Work-related stress is increasingly common in today's workplaces, not only because people are under stress due to their own personal situations but because organizations behave in ways that induce stress in employees. Fox, Spector, and Miles (292) cite Lazarus, who points out that people watch and evaluate events that occur in the work environment, noting that employees view some types of events as a threat to their well-being; the authors identify that these events as "job stressors" that can provoke anger or anxiety. A variety of issues including conflict, ambiguity, interpersonal conflict, and situational constraints can all be job stressors, while strain can occur in response to psychological factors such as job dissatisfaction or fear of job loss, physical factors such as discomfort or high blood pressure, or behavioral factors such as smoking or work withdrawal (Fox, Spector, & Miles 292).
Counterproductive work behavior (CWB) is a hallmark of job-related stress that can include overt acts of defiance such as theft and aggression or more passive acts such as intentionally doing work incorrectly or failing to follow directions (Fox, Spector, & Miles 292). CWB may manifest as antisocial behavior, delinquency, retaliation, deviant behavior, vengeful behavior, or mobbing/bullying, all of which harm the organization by affecting the company's property or functioning or by damaging employee effectiveness (Fox, Spector, & Miles 292). CWB either targets the organization itself or persons within the organization (Fox, Spector, & Miles 292).
Interestingly, workplace events and environmental stimuli are not the real causes of strain within the organization; rather, it is the employee's perception that he or she does not have the control needed in terms of empowerment and task autonomy in order to copy with the threats and demands of the job (Fox, Spector, & Miles 293). Certain personality traits contribute ...