Increased Job Demands Research Articles

Relationship Between Musculoskeletal Disorders, Job Demands, and Burnout Among Emergency Nurses

Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) represent one of the most common occupational problems in nursing. MSDs can negatively impact one's quality of life. The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between MSDs, job demands, and burnout among emergency nurses. The researchers hypothesized that increased job demands were associated with more MSDs and consequently higher levels of burnout. The study was conducted on a convenience sample of 58 nurses working in the emergency departments of Zagazig University Hospital and Al-Ahrar, Hospital Egypt from October to December 2010, using a cross-sectional analytic design. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire that included the Standardized Nordic Questionnaire, the Job Content Questionnaire, and the Maslach Burnout Inventory. The results revealed that 32.8% of the nurses were overweight and 17.2% were obese. The most common sites of pain were the neck (67.2%), shoulder (65.5%), and lower back (63.8%). Lower back pain was the most common site affected (72.4%) with a mean 5.1 on a scale ranging from 0 to 13. A positive correlation existed between the scores of job demand and burnout (r = 0.340, p < 0.01), and the number of reported MSDs with the score of job demand (r = 0.33, p < 0.05). Multiple linear stepwise regression analysis identified the score of job demand and the severity of lower back pain as positive independent predictors of the burnout whereas the job demand score was the independent predictor of the number of MSDs. This study documents an increased prevalence of MSDs among emergency nurses, as predicted by increased job demand and associated with a higher level of burnout. Hence, it is important for hospital and nursing administrators to address the factors contributing to job stress and burnout, with emphasis on job satisfaction and work organization to alleviate the burden of psychosocial factors in this setting.

Trends in cause specific mortality across occupations in Japanese men of working age during period of economic stagnation, 1980-2005: retrospective cohort study

Objective To assess the temporal trends in occupation specific all causes and cause specific mortality in Japan between 1980 and 2005.Design Longitudinal analysis of individual death certificates by last occupation...

Job satisfaction and quality management: an empirical analysis

PurposeQuality management requires increasing employee involvement that could empower employees, leading to employee and customer satisfaction. Although the literature describes a picture of increasing job demands and work intensification, the evidence of an association between employee job satisfaction and quality management remains mixed and narrow. The purpose of this paper is to investigate this link in the wider economy, and address the roles of human resource management practices that target direct employee participation (job enrichment and high involvement management) in this relationship.Design/methodology/approachThe Workplace Employment Relations Survey of 2004 (WERS2004) provides information on British workplaces including the use of specific quality and human resource management practices, employees' job satisfaction and other outcomes. Latent variable analysis identifies employers' approaches to quality management, job enrichment and high involvement management. Workplace‐level regression analyses illustrate the link between job satisfaction and various desired organizational outcomes. Hierarchical two‐level regression models are used to assess the link between quality management at workplaces and employee job satisfaction.FindingsAlthough job satisfaction is positively associated with desired workplace outcomes (organizational commitment, productivity and quality), no significant link between quality management and employee job satisfaction is found. By contrast, a positive association between job enrichment and job satisfaction is confirmed, which may be weakened in the presence of quality management.Practical implicationsGiven the potential impact of job satisfaction on organizational outcomes, job enrichment features should not be neglected when designing jobs so that an effective quality management strategy can be in place. Some weak positive association between high involvement and quality managements with perceived job demands is also observed, and this should be further investigated in more detailed studies of employee well‐being.Originality/valueThis is a large empirical study on an economy‐wide sample of workplaces and their employees.

Team design and stress: A multilevel analysis

Using a sample of 1708 team members in 292 team-based establishments, we examine the relationship between team member stress, and team autonomy in the form of team decision making, team leader appointment, and team responsibility. We also examine the relationship between stress, and intrateam interdependence in the form of team member interdependency and team-based job rotation. We further examine whether the relationships between team design and stress are mediated by team member job demands and job control. We find that an increase in job demands indirectly mediates the positive relationships between team decision making and team responsibility, and stress. We also find that a decrease in job demands indirectly mediates the negative relationship between team-based job rotation and stress. Our results suggest that the optimal design of a team, with respect to stress, is a team that has a low degree of autonomy and a high degree of intrateam interdependence.

Physical and psychosocial ergonomic risk factors for low back pain in automobile manufacturing workers

ObjectivesTo examine the association between ergonomic physical and psychosocial exposures and the risk of prevalent and incident low back pain (LBP) in a longitudinal cohort of automobile manufacturing workers.MethodsErgonomic exposure...

Mediating effects of emotional exhaustion on the relationship between job demand–control model and mental health.

This study attempted to investigate the role of emotional exhaustion as a mediator on the relationship between job demands-control (JDC) model and mental health. Three-wave data from 297 employees were collected. The results showed that job demands were positively related to emotional exhaustion, and increasing job demands will increase the level of emotional exhaustion. Job control was negatively associated with emotional exhaustion; therefore, increasing job control will decrease the level of emotional exhaustion. Emotional exhaustion was negatively related to mental health. Emotional exhaustion fully mediated the relationship between job demands and mental health, and partially mediated the positive relationship between job control and mental health. In addition, job control was positively associated with mental health directly. The remarkable finding of the present study was that emotional exhaustion served as the key mediator between the JDC model and mental health. Theoretical and managerial implications and limitations were discussed.

Reducing the negative effects of stress in teams through cross-training: A job demands-resources model.

The purpose of this study was to utilize the job demands-resources model to examine the direct and interactive effects of job demands and cross-training on cognitive, behavioral, and affective outcomes in teams. Results from 54 teams indicated that an increase in job demands reduced mental model accuracy and information allocation and increased tension among team members. Cross-training, on the other hand, increased mental model accuracy and decreased tension among team members. More importantly, the direct effects of cross-training were qualified by the interaction. When job demands were high, cross-trained teams evidenced higher mental model accuracy, more information allocation, and less tension than teams that were not cross-trained. Cross-training was less influential when job demands were low, indicating that crosstraining acted as a resource to buffer the negative impact of job demands in teams.

Breaking through the loss cycle of burnout: The role of motivation

We aimed to study burnout as a process that develops over time. On the basis of the Conservation of Resources theory (Hobfoll, 2002), we tested whether burnout induces a loss cycle, depleting resources, and enhancing demands. In addition, we investigated whether intrinsic job motivation and externally regulated job motivation attenuated or aggravated this loss cycle. Using a sample of 352 employees who answered online questionnaires in 2005 and 2007, we found that baseline burnout predicted future burnout that results from an increase in job demands (e.g., work overload) and a decrease in job resources (e.g., social support, information). Furthermore, external regulation aggravated the positive relationship between baseline burnout and demand accumulation. Intrinsic motivation attenuated the positive relationship between baseline burnout and resource loss. We conclude that intrinsic motivation is an important factor enabling employees to break through the negative cycle of burnout.

De combinatie van werk en studie

The combination of work and study The combination of work and study In our modern knowledge economy employees meet growing pressure to acquire new, work related competencies. Estimates indicate that in 2004 approximately 46% of the Dutch working population participated in education outside the organization. Furthermore, employees are confronted with increasing job demands. Studies show that work pressure is problematic for 32% of the Dutch employees, or 2,2 million people (Houtman, Smulders, &amp; Van den Bossche, 2005). For this group of workers, the combination of work with study might become an exhausting challenge. Using data from 219 employed psychology students of the Dutch Open University, we explore whether too high job demands promote interference problems between work and study (WLI). Also, we investigate to what extent WLI influences personal well-being. Tests of a structural equation model indicated that job demands, i.c. workload, are positively associated with interference problems between work and study (WLI). WLI was positively related to emotional exhaustion and fully mediated the relation between workload and emotional exhaustion. From a policy point of view, these results suggest that employees' well-being might benefit from policy interventions targeted at the facilitation of the combination of work and study (e.g. study leave). At the same time, these interventions might promote the participation of employees in long life learning-activities.

Burnout, work engagement and sense of coherence in female academics in higher-education institutions in South Africa

Orientation: Female academics in higher-education institutions face numerous challenges in the continuously changing landscape of South African higher education. Mergers, increasing job demands, ever-increasing class sizes and role conflict inherent in the female role contribute extensively to the manifestation of stress and burnout in this population group.Research purpose: This research was conducted from a salutogenic paradigm, seeking to find ways of avoiding the negative consequences of burnout and contributing towards the positive experience of work engagement for the female academic. The research also explored the effect of the individual academic’s sense of coherence (SOC) on her experience of burnout and work engagement.Research design, approach and method: The research was quantitative in nature. A psychometric instrument was sent to all the permanently employed female academics at Unisa and Tshwane University of Technology (TUT), measuring their levels of burnout, work engagement and SOC. The completed questionnaires were statistically analysed.Main findings: The findings included average levels of burnout, with definite signs that the experience of burnout is on the increase. The cynicism sub-dimension of burnout showed increased levels, work engagement scores were just above average and SOC scores were low.Practical/managerial implications: This article offers a psychological interpretation of the variables in the target group. The article contributes towards the body of research studies conducted from a positive psychological paradigm and, specifically, on the female gender.Contribution/value-add: The main recommendations are that university management needs to take cognisance of the alarming symptoms of burnout present in the population under discussion. Strategies are recommended to address these and to nurture work engagement.

The Use of Modern Information and Communication Systems and Technology and Experienced Stress at Work in Mixed Deaf-Hearing Teams

In this article we look at the use of ICST in two multilingual and deaf/hearing teams in an educational and research environment. We describe how job demands and job control (decision authority level) contribute to feelings of stress among the deaf and the hearing employees. We find that most information is received by all of the team members in writtten Dutch, as well as through the intranet and e-mail, but deaf employees predominantly rely on each other for informal information. Most of the employees feel that they are in control at work and that they fulfill the job demands. A multiple-regression analysis shows that experienced stress is lower as people have more control over their work and as they use Dutch as their first language at work. Experienced stress clearly increases with an experienced increase in job demands. When other factors are kept constant, deafness as such does not contribute to stress.

Work-Induced Changes in Feelings of Mastery

ABSTRACT Past theory and research indicate that conditions of work can have lasting effects on job incumbents. R. A. Karasek and T. Theorell (1990), for example, proposed that workers’ feelings of mastery increase with levels of job demands and job control, and that these effects are mediated by the process of active learning. To test these propositions, 657 school teachers completed scales assessing job demands, control, active learning, and mastery on 2 occasions, 8 months apart. As hypothesized, job control predicted change in mastery, an effect that was mediated by active learning. Job demands had a weaker effect on change in mastery. The demands–mastery relationship was moderated by job control, so that under conditions of high control, but not low control, increasing job demands were associated with gains in mastery. The findings partially support R. A. Karasek and T. Theorell's (1990) predictions regarding the main, interactive, and mediated effects of job conditions on employee mastery.

Factors promoting consistent adherence to safe needle precautions among hospital workers.

To examine organizational factors and occupational characteristics associated with adherence to occupational safety guidelines recommending never recapping needles. Mail surveys were conducted with healthcare workers (HCWs) and infection control professionals (ICPs). The surveys were conducted at all non-federal general hospitals in Iowa, except one tertiary-care hospital. Survey data were linked to annual survey data of the American Hospital Association (AHA). HCWs were sampled from statewide rosters of physicians, nurses, and laboratory workers in Iowa. Eligible HCWs worked in a setting and position in which they were likely to routinely handle needles. ICPs at all hospitals in the state were surveyed. Ninety-nine ICPs responded (79% response rate). AHA data were available for all variables from 84 (85%) of the hospitals. Analyses were based on 1,454 HCWs who identified one of these hospitals as their primary hospital (70% response rate). Analyses were conducted using multiple logistic regression. Positive predictors of consistent adherence included infection control personnel hours per full-time-equivalent employee (odds ratio [OR], 1.03), frequency of standard precautions education (OR, 1.11), facilities providing personal protective equipment (OR, 1.82), facilities using needleless intravenous systems (OR, 1.42), and management support for safety (OR, 1.05). Negative predictors were use of "blood and body fluid precautions" isolation category (OR, 0.74) and increased job demands (OR, 0.90). Healthcare organizations can improve staff safety by investing wisely in educational programs regarding approaches to minimize these risks, providing protective equipment, and eliminating the use of blood and body fluid precautions as an isolation policy.

DO HIGH JOB DEMANDS INCREASE INTRINSIC MOTIVATION OR FATIGUE OR BOTH? THE ROLE OF JOB CONTROL AND JOB SOCIAL SUPPORT.

In this study, we used Karasek’s demand-control-support model to determine whether either job control or job social support or both can reduce signs of fatigue and simultaneously enhance intrinsic motivation among employees facing high job demands. Survey data on 555 nurses suggest that job control in particular reduces fatigue in highly demanding jobs, whereas high levels of instrumental support produce elevated levels of intrinsic motivation, regardless of the level of job control and job demands. In order to become successful or even more successful, today’s work organizations need to maximize the use of their employees’ actual and potential skills. More than ever before, organizations in both the private and public sector are introducing new forms of work and organizational design and management, such as total quality management, lean production, and empowerment (Parker & Wall, 1998). These initiatives may enhance intrinsic motivation and inspire employees to learn and develop the skills they need to meet increasing job demands, but simultaneously the initiatives may raise levels of job strain and other negative healthrelated outcomes among employees, generating significant costs in terms of sickness, lost time, and low productivity (Parker & Sprigg, 1999; Theorell & Karasek, 1996). Building on the demand-controlsupport model (DCS model) developed by Karasek and his associates (Karasek, 1979; Karasek & Theorell, 1990), the present study examines job conditions that minimize job strain and maximize intrinsic motivation in highly demanding jobs. The interaction between job demands and control has been studied frequently with respect to job strain (e.g., Ganster & Fusilier, 1989; Karasek, 1979; Schaubroeck & Merritt, 1997; Theorell & Karasek, 1996; Wall, Jackson, Mullarkey, & Parker, 1996; Xie, 1996), but has been largely neglected with respect to work motivation. Moreover, the role of job social support in the interaction between demands and control has drawn little empirical attention as far as job strain is concerned, and no empirical or theoretical attention with regard to intrinsic motivation (cf. Parker & Sprigg, 1999; Van der Doef & Maes, 1999). The present study contributes substantially to management theory and empirical knowledge by focusing on intrinsic work motivation and, more specifically, by examining the interaction between job demands, job control, and job social support on fatigue and intrinsic motivation simultaneously.

Principal Recruitment in a Reform Environment: Effects of School Achievement and School Level on Applicant Attraction to the Job

Applicant pools for principal vacancies are shrinking nationwide. Increased job demands, including greater accountability on the part of principals for student achievement, are making the job less attractive at a time when many principals from the baby boom generation are retiring. Furthermore, there is little empirical knowledge about factors that affect principal recruitment. This study took place in a state undergoing systemic school reform. Randomly selected assistant principals (n = 189) role-played as job applicants and rated high school principal jobs varied by school student achievement classification (meets goal, progressing, in need of assistance), school location (inner city, suburban, rural), and participant current work assignment (elementary, middle school, high school). The most significant finding, detected by a three-way analysis of variance, was that 64% of the variance in job ratings was accounted for by school achievement, with low performing schools being greatly disadvantaged in recruiting principals. Implications for recruitment practice and research are discussed.

Managerial Tensions

Protecting and nuturing the managerial supervisor is the topic addressed in this paper. The human service system is undergoing dramatic change, as agencies are downsizing, merging, and outsourcing. In this context, employment-at-will, whistle-blowers, and trade unionism for professionals have emerged as issues. Managerial supervisors face serious dilemmas in these situations including the need to provide more support for workers who face increased job demands and job insecurity. Supervisors are also contending with new roles and demands that may conflict with their concept of professional behavior. The paper concludes with suggestions for how organizations can support supervisory managers and staff in this challenging time.

Effect of change in the psychosocial work environment on sickness absence: a seven year follow up of initially healthy employees

STUDY OBJECTIVETo investigate the impact of changes in psychosocial work environment on subsequent sickness absence.DESIGNAnalysis of questionnaire and sickness absence data collected in three time periods: 1990–1991, before the recession;...

Effects of an Ergonomics Intervention among Hospital Billing Department Employees

Background: Work-related musculoskeletal disorders are a frequent problem among office workers. We studied the effects of an ergonomics intervention among employees of a large hospital billing department. Methods: This prospective intervention trial involved employee education sessions on office ergonomics and prevention of musculoskeletal disorders, plus workstation modifications. Results: 115 employees of a hospital billing department participated in the initial program and 59 completed 4-year follow-up questionnaire. The 4-year post-intervention period was marked by decreased risk of OSHA-reportable injury (RR=0.45, 95% CI 0.26-0.78). Total lost days declined from 63.2 to 6.4 per 100 full-time equivalent (FTE). Annual workers' compensation costs declined from $432/FTE to $185/FTE. These improvements were significantly greater than those seen in the hospital as a whole. The proportion of employees with musculoskeletal symptoms declined on short-term follow-up. These changes in injury and cost occurred in the setting of increasing job demands and decreasing job satisfaction. Conclusion: Substantial reductions in work-related musculoskeletal disorders were seen following an ergonomics intervention among office workers.

Recession and Well-Being

In this paper we address two related questions: how much do economic recessions affect the aggregate well-being of a population, and by what means? Using data from the 1973-77 Quality of Employment Panel of full-time workers who experienced the 1974-75 recession (N = 830), we answer these questions by using an analytic procedure that allows us to determine the percentage of total aggregate (mean) change in well-being attributable to various changes in sociodemographic statuses, labor market positions, and job characteristics. Results from this procedure showed significant increases in the mean levels of distress and dissatisfaction for this sample and that the largest percentages of change were accounted for by changes in job characteristics: about 20 percent of the total change in distress and 47 percent of the total change for dissatisfaction. In particular, increased job demands and increasingly inadequate pay made substantial contributions, with the latter alone accounting for a quarter of the total change in dissatisfaction. Unemployment experiences also contributed substantial, but smaller, percentages to the change in distress (10 percent).

The Family Track: Keeping Your Faculties while You Mentor, Nurture, Teach, and Serve

How do the necessities of caring for others deter, benefit, or redefine research and teaching in higher education? What have universities done to recognize the difficulties facing academic parents, single mothers and fathers, graduate students, lesbian and gay couples? What pro-family policies can be enacted during institutional budget crises? At a time when the academy is an ever more demanding arbiter and shaper of the lives of those it employs, The Family Track: Keeping Your Faculties While You Mentor, Nurture, Teach, and Serve discusses the challenges and benefits of balancing a rewarding professional life with the competing needs to nurture children, care for aging parents, and engage in other personal relationships. Here academic women and men explore issues that include biological and tenure clocks, childcare and eldercare, surrogate parenting of students, and increasing job demands. In telling stories about the quality of their lives, they express their hopes, anxieties, difficulties, and personal strategies for maintaining a delicate but achievable balance. Lively, well-written, useful, and persuasive The Family Track reveals much on family roles within the academy and suggests many specific projects and guidelines for Institutional change. -- Judith Kegan Gardiner, editor of Provoking Agents: Gender and Agency in Theory and Practice