Please answer three questions in essay format

Chapter 14: job Satisfaction, Alienation, and Work-Related Stress

discussed in Chapter 9, see the changes taking place in today's workplace as largely positive, empowering workers and increasing their job satisfaction. Sennett is almost uniformly negative in his assessment of the alienating impact of contemporary work. These divergent perspectives on work experiences raise fundamental questions about whether, compared to earlier generations of workers, today's workers, individually and through their own organizations, are in a better or worse position to negotiate greater control over the labour process. However, as we have concluded a number of times in earlier chapters, there is not a single answer. Instead, increased labour market polarization may mean greater control (and less alienation) among well-paid and empowered "knowledge workers" and professionals, and less control (and more alien-

ation) among poorly paid workers in low-complexity jobs and precarious employment situations.

WORK AND STRESS

If we take a broader work and well-being approach to the subject of how workers experience and react to their jobs, both physical and psychological reactions to work become part of our subject matter. This approach also encourages us to consider how paid work might affect an individual's life in the family and the community. Consequently, workplace health and safety issues, discussed in Chapter 12, are also relevant to discussions of work and well-being, as are concerns about balancing work and family responsibilities (Chapter 7). Here, we look more specifically at work and stress.

Defining Work-Related Stress

Defining work-related stress independent of job dissatisfaction is not easy. In fact, some researchers studying stress and its consequences rely on measures that might, in a different context, be considered indicators of job dissatisfaction. But there are important distinctions to be made between job dissatisfaction, anxiety and tension about work, job stress, and job burnout (Humphrey 1998: 4-9). It is possible to feel dissatisfied with work, perhaps even a little anxious about some aspects of a job, without experiencing a great deal of stress. But work-related stress, with its physical and mental symptoms, can also accumulate to the point of burnout, where an indi- vidual is unable to cope in the job (Maslach and Leiter 1997). It is useful,

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then, to conceive of work-related stress as a many-sided problem with

job dissatisfaction as one component that can lead to serious mental and

physical health problems.

It is also helpful to distinguish stressors, or strains, from an individual worker's reactions to them. Stressors are objective situations (e.g., noisy

work environments or competing job demands) or events (a dispute with a

supervisor or news that some workers are about to be laid off) that have the

potential to produce a negative subjective or physical response. Thus, work-

related stress is an individually experienced negative reaction to a job or work

environment. Obviously, the absence of stress does not imply the presence of job satisfaction. What distinguishes stress reactions are the wide range of ill

health symptoms, both physical and psychological.

The Incidence of Work-Related Stress

In 2000, Statistics Canada's national General Social Survey revealed that

one-third (34o/o) of Canadian workers had experienced stress in the previous

year due to "too many demands or too many hours." Fifteen percent of

the employed survey participants reported stress from "poor interpersonal

relations" (with supervisors or coworkers), and 13 percent had felt stressed because of the risk of accident or injury. The same proportion (13o/o) reported

stress over possible job loss (Williams 2003: 24).

A decade later, in 2010, the General Social Survey included a somewhat

different question about stress. The study showed 27 percent of working adults (ages 20 to 64) stating that, on most days, their lives were "quite stressful" or

"extremely stressful." Sixty-two percent of these highly stressed adults said that work was their main source of stress. In other words, 17 percent of working adults (about 2.3 million people) typically felt highly stressed because of their

job on an almost-daily basis (Crompton 2011). Clearly, work-related stress is

not an isolated phenomenon.

Causes and Consequences of Work-Related Stress

In their study of workers who had lost well-paying manufacturing and

resource-sector jobs in five rural Ontario communities, and who were now

struggling with unemployment or low-paying, part-time service-sector jobs,

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Anthony Winson and Belinda Leach (2002: 127-30) provided graphic

examples of work-related stress. These workers and their families worried

constantly about paying bills, making do with less, losing the family home,

having to rely on food banks, and dealing with medical expenses that used to

be covered by benefits packages.

Work-related stress, however, is not experienced only by low-income

earners. The 2010 national survey discussed earlier revealed that more than

half of the working Canadians feeling highly stressed on an almost-daily

basis because of their work were in management, professional, or technical

occupations, and almost three-quarters were college or university educated (Crompton 2011).

A vast amount of research has drawn our attention to the many different

kinds of stressors in the work environment (Barling, Kelloway, and Frane

2005; Davis et al. 2008). We have already mentioned stress resulting from

concerns about job insecurity. In addition, continual exposure to health and

safety hazards, working in a physically uncomfortable setting, shift work, or

long hours can all be stressors. Similarly, fast-paced work (especially when the

pace is set by a machine), performance-based pay systems that link output

to the amount earned (Ganster et al. 2011), lean production management

approaches that continually push workers to increase output (Carter et

al. 2013), and inadequate resources to complete a task can generate much

stress for workers. The experience of constant organizational restructuring or

increased productivity expectations from managers also causes stress. 15 In a

recent study of Ontario nurses, for example, perceptions of work intensifica-

tion resulting from organizational restructuring led to significantly increased

stress and, in turn, reduced job satisfaction (Zeytinoglu et al. 2007). Working

at tasks that under-utilize one's skills and abilities, that do not meet one's

expectations for the job, or that allow little latitude for decision making

are also stressful for many workers. An unreasonable and overly demanding

supervisor can create a great deal of stress, as can bullying by coworkers or

a supervisor. 16 Finally, workers might experience stress as a result of sexual

harassment or from discrimination in the workplace based on gender, race,

sexual orientation, religion, or disability.

As Chapter 7 documented, equally stressful for some workers, especially

women, are the pressures of meeting family responsibilities while trying to

devote oneself to a job or career (Ergeneli, Ilsev, and Karapinar 201 O) .17

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As one of the young, university-educated women interviewed by Gillian Ranson lamented:

In this job, in this particular job, I don't think I could do justice to the child and I've made the decision that ... either after maternity leave or in the near future, I'm quitting, because it's not fair. I come home, I

can't even talk to my husband because I'm so wound up, stressed out. 18

Research in many different settings has shown that physical reactions to stress can include fatigue, insomnia, muscular aches and pains, ulcers, high blood pressure, and even heart disease. Depression, anxiety, irritation, low self-esteem, and other mental health problems are among the documented psychological reactions to stressful work. 19 Given these widespread and serious physical and mental health consequences, work-related stress is also costly for employers and the economy, since it is associated with reduced productivity, absenteeism, and disability claims (Crompton 2011).

The "Demand-Control" Model of Work-Related Stress

A useful perspective for understanding workplace stress is the demand-control model, which redefines stressors as job demands but also introduces the con- cept of worker control (Karasek 1979).20 It distinguishes between active jobs, where individual decision-making potential is high, and passive jobs, where it is largely absent. If psychological demands on a worker are high, but a worker can do something about them, stress is less likely to result. If demands are high and control is low, stress, along with the health problems that can follow, is far more often the outcome.

From this perspective, we can understand why researchers have repeatedly demonstrated that highly routinized, machine-paced work is extremely stressful. Assembly-line jobs are often considered to be among the most stressful. Demand is never-ending, the physical work can be extremely taxing, and worker control is virtually absent (Landsbergis, Cahill, and Schnall 1999). Earlier, we suggested that instrumental work attitudes may be a coping mechanism the paycheque becomes the only relevant work reward. Some assembly-line workers rely on alcohol or drugs to get through a shift (De Santis 1999: 111-14). Others adapt to assembly-line work by "tuning out" the boredom and waiting for the chance to get away from the job.

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Ben Hamper, better known as "Rivethead," describes how he was introduced

to his new job on a truck-assembly line in Flint, Michigan:

"Until you get it down, your hands will ache, your feet will throb and

your back will feel like it's been steamrolled ... "

''Are there any advantages to working down here?" I asked pitifully.

The guy scratched at his beard. "Well, the exit to the time clocks and

the parking lot is just down these stairs. Come lunchtime or quittin'

time, you can usually get a good jump on the rest of the pack."21

But psychological problems can also arise. Three decades ago, Robert Linhart

described an extreme reaction to the assembly line in a French automobile

factory:

He was fixing parts of a dashboard into place with a screwdriver. Five

screws to fix on each car. That Friday afternoon he must have been

on his five hundredth screw of the day. All at once he began to yell

and rushed at the fenders of the cars brandishing his screwdriver like

a dagger. He lacerated a good ten or so car bodies before a troop of

white and blue coats rushed up and overcame him, dragging him,

panting and gesticulating, to the sick bay.22

Highly routinized, monotonous, mechanized, and closely supervised jobs are

also found in the service industries. A 1980s study of Canada Post mail sorters and letter carriers in Edmonton revealed that the most stressful job in the organi-

zation involved "keying" postal codes using automated machinery. The relentless

pace of the machinery, conflicting demands imposed by management, constant

repetition, and lack of challenges and job autonomy were associated with dimin-

ished mental and physical health among coders. The use of pain relievers and

tranquillizers was significantly higher among the coders using automated tech-

nology compared with those sorting mail by hand (Lowe and Northcott 1986).

The widespread adoption of electronic communications systems in the

contemporary workplace has created some highly rewarding and complex jobs,

but also some new types of work that can be extremely routinized and, hence,

very stressful. Most prominent here are jobs in call centres that require workers

to repeatedly try to contact members of the public, either to sell products or

services or to solicit their opinions on various topics (Chapter 10). The same

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technologies have also increased the scope for electronic surveillance, yet another

new source of stress. This practice might involve monitoring the conversations

of teleworkers and others who deal with the public by telephone, keeping track

of Internet searches made by employees, recording output in settings where

workers use computers or electronic communications systems, and even deliv-

ering electronic warnings to those performing below certain levels. 23

Frederick Taylor would have applauded such high levels of work routiniza-

tion and worker control, but employees do not. A data entry clerk whose work

group had been told that they had not met management productivity goals the

previous week comments:

I feel so pressured, my stomach is in knots. I take tons of aspirin, my

jaws are sore from clenching my teeth, I'm so tired I can't get up in

the morning, and my arm hurts from entering, entering, entering.24

A Canadian call-centre employee describes the workplace in similar terms:

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. 25

It is not difficult to see how such working conditions high demands and

virtually no worker control can be stressful, and can lead to physical and

psychological ill health.

The "Person-Environment Fit" Model

A different theoretical model of work-related stress emphasizes the person-

environment fit. According to this model, stress results when there is a

significant gap between an individual's needs and abilities and what the

job offers, allows, or demands (Johnson 1989). To take a specific example, reports of stress and burnout among social workers, teachers, and nurses are

common. Individuals in these helping professions have work orientations and

expectations (the desire to solve problems and help people) and useful skills

(training in their profession) that are frequently thwarted by the need to deal

with an excessive number of clients, limited resources, and administrative

policies that make it difficult to be effective. 26

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