Part 08 – Developing Others
8-18
When an individual is unable to handle all the work required, a state of overload occurs.
Unlike an electrical system with a circuit breaker, people do not have an automatic safety device,
and the overload condition can lead to physical, mental, and job performance problems.
Some occupations are by nature more stressful than others. Police officers, firefighters, and
bus drivers hold relatively high-stress jobs because of the amount of pressure, conflict, and
frustration inherent in the work. Researchers from Cornell Medical College found that the most
stressful jobs combine high demands with lack of autonomy. People in this double bind suffer
three times the usual incidence of high blood pressure. Also, stress is compounded if the image of
the job is negative in either the public or the employee’s eye or if the employee perceives a lack of
organizational support.
In contrast to overloading, some employees are underloaded. They experience low challenge
and little intrinsic satisfaction in their jobs. Their workdays are boring and dissatisfying. The
following study shows the negative effect occupational underloading can have on stress levels
and health.
Assembly-Line Hysteria
This strange malady affects women more than men and strikes suddenly, without
warning. It spreads so quickly that an assembly line or an entire plant may have
to shut down within days or even hours of the first appearance of the disorder.
Consider the experience of an electronics plant in Ohio. One morning a worker
on the assembly line began to feel dizzy, light-headed, and nauseous. She
complained of muscular weakness and difficulty in breathing. In a matter of
minutes, some three dozen employees were being treated in the company’s
dispensary for the same symptoms. The illness spread. Shortly thereafter the
plant had to be closed.
Investigators thought it was something in the air-some chemical, gas, virus, or
other infectious agent. Physicians, toxicologists, and industrial hygienists
conducted an intensive search and found nothing in the plant that could explain
the disorder. The cause was assembly-line hysteria, a mass psychogenic illness
that spreads by contagion and has no physical origin. It is not uncommon.
Typical symptoms of assembly-line hysteria are headaches, nausea, chills,
blurred vision, muscular weakness, and difficulty in breathing. The condition
seems to be related to physical and psychological stress on the job.
Assembly-line hysteria is a psychological illness; there is nothing toxic in the air
to produce the symptoms. Psychological stressors may be more important.
Boredom seems to be the key. Monotonous, repetitive work can lead to muscle
tension, job dissatisfaction, and depression.