The Causes of Work-Related Stress: Theories and Models

By Farhan Shahzad and Sarah Davies-Robertson

Stress at work is commonplace. Whether it be a toxic work culture, a bad boss, or over-delegation, many people seem to be stressed out in a post-covid work.

You’d have thought the pandemic would have changed us, but it looks kike organisations still have a lot to learn….

Here’s a look at some well-known Organisational Stress Models:

The Cooper-Marshall Model

A number of stress models that focus on the individual, the organisational structure or on both have been posited. The Cooper-Marshall Model (1976) considers a range of organisational stressors and their potential impact on the individual (both physically and psychologically), as well as covering what they call ‘extra-organisational sources of stress’ that can also impact on the employee. These include family and financial problems that occur outside of work. Karasek (1979) offers an alternative account of occupational stress that is called the Job Strain Model. Job strain, or psychological strain, is the result of workload (or work demands) and not enough autonomy (which is defined as decision latitude). Strain occurs when the employee’s work demands are too high and the level of decision autonomy they have is low.

The Job Strain Model

According to The Job Strain Model, low decision latitude and high job demands result in psychological strain, which can be…