Organizational Stress: A Review and Critique of Theory, Research, and Applications

Front Cover

This book examines stress in organizational contexts. The authors review the sources and outcomes of job-related stress, the methods used to assess levels and consequences of occupational stress, along with the strategies that might be used by individuals and organizations to confront stress and its associated problems. One chapter is devoted to examining an extreme form of occupational stress--burnout, which has been found to have severe consequences for individuals and their organizations. The book closes with a discussion of scenarios for jobs and work in the new millennium, and the potential sources of stress that these scenarios may generate.

 

Contents

What Is Stress?
1
Overview of Stress Definitions
2
ResponseBased Definitions of Stress
4
StimulusBased Definitions of Stress
8
Shortcomings of Response and Stimulus Definitions
9
Stress as an Interaction
11
Stress as a Transaction
12
Theoretical Models of JobRelated Stress
14
Conclusion
151
Coping With Job Stress
159
Definitions and the Research Context
160
Applying the Transactional Model Within Work Settings
162
Taxonomies of Coping
165
Deductive Versus Inductive Approaches
166
The Role of Coping
169
Assessment and Analysis of Coping
171

ThirdWave Epidemic or Scapegoat?
20
Emerging Themes in Stress Research
21
JobRelated Sources of Strain
27
Intrinsic Job Characteristics
29
Organizational Roles
37
Work Relationships
41
Career Development
43
Organizational Factors
47
The HomeWork Interface
49
Conclusion
52
Assessing JobRelated Strains
61
What About Emotions?
70
Conclusion
72
A Special Form of Strain JobRelated Burnout
79
Definition
81
The Development of Burnout
85
Measurement of Burnout
94
Correlates of Burnout
99
Generalization of Burnout
108
Conclusion
110
Moderators of StressorStrain Relationships
117
PersonalityDispositional Moderators
118
Perceived Control Over the Environment
134
Effects of Social Support on StressorStrain Relationships
140
Refining SelfReport Measures of Coping
173
Analysis of Coping Responses
178
Classification of Coping Strategies
180
Coping Effectiveness
181
Conclusion
183
Organizational 1nterventions
187
A Conceptual Framework for Stress Management Interventions
188
Research on Stress Management Interventions
193
Problems in Evaluating Intervention Effectiveness
197
Guidelines for Evaluation Research
201
Guidelines for 1mplementing SMIs
205
Methodological 1ssues in Job Stress Research
211
Methodological Approaches in Stress Research
213
Where Do We Go From Here?
218
Refining Measures of Stressors Strains and Coping
220
Conclusion
229
The Changing Nature of Work Implications for Stress Research
233
New Forms of Work Arrangements
237
Potential Effects of the New Work Arrangements
239
Agendas for Job Stress Research
246
Some Implications for Methodology
248
Index
255
About the Authors
269
Copyright

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About the author (2001)

Professor Sir Cary Cooper, CBE, is The 50th Anniversary Professor of Organizational Psychology and Health at Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, UK. He is also the President of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, President of the British Academy of Management and President of RELATE (the national relationship charity). He is the author/editor of over 150 books, over 400 scholarly articles and a regular contributor to radio and TV. He was knighted by the Queen in 2014 for his contribution to the social sciences.He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Management (14 volumes), Editor of Who's Who in Management, Editor of the Wiley-Blackwell WELLBEING volumes (six), Founding Editor of the Journal of Organizational Behavior, Founding and Former Chair of the government think tank The Sunningdale Institute and lead scientist on the Government Office for Science Foresight project on Mental Capital and Wellbeing. In 2015 he was voted by HR Magazine as the Most Influential HR Thinker, has been made an Honorary Fellow of the British Psychological Society, Royal College of Physicians, The Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (Occupational Medicine) and many more; and has Honorary Doctorates from a number of universities (eg Sheffield, Bath, Aston, Heriot Watt, Middlesex, Wolverhampton). Michael P. O'Driscoll is Emeritus Professor of Psychology at the University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand, where he taught courses in organizational psychology and organizational research methods for over 35 years. His primary research interests were job stress and coping, including workplace bullying, and work-life balance, and more generally the relationship between work and health. Since his retirement in 2017 he has actively contributed to Grey Power, an organisation which advocates for the health and well-being of older people in New Zealand.