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Chapter 14 Job Satisfaction, Alienation, and Work-Related Stress

Prepared by Karen D. Hughes, Harvey J. Krahn, and Harleen Padda, University of Alberta

Outline

Job Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction

Work and Alienation

Work and Stress

1. Job Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction

Job Satisfaction

Typically measured in North America through surveys

Standard question

“In general, how satisfied are you with your job?” (p. 418 of text)

Concerns

Percentage of “satisfied” depends on response categories

Behaviours may be a more valid measure (e.g., strikes, quitting, absenteeism)

More probing questions on specific facets of job may be needed

Figure 14.1 Job Satisfaction, Canada, 2016

Age and Job Satisfaction

Older workers more satisfied than younger workers

Individualistic and structural explanations

Aging effect

Cohort

Life-cycle effect

Job effect

Self-selection

Gender and Job Satisfaction

Little difference between men and women in self-reported job satisfaction

Women socialized to expect fewer intrinsic and extrinsic rewards?

Women satisfied with lower-quality jobs?

Types of jobs women hold and roles women have outside the workplace are important

Gender differences in work orientations not as significant

Education and Job Satisfaction

Higher education = better job = more satisfaction?

A human capital explanation

Better educated workers with higher expectations regarding careers?

Job satisfaction “somewhat higher” for highly educated Canadian workers

BUT high- and low-educated, blue-collar workers in same job report similar satisfaction

Underemployment, job insecurity impact job satisfaction?

Work Rewards, Work Orientations, and Job Satisfaction

Most satisfying conditions?

Take into account pay, benefits, promotion opportunities, job security, autonomy, skill use, satisfying social relationships, work organization features, job task design characteristics

Frederick Herzberg: extrinsic & intrinsic rewards

Hygiene factors: pay, supervisory style

Motivators: opportunity to develop skills, make decisions

Example: Arne Kalleberg’s six dimensions of work

Fit or mismatch matters.

Work Orientation: Work–Reward Gap

Gaps between what workers desire and what they get (both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards)

Many Canadian workers report gaps between what they value and have in a job.

Bigger gap on extrinsic features (e.g., income and benefits)

Smaller gap on flexible schedule

Figure 14.2 Availability of Most Important Job Characteristic, Canadian Labour Force, 2015*

Consequences of Job Satisfaction & Dissatisfaction

Why do people stay in “bad” jobs?

Pay, hours, location, coworkers

Difficulty finding another job

Rationalizing coming in late, calling in sick

Overt acts of defiance

Example: theft of company property

Satisfaction and productivity?

Weak relationship

Why?

2. Work and Alienation

Work and Alienation

Alienation: “human condition resulting from an absence of fulfilling work” (p. 430 of text)

Marx’s structural analysis

Alienation from product, others involved in labour process, activity of work, themselves

“Condition of objective powerlessness”

Assumptions

Workers have no control over conditions of work.

Alienation is traced to organization of work under capitalism.

Alienation exists even if workers don’t recognize it.

Social-Psychological Perspectives on Alienation

Melvin Seeman

“Emphasized workers’ feelings of powerlessness, meaninglessness, social isolation, self-estrangement, and normlessness” (p. 430 of text)

Self-identity and mental health

Sources of alienation

Technologies

Bureaucracies

Modern mass society

Alienation of job dissatisfaction?

Richard Sennett on the Corrosion of Character

Loss of order, stability, and routine

Restructuring, flexibility, reliance on nonstandard workers

Loss of individual identities

Conflict between character and experience

“Who in society needs me?”

Attributed to new forms of work organization, less stable divisions of labour

NOT capitalist relations of production

Costos & Fleming: Self-Alienation

Another form of postmodern alienation

Strong feelings that they cannot be themselves at work

Dis-identification

Workers try to separate their more authentic selves away from work from the roles they are required to perform at work

When unsuccessful, they become self-alienated

3. Work and Stress

Work and Stress: Definitions

Work-related stress

Physical and mental symptoms

Difficult to measure independent of job dissatisfaction

Burnout: individual unable to cope with job

Stressors

Objective situations (e.g., noisy work environment)

Events (e.g., dispute with supervisor)

“An individually experienced negative reaction to a job or work environment” (p. 433)

Prevalence of Work-Related Stress (WRS)?

Work-related stress in 2015: “In the past 12 months, how often did you experience stress in your job?”

15% answered, “Always.”

37% answered, “Often.”

Work-related stress in 2010

27% of working adults reported most days “quite”/“extremely” stressful

Both surveys show a sizeable minority of people feel seriously stressed by their work.

Causes & Consequences of Work-Related Stress

Stressors include

job insecurity, exposure to health and safety hazards, working in physically uncomfortable settings, shift work, long hours

organizational restructuring, new management approaches (e.g., Ontario nurses)

supervisors, bullying in the office

sexual harassment and forms of discrimination

Consequences include

physical reactions, mental health

Person–Environment Fit Model I

“Stress results when there is a significant gap between an individual’s needs and abilities and what the job offers, allows, or demands” (Edwards and Shipp, 2007; p. 435 of text).

Example: stress and burnout among social workers and teachers

Considers work orientations

Individualistic focus

How can organizational structures be changed to reduce stress and increase satisfaction?

Person–Environment Fit Model II

“When I worked full-time, I felt very guilty about the children. If they were sick and I went to work, I felt guilty. If I stayed home with them, I felt guilty about work. Part-time work could offer the flexibility that full-time work cannot” (p. 435 of text).

Karasek’s “Demand–Control” Model I

Job demands and worker control

Stressors = job demands

Active and passive jobs

Active: high decision-making potential

Passive: low decision-making potential

High psychological demands + low control = stress (+ potential for physical and psychological ill health)

Karasek’s “Demand–Control” Model II

“They count on high turnover because of the way this business is run, there is a very high burnout level. People burn out quickly because of the stress, because of the pressure, because of the way people are treated, because of the degrading nature of the work” (call-centre worker, p. 437 of text).

Demand–Control Model of Stress

HIGH

LOW

HIGH

Control

Demands

High Strain

High demand,

low control

Source: R. Karasek, Administrative Science Quarterly, 1979

Low Strain

LOW

The “Long Arm of the Job”

Nature of work impacts satisfaction, alienation, stress, and work orientations

Job impacts life away from work

Martin Meissner’s “long arm”

Compensatory leisure hypothesis: people pursue activities away from work that compensate for what is absent in their jobs

Spillover hypothesis: work influences one’s choice of after-work activities

Kohn’s occupational self-direction: work affecting one’s personality and psychological functioning?

Summary of Key Ideas & Concepts

Job satisfaction

Age, gender, education, and job satisfaction

Work rewards

Herzberg’s extrinsic vs. intrinsic rewards

Hygiene factors

Motivators

Kalleberg’s six dimensions of work

Social-psychological perspective on alienation

“Corrosion of character”

Work-related stress

Burnout

Karasek’s demand–control model

Active and passive jobs

Person–environment fit model

“Long arm of the job”

Compensatory and spillover hypotheses

Occupational self-direction