Occupational stress generally has to do with a lack of control over the work process
- external locus of control
An organism will feel less stressed if they believe they have control over a situation, but occupational stress is built more around actual lack of control, work life spent as a piece of the machine. Endless studies have shown that the link between occupational stress and increased risk of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases is anchored in the killer combination of high demand and low control—you have to work hard, a lot is expected of you, and you have minimal control over the process. The control element is more powerful than the demand one—low demand and low control is more damaging to one’s health than high demand and high control.
The stressfulness of lack of control on the job applies in only certain domains, however. For example, there is the issue of what product is made, and lack of control in this realm tends not to be all that stressful. Instead, it is stress about lack of control over the process—what work rate is expected and how much flexibility there is about it, what amenities there are and how much control you have over them, how authoritarian the authorities are.
These issues can apply just as readily to some less expected workplaces, ones that can be highly prestigious and desirable. For example, professional musicians in orchestras generally have lower job satisfaction and more stress than those in small chamber groups (such as a string quartet). Why? One pair of researchers suggest that this is because of the lack of autonomy in an orchestra, where centuries of tradition hold that orchestras are subservient to the dictatorial whims of the maestro conducting them.
References
- Sapolsky, Robert. (2004). Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers 13. Why Is Psychological Stress Stressful? (p. 368). New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company.
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