Chapter 11: Psychological Well-being and Maladjustment at Work

Value of Work in Psychological Health and Well-being

• Positive long-term effects of work include personal adjustment, life and career satisfaction, and family life.

• Poor work experiences and job loss are linked to psychological ill-effects.

• Positive psychology highlights the constructive relationship between positive human psychological dispositions, resources, strengths, and work-related factors.

• Employees should identify attributes in themselves and in work that promote happiness and satisfaction.

• Employers should create positive workplaces to enhance employee well-being and performance.

Employability and Employee Capital

• Psychologically healthy employees possess employability capital within organizations.

• Employability is supported by psychological, social, and reputation capital, along with competencies like knowledge and skills.

• Workplace psychologists address psychological adjustment problems, disorders, counterproductive behaviors, and work dysfunctions.

• They design positive workplaces and facilitate optimal functioning.

Defining Psychological Health

• Psychologically healthy individuals exhibit integrated functioning and are free from mental disorders and emotional conflicts.

• They demonstrate autonomy, self-awareness of strengths and weaknesses, aspirations, creativity, and resilience.

• They have a satisfactory capacity for work, maintain good relationships, and cope effectively with daily requirements and life roles.

Contemporary Approaches to Understanding Psychological Health

Pathological vs. Wellbeing Orientation

• Disease Model: Based on illness, pathology, or symptomatic approach.

  • Focuses on work dysfunctions and counterproductive work behaviors (CWBs).

  • Emphasizes work-related physical and emotional problems, stressors, attitudes, perceptions, and dysfunctional organizational and group processes that impair work performance and productivity.

• Salutogenesis: Emphasizes positive psychological health or well-being.

  • Focuses on using strengths to help people and organizations work well and succeed.

  • Sees problems as opportunities and promotes growth.

Stress Approaches

• Stress models study biological, physical, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral effects of stressors.

• They examine how people cope with stress demands and the consequences of coping.

• Eustress: Enjoyable or positive stress involving positive energy and effects.

• Distress: Unpleasant or negative stress occurring when coping resources are overburdened.

• Stress influences available internal and external coping resources.

• Stress impacts the human immune system, reducing the body’s ability to defend itself.

• Stress can be acute (sudden onset) or chronic.

Socio-cultural Perspectives

• Psychological theory increasingly integrates cultural explanations in classifications of psychological disorders.

• Although symptoms manifest similarly, some cultures describe specific culture-bound disorders (CBDs) or syndromes.

Psychological Maladjustment

• Psychological maladjustments are influenced by personal, social, and cultural factors.

• Symptoms can appear in emotional, behavioral, cognitive, and interpersonal functions.

• Common Symptoms:

  • Anxiety, depression, or hopelessness

  • Relationship difficulties

  • Decline in work or academic performance

  • Increased irritability or anger

  • Social withdrawal

  • Changes in sleep or appetite

  • Difficulty coping with stress

  • Counterproductive work behaviors

  • Under-commitment (procrastination, withdrawal)

  • Overcommitment (workaholism, burnout)

  • Work-life balance issues

• Influencing factors unique to an individual that account for their attributes and behavior.

  • Examples: genetic and biological attributes, socialization, cultural influences, learning experiences, work-related attributes and experiences.

• Factors out of a person’s control that include:

  • Traumatic events

  • Socioeconomic and political conditions

  • Which profoundly influence physical and psychological health.

Classification of Work Dysfunctions

• DSM and ICD classifications do not sufficiently cover psychological work dysfunctions. DSM stands for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, and ICD stands for International Classification of Diseases.

• WHO provides guidelines for mental health in the workplace.

• I-O psychologists should have relationships between psychological disorders and work performance assessed by experts.

• This is to understand the nature of work dysfunctions, make accurate diagnoses, refer employees for treatment, and promote employee and organizational well-being.

Work Dysfunctions

• Work dysfunctions or work-performance impairment problems may be associated with psychological disorders.

• Work dysfunctions are not always diagnosable psychological disorders but relate to work-related behavior, emotions, thinking, and perceptions that cause disturbances in the capacity to work.

• Counterproductive work behaviors in employees or teams are destructive actions intended to harm the interests of the employer, organization, and its stakeholders.

Patterns of Under-Commitment

• Underachievement

• Temporary production impediments

• Procrastination

• Obsolescence

• Fear of success and fear of failure

• Withdrawal behaviours

Patterns of Overcommitment

• Workaholism

• Type A personality and work performance

• Burnout

Specific Health-Promotion Intervention Levels

• Primary interventions: Manage sources of stress (e.g., correcting safety hazards).

• Secondary interventions: Improve coping and self-management of stressors.

• Tertiary interventions: Healing interventions like therapy, counseling, and stress management.