How Stress can be Damaging to an Individual Employee - Essay Example

Introduction Occupational stress is line with the stress that is linked to work. The World Health Organisation reported that the demands and pressures in the workplace are linked to occupational stress, because there are those who cannot cope with the required knowledge or abilities that are enough to address the requirements for an efficient or effective output (WHO, 2014). Every individual has certain level of knowledge. Stress comes in when a person at work does not have enough knowledge required in the workplace in order to meet the prevailing challenge or work demand. In addition, each person has also abilities that need to be cultivated further, explored or used profitably in the workplace. However, those who do not have the required abilities as necessary requirements in the workplace are in danger to incur occupational-related stress, as what the WHO would try to imply. In the workplace, there are demands and pressures that should call for each person to be equipped with certain knowledge and ability in order to prevent any stress that are associated with work. The stressors in the workplace are able to stimulate physiological reactions that will eventually lead a person to become physically and mentally ill. As commonly observed, the common stressors that are found in the workplace that can affect a person physically and mentally include but not limited to the number of workloads given to them, the seclusion, excessive hours given to work, a stressful environments because of pressures, the inability of a person to engage in self-rule, problematic relationships with colleagues and management, presence of intimidation among members in the organisation, pestering, and the lack of either provocation or openings for career-pathing advancement via improvement of skills, abilities, knowledge, position and accountability. However, individuals are not only exposed to activities in the workplace, they also have other personal things that they might have encountered in their daily lives that are outside the bound of the workplace that are also capable of giving them stress and detrimental impacts. The work at hand establishes the idea on how stress is damaging an individual employee with reference to the work-balance theory. Work/life balance and the impact of stress Theories of occupational stress are linked to the theory pertaining to workplace support and work-life balance, emphasising that the stressful conditions will have greater negative impact on the individual’s psychological health and well-being especially if there is absence of support (Lingard and Francis, 2009, p.256). Therefore, it is of no great surprise as to why many research studies would want to find out the effects when there is absence of balance, the effects are mostly in line with the stress created due to conflict between the demands of work and non-work activities, and the level of satisfaction in work and non-work activities (Landy and Conte, 2010, p.440). Some indicators linked to a successful balance between work and family roles include but not limited to individual’s high “self-esteem, satisfaction, and overall sense of harmony” (Kaiser et al., 2011, p.28). Role balance theory considers work/family balance to take place in a scenario where there are many roles involved and individuals have equal satisfaction with work role and family role, a form of balance that is free from the existence of conflict (Reilly, Sirgy and Gorman, 2012, p.182). It is therefore clear that in the absence of the kind of balance as stated above is detrimental to an individual employee. The danger may start with the level of satisfaction that an individual may have with his life. A less-satisfied life will tend to find for satisfaction in the first place. However, failure to achieve that expectation is considered a considerable source of stress as based on the argument presented by Landy and Conte. Here where the additional problems linked to psychological health and well-being come in. Psychological health is linked to self-esteem. Higher self-esteem is remarkable when an individual is able to meet the balance between work and family, as based on the idea of Kaiser et al. It therefore implies that when an individual will not be able to meet the required balance between work and personal life, stress comes in, but one important target is the self-esteem, which is an essential component of the psychological health of a person. When self-esteem is down, a person is vulnerable to loss his balance, leading further to a less productive life. However, it is not only the issue of productivity that is the main concern in here. The other potential problem is in line with one’s health, the well-being. The negative psychological impacts are potential catalyst of physiological reactions that will lead a person to become mentally and physically ill. In fact, there are some commonly heard cases of people who attempted to go for a suicide due to a highly troubled life, one that was not able to cope with stressors that eventually led to even intense mental health problems like depression. This is how alarming it is when one will not be able to cope with stress and the required balance between work and personal life. Mental and physical health is in danger. On the other hand, when a person is burned out, the physiological response of the body will be measured as to how the immune system fights potential illnesses (Coon, 2005, p.479). When an individual will easily acquire illnesses, this means that the immune response of the body was weakened due to the high level presence of stress that the concerned individual was not able to successfully cope with. As stated in the above point and for this reason, it is important to consider that stress is alarming, because it will not only target physiological aspect of an individual, but above all, mental health. In the case of mental health, the overall sense of harmony is lost when a person is under stress that beyond control, which must be a potential impact of an imbalance work and personal life as implied in the argument Kaiser et al. (2011, p.28). Aside from the physiological and mental impacts that will be brought by stress to an individual, the loss of significant opportunities is more likely to be the other important concern that is strongly linked to stress. For instance, the lack of motivation in the workplace is said to be due to distraction, fatigue and stress, by which the latter seems to be ignited by the pressure linked to time, conflicts and threats at the bottom line (Harris, Hancock and Szalma, 2012, p.69). Stress is therefore a remarkable culprit of an individual’s motivation. Motivation is essential in an organisation. In fact, there are many cases in the workplace that are necessary just to restore the motivation of an individual. In order to restore motivation in the workplace, there are important concerns that the management should consider which are relevant to the concepts or theories of motivation. One important theory of motivation is the “incentive theory of motivation”, which simply elaborates the point that people are simply motivated to work or fulfill something because of external rewards (Brown, 2007, p.8). However, Maslow’s hierarchy theory argued that a person will not at all times be motivated by external rewards like monetary, because there is one important highest primary motivator above all (Adair, 2009, p.10). Maslow argued that a person’s primary motivating factors are those in line with biological needs, safety, love and esteem, but when these are met, the individual’s motivator primarily will be the need for self-actualisation or fulfilling potential (Montana and Charnov, 2008, p.238). The above points simply illustrate the idea that motivation is necessary, but stress could substantially destroy it at some point. Motivation as already stated allows an individual to achieve whatever form or rewards or achievements in the future. Above all, as stated in the idea of Maslow, self-actualisation is important which eventually adds up to an individual’s perception about his worth as a person. Therefore, it is implied that when a person is burned out, the chance of losing motivation is remarkable, which will further result to the inability of an individual to achieve work-life balance and eventually other opportunities for advancement in life. In fact, Maslow’s hierarchy theory presents the point that the achievement of self-actualisation is necessary, but such will not be achieved if a person is not motivated enough to go for it due to stress, as what the idea of Harris, Hancock and Szalma implies. Considering that stress may affect an individual’s performance, then the idea of incentive motivation theory, which primarily assumes that people work because of incentives or monetary rewards will hold true that an individual may not earn that much in the first place in the absence or lack of motivation, which is another form of losing opportunity. On the other hand, the culture of an organisation is said to have relevant connection to the work-life balance, as some organisational leaders are adhering to the assumption that work-life means less work and in the age of tough competition, working less means lesser competitiveness (Reilly, Sirgy and Gorman, 2012, p.195). It is for this reason that an individual must work harder in order to earn more. However, the presence of stress, as stated earlier, might be a potential barrier for a person to work more, which might also be due to the absence of motivation if one will base it on the concept and implication of incentive motivation theory. In other words, stress has detrimental impacts on an individual because it does not only lead to physiological and mental problems, but it will also lead a person to loss other important opportunities in life, such as the monetary rewards in the future. This therefore implies that the issue of stress is not only a concern of an individual, but above all, of the organisation where the individual belongs, because as stated, a person’s performance at work is highly linked to stress. The personnel’s poor performance at work will at some point lead to a poor performance of an organisation in general (Armstrong and Stephen, 2005, p.190). Considering the point that the human resource is one vital resource in an organisation, it therefore follows that ensuring employees are at their most productive and efficient level is one of the most fundamental concerns of the management. Conclusion In a nutshell, the work at hand just presented the remarkable impacts of stress in an individual with relevant reference to work/life balance and the linked theories to it. It was found that the crucial impacts of stress on an individual are observed through potential physiological and mental problems. However, in the general sense, the loss of vital opportunities is remarkable to an individual who is burned out. For this reason, both an individual and the organisation should learn to consider working together in combating stress, because it does not only affect a person, but the organisation in general as far as employee’s performance and effectiveness at work are concerned. References Adair, J. (2009) Leadership and Motivation. Kogan Page. [http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=Gb83AAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Leadership+and+Motivation+adair&hl=fil&sa=X&ei=nwlfU8b9Ec6oyAS8hYDoDg&ved=0CC4Q6wEwAA#v=onepage&q=Leadership%20and%20Motivation%20adair&f=false] Armstrong, M. and Stephens, T (2005) A Handbook to Management and Leadership: A Guide to Managing Results.Kogan Page. 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P., Sirgy, M. J., and Gorman, C. A. (2012) Work and Quality of Life: Ethical Practices in Organisations. London: Springer. [http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=DKEn2r9e8qAC&printsec=frontcover&hl=fil&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false] WHO (2014) Occupational Health: Stress at the workplace [online] available from [18 April 2014]. Read More