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Ravalier PhD Theis.pdf - Anglia Ruskin Research Online

Ravalier PhD Theis.pdf - Anglia Ruskin Research Online

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research, empower individuals to identify and act upon workplace stressors. Problem-focussed approaches<br />

therefore, in which the individual takes action to change a particular situation, are addressed in the presented<br />

research by identifying an issue and turning it into something more positive. Indeed once the action plans had<br />

been accepted by management and implemented into the organisation individual respondents were taking steps to<br />

address the issues that they faced.<br />

Also as is described in the model individual response variability to stress reactions is clearly taken into<br />

account. Through the qualitative AI phases, and in particular the daily diaries and individual semi-structured<br />

interviews in which individual opinions and discussions were captured, this variability was clear. For example,<br />

areas working well were as diverse as peer support and successful working in the log phase, with semi-structured<br />

interviews adding further factors. This shows that although the whole of the transactional model cannot have been<br />

assessed in the presented study, certain aspects are still identifiable.<br />

The stimulus approach has proven to be extremely well-utilised with respect to workplace stress. Indeed, the<br />

Job Demands-Control-Support model of occupational stress is based upon a stimulus approach (McClenahan, Giles<br />

& Mallett, 2007), where it is argued that the chronic individual experience of high demands in combination with low<br />

levels of autonomy (Control) and poor Peer Support can lead to stress-related outcomes, such as burnout. The<br />

JDCS was assessed in the work through the use of both the qualitative and quantitative aspects of the work. While<br />

Demands and Support (in the form of Managerial Support) were found to be stressors that individuals experienced<br />

in the workplace, Relationships (part of the 'social support' aspect of the JDCS) was found to buffer employee<br />

experience of stress. Despite this, neither of the methods used found that Control played an important part in the

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