MANAGING

INDIVIDUAL STRESS

 Define what is meant by the term stress

 Describe the components of the organizational stress model
 Distinguish between four different categories of stressors
 Discuss major individual and organizational consequences of stress
 Identify some of the variables which moderate the stress process
 Describe several different organizational and individual approaches to
stress prevention and management

Reni Rosari
Msi – UGM
 What is Stress?
 Stress means different things to different people
Stress can be defined as either a stimulus or a response
 A stimulus definition of stress is some characteristics or event
of something that result in a disruptive consequence.

 In a response definition, stress is seen partially as a response to

some stimulus, called a stressor (a potentially harmful or threatening
external event or situation).
Stress is more than simply a response to a stressor.

In a response definition, stress is consequence of the interaction between

an environmental stimulus (a stressor) and the individual’s response
Reni Rosari
Msi – UGM
 What is Stress? (cont.)
Using a response definition:
 Stress is an adaptive response, moderated by individual

differences, that is a consequence of any action, situation, or

event that places special demands on a person

 special demand – unusual, physically or psychologically threatening, or

outside our usual set of experiences
 potential stressors – because not all stressors will always place the same
demands on people.

In order for an action, situation, or event to result in stress, it must be perceived

by the individual to be a source of threat, challenge, or harm.
If there are no perceived consequences – good or bad – there is no potential for
stress.
Reni Rosari
Msi – UGM
 What is Stress? (cont.)
3 key factors determine whether an experience is likely to result in stress:
 Importance – how significant the event is to the individual
 Uncertainty – a lack of clarity about what will happen
 Duration – the longer special demands are placed on us, the more
stressful the situation

 Acute stress – stress of short duration - it may last a few seconds,

a few hours, even a few days

 Chronic stress – long duration stress – it may last for months and
years

Reni Rosari
Msi – UGM
 Stress
 Stress behavioral, physical, or
psychological response to stressors

 Stress is not something to be avoided

 The complete absence of stress is death
 Stress is inevitable

Reni Rosari
Msi – UGM
 Hans Selye noted that stress can be caused by both positive and
negative events in one’s life and both types of events can have the
same physical and psychological impact.

The stress that is good or produces a positive outcome is referred to

as eustress.

 Eustress: merupakan jenis stress yang diakibatkan oleh hal-hal yang

menyenangkan misalnya, mendapat promosi, penghargaan atas
prestasi kerja yang baik

 Distress: merupakan jenis stress yang diakibatkan oleh hal-hal yang

tidak menyenangkan

Reni Rosari
Msi – UGM
A Model of Stressors, Stress, and Outcomes

Potential Stressors Outcomes

Behavioral
Individual Level

Cognitive Stress Coping Cognitive

Group Level Appraisal Strategies

Moderators
Organizational Level Physiological

Nonwork
Reni Rosari
Msi – UGM
 Membedakan antara Stressors, Stress & Strain

Cognitive
Appraisal Adverse
Strain Reactions
Stressor (Physical) • Physical
• Threatening ailments
(Physical)
situation Strain
STRESS (Behavioral) • Emotional
• Beyond ailments
Stressor Strain
control • Impaired job
(Psychological) (Psychological)
Performance

Reni Rosari
Msi – UGM
 Membedakan antara Stressors, Stress & Strain

 Stressor: berbagai macam tuntutan, baik bersifat fisik maupun psikis, yang
dialami selama menjalankan kehidupan

 Stress: kondisi emosional dan reaksi psikologis yang terjadi ketika

merespon berbagai macam tuntutan baik dari dalam maupun dari luar
organisasi

 Cognitive appraisal: penilaian mengenai ketegangan situasi

(stressfulness of a situation) berdasarkan pada tingkat dimana seseorang
mempersepsikan apakah suatu stressor sebagai hal yang mengancam dan
dapat dihadapi dengan berbagai macam tuntutan yang ada di dalamnya

 Strain: deviasi dari kondisi normal seseorang bisa berfungsi dengan baik
sebagai akibat dari menghadapai situasi yang penuh dengan tekanan
(stressful) dalam waktu yang lama
Reni Rosari
Msi – UGM
 Work Stressors:
Individual, Group, and Organizational

 Individual Level
 Role conflict, role overload, role ambiguity, responsibility for people,
harassment, pace of change

 Group Level
 Managerial behavior, lack of cohesiveness, intragroup conflict, status
incongruence

 Organizational Level
 Environment, technology, management styles, organizational design,
politics, culture

 Nonwork
 Elder and child care, economy, lack of mobility, volunteer work, quality
of life
Reni Rosari
Msi – UGM
 Work Stressors:
Individual, Group, and Organizational (cont.)

 Individual Stressors
 Role conflict
 Work overload
 quantitative – having too many things to do or
insufficient time to complete a job
 qualitative – occurs when people feel they lack the
ability needed to complete their jobs or their
performance standards have been set too high

Reni Rosari
Msi – UGM
 The Underload and Overload Continuum

Low Low
performance performance

underload Optimal overload

performance

• Boredom • High motivation • Insomnia

• Decrease in motivation • High energy • Irritability
• Absenteeism • Sharp perception • Increased errors
• Apathy • Calmness • Indecisiveness
Reni Rosari
Msi – UGM
 Work Stressors:
Individual, Group, and Organizational (cont.)
 Group, Organizational, and Nonwork stressors
 Participation
 Intra and intergroup relationships
 Organizational politics
 Organizational culture
 Lack of performance feedback
 Inadequate career development opportunities
 Downsizing
 Nonwork stressors
Reni Rosari
Msi – UGM
 Cognitive Appraisal

 Primary appraisal – leads to categorizing a

stressor as positive, negative, or meaningless

 Secondary appraisal – involves a determination

of whether something can be done to reduce the
stress

Reni Rosari
Msi – UGM
Coping with Stress
 Problem-focused coping
the action taken by an individual to cope with a
stressful person, situation, or event.

e.g. time management, working with a mentor, training

to improve competencies

Reni Rosari
Msi – UGM
Coping with Stress
 Emotion-focused coping
the action taken by a person to alleviate stressful
emotions. The action center on avoidance or escape
from a person, problem, or event.

e.g. meditation, biofeedback, exercise, joining a work

support group, personal off days

Reni Rosari
Msi – UGM
 A Model of the Coping Process

Situational Problem
factors focused
coping
Cognitive
Coping
appraisal
Strategies
of stressor
Emotion
focused
Personal
coping
factors
Harmful?
Threatening?
Challenging?

Reni Rosari
Msi – UGM
 Stress Outcomes
 Positive
e.g. self motivation, and stimulation to satisfy
individual goals and objectives

 Negative - disruptive, counterproductive, and

even potentially dangerous

Reni Rosari
Msi – UGM
 Stress Outcomes
 Individual Outcomes
 Psychological – anxiety, frustration, apathy, lowered self
esteem, aggression, and depression

 Cognitive – poor concentration, inability to make sound decisions

or any decisions at all, mental blocks, decreased attention span

 Behavioral – accident proneness, impulsive behavior, alcohol

and drug abuse, explosive temper

 Physiological – increased heart rate, elevated blood pressure,

sweating, hot and cold flashes, increased blood glucose levels,
elevated stomach acid production

Reni Rosari
Msi – UGM
 Burnout
a psychological process brought about by unrelieved work
stress, resulting in emotional exhaustion,
depersonalization, and feelings of decreased
accomplishment

Reni Rosari
Msi – UGM
A Model of Burnout
Job &
Personal
organizational
stressors
stressors

Emotional exhaustion Attitudinal &

behavioral
symptoms of
Depersonalization burnout

Feeling a lack of
Personal accomplishment

Reni Rosari
Msi – UGM
Four factors that are particularly important
contributors to burnout:
 High level of work overload

 Dead-ends jobs

 Excessive red tape and paperwork

 Poor communication and feedback,

particularly regarding job performance

Reni Rosari
Msi – UGM
 Burnout Indicators

Emotional Depersonalization Low Personal

Exhaustion Accomplishment
Feel drained by work Have become calloused by Cannot deal with problems
Feel fatigued in the job effectively
morning Treat others like objects Do not have a positive
influence on others
Frustrated Do not care what happens Cannot understand others’
to other people problems or identify with
them
Do not want to work Feel other people blame
with other people you No longer feel exhilarated
by your job

Reni Rosari
Msi – UGM
 Stress Outcomes
 Organizational Consequences
absenteeism, turnover, increased health and
medical costs, and qualitative decrements in
productivity

Reni Rosari
Msi – UGM
 STRESS MODERATORS

 Moderators variables that cause the

relationships between stressors, perceived
stress and outcomes to be weaker for some
and stronger for others

Reni Rosari
Msi – UGM
 STRESS MODERATORS
3 important moderators:

 Personality
e.g. the Big Five Model (emotional stability, extroversion,
agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness to experience), locus of
control, and self efficacy

 Type A Behavior Pattern

 Social support
 Emotional support
 Appraisal support
 Informational support
Reni Rosari
Msi – UGM
 Hardiness
personality characteristic that neutralizes stress

Three personality dimensions contribute to hardiness.

 Commitment, having a sense of purpose and not giving up under
pressure.
 They are extremely committed to the activities in their lives
 Internal locus of control. When we believe that we influence the
events that affect our lives, we tend to develop proactive coping
strategies.
 They believe that they can control the events they encounter
 And challenge, where change is perceived as an opportunity for
growth and development, and not as a threat.
They treat change in their lives as challenge

Reni Rosari
Msi – UGM
Type A Behavior Pattern
 Type A Behavior
Pattern aggressively
involved in a chronic,
determined struggle to
accomplish more in
less time

Reni Rosari
Msi – UGM
Type A Characteristics
1) Hurried speech; explosive accentuation of key
words
2) Tendency to walk, move, or eat rapidly
3) Constant impatience with rate at which most events
take place
4) Strong preference for thinking of or doing two or
more things at once
5) Tendency to turn conversations around to
personally meaningful subjects or themes

Reni Rosari
Msi – UGM
 Type A Characteristics
10) Tendency to schedule more and more in less and
less time; a chronic sense of time urgency
11) Feelings of competition rather than compassion
when faced with another Type A person
12) Development of nervous tics or characteristic
gestures
13) A firm belief that success is due to the ability to get
things done faster than the other guy
14) A tendency to view and evaluate personal activities
and the activities of other people in terms of
“numbers” Reni Rosari
Msi – UGM
 Social Support
 Social Support amount of helpfulness derived from social
relationships

Four types of social support are

 Esteem support, showing that a person is accepted and
respected despite any problems or inadequacies.
 Informational support, providing help in defining,
understanding, and coping with problems.
 Social companionship, spending time with others in leisure and
recreational activities.
 And instrumental support, providing financial aid, material
resources, or needed services.

Reni Rosari
Msi – UGM
 STRESS PREVENTION AND MANAGEMENT

 Maximizing person-environment fit ~ somewhat

similar to – and very consistent with - the concept of psychological
contract

2 dimensions of fit:
 the extent to which work provides formal and informal rewards

that fit the person’s needs

 the extent to which the employee’s skills, abilities, and

experience match the demands and requirements of the

employers

Reni Rosari
Msi – UGM
 STRESS PREVENTION AND MANAGEMENT (cont.)

 Organizational stress prevention and

management
 Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) – are designed
to deal with a wide range of stress-related problems, both work
and non work related, including behavioral and emotional
difficulties, substance abuse, family and marital discord, and
other personal problems

 Wellness Programs ~ Health Promotion Programs – focus

on the employee’s overall physical and mental health

Reni Rosari
Msi – UGM
 STRESS PREVENTION AND MANAGEMENT (cont.)

 Individual approaches to stress prevention and

management
 Cognitive Techniques – focus on changing cognitions so that
people appraise situations differently ~ reappraisal – removing
magnifying, overgeneralizing, personalization

 Relaxation Training – include breathing exercises, muscle

relaxation, autogenic training, and variety of mental relaxation,
including imagery and visualization

 Meditation

 Biofeedback – control a variety of internal body processes - use

sophisticated recording and computer technology
Reni Rosari
Msi – UGM