Chapter 34 - Psychosocial and Organizational Factors.docxVIP专享VIP免费原创优质

Chapter34-PsychosocialandOrganizationalFactorsPSYCHOSOCIALANDORGANIZATIONALFACTORSStevenL.Sauter,JosephJ.HurrellJr.,LawrenceR.MurphyandLennartLeviIn1966,longbeforejobstressandpsychosocialfactorsbecamehouseholdexpressions,aspecialreportentitled撤rotectingtheHealthofEightyMillionWorkers-ANationalGoalforOccupationalHealthwasissuedtotheSurgeonGeneralof�theUnitedStates(USDepartmentofHealthandHumanServices1966).ThereportwaspreparedundertheauspicesoftheNationalAdvisoryEnvironmentalHealthCommitteetoprovidedirectiontoFederalprogrammesinoccupationalhealth.Amongitsmanyobservations,thereportnotedthatpsychologicalstresswasincreasinglyapparentintheworkplace,presenting...newandsubtlethreatstomentalhealth,and��possibleriskofsomaticdisorderssuchascardiovasculardisease.Technologicalchangeandtheincreasingpsychologicaldemandsoftheworkplacewerelistedascontributingfactors.Thereportconcludedwithalistoftwodozen砥rgentproblemsrequiringpriorityattention,includingoccupational�mentalhealthandcontributingworkplacefactors.Thirtyyearslater,thisreporthasprovenremarkablyprophetic.JobstresshasbecomealeadingsourceofworkerdisabilityinNorthAmericaandEurope.In1990,13%ofallworkerdisabilitycaseshandledbyNorthwesternNationalLife,amajorUSunderwriterofworkercompensationclaims,wereduetodisorderswithasuspectedlinktojobstress(NorthwesternNationalLife1991).A1985studybytheNationalCouncilonCompensationInsurancefoundthatonetypeofclaim,involvingpsychologicaldisabilitydueto堵radualmentalstressatwork,�hadgrownto11%ofalloccupationaldiseaseclaims(NationalCouncilonCompensationInsurance1985).**IntheUnitedStates,occupationaldiseaseclaimsaredistinctfrominjuryclaims,whichtendtogreatlyoutnumberdiseaseclaims.Thesedevelopmentsareunderstandableconsideringthedemandsofmodernwork.A1991surveyofEuropeanUnionmembersfoundthat典heproportionofworkerswhocomplainfromorganizationalconstraints,whichareinparticularconducivetostress,ishigherthantheproportionofworkerscomplainingfromphysicalconstraints(EuropeanFoundation�fortheImprovementofLivingandWorkingConditions1992).Similarly,amorerecentstudyoftheDutchworkingpopulationfoundthatone-halfofthesamplereportedahighworkpace,three-fourthsofthesamplereportedpoorpossibilitiesofpromotion,andone-thirdreportedapoorfitbetweentheireducationandtheirjobs(HoutmanandKompier1995).OntheAmericanside,dataontheprevalenceofjobstressriskfactorsintheworkplacearelessavailable.However,inarecentsurveyofseveralthousandUSworkers,over40%oftheworkersreportedexcessiveworkloadsandsaidtheywere砥sedup�and兎motionallydrainedattheendoftheday(Galinsky,�BondandFriedman1993).Theimpactofthisproblemintermsoflostproductivity,diseaseandreducedqualityoflifeisundoubtedlyformidable,althoughdifficulttoestimatereliably.However,recentanalysesofdatafromover28,000workersbytheSaintPaulFireandMarineInsurancecompanyareofinterestandrelevance.Thisstudyfoundthattimepressureandotheremotionalandpersonalproblemsatworkweremorestronglyassociatedwithreportedhealthproblemsthananyotherpersonallifestressor;moresothanevenfinancialorfamilyproblems,ordeathofalovedone(St.PaulFireandMarineInsuranceCompany1992).Lookingtothefuture,rapidchangesinthefabricofworkandtheworkforceposeunknown,andpossiblyincreased,risksofjobstress.Forexample,inmanycountriestheworkforceisrapidlyageingatatimewhenjobsecurityisdecreasing.IntheUnitedStates,corporatedownsizingcontinuesalmostu...