selves to perform their roles within those boundaries. the more stirring are their performances and the more content they are with the fit of the costumes they don. The research reported here was designed to generate a theoretical frame work within which to understand these "self-in-role" processes and to sug gest directions for future research. My specific concern was the moments in which people bring themselves into or remove themselves from particular task behaviors, My guiding assumption was that people are constantly bring ing in and leaving out various depths of their selves during the course of The guidance and support of David Berg, Richard Hackman, and Seymour Sarason in the research described here are gratefully acknowledged. I also greatly appreciated the personal engagements of this journal's two anonymous reviewers in their roles, as well as the comments on an earlier draft of Tim Hall, Kathy Kram, and Vicky Parker.
This study explores the relationshp between stress and absenteeism with a non-managerial white collar sample (n = 147). Various operationalizations of absence were employed representing, frequency, hours, and length of absence (one day, two day, > two day). Stress was operationalized with variables representing stressors and strain from both work and non-work domains. Results found small but consistent relationships between prior absence (one day, >two day, and total absence) and many of the stress measures (work events, work conditions, life events, life conditions, job satisfaction, strain and negative affect). Two sets of variance were identified from the prior absence measures, short and long-term, that were both related to stress. No relationship was observed between stress and subsequent absence.
This study investigates the dispositional factors related to work stress. Specifically, previous research has demonstrated a relationship between core self-evaluation (CSE) and general life stress. This article extends past research by examining the relationship between CSE and work stress, and includes goal orientation as a potential mediator of this relationship. Learning goal orientation and performance goal orientation are two variables that are salient to HRD scholarship interests. The study results supported the hypothesis that CSE is negatively related to work stress, and that performance-prove goal orientation partially mediates this relationship. Given Russ-Eft's (2001) call for additional research exploring work stress and learning, and a recent meta-analysis exploring the relationship between another core personality trait (psychological capital) and work stress (Avey, Reichard, Luthans, & Mhatre, 2011), the results of this study make an important contribution to our understanding of the relationship between core personality traits and work stress research. Furthermore, managers and executive coaches can use the results of this study to develop interventions designed to address the stress-related problems of individuals and organizations.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine whether hope as a personal resource moderates the relationships between job burnout and frontline bank employees’ in‐role and extra‐role performances.
Design/methodology/approach
Frontline employees of several banks throughout the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus serve as the study setting.
Findings
Results of the study reveal that burnout is significantly related to frontline employees’ in‐role and extra‐role performances and that hope moderates these relationships.
Research limitations/implications
Though common method bias does not appear to be a potential threat to the magnitude of relationships, in future studies using multiple‐informants (e.g. performance data from supervisors or customers) would be useful. In addition, replication studies among front employees in other countries would be beneficial for further generalizations.
Practical implications
Management of the banks should consider the personality traits of the individuals during the selection process. This is important, since hope reduces the detrimental impact of burnout on performance outcomes. Management should also retain employees high in hope, because such employees can create a positive work environment and serve as role models to their colleagues with low hope.
Originality/value
Empirical research in the banks services literature pertaining to the effect of hope on extra‐role performance and hope as a moderator of the impact of burnout on in‐role and extra‐role performances is scarce. Therefore, this study adds to the literature in this research stream by investigating the aforementioned relationships.
The purpose of this study is to understand the interrelationships among employees’ emotional labor, emotional dissonance, job stress, and turnover intent in the foodservice industry. The study was administered to 338 family-style restaurant employees. The results showed that employees’ emotional labor was positively associated with emotional dissonance, job stress, and turnover intent. However, employees’ emotional dissonance did not have a significant, direct impact on turnover intent. In addition, employees’ job stress was positively associated with turnover intent.
Critically reflexive practice embraces subjective understandings of reality as a basis for thinking more critically about the impact of our assumptions, values, and actions on others. Such practice is important to management education, because it helps us understand how we constitute our realities and identities in relational ways and how we can develop more collaborative and responsive ways of managing organizations. This article offers three ways of stimulating critically reflexive practice: (a) an exercise to help students think about the socially constructed nature of reality, (b) a map to help situate reflective and reflexive practice, and (c) an outline and examples of critically reflexive journaling.
Positive psychology is becoming established as a reputable sub-discipline in psychology despite having neglected the role of positive reinforcement in enhancing quality of life. The authors discuss the relevance of positive reinforcement for positive psychology, with implications for broadening the content of organizational behavior management. Specifically, literature in achievement motivation is discussed, and ways to promote success-seeking over failure-avoiding are entertained. (c) 2005 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.
Purpose
The aim of the paper is to present the findings of a definitional review and comparative study of HRD definitions. It also reports the results of comparing and contrasting a synthesis of the “intended purposes” and “processes” constituting these definitions against various definitions and conceptualisations of organisational development (OD) and coaching.
Design/methodology/approach
A targeted literature review was conducted to identify and collate a comprehensive range of HRD, OD, and coaching definitions/conceptualisations. These were then subjected to forms of content and thematic analysis in search of similarities and differences.
Findings
The literature review has revealed many “contradictions”, “confusions” and “controversies” concerning the identity of HRD. Results from the definitional review suggest two or more of four synthesised “core purposes” of HRD are embedded explicitly or implicitly within the respective HRD definitions examined. Furthermore, these HRD “core purposes” and “processes” are virtually the same as those associated with OD and coaching
Research limitations/implications
The definitions used in the study were limited to those that define HRD practice at the individual, group and organisational level, and are based on conventional and predominantly western conceptualisations. A challenge and dilemma arising from our findings bring into question the notion of HRD, OD, and coaching as unique and distinct fields of study and practice. Rather, the evidence implies there may be a compelling logic for these three fields to converge into a unified disciplinary domain concerned with “people and organisation development”.
Originality/value
The paper is particularly relevant for scholars interested in HRD theorising and/or developing HRD theories on the basis of empirical evidence. This is because they need to know whether the foci of their studies lie inside or outside the boundaries between HRD and other related domains. It may also be of interest to practitioners who wish to identify themselves as HRD professionals, as opposed to OD or coaching professionals.
Drawing from hope theory as used in the emerging positive psychology and positive organizational behavior movement, this article for the first time examines the role that hope may play in effective human resource development (HRD). Hope is first conceptually defined as being both dispositional or traitlike and—important to HRD—developmental or statelike; next, the validity of its measures is reviewed; and then it is theoretically differenti ated from the closely related positive concepts of optimism and self-efficacy, and its role in goal setting and empowerment is explored. Next, findings from the initial research in the workplace are presented that indicate a positive relationship between hope levels of both managers and associates and performance. The article concludes by first examining the implications that hope has for HRD, including specific guidelines for how hope can be implemented through training programs and organization development, and finally noting needed future directions.
The focus of this paper is on the nature of the linguistically based skills that are generally thought to be significant at an intra-personal, interpersonal and organizational level of analysis (e.g. communication, teamwork, decision making, critical thinking). The aim is to develop a dialogical account of skill and skilled activity by drawing on ethnomethodology, activity theory and social constructionism. The paper starts by outlining mainstream cognitive and social psychological accounts of skill and skilled activity, and discussing the main problems associated with these accounts. Following this, the dialogical approach is described and put forward as an alternative to mainstream accounts. In the dialogical approach, there is a particular emphasis on the narrative and non-narrative aspects of skill and skilled activity. Implications for organizational practice and teaching practice are then drawn, and these are followed by concluding comments on possible future avenues of research.
The relationships between health and job performance problems have received increased attention in business and scientific communities. This paper attempts to synthesize theoretical and empirical work in this arena. First, the theoretical links between health and work performance are presented. This is followed by a meta-analysis of the relations between psychological, physical, and behavioural health variables and work performance criteria. Meta-analytic results from 111 independent samples obtained from a search of the literature indicate that psychological health, in the form of psychological well-being, depression, general anxiety, and life satisfaction, is a moderate-to-strong correlate of work performance. Associations between physical health, particularly somatic complaints and hypertension, and performance were weak-to-moderate. Regarding health behaviour, alcohol consumption, and smoking were weakly and sleep problems moderately associated with performance problems. Effect sizes sometimes differed across performance dimensions and data sources. The results are consistent with the notion that ill-health is associated with substantial reductions in work performance. This implies that interventions to improve health may have an impact on performance. However, as most of the research in this area has been cross-sectional, more longitudinal research is needed to test theoretical and alternative causal explanations for the relations summarized in this review.
Simply knowing the range of possible preventive stress management methods does not necessarily lead to effective prevention of distress. This chapter reviews preventive stress management programs (organizational/individual) and presents a framework for the implementation of such programs. At the organizational level, management training programs for all levels of management, organizational development activities, internal or external consultants, and ad hoc task forces can be useful in introducing preventive stress management activities. At the individual level, medical or health departments, stress management programs, fitness programs, and comprehensive health promotion programs can each be vehicles for bringing individual stress management techniques into the organization. Implementing preventive stress management in an organization requires (a) organizational stress diagnosis, (b) planning for prevention, (c) organizational and individual action, and (d) outcome evaluation. These functions form an iterative model for implementing preventive stress management that is intended to foster continuing growth and development of the organization and the individuals within it. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The theory of preventive stress management (TPSM) has contributed to theoretical understanding, empirical exploration and organizational practices since its introduction in 1979. This paper describes the theoretical concepts contained in the theory, reviews the empirical findings based on the theory and outlines the organizational practices associated with the application of the theory. Special attention is given to the contribution of the three principal authors associated with the theory as well as the work of their key collaborators. The impact of the theory is evaluated and discussed. Opportunities for future research based on the TPSM are offered. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.