Stress in Employees - Assignment Example

Stress in Employees Table of contents Topic Page Introduction 3 Background ofthe company 3 Research problem 4 Research Rationale 4 Literature review 5 Signs of stress 5 Key areas of employees stress 6 Reasons why employee stress is an area of concern in management 9 Conclusion 10 References 11 1.0 Introduction Stress in the place of work is a major concern in many organizations, in the current world. Stressed employees may not be able to perform to their very best level thus; organizations may observe low performance and decrease in productivity. There are several stressors in the workplace that may result to poor performance and other negative impacts in workplace (Bratton, 2010). These may include employees facing conditions of overwork, low levels of job satisfaction, job insecurity, and lack of autonomy and/or harassment in the course of work. Workplace stress has detrimental effects on the well-being of employees as well as an effect on health (Alvesson & Willmott, 1992). The latter finally leads to work life balance problems. Individuals and organizations should identify the stressors in workplace and design amicable solutions to combat the issue. If there is an early address on potential stressors, individuals and organizations can alleviate the negative effects associated with stress. To handle the menace well, employees need to identify signs and possible stressors (Adair, 2009). On the other hand, managers need awareness on the effects of stress to employees and general performance of the company in terms of output. It is necessary as an individual to learn how to keep away from stress, as it is also necessary for employers. Tesco is well-structured company with a large number of workforces and offers a suitable platform of the research. 1.1 Background information of the Company Tesco is company with UK origin that began in 1919 started by Jack Cohen a market stallholder selling groceries in London. After merging with T.E Stockwell, Tesco first opened the store in 1929. Since then, the company has expanded extensively across the world and has over 2,200 stores including Tesco Express and hypermarkets to meet customers’ requirements. Tesco is one of the largest British retailers and in the world list; it is one of the leading retail outlets. Tesco has a workforce of over 468,000 that offer the platform for this research. In a move to support its growth attributed to its staffs, the company ensures the staffs are in a sober condition. The company achieves their goal through motivation, training, and ensuring the staffs have the spirit of meeting customers’ needs. It motivates the employees through increasing their skills, knowledge, and job satisfaction through training and development programs (Kinder et al., 2008). 1.2 Research problem Stress in workplace Stress in the workplace can be damaging to organizational goals if not well-handled and addressed. Thus, for managers, it is necessary to have a clear view of the side effects associated with stress in work place. The main question lies on what the different sources of stress are, and how a company should handle them. The main objective of the study is to outline the different signs of stress, key areas of employee stress in the workplace. It also considers why employee stress is an area of concern in management, and impacts on work life. 1.3 Research Rationale The main purpose of the research is to examine the unearthed issues on stress in work place. When many companies mainly focus on issues such as marketing, innovation, and social responsibilities, most of them forget to address issues of employee stress. The study gives a suitable platform for identification of stress in the workforce, and the most amicable ways of dealing with the stress issues. In so doing, a precise analysis would be evident for use and future researchers to have a better concern on stress in work place. 2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction The review presents related literature and various issues on the subject under study presented by various researchers, scholars, and authors. It provides a platform for other researchers to gain knowledge from previous research and come up with other useful information to strengthen the study. The literature review also outlines various key issues on stress in work place that managers need to be aware of and to address for the betterment of their companies. 2.2 Signs of stress Schermerhom et al (2012) outlined that the signs of stress may be inward or outward depending on different people. Inward signs may consist of immediate body changes such as changes in heart rate, nausea, or vomiting. Other internal signs may include feeling of anger, protest, frustration, guilt, embarrassment, memory loss, prolonged sleeplessness, and strange dreams (Fineman, 2000). These signs indicate stress and require attention before affecting the work and personal lives of the employees. Outward signs are noticeable by colleagues and those in the managerial sector. They include increased smoking, alcohol consumption, and drug taking. Reduced performance, irritability, absenteeism, complaints about ill health and deteriorating relationship with colleagues may indicate stress (Schermerhorn et al., 2012). These signs, however, should not allow managers to handle employees inappropriately, as they may be a source of stress to the employee. 2.3Key areas of employee stress in workplace Dalton (2010) indicates that there are various key areas of employee stress in work the place. Difficult job requirements affect workers in a different way. Different challenging events to a person can reflect problems to other employees. In the workplace, doing a boring or repetitive job may result to stress. The form of stressor by Dalton is ambiguous and contingent as every employee should be trained effectively, and should have the scope of the work to do in the company. However, if such a case is evident, it is important for managers to change the ways of doing various jobs. It may also be necessary to consult various employees before moving them to different tasks. The study noted that many employers fail to seek employees’ views mostly when making such allocations. Adair (2009) found that another factor that may contribute to stress is having too much or little training and not getting support in accordance to work situations. Employers should design a framework that match individual jobs, and increase the scope of jobs to those over trained. The factor has, however, little research on its significance in contributing to stress at workplace and requires a re-weighing. Confusion over various priorities, standards, and timeframes may also be a source of stress in the workplace. According to Bratton (2010), the scene arise where workers are no able to distinguish which task to prioritize and how much time to locate a certain task. The situation is unfortunate as workers should be well trained and informed on their roles adequately. In order to combat the situation, it is necessary for the supervisors to ensure that every employee has a clearly outlined objective. The objective should be achievable and responsibilities linked with the objectives of the organization. The move was evident in Tesco, and was successfully in ensuring no stress to workers, and meeting of organizational objectives. Dismissal, layoff, or demotion, may also result to stress in the workplace. Employees left after dismissal of their colleagues may feel insecure, or they may develop the survival guilt. Survival guilt arises where employees feel guilty of the fact that they have a job and their friends do not. To curb the stress, Armstrong & Stephens (2005) advises that employers need to provide justifiable reasons for dismissals and give assurance to those left that they are safe in their positions. To those demoted it is important for them to receive counseling to help them cope with the situation. Armstrong & Stephens (2005) did not however outline what impact dismissal of workers would do to the organization, but only addressed the issue of the laid off workers. The scope is more workers-oriented than company-oriented. Yukl (2010) found that the issue of promotion, transfers, reclassification, and lack of other benefits associated with employment might be key triggers of stress in work. Employees have various expectations as years move during their service. Lack of employers to realize any positives in the employees and appreciate them may result to loss of morale, an effect of stress. He suggests that employers also need to design means of recognizing best performers and to promote where applicable in a just and open procedure. The move may not be the best solution as not everybody in the company would be satisfied even if every activity took place in a just way. Poor relationship with colleagues may form grounds for stress in workplace (Dalton, 2010). Dalton’s argument is very significant as human beings are social beings and any scene where one is not in a position to relate well with colleagues may result to stress. In order to avoid such cause of work-life stress, it is essential for employees to learn how to relate well with fellow members and learn how to iron out any disagreement early before moving to the worst. Employers need to provide regular trainings on interpersonal skills and relationships in the workplace. A study by Jones et al (2003), suggests that any form of discrimination and the lack of communication or consultation between the managerial sector and the employees can be a source of stress. Discrimination in work may be evident from unfavorable treatment such as passive non-cooperation, and refusal to renew employment contracts. Odd culture based on blame for or denial of problems may create a work-life stress in employees (Cranwell-Ward & Abbey, 2005). Together with some misguided jokes in the workplace, they may result to intimidation. The study did not address the issue of employee-employee discriminations that this research found out to be another major source of stress in workplaces. To curb the situation employers need to find an amicable way of dealing with employee issues and set a suitable channel for communication. Inflexible work schedules and working in unpredictable hours may be a key factor of stress in the workplace (Bratton, 2010). These conditions may result to working pressure that may not be healthy in work and personal life. For example, some managers in Tesco outlined that an organizational change such as restructuring may cause stress among employees. Managers need to have an understanding, and an open attitude towards those who emerge and admit to being under pressure. Bratton (2010) suggests that managers should establish open and non-judgmental way of communication to help identify these cases. To respond on working conditions, managers need to provide a scope for variable and flexible working conditions to create a sense of ownership to the job that a person does (Carroll & Buchholtz, 2011). The advice may be weak and may not offer a solution to the stress issue, which has endless causes. 2.4 Reasons why employee stress is an area of concern in management Employees stress is a major concern in the management of every organization. Employees are the foundation to success of any business or organization, and any factor-affecting employees would affect the organization. According to Bratton (2010), stressed employees may not be able to deliver at their very best. Bratton (2010) study only addresses how stress can affect organizational goals, but fails to address the effect of stress to individual employees and their families. However, it is true that stress may be a hindrance in achievement of organizational goals. High employee turnover may be a sign of employees running away from a certain stress in work (Jones et al., 2003). It may be due to low salaries or intolerable working conditions resulting to employees considering other options. Jones et al. (2003) failed to acknowledge that the inability to balance work requirements and personal needs is a major concern. Thus, it requires better attention than before for workers to have advisory platforms on how to manage such stress issues. Increased absenteeism would signal stress in the employees and the inability to balance home duties and those at work (Armstrong & Stephens, 2005). Absenteeism would mean that various duties stay unattended something that would affect negatively the general output of an organization. Armstrong & Stephens (2005) did not recognize that another effect of absenteeism would be the inability to serve customers as required, and this may result to loss of the customer base. Many employers fail to take the issue from the stressed worker point of view and end up throwing out the workers even when they are the source of stress. Morale keeps employees performance high all the time (Adair, 2009). The findings by Adair are real, as any issue, affecting employees’ morale would adversely affect the productivity of an organization. It is evident, as it would reflect on reduction in outputs, decline in product qualities, and a general decrease in service delivery. It is necessary for the management to address key stressors in the workplace to combat them before affecting the organization performance (Culp, 2002). 2.5Conclusion The previous areas have outlined a distinct focus on existing literature on stress. These include; the signs of stresses, stressors and why there should be a concern in the management. The latter provides a half-half scenario thus emerging not to offer the most convincing evidence on stress issues in the workplace. Research on stress in employment is linked inherently to two major challenges. These are the complexity of the nature of stress in different employment settings, and materiality based on economic impacts. Many studies have concentrated largely on other management areas and failed to address the delicate situation provided by stress in management practice. References Adair, J 2009, Leadership and Motivation the Fifty-Fifty Rule and the Eight Key Principles of Motivating Others. Kogan Page, London Alvesson, M., & Willmott, H. (Eds.). 1992. Critical management studies. London, Sage. Armstrong, M. & Stephens, T 2005, A Handbook to Management and Leadership: A Guide to Managing Results, Kogan Page, London Bratton, J 2010, Work & Organizational Behaviour. Palgrave Mcmillan, Basingstoke Carroll, A., & Buchholtz, A. 2011. Business and society: Ethics, sustainability, and stakeholder management. New York, Cengage Learning. Culp, C. L. 2002. The risk management process: Business strategy and tactics (Vol. 103). Hoboken, John Wiley & Sons. Cranwell-Ward, J., & Abbey, A. 2005. Organizational stress. Basingstoke ,Palgrave Macmillan. Dalton, K. 2010, Leadership and management development: developing tomorrows managers, Prentice Hall/Financial Times, Harlow, England, Fineman, S. (Ed.). 2000. Emotion in organizations. London, Sage. Jones, D. L., Tanigawa, T., & Weiss, S. M. 2003. 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