Chapter 7 Psychological and Social Demands and Resources

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Questions and Answers

What is one common technique for integrating new members into an organization, as mentioned in the text?

Hosting team-building retreats

Implementing job crafting strategies

Enforcing strict rules and regulations

Utilizing socialization and onboarding processes (correct)

How do mentoring relationships contribute to organizational cultures, based on the text?

By creating a competitive work environment

By promoting worker communication and support (correct)

By limiting employee autonomy

By enforcing rigid hierarchies

What is one way to address an imbalance between psychosocial demands and resources at the individual level according to the text?

Encouraging work-life imbalance

Isolating employees from teamwork

Implementing job enrichment strategies (correct)

Increasing workload without additional resources

What is the primary purpose of developing and validating consistent processes for recruiting, selecting, developing, and promoting talent within an organization?

To facilitate better management of psychosocial demands and resources Signup and view all the answers

Which approach helps workers gain a greater sense of meaning and control related to their job demands?

Enriching and enlarging job experiences Signup and view all the answers

How can good workforce planning and cross-training within an organization help during periods of economic instability?

By avoiding large-scale terminations and providing workers economic security Signup and view all the answers

In what way can new-hire onboarding and socialization benefit employees in an organization?

Providing clarity on norms and expectations Signup and view all the answers

Why might interventions in the area of psychosocial demands and resources in occupational health psychology take an extended period of time to show full effects?

Because the nature of psychosocial demands requires time and effort to show results Signup and view all the answers

How do job enrichment and job crafting contribute to worker adaptability and value within an organization?

By facilitating better management of talent resources Signup and view all the answers

What is a key benefit of realistic workforce and succession planning efforts as mentioned in the text?

Providing workers opportunities to recover from high psychosocial demands Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following is NOT a characteristic supported by the job characteristics theory for enhancing worker motivation and performance?

Repetition reduction Signup and view all the answers

How can organizations enhance task identity according to the job characteristics theory?

By involving workers in a complete work process Signup and view all the answers

What role does feedback play in improving worker performance based on the job characteristics theory?

Provides recognition for good work Signup and view all the answers

In the context of job enrichment, what does autonomy and control refer to?

Providing workers with freedom to choose tasks Signup and view all the answers

How can organizations increase task significance according to the job characteristics theory?

By helping employees see the importance of their work Signup and view all the answers

What is a potential difficulty for newcomers in organizations that do not engage in high-volume hiring?

Navigating social norms and expectations Signup and view all the answers

How does social support contribute to the work environment as described in the text?

It serves as a valuable resource for employees Signup and view all the answers

What impact does lack of social support have on employees based on the text?

It creates an influential demand Signup and view all the answers

In the context of social demands in the workplace, what role do social norms and expectations play?

They provide clarity and structure for workers Signup and view all the answers

How do social demands manifest in workplace settings according to the text?

Through concerns over being treated differently due to certain attributes Signup and view all the answers

What is the main concern highlighted in the text regarding organizations operating with no excess personnel?

Lack of flexibility for workers to take time off or deal with personal matters Signup and view all the answers

Why is it important for organizational interventions to improve worker control to go beyond adjusting perceptions?

To provide workers the opportunity to exercise real control over their work Signup and view all the answers

How can organizations enhance workers' feelings of security and stability, as mentioned in the text?

By improving transparency and communication throughout the organizational hierarchy Signup and view all the answers

What did Cendales-Ayala et al. (2017) demonstrate through their study mentioned in the text?

The benefits of giving workers control over their work Signup and view all the answers

How can organizations encourage workers to continue developing their skills and learning new things, based on the text?

By fostering a growth mindset among workers Signup and view all the answers

Study Notes

Organizational Techniques for Managing Psychosocial Demands

New-hire onboarding or socialization and mentoring relationships are two common techniques for managing psychosocial demands in organizations.
Socialization efforts provide new members with important information and clarity regarding norms and expectations for responding to common psychosocial demands within a particular work environment.
Longer-term, ongoing mentorship relationships can help build and sustain organizational cultures in which workers feel supported and are likely to communicate better with others to manage psychosocial work-related demands.

Redesigning Work for Meaning and Control

Work redesign is a strategy for addressing an imbalance between psychosocial demands and resources.
Job crafting at the individual level and enriching, enlarging, or changing workers' experiences at a broader group or organizational level can provide a greater sense of meaning and control related to demands.
This strategy builds adaptability and value in workers, not just within their current organization, but in a more generalizable sense.

Managing Talent Resources

Proper management of talent resources facilitates better management of psychosocial demands and resources.
Developing and validating consistent and defensible processes for recruiting, selecting, developing, and promoting talent throughout the organization is essential.
Realistic workforce and succession planning efforts that factor in the need to ensure workers' opportunities to recover and avoid high psychosocial demands are also important.

Job Enrichment

Job enrichment is a job redesign technique supported by elements of job characteristics theory.
Increasing skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback in jobs can motivate workers and improve their performance.
These characteristics in jobs are also good for workers' health, safety, and well-being.

Evaluating Psychosocial Demand and Resource Interventions

Interventions in this area may generate short-term benefits, but are more likely to show their full effects only over an extended period of time and effort.
Job redesign techniques, such as job enrichment, can help reduce repetition, monotony, and boredom, and increase overall richness of work experiences.

Social demands can take the form of stigmas in the workplace or concerns over being treated differently because of a socially undesirable attribute or behavior.
Social norms and expectations can be particularly difficult for newcomers to manage, especially in organizations that do not engage in high-volume hiring.
Social norms also help to establish appropriate and inappropriate forms of social interaction among people in particular work environments.

Social support is an important work-related social factor that can be both demand and resource.
Lack of social support is an influential demand, while the presence of social support can be seen as a valuable resource.
Social support may come from coworkers or supervisors, and from sources outside the organization.

Enhancing Security and Stability

Enhancing workers' feelings of security and stability at work is important for their well-being.
Improving transparency and communication throughout an organization's hierarchy can help achieve this.
Fostering a growth mindset that encourages workers to continue developing their skills and learning new things can also enhance workers' sense of security and stability.

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