Abstract
The aim of this study is to explore the differences in job-related stress, if any, between public and private sector employees. It also examines the role of demographic variables on the stress levels of both public and private sector groups. Our methodology entails a survey of 50 public and 75 private sector employees in Gudalur Town. We also use secondary data provided by the literature review. The sample was collected through convenience sampling. The major limitation of this study is that it was conducted in Gudalur alone, while the work culture of organizations other than in Gudalur may be different.
INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN RESOURCE
Human Resource Management is an art of managing people at work in such a manner that they give their best to the organization. In simple word human resource management refers to the quantitative aspects of employees working in an organization. Human Resource Management is also a management function concerned with hiring, motivating, and maintains people in an organization. It focuses on people in organization. Organizations are not mere bricks, mortar, machineries or inventories. They are people. It is the who staff and manage organizations.
HRM involves the application of management functions and principles. The functions and principles are applied to acquisitioning, developing, maintain, and remunerating employees in organizations. Decisions relating to employees must be integrated. Decision on different aspect of employees must be consistent with other human resource decisions. Decision made must influence the effectiveness of organization. Effectiveness of an organization must result in betterment of services to customers in the form of high-quality product supplied at reasonable costs.HRM function s is not confined to business establishment only. They are applicable to non-business organizations, too such as education, health care, recreation etc.
The Business plan on Human Resource Management part 1
... Human Resource Managers need to remember that the management needs employees who are able to face new changes. At the same time, there are organizations ... to undertake decisions, solve current problems based on working experience. In such a way, the recruitment policy implemented by Human Resource Managers should ...
The scope of HRM is indeed vast. All major activities in the working life of his or her entry into an organization until he or she leaves-come under the previews of HRM.specifically, the activities included are HR planning, job analysis and be sign, recruitment and selection, orientation and placement, training and development, performance appraisal and job evaluation, employee and executive remuneration, motivation and communication, welfare, safety and health, industrial relations and the like. HRM is a broad concept Personnel management and human resource development is a part of HRM.
Before we define “Human Resource Management”, it seems good to first define heterogeneous in the sense that they differ in personality, perception, emotions, values, attitudes, motives, and modes of thoughts. Human resource management plays an important role in the development process of modern economy. In fact it is said that all the development comes from the human mind.“ Human Resource Management is a process of producing development, maintaining and controlling human resources for effective achievement of organization goals.”
INTRODUCTION OF STRESS
A lot of research has been conducted into stress over the last hundred years. Some of the theories behind it are now settled and accepted; others are still being researched and debated. During this time, there seems to have been something approaching open warfare between competing theories and definitions: Views have been passionately held and aggressively defended.
What complicates this is that intuitively we all feel that we know what stress is, as it is something we have all experienced. A definition should therefore be obvious…except that it is not.
Stress has become a very common phenomenon of routine life, and an unavoidable consequence of the ways in which society has changed. This change has occurred in terms of science and technology, industrial growth, urbanization, modernization, and automation on one hand; and an expanding population, unemployment, and stress on the other. The term “stress” was first used by Selye (1936) in the literature on life sciences, describing stress as “the force, pressure, or strain exerted upon a material object or person which resist these forces and attempt to maintain its original state.” Stress can also be defined as an adverse reaction that people experience when external demands exceed their internal capabilities.
The Essay on Jobs on Human Resource and Criminal Justice
There are a lot of jobs in Human Resource field. A job website shows fifty human resource jobs in New York, forty one in Atlanta, thirty nine in Houston, thirty five in Dallas, thirty one in Chicago, twenty two in Los Angeles, twenty in San Jose, twenty in Austin, and other around one hundred and twenty nine in other areas. There are different positions which are in demand and few of these are HR ...
Organizations are an important source of stress, and employees’ workloads and professional deadlines have increased manifold. These advancements have created stress among employees in the form of occupational stress, which Sauter, Lim, and Murphy (1996) define as the harmful physical and emotional responses that arise when the demands of a job do not match the worker’s abilities, resources, or needs. Occupational stress is further defined as a condition arising from the interaction of people and their jobs, and characterized by changes within people that force them to deviate from their normal functioning (Beehr & Newman, 1978).
The perception of the effects of stress on an individual has changed. Stress is not always dysfunctional in nature, and, if positive, can prove one of the most important factors in improving productivity within an organization (Spielberger, 1980).
If not positive, stress can create a number of physical and psychological disorders among employees, and can be responsible for frustration, haste, and job dissatisfaction. As a result, the lack of work may cause complacency within the organization. Stress is, therefore, multidimensional, and its results depend on whether employees perceive it as a problem or a solution.
For our purposes, public sector organizations are considered those that are government-owned and -operated. Such organizations are considered to focus primarily on the administration of essential services and the control and maintenance of a country’s social and economic conditions. In contrast, private sector organizations are considered either profit-making enterprises or community service groups that operate independently of the government (Macklin, Smith, & Dollard, 2006).
The Essay on Stress Body Stressor Cause
Stress Stress is the nonspecific response of the body to any demands made upon it; it may be characterized as muscle tension and acute anxiety or may be a positive force of action. Stressors are what cause stress. Stressors are specific or nonspecific agents or situations that cause a stress response in the body. There are five Categories of Stressors: Acute time limited stressor's are anxiety- ...
Different studies have classified occupational stress in terms of physical environment, role stressors, organizational structure, job characteristics, professional relationships, career development, and work-versus-family conflict (see Burke, 1993).
Cooper and Marshall (1976) add to this list factors intrinsic to a job, the management’s role, and professional achievements. Based on these complexities, stressors can be grouped into two main categories: (i) job-related stressors, and (ii) individual-related stressors.
Stress refers to the strain from the conflict between our external environment and us, leading to emotional and physical pressure. In our fast paced world, it is impossible to live without stress, whether you are a student or a working adult. There is both positive and negative stress, depending on each individual’s unique perception of the tension between the two forces. Not all stress is bad. For example, positive stress, also known as eustress, can help an individual to function at optimal effectiveness and efficiency.
Hence, it is evident that some form of positive stress can add more color and vibrancy to our lives. The presence of a deadline, for example, can push us to make the most of our time and produce greater efficiency. It is important to keep this in mind, as stress management refers to using stress to our advantage, and not on eradicating the presence of stress in our lives.
On the other hand, negative stress can result in mental and physical strain. The individual will experience symptoms such as tensions, headaches, irritability and in extreme cases, heart palpitations. Hence, whilst some stress may be seen as a motivating force, it is important to manage stress levels so that it does not have an adverse impact on your health and relationships.
Part of managing your stress levels include learning about how stress can affect you emotionally and physically, as well as how to identify if you are performing at your optimal stress level (OSL) or if you are experiencing negative stress. This knowledge will help you to identify when you need to take a break, or perhaps seek professional help. It is also your first step towards developing techniques to managing your stress levels.
The Term Paper on Stress In The Work Environment
Stress in the Work Environment Job stress poses a significant threat to employee health and consequently to the health of an organization. Therefore, it is important for both employees and employers to recognize and understand stress and its causes. Often employers confuse job challenges and job stressors. Most employees view a job challenge as a motivating factor, which enables them to grow ...
Modern day stresses can take the form of monetary needs, or emotional frictions. Competition at work and an increased workload can also cause greater levels of stress. How do you identify if you are suffering from excessive stress? Psychological symptoms commonly experienced include insomnia, headaches and an inability to focus. Physical symptoms take the form of heart palpitations, breathlessness, excessive sweating and stomachaches.
What causes stress? There are many different causes of stress, and that which causes stress is also known as a stressor. Common lifestyle stressors include performance, threat, and bereavement stressors, to name a few. Performance stressors are triggered when an individual is placed in a situation where he feels a need to excel. This could be during performance appraisals, lunch with the boss, or giving a speech. Threat stressors are usually when the current situation poses a dangerous threat, such as an economic downturn, or from an accident. Lastly, bereavement stressors occur when there is a sense of loss such as the death of a loved one, or a prized possession.
Thus, there are various stressors, and even more varied methods and techniques of dealing with stress and turning it to our advantages. In order to do so, we must learn to tell when we have crossed the line from positive to negative stress.
Stress is measured using a number of instruments. Our focus, however, is organizational role stress (ORS), which measures total role stress. We use Pareek’s (1983) scale, which evaluates respondents’ quantum of stress in terms of total ORS scores. It also measures the intensity of the following ten role stressors that contribute to the total ORS score:
1. Inter-role distance (IRD): Conflict between organizational and nonorganizational roles.
2. Role stagnation (RS): The feeling of being “stuck” in the same role.
3. Role expectation conflict (REC): Conflicting expectations and demands between different role senders.
The Term Paper on Based Reward Employees Job Work
I. The Meaning of Money in the Workplace A. Money and Employee Needs 1. Money is an important factor in satisfying individual needs. 2. Money is a symbol of status, which relates to the innate drive to acquire. 3. Financial gain symbolizes personal accomplishments and relates to growth needs. 4. People value money as a source of feedback and a representation of goal achievement. 5. Compensation is ...
4. Role erosion (RE): The feeling that functions that should belong to the respondent’s role are being transformed/performed or shared by others.
5. Role overload (RO): The feeling that more is expected from the role than the respondent can cope with.
6. Role isolation (RI): Lack of linkages between the respondent’s role and that of other roles in the organization.
7. Personal inadequacy (PI): Inadequate knowledge, skills, or preparation for a respondent to be effective in a particular role.
8. Self-role distance (SRD): Conflict between the respondent’s values/self-concepts and the requirements of his or her organizational role.
9. Role ambiguity (RA): Lack of clarity about others’ expectations of the respondent’s role, or lack of feedback on how others perceive the respondent’s performance.
10. Resource inadequacy (RIn): Nonavailability of resources needed for effective role performance.
The types of stress are as follows
Mechanical
* Stress (physics), the average amount of force exerted per unit area.
* Yield stress, the stress at which a material begins to deform plastically.
* Compressive stress, the stress applied to materials resulting in their compaction.
Biological
* Stress (biological), physiological or psychological stress; some types include:
* Chronic stress, persistent stress which can lead to illness and mental disorder
* Eustress, positive stress that can lead to improved long-term functioning
* Workplace stress, stress caused by employment
Music
* Accent (music).
* Stress (band), an early ’80s melodic rock band from San Diego.
* Stress (punk band), an early ’80s punk rock band from Athens.
* Stress (Neo-Psychedelic band), from the late 1980’s.
* Stress, a song by the French band Justice on their debut album
Other
* Stress (game), card game
* Stress (linguistics), phonological use of prominence in language
Chronic Stress
Chronic stress is stress that lasts a long time or occurs frequently. Chronic stress is potentially damaging.
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 ...
Symptoms of chronic stress can be:
* upset stomach
* headache
* backache
* insomnia
* anxiety
* depression
* anger
In the most severe cases it can lead to panic attacks or a panic disorder.
Compressive stress
Compressive stress is the stress applied to materials resulting in their compaction (decrease of volume).
When a material is subjected to compressive stress, then this material is under compression. Usually, compressive stress applied to bars, columns, etc. leads to shortening.
Coping with Stress at Work place
With the rapid advancement of technology, the stresses faced at work have also increased. Many people dread going to work, hence the term “Monday Blues”. What is the reason for this? There is partly the fear from being retrenched in bad times, leading to greater job insecurity on the part of those who remain. Undoubtedly, occupational stress is one of the most commonly cited stressors faced by people all over the world.
Stress refers to the pressure and reactions to our environment which results in psychological and physical reactions. Whilst some stress is good for motivation and increasing efficiency, too much stress can result in negative impacts such as reduced effectiveness and efficiency. More and more people are feeling isolated and disrespected at work, and this has led to greater occupational stress. Many companies have taken to consulting experts and professionals on ways to increase connectedness and motivation of their employees.
Some companies organize parties and make their employees feel valued at work. These are measures to motivate employees and help them to feel secure at their jobs, translating into greater productivity. However, not all companies have such measures in place, and some have not gotten it quite right. Hence, it is up to you to make sure that you can cope with stress at your workplace, and use it to help you work better. Here are 3 simple steps to help you with coping with stress in the workplace.
1) Raising Awareness
Help yourself to identify when you are facing rising levels of stress, tipping the scales from positive to negative. This is important, as being able to identify signs of being stressed can help you to take steps to ensure that your overall quality of life does not drop. If left unacknowledged, the problem will only snowball, leading to disastrous consequences to your health and overall wellbeing.
2) Identify the Cause
They need to be able to analyze the situation and identify what is causing the rise in stress. These stressors can be external and internal. External stressors refer to things beyond your control, such as the environment or your colleagues at work. Internal stressors refer to your own thinking and attitude. Often, we only start reacting to stress when a combination of stressors working together exceeds our ability to cope.
Keep a diary or a list of events that have caused you to feel strong negative emotions, or that are likely stressors. This will help you to identify the causes of your stress. Whilst it is not always possible to eradicate them, we can change the way that we cope with it.
3) Coping with Stress
In order to deal with the situation that is causing you stress, you need to calm your mind and body so as to stave off the reactions and cope with it in a positive way. This can be through different methods, such as taking time off. If a situation is triggering your stress and you are unable to calm down, remove yourself from it. Go outside and take a walk to calm down. Alternatively, you can try implementing relaxation techniques such as deep breathing. If it is an internal stressor, stop your thought process until you are able to deal with it logically.
The key to making these 3 steps work for you is to practice them. These are not instantaneous solutions, and you need to condition your mind and practice them so that you can implement it when you are feeling stressed.
Laughter
Adopting a humorous view towards life’s situations can take the edge off everyday stressors. Not being too serious or in a constant alert mode helps maintain the equanimity of mind and promote clear thinking. Being able to laugh stress away is the smartest way to ward off its effects.
A sense of humor also allows us to perceive and appreciate the incongruities of life and provides moments of delight. The emotions we experience directly affect our immune system. The positive emotions can create neuro chemical changes that buffer the immunosuppressive effects of stress.
During stress, the adrenal gland releases corticosteroids, which are converted to cortical in the blood stream. These have an immunosuppressive effect. Dr. Lee Berk and fellow researcher Dr. Stanley Tan at Loma Linda University School of Medicine have produced carefully controlled studies showing that the experience of laughter lowers serum cortical levels, increases the amount and activity of T lymphocytes—the natural killer cells. Laughter also increases the number of T cells that have suppresser receptors.
Workplace Stress
Workplace stress is the harmful physical and emotional response that occurs when there is a poor match between job demands and the capabilities, resources, or needs of the worker. Stress-related disorders encompass a broad array of conditions, including psychological disorders (e.g., depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder) and other types of emotional strain (e.g., dissatisfaction, fatigue, tension, etc.), maladaptive behaviors (e.g., aggression, substance abuse), and cognitive impairment (e.g., concentration and memory problems).
In turn, these conditions may lead to poor work performance or even injury. job stress is also associated with various biological reactions that may lead ultimately to compromised health, such as cardiovascular disease.
Stress is a prevalent and costly problem in today’s workplace. About one-third of workers report high levels of stress. One-quarter of employees view their jobs as the number one stressor in their lives. Three-quarters of employees believe the worker has more on-the-job stress than a generation ago. Evidence also suggests that stress is the major cause of turnover in organizations.
Health and Healthcare Utilization
Problems at work are more strongly associated with health complaints than are any other life stressor-more so than even financial problems or family problems. Many studies suggest that psychologically demanding jobs that allow employees little control over the work process increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. On the basis of research by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and many other organizations, it is widely believed that job stress increases the risk for development of back and upper-extremity musculoskeletal disorders. High levels of stress are associated with substantial increases in health service utilization. Workers who report experiencing stress at work also show excessive health care utilization. In a 1998 study of 46,000 workers, health care costs were nearly 50% greater for workers reporting high levels of stress in comparison to “low risk” workers. The increment rose to nearly 150%, an increase of more than $1,700 per person annually, for workers reporting high levels of both stress and depression. Additionally, periods of disability due to job stress tend to be much longer than disability periods for other occupational injuries and illnesses.
Causes of Workplace Stress
Job stress results from the interaction of the worker and the conditions of work. Views differ on the importance of worker characteristics versus working conditions as the primary cause of job stress. The differing viewpoints suggest different ways to prevent stress at work. According to one school of thought, differences in individual characteristics such as personality and coping skills are most important in predicting whether certain job conditions will result in stress-in other words, what is stressful for one person may not be a problem for someone else. This viewpoint leads to prevention strategies that focus on workers and ways to help them cope with demanding job conditions. Although the importance of individual differences cannot be ignored, scientific evidence suggests that certain working conditions are stressful to most people. Such evidence argues for a greater emphasis on working conditions as the key source of job stress, and for job redesign as a primary prevention strategy. Personal interview surveys of working conditions, including conditions recognized as risk factors for job stress, were conducted in Member States of the European Union in 1990, 1995, and 2000. Results showed a trend across these periods suggestive of increasing work intensity. In 1990, the percentage of workers reporting that they worked at high speeds at least one-fourth of their working time was 48%, increasing to 54% in 1995 and to 56% in 2000. Similarly, 50% of workers reported they work against tight deadlines at least one-fourth of their working time in 1990, increasing to 56% in 1995 and 60 % in 2000. However, no change was noted in the period 1995–2000 (data not collected in 1990) in the percentage of workers reporting sufficient time to complete tasks. A substantial percentage of Americans work very long hours. By one estimate, more than 26% of men and more than 11% of women worked 50 hours per week or more in 2000. These figures represent a considerable increase over the previous three decades, especially for women. According to the Department of Labor, there has been an upward trend in hours worked among employed women, an increase in extended work weeks (>40 hours) by men, and a considerable increase in combined working hours among working couples, particularly couples with young children.
Signs of Workplace Stress
Mood and sleep disturbances, upset stomach and headache, and disturbed relationships with family; friends and girlfriends or boyfriends are examples of stress-related problems. The effects of job stress on chronic diseases are more difficult to see because chronic diseases take a long time to develop and can be influenced by many factors other than stress. Nonetheless, evidence is rapidly accumulating to suggest that stress plays an important role in several types of chronic health problems-especially cardiovascular disease, musculoskeletal disorders, and psychological disorders.
Prevention
A combination of organizational change and stress management is often the most useful approach for preventing stress at work.
How to Change the Organization to Prevent Job Stress
* Ensure that the workload is in line with workers’ capabilities and resources.
* Design jobs to provide meaning, stimulation, and opportunities for workers to use their skills.
* Clearly define workers’ roles and responsibilities.
* Give workers opportunities to participate in decisions and actions affecting their jobs.
* Improve communications-reduce uncertainty about career development and future employment prospects.
* Provide opportunities for social interaction among workers.
* Establish work schedules that are compatible with demands and responsibilities outside the job.
* Discrimination inside the workplace. (e.g. nationality and language )
How to reduce stress
Job analysis
We have all experienced that appalling sense of having far too much work to do and too little time to do it in. We can choose to ignore this, and work unreasonably long hours to stay on top of our workload. The risks here are that we become exhausted, that we have so much to do that we do a poor quality job and that we neglect other areas of our life. Each of these can lead to intense stress.
The alternative is to work more intelligently, by focusing on the things that are important for job success and reducing the time we spend on low priority tasks. Job Analysis is the first step in doing this.
The first of the action-oriented skills that we look at is Job Analysis. Job Analysis is a key technique for managing job overload – an important source of stress.
To do an excellent job, you need to fully understand what is expected of you. While this may seem obvious, in the hurly-burly of a new, fast-moving, high-pressure role, it is oftentimes something that is easy to overlook.
By understanding the priorities in your job, and what constitutes success within it, you can focus on these activities and minimize work on other tasks as much as possible. This helps you get the greatest return from the work you do, and keep your workload under control.
Job Analysis is a useful technique for getting a firm grip on what really is important in your job so that you are able to perform excellently. It helps you to cut through clutter and distraction to get to the heart of what you need to do.
Rational & positive thinking
They are thinking negatively when you fear the future, put yourself down, criticize yourself for errors, doubt your abilities, or expect failure. Negative thinking damages confidence, harms performance and paralyzes mental skills.
Unfortunately, negative thoughts tend to flit into our consciousness, do their damage and flit back out again, with their significance having barely been noticed. Since we barely realize that they were there, we do not challenge them properly, which means that they can be completely incorrect and wrong.
Thought Awareness is the process by which you observe your thoughts and become aware of what is going through your head.
One approach to it is to observe your “stream of consciousness” as you think about the thing you’re trying to achieve which is stressful. Do not suppress any thoughts. Instead, just let them run their course while you watch them, and write them down on our free worksheet as they occur. Then let them go.
Another more general approach to Thought Awareness comes with logging stress in your Stress Diary. When you analyze your diary at the end of the period, you should be able to see the most common and the most damaging thoughts. Tackle these as a priority using the techniques below.
Here are some typical negative thoughts you might experience when preparing to give a major presentation:
* Fear about the quality of your performance or of problems that may interfere with it;
* Worry about how the audience (especially important people in it like your boss) or the press may react to you;
* Dwelling on the negative consequences of a poor performance; or
* Self-criticism over a less-than-perfect rehearsal.
Thought awareness is the first step in the process of managing negative thoughts, as you cannot manage thoughts that they are unaware of.
