Page 264 - DMGT106_MANAGING_HUMAN_ELEMENTS_AT_WORK

Managing Human Element at Work

Notes • Discuss the organizational factors

• Explain the environmental factors
• Explain the consequences of stress
• Define the managing stress
• Discuss the individual coping strategies
• Describe the handling stress by getting close to people

• Understand the organizational coping strategies

Introduction

Work stress is recognized world-wide as a major challenge to workers’ health and the healthiness
of their organisations. Workers who are stressed are also more likely to be unhealthy, poorly
motivated, less productive and less safe at work. Their organisations are less likely to be
successful in a competitive market.
Stress can be brought about by pressures at home and at work. Employers cannot usually
protect workers from stress arising outside of work, but they can protect them from stress that
arises through work. Stress at work can be a real problem to the organisation as well as for its
workers. Good management and good work organisation are the best forms of stress prevention.
If employees are already stressed, their managers should be aware of it and know how to help.
This booklet is concerned largely with the everyday stress of work and not specifically with
the stress caused by sudden, traumatic events nor with the management of post-traumatic
stress disorder.
For example, in a multinational bank, the work of a newly married typist becomes erratic
because of the emotional conflict she is going through with her husband. In an automobile
shop floor, a skilled worker asks for a transfer to a semi-skilled job as he is not able to work
with the idiosyncrasies of his supervisor.
These situations illustrate stressful conditions which have to be dealt with very cautiously in
an organization. This unit will help us understand what stress is and how it affects job
performance. Work stress can have a disastrous effect on the quality of life and the quality of
work life. It has no boundaries. It can affect men and women, executives and presidents, and
people of all nationalities. The American Institute of Stress estimates that about $300 billion is
lost every year because of work-related stress and its after-effects lower productivity, higher
employee turnover, higher absenteeism, medical costs, and alcoholism.
Stress is created by a multitude of overlapping factors such as quantitative or qualitative work
overloads, ethical dilemmas, difficult relationships with bosses and colleagues, and uncertainties
in life. Although stress can sometimes act as a stimulant and challenge us (eustress), too much
stress for too long a time has a negative impact on both our work life and our personal life
(distress). The notion of management of stress basically focuses on the management of distress.

12.1 Stress

When confronted with an uncomfortable situation like appearing for an interview, giving a
formal speech, missing a deadline or ending of an important relationship, different people will
have different feelings and reactions some negative and some positive. Stress refers to the
body’s physiological, emotional, and psychological responses to an individual’s well-being.
When the response is in the form of a deviation from healthy functioning, the state is called
distress. The reaction which activates and motivates people to achieve their goals, change their
environment, and face life’s challenges is called eustress. In other words, this is the stress that

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