Key Exam Questions Key Topics That May Appear in the Exam: Behavioral coping Challenge stressors Job performance Emotional support Personal development Work-family conflict Task complexity Transactional theory of stress Job sharing Learning Objectives How does stress affect job performance and organizational commitment? How does the Type A Behavior Pattern influence the stress process? What are the four main types of stressors? What is stress, and how is it related to stressors and strains? What steps can organizations take to manage employee stress?

How do individuals cope with stress?

George is a stockbroker in a leading brokerage firm. Recently, he has been assigned several additional tasks. He begins to consume alcohol to cope with the increasing workload. George also becomes demanding and overly critical of his coworkers and his family. In this example, George is exhibiting ________ strain.

virtual

Type A

hindrance

behavioral

instrumental

Depression, anxiety, and anger reflect ________ strain.

physiological

psychological

behavioral

nonwork

cognitive

Due to time pressure and heavy workload, Dan has developed high blood pressure and has started to show forgetfulness at work and home. These are examples of ________ strains.

physiological and behavioral

psychological and behavioral

physiological and psychological

internal and external

psychological and cognitive

Which if the following is an example of instrumental support?

Talisa complains about her boss to a co-worker in the break room.

Horatio's husband listens to him complain about his workday over dinner.

Odell invites each of his team members to open up to him about their grievances.

Jenny offers to answer phones to give the receptionist a chance to get caught up on his filing.

Uriel stops at the gym at the end of his shift to work out his frustrations by sparring with a boxing partner.

________ is the emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion that results from having to cope with stressful demands on an ongoing basis.

Burnout

Type A behavior pattern

Type B behavior pattern

A stressor

A benign job demand

Raoul owns a furniture moving company. During late spring, especially when the local colleges go on summer break and students move out of the dorms, he finds himself overloaded with work, which often makes him feel irritable and anxious. To calm himself, he often takes time out to go swimming. In this example, the coping strategy that Raoul uses can be classified as

primary appraisal.

cognitive coping.

emotion-focused coping.

Type A coping behavior.

Type B coping behavior.

Looking for the positive in the negative, and avoiding, distancing, and ignoring are examples of

problem-focused cognitive coping strategies.

problem-focused behavior coping strategies.

emotion-focused cognitive coping strategies.

primary cognitive coping strategies.

primary behavior coping strategies.

Alisha and Carolina work at the Flash-Frozen Vegetables factory. The company is short-staffed, and the employees are finding it difficult to meet the daily production requirements. Both Alisha and Carolina are facing time pressures in their respective departments. Alisha decides to work longer hours to meet the deadline, whereas Carolina tries to distance herself from her problems at work by thinking about the positive things in her life. Which of these coping strategies is Carolina utilizing?

social support

problem-focused behavior coping

emotion-focused cognitive coping

instrumental support

behavior coping

Alisha and Carolina work at the Flash-Frozen Vegetables factory. The company is short-staffed, and the employees are finding it difficult to meet the daily production requirements. Both Alisha and Carolina are facing time pressures in their respective departments. Alisha decides to work longer hours to meet the deadline, whereas Carolina tries to distance herself from her problems at work by thinking about the positive things in her life. Which of these coping strategies is Alisha utilizing?

emotion-focused behavior coping

problem-focused behavior coping

emotion-focused cognitive coping

problem-focused cognitive coping

primary cognitive coping

Seeking support and venting anger are examples of which of the following coping strategies?

emotion-focused behavior coping

problem-focused behavior coping

stress-focused cognitive coping

fear-avoidance cognitive coping

problem-focused cognitive coping

Which of the following is an example of problem-focused coping?

Layla meets with her manager to discuss her feelings of failure after her new packaging design was rejected by the marketing department.

When Josiah was unable to find the source of a bug in a smartphone app he was testing, he set that task aside and worked on something else.

In order to meet a pending deadline, Ava chooses to wear noise canceling headphones and set her phone to ring through to voicemail while she focuses on achieving her goal.

Kai reassessed his feelings of inadequacy after being passed over for a promotion and decided to see it as an opportunity to reengage with the job he has rather than the job he wants.

Because Cora was always being asked by her boss to stay late on Fridays to finish last-minute tasks, she elected to take advantage of the company's telecommuting policy and work from home on Fridays instead.

Hector works as an office assistant for a small, five-person software development start-up. Since it is a relatively new company without extensive resources, Hector is constantly having to deal with a lack of supplies and faulty office equipment. While these problems sometimes get him down, the co-owners of the fledgling company are his friends from college, and he looks forward to seeing them every day. In order to offset his frustration with the sometimes inadequate equipment, Hector instead celebrates the fact that he gets to work in a casual environment with friends. Hector's approach is an example of

emotion-focused cognitive coping.

problem-focused cognitive coping.

secondary appraising.

behavioral coping.

strain mitigation.

Kristen attempts to address time pressure by working harder and seeking assistance in devising a strategy for accomplishing the work more efficiently. In the example, Kristen uses

virtual coping.

cognitive-based coping.

problem-focused coping.

Type A coping mechanisms.

organizational coping mechanisms.

Makayla was taking the trash out to the dumpster behind the bakery where she worked when she heard a loud noise. Just around the corner she saw her co-worker Narayan kicking at the brick wall and cursing under his breath. She asked him what was wrong, and he told her that his boss had denied his request for vacation even though it had been approved two months before. Narayan was told that due to the recent layoffs, they would be understaffed for the Thanksgiving holiday, and all previously approved vacation requests had been put on hold. Narayan was upset because this meant he would be unable to attend his cousin's wedding, where he was looking forward to seeing his extended family. Narayan's outburst is an example of ________ coping.

fear-based cognitive

emotion-focused cognitive

problem-focused cognitive

emotion-focused behavioral

problem-focused behavioral

As manager of the accounting department at the Low Price Warehouse, Babette noticed that the cohesion of the collections team was rather low. Each team member was assigned a section of the alphabet, A-D, E-G, etc., and was responsible for calling only those customers within that particular range. In terms of division of labor, this worked well, but it also kept her employees in their own specific bubbles, resulting in few interactions between team members. To address this, Babette instituted mandatory Friday afternoon meetings where she would provide coffee and brownies, and employees would pair up, and each person would present the other's weekly report to the entire group. She felt this would give the entire team a sense of what others were working on and would encourage healthy competition once everyone knew what everyone else's stats were. As soon as she began holding the meetings, one of her best employees, Jermaine, began leaving the office just before the meetings began. He always turned his reports into her before he left, and they were always accurate and well written, but he never showed up at the meetings. When Babette talked to Jermaine about his absences, he sheepishly explained that he had a fear of talking in front of groups. Applying the concepts behind secondary appraisal, how should Babette deal with Jermaine's avoidance issue?

require Jermaine to attend the meetings or be given a formal reprimand

arrange for Jermaine to attend an intensive class on effective public speaking

discontinue the meetings to make sure Jermaine is not uncomfortable around his colleagues

make meeting attendance voluntary and hope that Jermaine will attend when he feels less pressure to do so

allow Jermaine to continue to skip the meetings because in every other way his work performance is exceptional

Which of these is an example of problem-focused coping?

maintaining a positive outlook

talking to a friend to release pent-up emotions

taking time out to listen to some music

seeking the assistance of a supervisor

dwelling on less annoying aspects of the daily events

Which of the following is an example of behavioral coping?

Marcel asks his manager for advice on how to create a spreadsheet to track defective items.

Rocio conceives of a strategy for more efficiently conducting next month's warehouse inventory.

Jenna sits at her desk and daydreams about her upcoming vacation rather than thinking about tomorrow's deadline.

Jean-Baptiste chooses not to worry about his broken office chair and thinks about playing ping-pong on his lunch break.

Efram pumps himself up before making a presentation to the board of directors by visualizing a successful outcome.

Coping strategies can be viewed as either ________ focused.

problem or emotion

behavior or cognition

positively or negatively

work or nonwork

personally or organizationally

Lupe is the assistant editor at the Voice of Today, an online publication. With recent increased readership, the editorial committee had decided to move up the deadline for article submissions to eight hours. This move was not welcomed by the junior writers and editors. Lupe, though unhappy with the decision, faces the problem head on and choses to cope by working faster and harder. This is an example of ________ coping.

emotion-focused behavior

problem-focused behavior

fear-focused cognitive

anxiety-focused cognitive

stress-focused behavior

________ refer(s) to the behaviors and thoughts that people use to manage both the stressful demands that they face and the emotions associated with those stressful demands.

Coping

Cognitive

Hindrances

Institutional

Role overload

Self-motivation and changing priorities are examples of ________ coping strategies.

fear-avoidance behavior

emotion-focused behavior

emotion-focused cognitive

problem-focused cognitive

primary

Stressors can cause gastrointestinal system problems.

A critical factor that determines coping strategy choice is the degree to which people believe that a particular strategy gives them some degree of control over the stressor or how they feel about it.

How does stress affect job performance and organizational commitment?

Attempts to reduce stressors in the workplace are most beneficial when focused on ________ stressors.

cognitive

challenge

hindrance

behavioral

ambiguous

People who experience higher levels of challenge stressors tend to have higher levels of

presenteeism.

hindrance stress.

job performance.

organizational burnout.

psychological distractions.

Some highly motivated individuals come to work even though they are suffering from the physiological, psychological, or behavioral strain caused by stress. This phenomenon, known as ________, can result in reductions in productivity even greater than those resulting from employees who avoid work due to the effects of stress.

presenteeism

insubordination

stress resistance

workplace defiance

organizational commitment

Hindrance stressors have a ________ relationship with organizational commitment.

weak positive

strong negative

strong positive

moderate negative

moderate positive

Which of the following situations demonstrates the connection between hindrance stressors and organizational commitment?

Xander deals with his frustration over his boss showing favoritism to other members of his team by going for runs at lunch.

Hilary's manager constantly makes unreasonable demands that force her to work long hours, and as a result she is looking for another job.

When Oberon learned that a lazy coworker had been given a big raise, Oberon decided to work harder in order to earn a similar raise for himself.

Frida's company cuts costs by not replacing old, worn out equipment, so she is forced to ignore the problems in order to focus on getting her work done.

The psychological pressure Sheila felt as an accountant during tax season led her to form a support group with other people in her department who felt the same way.

Hindrance stressors have a ________ effect on job performance.

high negative

strong negative

strong positive

weak negative

moderately positive

A year ago Niantha was promoted to project manager at FeedTheWorld.com, an online charity organization that facilitates the distribution of out-of-date food from supermarkets and restaurants to homeless shelters and food pantries. In an effort to boost productivity and keep the team engaged and relaxed, Niantha implemented a number of light-hearted strategies such as casual Fridays, Random Theme Mondays, and Pajama Wednesdays. Since there is little client contact at the office, she saw no reason for her team to dress formally, and she wanted them to feel as comfortable as possible in the workplace. In order to keep things her team energized and goal-oriented, she created weekly challenge goals and friendly competition among team members by posting the total amount of food each person managed to reclaim that week. As a result of Niantha's efforts, the team's productivity skyrocketed in the first three months, with multiple members vying to win the week's Biggest Community Helper award. The team got along well, fraternized after hours, and Niantha's vice president applauded her department's improved output. In the past six months, however, productivity has been slipping, and Niantha is puzzled. Looking over her records, she sees that her two best employees, Reggie and Shay, have not missed a single day of work in six months. Niantha did catch Reggie sleeping at his desk once or twice, and Shay recently had a persistent cough. But both of them engage in a friendly rivalry each week as they vie for the top prize, and each seems to respond positively to her demands on their time. Yet, somehow, their overall productivity has ebbed, as has that of the team as a whole. Given what you know about the nature of challenge stressors, how should Niantha address the issue of lost productivity?

by giving Shay and Reggie extra projects each week that require them to stay late or work weekends

by assigning projects to different pairs of employees each week, making sure Reggie and Shay are never on the same team

by allowing Reggie and Shay to choose their own projects each week before handing out assignments to the rest of the team

by making the rest of the team responsible for Shay and Reggie's work output and taking away casual dress privileges if the team fails to meet its goals

by requiring that Reggie and Shay use at least one day of paid time off per month and sending them home if they show up to work visibly sick, tired, or distressed

Challenge stressors have a moderate negative relationship with organizational commitment.

Challenge stressors have a weak positive relationship with job performance.

Hindrance stressors have a strong positive relationship with job performance.

How does the Type A Behavior Pattern influence the stress process?

Which of the following is an example of a Type A Behavior Pattern?

Enrique keeps to himself at office parties, preferring to read a book or wear earbuds rather than talk to anyone.

Natalia comes in late and leaves early, often without asking for permission or notifying her supervisor in advance.

During weekly meetings, Sharona talks over other people and is always in a hurry to get back to her desk and get back to work.

Frederica is an excellent team player, and she never takes credit for her efforts, preferring to see the outcome as the product of a group effort.

Kristoffer is a slow and methodical worker, and he can always be counted on to get his work done with a high degree of accuracy, if not always on time.

Akono is an associate with Wealth Management Partners in Texas. Among various other work commitments, Akono has to compile the annual financial statement for Broadband Express, an important client. It is a job with heavy workload and a short turnaround deadline. Anaya, Akono's colleague, observed this stressful situation and volunteered to assist Akono in meeting the deadline. The support received by Akono can be best described as ________ support.

marginal

physiological

emotional

adaptive

instrumental

A supervisor appears understanding and empathizes with his subordinates when they experience work-related stress. In this example, the supervisor is providing ________ support.

instrumental

emotional

tangible

physiological

cognitive

Charene is a product development manager for Unique Automotive Accessories. When she was first hired, she proved herself to be one of the most productive new employees. Lately, Charene's supervisor, Ivan, has noticed that her productivity is slipping from its previous high point. Whenever Ivan stays late at the office, he sees that Charene is always at her desk, eating take-out, and she is always the first to arrive in the morning. He also observes that her e-mail replies are often time-stamped on the weekend. Ivan decides to hire Charene an assistant to ease her workload and improve her work-life balance. Ivan's approach to alleviating Charene's stressors is an example of

burnout.

cognitive coping.

emotional support.

instrumental support.

organizational cohesion.

Which of these refers to the help people receive that addresses the stressful demand directly?

instrumental support

physiological support

emotional support

psychological support

internal support

The two major types of social support are

financial and literal.

practical and theoretical.

instrumental and emotional.

psychological and cognitive.

behavioral and physiological.

People with the Type A Behavior Pattern are typically

aggressive and competitive.

thoughtful and cooperative.

methodical and precise.

lazy and unproductive.

cautious and insecure.

Instrumental support refers to the help people receive that can be used to address the stressful demand directly.

Social support refers to the help that people receive when they are confronted with stressful demands.

What are the four main types of stressors?

Activities including participation in formal education programs, music lessons, sports-related training, hobby-related self-education, and volunteer work are examples of

virtual learning.

financial uncertainty.

work-family conflict.

family time demands.

personal development.

Which of these is a nonwork challenge stressor?

role overload

time pressure

role ambiguity

a positive life event

financial uncertainty

Which of the following is a nonwork hindrance stressor?

family time demands

a positive life event

personal development

time pressure

financial uncertainty

According to research, which of the following is considered the most stressful life event?

divorce

jail term

pregnancy

death of a spouse

change in occupation

Work-family conflict is a type of ________ stressor.

nonwork hindrance

primary work challenge

nonwork challenge

work hindrance

job enrichment

Beth is a senior accountant at The American Bank. Her job profile includes preparing monthly financial statements, getting high-net-worth individuals to invest in the bank, and dealing with people who want loans above $30,000. Her work involves a lot of paperwork and she frequently travels to meet clients. The end of each month is especially busy because Beth has to check the audit reports as well. Unable to handle the pressure, Beth speaks to her boss and asks to be given an assistant. This is an example of

daily hassles.

time pressure.

role overload.

work complexity.

a negative life event.

________ refers to the nature of the obligations that a person has toward others.

Job capability

Time pressure

Work complexity

Role conflict

Work responsibility

Which of the following refers to the degree to which the requirements of the work-in terms of knowledge, skills, and abilities-tax or exceed the capabilities of the person who is responsible for performing the work?

work responsibility

time pressure

work complexity

role conflict

a negative life event

Which of the following is a work challenge stressor?

work complexity

a positive life event

role overload

a negative life event

role ambiguity

Which of the following reflect(s) the relatively minor routine demands that get in the way of accomplishing the things that we really want to accomplish?

family time demands

daily hassles

personal development

positive life events

negative life events

Gregor has worked in software quality assurance for three years, but is looking for opportunities at other companies as a means to increase his salary and gain responsibility. To prepare for his interview for a software engineer position, he studies programming in his spare time and asks friends who are already programmers for interview tips. Despite his relative lack of experience, he is thrilled when the human resources manager for the new company calls to tell him he has been hired. Although he is eager to please his new boss, he gets nervous when his first assignment requires him to implement a new user interface feature in a programming language he is not very familiar with. While feeling a bit anxious about his ability to complete the task, he uses online tutorials and asks for guidance from co-workers to help him achieve his goal. He has to work late for three nights, but by the end of the week, he is proud to have accomplished the task successfully and have learned new skills in the process. Gregor's path to success is an example of

work responsibility.

work complexity.

role ambiguity.

time pressure.

role overload.

Meilla is the vice president of marketing at a medical supply company. In a typical work week, she is required to attend three departmental meetings, prepare progress reports, sit in on job interviews for other departments, have one-on-one meetings with each of her five managers, and travel to a satellite location where mock-ups of new products are photographed for catalogs. Most weeks, Meilla puts in more than 70 hours at the office, and she often responds to e-mails while watching movies at home on the weekends. Despite this, she finds herself falling behind. Meilla's experience is an example of

a lack of information about what needs to be done to accomplish her tasks.

competing expectations from different departments about her job duties.

the number of role demands placed on her being too high.

the requirements of the job exceeding her capabilities.

having too many nonwork obligations.

________ refer(s) to the lack of information regarding what needs to be done in a role, as well as unpredictability regarding the consequences of performance in that role.

Time pressure

Daily hassles

Role overload

Role ambiguity

Role conflict

Which of these is a work challenge stressor?

time pressure

daily hassles

role overload

role ambiguity

role conflict

Kwame, Rosalinda, and Sven work at Security First Trust and National Reserve, a medium-sized bank with 240 branches in eight states. Kwame works as a teller. Rosalinda works as one of five regional supervisors, each of whom is expected to supervise a team of tellers. Kwame recently received instructions from his supervisor that all tellers will be evaluated on the number of people they assist at their window per day. Serving more customers means higher performance effectiveness. However, Kwame is also expected to follow the bank's number-one goal of customer satisfaction. Rosalinda is facing her own challenges. Two of the regional supervisors suddenly left the bank for other opportunities, resulting in a significant increase in work responsibility and time pressure for Rosalinda and the remaining two supervisors. Just two days before the two regional supervisors quit, the bank hired Sven as a supervisor trainee. With the bank suddenly short-handed, Sven was asked to take up all the responsibilities of a regional supervisor. He has been given very few instructions or guidelines about how things are supposed to be done. Instead, the bank expects him to learn on the job. Rosalinda's stress is related to a

cognitive distortion.

self-serving bias.

nonwork hindrance.

challenge stressor.

performance hindrance.

Kwame, Rosalinda, and Sven work at Security First Trust and National Reserve, a medium-sized bank with 240 branches in eight states. Kwame works as a teller. Rosalinda works as one of five regional supervisors, each of whom is expected to supervise a team of tellers. Kwame recently received instructions from his supervisor that all tellers will be evaluated on the number of people they assist at their window per day. Serving more customers means higher performance effectiveness. However, Kwame is also expected to follow the bank's number-one goal of customer satisfaction. Rosalinda is facing her own challenges. Two of the regional supervisors suddenly left the bank for other opportunities, resulting in a significant increase in work responsibility and time pressure for Rosalinda and the remaining two supervisors. Just two days before the two regional supervisors quit, the bank hired Sven as a supervisor trainee. With the bank suddenly short-handed, Sven was asked to take up all the responsibilities of a regional supervisor. He has been given very few instructions or guidelines about how things are supposed to be done. Instead, the bank expects him to learn on the job. Sven is encountering stress resulting from

work complexity.

role conflict.

role ambiguity.

negative life events.

daily hassles.

Kwame, Rosalinda, and Sven work at Security First Trust and National Reserve, a medium-sized bank with 240 branches in eight states. Kwame works as a teller. Rosalinda works as one of five regional supervisors, each of whom is expected to supervise a team of tellers. Kwame recently received instructions from his supervisor that all tellers will be evaluated on the number of people they assist at their window per day. Serving more customers means higher performance effectiveness. However, Kwame is also expected to follow the bank's number-one goal of customer satisfaction. Rosalinda is facing her own challenges. Two of the regional supervisors suddenly left the bank for other opportunities, resulting in a significant increase in work responsibility and time pressure for Rosalinda and the remaining two supervisors. Just two days before the two regional supervisors quit, the bank hired Sven as a supervisor trainee. With the bank suddenly short-handed, Sven was asked to take up all the responsibilities of a regional supervisor. He has been given very few instructions or guidelines about how things are supposed to be done. Instead, the bank expects him to learn on the job. Kwame, unable to meet both types of expectations associated with his role, is facing

role complexity.

role conflict.

role ambiguity.

work responsibility.

work enrichment.

Kwame, Rosalinda, and Sven work at Security First Trust and National Reserve, a medium-sized bank with 240 branches in eight states. Kwame works as a teller. Rosalinda works as one of five regional supervisors, each of whom is expected to supervise a team of tellers. Kwame recently received instructions from his supervisor that all tellers will be evaluated on the number of people they assist at their window per day. Serving more customers means higher performance effectiveness. However, Kwame is also expected to follow the bank's number-one goal of customer satisfaction. Rosalinda is facing her own challenges. Two of the regional supervisors suddenly left the bank for other opportunities, resulting in a significant increase in work responsibility and time pressure for Rosalinda and the remaining two supervisors. Just two days before the two regional supervisors quit, the bank hired Sven as a supervisor trainee. With the bank suddenly short-handed, Sven was asked to take up all the responsibilities of a regional supervisor. He has been given very few instructions or guidelines about how things are supposed to be done. Instead, the bank expects him to learn on the job. Kwame is facing which type of stressor?

work enlargement

work hindrance

work enrichment

work challenge

work complexity

Angela is working as the head of sales at Blue Mountain Cola. Her work requires her to travel extensively and meet customers in various countries. However, Angela's role also requires her to mentor several sales representatives who work under her and keep track of their progress. Because Angela stays away from her office most of the time, she finds it difficult to manage both types of work responsibilities. Angela faces which of the following challenges?

role complexities

role conflict

role penetration

role ambiguity

role enrichment

Alejandro hires Leona as a new sales coordinator at Rainproof Outdoor Gear after the previous coordinator quit unexpectedly. After she completes orientation, Alejandro needs Leona to quickly plan an upcoming sales meeting for all of the company's field sales representatives, who will be gathering at the office in a week to go over the new product line. Despite the fact that her predecessor did little planning for the meeting before she left, Leona wants to make a good impression and begins to prepare the meeting even though she has never planned one before. Three days before the meeting, Alejandro observes Leona in a conference room pacing back and forth and wearing a slightly dazed expression as she shuffles papers around on the table. It is obvious to Alejandro that she is trying to block out meeting rooms for each sales representative group, determine the duration of each presentation, and figure out what kinds of audio-visual equipment will be needed in each room. When he asks if she needs help, Leona smiles and says, Nope! I've got it all under control. However, Alejandro can tell she is struggling to get things right. Based on what you know about the different types of work hindrance stressors, what should Alejandro do?

explain to Leona the basic requirements for the meetings and provide her with the expected times and locations needed for each group presentation

take Leona off the project and give it someone with more experience in planning meetings, allowing Leona to observe and take notes

avoid interfering and let Leona continue to struggle her way through the task so that she profits from learning by doing

step in and plan the meeting himself to ensure that things go smoothly and productivity is not compromised

hire a temp to cover Leona's regular duties so that she has more time to devote to planning the meetings

Family time demands are what type of stressor?

nonwork challenge stressor

nonwork hindrance stressor

work challenge stressor

work hindrance stressor

emotional stressor

________ is a work hindrance stressor that occurs from incompatible demands within a single role that a person may hold.

Time pressure

Daily hassles

Role overload

Role ambiguity

Role conflict

Which of these is a work hindrance stressor?

family time demands

work-family conflict

benign job demands

financial uncertainty

role overload

________ are stressful demands that are perceived as opportunities for learning, growth, and achievement.

Challenge stressors

Daily hassles

Role conflicts

Hindrance stressors

Work-family conflicts

________ are stressful demands that are perceived as hindering progress toward personal accomplishments or goal attainment.

Role stressors

Time pressures

Psychological stressors

Hindrance stressors

Work complexities

________ refers to a work hindrance stressor that occurs when the number of demanding roles a person holds is so high that the person simply cannot perform some or all of the roles very effectively.

Time pressure

Daily hassle

Role overload

Role ambiguity

Role conflict

Family time demands include participation in formal education programs, music lessons, sports-related training, hobby-related self-education, participation in local government, and volunteer work.

Work-family conflict is an example of work hindrance stressor.

Kathleen thought her college studies had prepared her completely for her new job as a restaurant manager. She is completely surprised by the amount of responsibility that has immediately been given to her and the number of skills she is expected to already have. Combined with the amount of pressure she is under to get all the staffing and ordering forms filled out and filed, she is feeling quite stressed. Kathleen is experiencing work-related challenge stress.

Most people appraise situations with high time pressure as rather stressful, and they also tend to appraise these situations as more hindering than challenging.

Role ambiguity is often experienced among new employees who have not been around long enough to receive instructions from supervisors or observe and model the role behaviors of more senior colleagues.

Hindrance stressors often trigger positive emotions such as pride and enthusiasm.

What is stress, and how is it related to stressors and strains?

Which of the following is an example of a strain?

Sylvia leaves her waitressing shift early many days in a row as a result of low customer turnout.

Amrita develops insomnia while trying meet the deadline to sequencing a new gene.

Dario clocks in late to his retail sales job after a night of partying.

Vandaya works a second job to save up money for college.

Ahmed sits alone on his lunch hour and reads a book.

Alberto works as a receptionist for a graphic design firm. His daily job duties include making copies, replying to e-mails, answering phones, and greeting people who enter the office. This suite of tasks, when they are not overly taxing or exceeding his capacity, are called

benign job demands.

primary appraisals.

Type A activities.

stressors.

strains.

________ occurs as people evaluate the significance and the meaning of the stressors they are confronting.

Primary appraisal

Transactional analysis

Cognitive appraisal

Role conflict

Problem-focused appraisal

Judy has just started a new job as a checker at Farmer's Grocery. It is her first job after graduating from high school, and she hopes to save enough money in the first year to be able to move in with her boyfriend. In her first week, she befriends two other new checkers, Silvio and Natasha, and she finds the majority of customers to be polite and sociable. At the end of her first week on the job, she checks the upcoming week's work schedule only to discover that she is scheduled to have Tuesday and Friday off instead of Wednesday and Thursday as she requested. She is disappointed because her boyfriend has Wednesdays and Thursdays off from his job as a waiter, and their conflicting schedules means she will not be able to see him much. The next week, she finds that she has Tuesday and Saturday off, despite once again requesting Wednesday and Thursday off. The week after that, she finds herself feeling anxious about going into the break room because she is reluctant to find out if her days off are again different from what she requested. According to what you know about the transactional theory of stress, what will be the next step Judy takes?

to ignore the problem and see if her boyfriend can get his work schedule changed to match hers

to call in sick on the days she wants to have off and try to pick up extra shifts to make up the difference

to confront her manager and demand that her schedule match the schedule she has requested, or else she will quit

to decide that no job is worth that kind of hassle and immediately look for a new job that offers a more desirable, fixed schedule

to realize the importance of spending time with her boyfriend and understand that a variable work schedule will negatively impact her personal life

When people first encounter stressors, the process of ________ is triggered.

behavioral appraisal

problem-focused appraisal

primary appraisal

emotional venting

critical thinking

The transactional theory of stress deals with

motion-focused behavior coping.

primary and secondary appraisal of stress.

Type A behavior.

instrumental support.

presenteeism.

Which of the following best exemplifies benign job demands?

Carolina's laptop has been crashing at least three times a day, which makes it difficult for her to get all of her work completed.

Rachel has not been given clear instructions on how to prepare month-end financial statements and is worried about doing it wrong.

Anaya teaches third grade, and due to budget cuts, she has been forced to shop for her own school supplies on her own time and with her own money.

Ferdinand, who fills orders for an online pharmacy, has been told he needs to increase both the number of orders he fills per hour and reduce the number of errors he makes.

Gerald works as a shipping clerk at a publisher's warehouse, and although it can be a challenge to load all the pallets onto trucks each day, he takes satisfaction in meeting the afternoon deadline.

Nobuko is a customer service representative at Call Center Central. She thought a job answering phones all day would be easy, and at first it seemed to be. But over time, the large daily call volume and number of angry or aggressive callers made her edgy, and she found herself being short with customers for no reason. She started having muscle spasms and began to get headaches while at work. Nobuko's physical symptoms are examples of

poor decision-making.

personality quirks.

stress reduction.

stressors.

strains.

________ are the negative consequences that occur when demands tax or exceed one's capacity or resources.

Strains.

Daily hassles

Time pressures

Type A behavior

Cognitive pressures

First, the network went down, then the guy in the next cubicle would not stop clearing his throat, and now Delia cannot find a sticky note when she needs one. Delia's head hurts, her shoulders are tense, and her back aches. Which of the following statements is True?

Delia's inability to find a sticky note is a strain, while her headache is a stressor.

The network going down represents a stressor, while Delia's backache is a strain.

The guy clearing his throat is a daily hassle, while Delia's tense shoulders are a work outcome.

The network going down is a work hassle, while Delia's hurting head and back are daily outcomes.

Delia's difficulty finding a sticky note is a primary effects, while her tense shoulders are a secondary outcome.

________ are the particular demands that cause people to experience stress.

Stressors

Type C demands

Strains

Burnouts

Type B demands

Which of the following is defined as a psychological response to demands for which there is something at stake and coping with those demands taxes or exceeds a person's capacity or resources?

stressors

Type A behavior

strains

stress

Type B behavior

When people first encounter stressors, the process of primary appraisal is triggered.

The particular demands that cause people to experience stress are called strains.

What steps can organizations take to manage employee stress?

Mohammed, who managed an IT department at the corporate headquarters of the retail clothing chain Real Cheap Shirts, noticed one of his best technicians, Mia, was often coming in late, and when she was on time, she was distracted and harried. She occasionally ran diagnostic tests on the wrong systems or lost focus when presenting her weekly recap reports to the team. Mohammed asked if something was going on, and Mia admitted that her grandfather, whom she lived with, was showing signs of dementia, and she was trying her best to care for him alone, but it was hard to do that and commit 100 percent to her work duties. Mohammed proposed to alter Mia's work requirements such that she could work whatever hours she wanted to, including some telecommuting from home, as long as she completed her assigned tasks by the end of each week. Mia smiled when she heard this and was grateful that her boss was so understanding. In allowing Mia to have altered work hours, Mohammed was utilizing

cognitive coping.

personal instruction.

supportive practices.

training interventions.

organizational flexibility.

The process by which managers evaluate the nature of the jobs in their organization to determine if high stress levels are an issue is known as a(n)

stress audit.

health check.

time pressure test.

transactional study.

organizational assessment.

A majority of all ________ are attributable to stress-related causes.

firings

doctor visits

violent outbursts

health-care costs

work-related injuries

Veronica is feeling stressed and has asked her manager if there are any supportive practices available to help her. Her manager suggests that since Veronica is interested in environmental issues, she should take advantage of a program that would enable her to take six months away from the company to work on the local reclaim the bay initiative. Veronica's manager is offering her

a sabbatical.

a vacation.

flextime.

a compressed workweek.

a stress challenge.

Which of these techniques attempt(s) to help people appraise and cope with stressors in a more rational manner?

self-hypnosis techniques

relaxation techniques

catharsis

cognitive-behavioral techniques

free association

As an alternative to managing stressors, many organizations teach employees to use ________ to counteract the effects of stressors by engaging in activities that slow the heart rate, breathing rate, and blood pressure.

heuristics

relaxation techniques

emotional suppression

primary performance appraisal

transactional analysis

Indira manages a team of people in the accounting department at Financial Partners, LLP. The company has been in buyout talks with a large competitor for the past few months. As the merger deal nears completion, Indira started noticing a change in her team's conduct. One of the collection agents, Malcolm, is taking longer lunches and often returns reeking of alcohol. She observed Akobo, the accounts receivable supervisor, uncharacteristically lashing out at vendors on the phone. Her own assistant, Marjorie, started nervously tapping her feet and pulling at her hair during meetings. Indira is worried about her team and their well-being. According to the protocols of assessment, which of the following actions will help Indira best understanding her team's issues?

hiring an expert to observe her team as they work and to report on the status of each member

reading through her team's e-mail correspondence to search for clues about their shift in behavior

bringing in a masseuse at lunch time once a week to give free massages to the team members who want them

instituting a program through which high-performing employees mentor lower-performing team members, regardless of seniority

considering what might be causing the issues and having her team members fill out questionnaires asking about the sources of their anxieties

A compressed workweek, telecommuting, on-site child care and flextime are all examples of

training interventions.

supportive practices.

challenge stressors.

primary appraisals.

job sharing.

By providing ________, organizations aim to increase job-related competencies and skills that help employees to cope with stressful demands.

hindrance stressors

benign job demands

training interventions

emotional support

transactional theories

Miranda is in charge of tracking the output quality of recycled aluminum at Reclaimed Metals. When she went on maternity leave, Silas was brought on in a temporary capacity to cover her position during her absence. The department manager, Rochelle, knew that the company's rapid growth had increased Miranda's workload over recent months, and she wanted to ensure Miranda would not have to work overtime upon her return since Miranda would have a new baby at home. In order to allow Miranda to ease back into work upon her return and to account for increased work demands due to future company growth, Rochelle decided to hire Silas permanently to handle the quality assurance responsibilities with Miranda. This arrangement is known as

contracting.

job sharing.

virtual work.

term-time working.

compressed working hours.

Exercise programs are particularly successful because they reduce the types of stressors that employees encounter.

In general, relaxation techniques to reduce strain attempt to help people appraise and cope with stressors in a more rational manner.

Supportive practices are one way of helping employees cope with stressful demands.

Hindrance stressors such as role ambiguity, conflict, and overload not only cause strain but also decrease commitment and job performance.

The first step in managing stress is to assess colleagues in the workplace.

Which of the following statements is True about the effects of stressors?

Hindrance stressors have a strong negative effect on job performance.

Hindrance stressors have a moderate negative effect on organizational commitment.

Challenge stressors have a strong negative relationship with job performance.

Employees who experience higher levels of challenge stressors also tend to have lower levels of job performance.

Challenge stressors have a moderate positive relationship with organizational commitment.

Which of the following statements is True regarding social support?

Social support refers to the support that occurs outside the stress-causing environment.

Social support refers to the level of financial security that an individual receives from government-managed social work programs.

Social support is classified into two types: emotional support and cognitive support.

Most research on social support focuses on the ways that social support buffers the relationship between stressors and strains.

Social support cannot directly influence the stress process.