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Stress is a result of a perceived imbalance in one's life (International Labour Organisation, 2019).

1. In 1968, Wayne E. Oates, an American Minister and Psychologist confessed:

2.  ‘I have concluded that I myself have an addiction that is far more socially acceptable than that of the alcoholic's addiction. It is certainly more profitable. Nevertheless, when it comes to being a human being, it can be an addiction as destructive of me as a person as any other addiction. I am addicted to work’ (p. 16).

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Theoretical Concepts of Conservation of Resources Theory

COR theory (Hobfoll, 1998) offers a comprehensive framework for understanding the impact of assessment on emotions and performance by focusing on the resources of individuals and groups (Buchwald, 2003). First, we outline the theoretical principles of COR theory and give more detailed examples of the application of COR theory to educational assessment settings on the individual and group level. Finally, we discuss future directions for integrating COR theory into best-practice models to enhance students' learning development.

According to COR theory, human beings' primary motivation is to build, protect, and foster their resource pools in order to protect the self and the social bonds that support the self. The theory provides a model for preventing resource loss, maintaining existing resources, and gaining resources necessary for engaging in appropriate behaviors. COR theory argues that resources are the key components to determining individuals' appraisals of events as stressful and resources define how individuals are able to cope with stressful situations. As a result of the strong association to broader life conditions, COR theory (see Figure 2) can augment our understanding of stress and coping, particularly in complex learning situations in which students have differential access to resources.

Further, COR theory proposes that those already lacking in resources will be more vulnerable to the experience of loss spirals and those with plenty of resources will have more opportunity for resource gain. Loss spirals, as Hobfoll (1998) explains, occur when resources are expended, and are therefore not available to cope with future-loss threats, thus potentially leading to further loss. Initial loss leaves individuals, groups, and communities more vulnerable to the negative impact of ongoing resource challenges. Those endowed with greater resources will be more resilient, but ongoing resource loss will challenge even richly resource-endowed individuals or groups. Thus, loss spirals are a powerful force that is evident in individuals and communities already lacking resources.

As Figure 2 shows, the processes of resource conservation are a product of both broader life circumstances as well as resource-loss events. Conditions of resource loss tend to lead to further resource loss, sometimes engendering a cyclical process. When losses occur, individuals apply resource-conservation strategies, whereby they utilize resources available to them in order to adapt as successfully as possible. Successful adaptation generates new resources which, in turn, replenish people's resource pools and offset the conditions that produce acute and chronic resource loss. Those with less coping capabilities will have to employ riskier resource protection and gain strategies, which are less likely to yield the results hoped for (Hobfoll, 1998). Unsuccessful strategy employment results in both psychological distress as well as material loss, such as the diminishment of the resources invested. Such unsuccessful loss-prevention strategies further generates secondary resource loss, resulting in loss spirals.

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URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780080448947003043

Conservation of Resources Theory

Conservation of resources (COR) theory examines and describes the nature of psychological stress and its likely consequences. Traditionally, stress theories have concentrated on people's individual appraisals of stressful situations as the determining factor of how much distress they will experience. COR theory states that stress is neither first nor foremost a product of individuals' appraisal of events, but that it has central environmental, social, and cultural bases in terms of the demands on people to acquire and protect the circumstances that ensure their well-being and distance themselves from threats to well-being. COR theory posits that stress emanates from difficulty achieving the common goals toward which members of a culture strive. In this regard, stress is largely culturally determined because most of the major demands placed on people have a shared social context and that culture is a social phenomenon. Through personal experience and learning, people come to recognize what they need in order to affirm the acquisition and ownership of what is important directly, indirectly, and symbolically for success within their culture and for sheer survival. These things that individuals value are called resources.

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URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780123739476000933

Hobfoll's theory of conservation of resources (COR)

Stress is viewed in COR theory as the result of a threat or a loss of resources, rather than in terms of the direct injury or harm to the person (Walter et al., 2008). Resources include things that meet objective needs (such as food, clothing and shelter), personal characteristics (such as self-esteem, knowledge or skills), social support (such as practical or emotional help from family, friends, neighbors or strangers) and services (such as medical or psychological care, law enforcement, schools and stores). COR also defines certain 'conditions' (such as being married or having a job) and 'energies' (such as being well rested, having money or having time available) that increase a person's access to resources as an indirect resource that may be lost or depleted when stressful events occur. COR theory postulates that bodily and psychological stress reactions are based on an inborn survival response that mobilizes the person to take action to regain the lost or reduced resources. COR theory therefore implies that prevention of PTSD must involve helping people to identify and restore or replace the most important resources that have been lost or depleted as the result of a traumatic event. This is an important shift in perspective from focusing on the stress reactions and distress caused by traumatic stressors to addressing losses in people's lives that occur when trauma strikes which, if restored or replaced, can be a source of recovery or resilience. COR theory views prevention programs as an investment in resources that, if effective, will help people and communities to recover or add to other resources that have been lost or temporarily made unavailable by a traumatic event such as a disaster or an encounter with violence.

COR theory has four corollaries that can guide PTSD prevention efforts. The first is that people with the fewest resources to begin with are more adversely affected and less able to regain lost resources in the wake of traumatic events than people with more resources. Second, those who lose the most resources initially during and after a traumatic event will lose even more over time. A third corollary is that people who have the most resources initially are most capable of restoring or gaining resources after a traumatic stressor. The fourth corollary is that people who have the least resources initially will fight to hold onto or defend whatever resources they can keep or find in the aftermath of a traumatic stressor. Therefore, PTSD prevention programs should selectively focus on people and communities who are impoverished or under-served, for example the thousands of low-income families who are displaced from their homes by disasters such as hurricanes, tsunamis or floods. Prevention interventions should be designed to support people in retaining the limited resources that they still possess - such as self-respect, the ability to make their own decisions, treasured personal items, their close relationships - in order to avoid creating unhelpful conflicts between 'helpers' and 'victims' (such as were evident in the 'second disaster' that occurred for people stranded in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina).

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URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780123744623000095

3 Sustainability of Resource Institutions

Perhaps the most critical question about resource institutions is how and under what conditions do they lead to sustainable management and conservation of resource systems. Group size, heterogeneity within groups, migration levels and population change, technological innovation, changing levels of demand for resources, uncertainty and sudden shocks, and cross-scale effects play an important role in determining the sustainability of institutions and resource systems (Keohane and Ostrom 1995). For certain kinds of resources, especially global commons, new institutional mechanisms have emerged to address issues of complexity and heterogenous subpopulations (Haas 1997).

Writings on resilience and adaptive management have generated important insights about the extent to which resource institutions can be sustainable in the long run (Holling 1973). Human institutions perform best when environments are predictable, yet many resource systems are characterized by potentially highly uncertain and variable processes. To date, research on institutions has not incorporated all the lessons learnt in risk-hazard studies on how sudden variations and uncertainty affect resource management needs. In part this is so because a formal theory of resource institutions requires a theory of human behavior that is mathematically rigorous and tractable, withstands empirical testing, and fits into a model of resource systems that can address fluctuations and surprise.

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URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B0080430767041929

Breaks

Unlike intrusions, breaks are planned or unscheduled recesses from work that again interrupt task flow and continuity. Similar to intrusions they stop an individual's work, but unlike intrusions they can be self-induced in order to accommodate personal needs, prescheduled by the individuals or the organization, or naturally and spontaneously occurring when individuals are bored, frustrated, or tired (Jett & George, 2003). Previous research has categorized breaks in different types, and differentiated between physical and psychological activities that permit to relax the body and mind, such as a short walk, listening to music, mind wandering; or social activities such as chatting with coworkers about trivial matters or contacting friends and family through texts, phone calls, or social media.

Both Effort-Recovery Theory (Meijman & Mulder, 1998 ) and Conservation of Resources Theory ( Hobfoll, 1989) consider the importance of breaks during the workday. The first theory posits that sufficient time of recovery is necessary to prevent strain due to negative load reactions, accumulated throughout the workday, in other words the purpose of breaks and recovery time includes the prevention and repair of the negative effects of work stressors. The Conservation of Resources Theory asserts that individuals use various resources for completing work tasks such as time, cognitive attention, physical energy, but they have to replenish those resources during breaks in order to avoid stress (Kim, Park, & Niu, 2017). Thus like intrusions, breaks have both cognitive and affective, and positive and negative effects. Concerning the cognitive effects of breaks, the individual interrupted by a break could lose available time and focus and be disengaged from the task. If the break lasts for a long time it could enhance procrastination (Jett & George, 2003) or reduce activation. Regarding the implications of breaks on affect, Kim et al. (2017) found that relaxation and social activities reduce the effects of work demands on negative affect at the end of the working day, while cognitive activities worsen the effects of work demands on negative affect. The breaks that they considered in the research are spontaneously taken by the employees, because there is not enough evidence to guide organizations and employees for specific or predetermined types of break activities, helpful for momentary recovery (Kim et al., 2017). Despite the negative effects, breaks are usually perceived as beneficial interruptions and they can lead to positive outcomes. They can enhance cognitive stimulation, job satisfaction, emotional well-being, high levels of work performance, and creative output (Csikszentmihalyi, 1975; Jett & George, 2003).

Previous research has found that undemanding tasks that maximize mind wandering may be perceived and experienced as a break and serve to enhance incubation and hence creativity (Baird et al., 2012; Dijksterhuis & Meurs, 2006; Sio & Ormerod, 2009). Similarly, breaks filled with "mindless work" that requires limited amount of cognitive resources and attention permit the subconscious mind to have time for incubation and elaboration of ideas, thus increasing the chance to have a higher creative performance (Csikszentmihalyi & Sawyer, 1995; Elsbach & Hargadon, 2006; Jett & George, 2003). Madjar and Shalley (2008) demonstrated that individuals who can take a break at their own discretion solve more insight problems than those who work continuously on them or those who are interrupted, thus suggesting that breaks could be beneficial for creative problem solving if they are taken discretionally by the individual himself and not imposed by others (Madjar & Shalley, 2008). Eliav and Miron-Spektor (2015) asserted that interruptions force individuals to restart the ideation process thus preventing cognitive exhaustion and triggering a "recovery effect" useful to generate new ideas. They also demonstrated that there is a temporary increase in the number of generated ideas after the occurrence of an interruption. Breaks are usually associated with more positive emotions that may encourage broader categorization and creativity (Beeftink et al., 2008). They also provide many chances for opportunistic assimilation that may cognitively facilitate creativity, thus we believe that when an interruption is perceived as a break, it will facilitate creativity both affectively (through reduced stress and induction of positive emotions) as well as cognitively (through the introduction of new perspectives and information).

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URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B978012813238800005X

4.1 Illness Behavior and the Management of Chronic Disease

Both cognitive and affective processes can be identified as sources of illness behaviors that are inappropriate for disease management. Cognitive factors are visible in individuals with congestive heart failure, i.e., their hearts ejecting less than 40 percent of the blood in the left ventricle to the rest of the body. These patients face episodes of heart failure and death due to the gradual decompensation of heart muscle and accumulation of fluid in the lungs and throughout the body. As their symptoms (fatigue, swollen legs, etc.) are slow to change and are omnipresent, they do not recognize them as indicators of their underlying heart condition. They fail to monitor changes in their symptoms and do not make effective use of available treatments in response to change: they act when facing crises, e.g., inability to breathe.

Another cognitive factor, conservation of resources (Leventhal and Crouch 1997), a strategy that encourages inactivity, appears to be maladaptive for living with many chronic illness. For example, it is associated with increases in pain over a three-year time span in rheumatoid arthritis patients (van Lankveld et al. 2000), and among coronary patients, it encourages inactivity and avoidance of exercise needed for improved cardiac function. A contrasting cognitive factor, belief that a strategy of vigorous engagement is necessary for good health, can lead cardiac and cancer patients to adopt behaviors such as jogging and the use of herbal supplements in order to strengthen the disease fighting capacity of their immune system. Although exercise is effective in reducing risk of mortality (Bijnen et al. 1999) few herbals deliver on their promises for health gains and some generate risk as they may interact adversely with chemotherapies of proven value, and many patients using supplements fail to communicate their use to their physicians.

A wide range of illness behaviors can be instigated by the emotional reactions elicited by the dysfunction and dysphoria of chronic illness. Depression is associated with nonadherence to medical treatment for angina, end-stage renal disease and cancer (DiMatteo et al. 2000), and both high and low levels of anxiety are related to inadequate self-management in patients with severe asthma. Asthmatics low on anxiety fail to take protective action (use of inhalers) to early signs of asthmatic attacks, and asthmatics high on anxiety over-use protective measures and need hospitalization due to the exacerbation of symptoms by fear.

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URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B0080430767038948

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COR theory (Hobfoll, 1998) offers a comprehensive framework for understanding the impact of assessment on emotions and performance by focusing on the resources of individuals and groups (Buchwald, 2003). First, we outline the theoretical principles of COR theory and give more detailed examples of the application of COR theory to educational assessment settings on the individual and group level.

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Burnout is a result of stress and manifests as exhaustion, reduced professional efficacy, cynicism and depersonalisation.

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Burnout is a result of stress and manifests as exhaustion, reduced professional efficacy, cynicism and depersonalisation.

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Burnout is a result of stress and manifests as exhaustion, reduced professional efficacy, cynicism and depersonalisation.

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Everybody has a unique level of psychological capital. That is levels of hope, optimism, efficacy and resilience. Resilience is a buffer against stress. Thus, those with higher levels of resilience can cope with stressful situations better. 

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Everybody has a unique level of psychological capital. That is levels of hope, optimism, efficacy and resilience. Resilience is a buffer against stress. Thus, those with higher levels of resilience can cope with stressful situations better. 

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While stress is readily acknowledged to be a common feature of modern life, defining stress, its causes, symptoms and effects is a very complex matter. It is now widely acknowledged that work-related stress is very common and that it has a high cost in terms of workers' health, absenteeism and lower performance. Although stress is not a disease, it is the first sign of a problem; if the body experiences a continuous strain, stress can cause acute and chronic changes which can provoke long-term damage to systems and organs, particularly if the body cannot rest and recover.

In the longer term, stress can contribute to memory loss, peptic ulcers, inflammatory bowel diseases and musculoskeletal disorders, as well as hypertension and, as a consequence, to the development of heart and cardiovascular diseases. It may also alter immune functions, which may in turn facilitate the development of cancer. Taken together, these disorders are responsible for the great majority of diseases, death, disability and medical care use in most industrialized countries. They are also significant causes of death in developing countries.

Work-related stress is determined by psychosocial hazards found in:

work organization,

work design,

working conditions, and

labour relations.

It emerges when the knowledge and abilities to cope of an individual worker or of a group are not matched with the demands of the job and expectations of the organizational culture of an enterprise. It becomes a risk to health and safety when work exceeding the worker's capacity, resources and ability to cope is prolonged.

Yet it has been proven time and again that effective solutions exist for the prevention of psychosocial risks and work-related stress. The best of these offer a very good return in terms of reduced absenteeism, better health, improved efficiency and productivity, and lower medical and other benefit costs.

In Europe, where regional figures are available, stress is the second most frequently reported work-related health problem; 50-60% of all lost working days are attributed to work-related stress and the number of people suffering from stress-related conditions caused or made worse by work is likely to increase. This represents a huge cost in terms of both human distress and impaired economic performance. In the developing world, in spite of the fact that work-related stress is an issue of growing concern and that a number of studies on work-related stress have been produced, we are still lacking information that could provide national or regional data on the magnitude of the problem and that can influence public policies.

The changing world of work, the economic crisis and recession are making increased demands on workers. Globalization and associated phenomena like fragmentation of the labour market, the demand for flexible contracts, downsizing and outsourcing, the greater need for flexibility in terms of both function and skills, increasing use of temporary contracts, increased job insecurity, higher workload and more pressure, as well as poor work-life balance, all these factors contribute to work-related stress and to the burden of stress around the world, both in industrialized and developing countries.

A comprehensive approach by practitioners, academics and researchers to emerging risks and new patterns of prevention is necessary to face the challenges that a changing world of work is bringing. For the ILO, the key to deal with psychosocial hazards and risks in the workplace is prevention by means of:

implementing collective risk assessment and management measures, as it is done with other workplace hazards;

adopting collective and individual preventive and control measures;

increasing the coping ability of workers by increasing their control over their tasks;

improving organizational communication;

allowing workers' participation in decision making;

building up social support systems for workers within the workplace;

taking into account the interaction between working and living conditions;

enhancing the value placed on safety and health within the organization.

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Psychosocial risks and work-related stress

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While stress is readily acknowledged to be a common feature of modern life, defining stress, its causes, symptoms and effects is a very complex matter. It is now widely acknowledged that work-related stress is very common and that it has a high cost in terms of workers' health, absenteeism and lower performance.

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Psychological Capital (PsyCap) Questionnaire (PCQ-12) (Luthans, Avolio, & Avey, 2007).

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​Hello Members of the Tier People Team! My name is Professor Dr. Jennifer (Jenny) and I will be speaking to you at the team event on Tuesday. In advance, I would like you to complete this short questionnaire. It should take no longer than 5 minutes. I will present the results at the event. All resp…

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References

Avey, J. B. (2014). The Left Side of Psychological Capital. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 21(2), 141–149. https://doi.org/10.1177/1548051813515516

Çavuş, M., & Gökçen, A. (2015). Psychological Capital: Definition, Components and Effects. British Journal of Education, Society & Behavioural Science, 5(3), 244–255. https://doi.org/10.9734/bjesbs/2015/12574

CIPD. (2021). Employee Resilience. https://www.cipd.co.uk/Images/employee-resilience-discussion-report_tcm18-91717.pdf

Feng, Z., Liu, Y., Wang, Z., & Savani, K. (2020, July 21). Research: A Method for Overcoming Implicit Bias When Considering Job Candidates. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2020/07/research-a-method-for-overcoming-implicit-bias-when-considering-job-candidates

Luthans, F., Youssef, C. M., & Avolio, B. J. (2007). Psychological capital : developing the human competitive edge. Oxford University Press.

Nolzen, N. (2018). The concept of psychological capital: a comprehensive review. Management Review Quarterly, 68(3), 237–277. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11301-018-0138-6

Sameer, Y. M., Mohamed, A. A., & Mohamad, M. S. (2019). Antecedents of psychological capital: the role of work design. Journal of Economics and Management, 35, 124–149. https://doi.org/10.22367/jem.2019.35.07

Snyder, C. R., Harris, C., Anderson, J. R., Holleran, S. A., Irving, L. M., Sigmon, S. T., Yoshinobu, L., Gibb, J., Langelle, C., & Harney, P. (1991). The will and the ways: Development and validation of an individual-differences measure of hope. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60(4), 570–585. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.60.4.570

Srivastava, U. R., & Maurya, V. (2017). Organizational and Individual Level Antecedents of Psychological Capital and its Associated Outcomes: Development of a Conceptual Framework. Management and Labour Studies, 42(3), 205–236. https://doi.org/10.1177/0258042x17718739

Tang, J.-J. (2020). Psychological Capital and Entrepreneurship Sustainability. Frontiers in Psychology, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00866

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Understanding Job Burnout - Dr. Christina Maslach