Job Stress in Organizations
Job stress has a high occurrence in the modern workforce. More than half of those employed in the U.S. cite pressures from stress on the job. There has been extensive research to support excessive stress adversely affects the emotional and physical health of those workers. This article will outline job related stress, its symptoms, and ways to reduce stress for managers and their employees.
Stress Defined
According to Dessler, on the job burnout due to stress, is the total depletion of physical and mental resources caused by excessive striving to reach an unrealistic work-related goal. Defining stress can subjective and dependent on internal and external causes as it relates to the symptoms people experience. Stress can also occur when workers think about the future and away from thought of “here and now”. Some say there is no difference between what is considered good stress and bad stress if thoughts are created about future outcomes. When the stress is relieved by good outcomes then we perceive it as motivating. If there is no outlet for it, then it is incapacitating for us. In reality both good and bad stress is still stress (Milbourn, 2012).
Managers often deal with many sources of stress which can be define in two categories, one being the lack of principled organization , the other being the lack of supportive leadership. Workers become stressed when the vagueness of responsibility as well as conflict of having to carry out responsibilities under these conditions. When workers are allowed a greater level of satisfaction due to their jobs, then they will experience less symptoms of job related stress (Milbourn, 2012).
Stress and it Causes
On the job stress originators are divided into internal and external conflicts. Individual/Internal can be related to fears (specific and nonspecific), guilt, and stress that occurs when there are perceived environmental threats. Some of the external conditions can be defined by lack of opportunity, excessive responsibilities, monotony, and value conflicts can seriously affect work performance, which are things that are beyond one’s control there are other situations that can be just as stressful. Physical environment, lack of diversity or work pace, conflict in responsibilities, quality of work, on the job relationships, and career development stressors attribute to feeling overwhelmed and stressed. “ The effects of these sources of stress on various measures of physical and mental health ranging from absenteeism to poor physical health (Carr, Kelley, Keaton, & Albrecht, 2011). Job demands, individual differences, social demands, all influence the level of chronic stress felt in the workplace.
How Stress is manifested in the Workplace
Stress can create a number of behaviors which may be a positive or negative effect on the individual’s physical and emotional wellbeing. Some of the positive outcomes may be the development of neutral behaviors to avoid stress points such as becoming fit, social networking, and other activities. These outcomes will lower negative responses to stress. On the other hand, negative responses would include smoking, drinking and the use of prescription and illegal drugs.
Managing Stress
Because of the dual perspective of stress for managers, there is a need for balance and stability. For managers and workers alike, finding ways to minimize stress will lead to higher productivity. There are three specific strategies that deal with on the job stress, treat the symptoms, change the person, or remove the causes of stress. (Carr, Kelley, Keaton, & Albrecht, 2011). First and foremost the first thing to do is help the person who suffers from stress by relieving the symptoms. Providing health care and counseling services can identify what is needed. From there, the person should be taught how to build stress management skills to help alleviate the possibility of getting to that point again. Some of the ways this can be achieved would be time management and relaxation skills. Another would be taking a healthier approach by exercise and diet changes. A third approach would be the reduction of the environmental causes that created the stress.
Conclusion
On the job stress can manifest in many ways. Much depends on the person experiencing the stress. It is important to identify stress, learn how to recognize and deal with it in a positive manner. A stress less work environment is nearly impossible to achieve. Although it is in the best interest for management to make dealing with on the job stress a priority, rarely is anything done about it until the individual already exhibits symptoms. It is important to put into place outlet for workers to release the stressors on the job. Such programs must be deemed important from management first.
References
Dessler, G. (2011). A Framework for Human Resource Management (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. I
Jolynn Carr, Becky Kelley, Rhett Keaton, & Chad Albrecht. (2011). Getting to grips with stress in the workplace. Human Resource Management International Digest, 19(4), 32-38. (Document ID: 2371839441).SBN: 9780132556378.
No comments:
Post a Comment