Emotions, stress, organisational justice and whistle blowing
Emotions and stress shape performance, and Selye's GAS explains the stress response. Employees also judge fairness in outcomes, procedures and treatment; whistle blowers expose wrongdoing.
Emotions at work
| Concept | Author | Key idea |
|---|---|---|
| Emotional intelligence | Daniel Goleman | Self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, social skills |
| Emotional labour | Arlie Hochschild (1983) | Showing the emotions the job requires; surface acting vs deep acting |
| Emotional dissonance | Linked to emotional labour | Gap between felt and displayed emotions; can lead to burnout |
| Affective events theory | Weiss and Cropanzano (1996) | Work events trigger emotional reactions that shape attitudes and behaviour |
| Emotional contagion | Group research | Moods spread from person to person |
Selye's General Adaptation Syndrome
Selye also separated eustress (positive, energising stress) from distress (harmful stress).
Sources of stress and coping
| Level | Stressors | Coping strategies |
|---|---|---|
| Environmental | Economic uncertainty, political change, new technology | Planning, skill upgrading |
| Organisational | Role ambiguity, role conflict, role overload, poor leadership, tight deadlines | Clear roles, participation, employee assistance and wellness programmes |
| Individual | Family problems, money worries, Type A personality | Exercise, relaxation, meditation, time management, social support |
Stress facts NET likes
- Yerkes-Dodson law: performance rises with arousal up to an optimum, then falls (an inverted U).
- Burnout (Christina Maslach): emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation (cynicism) and reduced personal accomplishment.
- Role conflict means incompatible demands; role ambiguity means unclear expectations; role overload means too much to do.
- Stress symptoms are physiological (blood pressure, headaches), psychological (anxiety, dissatisfaction) and behavioural (absenteeism, turnover).
- Holmes and Rahe's Social Readjustment Rating Scale ranks life events by how stressful they are.
Organisational justice
| Type | Fairness of | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Distributive | Outcomes such as pay and promotions | Two people doing the same work get the same raise |
| Procedural | The process used to decide outcomes | Consistent, unbiased appraisal with a chance to be heard |
| Interactional: interpersonal | Dignity and respect in treatment | Bad news is given politely |
| Interactional: informational | Explanations and information shared | Reasons for a decision are explained honestly |
Whistle blowing
A good policy promises confidentiality and protects the whistle blower from retaliation.
NET asks you to sequence Selye's GAS stages, match emotion and stress concepts with authors, and tell the three types of justice apart; whistle-blowing items test the 2014 Act and vigil mechanisms.
Typical MCQ: “Which type of organisational justice concerns the fairness of outcomes?” Distributive justice. Trap: procedural justice is about the process and interactional justice about treatment.
Typical MCQ: “Name the three stages of Selye's General Adaptation Syndrome.” Alarm, resistance, exhaustion. Trap: 'adaptation' is part of the name, not a stage.
Selye's ARE: Alarm, Resistance, Exhaustion. Justice is DPI: Distributive, Procedural, Interactional.