The Effects and Outcomes of Stress It Has on the Individuals and on Organisation - Term Paper Example

? Management Skills II Contents Contents 2 Introduction 3 Discussion 3 General Stress 3 Sources of Stress at Workplaces 4 Effects of Stress 5 Intervention Strategy 6 Conclusion 9 References 10 Introduction In our modern workplace stress is a growing concern. The employees are now facing increasing conditions like job insecurity, overwork, lack of autonomy, low job satisfaction. Workplace stress has a detrimental effect on the health as well as well-being of the employees. It also has negative impact on the workplace profits and productivity of the organisation. In this regard both organisation and individuals must take measures to alleviate such negative impacts of stress on the work performance. But before that the employees need to learn identify the signs which indicate that they are feeling stressed out. The employers also need to be aware of the signs of employee stress and the effects it has on the employees’ health as well as on the profits of the company. In this report we will look at the effects and outcomes of stress it has on the individuals and on organisation and how it can be managed best by both of them. Discussion General Stress Stress is defined as the way in how an employee feels when they have to respond to a change in demand in the workplace. Stress is a part of our life and it occurs when we faced with significant changes in our lives, whether it is positive or negative (NHS, 2013). There are some stresses which are okay, referred to as positive stress. The problem arises when the level of stress exceeds the threshold level of individuals affecting both the physical or mental behaviour of the people. Different employees have different abilities to cope with the stress. But there are situations which are categorized as being stressful, including financial worries, unemployment, work overload, relationships, balancing both work and family, parenting, health problems, caregiving, losses, competitiveness, exams, peer pressure and not having enough time to cope with the pressure (Bickerstaff, 2008, p. 42). Stress is how the employees respond to the normal stressors in the environment. Sources of Stress at Workplaces There can be a number of situations for stress to occur at the workplace. There are a number of categories of Job Stressors which the employees feel at the workplace. The first Category is Factors which are unique to the job. These include situations like Work overload or under load. Again the Pace, variety and the meaningfulness of the work is another factor. Again the Autonomy is also a major stress factor. If an employee doesn’t have the freedom to make his own decisions about his job then he will feel stressed out. The Physical environment of the workplace also plays an important role (NHS, 2013). Then Isolation at the workplace leaves an emotional effect on the employees who feels that he is working alone. The Second category is Role which the employees perform at the organisation. This may happen in cases of Role conflict which they face. This happens when there are conflicting job demands, or multiple managers or supervisors which the employee has to face. Role ambiguity may also lead to stress for the employee. It indicates the lack of clarity about the expectations, responsibilities etc. about the job (Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, 2000, p. 1). Again the level of responsibility that the employee is given also affects his morale. The Third category is the Relationship of the employee with his colleagues. These include his relationships with Supervisors, Subordinates, and Peers. Since an employee has to deal with them every day, any unhealthy relationship may affect the moral and leads to increased stress at the workplace. The fourth Category is the Career development. In this category, any under promotion would increase the stress level. Again the job security is another important factor. If the employee is under constant fear of losing the job because of the downturn in the economy or lack of job, it will increase the stress level of the employee. The Career development opportunities which the employees face are another important factor. If the employees don’t see much progress in the organisation, it will stress him out. The Fifth category is Organisational climate. If the Management style is such that it doesn’t recognises his effort he will feel frustrated. Again if the decision making style is non-participatory in nature it adds to stress factor. The Communication pattern followed in the organisation is also affects the stress factor. Effects of Stress The natural responses of an employee to stress can actually cause more mental and physical harm to the employees. When an individual is exposed to high levels of stress for considerably long periods of time, it is known as chronic stress. Such stress level can leads to emotional breakdown, persistent negative emotions within. It can cause Depression in the employees. It can have a negative effect on the work performance of the employee. The employee can face burnout as a result of constant levels of stress. It makes the employees inadequate in managing the task given to them. Burnout results in feelings like powerlessness, resentment, hopelessness, failure including reduced productivity. Such stress reactions can result in unhappiness and depression which eventually threatens the job. Burnout is present in every organisation, but especially in service professionals like teachers, health practitioners, clergy members, caregivers. This type of job demands attending the emotional needs of others, which can easily lead to physical and emotional fatigue. Burnout also happens in work situations where the employee feels that he is overworked, but underappreciated and is confused with the expectations from the job, unsure about the job security, resentment about the duties performed and not be compensated adequately in line of the work. The organisation also suffers financially and economically due to increased stress level of the employees. It can result in high employee turnover, increased employee absenteeism, declining productivity level. Hence with increased absenteeism, or sick leaves, the organisation suffers from lost work days. According to a recent survey in U.S. the cost of stress of the employees to the economy due to several factors like health insurance claims, absenteeism, and low productivity is estimated at around $ 150 billion per annum. This has made the employers recognize the need of the organizational changes which needs to be implemented. In a recent poll it was seen that 66% of the Canadian CEOs have accepted the fact that stress is the biggest factor for loss of productivity in the workplace in corporate Canada than any other factor (Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, 2000, 1). Stress along with anxiety, depression, mental health disorders are the primary causes of absenteeism among the employees in an organisation. Employers are now starting to realize that such workplace stress is creating both mental and physical health problems to the employees, which in turn is affecting the bottom line. Nowadays majority of the organizations gives importance to rise in mental health of the employees. They have recognized the fact that there is a huge increase in the anxiety and stress level in the workplace among the employees. The employers need to develop their own strategy of handling such events (International Labour Organization, 2001, p. 1). Intervention Strategy One of the key causes of such workplace stress is the modern lifestyle which everyone leads. Such pervasiveness of the workplace stress, forces the management to come up with the intervention strategies to avoid the long-term negative effects of the stress on the employees. Organisation can adopt two different approaches to cope with stress. One approach is to pinpoint the source of the stress in the modern workplace and see if job redesign can be the solution. Another approach is to locate the work stress in response to the individual and check if the solution can be a therapeutic intervention (Bickerstaff, 2008, p. 121). For organisation, the most effective way to manage stress can be to combine the stress management activities at both individual and organisational level. Between the two, organisational strategies are more effective in reducing the stress level and making the individuals cope with their personal stress level (Clark, 2002, p. 69). Individual Level At the individual level it is important for individuals to understand when they are feeling stressed out. According to that they can develop their own personal coping strategies whenever they feel they are overwhelmed by the stress level. There are a number of techniques which can be used like relaxation techniques, engaging in a daily habit, focusing the mind etc. (Wainwright and Calnan, 2002, p. 217). Organizational Level Organizations have different reasons for implementing stress management techniques. One reason may be to reduce the cost which the organisation incurs due to staff turnover, illness and absenteeism (Clark, 2002, p. 12). The organisation may need to improve the working conditions of the employee like providing healthy working environment. They may provide regulations regarding workplace hazards which include hazards to mental health like psychological stress which results in a safe working environment. Organisation should make it seem as if they are caring and looking after employees so that it can raise the morale of employees and improve the image of the company. The organisation can use various intervention strategies to reduce the stress level (HelpGuide, 2013, p. 1). Stress management intervention strategies There are many intervention strategies which can be used to manage workplace stress. Employee Assistance Programs Employee Assistance program (EAP) is ongoing, systematic and organized service which is funded by the employer and provides counselling and advice to the employees who needs help relating to both work related issues and external issues. This program has two objectives. One is to help the employees affected by range of personal problems, like emotional issues, stress, alcohol, family, and drug, legal, financial and other issues to make them learn ways to manage the stress produced. Second is to help the organisation in identifying and improving the productivity problems which the workers are facing and resulting in declining performance. These services are provided by in-house designated staff, or by external contractor. This is basically like a short-term therapy aimed at helping the employees in time of crisis and choice. It is viewed as an opportunity to learn ways to improve problem-solving skills and thus ability to create new life choices (The American Institute of Stress, 2013, p. 1). Stress Management Training Recently this has been one of the popular ways to offer training to the employees regarding stress management techniques at workplace. Such kind of training aims to educate the staff about the stress and health effects associated with it. It teaches to cope up with it and hence reduce stress skill. This kind of interventions is used in a preventative context for the participants to suffer from evident stress problems. This kind of training consists of relaxation exercises borrowing the techniques from both psychotherapy and counselling (American Psychological Association, 2013, p. 1). Critical Incident Stress Debriefing It is the most widely used group intervention strategy for the prevention of work related stress disorder among the high stress employees. It is basically a group discussion or meeting designed to reduce the psychological impact of any traumatic event. By doing this it is preventing the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (NHS, 2013, p. 1). Conclusion Stress in workplace is not to be dismissed as just being part of the job. It shouldn’t be treated as the price which employees need to pay for making a successful career. It results in low productivity for both the workers and the organisation also. It has been seen that Stress is ignored by people who are best placed to do something about it, like training managers, senior directors, and departmental supervisors. There exist opportunities for both employees and employers to come together and make changes in the organisational policies to help reduce the stress-related issues. Such kind of change needs to come from the top level management who needs to take moral and legal responsibility to protect the mental and physical well-being of the employees. References American Psychological Association. 2013. Overwhelmed by workplace stress? You’re not alone. Available from: https://www.apa.org/helpcenter/work-stress.aspx. [Accessed on: 10 December 2013]. Bickerstaff, L. 2008. Stress: Coping in a Challenging World: Easyread Super Large 18pt Edition. New York: ReadHowYouWant.com. Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety. 2000. Workplace stress general.  Available from: http://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/psychosocial/stress.html [Accessed on: 10 December 2013]. Clark, J. 2002. Stress: A management guide. London: Spiro Press. Cooper, C.L. and Dewe, P.J. 2008. Stress: A Brief History. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. HelpGuide. 2013. Stress at Work. Available from: http://www.helpguide.org/mental/work_stress_management.htm. [Accessed on: 10 December 2013]. International Labour Organization. 2001. What is workplace stress?. Available from: http://www.ilo.org/safework/lang--en/index.htm#gender. [Accessed on: 10 December 2013]. NHS, 2013. Beat stress at work. Available from: http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/Pages/workplace-stress.aspx. [Accessed on: 10 December 2013]. The American Institute of Stress. 2013. Available from: http://www.stress.org/workplace-stress/. [Accessed on: 10 December 2013]. Wainwright, D. and Calnan, M. 2002.Work stress: The making of a modern epidemic. Buckingham: Open University Press.  Read More