Borderline

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With regard to the social aspect most social interactions are made by the management team, the social interactions that will affect Mr X are interactions with his project managers. Mr X has created meaningful relationships as doing so improves his work quality. He also has interactions with his co-workers as working on a project is a team effort and not an individual one. He also receives flexi time allowing him to keep his personal social interactions on par. Organisational aspects with regard to how much influence Mr X has control over his demands are fairly average. The project manager provides the demands of the project and the overall time frame, whereas Mr X and his co-workers will decide how long each programme will take to create. This makes his input in demands valuable and alleviates some of the strain employees may feel when they have no control over deadlines. This has allowed Mr X to feel more confident with his deadlines as well as meeting them. In conclusion it is evident that Mr X experiences both high and low demands in his job and that his own personal motivation and skills have allowed him to cope with the extremely high demands, yet he is also intrinsically motivated to do his best at work at all levels finding low demands frivolous.

Mr X Job Resources

“Job resources refers to the physical, social or organisational aspects of the job that are functional in achieving work goals, reduce job demands, or stimulate personal growth, learning, and development.” (Llorens et al,2006, p. 379). Job resources are aspects that help an individual accomplish job demands put on them. It allows them to work efficiently while learning and growing. For the purpose of this essay three aspects will be used: support, autonomy and feedback. Mr X’s organisation including himself are aware that certain equipment such as laptops internet access as well as access to certain programmes are vital for productivity. If they are not provided no work can be done and the client loses money according to (Mr X interview) therefore resources that allow him to work are always provided for him. He also has the support of his project managers and can go to them with any questions if help is needed.

Autonomy during the interview with Mr X expresses how he possesses certain qualities that allow him to make choices. Patience allows him to deal with difficult clients as he will keep his calm even when they are being unreasonable. Team work allows for support form colleagues, he can help them and they can help him. Flexi time allows him to work at hours that he finds reasonable and helps him maintain his personal relationships. It has also alleviates the stressfulness of driving in Johannesburg traffic and fatigue many people experience when working set times. Feedback is also an important aspect for growth as it allows an individual to see where they went wrong to correct it in the future or it commends them on where they have gone right. Mr X mentions that when high demands occur he experiences a level of stress. Stress defined by Selye (1950.1956) is “a state manifested by a specific syndrome which consists of all the non-specific changes within the biological system.” (Leka & Houdmont 2010, p. 35). Stress occurs when individuals cannot cope with the demands put on them. This stress according to Leka & Houdmont (2010, p. 46-47) can be treated with mechanisms like feedforward, feedback and multiple level interactions. Mr X acknowledges that he may suffer from stress time to time but it is not hindering his work performance. The conclusion to be made is that the stress he may experience is constantly treated with feedback. In the interview he explains that feedback is given, it is called a ‘close out session’ where all members get together and discuss the negatives and positives of the project as well as what can be done differently. This type of feedback occurs after every project and Mr X finds this very useful. This enables growth and coping mechanisms for the next project.

Outcomes [h]of Job Demands and Job Resources

According to the JD-R model one can see that Mr X contains a high level of job resources that enable him to cope with the high job demands. According to Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner, Schaufeli, (2001, p. 501) high job demands lead to strain but because Mr X works in an environment where strain can be healed with support and feedback this has led to motivation with the outcome being productivity and high job satisfaction, there is however an opposite reaction that Mr X experiences because his job fluctuates between high demands and no demands. When there are no demands and such high resources he finds himself in a state of frustration and boredom which in itself could be harmful to his own personal growth. Due to his great amount of resources and fluctuating job demands the two main outcomes Mr X can experience are work engagement when demands are high and boredom when demands are low. He states in the interview that he finds his job satisfying when he has work to do he also finds it meaningful as he equips bigger companies with resources that in turn improve the social world around him as they give back to the community and help to improve the quality of South Africans. Mr X sees himself working in his field for a long time.

Critique of method used in the essay and limitations of JD-R model

The method used in this essay is very limiting and by no means all-embracing as only one test subject was used. Many people in the same organisation may have different outcomes to the present study subject. This method was qualitative on an intrapersonal level as it dealt with an individual and his own take on resources and demands but that is also limited as this essay was based on only one interview session his opinion about certain questions may be different on a different day. Questions asked in the interview were limited to the writing of this essay making it subjective. It was in no way quantitative as it uses only one person in one field of work in one country. Perhaps a comparison between different people in the same field in different companies and countries would make this essay more qualitative as well as adding to the quantitative aspect. This model allows one to determine an outcome based on an interview and even though results show that Mr X outcome should be productivity that may not be the case at work one would need to make the study less subjective and also question project managers on the level of output they receive at the organisation.

According to Demerouti & Bakker (2011, p.4) high job demands lead to a depletion of job resources which in turn foster burnout, this is not the case with Mr X. “…it