The Link Between Stress And Work Outcomes - Research Paper Example

The Link Between Stress And Work Outcomes ABSTRACT: This essay discusses the effects and outcomes of stress for employees and corporations alike using several journals as secondary research and some primary survey outcomes within these journals. Contradicting theories have also been examined in detail Table of Contents Introduction 2 Stressful Office Environment 3 Time Pressure 4 Poor Health 4 Office Politics 5 Toil beyond an employee’s capabilities 5 Job Insecurity and Management blunders 5 Personal Stressors 6 Effects and Outcomes on individuals 6 Effects of Stress on Organizations 8 Early Warning Signs of Stress 11 Removing Stress from the organization 12 Detecting stress within the environment 12 Formulating a stress relief plan 12 Hiring Consultants 13 Conclusion 14 Works Cited 15 Introduction Stress at the workplace is at its peak with the job market not showing any signs of recovery and ‘still-not-over’ rumours about the 2007 recession maxing out. Work place stress had been a piquant topic of discussion since the past three decades and is still one of the major controversial topics amongst prominent psychologists, psychiatrists, and even neurosurgeons. A stressful environment and life does not only affect the performance of an employee, but it is equally prejudicial towards one’s health and social life; not to mention the severe damage it may cause to a company with stressful working conditions. (Eccles et al., 2006) Numerous primary researches had been and are still being conducted to relate stress to several chronic and life altering ailments (Hexter, 2009). But since most of these severe disorders require a long duration and numerous paired habits to arise, the theories of diverse professionals vary and sometimes contradict each other. A prominent and fortifying primary research in favour of stress being a major productivity killer was conducted by Jones et al (1988) demonstrated that after a ‘stress relief campaign’ in a hospital prescription errors were reduced by over 50% and unprofessional conduct was reduced by over 70%, whilst other similar hospitals without stress management classes demonstrated 0% reduction in either. (Jones et al., 1988, pp.727-35) Although, most researches do agree on the fact that stress is extremely harmful in the longer run and reduce the life of the stressed employee by several years and is a major cause for fatigue, chronic heart conditions, as well as many more ailments. (Chandola et al., 2008) Stressful Office Environment A large misconception is Stress = Challenge, according to which stress is blameless. But practically stress has proven to be a very harmful condition which is in no way allied with challenge (Drach-Zahavya & Erez, 2002) (Baum et al., 1987); Challenge is a motivator and an energizer, and stress is exactly the opposite of that. In some cases it may also be ascertained that stress occurs when the border line of challenge is breached, like for example if the work allotted to a designated employee is beyond his capabilities. A stressful office environment is quite straightforward to detect, several tests and factors may lead the supervisors to believe that the employees are stressed out, under most conditions the sudden fall in a company’s revenues due to internal or production sources may also help the executive management to sense stress within the work place. The most common stress causing environments are usually a result of one or many of the following factors: Time Pressure Tight Deadlines: have been known to be one of the most major stress causing factors as well as one of the fastest acting stress agents. It is imperative that the corporation allot work to employees after ascertaining the minimum amount of time that the project requires. If the employee gets stressed out due to unpunctuality, it is mostly certain that s/he will be further delayed by the mental and psychological ailments caused by stress. (Härmä, 2006, pp.502-14) Long Work hours: have also been known to be an indirect source of stress as working long hours deprives the employee of his personal and family time, and may cause several family problems which may lead to stress. Although many authors also argue that under certain situations long working hours have been known to promote the employees health and deprive him of depression. But mostly doctors and authors disregard or even contradict the same, as this factor is situational based on the circumstances and motives of one’s personal life (Conti et al., 2006, pp.1013-38) (Härmä, 2006, pp.502-14). Poor Health Rarer than often, if an employee continues to work long hours after being ill for quite a while, the body gives up eventually and the individual gets stressed out (Härmä, 2006, pp.502-14). But this is mostly true in cases of certain psychological disorders and serious illness; although, poor sanitary conditions and certain factors such as lack of clean air and noise pollution have been known to cause stress (Kelloway et al., 2008, pp.50-64). Kelloway, et al. (2008) also associated excess smoking, lack of physical exercise, and alcohol consumption with high stress levels. Office Politics Office Politics: even milder issues or disputes within a corporate or commercial environment have been known to be major stress causers. (Amble, 2007) Workplace Bullying: A much hidden and often discarded issue it is also one of the major stress causers. (Amble, 2007) Poor Social Environment: If the employees are isolated or do not interact much, or even worse, are afraid of their superiors; it almost always causes stress. (Amble, 2007) Toil beyond an employee’s capabilities In case a project or work is beyond an employee’s abilities or aptitude, it will always be a source of stress and will lead to the delay in production or even failure to deliver the project. It is imperative that a company ascertains what an individual’s capabilities are and always allot work within the employee’s qualification criteria. (Haw, 1982, pp.132-44) Job Insecurity and Management blunders Officials at ‘National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’ have explained the ill effects of job insecurity through the means of an example and have shown how insecurity will lead to stress and productivity failure. The example envisions two employees of distinctive organizations talking together, who used to work at the same company before the recession, it discusses how even after the recession the fear of job loss has caused a major distress in an individual’s work and personal life and how working for long hours and being verbally abused has seen to be the reason for stress for another. (Feijóo, 2004) Various management blunders such as lack of an employee’s involvement in decision making process, lack of family-friendly guidelines, and poor communication within the office environment may cause extreme stress. Personal Stressors Except for office stress, certain factors private to an individual such as depression, marital problems, adding or expiring of a family member, poor financial conditions, other psychological disorders, health problems, alcohol/caffeine/nicotine addiction, et cetera may also cause stress and this stress may be increased by a magnitude if pooled with an stressful office environment; which may eventually lead to serious disorders, mental breakdowns and even chronic physical conditions. It is imperative that a supervisor be trained and qualified to detect stress amongst its employees and be able to differentiate between work related stress and personal stress so as to help his stressed subordinate. If the problem is not tackled at its initial stages, it will lead to lower productivity and higher malpractices within the company and may even be a source for violent outbreaks within the office environment which will eventually lead to further stress. (Lee et al., 2005) Effects and Outcomes on individuals At the outset, it is crucial to comprehend that symptoms of stress are quite distinctive based on individual to individual, and also that some tasks might be stressful to some whereas the same task would be easy for another. Even significantly mild stress has been known to impair logical functioning and decision making amongst individuals, distort work-life balance and even damages health. Certain studies show that stress may lead to social isolation, whilst some studies also show that stress increases by times fold (almost by 70%) when the entity is isolated (Gavrilovic et al., 2009, pp.1185-90), the latter research was conducted on rats. Effects of being exposed to a stressful environment are quite subjective, mostly based upon the age when the entity was exposed to different stress levels; although it is ascertained that being exposed to stress at early ages may lead to lower mental capabilities and depression during the adulthood. (Lupien et al., 2009, pp.434-45) Stress is also often associated with fatigue and several primary researches have confirmed that high stress levels will always lead to constant fatigue. This is a prime reason why regular exercising is said to eliminate stress, as it will eliminate the symptoms and soon the body will be resistant to previously exposed levels of stress. Organizing a fixed schedule for sleeping, eating, and exercising is extremely crucial as stressed people cannot differentiate between work time and personal time. Also, such symptoms may lead to excessive smoking, consumption of alcohol, and even illegal drugs. (Boswell et al., 2004, pp.165-81) Most common effects of stress are as follows: Figure 1 Effects of Stress on Organizations Under cases where more than 20-40% of employees are affected by stress (various reports suggests distinctive numbers), the organization may suffer tremendously in terms of performance, revenues, lack of competitiveness, increased chances of mutiny, increased health related claims, higher mistakes and malpractices, and client dissatisfaction. The post recession era is not about staying ahead of the competition, but at the moment it is all about staying in the business. Frail organizations do not get the best from their employees and generally find it troublesome to hire more workers due to the poor and stressed environment within the organization; which under many cases also affects the reputation of the organization before the customers or clients. (Lattal, 2009) The recession has caused a to-and-forth cycle of stress, which has caused stress not only within the employees of an organization, but to their families also, which then again causes further stress and so on. Possibly the largest disadvantage of stressful environment is the loss of goodwill for the company. Overall, a stressful environment will lead to increase in malpractices and hoaxing, a magnitude of increased legislative claims put forth by employees (due to stress and poor health conditions), suppliers (due to malpractices), and clients (due to poor quality and un-timeliness). Once this happens the executive leaders lose control over the organization and eventually the organization’s policies fail and after which further stress is caused within the organization due to risk of closure and job losses; which will eventually form a ‘complete cycle of stressful working environment’ and the organization will lose its hold in the market and ultimately close. (Lattal, 2009) (Chu et al., 2008) Figure 2: Compiled from aforementioned list of sources. Self created. Early Warning Signs of Stress Certain early warning signs of stress are only self detectable, therefore it is imperative that the employees of the organization be informed about such symptoms. Such self detectable symptoms include troubled stomach, irregular sleeping patterns sometimes accompanied with too much sleep or even insomnia, headaches, low self esteem and low self confidence, and concentration problems. Some warning signs of stress could be detected by supervisors, these are short temper, discontent in work, higher absence rates, poor productivity, and inability to multitask (Woo et al., 1999). It is important that the supervisors and employees alike be informed of such procedures and if a stressful environment is detected, counselling sessions should be held immediately. Figure 3: Curing the stressful environment (see below for additional details) Removing Stress from the organization Detecting stress within the environment At the outset, it is imperative to confirm whether the environment is stressful. The best methodology is a quantitative primary research within the organization so as to judge the percentage of employees that are stressed out, the questionnaire analysis will also play a major role in screening the causes of stress within the environment. (Glazer & Kruse, 2008, pp.329-44) Although in smaller organization where the number of employees are less than 50, the employer may ask stress assessment questions directly from the employees themselves. Within the quantitative analysis, a very weighty question would be to request the individuals to list 2-5 ‘best and worst’ traits or things within the organization. Based on out prior segment of this essay which discusses the most possible causes of stress, some points that the supervisor thinks apply to the organization should also be asked. (Glazer & Kruse, 2008, pp.329-44) Formulating a stress relief plan If the number of stressed respondents is higher than 20%, a stress relief plan must be created and implied within the organization through the means of supervisors. If a particular segment of the process or work cycle is bothering most employees, it may be checked if there is something that could be done to reduce stress on that job, perhaps if it is digitized, it may be outsourced, or even if it is a part of the production process, it may be outsourced under some circumstances. Other ways might be to distribute that work amongst even more employees so as to reduce the burden on a handful of individuals. (Glazer & Kruse, 2008, pp.329-44) A number of other steps may be taken to detain stressful tasks at the first step itself. Hiring Consultants This is the most major step once the plan has been created, the supervisors should discuss the plan, their organizational culture, and their notion of stressors with the consultants. Once the consultant comprehends these, then using his professional attitude and experience will inform the company about the precise stressors and the simplest solutions to eliminate stress from its roots. The consultant will also be responsible for training the employees to tackle medium to high stress levels and to be more resistant to anxiety and irritability as well as increase the efficiency of their immune system. (Kohler & Munz, 2006, pp.1-12) The consultants will also try and eliminate the physical as well as mental symptoms of stress, and under some cases may even suggest professional consultancy (psychiatrist) for a number of employees. Conclusion As discussed above, undiagnosed stress can cause a number of nuisances for corporations, employees, employee’s families, and stakeholders alike. Furthermore, it may also account for a major slice for the reasons for closure of a company. Once the corporate climate gets affected by stressors, it will initiate the organizational stress cycle as described within Figure 2, and then once it reaches the third step of lawsuits, it is extremely difficult to stop the cycle. It is extremely imperative to obstruct the organizational stress cycle at the very first stage of undiagnosed stress through various methodologies mentioned within the section “Removing stress from the organization”, under the consultant’s supervision of course. In case the stress is a major dilemma within the organization, it shouldn’t be warded off by the company’s executives on their own without a consultants help as it may further create newer problems instead of solving the already established dilemmas due to stress. It is imperative that the employees and supervisors alike be ready to face the decision of the consultant, as under some situations, the employees may not adhere to decisions such as professional consultancy or the supervisors may not agree to bear the charges. The company must keep in mind the vicious cycle of stress which may cause closure of business. Works Cited Amble, B., 2007. Office politics the biggest cause of stress. [Online] Available at: HYPERLINK "http://www.management-issues.com/2007/1/18/research/office-politics-the-biggest-cause-of-stress.asp" http://www.management-issues.com/2007/1/18/research/office-politics-the-biggest-cause-of-stress.asp [Accessed 8 December 2009]. 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