| Document ID (ISN) | 106614 |
| CIS number |
07-744 |
| ISSN - Serial title |
0169-8141 - International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics |
| Year |
2006 |
| Convention or series no. |
|
| Author(s) |
St-Vincent M., Denis D., Imbeau D., Trudeau R. |
| Title |
Symptoms of stress related to the characteristics of customer service in warehouse superstores |
| Bibliographic information |
Apr. 2006, Vol.36, No.4, p.313-321. Illus. 25 ref. |
| Abstract |
The stress symptoms of 91 sales clerks and 28 managers in six warehouse superstores of a large chain specializing in office supplies were documented with the Karasek and Maslach questionnaires. The results show different stress symptoms in the two populations. In managers, stress appears to be a result of an overinvestment in work. Stress in sales clerks is related to customer service characteristics, which were studied through work observation, interviews and the analysis of a daily journal. It was found that the time that can be allotted to each customer service intervention is less than one minute. In more than a third of such interventions, sales clerks must serve more than one customer at a time. On average, they cannot work continuously on the same task more than 1.5 min. Sales clerks are also stressed by difficult customers. Solutions are proposed mainly to reduce interruptions that lead to mistakes, stress, degraded performance and increased workload. |
| Descriptors (primary) |
psychology of work organization; shop salespersons and demonstrators; stress factors; retail trade |
| Descriptors (secondary) |
conditions of work; questionnaire survey; stress evaluation; stress studies; job study |
| Document type |
D - Periodical articles |
| Country / State or Province | Canada |
| Subject(s) |
Psychology and sociology
|
| Broad subject area(s) |
Stress, psychosocial factors
|
| Browse category(ies) |
Mental stress and burnout
Retail industry
Psychology of work organization
Psychological factors
|
