Page 283 - DMGT106_MANAGING_HUMAN_ELEMENTS_AT_WORK

Unit 12: Handling Stress at Workplace

Questions: Notes

1. What are the leader’s demands?
2. What are the interpersonal demands

12.12 Summary

• Work stress is recognised world-wide as a major challenge to workers’ health and the
healthiness of their organisations.
• The reaction which activates and motivates people to achieve their goals, change their
environment, and face life’s challenges is called eustress.

• During this stage, the capacity of the body to cope with the demands of the environment
increases above the normal level because the body activates various biochemicals,
psychological, and behavioural mechanisms.
• Hearing and sight become more acute and muscles ready themselves for action these
biochemical and bodily changes represent a natural reaction to environmental stressors:
the fight-or-flight response.
• The minor or major changes that occur in the external environment may also contribute
towards generation of stress.

• Optimism is the extent to which a person sees life in positive or negative terms, a
popular expression used to convey this idea concerns the glass half filled with water.

12.13 Keywords

Aggressive behaviour: Sexual harassment and violence are common forms of aggressive
behaviour observed in organizations.
Behavioural consequences: When stress becomes distress, job performance falls and workplace
accidents become very common. High stress levels impair our ability to remember information,
make effective decisions, and take appropriate actions.

Career development: The issues related to career planning and development such as job security,
promotions, transfers, and other developmental processes such as under-promotions or over-
promotions can create anxiety and stress among the persons concerned.

Collateral programmes: A collateral stress programme is an organizational programme
specifically created to help employees deal with stress.
Constructive versus destructive stress: The stress that has a negative impact on the state of the
mind is called destructive stress. Stress that has a positive impact and resulting in a feeling of
excitement and enthusiasm is called constructive stress.
Distress: When the response to an uncomfortable situation is in the form of a deviation from
healthy functioning, the state is called distress.
Economic uncertainty: Downsizing, rightsizing, retrenchment, restructuring, etc. are all done
in the name of efficiency and cost reduction to improve profitability during times of economic
uncertainty.

Episodic versus chronic stress: A pattern of a high degree of stress followed by an interval of
relief is referred to as episodic stress. Chronic stress is the stress that a person faces continuously.
Sexual harassment: Sexual harassment is unwanted contact or communication of a sexual
nature.

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