POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

College of Arts Department of Psychology

A Comparative Study of Occupational Stressors and Three Factor Dimensions of Burnout among Human and Non-Human Services.
An Undergraduate Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Department of Psychology College of Arts Polytechnic University of the Philippines Sta. Mesa, Manila.

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the course subject PSYC 4013 Research 1 Bachelor of Science in Industrial and Organizational Psychology III 3 Presented by: Armea, Joseph B. Cruz, Kristell A. Llenares, Gonzalo Peoso, Micah Ann Nicole Uy, Sunshine H. Venzon, Regine D. Tumbali, Mary Margaret D. Presented to: Prof. Jose M. Abat

POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

College of Arts Department of Psychology

CHAPTER 1- PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND INTRODUCTION Most of them are aware that employee stress is an increasing problem in organizations. Friends tell theyre stressed out from greater workloads and having to work longer hours because of downsizing at their companies. Parents talk about the lack of job stability in todays world and reminisce about a time when a job with a large company implied lifetime security. They read surveys in which employees complain about the stress created in trying to balance work and other responsibilities, and if not compel, it will result to a BURNOUT. This is the main focus of this study. Stress is defined as a dynamic condition in which an individual is confronted with an opportunity, demand, or resource related to what the individual desires and for which the outcome is perceived to be both uncertain and important, it is stated in the book Organizational Behavior by Stephen Robin, but, this is complicated definition. In a book Industrial/Organizational Psychology by Ronald Riggio, he defined stress as primarily a physiological reaction to certain threatening environmental events. Worker stress would simply refer to the stress caused by events in the work environment. Some common sources of job-related stress include: Poor time management, Conflicts with co-workers, supervisor and managers gives uneven responsibility that vary on burnout symptoms, Feeling unable or unqualified co-workers supervisors and managers is confronted with a stress to do job. Difficulties adapting to changes in the work routine, Inability to meet from supervisors and managers, Feeling that work is meaningless or boring. Many people learn to deal with job related stress. Often, the type of people who burn out are those who show the most promise at the beginning of their careers. They are perfectionists, idealist and workaholics. They start out enthusiastic about their work,

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College of Arts Department of Psychology

dedicated and committed to doing their jobs. They typically have high energy levels, positive attitudes and are high achievers. Burnout is a major problem in helping occupations, people give a lot to others but fail to take care of their selves in the process. Professionals in medicine social work, emergency room health workers, law enforcement and education are especially prone to burnout symptoms. Of course, burnout can also affect people in other types of careers as well. Jobs that promote burnout include ones in which workers do repetitive routine tasks, never get much feedback or have a lot of responsibility but very little control. Employees who are suffering burnout feel they are answerable for everything that happens. They feel they receive very little cooperation from co-workers, and they personally feel powerless to charge things. These feelings tend to make them assume a martyr-like position, become resigned and apathetic, and focus on the worst aspects of the job. Persons suffering from burnout often blame others or situation, rather than taking action for change. How does burnout out happen? It can begin when a person who has difficulty setting priorities and putting life into balance is confronted with a stressful home or work environment. Overtime, stress and the inability to cope with it lead to pessimism and early job dissatisfaction. Workers in the early stages of burnout feel fatigued, frustrated disillusioned and bored. They may suffer from symptoms of stress, such as: Increased consumption of alcohol, caffeine and nicotine, abrupt speech, decreased eye contact during conversations, changes in sleeping and eating habits, withdrawal from other people, moodiness and irritability. As burnout progresses, work habits begin to deteriorate. Affected workers arrive late and leave early. Productivity drops. They become isolated and withdrawn

POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

College of Arts Department of Psychology

and avoid contact with co-workers and supervisors. They become increasingly angry, hostile and depressed. Most suffer from physical symptoms of stress such as: chronic fatigue, headaches, back pain, dry mouth and throat of difficulty swallowing, diarrhea or constipation, rashes, hives or other skin problems, chest pains or heart palpitations, nervous tics In the final stages of burnout, workers experience in irreversible feeling of detachment and total loss of interest in their jobs. Self-esteem is very low. Feelings about work are totally negative and chronic absenteeism becomes a problem. At this point, the only course of action is to change careers. Burnout can occur in three major ways; the first is where the worker performs essentially the same routine and uninspiring work day after day for years. This kind of repetitious, boring, and uninteresting work is associated with feelings of stagnation, helplessness and depression. A second kind of burnout occurs when a person works at the same job for many years and following a period of modest progress or improvement settles into a very prolonged period where there appear to be no additional avenues or opportunities for progress. A third kind of burnout occurs when the workers is daily overwhelmed with complex and varied tasks, being continuously required to respond to a variety of urgent, demanding and changing circumstances. The key question to ask oneself is, How do some other workers who are doing the same job as others are avoid burnout? The answer is mostly in terms of different personality characteristics of workers. Some workers who are locked into doing repetitious work do not suffer from it because their personality does not require a great deal of variation, change and excitement while others with contrasting personality traits are especially prone to suffer in routine and repetitious job situations.

POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

College of Arts Department of Psychology

Also, workers with personality characteristics described as emotionally unarousable or unemotional are much better suited to high-pressure, everchanging, and demanding jobs; in contrast, emotional and emotionally arousable persons are more likely to suffer in varied, demanding and generally stressful work situations. In this study, understanding burnout and counteracting it will require selfknowledge in particular psychological assessment and evaluation to know ones vulnerability to either one of the stress and symptoms and three dimensions of burnout.

POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

College of Arts Department of Psychology

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY Stress itself is not dangerous. It is part of the wear and tear of everyday life and cannot be avoided. Challenges and changes add spice to life, fire the imagination and spur as to new achievements, if handled the right way. Many of the happiest and most successful people are those who learned to respond to high levels of stress in a balanced way (Achela- Caguiat 2001) Dr. Alberto Romualdez (1998), Secretary of Health, in his article Managing Stress in the Workplace cited that almost 51 percent of our total population, which compromise the workplace. Is constantly exposed in an environment where stress is the air we breathe. He also said that when absenteeism, poor performance and destructive behavior happen, productivity is ultimately affected. Most people can recognize when they are experiencing stress, but cannot so easily identify its cause. Stress however is not that bad at all, according to De Vera (1998). He pointed out that stress protects us in many instances by priming the body to react quickly to adverse situations. This stimulus help people respond to their environment when situations call for quick physical reactions in response to threats Our response to stress seems to have originated in prehistoric mans fight or flight reactions to frightening situations. Today, we usually do not fight or leave; we have been socialized to maintain the status quo. With the fast paced, high pressure life that many of us lead- heavy work load in the office and family responsibilities at home, many of us experience being stressed-out to the limit. Basically, we all have to live with stress. But if it is not controlled right away, it can adversely called burnout. Stress comes when any excessive amount of responsibility is combined with a lack of control over such as factors as staffing level and job descriptions, which

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College of Arts Department of Psychology

usually are controlled by the management. Professor Karasek of University of Massachusetts said workers stress level can be determined by measuring the control they have and psychological demands they face. Workers with a high degree of control who face low demands have low stress while those with low control but high demands experience high stress. As workers get more control and have higher demands placed on them, they become more active and motivated to learn.

POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

College of Arts Department of Psychology

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of occupational stressor and job burnout on selected human service (call center agents) and non-human service (factory workers) samples. Specifically, it aims to answer the following:
1. What is the level of burnout among Human service (call center agents)? 2. What is the level of burnout among Non-Human service (factory workers)?

3. What are the sources of job related stress (occupational stressors) among human service? 4. What are the sources of job related stress (occupational stressors) among nonhuman service? 5. How does the level of burnout affect the performance of human service/non human services in relation to civil status, age, educational attainment, length of employment and position/designation in the work place?
6. Is there a significant difference between human service and non-human service in

terms of job burnout?

7. Is there a significant difference between human service and non human service in

terms of occupational stressors? 8. What are the coping mechanisms and stress reduction techniques adopted in their workplace?

POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

College of Arts Department of Psychology

SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY This study will focus on the comparative study of occupational stressors and job burnout between Human service who are Call Center Agents that work on Finance Account of Sykes Asia-Philippines and Non- Human service samples who are factory workers that work on Production section at Unilever Philippines The sources of stress and burnout were confined only to job-related factors. Not all stress can attribute to workplace stress; many employees have stressed caused by off-the-job factors, such as family problem. But stress that arises from the role conflict between family and work are not included in the study. Personality factors, such as Type A and Type B Behavior, most widely investigated personbased characteristic that may influence stress related were also not included. For human service samples, officers such as team leaders, call center agents and supervisors are the direct respondents for this study. For non-human service sample; workers such as factory workers who work on the production section are the main respondents for the study. Target respondents came from the following institutions:
1. Call Center Industry (Human Service) - Prudential Life Insurance Account at

Sykes Philippines.

Asia-Philippines.

2. Factory Industry (Non- Human Service) - Production Section at Unilever

POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

College of Arts Department of Psychology

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY The intense involvement with clients required of professional staff in various human service institutions includes a great deal of emotional stress and failure to cope with it successfully. As such, stress can result to the emotional exhaustion syndrome of burnout, in which staff lose all feeling and concern for their clients and treat them I detached ways. As the range of services and the size of the client have increased, so has the criticism that many of these services have become impersonal and even dehumanizing experiences. Clients complain of being pushed around, ignored, mistreated and deceived. (Maslach 1978) Stress is major threat to modern organizations. Most of the studies on stress and job burnout have been conducted internationally and locally among such group of doctors, nurses, teachers, social workers, police officers etc. Who work with people but there is however a noticeable lack of comparison between human service and non-human service workers. The call centers (human service samples)are a multi-billion pesos industry where customer representatives are considered the face of the organization, providing one on one service to customers over the telephone be it in tendering technical support, exchanging info or ensuring customer satisfaction. Call center employees usually interact with a diverse and geographically large population. Although satisfying customers can provide substantial intrinsic rewards. Different or angry customers are encountered often and absenteeism and burnout are common(Quesada 2008) on the other hand, factory workers(non-human service samples) is becoming increasingly accountable for packaging, production services, thereby, placing greater demands on the staff members responsible for quality control, who then must assure

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College of Arts Department of Psychology

the success of the factory. With this situation, a factory worker could never do an outstanding job regardless his/her personal efforts. The concern of this study is the human services and non-human services welfare in dealing with stress and job burnout brought about by an increasing demand for service. The findings of this study will embrace understanding of stress. It will enable call center agents and factory worker to understand how the human body responds to demands, allocates the energy requirements needed to cope with burnout and to adopt and avoid job relate disease. The survey can be used to identify elements of stress and burnout within the human service and non-human service that may enhance or block the well being of agents and workers. It can also be used as basis for preparing rehabilative strategies or interventions between these two samples. HYPOTHESES The hypotheses of the study are as follows: 1. Personal factors such as age, gender, civil status, educational attainment, length of employment, position/designation are significantly related to burnout. 2. Occupational stressors such as physical facilities, organizational structure, human relations and job conditions are significantly related to burnout.

3. Three factor dimensions of burnout such as, emotional exhaustion, cynicism, low personal accomplishment related to human services and non-human services.

POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

College of Arts Department of Psychology

CONCEPTUAL PARADIGM

Personal Factors Age Gender Civil status Educational attainment Length of employment Position or designation

Occupational Stressors Environmental Stressors Organizational Stressors Group Stressors Individual Stressors BURNOUT Exhaustion Cynicism Reduced efficacy

POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

College of Arts Department of Psychology

CHAPTER II- REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

FOREIGN LITERATURE

Over the past decades burnout has been defined in many ways and is largely related to stress. Freuden Berger (1975) labeled out burnout as a sense of emotional depletion and loss of motivation and is subtle process in which one is trapped in a stake of mental fatigue, gradually being drained of all energy though not the same as being depressed overworked, or mentally broken down. Brought about by way of life, burnout is said to be a state of frustration from a relationship that failed to produced the expected outcome/reward, and is closely associated with role conflict, role ambiguity and role overload a sense of lineation, cynicism, impatience, negativism, frustration and feelings of detachment. Rossen (1194) defined burnout as the complete depletion of a persons physical and intellectual resources caused by excessive efforts to attain certain unrealistic, job-related-goals. Often used in the discussion of stress, the phenomenon of burnout can be viewed as an identifiable pattern in the behavior of certain individual indicating extreme fatigue. From the physiological viewpoint, stress is considered as a nonspecific, generalized bodily response that results when any demand is made on the body, when after it is an environmental condition that we must survive or a demand that we make on ourselves in order to accomplish a personal goal(Selye 1993). Stress is also considered as a form of tension brought about by extreme psychological demands that when they believe to overwhelming employees, almost by instinct, engage in relief actions to reduce then, which may not be conscious(voluntary).

POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

College of Arts Department of Psychology

Hendrix (1995) defined stress as an in comfortable cognitive state resulting from exposure to stressor that can result in psychological and physiological strain. This implies that ones perceived stress can vary in intensity and that exposure to a potential stressor does not necessarily result in the perception or feeling of stress. Summers, De Cutiis (1995, p.114) also defined stress as the obvious feeling of discomfort that an individual experience when he/she is forced to deviate from desired patterns of functioning due to changes in the environment. Therefore job stress can be viewed as the set of such (negative) feelings that can be felt due to various aspects of the workplace. Stress, as defined by Cummings and Werley (2001) refers to the reaction of people to their environment and involves both physiological and psychological responses to environment conditions, causing people to change/adjust their behavior. It is generally viewed in terms of the peoples needs, abilities and expectations with environmental demands, changes and opportunities, a good person environmentally fit results in positive reactions, whole a poor fit leads to negative ones. It can be positive on the other hand, when it occurs at moderate levels and contributes to effective motivation, innovation and learning. To sum up the definitions given for stress and burnout, it is safe to say that although they are clearly different, they both go hand in hand. Stress is often discussed in relation to burnout as the development of the latter rests on prolonged periods of the former. Stress involves an action required to alleviate ones condition. Burnout therefore a form of unrelieved stress which unfolds into dimensions life emotional exhaustion, cynicism, or depersonalization and reduced efficacy or lack of personal sense of accomplishments. If stress is related to burnout, then it is worth examining the factors affecting both stress and burnout, specifically the levels of occupational stress and intensity of the job burnout dimensions felt by the employee.

POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

College of Arts Department of Psychology

. Dimensions and Stages of Job Burnout Burnout, as explored by researchers, is said to proceed in stages and develop according to different dimensions. Porteous (1997) cited five stages burnout namely: (a) an initial enthusiasm with, and commitment to the job, (b) stagnation due to irresolvable organizational problems, (c) frustration when things remain untreated, (d) total apathy, towards the organization, and (e) disinterest accompanied by feelings of attachment. In Grensings (1991) review of Veninga and Spradleys book, The WorkStress Connection, five similar stages of burnout were identified: (a) the honeymoon stage (the period when energy and job satisfaction are often felt at the beginning of the job), (b) the fuel shortage stage (the period when the job novelty is beginning to wear off and early symptoms of burnout are manifested), (c) the chronic symptom stage (the period when symptoms become habitual and other symptoms begin to develop as well), (d) the crisis stage (the period when symptoms have turned critical and serious physical symptoms begin to develop), and (e) hitting stage (the final period when the individual can no longer function on the job and finds that his or her life is deteriorating in other aspects of the more poplar dimensions of burnout), Maslach (1982), cited by Mejia (1995), pointed out in Figure 2 three identifiable stages (a)Exhaustion (a wearing out and depletion of energy; debilitation and fatigue), (b) depersonalization (being cynical), and (c) reduced efficacy (negative changes in attitude and responses to oneself and ones personal achievements accompanied by feelings of depression, low morale, withdrawal from co-workers and the organization, reduced productivity, inability to cope with pressure, feelings of failure and low selfesteem).

POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

College of Arts Department of Psychology

. Figure 2 The Three Dimensions of Job Burnout (Maslach & Jackson, 1981)
Emotional Exhaustion Cynicism and Depersonalization

Reduced Efficacy or Lack of Personal Sense of

The first stage is usually the characterized by a depletion of emotional energy, with the feeling that one is inadequate to deal with the situation. The second stage is often indicates a tendency to treat clients or patients as objects rather than people, leading to a rather callous and cynical approach to their welfare. The last stage mirrors a tendency to evaluate ones behavior and performance negatively, resulting to greater feelings of incompetence on the job and an inability to achieve performance goal. To sum it up, burnout is said to occur when energy, involvement, and effectiveness leads into fatigue, cynicism, and an inability to function productively, wherein indifference and a reduced personal sense of competency are seen as the most prevalent elements of the said syndrome, whose major cause is basically longterm stress. Further expounding on the said dimensions, exhaustion is then presented as the component of burnout that represents its basic individual stress dimension, and refers to the feelings of being overextended and depleted of ones emotional and physical resources. The cynicism (or depersonalization component) represents the interpersonal context dimension of burnout, which refers to a negative, callous, or excessively detached response to various aspects of the job. The component of

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College of Arts Department of Psychology

reduced efficacy or accomplishment represents the self-evaluation dimension of burnout, which refers to the feelings of being overextended and depleted of ones emotional and physical resources. The cynicism (or depersonalization component) callous, or excessively detached response to various aspects of the job. The component of reduced efficacy or accomplishment represents the self-evaluation dimension of burnout, and refers to the feelings of incompetence and a lack of achievement and productivity at work (Maslach et al., 2001) According to Maslach et al., (2001), exhaustion is the central quality of burnout and the most obvious and manifestation of this complex syndrome, for when people usually describe themselves or others as experiencing burnout, they are most often referring to the experience of exhaustion. However, the fact that exhaustion is a necessary criterion for burnout does not mean it is sufficient. If one were to simply focus on the individual exhaustion component, one would lose sight or the phenomenon entirely, as it would totally be out of context and would fail to capture in the critical aspects of the relationships people have with their work. Depersonalization is an attempt to put some distance between oneself and customers or clients by actively ignoring the qualities that make them unique individuals. This is because the demands seem more manageable when service recipients are considered impersonal objects. People also use cognitive distancing by developing indifference is cynical attitude when they are exhausted and discouraged. Distancing is such an immediate reactions to exhaustion wherein a strong relationship between exhaustion and depersonalization can be found. In efficacy (reduced personal accomplishment) appears to be a function, to some degree, or either exhaustion or cynicism, or a combination of the two. Exhaustion and Depersonalization interfere with effectiveness, since it is difficult to gain a sense of

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College of Arts Department of Psychology

. accomplishment when feeling exhausted when helping people toward whom one is indifferent. Maslach and Leiter (1997), as cited by Maslach et al. (2001), further presented a job-person fit framework in order to understand the said phenomenon. The model focused on the compatibility, as well as the degree of match or mismatch between the six domains of the environment of the employee. This means that the greater the gap (mismatch) between the person and the job, the greater the livelihood of burnout, which is said to arise from chronic mismatches between people and their work setting in terms of some or all of this six areas. These six domains or areas that encompass the major organizational antecedents of burnout are: work overload (when multiple rules needing multi tasking places a considerable demand on the part of the employee), lack of control (when company policies interfere with an individual ability to set priorities, select approaches to ones work, and make decision about job issues), insufficient reward (when either extrinsic rewards-basic salary, fringe benefits, incentives, or intrinsic rewards-prestige, praise, recognition, that an employee works for are reduced or remove entirely), breakdown of a community (when loss of job security and the transient nature of employment promote feelings of isolation, or when machines and computers prevent employees from having meaningful interactions with co-workers), absence of fairness (when trust, expenses, and respect-the three key elements to a fair workplace are altogether missing or absent, leading to employee stress and distrust towards the management), and conflicting values (when the core values of the organization and the employees own are compromised especially when enhanced productivity is f favored regardless of corporate or mission statements.)

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College of Arts Department of Psychology

. According to Maslach et al., (2001), a mismatch in workload (generally an excess in workload) may result from the wrong kind of work, or when people lack the skills or inclination for a particular job. A mismatch in control occurs when there is insufficient control or authority for that matter, over the resources needed to effectively do ones work. A mismatch in reward involves the lack of appropriate rewards for what one does, which may be financial (e.g., salary and benefits), social (e.g., recognition), intrinsic (e.g., pride in doing it well). A mismatch in community occurs when people lose that positive connection with others, that shared sense of membership in a group with a similar set of values, or when they find it difficult to share praise, comfort, happiness and humor with others. Burnout takes place when there is an absence or perceived equality in the workplace, which usually concerns workload or pay, when there is cheating, or when evaluations are not done objectively and promotions are given to undeserving employees. A mismatch in values occurs when employees feel compelled to do unethical tasks which are not in conjunction with their own set of values or when people are caught between conflicting values or the held mission statement of the organization and the actual practice being done. To conclude, a matched profile would include a sustainable workload, feelings of choice and control; appropriate and meaningful and valued work. Pennachio (2005) pointed out other dimensions of burnout, wherein the condition is said to progress into the following stages: (a) alarm (e.g. stress of ones energy reserves). This does not occur in one light but is actually a multi-faceted phenomenon and can be viewed from different angles. Moreover, it does not occur in an abrupt or drastic manner but is slow and gradual processes that take time before it can be fully felt by the individual experiencing it, and can be usually observed in the different aspects of ones work-life.

POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

College of Arts Department of Psychology

. One of the most popular instruments for measuring burnout was the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) Survey, which has evolved through the years. The Maslach Burnout Inventory (1981), as cited by Porteous (1997) is one of the most frequently quoted questionnaires that measures the intensity and frequency burnout, and contains three subscales to measure emotional frequency burnout, and exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment with 22 items and rated on a 5period scale. However, Barnett, Brennan, and Gareis (1999) identified and corrected two flaws in the Maslach Burnout Inventory (1981). The first is that items do purport o assess feelings, but half do not directly concern feelings. The second is that response categories are not inflating measurement error. A study by Corcorn (1995) consisted of 300 female social workers from the Texas Chapter of the National Association of Social of Social Workers. The study examined the burnout dimensions (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and decreased professional accomplishment) and occupational tedium (defined as any prolonged chronic pressure, as opposed to burnout, which is due to specific emotional pressures found in work with people) and its dimensions (physical, emotional,and mental exhaustion). The findings provided support for the psychometric properties of both operational definitions of burnout. The instruments proposed subscale structure was fairly reliable, although the data suggest each scale is an internally consistent, single dimensional measure. To sum it up, burnout is said to develop gradually into stages. Although several authors have come up with different classifications, the employee starts with an initial enthusiasm with the job, gets stressed out with various occupational factors, feels more frustrated as the exhaustion takes its toll and remains unrelieved despite different ways of coping, feels stagnant and helpless, develops a form of apathy or

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College of Arts Department of Psychology

cynicism towards the job, and doubts oneself in terms of ones skills and abilities, thus developing a low level of personal sense accomplishment. Potential Sources of Stress Environmental Factors Just as environmental uncertainty influences the design of an organizations structure, it also influences stress levels among employees in that organization. Indeed, evidence indicates that uncertainty is the biggest reason why people have trouble coping with organizational changes. There are three main types of environmental uncertainty: economic, political, and technological. Changes in the business cycle create economic uncertainties. When the economy is contracting, for example, people become increasingly anxious about their job security. Political uncertainties dont tend to create stress among North Americans as they do for employees in countries like Haiti or Venezuela. The obvious reason is that Canada and the United States have stable political systems, in which change is typically implemented in an orderly manner. Yet political threats and changes, even in these countries can induce stress. For instance, the threats by Quebec to separate from Canada, or the difficulties of East Germany integrating with West Germany, lead to political uncertainty that becomes stressful to people in these countries. Technological change is a third type of environmental factor that can cause stress. Because new innovations are a threat to many people and cause them stress.

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. A Model of Stress
Potential Sources
Individual differences -Perception -Job experience -Social support -Belief in locus of control -Self-efficacy -Hostility

Consequences
Psychological Symptoms -Headaches -High blood pressure -Heart Disease

Environmental factors -Economic uncertainty -Political uncertainty -Technological change

Organizational factors -Task demands -Role demands -Interpersonal demands Experienced stress

Psychological Symptoms -Anxiety -Depression -Decrease in job satisfaction

Personal factors -Family problems

Behavioral Symptoms -Productivity

-Economic problems -Personality

-Absenteeism -Turnover

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. Organizational Factors There is no shortage of factors within an organization that can cause stress. Pressures to avoid errors or complete tasks in a limited time, work overload, a demanding and insensitive boss, and unpleasant coworkers are a few examples. Weve categorized these factors around task, role and interpersonal demands. Task demands are factors related to a persons job. They include the design of the individuals job (autonomy, task variety, degree of automation), working conditions, and the physical work layout. Assembly lines, for instance, can put pressure on people when the lines speed is perceived as excessive. Similarly, working in an overcrowded room or in a visible location where noise and interruptions are constant can increase anxiety and stress. Increasingly, as customer service becomes ever more important, emotional labor is a source of stress. Imagine being a flight attendant for Southwest Airlines or cashier at Tesco. Do you think you could put on a happy face when youre having a bad day? Role demands relate to pressures placed on a person as a function of the particular role she plays in the organization. Role conflicts create expectations that may be hard to reconcile or satisfy. Role overload is experienced when the employee is expected to do more than time permits. Role ambiguity is created when role expectations are not clearly understood and the employee is not sure what he or she is to do. Interpersonal demands are pressures created by other employees. Lack of social support from colleagues and poor interpersonal relationships can cause stress, especially among employees with a high social need.

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College of Arts Department of Psychology

. Personal Factors The typical individual works about 40 to 50 hours a week. But the experiences and problems that people encounter in the other 120-plus nonwork hours each week can spill over the job. Our final category, then, encompasses factors in the employees personal life. Primarily, these factors are family issues, personal economic problems, and inherent personality characteristics. National surveys consistently show that people hold family and personal relationships dear. Marital difficulties, the breaking off of a relationship, and discipline troubles with children are examples of relationship problems that create stress for employees that arent left at the front door when they arrive at work. Economic problems created by individuals overextending their financial resources are another set of personal troubles that can create stress for employees and distract their attention from their work. Regardless of income level people some people are poor money managers or have wants that always seem to exceed their earning capacity. Studies in three diverse organizations found that stress symptoms reported prior to beginning a job accounted for most of the variance in stress symptoms reported 9 months later. This led the researchers to conclude that some people may have inherent tendency to accentuate negative aspects of the world in general. If this is true, then a significant individual factor that influences stress is a persons basic disposition. That is, stress symptoms expressed on the job may actually originate in the persons personality.

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College of Arts Department of Psychology

. Consequences of Stress Stress shows itself in a number of ways. For instance, an individual who is experiencing a high level of stress may develop high blood pressure, ulcers, irritability, difficulty making routine decisions, loss of appetite, accident-proneness, and the like. These symptoms can be subsumed under three general categories; physiological, psychological, and behavioral symptoms. Physiological Symptoms Most of the early concern with the stress was directed at physiological symptoms. This was predominantly due to the fact that the topic was researched by specialist in the health and medical sciences. This research led to conclusion that stress could create changes in metabolism, increase heart and breathing rates, increase blood pressure, bring on headaches, and induce heart attacks. The link between stress and particular physiological symptoms is not clear. Traditionally, researchers concluded that there were few, if any, consistent relationships. This is attributed to the complexity of the symptoms and the difficulty of objectively measuring them. More recently, some evidence suggests that the stress may have harmful physiological effects. For example, one recent study linked stressful job demands to increase susceptibility to upper respiratory illnesses and poor immune system functioning, especially for individuals who had low self-efficacy. Psychological Symptoms Stress can cause dissatisfaction. Job-related stress can cause job-related dissatisfaction. Job dissatisfaction, in fact, is the simplest and most obvious psychological effect of stress. But stress shows itself in other psychological statesfor instance, tension, anxiety, irritability, boredom, and procrastination.

POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

College of Arts Department of Psychology

The evidence indicates that when people are placed in jobs that make multiple and conflicting demands or in which there is a lack of clarity about the incumbents duties, authority, and responsibilities, both stress and dissatisfaction are increased. Similarly, the less control people have over the pace of their work, the greater the stress and dissatisfaction. Although more research is needed to clarify the relationship, the evidence suggests that the jobs that provide a low level of variety, significance, autonomy, feedback, and identity to incumbents create stress and reduce satisfaction and involvement in the job. Behavioral Symptoms Behavior-related stress symptoms include changes in productivity, absence, and turnover, as well as changes in eating habits, increased smoking or consumption of alcohol, rapid speech, fidgeting, and sleep disorder. There has been a significant amount of research investigating the stressperformance relationship. The most widely studied pattern in the stress-performance literature is inverted-U relationship. This is shown in the diagram. The logic underlying the inverted-U is that low to moderate levels of stress simulate the body and increase its ability to react. Individuals then often perform their tasks better, move intensely, or more rapidly. But too much stress places unattainable demands on a person, which result in lower performance. This inverted-U pattern may also describe the reaction to stress over time as well as to changes in stress intensity. That is, even moderate levels of stress can have a negative influence on performance over the long term as the continued intensity of the stress wears down the individual and saps energy resources. An athlete may be able to use the positive effects of stress to obtain higher performance during every Saturdays game in the

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College of Arts Department of Psychology

fall season, or a sales executive may be able to psych herself up for her presentation at the annual national meeting. But the moderate levels of stress experienced continually over the long periods, as typified by the emergency room staff in a large urban hospital, can result in lower performance. This may explain why emergency room staffs at such hospitals are frequently rotated and why it is unusual to find individuals who have spent the bulk of their career in such an environment. In effect, to do so would expose the individual to the risk of career burnout. In spite of the popularity and intuitive appeal of the inverted-U model, it doesnt get a lot of empirical support. At this time, managers should be careful in assuming that this model accurately depicts the stress-performance relationship.

POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

College of Arts Department of Psychology

Stress in Human Services Human service work is to a high degree dependent on the people who deliver the service. To be good in providing good human service is dependent on very different factors such as education, skills, competencies, abilities, motivation, goalorientation, passion, joy, interest, resources and not at least health and wellbeing. Quality in the human services is especially vulnerable to an impairment of any kind, hindering a person to deliver 100% service. The organizational structure of work and the conditions under which work is done are more or less enabling or hindering for the personal condition to be brought in Burnout is often described as metaphor for suffering from doing people work (Schaufeli & Enzmann, 1998; Kristensen et al., 2005a). Burnout as explicit outcome of work related stress in human service work was first discussed in the seventies (Freudenberger, 1974; Maslach, 1976). These first empirical descriptions of burnout were based on observations made in the field of human service work. Today, more than 5,500 empirical studies exist with the key word burnout in the title (Schaufeli & Enzmann, 1998). Nevertheless, we still cannot get a hold onto what is responsible for burnout in human service work (Burisch, 2002). It's easy to see why those of us who work in Human Services, charities, or nonprofits burn out. We have excessively large caseloads with an ever-shrinking resource budget available to assist our clients. This tight budget also forces us to work under the constant fear of downsizing and the potential threat of job loss. Some of us are subjected to forced overtime, on-call after hours, and other schedule imbalances which blur the distinction between time at work and time off. We face overwhelming caseload numbers. Some of our clients are violent or otherwise jeopardize our safety. Unrelenting demands upon our time prevent us from taking meal or rest breaks. And despite working at a frantic pace, our efforts are frequently not appreciated

POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

College of Arts Department of Psychology

by management or clients. Is it any wonder that workers in the Human Services have high rates of burnout? Burnout is common is human services positions, which traditionally hold high stress job responsibilities. Managers can identify and prevent burnout by knowing the meaning and signs of burnout, understanding the causes of burnout, developing interventions to prevent burnout, and analyzing how they deal with their own personal and work-related stress. Managers are the first line in controlling burnout issues among employees, and must be able to intervene with staff as well as themselves. A recurring theme in burnout research is the assumption that people who experience burnout must have been very engaged and enthusiastic about their work (Pines et al., 1981; Schmitz, 1998, 1999). Besides methodological weaknesses has this assumption shown to lead to equivocal results (Rsing, 2003). Traditionally, people in human service occupations have been regarded as being more prone to burnout than other job groups because of high communicative and emotional demands connected to doing people work. (e.g. clients, patients, customers). At the same time, many people working in human 18service professions seem to be highly engaged and motivated to do the work they have chosen. However, the relationship still remains somewhat unclear. Even though the theoretical body of work on motivation and burnout in human service work is large, not much empirical research on the relationship between these phenomena can be found (Rsing, 2003). In Denmark, burnout has not been investigated in depth until the start of the PUMA project (1999) (Danish acronym for Project on Burnout, Motivation and Job Satisfaction) an ongoing six-year prospective intervention study in the human services sector (Kristensen et al., 2005a). One of the job groups with the highest levels of personal, work related , and client related burnout and high sickness absence at baseline and also later at three year follow up measured with the Copenhagen

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College of Arts Department of Psychology

Burnout Inventory (CBI, Kristensen et al., 2005) were midwives. This has been both expectation and surprise. Midwifery is a field of work with high work demands (e.g. shift work, time pressure, high uncertainty, high physical demands) and therefore it was expected that some of the negative consequences in midwifery would show in lower levels of health and well-being in this job group. Otherwise it has been a surprise that the burnout score is the highest among 15 job groups in Denmark investigated in the PUMA study. At the same time midwives are known as an engaged job group with a highly satisfying and meaningful primary task. The coincidence of having a highly engaged work group with at the same time alarming high levels of burnout was predestination for this group to be investigated in more depth in the present Ph.D. project. Stress at Non-Human Service This cross-sectional study reveals that a significant proportion (35%) of the sampled population of factory workers ( Non-Human Service ) experienced measurable health problems in the form of anxiety, sleep disturbance, depression, somatic complaints and other clinical indicators of stress. Job stress and social support levels experienced by the group of workers judged 'sick' were significantly different from the control group, particularly so for employees in the lower levels of work hierarchy. In consonance with findings from the literature, job stress has a significant impact on mental health, with all the job stress parameters accounting for 41% of the variation in the general health. Those job stress variables that were significant predictors of health were job pressure, namely security and job tension, and interpersonal rewards. Extrinsic rewards i.e. those factors relating to income and status was not significant predictors of health. Perceived social support tended to increase at the higher levels of occupational status and at the work place it appeared to exert a positive influence on health presumably by counteracting the adverse effects of job stress. This study stresses the need for industrial organizations of the

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College of Arts Department of Psychology

emergent nations to initiate measures which would enhance health status of workers as a cardinal factor in organizational growth Burnout in the Human Service and Non-Human Service Job Stress and Burnout are now recognized as serious problem in those fields generally referred to as the service-oriented professions. It became a significant issue during the last decade in both academic and research practice. Burnout can attack any profession, including those who are in human service and non-human service. When strikes, it exacts a cost not only from the employee, but also from the company and its patrons. Unchecked it can spread to other company staff members particularly if managers are the cause (Smith, Bybee and Raish 1998). Whatever the causes, stress and burnout impact on individual and organization. Today more employees in all types of organizations including Human Resource and Non-Human service information center are reporting feeling stress or tension as a result of their jobs. Part of the cause of stress among them is the increasing rate of change within the profession. Organizational change of all types if too rapid and frequent, may result in stress. Some worker fell the stress of what is known as role of conflict when different groups of people hold different views about how the employees should behave. There is tension between the professional and support staff when roles are blurred and changing. In many work place the effect of down sizinghas resulted in a smaller number of employees doing the same amount of work (Stueart and Moran 1998). Smith (1984) pointed but that those in call center and factory workers demands on the job than other occupations intense. Interpersonal Relationships found in some other professions, the attempt to meet the urgent needs of their company users can be difficult and frustrating. Most approaches dealing with occupational stress in the work setting have involving listings of various sources of stress, such as, task(speed, load/demands) role (conflict/ambiguity), physical environment (noise, temperature)

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College of Arts Department of Psychology

and social environment (Interpersonal Discord) (Blau 1981) Abrenica (1988) cited the burnout is not a simple un dimensional problem, but rather a complex issue with roots in Intrapsychic, Interpersonal, Occupational, Organizational, Historical, and Social Phenomena. Stress in the workplace has become the black plague of the twentieth century. And as we move into twenty-first century stress at work is generally considered to be on the increase a study on stress and burnouts needed because of its potential to disrupt, limit, or ultimately end a persons day to day functioning. These implications are serious and should not be ignored. If left untreated, it can lead to permanent incompetence not only as employees, but also people. No matter how healthy individual employees are when they start out and work in dysfunctional system, they will burnout. Being an employee should make a definite commitment to secure the means of help already available to other professionals. Symptoms of Stress and Job Burnout Stress is accompanied by a host of symptoms and when it turns negative for the one experiencing it, leads to low morale, decreased productivity,interpersonal conflict and frequent absenteeism (Asad and Khan, 2003). Another symptom of stress is the rise of insurance claims and premiums due to illnesses (closely linked to absenteeism) and in some cases, workplace accident (Scott, 1994). Other symptoms when negative stress is found in the workplace are tardiness and absenteeism, personality charges, shifts in work habits and it left untreated, job burnout (Maslach et.al 2001) Among the major symptoms closely related to burnout involve become apathetic towards work responsibilities, engaging in escapism of flight syndrome, feeling that one is working harder and accomplishing less, feeling irritable, developing physical pains, withdrawing from friends or loved ones, losing ones

sense of humor, feeling tired most of the time and may have consumed greater quantities of alcohol in the

POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

College of Arts Department of Psychology

past (Kossen, 1994). There is also said to be a direct link between heart attacks and burnout, wherein, myocardial infractions are related to stress with the degree of work satisfaction delineating the healthy individuals from the unhealthy ones (Angenen, 2003). Other physical symptoms of stress include chronic fatigue, insomnia, dizziness, nausea, allergies, breathing difficulties and stiffness, flu, sore throat and back pain. (Anejer, 2003). Behavioral and psychological symptoms are also manifested in instances of absenteeism, job turn over, low productivity, reduced overall effectiveness, decreased job satisfaction and lack of commitment to the job. These affected work aspects sometimes spill over to an individuals personal life (Angerer, 2003). Burned out employees are describes as easily fatigued and bored with their work quick tempered. Cynical, hostile, pathetic, and usually have a difficult time recognizing and catering to others problems and concerns. They begin to withdraw, become rigid and concerns. They begin to withdraw, become rigid and inflexible and are ineffective on the job. Eventually it becomes harder for them to think clearly and function properly on the job, making even the slightest routine tasks seem harder to accomplish than before (Grensing,1991) alcohol and prohibited drugs, which more often than not intensify the problem rather than solve it, since the cure is only at the superficial level (Angerer,2003). Sometimes psychological consequences of burnouts lead to behavioral ones like bullying, certain , its of violence and social aggression, withdrawal for the job and actual turnover, while for those who decided to keep their jobs, tardiness, illness, lowered productivity and effectiveness are evident. Burnout can also be associated with decrease job itself or the organization as whole in most cases, however mental and behavioral symptoms are more prevalent than physical ones and that such negative attitudes and behaviors are what usually lead to a decrease in effectiveness and work performed which functioning of any organization. (Angener)

POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

College of Arts Department of Psychology

. Burnout can sometimes have to frequent absenteeism. In a study by Yariu (1995), simple model of the burnout proves was constructed, deserving as positive relationship but, absenteeism due to both duplication of emotional and mental resources and over employment under stress conditions. It was also shown that in the burnout induced absences produced a bend in the labor cost function, resulting into the firm employing less overtime per worker and more workers in the presence of stress which makes their behavior seem negligible given the overlapped operations in the end it is the company that stuffers due to to profit loss and added costs. The way on individual perceives and assesses stress is not only influences by individual attributes and the physical and social information available to the individual and his/her unique cognitive construction of reality. Given the mention of individual uniqueness it can be said that stress factors, leading to burnout are not generally experienced in a single way by most people but depend on some characteristics that individual and their environment both possess. Stress is a multifaceted thing and if viewed on different angles will give clues to how burned out an individual is given that the symptoms of burnout are affecting the well-being of an employee Coping Strategies From the transactional approach to stress, Lazarus and Folkman (1986) have defined coping as "those changing cognitive and behavioral efforts developed for managing the specific external and/or internal demands judged as exceeding or surpassing the individuals own resources" (p. 164). Coping strategies have customarily been classified as specific methods, or according to the precise objectives towards which they are directed. Billings and Moos (1981) for example, identified three methods of coping: a) active-cognitive, understood as the management of assessing potentially stressful events; b) active-behavioral, as the observable efforts aimed at managing a stressful situation; and c) avoidance, as refusal to face a

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College of Arts Department of Psychology

problematic or stressful situation. On the other hand, and in accordance with the objectives of coping, authors have made an essential distinction between coping oriented to the problem and coping oriented to the emotion (Lazarus & Folkman, 1986; Edwards, 1988; Begley, 1998). Coping oriented to the problem would represent an attempt to respond directly to the stressful situation; coping oriented to the emotion would consist in attempts to moderate the emotional response to stressful events. Various studies have related coping strategies with burnout and other consequences of occupational stress in professionals working in the caring professions and other human services. Thornton (1992), for example, found a statistically significant association between coping of the avoidance type with burnout in a sample of workers at a psychiatric clinic. In the longitudinal study by Koeske (1993), carried out with social workers, it was found that coping strategies oriented to control provided greater capacity for coping with difficult situations at work. Chan and Hui (1995) found that coping strategies addressed to avoidance were positively related to the three components of burnout in a group of secondary school teachers. Similarly, and with a population from the same professional context, Yela (1996) reported that the greater the feelings of emotional exhaustion, the more likely these professionals were to use strategies coinciding with a passive form of coping, including strategies based on behavioral and mental disconnection from the situation, concentration on ones emotions and venting ones feelings when faced with difficult or stressful events. Gil-Monte, Peir and Valcrcel (1995) reported that coping strategies of avoidance increased emotional exhaustion, while "control" coping maintained personal accomplishment at work in a group of nursing professionals. Analogous results were reported by Hart, Wearing and Headey (1995) with a group of police officers. Finally, and in the exhaustive review on occupational stress in special education teachers by Wisniewski and Gargiulo (1997), it was shown that although

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College of Arts Department of Psychology

Although it seems evident that strategies oriented to the problem are much more effective for coping with stressful situations than those oriented to the emotion and to avoidance (Roger, Jarvis & Najarian, 1993; Hart et al., 1995), there is evidence that the effectiveness of strategies oriented to the problem would depend on effective control of the potential stressors of the environment and individual emotions (Folkman, 1984; Dewe, 1987;Edwards, 1988; Peir & Salvador, 1993; Labrador, 1995; Long, 1998; Peacoba, Daz, Goiri &Vega, 2000; Ito & Brotheridge, 2001). On the other hand, persistent use of strategies oriented to the problem when there are few possibilities of controlling and/or changing the stressors in the environment may greatly exacerbate the undesirable effects of work stress (Schaubroek & Merritt, 1997; de Rijk, Le Blanc, Schaufeli & de Jonge, 1998). At the same time, it has been pointed out that in less controllable circumstances, strategies oriented to the problem in combination with strategies oriented to avoidance may be useful for improving adaptation and wellbeing, so that flexible coping would be adaptive rather than maladaptive, that is, coping oriented to the problem would be adaptive in controllable situations, whilst coping oriented to avoidance would be adaptive in situations difficult to control (Latack, 1986; Koeske, 1993). In this line, Cheng (2001) carried out a study on flexible coping, concluding that both perception of control and objective controllability of the stressors would play a key role in the achievement of effective coping.

POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

College of Arts Department of Psychology

.LOCAL STUDIES Among studies conducted on stress and burnout in the Philippine setting, abundant researches have been made about educator burnout. Other professions notable for these studies were doctors, nurses, social workers and police officers. Multiple role stress is a phenomenon that merits special in the career psychology of women. Vergara (1999) conducted a study among female counselor regarding multiple role stress, burnout and purpose in life. Eighty counselors participated in the study. Maslach Burnout Inventory, Purpose in Life, a questionnaire on priority roles, was some of the research instrument used in the study. The findings showed that purpose in life correlates negatively with emotional exhaustion and depersonalization and correlates positively with personal accomplishment. Villalon (1996) tested the effect of stress on the teaching performance of Philippine Christian University faculty members. The students and immediate superiors evaluated teaching performance. Facultys salary was one of the determinants of teaching performance. Increased workload in school got the highest frequency as a factor causing stress and outstanding personal achievement or awards got the least. The most common physical effects of stress among PCU faculty are frequent back aches, pounding heart, feeling of exhaustion, diarrhea and shortness of breathe. Irritability and impatience were the most common psychological effect of stress. Talking and laughing differently were the most behavioral effects. Bualat (2001) conduct comparative studies of aggression, frustration and anxiety among office, service and factory workers in Metro Manila. The primary source of the research was expanded not only to stressors found at the workplace but in the family and other situations of the subjects life that may trigger the exhibit of variables under study. Further, the study developed on the expression; the effect to self, co-workers and work as well as the physiological and psychological sensations

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College of Arts Department of Psychology

.or symptoms of the respondents felt pertinent to their experiences of anger, frustrations and anxiety. The result revealed that the stressors of workers frustrations anger and anxiety could generally be attributed to those related to work, specifically task performance involving management system, supervisor, co-worker and nature of work, followed by anger provoking experiences. A study on stress and job performance on school administrations in North Samar was conducted by Cardona (1990). The respondents of the study were 173 public and private schools during the academic year 1989-1990 which included secondary school head teachers/ or principals and elementary school head teachers or principals. A stress survey questionnaire was used in gathering data. Multiple regression was used: (1) assess the nature and the degree of relationship between job stressors and job performance and by type and by level of education each school administrator managed; and (2) to determine the influence of moderating variables exerted in relation to job stressors and job performance of each school administrator. The independent (t) was also used to determine the differences among school administrators job stressors and job performance by level and by type of education they managed. The study showed that there was a negative relationship between the school administrators job performance rating and environmental stressors which was moderated by location of school; level of education managed and position classification and civil status. Abrenica (1988) conducted a study on burn out level of De La Salle University faculty members which focus on age grouping and gender. The Maslach Burnout Inventory was administered to 42 full-time faculty members from the various colleges and department of the university. Male scores in the MBI showed no significant relationship from the females. When classified according to age grouping, the younger the faculty members were found to have higher burn out levels.

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College of Arts Department of Psychology

CHAPTER III- METHODOLOGY

Research Design

The descriptive research method was used in the study on effects of stress and burnout among human and non-human services. The primary concern was the gathering of information on call center agents (human service) & factory workers (non-human service) regarding: 1. Level of burnout; 2. Sources of job-related stress; 3. Level of burnout which affect job performance in relation to civil status, age, educational attainments, length of employment & position/ designation in the workplace and; 4. Individual coping mechanics & stress reduction techniques conducted by their organization.
Population

Call center agents who work on insurance account of Sykes Asia- Philippines and factory workers who work on production of Unilever Philippines were the main focus of this study to imply for Human & Non- Human services samples.

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College of Arts Department of Psychology

Research Instrument

The study utilized a survey questionnaire divided into four parts. Section I consisted of a person information sheet that determined the respondents specific socio demographic variables needed for the study. Section 2 consisted of survey questions on Job Stress Survey design to measure both the sources and occupational stress that adopted with minor revisions. Section 3 consisted of an adopted Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) General Survey consisting of 22 items rephrased appropriately for the Philippine setting. This portion measured the samples general level of burnout in terms of three dimensions (exhaustion, cynicism, and reduced personal efficacy). Finally, Section 4 consists of questionnaires for Individual Coping Mechanisms and Stress Reduction Techniques for Organizational interventions.

Data Collection

Two companies in Metro Manila were included in the study. The four page questionnaire will send to 100 call center agents and 100 factory workers in selected company around Metro Manila, namely: Sykes Asia- Philippines and Unilever Philippines. Stratified random sampling will used in this study. Gathering of questionnaires will do smoothly with the help of Heads, Managers and H.R Department of two companies.

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College of Arts Department of Psychology

Analysis of Data Data gather from the final survey will process using the frequencies and percentages to describe the respondents personal and socio -demographic variables, sources of job related stressors, three dimensions of burnout, individual coping mechanisms and so forth. To test the hypotheses on personal and socio- demographic variables in relation in the level of burnout, the following statistical measurement will use: Pearson r for testing linear relationship, chi square and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) for significant difference at .05 level of significance.

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College of Arts Department of Psychology

DEFINITION OF TERMS

1. Burnout- a complex exhaustion of a persons physical and intellectual resources

caused by excessive efforts to attain certain unrealistic, job-related goals (Kossen 1994, p.492)
2. Coping- as all cognitive and behavioral efforts to master, reduce, or tolerate

demands (Price 1992, p.269)

3. Cynicism/ Depersonalization- describes a feeling of distance from ones users,

as if they were things, rather than people. (Price 1992, p.269)

4. Emotional Exhaustion- a workers feeling that job demands more emotional

involvement than one is able to give. (Smith 1984, p.223)

5. Group Stressor- usually pertains to aspects experienced in reference to the

relationship with officemates, such as peers, subordinates and boss. 6. Human Service- the human service practitioner is a professional who acts as an agent to assist and or empower individuals, groups, families and communities to prevent, alleviate or better cope with crisis, change and stress to enable them to function more effectively in all areas of life and living.
7. Individual Coping Strategies- behavioral / cognitive efforts made in an attempt

to manage internal demands and conflicts that have excluded an individuals usual coping resources.
8. Individual Stressor- usually pertains to aspects experiences independently by

employees such as role conflict, role ambiguity, work overload, lack of control, responsibility, and working conditions.

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College of Arts Department of Psychology

9. Low Personal Accomplishment- results when the worker develops the tendency

to evaluate himself negatively, particularly with regard to his/her patrons. People experiencing this aspect of burnout are not happy with their jobs and themselves.
10. Non-Human Service- the non-human services are workers that has no direct

contact to person or services such as factory workers, production, software programmer.

11. Occupational Stressors- various factors experienced in the workplace that

induce stress, which is the reaction of people to their environments and involve both physiological and psychological responses to environmental conditions causing then to change or adjust their behaviors either positively or negatively.
12. Organizational Coping Strategies- are steps that organizations can take to try to

reduce stress levels in the organization for all, or most employees.

13. Organizational Stressors- usually pertains to the company as a whole, like poor

structural design, politics and no specific policy.

14. Physical Environment Stressors- usually pertains to the external factors of the

environment that can be externally felt pertains to light, noise, temperature, polluted air.
15. Stress- is primarily a physiological reaction to certain threatening environmental

events (Riggio 2008, p.246)

16. Stressors- characteristics or condition in the workplace that give rise to stress

(Saal 1995, p.390)

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