CHAPTER SIX:
6. STRESS MANAGEMENT
6.1 WHAT IS STRESS?
Stress is your body’s physiological and behavioral
response to the demands in your environment.
Stress is a highly personal experience influenced by an
individual’s personality, abilities, and perceptions; what
is stressful for one person might not be stressful
for another.
Three key factors determine whether an experience is
likely to result in stress. These factors are importance,
uncertainty, and duration.
Importance relates to how significant the event is
to the individual.
Uncertainty refers to a lack of clarity about
what will happen.
Finally, duration refers how long the stressful
situation exists.
6.1.1 TYPES OF STRESS
Eustress: is the positive or “good” stress that
happens during pleasant situations. It may surprise
you, but certain stressors can lead to positive
outcomes.
Examples include
the excitement of buying a new home,
getting married, or
the feeling you get from a good workout.
Distress: is the negative or “bad” stress that
occurs when you perceive stress as dangerous,
difficult, unfair, or painful.
Examples include”
the loss of a job,
death of a loved one,
long-term illness,
serious injury,
Acute stress: Acute stress is short-term
stress. It can be Eustress or Distress.
An example of acute stress is presenting in
front of a group of people.
Chronic stress: Chronic stress lasts for
longer periods of time.
This type of stress is due to significant events, yet
also occurs when little stressors accumulate and
you are unable to bounce back from them.
Examples of chronic stress include
long-term illness,
downsizing, or reorganizing at your workplace,
and
long-term marital troubles.
6.1.2 The Importance of Studying
Stress
The study of stress is important for several
reasons:
Stress can have damaging psychological
and physiological effects
Stress is a major cause of employee
absenteeism and turnover.
A stressed employee can affect the safety
of other workers or even the public.
Stress represents a significant cost to
organizations.
6.2 Understanding Sources/Causes of
Stress
Things that cause stress are called
“stressors’’.
What is a stress response? A stress
response is how we react to a stressor.
Three sets of factors causes stress
are-
environmental,
organizational,
Individual.
1. Environmental Factors
Just as environmental uncertainty influences the
design of an organization's structure, it also
influence stress levels among employees in that
organization.
In this context we will have the following factors.
A. Economic uncertainties: changes in the
business cycle create economic uncertainties.
B. Political uncertainties: instability of politics
in ones country environment may lead to anxiety.
C. Technological uncertainty: New innovations
can make an employee's skills and experience
obsolete in a very short period of time. Computers,
robotics, automation, and other forms of
technological innovation are a threat to many people
and cause them stress.
2. Organizational factors
Numerous factors within the organization can cause stress.
We have categorized these factors around
task,
role,
interpersonal demands,
organization structure,
organizational leadership,
organization's life stage.
Task demands are factors related to a person's job.
Role demands: relate to pressures placed on if person as
a function of the particular role he or she plays in the
organization. Role conflicts create expectations that may
be hard to reconcile or satisfy.
Role overload is' experienced when the employee is expected
to do more than time permits.
Role ambiguity is created when role expectations are not
clearly understood and the employee is not sure what he
or she is to do.
Interpersonal demands: Lack of social support from
colleagues and poor interpersonal relationships can
cause considerable stress, especially among
employees with a high social need.
Organization structure: Excessive rules and lack of
participation in decisions that affect an employee are
examples of structural variables that might the potential
sources of stress.
Organizational leadership: represents the managerial
style of the organization's senior executives. Some chief
executive officers create a culture characterized by
tension, fear, and anxiety.
Organization’s life stag: Organizations go through a
cycle. The establishment and decline stages are
particularly stressful.
3. Individual Factors
Personal factors that can create stress include
family issues,
personal economic problems, and
inherent personality characteristics.
family issues: examples
People hold family and personal relationships,
marital difficulties,
the breaking off of a relationship, and
discipline troubles with children of relationship
Economic problems: created by individuals over extending
their financial resources are another set of personal troubles
that can create stress for employees and distract their
attention from their work.
Personality: The achievement orientation, impatience, and
the like
Moderate factors
These are factors that moderate the level of stress
individuals will feel.
These are related with individual differences.
Individual Differences: What is it that
differentiates people in terms of their ability
to handle stress?
At least five variables have been found to be
relevant moderators
perceptions,
job experience,
social support,
locus of control,
Hostility/opposation.
6.3. Consequences of Stress
The effects of stress are many and varied. These can
the summarized under three general categories:
1. physiological,
2. psychological, and
3. behavioral symptom.
Physiological Symptoms: stress could create
changes in metabolism,
increase heart and breathing rates,
increase blood pressure,
bring on headaches,
heart attacks.
Psychological Symptoms:
Job dissatisfaction
anxiety,
Irritability/bad temp,
Boredom/non-concern, and
Procrastination/non-action.
Behavioral Symptoms: behaviorally
related stress symptoms include changes
in
productivity,
absence, and turnover,
changes in eating habits,
increased smoking or consumption of alcohol,
rapid speech,
fidgeting,
sleep disorders.
6.4 Stress Management Strategies
In order to manage stress both kinds of efforts may be
conducted at the
organizational and
individual level.
1. Organizational Approaches
Organizations can manage stress by doing the
following things.
A. Set goals
B. Redesigning jobs
C. Giving identified roles
D. Communication
E. Offer organizationally supported wellness programs
F. Give Employees Autonomy
G. Use Telecommuting
H. Flexible work hours and work/life balance
2. Individual Approaches
At the individual level, stress management
usually focuses on becoming more able to
cope with stress.
Plan your life
Developing social support
Physical Fitness
Time Management
Live a simple Life
Implications for performance and satisfaction
The evidence indicates that stress can be either a positive
or a negative influence on employee performance.
For many people, low to moderate amounts of
stress enable them to perform their jobs better, by
increasing their work intensity, alertness, and ability to
react.
However, a high level of stress, or even a moderate
level sustained over a long period of time, eventually
takes its toll and performance declines.
The impact of stress on satisfaction is far more
straightforward.
Job-related tension tends to decrease general job
satisfaction.
17