Stress among school secretaries. Demands and problems at a pedagogic interface

Die Arbeit im Sekretariat einer Schule bezieht sich häufig nicht nur auf rein organisatorisch-administrative Aufgaben: Die Verknüpfung mit pädagogischen Anforderungen bringt erhebliche psychische Belastungen mit sich. Oftmals fehlt eine soziale Unterstützung, die Arbeitsorganisation weist Mängel auf und Einflussmöglichkeiten sind gering. Zur Erfüllung der widersprüchlichen Anforderungen ist nach Auffassung der Autoren eine angemessene Unterstützung nötig. (DIPF/Orig./Ba.)Work in school secretariats is usually not restricted to organizational and administrative tasks. Coupled with pedagogic-psychological demands, secretaries\u27 work may cause considerable psychological strain. Frequently, social support is low, work organization is poor, and possibilites to exert control over one\u27s work is limited. To effectively deal with contradictory demands adequate support is necessary. (DIPF/Orig.

Modeling Workplace Bullying Behaviors Using Catastrophe Theory

Workplace bullying is defined as negative behaviors directed at organizational members or their work context that occur regularly and repeatedly over a period of time. Employees' perceptions of psychosocial safety climate, workplace bullying victimization, and workplace bullying perpetration were assessed within a sample of nearly 5,000 workers. Linear and nonlinear approaches were applied in order to model both continuous and sudden changes in workplace bullying. More specifically, the present study examines whether a nonlinear dynamical systems model (i.e., a cusp catastrophe model) is superior to the linear combination of variables for predicting the effect of psychosocial safety climate and workplace bullying victimization on workplace bullying perpetration. According to the AICc, and BIC indices, the linear regression model fits the data better than the cusp catastrophe model. The study concludes that some phenomena, especially unhealthy behaviors at work (like workplace bullying), may be better studied using linear approaches as opposed to nonlinear dynamical systems models. This can be explained through the healthy variability hypothesis, which argues that positive organizational behavior is likely to present nonlinear behavior, while a decreas

Preterm children’s long-term academic performance after adaptive computerized training : an efficacy and process analysis of a randomized controlled trial

Background: Adaptive computerized interventions may help improve preterm children’s academic success, but randomized trials are rare. We tested whether a math training (XtraMath®) versus an active control condition (Cogmed®; working memory) improved school performance. Training feasibility was also evaluated. Methods: Preterm born first graders, N = 65 (28–35 + 6 weeks gestation) were recruited into a prospective randomized controlled multicenter trial and received one of two computerized trainings at home for 5 weeks. Teachers rated academic performance in math, reading/writing, and attention compared to classmates before (baseline), directly after (post), and 12 months after the intervention (follow-up). Total academic performance growth was calculated as change from baseline (hierarchically ordered—post test first, follow-up second). Results: Bootstrapped linear regressions showed that academic growth to post test was significantly higher in the math intervention group (B = 0.25 [95% confidence interval: 0.04–0.50], p = 0.039), but this difference was not sustained at the 12-month follow-up (B = 0.00 [−0.31 to 0.34], p = 0.996). Parents in the XtraMath group reported higher acceptance compared with the Cogmed group (mean difference: −0.49, [−0.90 to −0.08], p = 0.037). Conclusions: Our findings do not show a sustained difference in efficacy between both trainings. Studies of math intervention effectiveness for preterm school-aged children are warranted. Impact: Adaptive computerized math training may help improve preterm children’s short-term school performance. Computerized math training provides a novel avenue towards intervention after preterm birth. Well-powered randomized controlled studies of math intervention effectiveness for preterm school-aged children are warranted

EUROPEAN WORK AND ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGIST, 1993.3 (2) 85-100 Stress-oriented Analysis of Computerized Office Work1

Ihe stress-oriented job analysiis instrumtnt ISTA *,as applied to a sample of 232 ofiice jobs to analyse thc impact of new telhnolagics on the stresm-strain nlationship. Scales measuring work conknt (complexity of work, variety), stressors (time pntssum, organizational problems. interruptions, concentration nccessities. social stressors), and resources (contra1 at work, control over tin~e) were dcvclopcd and demonstrated desirable scale characteristics. The rewlts showed positive correlations between strcssnri and psychological dysfunctioning (psychosomatic complainu, irritation). Computer work was associated with a decrea~e of work stressors, but also with dccrea~cdjob content. Work places using different softwaresystems (wwd processing, specialist, spreadsheet, and i~aphic pmgrams) manifested different characteristics regarding work ccntenc stresrorr, and rcsaurces. For example, when working with word processors, most smssors occurred at a mediuln daily computer work time. This indicates that strategies of work design which involve compul:er and "on-computer work have to be used carefully

Quotas for Women Can Improve Recruitment Procedures:Gender as a Predictor of the Frequency of Use of Passive Job Search Behavior and the Mediating Roles of Management Aspirations, Proactivity, and Career Level

Abstract. In this study, among a sample of 388 participants located in German-speaking countries, from different career levels and all having an employment relationship, we examined the influence of gender on the frequency of use of different job search strategies. The main focus lies on passive job search behavior, which is considered to be an important determinant of career success. The data suggest considerable gender differences in the frequency of use of passive job search strategies. Results of mediation analyses showed that the gap between men and women became smaller with respect to the influence of proactivity and management aspirations and disappeared for individuals in leadership positions. The implications of these findings are discussed in the light of the literature and quota debate. </jats:p

Customer-Related Social Stressors and Burnout

Although almost all literature on burnout implicitly assumes that burnout is primarily caused by stressful employee-customer interactions, only a few studies have addressed this empirically. A principal-components analysis of a newly developed instrument assessing various forms of customer-related social stressors (CSS) in 3 different service jobs (N = 591) revealed 4 themes of CSS: disproportionate customer expectations, customer verbal aggression, disliked customers, and ambiguous customer expectations. These 4 CSS predict burnout beyond a variety of control variables. Contrary to other predictors of burnout analyzed in previous studies, the amount of variance explained in exhaustion (14%) by the 4 CSS scales is not higher than for personal accomplishment (14%) and is considerably lower than for depersonalization (23%). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved

Social Stressors at work, irritation, and depressive symptoms: Accounting for unmeasured third variables in a multi-wave study

This article investigates the relationship between social stressors, comprising conflicts with co-workers and supervisors and social animosities at work, irritation and depressive symptoms. It is argued that only a few mediation hypotheses have been investigated in organizational stress research. In the present study it was hypothesized that irritation mediates the effect of social stressors on depressive symptoms. This hypothesis was tested using four waves of a six-wave longitudinal study based on a representative sample (N=313) of the residents of Dresden, Germany. The advantages of longitudinal designs were comprehensively used including the testing of different time lags, the testing of reversed causation, and modelling of unmeasured third variables that may have spuriously created the pattern of observed relationships. Structural equation modelling provided evidence for the proposed mediation mechanism and suggests that time lags of at least 2 years are required to demonstrate the effects

Job satisfaction: A meta-analysis of stabilities

Evidence suggesting that job satisfaction is caused by individual dispositions is reviewed, and stability coefficients for job satisfaction in previous studies are analysed with a meta-analytic procedure. Previous longitudinal studies analysing job changer samples imply an upper limit estimate of 0.51 for direct dispositional influences on job satisfaction. A study of job changers considering the stability of working conditions suggests that this estimate has to be considerably corrected downwards. At present, it is concluded that it is more likely that dispositions indirectly affect job satisfaction via selection and self-selection processes. Implications for job satisfaction as a tool for organizational assessment are discussed