Self-perceived occupational stress and distress in a Scottish police force

Abstract

This paper describes an empirical study (n = 699) of occupational stress in a Scottish police force. The self-perceived stress associated with a variety of organizational and opearational stressors was examined along with the associated distress in the police officers in terms of symptoms of anxiety, somatic complaint, severe depression and social dysfunction. The analysis revealed that in spite of the potential that police work offers for exposure to adverse opeational situations such as violence or death, the highest levels of associated stress lie in relation to organizational factors such as officers' perceptions of staff shortages, inadequate resources, time pressures, lack of communication and work overload. Differential rates of perceived stress are reported accordng to gender, rank and working location. This paper further validates previsous research on stress in British police and addresses the situation from a Scottish perspective.     

Burnout, job stress and violent behaviour among Dutch police officers

Much has been published on burnout in the human services. However, despite the extensive literature on job stress in policing, burnout in police officers has rarely been studied. The present study examined stressors in police work, focusing specifically on the lack of reciprocity that officers experience in relations with civilians, colleagues and the police service. It also investigated the relationship between burnout and the attitudes of officers towards violence, as well as to their own use of violence. Dutch police officers (N = 358) completed a self-report questionnaire. The results showed that: (1) organizational stressors were more prevalent than task-related stressors; (2) compared to other service jobs, police officers report a particular profile on the three scales of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI)?a relatively low level of emotional exhaustion,an average level of depersonalization, and a high level of personal accomplishment; (3) burnout is associated with a lack of reciprocity between investments and outcomes in the relations that officers have with citizens, colleagues and their organization; and (4) burnout is positively related to attitudes towards use of violence and the use of violence during the officers' duty.     

Perceptions of work stress in Australian firefighters

This study surveyed 747 firefighters on their perceptions of work stress. The current emphasis in the fire brigades is on the management of traumatic or critical incident stress, but other work stressors may also be important. The firefighters rated their jobs as more stressful than other occupations, and psychological work stress as highest among a set of potential sources and types of stress. Although many factors were mentioned, the most frequently indicated stressors were associated with exposure to traumatic incidents such as major accidents or the suffering of others. Those who had previous experience with stress were more likely to rate current and future risk of stress as higher. Knowledge of existing organizational approaches to stress management was limited. The firefighters rated individual and informal sessions for dealing with stress as potentially more useful than the formal debriefing sessions now common in many emergency organizatins. Those who had previous experience with stress, however, were more likely to favour a formal organizational approach.     

Burnout,job stress and violent behaviour among Dutch police officers

Much has been published on burnout in the human services. However, despite the extensive literature on job stress in policing, burnout in police officers has rarely been studied. The present study examined stressors in police work, focusing specifically on the lack of reciprocity that officers experience in relations with civilians, colleagues and the police service. It also investigated the relationship between burnout and the attitudes of officers towards violence, as well as to their own use of violence. Dutch police officers (N = 358) completed a self-report questionnaire. The results showed that: (1) organizational stressors were more prevalent than task-related stressors; (2) compared to other service jobs, police officers report a particular profile on the three scales of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI)?a relatively low level of emotional exhaustion,an average level of depersonalization, and a high level of personal accomplishment; (3) burnout is associated with a lack of reciprocity between investments and outcomes in the relations that officers have with citizens, colleagues and their organization; and (4) burnout is positively related to attitudes towards use of violence and the use of violence during the officers' duty.     

Perceptions of work stress in Australian firefighters

Abstract

This study surveyed 747 firefighters on their perceptions of work stress. The current emphasis in the fire brigades is on the management of traumatic or critical incident stress, but other work stressors may also be important. The firefighters rated their jobs as more stressful than other occupations, and psychological work stress as highest among a set of potential sources and types of stress. Although many factors were mentioned, the most frequently indicated stressors were associated with exposure to traumatic incidents such as major accidents or the suffering of others. Those who had previous experience with stress were more likely to rate current and future risk of stress as higher. Knowledge of existing organizational approaches to stress management was limited. The firefighters rated individual and informal sessions for dealing with stress as potentially more useful than the formal debriefing sessions now common in many emergency organizatins. Those who had previous experience with stress, however, were more likely to favour a formal organizational approach.     

Relationships of individual and organizational support with engagement: Examining various types of causality in a three-wave study

The challenges associated with facilitating an organizational environment that promotes work engagement and is supportive of employee psychological well-being are well documented. This study focused on the longitudinal relationships between work engagement and three supportive job resources: supervisor support, colleague support and individual perceptions of the wider resource of work culture support. The sample comprised 1196 employees of an Australian state police service, both police officers and civilian staff, who completed self-report surveys across three waves of data collection. Work culture support predicted higher supervisor support, colleague support and work engagement over time lags of 12 and 18 months. Furthermore, work engagement was a significant predictor of work culture support over the two time lags. Significant indirect relationships were also observed. With the large volume of work-related factors potentially influencing work engagement, the results of this research assist in clarifying the specific supportive job resources that impact upon work engagement over time. The paper discusses practical implications for the promotion of support and work engagement within high-stress occupations.     

Presenteeism, Power and Organizational Change: Long Hours as a Career Barrier and the Impact on the Working Lives of Women Managers

This paper discusses the results from a survey on the gendered impact of organizational change and the implications for workloads and working hours. These results suggest that restructuring leads to increased workloads and that the pressure of long working hours is associated with male-dominated organizations. Restructuring is also associated with 'presenteeism' (the tendency to stay at work beyond the time needed for effective performance of the job) as fear of redundancy and uncertainty over promotion opportunities lead to a need to demonstrate visible commitment. Such presenteeism was found to be gendered: it is associated with a competitive masculine culture, it is seen by women as a form of 'male resistance' to their presence as managers and it imposes heavy costs on women as they attempt to meet the conflicting demands of work and home. This paper suggests that organizational restructuring can produce dysfunctional outcomes such as 'competitive presenteeism' (whereby managers compete over who stays longest in the office) and that such outcomes have important gender implications. It concludes that gender mix is a defining feature in how well women fit into the organization and how easily they accommodate to changes in organizational structures and managerial work.     

Sources of occupational stress in the police

This paper describes an empirical study (n = 954) of occupational stress conducted in a large provincial English police force. Conceptual distinctions were made between stressors, i.e., potential external sources of adverse reactions; felt stress, i.e., self-perceived negative impact; and distress, i.e., self-reported symptoms of anxiety, depression, social dysfunction, and somatic disturbance. Findings indicates that overall exposure rates are highest for organizational and management stressors rather than routine operational duties. Differential rates of exposure, felt stress, and distress are reported for different ranks of officers. The paper confirms the nature of postulated sources of police stress from earlier studies and extends analysis to differentiate between exposure to stressors and experience of distress.     

The social construction of the meaning of acute stressors: a qualitative study of the personal accounts of police officers using a stress counselling service

The police profession is one in which acute stressors are encountered more frequently than in other occupations. Using the personal accounts of 35 police officers attending an in-house stress counselling clinic, the aim of the present study was to provide a qualitative examination of how the institutional context of policing influenced the ways in which acute stressors signified to individual police officers experiencing felt distress. Using the framework of Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy as an analytical tool, it is argued that beliefs contributing to the experience of felt distress are related to the way in which policing as both an identity and an activity is constructed through the police organizational culture. Not only do these constructions influence the ways in which officers perceive themselves and their environments, but they also operate at the collective level to 'normalize' some emotional responses and to 'pathologize' others which, it is argued, could impact upon the outcomes of interventions such as stress counselling.     

'Management Standards' and work-related stress in the UK: policy background and science

In the late 1990s, the Health and Safety Commission, as the lead authority in the UK responsible for Health and Safety at Work, conducted an extensive consultation exercise to elicit views about how work-related stress should be tackled. The Commission subsequently decided that regulation was not justified and opted for an approach with four strands. One of these was to work with stakeholders to develop clear, agreed standards of good management practice. This paper describes and discusses the rationale behind a standards-based approach that is essentially based on a method of controlling hazards. The Management Standards approach uses a taxonomy of six stressors that has evolved out of extensive research carried out on behalf of the UK's Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and in conjunction with stakeholders, and a three-phase risk assessment methodology. Further developmental work on the standards (which are to be subjected to public consultation) and associated measurement tools is described in a companion paper in this issue of Work & Stress (Cousins, Mackay, Clarke, Kelly, Kelly, & McCaig, 2004). The emphasis is on prevention towards reducing stress in the UK working population. We review current thinking on models of work stress, consider evidence linking workplace psychosocial factors and various health and organizational outcomes, and examine the effectiveness of organizational interventions. We argue that the literature supports an approach that aims to move organizational states (represented by the current situation) to more desirable ones (represented by the six Management Standards), and that this is an effective 'population' based approach to tackling workplace stress and promoting individual and organizational health.     

The social construction of the meaning of acute stressors: A qualitative study of the personal accounts of police officers using a stress counselling service

The police profession is one in which acute stressors are encountered more frequently than in other occupations. Using the personal accounts of 35 police officers attending an in-house stress counselling clinic, the aim of the present study was to provide a qualitative examination of how the institutional context of policing influenced the ways in which acute stressors signified to individual police officers experiencing felt distress. Using the framework of Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy as an analytical tool, it is argued that beliefs contributing to the experience of felt distress are related to the way in which policing as both an identity and an activity is constructed through the police organizational culture. Not only do these constructions influence the ways in which officers perceive themselves and their environments, but they also operate at the collective level to 'normalize' some emotional responses and to 'pathologize' others which, it is argued, could impact upon the outcomes of interventions such as stress counselling.     

‘Management Standards’ and work-related stress in the UK: policy background and science

In the late 1990s, the Health and Safety Commission, as the lead authority in the UK responsible for Health and Safety at Work, conducted an extensive consultation exercise to elicit views about how work-related stress should be tackled. The Commission subsequently decided that regulation was not justified and opted for an approach with four strands. One of these was to work with stakeholders to develop clear, agreed standards of good management practice. This paper describes and discusses the rationale behind a standards-based approach that is essentially based on a method of controlling hazards. The Management Standards approach uses a taxonomy of six stressors that has evolved out of extensive research carried out on behalf of the UK's Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and in conjunction with stakeholders, and a three-phase risk assessment methodology. Further developmental work on the standards (which are to be subjected to public consultation) and associated measurement tools is described in a companion paper in this issue of Work & Stress (Cousins, Mackay, Clarke, Kelly, Kelly, & McCaig, ). The emphasis is on prevention towards reducing stress in the UK working population. We review current thinking on models of work stress, consider evidence linking workplace psychosocial factors and various health and organizational outcomes, and examine the effectiveness of organizational interventions. We argue that the literature supports an approach that aims to move organizational states (represented by the current situation) to more desirable ones (represented by the six Management Standards), and that this is an effective ‘population’ based approach to tackling workplace stress and promoting individual and organizational health.     

Qualitative differences in men and women police officers' experience of occupational stress

Gender differences in exposure to sources of occupational stress and experience of adverse consequences are explored in a study of 358 male and 139 female police constables engaged in uniformed patrol or detective duties from one large provincial English police force. Stressors were divided into those arising tiom police operational duties and those deriving tioni organizational and management issues. Women uniformed constables are less likely to be exposed to police operational stresson involving the potential for violence, but ifexposed they report more severe adverse reactions than uniformed policemen. Women unifomied officers and women detectives are more likely to be involved with victims ofviolence or sexual offences and the former report higher levels ofassociated self-perceived stress than their male counterparts. There are relatively few differences in exposure to organizational stressors except that women detectives and uniformed officers report higher rates of sex discrimination and prejudice than policemen. Multivariate analyses show gender and occupational role differences in qualitative features that contribute to reported psychologal distress. Results are discussed in terms of possible explanations for gender differences.     

The New Public Management and Managerial Roles: the Case of the Police Sergeant

This paper explores the introduction of New Public Management (NPM) techniques within the UK police service since the late 1990s, and in particular, the impact upon the role of the first line manager: the police sergeant. It draws upon qualitative data collected within 'City Police Service' by means of in-depth interviews with role sets of police sergeants, constables, inspectors and members of the senior management team in two police divisions. After evaluating a number of NPM precepts in the light of the findings, the paper makes a number of conclusions relating to the role of police sergeants. These echo the findings of other research on changes in managerial roles, including a shift towards more strategic responsibilities, but with a significant intensification of work, tighter control and scrutiny through organizational performance management systems, and less daily contact with their police constables. As elsewhere in the public sector, a shift towards becoming a 'practitioner manager' was apparent, but with respect to police sergeants the effect was to limit their ability to provide leadership and support for their constables, and to encourage a greater reliance upon peer group networks and on the constables they supervised.     

Organizational change,health, and sick leave among health care employees: A longitudinal study measuring stress markers,individual, and work site factors

Abstract

This controlled longitudinal study was conducted to investigate the effects of organizational change on employees’ self-reported health, work satisfaction, work-related exhaustion, stress, and sick leave. The population consisted of 226 employees at T1 and 198 at T2, divided into a study group affected by organizational changes, and a reference group not affected by them. Group differences for the outcome measures self-rated health (SRH), work satisfaction, work-related exhaustion, and hormones associated with stress were analysed using a two-factor ANOVA design for repeated measurements. Our findings showed no significant differences, either across time or between groups for SRH, work satisfaction, and work-related exhaustion. However, we did find significant change across time and between groups for the recovery hormone DHEA-S. Days of sick leave increased by 7% for employees in the study group and by 2% in the reference group. Serum cortisol showed significantly decreased levels across time but not between groups. The decreased recovery potential in the study group might have long-term health implications. The study points to the importance of looking at the impact of organizational change on employee well-being from a number of perspectives, such as self-reported health parameters, registered sick-leave data, and biological stress markers.     

Organizational change, health, and sick leave among health care employees: A longitudinal study measuring stress markers, individual, and work site factors

This controlled longitudinal study was conducted to investigate the effects of organizational change on employees' self-reported health, work satisfaction, work-related exhaustion, stress, and sick leave. The population consisted of 226 employees at T1 and 198 at T2, divided into a study group affected by organizational changes, and a reference group not affected by them. Group differences for the outcome measures self-rated health (SRH), work satisfaction, work-related exhaustion, and hormones associated with stress were analysed using a two-factor ANOVA design for repeated measurements. Our findings showed no significant differences, either across time or between groups for SRH, work satisfaction, and work-related exhaustion. However, we did find significant change across time and between groups for the recovery hormone DHEA-S. Days of sick leave increased by 7% for employees in the study group and by 2% in the reference group. Serum cortisol showed significantly decreased levels across time but not between groups. The decreased recovery potential in the study group might have long-term health implications. The study points to the importance of looking at the impact of organizational change on employee well-being from a number of perspectives, such as self-reported health parameters, registered sick-leave data, and biological stress markers.     

Work Alienation and Organizational Leadership

This study examines the extent to which a leader's behaviour (i.e. transactional and transformational styles) and aspects of an organization's structure (i.e. centralization, formalization dimensions) directly and/or indirectly relate to elements of work alienation (i.e. powerlessness, meaninglessness, self estrangement). The study utilized structural equation modeling techniques to estimate the goodness of fit of a leadership–organizational structure–work alienation model based on the responses of personnel in a major US eastern seaboard fire department (a bureaucratic, quasi–military type organization) ( n = 326). Goodness of fit statistics indicate good fit to the observed data. Results show that transformational leadership was associated with lower work alienation, whereas transactional leadership was associated with higher work alienation. Organizational structure was not significantly predictive of work alienation, but was negatively associated with transformational leadership and positively associated with transactional leadership. The significant indirect effects between organizational structure and work alienation, and between organizational structure and transformational leadership, provide further evidence that the leadership style of the organization has a more significant impact on feelings of work alienation than antecedent conditions such as organization rigidity. The study argues that managers as well as leaders need to question bureaucratic orientations to work and manager Ðemployee relations by rethinking their value orientations and adapting new models that encourage individual fulfilment, learning and personal development.     

Role stress among Canadian white-collar workers

The incidence of various stressors at work and outside work was examined in a group of public service workers with a large Canadian federal government department. Workers were either in clerical, technical and supervisory ('officers'), or management positions. Measures of work stress included role stressors (load, insufficiency, conflict ambiguity and responsibility), as well as stress due to the physical environment. Both life events and daily hassles were included as measures of non-work stress. The consequences of stress were considered in terms of vocational, psychological, interpersonal, and physical strain, as well as in terms of job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Potential moderators of stress included social support and self-esteem. Among work stressors conflict, ambiguity and insufficiency were the more closely associated with vocational outcomes. MANCOVA followed by discriminant function analysis showed that clerical workers were distinguished by higher levels of insufficiency, officers by higher levels of conflict and the lowest levels of job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and managers by higher levels of perceived responsibility for others. The results are discussed in terms of social role theory.     

Ethnic Minority Women in the Scottish Labour Market: Employers' Perceptions

This paper contributes to an under‐researched area through investigating employers' perceptions of ethnic minority women in the Scottish labour market. Adopting a social constructionist approach which acknowledges agency and structure and incorporates insights relating to organizational and social group culture, the study highlights the influence of individual (micro), organizational (meso) and contextual (macro) factors on ethnic minority women's participation in the labour market. The paper is based on qualitative research involving Scottish employers in the public and private sectors to examine perceptions and practices related to the employment of ethnic minority women. Institutional commitment to equality issues is questioned, although individual instances of engagement with key equality issues were sometimes evident. Proactive recruitment strategies and career support for ethnic minority women and men were not in evidence, and there was low awareness of the unique position of ethnic minority women in employment and society. We argue that these findings call for a multi‐level approach to advancing human resources management policy, practice and research within a wider socio‐political environment in which the responsibilities and duties of public sector organizations are clarified and more support is provided for organizational promotion of equal opportunities.     

Does change process healthiness reduce the negative effects of organizational change on the psychosocial work environment?

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate whether the detrimental effects of organizational change on the psychosocial work environment are reduced by the “healthiness” of change processes. This includes the management's awareness that the change may be experienced differently by various individuals and groups (diversity); availability of the manager during the process; the degree to which conflicts are resolved constructively; and the degree to which the new roles to be taken on are clarified. Two studies are presented. Using a randomized sample of the Norwegian working population (N = 2389), the first study showed that there were both direct and indirect positive relationships between organizational change and stress, with job demands (but not control and support) as a mediator. In the second study a healthy change process index (HCPI) was developed from dimensions of healthy change that had emerged in an earlier qualitative study. Using data from seven Norwegian enterprises undergoing change (N = 561), this study showed that the healthiness of the change process was related negatively to stress and positively to Control and Support, but not to Demands. Overall, these findings support the idea that a healthy process may not reduce the additional demands produced by organizational change. However, a healthy process may still be able to reduce the experience of stress and facilitate coping with stress and associated increased demands through enhancing the psychosocial work environment.