The JD-R Model by Bakker and Demerouti^[43] refers to job demands and to resources. The idea behind this model is all about to make leaders sure to have everything they need to meet the demands of their job within an organization. Despite the fact that leaders are often in the most high-stress positions within an organization this model promotes the idea that much of that stress can be taken away when monitored properly.

In this context, the researchers are using the word ‘resources’ to highlight the positive aspects of the job that counteract the stress. If a manager has a high level of responsibility and faces time-sensitive deadlines often, they may also need some additional free time or another privilege to balance out that stressful demand.

It supplies many different real-world manifestations of relationship within the model. The visual representation of this model is divided up into four quadrants, each of which demonstrates a different state for the manager in question depending on the resources and demands that they are experiencing (Table 2).

Table 2

Four quadrants

Every employee within an organization should be able to be fit into one of those four categories above. The more people who feel like they have plenty of resources and low demands, the better off that busines is likely to be. A high stress, low resource work environment is the worst possible case, and that organization will likely see plenty of turnovers as employees look for better opportunities.

When a company does find that many of their employees feel they are in the high demand/low resource position, there are some steps that can be taken to alleviate the problem. The leader should look at ways to reduce these stresses so that the majority of employees feel better about their situation. Some of the things that could be causing high levels of stress include not giving employees enough time to finish their work and not providing any opportunities for advancement or not providing work that is interesting or challenging in some way. An organization might not be able to remove all of these issues, but even the fact of addressing them and working with the employees together to improve conditions can give a good result.

Another step is providing employees with more resources to counter those stresses that they do deal with. There are a number of ways in which this can be done. Some of these include providing plenty of training and job support from the leader or top- managers, more freedom to do the work as the employee sees fit, and better advancement opportunities that provide a clear career path.

Keeping everyone within the organization happy and motivated is a lofty goal of the leader and it is a worthwhile one. These leadership models offer him a variety of ways to assess the capabilities, commitment, and compatibility of his team members. They can also help him to understand better his own leadership style and its impact on those whom he manages.

It is important to remember that an organization is only as good as the people that it employs, and people are only going to be at their best when they feel comfortable with their roles and are supported by the organization. The leader must give them what they need to succeed, and they will usually reward the leader with excellent performance.

QUESTIONS TO CHAPTER II:

1. What tasks does Mintzberg’s Management Roles cover?

2.  What do interpersonal roles include?

3.  What do informational roles include?

4.  What do decisional roles include?

5. What is "Absence of Trust" in the model by Patrick Lencioni?

6.  What does fear of conflict prevent the team from?

7.  What does lack of commitment mean?

8.  When do team members feel not accountable for their work?

9. What circumstances make team members be focused on their own desires rather than the results being achieved by the team?

10. What are the four dimensions that represent key leadership processes and practices?

11.  How are goals accomplished within the organization?

12. What are the six "problem behaviors" that prevent leaders from solving problems?

13. What are the "characters" assigned to problem behavior?

14. What are the five steps necessary for a small group of people to be able to work efficiently together?

15. Could own personal opinions end up limiting the opportunities that an individual has to succeed under leadership?

16. What are the three different ‘relationships’ with the person?

17. Is it necessary for leaders to show trust, respect, openness, autonomy, discretion?

18. What is a tool that organizations can use to help classify their employees in regard to what type of team member they are?

19. How much is the leader capable of forming connections - both internal and external?

20. Do both stress and burnout increase when job demands are high and job resources are low?