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Unit 12: Handling Stress at Workplace

12.10.3 Place the Stressful Situation in Perspective Notes

Stress arises because of our perception of the situation. If you can alter your perception of a
threatening situation, you are attacking the source. A potentially stressful situation can be put
into perspective by asking, “What is the worst thing that could happen to me if I fail in this
activity?” The answer to the above question can be arrived at by asking a series of questions,
starting from the grimmest possibility. For instance, you are late with a report that is due this
afternoon. Consider the following questions and answers:
• Will my reputation be damaged permanently? (No.)

• Will I get fired? (No.)
• Will I get reprimanded? (Perhaps, but not for sure.)
• Will my boss think less of me? (Perhaps, but not for sure.)
Negative stress is truly justified only if the answer is yes to either of the first two questions.
The thought process just described allows stressful situations to be properly evaluated and
kept in perspective. You, therefore, avoid the stress that comes from overreacting to a situation.

12.11 Organizational Coping Strategies

Organizations are also continuously realizing that they should be involved in managing their
employees’ stress. There are two different rationales for this view. One is that because the
organization is at least partly responsible for creating the stress, it should help relieve it. The
other is that workers experiencing lower levels of harmful stress will function more effectively.
Two basic organizational strategies for helping employees manage stress are institutional
programmes and collateral programmes.

12.11.1 Institutional Programmes
Institutional programmes for managing stress are undertaken through established
organizational mechanisms. For example, properly designed jobs and work schedules can
help ease out stress. Shift work, in particular, can cause major problems for employees,
because they constantly have to adjust their sleep and relaxation patterns. Thus, the design
of work and work schedules should be a focus of organizational efforts to reduce stress. The
organization’s culture can also be used to manage stress. In some organizations, for example,
there is a strong norm against taking time-off or going-on vacation. In the long run, such
norms can cause major stress. Thus, the organization should strive to foster a culture that
reinforces a healthy mix of work and non-work activities. Finally, supervision can play an
important institutional role in managing stress. A supervisor can be a major source of overload.
If he is aware of their potential for assigning stressful amounts of work, supervisors can do
a better job of keeping workloads reasonable.

12.11.2 Collateral Programmes
In addition to institutional efforts aimed at reducing stress, many organizations are turning to
collateral programmes for managing stress. A collateral stress programme is an organizational
programme specifically created to help employees deal with stress. Organizations have adopted
stress management programmes, health promotion programmes, and other kinds of programmes
for this purpose. More and more companies are developing their own programmes or adopting
existing programmes of this type. For example, Lockheed Martin offers screening programmes
for its employees to detect signs of hypertension.
Many firms today also have employee fitness programmes. These programmes attack stress
indirectly by encouraging employees to exercise, which is considered to be an effective stress
buster. On the negative side, this kind of effort costs considerably more than stress
management programmes, because the firm must invest in physical facilities. Still, more and

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