Outline and Evaluate Research Into Work Place Stress

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Outline and evaluate research into work place stress (12 marks) There are a number of sources which causes stress depending on how the individual perceives the demands of the situation with their ability to cope; states the Transactional Model of Stress. One source of stress lies within the workplace. These sources of stress depend on the type of work or enterprise you are looking at. However, there are some stressors which apply to most workers for example, physical environment, work overload, decision latitude (lack of control) and role ambiguity. Physical environment involves space, temperature, lighting and arrangement of an office. Physical stressors make work more difficult, and more energy has to be expended to overcome them. Also, Dewe found that work overload is frequently reported as one of the most stressful aspects of the workplace and a key element in this is the impact long hours have on family life. Role ambiguity occurs either from having no clear guidelines separating one role from another, or ones that are contradictory which can contribute to work-related stress. Role ambiguity will also contribute to other sources of workplace stress such as lack of control, which Marmot et al provides evidence for. Marmot et al. carried out a three year longitudinal study of 3000 Whitehall civil servants, measuring job control and stress-related illness. They found that job control and illness were negatively correlated: as job control decreased, the changes of stress-related illness increased. In fact, people with low job control (type and amount of work decided by others) were four times more likely to die of a heart attack than those with high job control. This finding is further supported by Van der Doef and Maes’ review of research that concluded that a combination of high job demands and low control is associated with an increased chance of heart
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