Employees have personal responsibilities as well as responsibilities to their employers. They also have rights. In order to maintain their well-being, employees need opportunities to resolve conflicting obligations. Employees are often torn between the ethical obligations to fulfill both their work and non-work roles, to respect and be respected by their employers and coworkers, to be responsible to the organization while the organization is reciprocally responsible to them, to be afforded some degree of autonomy at work while attending to collaborative goals, to work within a climate of mutual employee-management trust, and to voice opinions about work policies, processes and conditions without fear of retribution. Humanistic organizations can recognize conflicts created by the work environment and provide opportunities to resolve or minimize them. This handbook empirically documents the dilemmas that result from responsibility-based conflicts. The book is organized by sources of dilemmas that fall into three major categories: individual, organizational (internal policies and procedures), and cultural (social forces external to the organization), including an introduction and a final integration of the many ways in which organizations can contribute to positive employee health and well-being. This book is aimed at both academicians and practitioners who are interested in how interventions that stem from industrial and organizational psychology may address ethical dilemmas commonly faced by employees.

The book Quality of Work Life: A Comprehensive Study is written in the context of changing and emerging workplace realities. More than a decade has passed since the phrase “quality of work life” (QWL) was first introduced. During this period, QWL has been the subject of many academic papers, experiments in different settings and, recently, increased interest among managers and the popular press. This book also presents the new reality that QWL is the shared responsibility, not only for the management and workers but also the union leaders, government officials and behavioral scientists. QWL must change continually and go forward from initial problem solving to an actual partnership between management and workers. The content and the elements of the book would encourage the students to relate their own knowledge and experiences to the text.

Work-related stress is costly not only to employees, but also to organizations and society. For example, it is estimated that work-related stress, depression, and anxiety costs British employers £1,035 per employee and that workplace stress costs the US economy up to $300 billion annually. However, elevated levels of stress often cannot be changed, and, if demands were not placed on employees, employee learning, organizational innovation, and societal economic growth would be hindered. Consequently, it is vital that occupational health practitioners, employees, employers and researchers strive to better understand and manage workplace stress, such that employee health and well-being can be improved. This book can assist organizations and individuals as they encounter workplace stress. This edition highlights research done by 25 authors across 12 chapters that challenges how work stress is viewed and assessed. Additionally, a number of social and psychological influences on the stress experience are examined. Our beliefs and expectations of stress and its results, whether helpful or hurtful, can have a profound influence on our stress experiences. Also, the way that we approach our work (e.g., job crafting) or the treatment we receive from others (e.g., with dignity) can either mitigate or exacerbate any harmful or beneficial effects of stress. Moreover, how we assess the psychological (e.g., burnout and well-being) or physiological (e.g., cortisol) outcomes of stress are meaningful, and the proper diagnosis of stress (e.g., stress surveys) underlies our understanding. We hope that the findings reported in these chapters and the insights of these scholars will provide ways for you and/or your organization to improve the health and well-being of employees.

This book was developed for the 2005 International Stress Management Association Conference in Brazil. The original book was recently published in Portuguese, but because of the popularity of the topics and the world-renowned stress scholars who contributed chapters, we are very pleased to have the opportunity to publish this work in English. A book on the subject is intended to be an additional tool containing information on stress and ways of dealing with pressures and demands, because we know that the level of stress will continue to increase. We believe that only through information—and here you will be able to find the experience and opinion of some of the greatest and best professionals of the world in this field—people will manage to live better and more balanced lives. This is what ISMA-BR wishes and hopes for. Have a good reading. This volume provides a series of comprehensive summaries of what is now a fast-growing literature aimed at understanding the causes, effects, and prevention of stress in the workplace. It begins with three chapters on different sources of stress at work, ranging from organizational factors to attributes of workers themselves.

This book provides an understanding and imaging of how a stress-free workplace might be designed and implemented in the context of the ‘new normal.’ Statistics show that more and more people are experiencing an increase in work-related stress, and its impact on individual psychology and well-being as well as organizational performance can be devastating. Globally, the most recent data on work-related illnesses account for 2.4 million deaths. Against this backdrop, and taking stock of how the pandemic is affecting the workplace and employee well-being, this book proposes transformations in work spaces, from implementing effective “greening” features, to more efficient technology-supported spaces. It establishes links between workplace design and creativity, happiness and productivity, confronting related issues such as generation gaps, digital interruptions, collaborative work environments and sustainability, and their respective connections with workspace environment and well-being. The book situates this discussion within a broader discussion on work and quality of life. Furthermore, the book demonstrates how several sustainable development goals might be achieved through transformed work spaces. Through an intersection between organizational psychology, well-being and quality of life studies, sociology, human resources, and ergonomics, this book is a timely examination of work-related stress in relation to work spaces that require rethinking and transformation in the throes, and wake, of the pandemic.

1.1 PREFACE : An organization, whether a business or an Industrial enterprise needs money, material, machinery and men for its survival and growth. The success or failure of an organization depends upon the effective combination of these factors. However, the management of ‘men’ means the employees of the organization. Their contribution towards organizational goal is well known to all, since pre-historic time to the most recent time. Whenever we talk about effectiveness and efficiency of an organization, we have to take a serious cognizance of employees as a major determining factor. Organizational effectiveness is critically dependant on how it attracts, recruits motivates and retains its work force. Today’s organizations need to be more flexible so that they are equipped to develop their workforce and enjoy their commitment. If we want an employee’s maximum contribution to work, he/she should be provided such a work environment where he/she will have a strong desire to work. The satisfied, happy and hard working employee is the biggest asset of any organization. The work force of any organization is responsible to a large extent for its productivity and profitability. The work environment has important bearing on the efficiency and satisfaction of the employees. A safe work environment provides the basis for a person to enjoy working. The work should not pose a health hazard for the person. Work performance is constantly affected by physical and psychological conditions of work. It is now increasingly realized that many work behavioural problems associated with performance, moral, absenteeism etc. can be solved with increasing awareness of improving the total work environment.

In this book, we can read about the well-being, quality of life, and quality of working life. The authors come from different countries, and their ideas, studies, findings, and experiences offer beneficial contributions to enhance our knowledge in the field of well-being and quality of life, as well as quality of working life. The book is divided into two sections, and their respective chapters refer to two major areas. The first section covers "Different Perspectives of Quality of Life," considering the antecedents of happiness, quality of life and sports, quality of life indexes for the United States, well-being in the context of family policies in European countries, cultural well-being and income in Italy, and the right to life in South Africa. The second section deals with "Well-Being and Quality of Working Life," emphasizing these topics for university professors in Brazil, as well as work-related well-being, psychological well-being of individuals as employees, physical and psychical well-being and stress, human work in organizations considering the discomfort perspective, and professional pride and dignity among social workers. Thus, we consider this book will be of interest for readers with a diverse group of audience in different areas of specialty such as psychology, industrial and social psychology, management, medicine, education, law, and sociology.