The Reasons and the Problem Associated with Stress - Term Paper Example

From the moment an individual wakes up till the time he goes to bed he is under stress. Everyone wants to experience stress, experiment with stress; everyone wants to stretch himself to know the breaking point, to know what the elasticity is. A human being ignores all warnings and wants to calculate the shearing force and the bending moment. The loud beeps of the alarm clock are required to wake him up every morning and his disgust knows no bounds when the alarm clock complies. That is when the anxiety begins to mount. Some just switch it off and go back to sleep only to regret later. Others who do get out of bed also experience stress at least for sometime. Stress is definitely an individual response and they carry this stress to the workplace, which affects their mood, the routine, and the interactions with colleagues and in general the productivity. The causes and the problem associated with stress at work are numerous. Headaches, disturbed sleep, anxiety, irritability, or substance misuse may result when individuals are stressed but according to Steven and Shanahan (2002) there is generally little evidence that such symptoms are a direct result of particular stressful events. They claim that such symptoms can be precipitated by other causes too. Stress, though an individual issue, becomes prominent at the workplace because of various factors. Issues like competition, high absenteeism, high staff turnover, industrial disputes, may add to the stress but the root cause is different. While the origin of stress may arise from personal reasons like marital status (single, divorced, separated, single parenting), age, occupation, physical health, gender, socio-economic group, education, job satisfaction, salary structure, ultimately the effect is felt significantly at workplace. Researches conducted by Brice Carolyn, Collins Alison, Matthews Victoria, McNamara Rachel, & Smith Andrew (2000), showed that Job category too showed a strong relationship with the reporting of stress. The research also suggested that the various factors are independent and additive. The findings suggest that some groups identified by standard demographic and occupational characteristics, have significantly higher levels of work related stress than average. All these findings suggest that stress is an individual responsibility. It has also been found that teachers, nurses, and managers perceive the occupational stress as a major problem. The perceived stress does not mean that the stress is absent in other occupations or that it is an automatic response of these occupations. Even within the profession, different individuals may be affected to varying degrees which is dependant on personal factors as discussed above. Once again, we derive that stress is an individual response. According to Wikipedia a given situation causes eustress (positive stress) in one person and distress (negative stress) in another. This is because of physiological differences and because each one adapts and reacts differently to different situations. Since the responses to the situation differ, it again qualifies that the individual should take responsibility of the stress. Occupational sources in the Canadian Forces (2002) revealed that psychological resources like the individual coping skills, workplace leadership, and perceived organizational support could alter the perception of work stress. A negative association was reported between occupational role stress and both individual (strain) and organizational (job satisfaction and organizational commitment) wellbeing. The demands of the workplace are increasing day by day. In fact, a nationwide study of occupational stress in the United States revealed that the proportion of workers who reported "feeling highly stressed" had more than doubled from 1985 to 1990 (Spielberger & Reheiser, 1995). The diseases of the employees are stress related and this stress results in low job satisfaction and low productivity. It can hence be observed that it is a vicious circle, where low job satisfaction is one of the reasons for stress and again stress results in low job satisfaction. This is an issue that an individual has to address and tackle on his own. Ettner and Grzywacz (2001) are of the opinion that work and health are intimately connected. According to them, the changing nature of jobs (shift from manufacturing to services) as well as aging and the growing diversity of the workforce suggest that the threats to the workers health are different today than it used to be. Hence, it becomes necessary to examine the causes and protect the health of the workers at both the national and the employment level. Ettner and Grzywacz used a different methodology by asking workers to conduct the "thought experiment" of what their health would be like in the absence of their jobs. The social ecology theory assesses how jobs affect health would depend upon the nature of the job and individual attributes. If the individual attributes are controlled it may be possible to get an accurate result of the effect of job on health. This theory too suggests an individual is largely responsible for the stress. Ecological theory of human development would suggest that individuals dispositions, resources, and characteristics would shape their perceptions of how their jobs influence their health (Cited by Ettner and Grzywacz). How an individual thinks affects his lifestyle and workplace. Positive thinking directs the mind in the right direction, which also helps him to maintain a balance at work. Quality control at the thought level is necessary to maintain quality at work. With negative thoughts, an individual is incapable of tackling problems or situations at work. The thoughts start the process but we always give an allowance to the thought. While designing a bolt and nut, the stress created on the structure is calculated, the shearing force is considered, the diameter of the nut is calculated, and based on all these the design is made. In spite of these an allowance of +_ 1mm is given on the pitch and the thread. This allowance is given for human error and not machine error. The machine maintains the right thread and pitch, it is the human mind which creates the error and transmits the thoughts into action or process. This is at the design stage, then the manufacturer gives another 1% allowance and the inspector gives another 1%. This makes it a total of 3% error and this loss of efficiency of the product is the ultimate users loss. The reason is just negative thoughts of the individual right from the inception of a project. Lack of quality consciousness causes stress, which emphasizes the importance of qualitative thoughts. Time management, lack of confidence, the inability to encourage oneself are the reasons which give rise to stress in an individual. Thinking and planning are essential to any project of any nature of any size. These are the attributes which an individual has to develop himself and hence once again we can conclude that stress is an individual’s responsibility. The research conducted by Ettner and Grzywacz suggested that workers who were self-employed were significantly more likely to report positive effects of their job on their health (and correspondingly less likely to report negative effects) even after controlling for personality traits and other individual traits associated with differential perceptions regarding health status. Self-employment thus has a positive effect as the selection of job is based on individual characteristics. The ecological theory suggests that both person and environment factors shape individual experiences, but Ettner and Gryzwacz also found that individual personality characteristics as well as objective and subjective features of the job determine the employees’ perception of how the job affects their health. This does suggest that workplace environment is a determining factor but can largely be controlled by changes and adaptation to the environment by an individual. Man management is a critical area and the organizations all over are aware of this. It can be argued that people who work overtime or work in night shifts tend to have more stress and health problems than others do. In such cases, the organization provides added facilities for the employees to the extent the job or work hours are expected to affect the physical and mental health of people. Over and above this, the individual has to imbibe and inculcate habits that would bring stability to his health. Today an organization may provide for facilities and seminars on stress management but in the end, the individual who has to follow and practice the suggestions. An organization can also assist an individual to identify his problems and support him to overcome them but the final responsibility lies with the employee. Expectations from the job and from the individual himself have to be realistic. Desires have to be limited, schedules have to be maintained, family environment supporting, and workouts practiced. One should undertake responsibilities only to the extent possible and practical. Delegation at work helps build relationships as well as reduce workload thereby increase productivity. Procrastination and delays lead to stress. Often people try to compare and choose a profession not suited to them. Thoughts have to be transformed and one should be able understand and recognize one’s capabilities. With the right focus in life, it is not difficult to eliminate stress and lead a quality life. References: Steven D Ian & Shanahan E Michael, Work-related stress: care and compensation, MJA 2002; 176 (8): 363-364, URL: accessed 5th Nov 2005 Brice Carolyn, Collins Alison, Matthews Victoria, McNamara Rachel, & Smith Andrew (2000), The scale of occupational stress: A further analysis of the impact of demographic factors and type of job, URL accessed 4th Nov 2005 Wikipedia, URL :< http://Stress_(medicine).htm > accessed 5th Nov 2005 Spielberger & Reheiser, (1995), URL: accessed 4th Nov 2005 Ettner Susan L. & Grzywacz Joseph G, (2001) Workers Perceptions of How Jobs Affect Health: A Social Ecological Perspective, Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 2001, Vol. 6, No. 2, 101-113 URL: accessed 5th Nov 2005 Read More