Organizational Stress and Violence - Literature review Example

Stress Management Abstract: The paper on Stress management focuses on the implications of Stress in the organization. The paper carries out an analysis of the different factors which gives rise to stress in an organization. Other than the external factors giving rise to stress, the environmental analysis has been carried out and the psychological aspects of the employees are also been concerned. An extensive literature review has been conducted to study all the factors promoting the stress. The research articles of various researchers have been also critically reviewed to have a transparent knowledge regarding the concept of stress management. In the Literature review an idea was taken regarding the concept of stress management prevalent in the UAE. Besides, the causes and the impact of stress on police personals were also closely studied. The paper aimed at finding out the relation between the labor productivity and the stress experienced by them. In order to reach an inference studies were conducted in well over 20 multinational firms based in the United Kingdom. Appropriate research methodology was chosen for the study and the analysis reflects the usefulness of stress management techniques in organizations. The quantitative regression analysis reflected positive results and showed that the use of effective stress management techniques benefits the organization considerably and helps to improve the overall productivity of the organization. The ideas of different stress management techniques were closely studied for the purpose and their benefits associated in raising the productivity were closely surveyed. To reach the conclusion a huge number of data collections were done which was a major part of the research work and their simultaneous analysis was done critically and minutely. Though positive results were derived from the research work still the research work was accompanied with a lot of limitations in the overall process. Literature Review: The definition of Stress has been debated over the years. The most accepted definition however framed defines stress as the undesirable and poor reactions which people exhibit when excess amount of pressure and demands is exerted upon them. It is the general reaction which people reflects when they do not have the ability to cope with the demands. The common symptoms which reflect that a person is suffering from stress include insomnia, changes in behavior and increased addiction towards alcohol and drugs. In case of work related stress the symptoms exhibited are different such as exhaustion and depressions. (Feilder, Lewis & Yarker, 2011) In present business environment the business exerts substantial pressures on the employees to utilize the most of their productivity. However sometimes the level of pressure becomes too excessive for the clients and gives rise to stress. The main reasons of stress which are encountered by the employees in their workplace are mentioned below. Work and Stress Work pattern and the work environment play a crucial role in causing stresses to the employees. The demand of the employers and sudden change in the change of work causes discomfort among the employees. Other than the change in the work assigned to the employees the organizational change also keeps them under pressure. The management of organizational change by the top level managers is guiding factors in determining the level of stress caused within the employees. The unavailability of resource faced by employees in the organizations causes high level of stress. As there is unavailability of resources they face problem in meeting their target. The inability to meet the targets results in loosing of o\job which causes the highest level of stress among individuals. Even the employee who experiences the elimination of their co workers develops stress within them. The job environment influences the job attitude of the employees. The physical surrounding is detrimental in their level of productivity. The ambience of the workplace and the nature of relationship between the coworkers determine the level of comfort with which an employee perform in a workplace. Unpleasant conditions and distrust and disrespect among the employees’ causes’ disturbances in a workplace and gives rise to stress. Job insecurity and the concern regarding ones career causes dissatisfaction among the employees. If the employees find that the organization has the hire and fire policy and is least concerned in providing good career to the employees and is not at all bothered about the employees needs and demands, it causes a high level of stress among them. (Perrewé, Ganster, 2004, p.99) The level of support which an employee receives from the managers and the encouragement received acts as eliminator of stress. In organizations where such favorable factors exist, the employees work with greater enthusiasm and lesser burden of stress. The level of balancing between the demands of work and home place determines the overall level of the satisfaction of the employees. In case of employees who have to look after their families, the stress factor of the employees rises when he fails to look after both the sides and manage it in a proper way. (Daft, Marcic, 2010, p.358) Personality and Stress: The variety of stress level encountered by individuals often differs based on their personality. People with varied personality are susceptible to various kinds of stress and are affected in different manners. The personality trait of individuals defines his level of coping to different harsh situations. Two broad divisions of personality traits are Type A personality and Type B personality. Type A personality people exhibits different characteristics. The people falling under this category as a high concern of time and always feel urgent about a situation. This people tend to achieve a lot in a short frame of time. As a result they are often found dissatisfied with life and are rude and exhibit hostile behavior towards the others. As a result the people under personality A type tend to be always under severe stress or they themselves contribute in making a stressful situation further worse. Type B personality on the other hand refers to people who has relaxed attitude and is easy going and takes a deeper view of things. They respond more maturely when faced with confronting issues and are less susceptible to stress factors. The person belonging to type B personality poses high self esteem and accepts challenges and meets them without much panic. Type B personality people are found to handle stress better than the other class of people. (Hellriegel & Slocum, 2007, p.178) Organizational consequence of Stress: The effect on stress on the employees tends to produce different level of impact on the organization. The effect of moderate stress on the employees tends to improve the efficiency of the employees. Studies suggest that when new employees enter the organization, a moderate level of stress on them tends to increase their skills and raise optimum productivity from them. However continuous increase of the stress limits has negative implications on them. The common negative impacts which are noticed are burnout, absenteeism, organizational violence and increased heath care costs. The adverse effect of stress on employees is first noticed when the employees starts experiencing burnout. Burnout happens when the employees’ feels exhausted due to the factors of stress creeping on them. They feel de-motivated due to the increasing anxiety and the tensions creeping on them. They generally exhibit cynicism towards their co workers, and the overall organization in general. They are always depressed and frustrated. Due to the overwhelming stress their efficiency in work is reported and their performance in the workplace degrades. The emotional symptom which becomes evident is detachment towards the other employees in the workplace and disinterest in the works assigned to them. (Cunningham, 2000, p.154) Absenteeism: Due to the burnout in workplace employees tends to remain absent from the workplace for a long period of time and in a frequent manner. The cause of absenteeism can be attributed to factors like physical and emotional ailments caused to increased stress and their failure to deal with it. The causes of absenteeism are debated over two main reasons. Some employees may remain absent from the work in order to recover them from the physical illness caused due to strength while some remain absent to restore their mental peace. The rate of absentees in the organization harms it considerably and causes severe effects on it s productivity. Continuous absents in an organization causes disruptions in the workflow and the objectives of the organization are hampered. (Stinson, 2010, pp.31-33) Employee Turnover Employees who are unable to handle stress in the organization take the path of leaving the organization. When too much pressure is exerted on the employees and their position in the organization is hampered due to inability to perform they adopt the way of leaving the organization. Often employees are also sacked from their job due to consistent non performance. Organizations round the world faces tough challenge in employee turnover as their overall cost increases in hiring new employees and providing them training in order to accustom them to their work environment. The factor of turnover also causes in the worry of the productivity in the organization. Often new employees fail to deliver in the same manner in which an old employee would have performed. (Kreitner, n. d, p.176) Healthcare cost: An employee often reports to fall sick due to excessive pressure and stress created on them by the organization. As a result in the disturbance of their health they claim many medical benefits from the organization. The payment of these miscellaneous health cost by the employer’s increases their organizational cost. It is observed that a considerable number of employees are found using the medical facility of the organizations in account of their stress. Other than the health cost associated due to the ailments a sufficient number of leaves are also been taken which hampers the regular operations in the business. Organizational violence: In the workplace when employee’s finds difficult to succumb to the work pressure or other elements of stress they are often reported to lose their control over themselves. They often misbehave and show disrespect which affects the overall harmony of the organization. The violation in the behavioral norms can also result due to drug or alcohol addiction which the employees may opt as a method to handle stress .Co workers do not find safe to work in such organizational environmental conditions and could not devote their best for the sake of the organization. Thus the stress level of one set of employees tends to hamper the other employees in the organization. (Aamodt, 2009, pp.575-576) Counterproductive work behavior: Counter productive work behavior relates to the actions of the employees aimed at harming the organization or the coworkers in the workplace. The behavior includes refusal to cooperate, verbal abusing and withholding of effort in the work assigned. The arousal of the feeling of counterproductive work behavior takes place when the employees fail to handle stress and anxiety. The employees lose their control over the job and looks forward to destructive measures. When the employees fail to handle the stressful situations it creates dissatisfaction among them and this gives rise to negative emotions. The risk of the person getting engaged in counterproductive work behavior rises. The tendency of the arousal of counterproductive work behavior is explained diagrammatically below. According to the figure job dissatisfaction gives two results, Counterproductive work behavior (CWB) in case of low control and productive work behavior (PWB) in case of high control. (Bernstein, 2010, p.622) Job Stress among police officers: A research by Bano helps to analyze the impact of stress on the police department working in India. His research reflects that the job associated in police department is challenging and involves various level of pressure. The various cause of stress as highlighted by him included a variety of factors. The negative working environment was determined as the primary cause for Stress to occur among them. The police personnel’s often need to implement tough decisions which also caused a certain level of stress among them. Their personal life was often found to be disturbed and the loss of public confidence among them also worried them to a large extent. Bano conducted the research on 65 police personnel. He used a structured questionnaire on stress and other demographic factors and distributed randomly among the sample chosen. A chi-square analysis on the data was conducted to derive the result. His results reflect that occurrence of stress was observed more in young and educated police personnel and those who were comparatively new in the job. (Bano, 2011, pp. 290-292) Stress and Illness: The experience of excessive stress encountered by employees in the workplace may take a toll on both body and the mind. When employees have to undergo massive physical labors it also affects their physical health to a large content. Often employees fall sick due to their excessive pressure on the laborious work. Illness refers to a wide range of health conditions which comprises of infectious disease and chronic medical conditions. The link between the health and illness is provided by the study of health psychology. (LaDou, 2004, p.611) The study reflects a relation of illness with stress. Evidences of stress related factors in various ailments suggest the effective role play of stress in human health. Stress has serious psychological implications and can give rise to various negative states of emotion which includes anxiety and depressions. The stress affects the physiological and the behavioral responses of the person. The physiological reactions which attributes to illness are sympathetic nervous system and immune systems response. Experiencing of heavy stress affects the nervous system badly and also causes adverse effect on the body’s endocrine system. A connection also exists between the psychological states and immune systems of the human body. The body’s capacity to produce antibody in response of the antigen depends on the level of anxiety perceived by a body. The presence of more anxiety lessens the production of antibody and the person gets more prone to infection from the antigens. The change in behavioral response relates to changing health practice and changes in adherence to the medical advice. The difference in behavior due to the stress factors influences the susceptibility of diseases. The behavioral pattern increases the risk of diseases and has a huge impact on the mortality. Stress has a huge role to play by increasing the irregularity in health matters and causing disruptions in the prescribed health patterns. The general health practice which affects the stability of health is addiction to alcohol and cigarettes. The adoption to these unhealthy practices is because of the logical response to the stress. Cigarette smoking leads to various hearts and lung disease and increases the probability of strokes; On the other hand drinking accompanies liver and various cardiovascular complexities. Stress contributes directly and indirectly in making a person physically ill. (Herbert & Cohen, n. d, pp.325-330) Stress management: The rising impact of stress has affected the organizations in a large way. Organizations in achieving the best out of the employees have burdened them with stress which have hampered the individual’s lifestyle and has affected psychologically. The concern of stress among the employees has led management of various organizations to devise proper stress handling techniques. Organizations arrange for various stress education and incorporate various stress handling techniques to provide a friendly and supportive atmosphere for the employees to work in. The stress management program educates the employees regarding the origination of stress and the effect of stress on health and numerous stress management skills.(Hit, et al, 2006, p.259) Such campaign undertaken by organizations helps to increase awareness among the employees in taking their own precautions for preventing the occurrence of stress. Individual stress management plans identifies the strategy to be adopted by the individuals. Employees are suggested to share their work related grievances with a colleague which matches his or her mentality to relieve the pressure. Various actions such as relaxation, meditation and feedbacks and appraisals are also suggested by the employees. Follow up sessions are also suggested and maintained by various organizations. In the follow sessions employees are advised to maintain a healthy lifestyle and adopt various fitness programs. Often such training is provided on an individual level and gains popularity among the individuals. Psychological and physical health screening of individuals are carried out to investigate their susceptibility towards stress. Their emotional toughness is also tested. The results arising from these provide guideline for the action plan to be framed for the individual in handling stress. (Cooper, et al, 2010, pp.216-218) Schultz stress management training program The impact of psycho educational training program on handling stress has gained popularity in many organizations. The use of this method has helped to increase the performance of employees and reduce their emotional exhaustion and strain in the workplace. The method guided employees in controlling their physiological reactions and raising the interpersonal awareness. The training program involves the three crucial elements of relaxation techniques, cognitive restructuring and the interpersonal awareness. (Moser, 2006, p.26) The adoption of the technique has resulted in favorable results for the organization with increased participation from the employees. Culture and stress: The study of stress and its dependence on culture has reflected significant relationship between the two. The influence of culture on stress can be attributed to four distinct ways. The types of stressors, the appraisal of stressors, the choice of coping strategies and the mechanism for handling stress. Different cultures have different elements of stress. The norms and the regulations of a culture often pose various level of stress for the employees. (Contrada & Baum, 2009, p.144) When individuals within the culture are stifled by the demands it results in creation of additional stress on them. The choice of coping strengths also is guided by the cultural values. As example in countries like India, China and other Asian countries the organizations do not adopt to the hiring of professional therapist for stress relieving whereas this method is popular in the United States of America and Great Britain. According to Asian culture it is found that they are much more collectivist and they fit much into a group. As a result they generally help each other in handling matters of stress whereas in European society individual stress management is much more promoted. The difference in culture also varies the elements of stress. Some elements which are perceived as stress in a culture may not appear so in other culture. The driving factor of culture is an important aspect in stress management and before providing any solutions to the stress encountered; the cultural aspect should also be taken into account. The impact of stress on the employees also tends to vary with culture. The mental stability and the resistance for coping with pressure and stress vary according to the culture and the environmental circumstances which have led to the upbringing of an individual. The three major parameters which define a culture are individualism, emotionalism and determinism. Based on these attributes the cultures are defined and provide a benchmark for effective stress management. (Kotler & Chen, 2007, p.127) Stress management in UAE: The effect of job stress has been increasing in corporate houses all over the world. Job stress has spread in an increasing rate in the major economies of the world. A study by Bahrami reflects the study of job stress in the United Arab Emirates. Study conducted by him reflects the fact that both levels of workers have been influenced by the factor of stress in their workplace. The work stress experienced by blue collar workers is also different from the stress faced by the white collar employees. The difference in the nature of stress also signifies different coping methods adopted by the different class of employees. Bahrami took the combined use of qualitative and quantitative data in his research methodology. The data collected for the research purpose was from one to one interview with the employees. Bahrami used a sample size of 100 workers belonging to different level of management. The interview comprised of seven questions .The employees were asked to mention their work schedule their reporting structure and their hierarchy in job. The employees’ relation with the employer and the supervisors were also questioned. Identification of possible stress building factors was done by the employees and they were also asked regarding the coping mechanism they generally adopt. His research reflects that the blue collar workers were affected by the stress level in a much bigger way than the white collar workers. The relationship between the blue collar workers and the management team was not amicable and majority of the class of workers felt that they were neglected and discriminately treated. His results also reflect that majority of white collar employees were satisfied with the working conditions. The method of stress handling technique was also different among the both set of workers. A few of the white collar workers visited the bars and gym on a regular basis to cope up with the stress while blue collared workers carried on prayers and meditations and had conversation with their families to relieve themselves from the stress they had. The importance of the study of stress management in UAE reflects different level of stress occupying various classes of employees based on their culture and makes it unique for thorough analysis. (Bahrami, 2010, pp.62-64) The study of the literature survey reflects the importance of the stress its negativity and the proper use of techniques and programs in order to relieve the employees and help in the achievement of business aims and objectives. Research Methodology Research methodology underlines the procedure that has been undertaken to reach to an ultimate conclusion of the study. . The methodology is the most important part of conducting a research mainly because it helps in bridging the aims and objectives and the results. It is important to understand which method would be applicable to which study (Kothari, 2008, p.8) The process of research methodology includes the research philosophy, the research techniques that have been applied, the rationale behind selection of those techniques and rejecting the alternatives available, the methods and sources of data collection, and the procedure of studying and analyzing the collected information. Research Philosophy: Positivism, interpretivism, realism, rationalism and subjectivism are the basic philosophies in the field of research. Interpretivism combines diverse approaches together and tries to understand “the world as it is experienced” and made significant by the experiences of human beings. This approach takes the individual understanding to reflect the outcomes of the study (Collins, 2010, pp.38-39). Realism does not depend on the human factor or their awareness and conditions. Knowledge of this reality is obtained only through studying the thought processes of human beings and the different ideas that are shared amongst them (Lewis-Beck, Bryman, & Liao, 2004, pp.309-310). A combination of both the techniques has been found to be applicable for this particular research study. This has helped the study to focus on the methods that have been used in understanding the importance of stress its management and control particularly with respect to the labor productivity study and analyze the human experiences and understandings that assist in fulfilling the objectives of the research. Source and data collection: A research method may be on the basis of either primary data or secondary data or may be a combination of both. . Primary data refers to the result that a researcher obtains himself after making a detailed research work. On the contrary secondary data refer to the preexisting data and that have already been obtained by some other researchers at some point of time. The ease of collection of Secondary source is higher and is less expensive than the primary data. Moreover primary data is more time consuming in comparison to secondary data (Malhotra, 2008, p.106). For the research study on the impact of stress management on the labor productivity both primary and secondary data has been use. The thorough use of books and journals were done in case of the literature review conducted before the analysis. In order to find out the practical impact a study was done on 20 companies in UK. The data gathered was based on questionnaire through face to face interviews, telephonic discussions and through the help of emails. In the data collection from the secondary source authentic company websites were used and information was taken from the annual report. In order to know the different stress management techniques in use information was taken mainly from the human resource personnel. Research approach and technique: The paper here aims to find out the impact of stress management on labor productivity. The methodology applied for the current paper involves the use of both qualitative and quantitative data. For the research conducted a sample size of 20 companies has been use. The data regarding the different stress management technique used in different companies have been gathered from the sample questionnaire. The participants in the questionnaire conducted were 20 multination firms based in The United Kingdom. The data gathered in the research was collected through the help of face to face interviews, telephonic calls and through the help of emails. The participants in the questionnaire covered employees from different level of management. It included the lower level executives, the top and the middle level management also. The labor productivity of the companies has been gathered after studying the financial statements and analyzing the output gained by the companies over a financial year and calculating the overall number of labors used. The ultimate calculation of the labor productivity was done based on the mathematical formula which states that labor productivity (LP) = Q/L. To find out the impact of stress management on the labor productivity a bi-variate cross sectional regression analysis of the 20 companies were done to find the level of significance of stress management on labor productivity. In the regression analysis stress management techniques adopted by the organizations were taken as the dependent variable(X), and the labor productivity was taken as the dependent variable. The regression equation which was used was Y=a+bx. The values derived from the regression analysis of the 20 companies were compared to comprehend the findings of the research. The use of quantitative methods was used in the regression analysis of the labor productivity and the stress management techniques using both primary and secondary data. The qualitative data for the research was based on the interviews and the interpretation of the financial statements used in the research. Research Limitations: The research methodology opted for the paper was based both on Primary and secondary research. In the primary research conducted, data was gathered from the interviews and questionnaire and the data collected from the organizations were bounded by a region. As a result a regional biasness was present in the project. The result of the research could have been more appropriate if the organizations chosen would have been spread on a global scale. In measuring the productivity of the labors it could not be comprehended what amount of stress were actually relieved through the incorporation of stress management techniques and how much better it reflected on their work, however in order to quantify their level of productivity the numerical formula was used. The research was also dependent on the information provided by others. Ethical considerations Ethical issues are highly essential in research processes as this would include collection of data, reviews of different professional information and the research results have been based on the analysis of such data collection. Codes of ethics assist in analyzing the correct and the incorrect measures such that the correct rules may be followed and the wrong ones may be rejected. The different codes of ethics needed to be followed include integrity, objectivity, professional competence and due care, confidentiality and professional behavior. Integrity should be maintained and “fair dealing and truthfulness” should exist in the research work. Data have been handled with utmost care and analyzed with detailed processes and consuming enough time to ensure that professional ethics are maintained to the utmost level. (Denscombe, 2007, pp.295-296) Bibliography: Kotler, J, A & Chen, D, (2007), Stress Management and Prevention:  Applications to Daily Life, New York, Cengage Learning Contrada, R, J & Baum, A, (2009), the Handbook of Stress Science, Springer Publishing Company Moser, B, B, (2006), the effects of an organizational stress management training program upon the levels of psychological distress and anxiety of graduate students within academic organization, ProQuest Cooper, et al, (2010), Organizational Stress Management:  A Strategic Approach, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan Herbert, T, B & Cohen, S, (n. d), Stress and illness, psy.cmu, available at: http://www.psy.cmu.edu/~scohen/encyclo94.pdf Aamodt, M, G, (2009), Industrial/Organizational Psychology:  An Applied Approach, Kentucky, Cengage Learning Cunningham, J, B, (2000), the stress management sourcebook, London, McGraw-Hill Professional Daft, R, L& Marcic, D. (2010), Understanding Management, Kentucky, Cengage Learning Feilder, E,D,Lewis, R & Yarker, J,(2011), Preventing Stress in Organizations: How to Develop Positive Managers, New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons. Hit, et al, (2006), ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR A STRATEGIC APPROACH, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons Stinson, A, (2010), Anxiety and Stress: How Poor Performance and Absenteeism Affect the Workplace, Florida: Universal-Publishers. Perrewé, P, L & Ganster D, C, (2004), Exploring interpersonal dynamics, Bradford, Emerald Group Publishing Kreitner, (n. d), Organizational Behavior 8E (Sie), New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Education La Dou, J, (2004), Current occupational and environmental medicine, London: McGraw-Hill Professional Bernstein, D, A, (2010), Essentials of Psychology, Kentucky, Cengage Learning Hellriegel, D & Slocum, J, W, (2007), Organizational behavior, Kentucky, Cengage Learning Bahrami, S, (2010), Influences of Culture and Social Class on perception Of Job Stress in Emerging Economies, International Review of Business Research Papers, Volume 6. Number 2, Pp.52-56, available at: http://www.bizresearchpapers.com/4.Shahin.pdf, (Accessed on October 25, 2011) Bano, B, (2011), Job Stress among Police Personnel, 2011 International Conference on Economics and Finance Research, vol.4, pp. 290-292, available at: http://www.ipedr.net/vol4/56-F10027.pdf, (Accessed on October 25, 2011) Kothari, C.R. (2008), Research methodology: methods and techniques, India: New Age International Malhotra, N.K. (2008), Marketing Research: An Applied Orientation, 5/E, India: Pearson Education India Denscombe, M. (2007) The good research guide: for small-scale social research projects. New York: McGraw-Hill International Lewis-Beck, M.S. Bryman, A. & T.F. Liao (2004), The Sage encyclopedia of social science research methods, Volume 1, London: SAGE Collins, H. (2010), Creative Research: The Theory and Practice of Research for the Creative Industries, West Sussex: AVA Publishing Read More