In the organizational stress research, the study of psychosocial stress variables greatly increased. More and more, it is necessary that employees interact with colleagues, superiors, but as well in service jobs with customers regulating high emotional and social needs. This paper reports on the latest research on these new stressors and some resources and their effects on the health and well-being, for example, Burn-out. On one hand, various social stressors in the work context are discussed like bullying, conflicts, or organizational injustice. On the other hand, the concept of customer-social stressors and the concept of emotional work. Finally, an outlook on future stress research.
Published in: Arbeit, 13, 278-291. for the German original: http://web.uni-frankfurt.de/fb05/psychologie/Abteil/ABO/forschung/emoarbeit_lit8_e.htm
As well another study on emotional work and effects it has on the psyche:
Emotion work (emotional labour) is defined as emotional regulation required to display organizationally desired emotions by the employees. It has received increased attention because it is relevant in the service industry where social interactions with customers, clients, or patients are a significant part of the job. Empirical studies found equivocal effects on psychological well-being which indicates that emotion work is a multidimensional construct with dimensions having positive and negative health effects. In the present studies, the following aspects of emotion work were differentiated: emotional regulation requirements: (1) the requirement to display positive emotions; (2) the requirement to display negative emotions, (3) the requirement to be sensitive to clients' emotions; (4) emotional dissonance: the expression of emotions that are not felt. Analyses were based on a representative sample (*N* = 184) of service workers and another sample of service workers (*N* = 1158) consisting of call centre agents,hotel and bank employees, and kindergarten teachers. The data showed that emotional dissonance was the stressful aspect of emotion work, whereas the display of positive emotions and sensitivity requirements also had positive effects on personal accomplishment. The requirement to express negative emotions had little effect on burnout. Neuroticism had little impact on the relations between emotion work and burnout.
Published in: European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 15,1-28.
site: http://web.uni-frankfurt.de/fb05/psychologie/Abteil/ABO/forschung/emoarbeit_lit9_e.htm
Since I myself used to work for years in the service industry I know how hard it is to assume a different persona during those horrid working hours. You need to strip yourself of all personality and become the service that you are to incorporate. Your sense of self needs to be completely abandoned and replaced by a smiling, willing doll, not having a life of her own, not having experiences, feelings, likes and dislikes.
Sometimes this transition does not go smoothly or is complete and you will not do your job well or carry load to the place you would call home. You start drinking, taking drugs to simply keep the pain away of denying your own identity for the sake of having a roof over your head and some food in the fridge.
As bad as it gets.But worst of all is the part when you start lying to yourself about all of this and you simply go with the flow and loose your identity in the process of making a living, simply giving up on the idea that it is ever going to change, that there is more to life than waking up, going to work, working a job you despise (without admitting it to yourself even), coming home, zoning out, going back to sleep - just to start the circle over the next morning. No way to hope for better conditions, because your mind is too tired to do anything else. Even a children's book is too hard to handle, too hard to read.
I was lucky in pulling myself out, taking a risk and trying to start over, getting a more prestigious job (with better working conditions). Yet, it pains me that I had wasted a huge part of my life being nothing more than a providing-robot, negligent to my own desires, needs, interests and dreams.
What repercussions will this have on my future health? I don't know. But I believe that the human body is resilient enough to repair most of the damage that is caused by stressors in this regard.
It just makes me wonder, how (in Germany) our economic system (especially the health care system) is affected by these kinds of things... I daresay, I was a lot sicker at the time I was 'killing' myself (emotionally, physically and mentally, double-entendre intended) than I am now. That I am not the only one who suffered through this makes me wonder: How sick our society in general is, because we are treated and in turn treat ourselves in an inhuman way?
Cass
B. wrote:
> Work-related stress can kill, study finds
>
> By Michael KahnTue Jan 22, 8:24 PM ET
>
> LONDON (Reuters) - Work really can kill you, according
> to a study on Wednesday providing the strongest
> evidence yet of how on-the-job stress raises the risk
> of heart disease by disrupting the body's internal
> systems.
>
> The findings from a long-running study involving more
> than 10,000 British civil servants also suggest
> stress-induced biological changes may play a more
> direct role than previously thought, said Tarani
> Chandola, an epidemiologist at University College
> London.
>
> "This is the first large-scale population study
> looking at the effects of stress measured from
> everyday working life on heart disease," said
> Chandola, who led the study. "One of the problems is
> people have been skeptical whether work stress really
> affects a person biologically."
>
> Heart disease is the world's leading cause of death.
> It is caused by fatty deposits that harden and block
> arteries, high blood pressure which damages blood
> vessels, and other factors.
>
> The researchers measured stress among the civil
> servants by asking questions about their job demands
> such as how much control they had at work, how often
> they took breaks, and how pressed for time they were
> during the day.
>
> The team conducted seven surveys over a 12-year period
> and found chronically stressed workers -- people
> determined to be under severe pressure in the first
> two of the surveys -- had a 68 percent higher risk of
> developing heart disease.
>
> The link was strongest among people under 50, Chandola
> said.
>
> "This study adds to the evidence that the work
> stress-coronary heart disease association is causal in
> nature," the researchers wrote in the European Heart
> Journal.
>
> Behavior and biological changes likely explain why
> stress at work causes heart disease, Chandola said.
> For one, stressed workers eat unhealthy food, smoke,
> drink and skip exercise -- all behaviors linked to
> heart disease.
>
> In the study, stressed workers also had lowered heart
> rate variability -- a sign of a poorly-functioning
> weak heart -- and higher-than-normal levels of
> cortisol, a "stress" hormone that provides a burst of
> energy for a fight-or-flight response.
>
> Too much cortisol circulating in the blood stream can
> damage blood vessels and the heart, Chandola said.
>
> "If you are constantly stressed out these biological
> stress systems become abnormal," Chandola said.
>
> (Reporting by Michael Kahn; Editing by Maggie Fox and
> Caroline Drees)
>
>
> http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080123/hl_nm/heart_stress_dc
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>