FIVE MAIN REASONS WHY AN ORGANISATION SHOULD MANAGE STRESS

1
FIVE MAIN REASONS WHY AN ORGANISATION SHOULD
MANAGE STRESS

• Social responsibility to provide a good quality
  of working life.
• Excessive stress causes illness.
• Stress results in inability to cope with the
  demands of the job which creates more stress.
• Excessive stress can reduce employee
  effectiveness and therefore organisational
  performance.
• Health and Safety requirement.

2
DEFINITION OF STRESS

• Most definitions of stress have 3 common
• factors.
• Stress is caused by a stimulus.
• The stimulus can be either physical or
  psychological.
• The individual responds to the stimulus in some
  way.
• Stress is a persons adaptive response to a
• stimulus that places excessive psychological
• or physical demands on that person.

3
STRESS

• Stress is one of the major adverse influences on
• job satisfaction
• work performance and productivity
• absenteeism and turnover.
• Stress is
• a complex and dynamic concept
• a source of tension and frustration
• can arise through a number of interrelated
  influences on behaviour i.e. individual, group,
  organisational and environmental.
• Stress is individually defined
• one persons stress can be anther's excitement
  and energiser
• occurs when an individual feels that he/she is
  working outside his/her comfort zones
• personality plays a part in the stress process.

4
THE STRESS PROCESS
THE GENERAL ADAPTATION SYNDROME (Dr Hans Selye)
High
Response to Stressful Event
Individuals Resistance to Stress
Normal Level of Resistance
Low
Stage I Alarm
Stage 2 Resistance
Stage 3 Exhaustion
GAS identifies three stages of response to a
stressor.
5
CONCEPTS OF EUSTRESS AND DISTRESS (Dr Hans Selye)

• EUSTRESS is the pleasurable stress that
  accompanies
• positive events e.g. promotion, marriage, gaining
• recognition.
• DISTRESS is the unpleasant stress that
  accompanies
• negative events. What most people think of when
  they
• hear the word stress e.g. excessive pressure,
• unreasonable demands on our time, bad news.

6
KARL ALBRECHTS FOUR CATEGORIES OF STRESS

• Time Stress - not enough time available to do the
  things one has to do. Can result from role
  overload. Time-management techniques can help.
• Situational Stress- role stress in its various
  forms, sometimes made worse by personalities or
  people involved in a particular situation.
• Anticipatory Stress - worry or free-floating
  fear - worst possibility is the most likely one,
  no news is bad news, feeling that some unknown
  disaster is about to happen.
• Encounter Stress - anxiety about dealing with one
  or more people whom one finds difficult,
  unpleasant or possibly unpredictable.
  Instinctive reaction is to retreat e.g. write
  instead of meeting.

7
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES AND STRESS

• TYPE A AND B PERSONALITY PROFILES
• Type A people are extremely competitive, highly
• committed to work, and have a strong sense of
  time
• urgency. Aggressive, impatient and highly work
• oriented. A lot of drive and motivation.
• Type B people are less competitive, less
  committed to
• work and have a weaker sense of time urgency.
  More
• laid back. Less conflict with time or people.
  A more
• balanced, relaxed approach to life.
• People tend toward one or other type. Affects
  how
• they react to stress. Early research suggested
  that Type
• A people were more likely to get coronary heart
• disease although more recent research suggests
  that
• other factors are important.

8
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES AND STRESS

• HARDINESS AND OPTIMISM
• HARDINESS is a persons ability to cope with
  stress. A
• person with a hardy personality will
• have an internal locus of control
• be strongly committed to the activities in
  his/her life
• view change as an opportunity for advancement and
• growth
• be relatively unlikely to suffer illness from
  high levels of
• pressure and stress.
• OPTIMISM is the extent to which a person sees
  life in
• relatively positive or negative terms. Is your
  cup half
• full or half empty?
• In general, optimistic people tend to handle
  stress better
• And can focus on the positive characteristics of
  the
• situation.

9
COMMON CAUSES OF STRESS

• TWO BROAD CATEGORIES -
• ORGANISATIONAL AND LIFE STRESSORS
• ORGANISATIONAL STRESSORS are factors in
• the workplace that can cause stress
• Task demands are stressors associated with the
• specific job a person performs - occupation,
  unhealthy
• conditions, job security, overload.
• Physical demands are stressors associated with
  the
• jobs physical setting eg temperature,
  lighting physical
• requirements the job makes on the employee
  office design.
• Role demands are stressors associated with the
  role a
• person is expected to play. Stress can be caused
  by role
• ambiguity, role conflict and role overload.
• Interpersonal demands are stressors associated
  with group
• pressures, leadership and personality conflicts.

10
COMMON CAUSES OF STRESS

• LIFE STRESSORS - stress in organisations can also
  be
• influenced by events that take place outside the
  organisation.
• Generally categorised in terms of life change and
  life trauma.
• Life change
• is any meaningful change in a persons personal
  or work situation
• too many life changes can lead to health problems
• examples of life changes are death of
  spouse,divorce,marital separation,jail term,death
  of close family member
• Life trauma
• is any upheaval in an individuals life that
  alters his or her attitudes, emotions, or
  behaviours
• It has a narrower, more direct, and shorter-term
  focus than life change e.g. marital problems,
  family difficulties, health problems initially
  unrelated to stress.

11
FIVE ORGANISATIONAL SITUATIONS LEADING TO
STRESSHandy (199372)

• Responsibility for the work of others -
  reconciling overlapping or conflicting objectives
  of groups and organisation, of groups and
  individuals, of self and superiors. One study
  has shown that role stress increases as rank
  increases.
• Innovative functions - conflicting priorities
  e.g. status quo or innovate?, conflict between
  the psychological demands of the routine and
  administrative aspects and the creative aspects
  of the job.
• Integrative or boundary functions - role stress
  of the co-ordinator, link person or outside
  contact, perhaps due to lack of control over
  demands or resources. Often focal point for
  inter-group conflict within the organisation or
  between the organisation and its environment.
• Relationship problems - difficulties with boss,
  subordinates or colleagues, lack of feedback and
  consideration from managers, problems for those
  with a technical orientation.
• Career uncertainty - if future career prospects
  become doubtful, the uncertainty can quickly
  become stressful and spread to affect the whole
  of ones work.

12
OTHER MAJOR SOURCES OF STRESS AT WORK

• intrinsic to the job - working conditions, shift
  work etc.
• role in the organisation - overload, underload
• poor relationships with the organisation - lack
  of information, little effective consultation,
  restrictions on behaviour, office politics
• organisational structure and climate - the extent
  of rules and regulations
• time pressures and deadlines
• unrealistic business objectives
• external pressures - work-family conflict (growth
  of dual-career families), demands made by other
  external interests.

13
CONSEQUENCES OF STRESS

• INDIVIDUAL CONSEQUENCES
• Behavioural Consequences - may harm the person
  under stress or others e.g. smoking, alcohol and
  drug abuse, accident proneness, violence,
  appetite disorders. Also changes in
  productivity, absence and turnover
• Psychological Consequences - relate to mental
  health and well-being e.g. job-dissatisfaction,
  depression, tension, anxiety, irritability,
  boredom, procrastination, sleeping problems,
  family problems, .
• Medical Consequences - relate to physical
  well-being e.g. heart disease, stroke, headaches,
  ulcers, stomach disorders, skin conditions.

14
CONSEQUENCES OF STRESS

• ORGANISATIONAL CONSEQUENCES
• Decline in performance - poor quality work, drop
  in productivity, faulty decision-making,
  disruptions in working relationships.
• Withdrawal - absenteeism and quitting. Also
  missing deadlines, longer break. Psychological
  withdrawal - ceasing to care about
  job/organisation.
• Attitudes - People may be more prone to complain
  about unimportant things, do only enough work to
  get by etc.

15
CONSEQUENCES OF STRESS

• BURNOUT - another consequence of stress. It is
  the
• general feeling of exhaustion that develops when
  an
• individual simultaneously experiences too much
  pressure and
• has too few sources of satisfaction.
• Generally develops in the following way
• Prime candidates are people with high aspirations
  and strong motivation.
• Organisation suppresses or limits their
  initiative while constantly demanding that they
  serve the organisations own ends.
• Individual likely to put too much of him/herself
  into the job.
• Likely effects are prolonged stress, fatigue,
  frustration and helplessness.
• Person exhausts his or her aspirations and
  motivation.
• Loss of self-confidence and psychological
  withdrawal follow. Burnout results.
• Individual may dread work, work longer hours but
  accomplish less, and display mental and physical
  exhaustion.

16
MANAGING STRESS IN THE WORKPLACE

• Individual Coping Strategies
• Exercise - less likely to have heart attacks,
  more likely to feel less tension and stress, more
  self-confident, show greater optimism.
• Relaxation - holidays, rest breaks.
• Time Management - prioritising critical,
  important and optional activities.
• Role Management - actively working to avoid
  overload, ambiguity and conflict. Seeking
  clarification, saying no.
• Support Groups - develop and maintain support
  groups of family members or friends.

17
MANAGING STRESS IN THE WORKPLACE

• Organisational Coping Strategies
• Institutional Program for managing stress are
  undertaken through established organisational
  mechanisms eg. design of work and work schedules,
  fostering a culture that reinforces a healthy mix
  of work and nonwork activities, and supervision.
• Collateral Program - a program specifically
  created to help employees deal with stress.
  Includes stress management and health promotion
  programs, employee fitness programs, and career
  development programs.

18
MANAGING STRESS IN THE WORKPLACE

• Other Ways In Which An Organisation Can Manage
• Stress (Armstrong, 1998814)
• Job Design- clarifying roles, reducing the danger
  of role ambiguity and conflict, giving more
  autonomy
• Placement - taking care to place people in jobs
  which are within their capabilities
• Career Development- planning careers and
  promoting staff in accordance with their
  capabilities, taking care not to over-
  under-promote
• Performance Management Processes - which allow a
  dialogue to take place between managers and
  individuals about the lather's work problems and
  ambitions
• Counselling - giving individuals the opportunity
  to talk about their problems e.g. with a
  personnel officer or occupational health
  doctor/nurse
• Management Training- in performance review,
  counselling techniques and stress management.

19
MANAGING STRESS IN THE WORKPLACE

• Work-Life Linkages - Work-life relationships are
• interrelationships between a persons work and
  personal life.
• Basic dimensions of a persons life tied
  specifically to work include-
• current job (working hours, job satisfaction)
• career goals (persons aspirations, career path)
• interpersonal relations at work with supervisor,
  subordinates, co-workers etc.
• job security.
• Dimensions of a persons life distinctly separate
  from work include-
• spouse or life companion
• dependents,
• personal life interests
• friendship networks.
• Stress will occur where there is a basic
  inconsistency or incompatibility between a
  persons work and life dimensions.