Job related stress is a widespread problem in the workplace today. Actually, the most common form of stress is that related to work (Jane Cranwell-Ward 1987).
Each person has equilibrium and it is often interrupted by an event or situation that may result in poor performance. Though some people see the pressure as a motivator, more and more are recognizing it as an inescapable drain on their energy. Basically, stress not only affects a persons performance on the job, but it can also affect his/her well-being. It is estimated that up to 55 million Americans have high blood pressure, and many cases of hypertension that goes unrecognized due to stress.
People experience stress in three different ways; emotional, mental, and physical stress. Indeed workplace stress might be from various reasons such as staff behavior and attitudes, misunderstanding or breaking companys rules and policies, meeting deadlines and so on. The deleterious effects of stress on the human mind and body as outlined above point to the need to address this issue at the personal level. However, the need for stress management is being felt at the organizational level too. Overall this problem must be solved both as on the individual and companys level. If a company doesnt take seriously the issue of stress management it might bring it to serious problems and even losses. There are many different causes of stress, called stressors and they vary from person to person. If there is an unhealthy level of stress and it is not reduced or prevented, it can lead to many health problems, mental problems, family problems and of course work problems.
The Essay on Do You Have Stress Problem
According to the book called Stress Consequences edited by George Fink (2010), it says “Approximately 90% of suicide victims have a psychiatric illness at the time of their death. ” Some people think psychiatric illness is generated by stress. Although they deem stress bad, other people claim that stress is beneficial. Actually the fact is that humans benefit a lot from stress. Because stress can ...
There are many things that both employees and employers can do to alleviate or prevent stress in the workplace. Stress management techniques are plentiful, and they must be employed by people today to ensure that they remain happy and healthy. Stressors in the workplace must be identified and dealt with so that a company and its employees can operate efficiently and effectively. In order to deal with the problem of workplace stress first of all I want to analyze the various causes of stress within the workplace. Whilst hundreds have been identified, I will use those presented by Warr and Cooper & Marshall. (C L Cooper & R Payne 1988 and P Warr 1999.) Warr identified nine main stressors; low job discretion, low use of skills, little variety at work, low or high work demands, high uncertainty, low pay, poor working conditions, low interpersonal support, and the valued social position of different forms of employment. Low job discretion reflects a constrained environment in which employees are subjected to fixed procedures and routines, with all decisions being made by management.
Low use of skills reflects an environment in which employees are unable to apply their skills because of the political nature of the workplace. Low or high demands seems rather subjective, but Payne & Fletcher 1983 explain this through their Demands-supports-discrepancy model, which argues that those with high job demands, usually managers or above, have more organizational support and fewer constraints so are better able to cope, but those with low job demands, the workers, have low job demands, get little if any organizational support and because of tight constraints, are unable to cope. High uncertainty entails the absence of any feedback through performance appraisals, information about the future or ones career path, which if left unchecked for a long period would lead to stress. Low pay implies that an employees salary is insufficient to cover the costs of living, forcing them to constantly struggle. An example of this is the payment by piece rate basis in tire & rubber industry. (C L Cooper & R Payne 1988) Poor work conditions describe the various work environments that can exist, such as hot, wet, dangerous, noisy, physically demanding, and unventilated. Some of these have been officially recognized with names such as sick building syndrome. (A Hedge et al.) Low interpersonal support is as it implies a work environment where an employee has little or no support from management.
The Term Paper on Work Related Stress And It's Management
... the demanding workplace or complete the demanding job (Wikipedia, 2012). There are several other factors that can cause work-related stress which ... Therefore, it is essential that employees identify warning signs of work-related stress and not let them get out ... time keeping, inefficient performance and productivity, low workplace morale, lack or low level of motivation, more employee complaints, ...
Valued social position advocates that certain jobs have a social status attached to them, which affects the individual attitude to their job. Examples can be medical and legislative jobs which are perceived to contribute to society, whilst menial jobs are unrecognized. Warrs work place settings are added to by Cooper & Marshall, who identified six sources of stress, those intrinsic to the job, the individuals place in the organization, relationship and interpersonal demands, career development, organizational structure and climate, and the home-work interface. Factors intrinsic to the job covers work conditions, such as repetitive and dehumanizing work settings, such as fast paced assembly lines, rotating shift work which inhibits the formation of daily routines, overtime or long work hours, the inherent risk of some jobs such as fire-fighters, who are kept in a constant state of readiness, fight or flight syndrome, technology and its affects, such as the creation of conflict between outdated managers and newly trained recruits, and finally the affects of poor ergonomics as identified by Cooper & Smith. Individuals in the organization, covers the ambiguity of jobs, which result in undefined objectives, no sense of place within an organization, no relationship between performance and reward, and role conflict, where individuals find themselves doing something they dont want to do, or doing something they think they shouldnt be doing. This also incorporates responsibilities for material things such as budgets and equipment, and responsibilities for people, which is seen as a common source of stress. Settings where these are most likely to happen are a first job, a promotion or transfer, a new boss, first supervisory position, a new company, and a change in the structure of an organization. Relationships and interpersonal is the same as Warrs, but it incorporates arguments, conflicts, and demanding and insensitive colleagues.
The Term Paper on Occupational Stress Work Job Individual
Revision Notes for Occupational Stress. What is stress? - Stress is a word derived from the Latin word stringer e meaning to draw tight. - Stress is any circumstance that places special physical and / or psychological demands on a person such that an unusual or out-of the ordinary responses occur. o The circumstance, technically termed stressor, can be, for example, a final exam, financial ...
In to this three levels of interaction, are identified, that with the boss, with peers, and with subordinates. Relationships with the boss require the correct identification of the type of boss. Cooper et al 1993 identified the bureaucrat, autocrat, wheeler-dealer, reluctant, or open boss. Relationships with colleagues focus on office politics, and those with subordinates, degrees of delegation. Career development incorporates Warrs low use of skills, the stress of the appraisal process on the interviewer and the interviewee, an explanation of the career ladder, which is characterized by demographic conflict between older mangers and rising younger managers. Organizational structure and climate, looks at the effects of mismanagement on the entire organization, and how it creates poor job security, and increased work demands, as people try and make up for the underperformance of their management. Lastly home-work interface seeks to explain the reciprocal influences that home and work have on each other. Coming to the question how to manage workplace stress I want to first look how to solve this problem at the Organizational level. Stress management is directly related to efficiency and productivity of an organization and hence managing stress in the work place is very important.
Some of the techniques to handle the stress at work place are as follow: Workload optimization: When subjected to excessive workloads, people tend to fold under stress. At the same time, under-loading them may lead to boredom and stagnation. As the saying goes, an empty mind is a devils workshop. Stress management entails giving employees as much responsibility as they can safely handle. Emotional balance: Treat people as human beings not tools. Show respect to their concerns. Show people that you care and are interested in them. Instead of being forced to suppress their feelings, allow employees to display their emotions.
Causes Of Stress Among Young People
Stress among young people has become one of the most burning issues nowadays and there has been considerable debate regarding its causes. From my point of view, the three most common justifications for stress among young people are as follows. First and foremost, school has usually been cited as the most prominent cause of stress among youngsters. Undeniably, knowledge is ever increasing and the ...
Respect peoples skills and make them feel that they too are important and part of a team. Performance appraisal and reward system: People look forward to being rewarded for their hard work. Even a good remark or show of appreciation can do wonders for employee morale. Similarly, authority and responsibility should also be correlated to ensure that the individual is able to discharge his responsibilities. The traditional carrot and stick approach often works best to both control and encourage people. Ensuring a secure future for employees goes a long way in reducing stress levels as it helps the employees concentrate on the job. Easing deadlines: It is noticed that often deadlines can be eased without any negative fallouts to efficiency. Smoothening out deadlines too helps in reducing stress by proper work allocation and planning.
Employees should also be encouraged to anticipate heavy work schedules and plan accordingly to ensure that they are not overly burdened. Avoid red-tape: Too much administration is the bane of many organizations. Wading through massive piles of paper work and strict adherence to trivial norms are a surefire way to invite stress. To avoid such stressful conditions, organizations should create a democratic environment conducive to decision making and independence among employees. Occupational health Management: Nowadays, it is generally the responsibility of the organization to ensure that employees are aware about health concerns. In case the job itself entails high levels of mental or physical stress, policies such as job rotation should be adopted to prevent long periods of stress for a single individual.
Employees should also be encouraged to relax and take their allocated holidays. It has been proved that regular breaks from work actually increase the efficiency of employees. Relaxation can, therefore, be in the form of recreational facilities within the work place itself. Control competitiveness: Many new organizations encourage competitiveness among employees. While such a spirit may lead to greater efficiency, prolonged periods of such high stress may lead to burnout. Organizations must find the optimum level of stress which leads to maximum output from the employees. Now lets look how to manage stress at work by an individual.
The Essay on Stress Work Type 2005
In years past, careers were milestones, which demonstrated successful accomplishments within our lives. Men utilized their careers to stake claim in society; a way to categorize their family's worth. "Honey, I'll be working late tonight" sometimes signified that the "gang" would have a long evening of crunching numbers, entertaining clients, or even smoking cigars with the boss while talking shop. ...
Most of the following ways may seem trivial but the following measures have been proven to be most effective in reducing stress. The personal methods followed would vary from individuals. What may be a stress buster for one person may be stress enhancer for another. It should not be assumed that the following measures should each be tried to test their usability. A person who is under stress in general is not able to utilize his decision making faculties, so there is no sense in preaching these measures to him/her and then to expect that he would be patient enough to go through the absurd process of trial and error. Rather these measures should form part of our daily life routine even when we are not stressed.
In a sense following these is a fire-prevention attitude, and not simply a fire-fighting attitude. In the latter case we only try to minimize the damage, but in any case some damage is always done. These have been grouped by major categories. Attitudinal measures: These require a change in our attitudes towards work, play and stress. We change our viewpoint on events so as to eliminate negative, stress inducing feelings. Some of the measures that a person can take are: practice preventive maintenance, say “no” more often, avoid negative people, look at problems as challenges and etc.
Action oriented measures: These are used to change a persons behavior patterns to combat stress. Some of them are: set appointments ahead, and stick to them, don’t rely on memory, write things down, always have a backup plan, have a support network of people, places and things and so on. Physical measures: This aids in soothing and protecting our bodies from the deleterious effects of stress. Massages are known to relax the large neck and back muscles which get stiffened in long, stressful meetings. Substance abuse and overuse of stimulants/depressants can cause lasting damage. Eat sensibly and healthily. Concluding my essay I want to say that it is often seen that people sacrifice their health at the altar of their careers and money, and eventually have to sacrifice their careers and money to handle the health problems that result. I feel there are three obstacles to real progress being made.
The first requires companies to take the lead, and not to simply react to new legislation, for them not to see stress management programs as good PR tools that provide effective defenses against any possible future legal actions, and for them not to fool employees into thinking that their well being is of concern to the organization. The second requires a change in human nature and behavior. Fundamentally humans are selfish, and within a work environment, once a decision has been made, (whether by consensus or not), everyone will fall into two camps, those for you, and those against you. In the silent struggle that ensures, stressors will become the bullets used, to enforce this decision. Bibliography Jane Cranwell-Ward. Managing Stress. Gover, Hampshire, 1987 J Billsberry . The effective manager: perspectives and illustrations.
Adult Learning Skills Stress Life Work
Do you feel stress in your life? Does this affect the way you live and work? Many things currently going on in one's life, such as work, health, family and finances, can cause stress. It is how we individually identify the root cause and begin working on managing them effectively. As adult learners, there are various aspects of our work life that cause each of us some form of stress. We discovered ...
London Sage 1999 Ch.10 P Warr, Ch. 11 L R Murphy, Ch. 12 K Daniels J C Quick, L R Murphy & J J Hurrell Jr, Stress and well-being at work. American Psychological Association, Washington DC 1992. Ch. 5 D M Corey & G D Wolf, Ch.
6 B W Maclennan, , Ch.16 W Jones & M W Boye, Ch.19 A Hedge, W A Erickson & G Rubin. C L Cooper & R Payne Causes, Coping and Consequences of Stress at work, 1988 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Ch. 10 L R Murphy K Daniels et al Cognitive Factors influence on the expression and reporting of work related stress. NYP, HSE Books 2002.
