Rob B. Briner

The costs, benefits, and limitations of organizational level stress interventions

Models of organizational stress posit that a number of undesirable employee states and behaviors, such as lower levels of well-being and performance, and higher levels of absence and turnover are caused by organizational stress. It is often suggested that organizational level interventions which aim to reduce stress, such as job redesign, will therefore reduce or eliminate these states and behaviors. This suggestion is, however, based on two unsupportable assertions. The first is that these states and behaviors are caused by organizational stress. While there is some limited evidence for the role of stress, the quality of this evidence is severely compromised by numerous methodological and conceptual problems. The second assertion is that organizational level interventions aimed at changing some of these states and behaviors will actually have an effect, and that these effects will be uniformly positive. However, the available evidence suggests that these interventions often have little or no effect, and where they do have effects, these may be both positive and negative., The implications of this analysis for future work on organizational level stress interventions are discussed. Copyright

A daily diary study of goals and affective well-being at work

We examine whether attainment of goals at work is associated with enhanced affective well-being and whether attainment of personally more important goals has a stronger association with affective well-being. Data were collected from call-centre staff using a daily diary for 2 weeks. Results indicate that daily attainment of work goals is associated with more activated affect measured at the end of the working day. The relationship between attainment of goals and pleasurable affect is stronger where goals are personally more important.

Time Frames for Mood: Relations between Momentary and Generalized Ratings of Affect

A computerized diary method was used to investigate relations between momentary and generalized affect reports. Thirty participants rated current mood at 2-hourly intervals and gave retrospective reports of daily and weekly mood for a 2-week period. Average momentary ratings provided a closer estimate of daily mood than either peak or most recent momentary ratings. Similarly, average daily mood indexes tended to give the best estimates of weekly mood. However, for positive (but not negative) mood, daily reports were consistently higher than average momentary ratings, and weekly reports were consistently higher than average daily ratings. Regression analyses suggested that daily ratings were influenced mainly by average momentary mood but that independent effects of peak and most recent momentary mood were detectable too. Retrospective reports of daily mood were also influenced by current mood. In general, however, memory for affect was rather better than previous research has implied.

Linking work conditions to unpleasant affect: Cognition, categorization and goals

Current approaches to work stress do not address in detail the mental processes by which work events cause unpleasant affect. We propose a cognitive account that incorporates: (1) the distinction between controlled and automatic information processing; (2) the categorization of emotionally relevant stimuli; (3) the role of mental models in coping choice; (4) the enactment of beneficial job conditions through coping; and (5) reciprocal influences between cognition and affect. We conclude by discussing how this account can help explain a range of findings in the work stress literature and how a cognitive approach to work stress informs practice.

Improving stress assessment: Toward an evidence-based approach to organizational stress interventions

There is little evidence to suggest that the stress management interventions (SMIs) used in organizations are necessarily effective nor is it clear why, in principle, they should be. Why then do organizations introduce SMIs? A wide variety of reasons is apparent, many focusing on reducing the presumed costs of stress and the attractiveness of what appears to be a panacea-like intervention. The central aim of this study is to make the case for and outline an evidence-based approach to SMIs in which data gathered from initial assessments are used to make decisions about interventions. Valid assessment requires a relatively sophisticated and comprehensive approach to measurement; designs which permit causal relationships between the phenomena of interest to be established; and a healthy scepticism toward the claims that are made by organizations and individuals about stress. It is argued that an evidence-based approach will lead to advances in theory development and intervention practices.

How do work stress and coping work? Toward a fundamental theoretical reappraisal

The main aim of this paper is to make the case for why a fundamental reappraisal rather than incremental development of work stress and coping theory is required. In order to do this we present, in simplified form, some of the basic tenets of theory in this field. These tenets are questioned and their limitations identified in two ways. The first way is through contrasting the sort of stories that emerge in counselling and psychotherapy about the causes of peoples distress with the simplified accounts found in stress and coping theory. The second way is through a critical examination of the specific ideas that stressors are ‘out there’ in the work environment and that individuals go through a simple process of primary and secondary appraisal when dealing with potentially harmful aspects of the work environment. Drawing on the notion of the employee as an active crafter and shaper of their job and data showing the complex ways in which people make sense of potentially negative work circumstances, we show how these ideas are of very limited value. In conclusion, we suggest that these limitations are so serious that fundamental reappraisal rather than development is required.

Psychological research into the experience of emotion at work: definitely older, but are we any wiser?

A critical evaluation of the organizational psychology research on the experience of emotion at work was undertaken by examining the extent to which research has characteristics appropriate to basic psychological approaches to emotion. Five characteristics were identified covering definitions, use of theory, design, and methods. A range of edited books and peer-reviewed journals were searched to identify relevant research, which was then examined for the expected characteristics. The results revealed relatively few empirical studies about experience of emotion at work and, in most cases, the expected characteristics were found in only around half of the studies. The implications of this for future research are discussed.

Increases in salience of ethnic identity at work: The roles of ethnic assignation and ethnic identification

To better understand how ethnicity is actually experienced within organizations, we examined reported increases in ethnic identity salience at work and responses to such increases. Thirty British black Caribbean graduate employees were interviewed about how and when they experienced their ethnic identity at work. The findings demonstrated that increased salience in ethnic identity was experienced in two key ways: through ‘ethnic assignation’ (a ‘push’ towards ethnic identity) and ‘ethnic identification’ (a ‘pull’ towards ethnic identity). We explore how and when ethnic assignation and ethnic identification occur at work, and their relevance to how workplaces are experienced by this group of minority ethnic employees. The findings suggest the need for further research attention to the dynamic and episodic nature of social identity – including ethnic identity – within organizations, and to the impact of such increases in salience of social identities on behaviour at work.

Exploring ethnicity in organizations

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how ethnicity remains relevant to the workplace experience of minority ethnic graduate employees in contemporary British organizations. Design/methodology/approach – Qualitative interviews were conducted with 30 British Black Caribbean graduate employees drawn from a range of public and private-sector organizations to examine the ways in which they felt their ethnicity impacted on how they experienced their places of work. Template analysis was used to analyse the data. Findings – The paper finds that racial discrimination, social class and ethnic identity were key elements of the way in which ethnicity was experienced by these minority ethnic graduate employees. The paper discusses the differing ways racial discrimination is experienced and conceptualized in contemporary British organizations; and highlights the ways in which social class may play a role in how a group of (largely) working class minority ethnic graduates progress their careers in (largely) middle class organizational environments. Presented for the first time is a theory on the key facets of the ways ethnic identity might be experienced at work. Research limitations/implications – Further research would be required to see if the findings are replicated with graduates from other minority ethnic groups. Practical implications – The paper provides insights into ways in which majority and minority ethnic employees may experience organizations differently. Originality/value – This paper provides some new insights into the role of ethnicity at work. It also attempts to address some of the issues with organizational psychological research on ethnicity at work identified by Kenny and Briner.

Psychological contract ‘breach’: A multiple component perspective to an over-researched construct?

Abstract The majority of studies investigating psychological contract breach ask participants to indicate the degree of unfulfillment of an organizations commitment to its employer obligations. However, very little systematic evidence exists about what participants understand by ‘unfulfillment’. This study sought to investigate this aspect. Using a series of in-depth interviews, results indicate that there are at least five component forms that characterize the general notion of unfulfillment: magnitude, delay, type/form, inequity and reciprocal imbalance. These results warrant a multi-dimensional investigation of contract breach. Implications and limitations are also discussed.