‘Survival of the fittest’? Perceptions of wellbeing at The Bar of Northern Ireland

2021 ◽  
Vol 72 (3) ◽  
pp. 448-479
Author(s):  
Neil Graffin ◽  
Emma Jones

This article, based on a qualitative study conducted in June–July 2019, assesses how barristers at the Bar of Northern Ireland perceive wellbeing and mental ill-health within their profession. It will argue that the Bar can be a competitive and potentially hostile workplace environment, leading to detrimental impacts on wellbeing. It will also contend that being a barrister in Northern Ireland provides its own unique challenges for practitioners due to the self-employed independent nature of the role, where practitioners do not work in chambers or stables like their counterparts in England & Wales and Scotland. At the same time, barristers spoke positively about the flexibility of their roles and beneficial forms of collegiality, as well as an evolving culture which places greater emphasis on wellbeing. This article will argue, using the ‘job demands and resources’ model, that efforts should be made to decrease job demands and increase the job resources of barristers of the Bar of Northern Ireland to improve levels of wellbeing. This model could also be applied to the Bar in other jurisdictions to assess the impact of both shared and unique challenges and opportunities.

2018 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 968-984 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven L. Grover ◽  
Stephen T.T. Teo ◽  
David Pick ◽  
Maree Roche ◽  
Cameron J. Newton

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to demystify the role of the personal resource of psychological capital (PsyCap) in the job demands-resources model. The theory suggests that personal resources directly influence perceptions of job demands, job resources, and outcomes. Alternatively, personal resources may moderate the impact of job demands and job resources on outcomes. Design/methodology/approach A survey of 401 nurses working in the Australian healthcare sector explores the relations among PsyCap, job demands and resources, and psychological well-being and work engagement. Findings The results suggest that PsyCap directly influences perceptions of job demands and resources and that it directly influences the outcomes of well-being and engagement. Furthermore, job demands and job resources mediate the relation of PsyCap with well-being and engagement, respectively. Research limitations/implications The moderation effect of PsyCap was not supported, which suggests that PsyCap relates to perceptions as opposed to being a coping mechanism. This finding therefore narrows the scope of personal resources in this important model. Originality/value The importance of this study lies in its exploration of various ways that personal resources can influence this dominant model and in analyzing the global construct of PsyCap as opposed to some of its constituent parts.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masoume Zeinolabedini ◽  
Alireza Heidarnia ◽  
Ghodratollah Shakeri Nejad ◽  
Mohammad Esmaeil Motlagh

Abstract BackgroundHealth care workers (HCWs) are at risk for occupational stress. The negative effects of stress HCWs subsequently affect the quality of their job performance. Since 2014, there have been extensive changes in the primary health care system in Iran. Because evidence has shown that organizational change can cause stress in employees, this study was designed and conducted to explore the perceived job demands by HCWs in primary care centers after extensive organizational change.MethodA qualitative study was designed with a content analysis approach. Study data were collected through 11 semi-structured individual interviews and a focus group with HCWs.ResultsParticipants reported high stress at work. They reported various factors as stressful job demands. These factors included: organization's supervisory function (Weakness of the monitoring process, Unfair policies, Apply regulatory pressure), Role features (Role load, Role conflicts, Role ambiguity(,Workload )High workload, Not having time, Great variety of tasks), job insecurity (Lack of job security due to employment status, Concerns about payments, Lack of physical security, Uncertain job future), Working with clients (Different characteristics of clients, Harassment of clients to achieve their expectations, Tensions in client relationships, Lack of knowledge of clients about health care work instructions), Perceived job content (Annoying work with different units of the organization, Monotonous and repetitive tasks, Meaningless tasks, No attractive and no excitement).ConclusionCurrently, HCWs working in health centers are faced with various stressful situations. Most of the factors identified in this study overlap in increasing stress. The impact of workload and organizational oversight on occupational stress seems to be more pronounced. Given the important role of HCWs in promoting health, the design and implementation of effective interventions by policymakers to control stress in HCWs is essential.


2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elfi Baillien ◽  
Nele Sijmens ◽  
Hans De Witte

Can workplace bullying be explained by the Job Demands-Resources model? Can workplace bullying be explained by the Job Demands-Resources model? Workplace bullying leads to negative consequences and should be prevented. Studies investigating antecedents of bullying showed however two shortcomings. First, they mainly focused on targets, so little is known about perpetrators. Second, they rarely used theoretical frameworks to structure the antecedents. Therefore, this study aims to apply the Job Demands-Resources (JDR) model to being a perpetrator of bullying. We hypothesized that job demands related positively and job resources related negatively to being a perpetrator of bullying. We assumed an interaction effect between demands and resources and expected exhaustion to mediate the relationship between demands, resources and being a perpetrator. The results (N = 706) showed a significant interaction: job resources buffered the positive relation between job demands and being a perpetrator. No evidence was found for the direct effects and for exhaustion as a mediator. In summary, the JDR model is a valuable framework to explain being a perpetrator of bullying: job demands and resources interact in the prediction of being a perpetrator. Future studies may focus on other mediators that could explain this relationship.


2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 247-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yansong Wang ◽  
Jie Huang ◽  
Xuqun You

Our purpose in this 1-year, 3-wave longitudinal study was to investigate the relationships among job demands, job resources, personal resources, and job burnout in a group of 263 Chinese employees. Specifically, we examined the mediating role of personal resources in the relationships between job resources and job burnout, and between job demands and job burnout, as well as the reversed effect of job burnout on job demands and job resources. The results showed that job demands positively affected job burnout, whereas job and personal resources negatively affected job burnout over a 6-month period. Further, personal resources mediated the relationship between job resources and job burnout, but not that between job demands and job burnout. In addition, job burnout had a reversed effect on job demands and job resources. Implications are discussed in relation to balancing job demands and resources, and avoiding job burnout by utilizing personal resources.


2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 230-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Tims ◽  
Arnold B. Bakker ◽  
Daantje Derks

2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 880-902 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Annink ◽  
Laura Den Dulk ◽  
José Ernesto Amorós

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of self-employed work characteristics (consumer orientation, innovativeness, number of employees, motivation, and entrepreneurial phase) on work-life balance (WLB) satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach The job demands and resources approach is applied to test whether self-employed work characteristics are evaluated as job demands or resources for WLB. The Global Entrepreneurship Data (2013) offer a unique opportunity to conduct multilevel analysis among a sample of self-employed workers in 51 countries (N=11,458). Besides work characteristics, this paper tests whether country context might explain variation in WLB among the self-employed. Findings The results of this study reveal that there is a negative relation between being exposed to excessive stress and running a consumer-oriented business and WLB. Being motivated out of opportunity is positively related to WLB. In addition, the results indicate that country context matters. A higher human development index and more gender equality are negatively related to WLB, possibly because of higher social expectations and personal responsibility. The ease of doing business in a country was positively related to the WLB of self-employed workers. Social implications For some workers self-employment might be a way to combine work and responsibilities in other life domains, but this does not seem to be valid in all cases. Originality/value This paper contributes to current literature on the WLB of self-employed workers by showing how work characteristics can be evaluated as job demands or resources. Including work characteristics in future research might be a solution for acknowledging the heterogeneity among self-employed workers.


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