In terms of section 186(1)(e) of the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 constructive dismissal occurs where an employee terminated a contract of employment with or without notice because the employer made continued employment intolerable. Work stress is becoming more and more imminent in the workplace. Some employees feel that the amount of work stress also makes their continued employment intolerable, and then they claim constructive dismissal. This raises the question whether the courts should apply the same tests they apply in constructive dismissal cases as well as in cases where the employee resigns because of work stress. But, if the same tests that are used to determine if there has been a constructive dismissal are used in a case where an employee resigns because of work stress, a real danger exists because then it can lead to the misuse of a claim of constructive dismissal by employees who cannot handle a minimum amount of work stress. Over the years the courts have indicated that they apply an objective test in cases of constructive dismissal. This leads to the argument whether subjectivity should play a role, and whether one should look at the subjective perspective of both the employer and the employee. This research looks at numerous court decisions, from both the South African legal system as well as the United Kingdom legal system, in order to determine which tests the South African courts need to apply when they are confronted with a constructive dismissal claim where the employee resigned due to work stress. Constructive dismissal – resignation – work stress – stress due to an excessive workload – work stress and employee wellness – stress based claims. / Thesis (LL.M. (Labour Law))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011

In terms of section 186(1)(e) of the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 constructive dismissal occurs where an employee terminated a contract of employment with or without notice because the employer made continued employment intolerable. Work stress is becoming more and more imminent in the workplace. Some employees feel that the amount of work stress also makes their continued employment intolerable, and then they claim constructive dismissal. This raises the question whether the courts should apply the same tests they apply in constructive dismissal cases as well as in cases where the employee resigns because of work stress. But, if the same tests that are used to determine if there has been a constructive dismissal are used in a case where an employee resigns because of work stress, a real danger exists because then it can lead to the misuse of a claim of constructive dismissal by employees who cannot handle a minimum amount of work stress. Over the years the courts have indicated that they apply an objective test in cases of constructive dismissal. This leads to the argument whether subjectivity should play a role, and whether one should look at the subjective perspective of both the employer and the employee. This research looks at numerous court decisions, from both the South African legal system as well as the United Kingdom legal system, in order to determine which tests the South African courts need to apply when they are confronted with a constructive dismissal claim where the employee resigned due to work stress. Constructive dismissal – resignation – work stress – stress due to an excessive workload – work stress and employee wellness – stress based claims. / Thesis (LL.M. (Labour Law))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011

Unsatisfactory working conditions and job stress may be indicative of working in a society where work-life balance is a desired, but often elusive, goal (Duxbury & Higgins, 2001; Smola & Sutton, 2002; Sturges & Guest, 2004). Working conditions in the healthcare sector are reported to be particularly problematic and stress inducing compared to other work sectors (Yassi, Ostry, Spiegel, Walsh, & de Boer, 2002). In fact, quality of work life (QOWL) among healthcare workers is believed to have deteriorated to the point where it is impeding the capacity of the system to recruit and retain staff needed to provide effective patient care (Koehoorn, Lowe, Rondeau, Schellenberg, & Wager, 2002). The purpose of the study was to examine the experiences of healthcare staff who participate in QOWL initiatives aimed to provide employees with creative, educational, and fun activities designed to address feelings of stress. This study included thirteen staff members from disciplines that comprise the Health Care Team at a facility specializing in aging and veteran's care. Data were collected through conversational interviews with staff from each of the following disciplines: nursing, recreation therapy, physiotherapy, creative arts, clinical nutrition, social work, audiology, occupational therapy, and pastoral care. The data were deconstructed into common themes through an open-ended process, which lead to the identification of common experiences across the data provided by the staff. Upon further comparison of the themes, it was identified that work demands were believed to detract from care provision and strained manager relations were believed to minimize quality of care. However, a strong professional identity was evident as staff described being able to rise above adversity and use their skills and competencies to provide quality care to residents. The data also suggested QOWL initiatives seem to be valuable because they provide opportunities for staff to interact socially. This interaction helps foster and strengthen connections amongst staff, which they feel transfers to the work place through improved working relationships. Participants described feelings of personal gratification that can be derived from team cohesiveness. They also acknowledged the carry over value that team work brings to residents by way of improved care provision. Furthermore, the relationships that staff members develop with one another were viewed as sources of strength, particularly in times of increased stress. In addition to the social element associated with the QOWL initiatives, these initiatives also seem to address a need for restoration, humour, and balance within the work day. Without planned opportunities for rejuvenation and humour appreciation, participants admitted that they would seldom take the time to incorporate these into their work day. Therefore, QOWL initiatives can provide staff with a reason to take a break and find their balance. The findings indicate the factors affecting QOWL are varied and complex. The findings also indicate that there can be a paradoxical nature to work within a health care setting. Paradoxes exist in relation to the provision of professional care and the provision of minimized care. Paradoxes also exist in relation to the expressed need for restoration, humour, and balance and the low priority staff will place on taking time to fulfill these needs.

The thesis deals with the effects of professional failure and helplessness experienced by nurses working in palliative care. The objectives of this thesis were to find out whether nurses often suffer from the negative feelings, to examine the influence of the job on their personal lives, to identify the most common problems related to their jobs and to find out if they regret choosing this type of job. To achieve these objectives, the following questions were asked: What is the influence of palliative care environment on nurses' lives and personalities? What factors influence nurses' professional performance? Why did they choose this type of job? What are the most stressful situations they experience? Does the workload make them feel helpless? What helps the nurses cope with stressful situations? We used qualitative research methods and conducted half structured interviews with fifteen research participants; eight of them work in non-hospice palliative care and seven participants work in hospices. The research results showed that palliative care has an influence on nurses' personal lives to a large extent; however, not only in negative ways. The research participants find their jobs mentally demanding and hard to separate from personal lives but they do not regret choosing the job. The participants responded that they often feel helpless but not hopeless. The feeling of failure is rather rare and occurs only under specific conditions. The most common and serious problems the participants encounter were characterized as conflicts at work, work stress, patient´s worsening state of health or patient's death, communication with family of a patient who passed away, big responsibility, misunderstandings with patients or their families, taking care of confused or aggressive patients and of patients with persisting pain, death of a young patient, patient's inability to find reconciliation with their condition or patient's unawareness of their state of health. This thesis also outlines a close relationship between high demands of palliative care and burnout syndrome and could be used for further research on this topic. Simultaneously, the data received from the research participants provides an analysis of palliative care nurses' feelings and work satisfaction and will be communicated to the management of given facilities. The findings of this work could be also presented at a conference in the future.

The phenomenon of work stress is ubiquitous and has been the source of considerable attention over the past few decades. Work stress is a common problem in human services, particularly in the area of rehabilitation. The prevalence of this problem for rehabilitation has, however, been fuelled over the last two decades by the rapid growth of the insurance-based rehabilitation sector in Australia. The expansion of this sector has created a major market for rehabilitation practitioners. Using a qualitative research paradigm, the current study examined the insurance-based rehabilitation context in Australia. Specifically, this study explored the influence of this context on the experience of work stress for rehabilitation professionals. Although attempts to account for work stress usually focus on the qualities of the individual and organizational factors, the current study has responded to the call in occupational stress literature to examine this phenomenon at a broader, contextual level. Twenty-five rehabilitation professionals were asked to provide visual representations to illustrate their experience of the insurance-based rehabilitation work context. Interviews were conducted with each participant to elicit a more in-depth understanding of this experience. The findings revealed that the insurance-context appears to be characterized by inconsistency, chaos, confusion, and a strong focus on profit and cost effectiveness as depicted by the themes Maelstrom, Co-dependent Liaisons, Implosion of Responsibility, Legislative Pluralism, External Trumping and Greed. The deleterious influence of this context on rehabilitation professionals manifested in several ways as represented by the themes Impotence, Cynicism, Going Through the Motions, and Betrayal. A metaphor of a virus was used to provide a context for understanding how rehabilitation professionals were infected by the stressors inherent in the unhealthy contextual environment of the insurance sector. The results of this study have important implications for informing future policy, practice and research within the rehabilitation industry. Clearly, the health of the insurance sector needs to improve to ensure the well-being of rehabilitation professionals such as those who participated in this study. Improved health of this sector must include a greater respect for the profession of rehabilitation. Also crucial to the improved health of the sector is consistency in legislation and procedures that underpin rehabilitation. In addition, rehabilitation professionals must accept responsibility for enhancing their core competencies if they are to inoculate themselves against the harmful influence of the broader insurance context. Strategies to inoculate rehabilitation professionals against the infiltration of these contextual stressors must include an understanding of business administration and policy. Finally, the findings suggest that unless the health of the sector and the rehabilitation professionals improve, poor rehabilitation outcomes are likely to continue to plague the insurance industry and the experience of work stress and turnover among rehabilitation professionals will remain unacceptably high.

At work and in the family, people do emotional work to meet other people's emotional needs, improve their wellbeing, and maintain social harmony. Emotional work is unique and skilled work - it involves handling emotions and social relationships and its product is the change of feeling in others. ¶ The thesis extends the work of Erickson and Wharton (1993, 1997) and England (1992, England & Farkas, 1986) by adding a psychological perspective. Emotional work is defined in terms of behaviours. Three dimensions, companionship, help and regulation, distinguish whether positive or negative emotions in other people are the target of emotional work. Companionship builds positive emotions, whereas help and regulation repairs and regulates negative emotions. ¶ Two studies, the Public Service Study (n=448) and the Health Care Study (n=261), sample different work and family role contexts (spouse, parent, kinkeeper and friendship, manager, workmate and service roles). The Integrative Emotional Work (IEW) Inventory was developed to assess emotional work in these roles. ¶ Emotional work is not just women's work. Younger people and those from ethnic minority backgrounds also do more emotional work. In contexts where it is not rewarded, emotional work is done by those with lower status. Emotional work is responsive and increases when other people are distressed. It is an aspect of the domestic division of labour, and influenced by workplace climate. Although personality is a factor, some determinants are modifiable. People do more emotional work when they have the skills, when it is saliently prescribed, and when it is rewarded and recognised. ¶ Emotional work is costly to those who do it and combines in its effects across work and family roles. When people do emotional work they 'catch' emotions from others (Hatfield, Cacioppo, & Rapson, 1994). Handling positive emotions in others improves wellbeing. However, handling negative emotions in others relates to a wide range of psychological health problems. These health costs are mitigated when emotional work is rewarded. Emotional work's devaluation sets in train social group differences in its performance, and confers both material (England & Folbre, 1999) and health disadvantages on those who do it.

El síndrome de estrés crónico asistencial se desarrolla como consecuencia de la exposición crónica a diversos estresores laborales. Además de la importancia de las variables organizacionales en el desarrollo de este síndrome, resulta necesario investigar la influencia de las variables personales. Los resultados de esta investigación ponen de manifiesto que determinadas variables de personalidad se encuentran asociadas de forma significativa a este síndrome. Concretamente, se evidencia una asociación inversa entre la personalidad negativista y el factor de compromiso del constructo de personalidad resistente. Este factor, a su vez, se muestra como importante predictor de los síntomas del síndrome (cansancio emocional, despersonalización y falta de realización personal en el trabajo). Con estos resultados podemos concluir que las variables de personalidad constituyen un importante factor a tener en cuenta en el diseño de programas de prevención/intervención del síndrome de estr és crónico asistencial, asumiendo un enfoque más integral que no se centre exclusivamente en la influencia de las variables de tipo organizacional. / The burnout syndrome develops as a result of chronic exposure to various job stressors. Besides the importance of organizational variables in the development of this syndrome, it is necessary to investigate the influence of personal variables. The results of this research show that certain personality traits are significantly associated with this syndrome. Specifically, there is evidence of inverse association between negativistic personality and commitment factor construct of Hardiness. This factor is an important predictor of symptoms of the burnout syndrome (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and lack of personal accomplishment). These results suggest that personality variables are an important factor to consider in designing programs of prevention / intervention of Burnout syndrome, taking a more holistic approach that focuses not only on the influence of organizational variables.

Unsatisfactory working conditions and job stress may be indicative of working in a society where work-life balance is a desired, but often elusive, goal (Duxbury & Higgins, 2001; Smola & Sutton, 2002; Sturges & Guest, 2004). Working conditions in the healthcare sector are reported to be particularly problematic and stress inducing compared to other work sectors (Yassi, Ostry, Spiegel, Walsh, & de Boer, 2002). In fact, quality of work life (QOWL) among healthcare workers is believed to have deteriorated to the point where it is impeding the capacity of the system to recruit and retain staff needed to provide effective patient care (Koehoorn, Lowe, Rondeau, Schellenberg, & Wager, 2002). The purpose of the study was to examine the experiences of healthcare staff who participate in QOWL initiatives aimed to provide employees with creative, educational, and fun activities designed to address feelings of stress. This study included thirteen staff members from disciplines that comprise the Health Care Team at a facility specializing in aging and veteran's care. Data were collected through conversational interviews with staff from each of the following disciplines: nursing, recreation therapy, physiotherapy, creative arts, clinical nutrition, social work, audiology, occupational therapy, and pastoral care. The data were deconstructed into common themes through an open-ended process, which lead to the identification of common experiences across the data provided by the staff. Upon further comparison of the themes, it was identified that work demands were believed to detract from care provision and strained manager relations were believed to minimize quality of care. However, a strong professional identity was evident as staff described being able to rise above adversity and use their skills and competencies to provide quality care to residents. The data also suggested QOWL initiatives seem to be valuable because they provide opportunities for staff to interact socially. This interaction helps foster and strengthen connections amongst staff, which they feel transfers to the work place through improved working relationships. Participants described feelings of personal gratification that can be derived from team cohesiveness. They also acknowledged the carry over value that team work brings to residents by way of improved care provision. Furthermore, the relationships that staff members develop with one another were viewed as sources of strength, particularly in times of increased stress. In addition to the social element associated with the QOWL initiatives, these initiatives also seem to address a need for restoration, humour, and balance within the work day. Without planned opportunities for rejuvenation and humour appreciation, participants admitted that they would seldom take the time to incorporate these into their work day. Therefore, QOWL initiatives can provide staff with a reason to take a break and find their balance. The findings indicate the factors affecting QOWL are varied and complex. The findings also indicate that there can be a paradoxical nature to work within a health care setting. Paradoxes exist in relation to the provision of professional care and the provision of minimized care. Paradoxes also exist in relation to the expressed need for restoration, humour, and balance and the low priority staff will place on taking time to fulfill these needs.

Sammanfattning Syftet med studien var att undersöka den arbetspsykologiska vinsten i form av kontroll, stress och arbetstillfredsställelse av en utbildningsinsats med skiftlagsutveckling. En enkätundersökning genomfördes på ett stort industriföretag i Mellansverige. Totalt 65 personer svarade på enkäten, indelade i de som deltagit (experimentgrupp) och de som inte deltagit (kontrollgrupp) i utbildningen. Resultatet visade att experimentgruppen jämfört med kontrollgruppen skattade sin kontroll över arbetshastigheten högre. Likaså ansåg sig experimentgruppen bättre kunna förutsäga resultatet av sina beslut i arbetet än kontrollgruppen. Resultatet indikerade även en tendens till signifikant huvudeffekt av ålder på skattad stress; yngre kände större stöd i arbetet medan äldre kände att de kunde utnyttja sina färdigheter och talanger till fullo i arbetet. Nyckelord: Arbetsrelaterad kontroll, arbetsrelaterad stress, arbetstillfredsställelse, utbildning / Abstract The work psychology-related benefits of group training in a shift-going work team The objective of the study was to investigate whether team building-based training could improve work satisfaction, reduce stress, and increase perceived control of the work environment for a shift-going work team. A questionnaire study was performed at a large industrial company in central Sweden. 65 participants were divided into an experimental (participation in training) vs. a control (no participation in training group). The results showed that former compared to latter participants perceived a greater amount of control over their work, as well as estimated their ability to predict the results of their work decisions as higher. Concerning the perceived stress, younger compared to older were shown to experience more support whereas older vs. younger rated the ability to fully use skills and abilities as higher. Keywords: Work control, work stress, work satisfaction, training

Political behavior does exist in organizations. Perceptions of organizational politics affect decision-making of many issues in human resource departments from promotions to salaries. When members of organizations realize that political behavior will affect their promotions and salaries, thereby not fulfilling their expectations; the resulting perception may potentially bring an adverse effect on their work ethic. In recent years, many studies have taken place on the perceptions of organizational politics and its negative effects, the studies not only took objective environmental factors into consideration but also examined the subjective personal factors. Thus, the purpose of this study is to measure the effects of the organization¡¦s member¡¦s awareness of the existence of political behavior on work stress, and to examine if intervening variables, such as, ¡§Type A personality¡¨, ¡§locus of control¡¨, ¡§understanding¡¨, and ¡§control¡¨, would modulate the adverse effects of their perceptions of organizational politics on work stress. Four national financial institutions were the recipients of this study, from whom 280 valid copies were received. The use of methodology includes factor analysis, reliability analysis, correlation analysis, regression analysis, and hierarchical regression analysis. The survey indicated that a) the perceptions of organizational politics have adverse effects on work stress, b) Type A personality, locus of control, and control, have remarkable modulating effects on the relationship between the perceptions of organizational politics and work stress in terms of under-utilization of skill, c) locus of control has significant modulating effects on the relationship between the perceptions of organizational politics and work stress in terms of work overload.