28 Work Stress-II

DR.Geeta Sachdev

1. Learning Objectives:

Basic objectives of this module are:

To understand the individual approaches to manage the stress

To understand the organizational approaches to manage the stress

2. Introduction

Regrettably, most of us disagree the presence of our stress till it is too late. This escaping strategy generates a malicious cycle because the failure to handle with stress becomes extra stressor on top of the one that generated the stress in the initial place. As we observe at each approach, keep in notice that both the organization & employees share combined accountability for effective stress management. Furthermore, managing stress frequently contains more than one of these strategies.

Individual Approaches: Stress coping strategies from individual’s aspect:

Knowledge about stress: In the early stage, an individual should become educated about stress. He should be familiar with about the procedure& effects of stress. He must discover out the key sources of his stress. He must expect stressful times and plan therefore in advance. He must be honest with himself &decide what he can manage & what he cannot.

Physiological Fitness: Workout in any form can help persons in coping with the stress. Non-competitive physical workout recommended by physicians as a technique to deal with extreme stress levels.

Time Management: Generally persons are very poor in handling their time. They do not see that what must be completed& when it would be desired to do so. The result of poor time management is sensation of work excess, miss out plans and strains. A sound managed individual can often finish twice as much as the individual who is poorly organized.

Assertiveness: A person should be assertive. He should not say ‘Yes’ when he desires to say ‘No’. He should start saying No to persons or bosses who demand abundant of his time.

Social Support Network: Every individual should have persons to turn to talk and trust upon. Good friends become enormously co-operative through times of stress & emergency. Social network comprises friends, family or co-workers. Enhancing social network system could be a source for tension decline because friends are there when required and provide sustenance to get the individual out through stressful Conditions.

Readjust Life Goals: Each person must recognise what he really wants to do. This should link to not only the key judgements of the life but to all activities in their lives. He must distinguish what is important for him. Because of the severe competition in life to go forward, many persons set great criteria and aims for themselves. These high projections and limited resources to reach at such anticipations result in stress. Henceforth, each individual must readapt his goals and confirm that he has the ability & means to reach at such aims.

Relaxation Techniques: Each person must teach himself to reduce tension through relaxation methods like yoga, meditation. Deep relaxation methods make imperative changes in heart rate, blood pressure & other physical factors.

Plan your life in advance: Most of the times, persons make situations which yield in stress since they either did not plot or did a poor job of planning. The traditional Indian attitude of “whatsoever will be, will be” a method of accepting the unexpected difficulties in life. This attitude might be relevant in those circumstances over which we do not have any control such as death in the family, but for more activities in life, it is better to plan in advance, so that we can handle them with self-confidence when they occur.

Live each day well: Combine activity, thought, and a positive attitude approaching the lot of things that must be done each day. Celebrate special occasions. Undertake new experiences. Learn from your mistakes.

Anticipate problems and see yourself as a problem solver- Though each specific problem is unique, it is most likely similar to past ones. Use these past experiences to quickly recognize ways of resolving new problems.

Search for solutions- Act on a partial solution, even when a complete solution seems far-away. By resolving some aspects of a problem, we can achieve time for more focused contemplation of the left over complexities. In addition, some development is a confidence builder that can help us to remain committed to finding a complete solution.

Social Interaction-While social interaction has been shown to have positive results on decreasing the effects of stress, this beneficial effect depends on the type of friends with whom you surround yourself. Spending time with negative, pessimistic people can augment our stress level rather than reducing it. It is visibly more beneficial to enclose ourselves with positive, hopeful friends.

Combating Perfectionism-Perfectionism is frequently connected with obsessive-compulsive disorder as well as with eating disorders. Having perfectionist tendencies can also generate stress and conflict in relationships because people who interact with perfectionists feel as though nothing they do is good enough or will satisfy that person.

To help ease the stress of perfectionism, base your self-esteem on whom we are rather than on what we do. This involves accepting ourselves and others unconditionally; including imperfections. Decreasing our expectations of ourselves and others and aiming for 80 percent rather than 100 percent is one more strategy in fighting perfectionism. Consider what we are doing well and have achieved rather than what is still left to do. Push ourselves to take risks and allow ourselves to commit mistakes. It can be helpful to make mistakes on purpose in order to get used to this experience and realize that people still like and accept you and nothing bad will happen.

4. Organizational Approaches to manage the stress Remove the Stressor

From this list of stress management strategies, many authors debate that the only method that organizations can effectively manage stress is by eliminating the stressors that create unnecessary pressure and job exhaustion. Additional stress management strategies might keep employees “stress-fit,” but they don’t resolve the central sources of stress.

Change the corporate culture &reward systems- More commonly, research has established that one of the greatest influential methods to eliminate office stressors is to allow employees so that they have more control over their work & work environment

Role-related stressors can be reduced by choosing &allocating employees to positions that match their capabilities. Noise & safety risks are stressful, so enlightening these circumstances would also go a lengthy way to diminish stress in the place of work.

Workplace bullying can be diminished with the help of clear rules of behaviour & feedback for those who defy those principles.

Family-friendly and work–life initiatives organizations round the country are messing up to make a family-friendly workplace that objects to increase work–life balance. Several organizations claim to provide a work–life balance, most common work–life balance ingenuities are stretchy work time, job sharing, teleworking, individual leave, and childcare amenities.

Flexible work time—many companies are flexible about the hours, days, & amount of time employees want to work. For instance, some organizations offer life program provides employees the autonomy to reorganise their work schedule to manage family events, from attending their kids’ sports activities to caring for elderly parents.

Job sharing—Job sharing breaches a career position between two people so they experience less time based stress between work and family. They usually work diverse portions of the week with some overlapping work time in the weekly schedule to coordinate activities.

Telecommuting—it reduces the time & stress of travelling to workplace & makes it cooler to fulfil family duties, like momentarily leaving the home-office to pick the child up from school. Research recommends that teleworkers experience an improved work–life balance. Though, telecommuting might upsurge stress for those who desire social interaction. It also isn’t a resolution for child care.

Personal leave programs—Employers with robust work–life values offer stretched maternity, paternity, & personal leaves to care for a new family or take gain of a personal experience. Progressively, employees need personal leave to care for elderly parents who need support.

Selection and Placement: Persons differ in their reactions to stress circumstances. Type A persons are more probable to face stress. On the other side, in the companies there are numerous jobs which are more demanding in contrasts to other jobs. While doing the selection& placement of the employees, these matters must be reserved in mind. The persons who are more probable to have stress might adjust better to high stress jobs & act upon those jobs effectively.

Goal Setting: Grounded on wide amount of research it has been determined that persons perform better when they have exact & challenging aims and they gain feedback on how well they are going forward towards those aims. Goal setting can reduce stress as well as provide motivation. It will result in fewer employee annoyance, role vagueness and stress.

Improved Communication: many times because absence of effective communication form the bosses, the employees do not recognise what they have to perform& how they have to perform it. This ends in role ambiguity. Similarly, when two or more persons have conflicting role  demands  from  an  employee,  it  leads  to  role  conflict  if  there  is  absence  of  proper communication. Effective communication with employees decreases the ambiguity by lessening role ambiguity & role conflict.

Redesigning jobs: companies should reshape the jobs in such a way as to provide employees more accountability, more expressive work, more independence, routine work, work overload or under load and role ambiguity. Job redesigning upsurges motivation, reduce the stress amongst the employees &increases “Quality of Work Life”.

Participative Decision Making: If the companies provide the employees contribution in those decisions that straight affect them &their job performance, it can rise employee control &decrease the role stress. The key cause of the role stress is that employees feel ambiguous about their objectives, prospects and how they will be assessed. These doubts can be lessened by the management by providing the employees a right to partake in the decision making.

Building Teamwork: The management should attempt to create such work environment in which there is no criteria for interpersonal fight or inter group fight. Such conflicts are the reasons of stress; such should be clogged from building or eliminated if they grow. Therefore such work should be established that groups & the members are mutually-operative and creative. Participants of the group should trust themselves as participants of the related family and search for sustenance from each other.

Persona Wellness Programmes: Personal wellness programmes focus on employee’s total physical & mental condition. Companies can give conveniences at their locations for physical fitness like gyms, swimming pools, tennis courts etc. as well as psychosomatic counselling. Companies should conduct seminars or workshops to make the employee identify nature &causes of stress and the possible approaches to cut it. These workshops should help those persons who are already under stress. Moreover, a manager can influence personal wellness of subordinates with positive instances, support and by performing the indispensable ideas and methods of human resource management.

Childcare support Withdrawal from the Stressor–Eliminating the stressor might be the perfect solution, but it is frequently not possible. An alternate strategy is to forever or momentarily eliminate employees from the stressor. Enduring withdrawal happens when employees are transmitted to jobs that better fit their capabilities & values.

Temporary withdrawal strategies-Temporarily withdrawing from stressors is the utmost recurrent method employees cope up stress. Nortel Networks has a relaxation room ample with comfortable chairs and amusement videos where employees can momentarily drip from the annoyances of work.

Days off and holidays characterise somewhat lengthier momentary withdrawals from stressful circumstances. One study of a police and emergency responses services employee’s capability to manage with work-related stress.

Change Stress Perceptions-Employees commonly experience varied degrees of stress in the similar condition because they identify it inversely. As a consequence, stress can be reduced by altering perceptions of the condition. This does not include overlooking risks or other stressors. Rather, we can reinforce our self-efficacy &self-esteem so that job challenges are not perceived as intimidating. Humour can also advance our perceptions by taking some psychological weight off the condition.

Control  the  Consequences  of  Stress-Managing  with  workplace  stress  also  includes controlling its consequences. For this cause, many organizations have fitness centres where employees can maintain in shape. Research specifies that physical exercise decreases the physical consequences of stress by assisting employees lesser their breathing, muscle tension, heartbeat, & stomach acidity. Another method to control the physiological consequences of stress is through relaxation & meditation. Generally, these actions lower down the person’s heart rate, blood pressure, muscle tension, and breathing rate. Whereas fitness & relaxation/meditation are still significant, many companies have shifted to the wider method of wellness programs, which instruct & assist employees in better nutrition and fitness, steady sleep, & other good health habits.

Many big companies give employee assistance programs (EAPs). EAPs are counselling services that assist employees overcome personal or work stressors and accept more effective handling mechanisms. Most EAPs are “broad-brush” programs that advice employees on any work or personal problems. Family problems frequently signify the main percentage of EAP referrals, though this differs with organization and location.

Receive Social Support

Social support from colleagues,  managers, family, friends,  & others is one of the more effective stress management practices. It states to the individual’s interpersonal relations with others and includes giving either emotional or informational sustenance to buffer the stress experience. Social support decreases stress in following three ways.

First, employees increase their perception that they are appreciated and worthy. This, in turn, surges their self-esteem & perceived capability to handle with the stressor (e.g., “I can manage this disaster because my co-workers have assurance in me”).

Second, social support offers information to aid employees understand, realize, and probably eliminate the stressor. For example, social support may decrease a new employee’s stress since colleagues define methods to manage problematic clients.

Lastly, emotional support from others could directly aid to buffer the stress experience. This last fact reveals the impression that “misery loves company.” Persons seek out &benefit from the emotional support of others when they encounter intimidating circumstances. Social support is an imperative method to manage with stress that everybody can practice by keeping friendships. This contains serving others when they require a little support from the stressors of life. Companies can enable social support by offering opportunities for social communication amongst employees as well as their families. Persons in leadership roles also require to exercise a helpful leadership style when employees work under stressful situations and require this social support. Mentoring relationships with more senior employees might also aid junior employees manage with organizational stressors.

5.Four A to deal with Stress Once we do some self-analysis, we can use a method called the four A. The four A gives us four Choices for dealing with a stressor:

1. Avoid the stressor. We can try to avoid situations that stress us out. If watching certain television programs causes stress, stop watching them! Spend time with people who help you relax. We can also look at saying no more often if we do not have the time necessary to complete everything we are doing.

2. Alter the stressor. Another option in dealing with stress is to try to alter it, if you can’t avoid it. When changing a situation, you can be more assertive, manage time better, and communicate your own needs and wants better. For example, Karen can look at the things causing her stress, such as her home and school commitments; while she can’t change the workload, she can examine ways to avoid a heavy workload in the future. If Karen is stressed about the amount of homework she has and the fact that she needs to clean the house, asking for help from roommates, for example, can help alter the stressor. Often this involves the ability to communicate well.

3. Adapt to the stressor. If you are unable to avoid or change the stressor, getting comfortable with the stressor is a way to handle it. Creating your own coping mechanisms for the stress and learning to handle it can be an effective way to handle the stress. For example, we can try looking at stressful situations in a positive light, consider how important the stressor is in the long run, and adjust our standards of perfectionism.

Accept the stressor. Some stressors are unavoidable. We all have to go to work and manage our home life. So, learning to handle the things we cannot change by forgiving, developing tolerances, and letting going of those things we cannot control is also a way to deal with a stressor. For example, if your mother-in-law’s yearly visits and criticisms cause stress, obviously you are not able to avoid or alter the stress, but you can adapt to it and accept it. Since we cannot control another person, accepting the stressor and finding ways of dealing with it can help minimize some negative effects of the stress we may experience.

Some basic strategies to manage stress

Researchers have found the following activities cut stress significantly:

Meditating

Listening to music

Getting enough sleep Drinking black tea

Spending time with a funny friend Pampering, such as a massage

Doing something spiritual Chewing gum

Exercising

Developing good time management skills Eating a healthy diet

Organization such as keeping workspace organized Picturing yourself relaxed

Breathing deeply

Social interaction such as spending time with family and friends Positive thinking

7.  Summary

Stress is an adaptive reaction to a state that is observed as puzzling or intimidating to an individual ‘swell-being. Distress defines high stress levels that have negative outcomes, while eustress terms the moderately low stress levels required to make lively people. The stress experience, named the general adaptation syndrome, contains going through three stages: alarm, resistance, & exhaustion. The stress model displays that stress is produced by stressors. Though, the consequence of these stressors hinge on personal characteristics. Stress affects an individual’s physiological & psychological well-being, and is related with numerous work-related behaviours. Stressors are the reasons of stress &contain any environmental circumstances that put a physical or emotional demand on the individual. Stressors are discovered in the physical work environment, the employee’s several life roles, personal relations, &organizational activities. Conflicts between work and non-work responsibilities are a recurrent basis of employee stress. Two people exposed to the similar stressor might experience dissimilar stress levels since they perceive the situation inversely, have diverse threshold stress levels, or use dissimilar managing strategies. Workaholics& employees with Type A behaviour patterns incline to experience more stress than other employees.

Deep or continued stress can source physiological signs, like high blood pressure, ulcers, sexual dysfunction, annoyances, & coronary heart disease. Behavioural symptoms of stress contain lesser job performance, worse decisions, more workplace mishaps, higher absence, and more workplace violence. Psychologically, stress diminishes job satisfaction &rises irritability, unhappiness, and job burnout. Job burnout mentions to the procedure of emotional exhaustion, sarcasm, and decreased effectiveness resultant from continued contact to stress. It is mostly due to interpersonal & role-related stressors and is utmost common in serving occupations. Numerous interventions are accessible to handle work-related stress. Some directly eliminate needless stressors or eradicate employees from the stressful situation. Others support employee’s change their understanding of the environment so that it is not observed as a grave stressor. Wellness programs inspire employees to shape better physical defences against stress experiences. Social support offers emotional, informational, &material resource sustenance to buffer the stress experience.

Effective psychological tools for stress management include progressive muscle relaxation, visualization, guided imagery, meditation, hypnosis, biofeedback, and stress inoculation, cognitive self-talk, conquering procrastination, combating perfectionism, and setting realistic goals.

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