Workplace Stress: Causes, Effects, and Management Strategies - Essay Example

? Workplace Stress: Causes, Effects & Management Strategies Introduction Stress can simply be defined asthe reaction to stimulus that upsets our mental and physical equilibrium (Stinson, 2010). In other words, stress is an omnipresent part in peoples’ life. A very stressful event causes hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline to flow through the body. However, there is another type of stress termed as acute stress that is so exciting and keeps people active and alert. On the other hand, chronic stress (long term stress) causes detrimental effects and especially when it comes to health. Moreover, stress is also defined as the feeling that one is under too much emotional or mental pressure. Pressure may result into stress especially when one feels that he/she is unable to cope (Stinson, 2010). People have come up with different ways of handling stress and therefore when some people experience difficulties in handling their stress, to others may be so simple to handle. Causes of stress at workplace Stress has become very common in our daily life and a number of people have been taking it for granted. Work is the most common factor that evokes stress in a number of people. In fact, work and stress have both become inextricably linked. This has been discovered from recent research on stress levels among the American workers. Stress is a phenomenon that is very real and thus it creates accurately measurable changes in the body. Eustress are healthy stress amounts that are quite beneficial to people. This is where people work well when they are under pressure (Hicks & McSherry, 2006). This means that the stress ignites the people drive thus helping them stay alert and focus to their tasks at hand. Work-related stress is a new phenomenon that is hard to trust or believe. Moreover, this is a result of whirlwind speed in the modern work place, and the change in the way of managing and conducting professions which occurs frequently in the work place. Compounded by the economic climate and job insecurity, both the employers and employees face frequent changes at their place of work. Mergers, takeovers, reorganizations, and downsizing have become the main stressors for the employees. In the time of trying to remain competitive, the companies added demands generate pressure on everyone in the organization all the way from top–level managers to assistants. With these changes, stress will be created on the workers. There are a number of causes of workplace stress including: Longer hours often due to increased demand in working extra time (Stinson, 2010). This demand for overtime is due to cutbacks. In the work place, there are ever-increasing workloads that create a lot of stress to the employees. There is also fear of layoffs, pressure to often work at optimum levels and also the pressure to work without job satisfaction increase. Bullying and harassment have become normal at the work place. This impacts a lot of stress to the workers hence demoralizing them. Some workers do not participate in decisions relating to their job and this can cause a lot of stress to them since the decisions directly affect their very job and if not involved in the decision, the workers will have difficulties in handling their job. The fear of underperforming and lack of resources in the company are other causes of work place stress (Hicks & McSherry, 2006). When the employees underperform, they have the fear that they can lose their job and thus this puts them in stress. On the other hand, inadequate resources in the company will make the workers to strain with the few resources which are a stress to them. Unrealistic deadlines and expectations will make the workers to overwork so as to meet those deadlines and expectations which mean that a number of them will end up being stressed and tired after finishing their works (Woods & West, 2010). Other causes of stress in the work place include; deficient perceived appreciation, Perfectionism, fear of uncertainty, too much travelling, lack of assertiveness, and the need to often be updated with advances in technology and learn new software. All these stressors leave the employees feeling drained. Besides, adjusting to the workplace cultures is another big challenge. Each and every company has its model of communication, protocol, hierarchy, and observed behavioral patterns of co-workers and higher-ups (Hicks & McSherry, 2006). Therefore, failure to adjust properly to these cultures may bring subtle conflicts. These conflicts contribute to increased levels of stress and depression in the workplace. Effects of Stress on an Organization The success of an organization depends on the ability and the potential of its labor force to deliver to the expectations of the organization. For this reason, it is important for an organization to mind about the wellbeing of its working force as the human resources at the disposal of the organization directly affect the ability of the organization to meet its goals and objectives. One of the reasons for the inability of the organization to realize its targets is the inability of the human capital and the labor force to deliver to their ability (Hicks & McSherry, 2006). The main reason for the employees’ inability to perform and serve the interest of the employers is stress and psychological discomfort. A number of researches have established that psychologically dissatisfied employees often fail to deliver their duties perfectly as expected of them. Stress and stress related factors may affect the organization in a number of ways thereby reducing the productive capacity of the firm. Stress is often characterized by low self-esteem and morale (Stinson, 2010). The employees who are stress up develop low morale and self-esteem which is reflected in their performances and productivity. The productive capacity of the worker would significantly decline when stress-up. The effects of stress are reflected in the low self-esteem and lost morale to discharge his/her duties in the organization. In this respect, the marginal productivity of the stress worker is negative as there is no significant contribution to the organization with respect to performance. The second most important effect of stress on the firm is the high rate of absenteeism. Stressed workers often take off the duty as they suffer a great psychological and mental discomfort. Since stressed workers are mentally uncomfortable, they often spend a lot of time off the duty nursing their challenges (Woods & West, 2010). Beside, stress is accompanied by sickness and poor health. In an organization, stressed and depressed workers fall sick and therefore taking off. Their long duration of absenteeism is felt through the short of the staff to handle all the responsibilities and duties of the organization. In some instances, some duties go unattended to as they required specialized and technical proficiency that the rest of the staff may lack thereby leaving a gap in the production process (Stinson, 2010). A report by WHO indicate that stress is the main barrier to employees’ growth and productivity. Stress may results into poor health conditions that lower the creativity and innovativeness of the affected parties. The negative effects are reflected in their performances at workplace. In addition, stressed workers are poorly motived therefore unable to motivate and inspire the rest of the organization staff or customers. Stress Management Strategies In order for the organization to remain fairly competitive and break-even amid this competitive global era, the organization must focus on meeting the demands of all the leading stakeholders. Being part of the management and stakeholders, human capital maximization is a critical step. This start with developing work place stress management strategies. The only sustainable strategy is avoidance and prevention where possible (Hicks, T., & McSherry, 2006). Once the source of depression has been identified, it is important for the employers to invest resources on training their staff on the approaches of avoiding people, places, occasion, or events that would cause them stress and despair. Secondly, the employees should be trained on stress inventory development programs. Finally, the institution, should arrange for counseling and medical process for the affected parties. References Hicks, T., & McSherry, C. (2006). A guide to managing workplace stress. Boca Raton, Fla: Universal Publishers. Stinson, A. (2010). Anxiety and stress: How poor performance and absenteeism affect the workplace. S.l.: Dissertation Com. Woods, S. A., & West, M. A. (2010). The psychology of work and organizations. Andover, UK: South-Western Cengage Learning. Read More