Work-related stress can be defined in general as a "harmful physical and emotional response that is implemented when the demands of the job do not match (or is deemed not to meet) the capacity, resources or needs of the worker" (National Institute for Occupational Safety, 1999). The term "stress", which probably derives from the Latin strictus ", or narrow, compressed (Cox, 1978), originally means" pressure "and was introduced to medicine by analogy of metallurgy, where it was used to indicate, in fact, the pressure that applies to a metal to test the resistance (Pancheri, 1983; Pellegrino, 2002). And you can talk own "pressure" to explain that feeling of constant tension felt in the workplace, as evidenced by a recent survey by Istat in 2007, entitled "Responsibilities, tasks and working conditions of occupations in Italy": pressure to constantly meet the maturities (19.8% of total), pressure to avoid making serious mistakes during the course of employment (5.9% of total), pressure to survive in the jungle of the competition (4.1% of total). Even if you can agree with the statement made by Selye, namely that "The complete freedom from stress is death. Contrary to popular belief do not usually need, and in reality, we can not avoid stress, but we can meet effectively and benefit from learning more about its mechanisms, and adapting our philosophy of life to it "(Selye, 1974, trad. com. 1976, p. 89), it is equally undeniable that stress is a condition often leads to hardship and suffering for the worker.
model
Cooper Cooper model (Cooper and Marshall, 1976, 1978, Cooper and Sutherland, 1988) helps to understand what are the main sources of stress in the workplace, designed just like "pressure" on the environment subject, divided into five macro-categories: sources intrinsic to the job, role in the organization, career development, relationships at work and the structure and organizational climate. In particular, "sources intrinsic to the job" means all physical and environmental conditions that may adversely affect the concentration and efficiency of workers (such as noise, constant vibration, excessive variations of temperature, ventilation and humidity, 'inadequate lighting, poor hygiene), and especially the factors related to the task, the so-called "taskdemands", as the workload, which can be both undersized and oversized that must be understood both in terms of quantity qualitatively, the time pressure and the presence of high responsibility, especially those relating to the lives of others.
demand-control model of Karasek and Theorell
Another interesting model that seeks to investigate the relationship between the "pressures" of the working environment and the response of the worker, especially in terms of "strain", or physical exertion and psychological, is to Karasek and Theorell (1990).
In particular, the focus is on two variables: •
demand, ie the workload, both physically and psychologically, imposed by the task;
• control, perceived by the individual or the ability to do their and discretion in performing the task.
The combination of these two factors gives rise, according to Karasek and Theorell (1990), four different psychosocial work experience: •
high-strain jobs: characterized by high demand and a low degree of control (they can easily lead to anxiety, depression and emotional exhaustion);
• active jobs: Defined by a high demand and a high degree of control and discretion of the person on their business, which will have the opportunity to better express their skills. This type of work helps the individual to achieve a high level of productivity and learning and increases in the individual his sense of competence and mastery (mastery);
• work with low demand and high control: as a rule, do not give any problem of psychological stress on the workers and are often carried out with satisfaction;
• work income: characterized by low demand and commitment, but an equally limited opportunities to better utilize their skills. Do not create stress, but may get bored and inhibit their ability to learn.
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