Job Performance

C82RIO

Applied Research Methods III Advanced Quantitative and Qualitative Methods

Coursework:

The Job Demand- Resources Model: Stress and Job Performance

Abylaikhan Aldamzahrov

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In 2006 Arnold Bakker and Evangelia Demerouti developed the Job Demand- Resources model by publishing their findings and researches in The Journal of Managerial Psychology. The model of Job Demand- Resource Theory states that if job negatives (job demands) are greater that job positives (job resources), then stress, burnout and poor engagement are inevitable. Here are some examples of Job Demands and Job Resources:

1) Job Demands – heavy workload, short deadlines, poor relationship (with co-workers) etc. In other words Job Demands are the emotional or physical stressors of a worker

2) Job Resources – learning and development, proper feedback form supervisor, opportunity for career growth. So, Job resources are the social, emotional and organizational factors that help a worker to achieve a certain goal.

The JDR model is pretty obvious, but most employers and employees often ignore it and leave it as it is. Moreover, the JDR model is relevant to any kind of jobs, be it production, marketing or service.

Stress

Stress at work is a very usual feature in a life of an employee. According to Bob Losvyk, who wrote a book called ‘’Get a Grip!: Overcoming Stress and Thriving in the Workplace’’, stress is the major factor of poor job performance and strained relationship with co-workers and supervisors. According to the research done in 2013 by APA’s Center for Organizational Excellence third of employees of Unites States of America are affected by stress at workplace. However, stress does not appear out of thin air. There are ‘’top’’ stress sources at workplace which are: small wages, lack of feedback, lack of opportunities and lack of decision making. All of these factors eventually leave an employer with a bunch of stressed and unmotivated workers. However, empirical studies show that stress can be positive. In April 2013 Alia Crum and her colleagues made a research which was published in The Journal of Social and Psychological Sciences. The research has shown the idea of viewing stress as a positive experience. The research took place in a large investment company, where three hundred eighty employees were divided in three groups. The first group was shown a video where a popular basketball player LeBron James makes a deciding free throw with a message that stress may cause people to improve. The second group was shown a video where LeBron James fails to make a clutch point with a message that stress may lead people to self- destruction. The participants of the third group were not shown any video. The results were quite interesting: the participants of the first group started to view stress from a different perspective and started to be less affected by the stress symptoms such as headache and lack of sleep.

Job Performance

There is a biased opinion that Job Performance depends on intellectual abilities of a worker. However, according to American Psychological Association there other major factors of high job performance such as creativity, leadership, responsibility and serious approach to the work process. Many employers always wonder on the topic of increasing their job performances. Susan Adams posted an article on the official website of Forbes, where some ways of increasing the job performance were noted. One of the ways of increasing the level of work performance was nothing but organizing and discipline. These are pretty obvious ways, but some employees and even employers sometimes skip them. The other step of becoming a more efficient worker suggested by Mrs. Adams was single- tasking. Today, some people consider the ability to multi- task as a tremendous advantage while finding a job. However, a study which was done by a group of Stanford researchers in 2009 stated that workers who do multi-tasking: emailing different people, switching from one task to another pay less attention than the workers who separate their work and do it one after another.

References:

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14