Stress and Organizational Stress
Stress and Organizational Stress
Stress and Organizational Stress
WHAT IS STRESS? The word Stress is derived from the Latin word "Stringi", which means, "to
be drawn tight". Stress arises when individuals perceive that they cannot adequately cope with the demands being made on them or with threats to their well-being. Or Stress occurs when the pressure is greater than the resources.
2. 3. 4.
MAJOR LIFE EVENTS: Major Life Events comprises: 1. 2. 3. 4. Birth Death Lost job Promotion Marital status change
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Personality traits
LIFESTYLE CHOICES: Lifestyle choices contain: 1. 2. 3. Caffeine Lack of sleep Overloaded schedule
NEGATIVE SELF - TALK: Negative Self Talk examples are: 1. 2. 3. 4. Pessimistic Thinking Self-criticism Over analyzing
MIND TRAPS: Mind Traps includes: 1. 2. 3. 4. Unrealistic expectations Taking things personally Thinking Exaggeration Rigid thinking
CAUSES OF STRESS: There are many causes of stress. It can be divided into three parts:
1. 2. 3. Causes of stress at Home Causes of stress at Work Other causes of stress
Death of spouse, family, near relative or friend. Injury or illness of any family member. Marriage of self or son or daughter or brother or sister. Separation or divorce from partner. Pregnancy or birth of a new baby. Children's behavior or disobedience. Children's educational performance. Hyperactive children. Sexual molestation. Argument or heated conversations with spouse, family members or friends or neighbors. Not sufficient money to meet out daily expenses or unexpected expenditure. Not sufficient money to raise your standard of living. Loss of money in burglary, pick-pocketed or share market. Moving house. Change of place or change of city or change of country.
Causes of Stress at Work: It contains: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. To meet out the demands of the job. Your relationship with colleagues. To control staff under you. To train your staff and take work from them. Support you receive from your boss, colleagues and juniors. Excessive work pressure. To meet out deadlines. To give new results. To produce new publications if you are in research area. Working overtime and on holidays. New work hours. Promotion or you have not been promoted or your junior has superseded you. Argument or heated conversations with co-workers or boss. Change of job. Work against will. Harassment. Sexual molestation.
Other Causes of Stress: It contains: 1. 2. 3. 4. Fear, intermittent or continuous. Threats: physical threats, social threats, financial threat, other threats. Uncertainty. Lack of sleep.
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5. 6.
The Integrative Transactional Process Model of Stress: Schuler was the name of the person who came up with this project. He explained each word that the title contains: 10. 11. 12. Integrative: The model was developed by considering the diverse areas of research. Transactional: The relationships in the model are reciprocal, or both a cause and effect of each other. Process: The relationships implied by this model occur overtime and across stressors.
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Measures of Stress: Measuring stress is a difficult thing to do because researchers cannot place workers under stressful situations and study their responses (for ethical reasons). Most studies are nonexperimental field studies. There are three types of measures which are used to collect data on job-related stress: Self-report: It includes questionnaires, surveys, and interviews. They require people to report the stress they experience, the nature of stressors, the stress responses, and outcomes. The most commonly used method. Behavioral measures: It measures the actual behavior such as job-related absences, number of accidents at work, number of cigarettes smoked per day. These measures are usually less biased compared to self-report. Physiological measures: It includes any index of nervous system activation (sweating, breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, and muscle tension) and biochemical measures of stress.
Organizational stressors: White-collar stressors are usually related to the workers role in
the organization. The most common organizational stressors are failure in role-sending and role-taking. The role-based stressors most frequently studies are: Role conflict: Occurs when role demands are in conflict. There are three types of role conflict: 1. Intra sender conflict: Occurs when one person communicates a mixed or conflicting message (for example: Increase productivity but cut back overtime) 2. Inters sender conflict: Two or more people send conflicting messages ( for example: When a worker has more than one supervisor, satisfying one of them, means neglecting the other/s) 3. Inter role conflict: Two or more roles conflict for one person ( for example: A woman may find her roles as parent, worker, wife, and student conflict) Role ambiguity: It results when role demands are unclear or unknown; there is inadequate or confusing information about how to perform the task; or ambiguity about how you will be evaluated in your role For Example: When we dont know how the professor is going to determine our course grade, we experience evaluation ambiguity Interpersonal problems with coworkers: It is another work role stressor. This is more common for managers, whose role includes responsibility. The risk of failure results in personal and professional trauma. Problems with coworkers usually have a negative impact on the communication process which leads to role ambiguity and low job satisfaction. Nonworking Stressors: Many factors outside of work can influence the effectiveness at work. Personal problems have a great impact on our performance. There are three general perspectives which try to explain the relationship of job and life satisfaction: Spillover: Problems outside of work spill over into work life. For Example: personal problems, financial problems. Compensation: One environment compensates for deficiencies in the other. For Example: A man who has marital problems immerses himself in projects at work. Independence: Problems in one environment do not affect the other.
EFFECT /OUTCOMES OF STRESS (STRAINS): There are many effects of stress. We are
discussing three types of effect below: Health effect: Researchers have tried to explain the relationship between stress and health problems. They concluded that stressful life events actually cause illnesses. Everyday stressors or daily hassles such as misplacing car keys and concerns about dieting have a strong relationship with health problems too, maybe even a stronger effect than stressful events.
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2.
Burnout: It is a type of job-related stress outcome that has both behavioral and attitudinal components. It often refers to frustration, exhaustion, and cynicism experienced by human service professionals (policemen, social workers, and teachers). The extreme demands that these workers face are very devastating for them. There are three types of responses that define burnout: 1. 2. 3. Emotional exhaustion Depersonalization ( the act of putting psychological distance between the individual and others) Decreased personal accomplishment (wasted efforts)
HOW TO OVERCOME: We can overcome stress by the following ways: Bring the situation out into the open. Acknowledge and accept all these feelings as healthy expressions of care for others and for oneself. Compassion and non-judgment are the beginning of a "healing process" that can restore the lost emotional flexibility. Find out if there is some practical action that needs to be put into practice in order to end the grief process and move on. Sometimes, writing letters (even if they are never sent) or roleplaying conversations can bring open issues to an end for good. Explain the underlying principle for what happened. What were the challenges the company faced? What was the justification for choosing the actions taken? lt is necessary to re-establish a sense of loyalty and mutual commitment as a foundation for moving forward. It will be impossible to restore it if the employees remaining believe that the company's actions were
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arbitrary or unfair.
Start a conversation about the future. What are the prospects? Will there be more downsizing episodes? What are the steps required to overcome the crisis? Develop a very concrete plan of action and encourage the responsibility to materialize it. Make sure people have a renewed sense of purpose. Keep an open route to deal with emotional issues. The "organizational healing" is a process, not an event. Although it is critical to get started, it is even more important to maintain an ongoing dialogue about typical "untouchable" issues.
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