1. STRESS AND STRESS MANAGEMENT
Stress is becoming more and more of concern to organizations today because:
· Employees are working long hours
· Employees are taking on the work once done by colleagues because of downsizing
· Employees are being required to meet tighter deadlines
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· Employers are asking employees to cut back on expenses
· There is increasing demands on families
o Mortgages
o Children fees
o Aging parents
o Unemployed family members
· Tighter economic times
· Inflation
· Traffic jams
· Potholes
· New environmental demands and stress - There is considerable evidence that most
managers’ report feeling work-related stress and the recent environment is making
things worse
· Globalization and strategic alliances have led to a dramatic increase in executive
travel stress and relocation
· The other major environmental impact of stress is that of information technology - Exploding
technology has created problems for today’s employees at all levels:
o Loss of privacy
o Information inundation
o Erosion of face to face contact
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2. o Continually having to learn new skills
o Being passed over for promotion because of lack of knowledge
· Need for security – more and more employers are closely monitoring people to prevent
theft of proprietary information or to stem productivity decline cause by using non-job
related website – leading to monitoring employees usage of website and internet
o Increase diversification of workface may also lead to unique stress problems
A worker increasingly pressed into overtime work show significantly higher levels of
stress
All these result to anxiety, sleeplessness, and irritability, physical and mental deterioration
What is stress?
Stress is usually thought of in negative terms
It is thought to be caused by something bad (a relative sickness, bad work environment, lack of
knowledge to work, office politics, stalled career etc). All this is a form of distress
But there is also a positive, pleasant side of stress caused by good things (an employee being
offered a job promotion, a student being given a scholarship) this is called eustress
So what is stress?
Ivancevich and Mutteson define stress simply as “the interaction of the individual with the
environment,”
They go on to give a more detailed working definition as follows
“An adaptive response, mediated by individual differences and/or psychological processes that
are a consequence of any external (environment) actions, situations, or events that place
excessive psychological and/or physical demands on a person”
Note the three critical components in this definition:
1. It refers to a reaction to a situation or event, not the situation or event itself
2. It emphasizes that stress can be impacted by individual differences
3. It highlights the phrase “excessive psychological and/ or physical demands because only
special or unusual situations (as opposed to minor life adjustment) can really be said to
produce stress)
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3. Another definition by Beehr and Newman defines job stress as:
“A condition arising from the interaction of people and their job characterized by changes within
people and force them to deviate form their normal functioning”
From these two definitions, we can simplify the definition of stress to be:
“An adaptive response to an external situation that results in physical, psychogical and/or
behavioral deviations for organisation participants
What stress is not?
It is important to note that:
1. Stress is not simply anxiety
Anxiety operates solely in the emotional and psychological sphere, whereas stress operated
there and also in the physiological sphere. Thus stress bay be accompanied by anxiety, but the
two should not be equated
2. Stress is not simply nervous tension
Like anxiety, nervous tension may result form stress, but the two are not the same. Unconscious
people have exhibited stress, and some people may keep it bottled up and not reveal it through
tension
3. Stress is not necessarily something damagiging or bad, or to be avoided
Eustress is not damaging or bad and is something people should seek out rather than avoid.
The key of course is how the person handles the stress. Stress in investable, distress may be
prevented or can be controlled
Causes of job tress
Stress is caused by factors from both outside and inside the organisation, from groups that
employees are influenced by and from employees themselves.
Therefore causes of stress are:
1. Extraorganisational stressors
2. Organizational stressors
3. Group stressors
4. Individual stressors
EXTRAORGANISATIONAL STRESSORS
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4. Taking an organisation as an open system (that is, the organisation is affected by the external
environment), it is clear that job stress is not to just things that happen inside the organisation,
during working hours
Research has found that stressor outside the workplace were related to negative effect and
feelings on the job
Extraorganisational stress includes things such as:
Societal/technological changes – technological changes have changed people’s lifestyle and
pace of modern living has increased stress and decreased personal well being. People tend to
be caught up by rush hours, mobiles, phones, urbanization, crowded lifestyles
Globalization
The family – crisis, sickness of a member, strained relationship between spouses, children
Sociological – gender biases, social isolation, race, class discriminations. Potential stress
related issues include differences in beliefs and values, differences in opportunities for reward
and promotion, and perception by minority group of either discrimination or lack of fit between
themselves and the orgnisation
Economic and financial conditions
Residential or community conditions – conditions of housing, convenience of services and
hospitals, neighborliness, and degree of noise and air pollution are likely stressor
ORGANIZATIONAL STRESSORS
These are those stressor associated with the organizational itself
Although the organization is made up of individuals and groups, there are also macro level
dimensions, unique to the organization, that contain potential stressors
These can be categorized into
1. administrative policies and strategies
2. Organizational structure and design
3. Organisational processes e.g. responsibility without authority, lack of a clear job
description or reporting relationship
4. Working conditions – e.g. Inability to voice complains, inadequate recognition
As Organizations dramatically change to meet the environmental changes (globalization and
information technology explosion, diversity), there are more and more accompanying stress for
individual employees and their jobs
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5. Organizations today must be fast, agile, and responsive, they must quickly respond to an ever
changing competitive environment, constantly reinventing themselves – with new strategies,
restructuring, and downsizing becoming common place. Survivor of downsizing often
experience tremendous pressure form the fear of future cuts, the loss of friend and colleagues
and increase in workload
In other words, downsizing often translates into longer hours and more stress for the survivors
GROUP STRESSORS
Can be categorized into three areas:
Lack of group cohesiveness – cohesiveness or togetherness is important to employees,
especially at lower levels of organisation. If an employee is denied the opportunity for this
cohesiveness because of lack of task design, because the supervisor does things to prohibit or
limit it, or because the other members of the group shut the person out, the resulting lack of
cohesiveness can be very stress producing
Lack of social support - Employees are greatly affected by the support of one or more
members of a cohesive group. By sharing the problems and joys with others, they are much
better off. If this type of social support is lacking for an individual, the situation can be very
stressful
Intra individual, interpersonal and intergroup conflict- Conflict is conceptually very closely
linked to stress. Conflict is normally associated with incompatible or hostile acts between intra
individual dimensions such as personal goals or motivational need/values, between individuals
within groups and between groups. Other conflicts arise from organizational politics
INDIVIDUAL STRESSORS
In a sense, the stressors discussed so far all eventually get down to the individual level.
In additional there are also possible situational dimensions and individual dispositions that may
affect stress outcomes
Individual disposition such as:
Type A personality patterns
· Personal control
· Learned helplessness
· Self efficacy
· Psychological hardness
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6. May all affect the stress someone experiences
Situational dimensions:
Intra individual conflict stemming out of frustration, goals, and roles
Type A characteristics
Personality traits such as authoritarianism, rigidity, extroversion, supportive, spontaneity,
emotionality, tolerance, for ambiguity, anxiety and the need for achievement have been
uncovered by research as being pariticuraly relevant to individual stress
More attention however has centered on the so called Type a personality
In 1960s, Friedman and Roseman popularized the use of Type A and opposing Type B
personalities in the study of stress. These types were portrayed as relatively stable
characteristics, and initially Freidman extensive studies forum the Type A profile correlated
highly with experienced stress
Type a personality is defined as “ an action – emotion complex that can be observed in any
person who is aggressively involved in a chronic incessant struggle to achieve more and more
in less and less time. And if require to do so, against the opposing efforts of other things or other
person
Summary of type A and B profiles
Type A Type B
Is always moving
Walks rapidly
Eats rapidly
Talks rapidly
Is impatient
Does two things at once
Cant cope with leisure time
Is obsessed with numbers
Measures success by quantity
Is aggressive
Is competitive
Constantly feels under time pressured
Is not concerned about time
Is patient
Doe not brag
Plays for fun not to win
Relaxes with guilt
Has no pressuring deadlines
Is mild mannered
Is never in a hurry
Type A employees experience stress. They are the ones who:
· Work long, hard hours under constant deadline pressures and conditions for overload
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7. · Often take work home at night or on weekends and are unable to relax
· Constantly compete with them, setting high standards of productivity that they seem
driven to maintain
· Tend to become frustrated by the work situation, to be irritated with the work effort of
others, and to be misunderstood by supervisors
By contrast, Type B personalities are very laid back, patient and take a very relaxed, low-key
approach to life and their job
It is now acceptable that Type As per se do not predict heart problems and in fact Type As may
release and better cope with their stress than Type B
The most recent studies indicate that it is not so much the impatience that is closely associated
with Type A that leads to heart problems, but rather anger and hostility
Personal control – individual’s perception of personal controls
This is another important individual disposition
Persons feeling about their ability to control the situation will determine their stress levels
Therefore employees who are given a sense of control on their work environment and on their
job are less likely to be stresses
Research shows that some employees who experience lack of control risk developing high
blood pressure and other physical problems
Learned helplessness
Employees who have given up (especially because of lack of control) seems to accept stress in
their work environment even when a change for the better is possible
People are most apt to experience helplessness when they perceive the cause of lack of
control:
· To be related to something about their own characteristics (as opposed to outside
environmental forces)
· As stable and enduring (rather than just temporary)
· To be a global and universal (cutting across many situations, rather than just one sphere
of life)
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8. Psychological hardness
Everyone has observed individuals differences of people faced with stressors
Some people go to pieces with the slightest provocation, while others seem unmoved by
extremely stressful situation
Those able to cope successfully with stressor seem to have a “hardness’ disposition
People with psychological hardiness have a lower rate of stress rated illness and were
characterized as having commitment (they become very much involved in what they are
doing ) , welcome in challenges ( they believe that change rather than stability is normal) ,
feeling of control (they felt they could influence the events around them)
The predisposition of psychological hardness helps those with it to rest stress by providing
buffer between themselves and the stressors
They will be able to survive and even thrive in changing environment
Self efficacy
There is increasing evidence that peoples self perception of their capacity to be effective and
bring about change may e an important disposition tin the ability to withstand stress. Those with
high efficacy remain calm even when faced with stressful situations
EFFECTS OF STRESS
As has been seen, stress is not always bad for individual employees and their organisations
performance.
It is recognized that low levels of stress can sometimes enhance job performance. Mild stress,
such as getting a new supervisor or being involuntary transferred may have a positive result of
an increased search for information on he job. This may lead to employees having new and
better ways of doing things
Research also indicate that the level of difficulty, the nature of the task being performance,
personal disposition (such as Type A, personal control and learned helplessness and
psychological hardness), may affect the relationship between stress and performance.
However, it is safe to conclude that:
1. The performance of many tasks is strongly affected by stress
2. Performance usually drops off sharply when stress rises to high levels
Problems due to high levels of stress can be classified into
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9. 1. Physical
2. Psychotically
3. Behavioral
Physical problems due to stress
Physical health concerns have been linked to stress. These include:
· Immune systems problems, where there is lessened ability to fight off illness and
infection
· Cardiovascular system problem such as high blood pressure and heart disease
· Musculoskeletal system problems such as tension, headaches and back pains
· Gastrointestinal system problems, such as diarrhea and constipation
All these have a high effective on organization performance – cost of treating people who are
seeking, replacing those who die, absenteeism, just low productivity even when at work
Psychological problems due to stress
High levels of tress may be accompanied by anger, anxiety, tension, boredom, nervousness
One study found that stress had the strongest impact on aggressive actions such as sabotage,
interpersonal aggression, hostility and complaints
Other types of psychological problems from stress especially relevant to performance include
lowered self esteem, resentment of supervisors, inability to concentrate and make decisions and
job satisfaction, accidents at work
The outcome of these has a direct impact on the cost effectiveness of the organisation in forms
of:
· Numerous job related insurance claims
· Court cases under the compensation act
Managers who are under stress are very moody and their subordinates soon learn not to disturb
them, even with important information,
Such managers also once they realize their problem and that they are not able to live up to the
expectations suffer loss of self estimate, they may also procrastinate and continue to put things
off and not make decisions.
These managers may also resent their boss for trying to get them back on track or hate their job
in general
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10. Coworker, subordinates and the boss may become disgusted with such manager and may be
hate them thinking that it is their personality – causing conflict
Behavioral problem
Direct behaviour that may accompany high levels of stress include:
· Overeating/undereating
· Sleeplessness
· Increased smoking and drinking
· Drug abuse
· Research indicates that a relationship between stress and absenteeism and turnover.
Workers who are experiencing stress and react by getting drunk and stay at home form
work the next day with a hangover. This may make them feel bad, feel like they are
letting others down and hence quit the job or get fired
Absenteeism and turnover is very costly to the organisation in terms of filling in for absent
worker and replacing those who have left
STRATEGIES FOR COPING WITH STRESS
Many of the topics covered so far can indirectly help cope with stress – job design, group
dynamic, leadership styles, decision making, organizational training and development, etc
Others are:
· Time management
· Creating an atmosphere of trust in the organisation
· Interacting group behaviour and intergroup interaction
Individual coping strategies
These are self help remedies, do it yourself approaches, which are being given a lot of attention,
including weight loss and dies
Strategies include:
Exercise - People of all ages are walking, jogging, swimming, going to gyms, playing all sorts of
games, in order to get some exercise to combat stress
Relaxation - Taking it easy once in a while or use specific relaxation techniques such as
biofeedback or meditation. The intent is to eliminate the immediate stressful situation or
management prolonged stressful situations more effectively
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11. It can also in form of reading a good book, watching something light on TV
Behavioral self control
Deliberating managing the antecedents and consequence of your own behaviour
Being area of your problems and taking steps to wade of stressful behaviours.
Being aware and being able to raise a “red flag” for you.
For example a manager who has experienced persistent customer complains could change the
antecedents by having a subordinate screen all complaints and allow only exceptional to reach
him. They could also manage the consequences by rewarding themselves with an extra breed
when they remain calm and collected after nitrating with a particular angry customer.
People can also avoid people and situations which might lead to stress
Therefore this strategy involves individuals controlling the situation instead of letting the
situating control them
Cognitive therapy -Building your own self confidence, self efficacy, through successful
performance experiences, and controlling emotional situation - sometimes seeing a clinical
psychologist for help
Networking
Getting social support, forming close association with trusted coworkers and colleagues who are
good listener and confidence builders
Friends who are there when needed and provided support during stressful situations
Organization coping strategies
1. Attempting to change organizational stressors (discussed earlier)
2. Creating a positive work climate
3. Ensuring and helping employees create and work towards persona/leisure goals e.g.
leave work on time every day
4. Stress coping programmes such as counseling services, lunch time stress management
seminars, wellness publication
5. Gyms and games, outing for employees
6. Employee assistance programs – for those with specific problems leading to stress
7. Work –family initiatives – reorganizing work to take in family commitments - family event,
limiting frequency of travel etc
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