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Stress in the Work Environment Job stress poses a significant threat to employee health and consequently to the health of an organization. Therefore, it is important for both employees and employers to recognize and understand stress and its causes. Often employers confuse job challenges and job stressors. Most employees view a job challenge as a motivating factor, which enables them to grow within their positions. This motivation has the potential to produce positive results for both employees and employers.
However, when challenges become demands, employees often resort to the fight or flight response of our primal ancestors. In most cases, the employee does not have the opportunity to fight or flee, and as a result the increased energy is internalized and over time manifests itself as stress. According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety job stress can be defined as the harmful physical and emotional responses that occur when the requirements of the job do not match the capabilities, resources, or needs of the employee. For instance, management style, interpersonal relationships, work roles, career concerns, work-life issues, socio-cultural atmosphere, and environmental conditions may all be considered stressors. Most people experience stress on a daily basis however, occupational stress is one issue that is rarely discussed. Many people may not want to admit that their job is causing them stress or their work environment is a somewhat nerve wrecking experience for them.
Although rarely admitted or talked about workplace stress is an issue that must be addressed avidly by HR Personnel and Managers. What is Stress? "Stress - The confusion created when one's mind overrides the body's basic desire to choke the hell out of someone who so desperately deserves it" (Author unknown). In order to have stress there must be a stressor, or a physical or physiological stimulus to encourage the onset of stress response. A physical stressor in a manufacturing setting may be noise, heat, dust, mist, fumes, poor lighting etc (Evans, Cohen 1987, Environmental Stress Handbook of Environmental Psychology, p. 574). Psychological stressors could be items such as conflicting views with a manager or, seemingly unattainable deadlines.
Many employees suffer from stress caused by managers who expect results without establishing clear goals. An example would be an office head that is responsible for increasing profitability and decreasing overhead, without receiving a budget from the home office. At the end of the year, the office head's performance cannot be considered objectively. Consequently, his or her incentive compensation becomes subjective. At work, some stress factors may be; the possibility or reality of losing your job, poor supervision, lack of goals, rotating shifts and the inability to keep up with technology. The rate of change in technology may be one of the heaviest burdens to bare for employees who have worked for 15 or 20 years.
This stressor may not exist for a young graduate because he or she is a product of a computer driven society. (Strunk Jr. , W. & White, E. B. 1979, The Elements of Style 3 rd Ed, p. 352) However, to a fifty-year-old person, the rate of technology advancement over this period may be too much change compared to their experience. In some cases, failure to understand such technology in the work environment may mean the loss of possible advancement opportunities. One stressor may cause another to create a domino effect of stressors. These stressors may build up and cause job as well as social stress (Hendrix, 1987, Stress and Life Stress Journal of Social Behavior & Personality, p. 295).
Are some individuals more prone to occupational stress than others are? By use of the Person/Environment Fit Model (Kahn, 1992, Stress in Organizations Handbook of Organizational Psychology) it can be hypothesized that certain individuals may be at a higher risk for work related stress then others. For example, a person who has Role Overload (Kahn, 1992, Stress in Organizations Handbook of Organizational Psychology, p. 575) may feel unable to complete the amount of work given in an ordinary day; the amount of work interferes with the quality of work. This person is more likely to suffer from work stress then one who has an even predictable workload. Role Overload in theory may produce another stressor called Role Conflict. Role Conflict by Kahn (1964) is defined as The simultaneous occurrence of two or more sets of pressures in the workplace such that compliance with one would make compliance more difficult with the other.
Role Conflict may develop if a person receives conflicting directions from two individuals or if the instructions are different then acceptable practice or the individual must utilize more time to complete both projects. This may be seen in organizations where there is a struggle for power, neither an individual will relinquish control of a project thus, subordinates suffer by trying to satisfy both individuals. This type of situation may be seen in organizations that use a matrix reporting structure. Role Underload is a chronic under-use of intelligence, knowledge or manual skills. (Kahn, 1992, Stress in Organizations Handbook of Organizational Psychology, p. 575) In the work force, this may mean that an individual is not suited for the task because the job does not challenge their intellectual or physical capabilities. This lack of challenge may leave too much time for individuals to ponder other personal problems that they may be experiencing. This may also contribute to an individual developing poor self-esteem, which in turn may precipitate a poor mental outlook.
It seems like a strange point, if a person is over challenged they may feel stress and as in this case if they are under challenged they may feel stress. Balance of stressors may be the key. Role Ambiguity is the changing status of time or information that a person has and the amount that is required to perform the role adequately. (Kahn, 1992, Stress in Organizations Handbook of Organizational Psychology, p. 577) Role Ambiguity may involve a mismatch of a persons intellectual skills and knowledge. For example, a technically gifted engineer for purposes of career development is assigned to work as a production supervisor for an assembly operation. Instead of dealing with design enhancements and process improvements, he is dealing with production deadlines and Union Representatives. In engineering, the individual is within their environment are capable of handling day-to-day happenings however, dealing with unions and production deadlines would be the job of a manager of business.
In the ever-changing world of production supervision, they would be at odds with their environment. This scenario could be defined as a conflicting Person-Environment interface. According to Hurrell, (1999), stress results from the interaction of the worker and the conditions of work. Views differ, however, on the importance of worker characteristics versus working conditions as the primary cause of job stress.
These differing viewpoints are important because they suggest different ways to prevent stress at work. Differences in individual characteristics such as personality and coping style are most important in predicting whether certain job conditions will result in stress-in other words, what is stressful for one person may not be a problem for someone else (Sauter and Hurrell, 1999, Occupational stress: Issues and developments in research, p. 82). This viewpoint leads to prevention strategies that focus on workers and ways to help them cope with demanding job conditions. Although the importance of individual differences cannot be ignored, scientific evidence suggests that certain working conditions are stressful to most people. (Sauter and Hurrell, 1999, Occupational stress: Issues and developments in research, p. 94) In many organizations, workers have little decision-making power.
For example, a customer service representative is responsible for fielding incoming calls. Inevitably, the calls are primarily from angry customers concerned about a late shipment. The representative has no control over the shipping department and in fact has virtually no communication with that department. After listening to the customer's complaints over a period of time, the representative has several suggestions which management could implement in the shipping department that may improve customer satisfaction.
Unfortunately, management is not interested in the ideas of a customer service representative. As a result, angry customers whose concerns could have been prevented attack the representative daily. Often workplace stress is caused by balancing personal and professional responsibilities. An example can be a nurse who also has to care for an aging, dependant parent.
Some employees are subjected to an atmosphere of gender bias and / or sexual harassment. For example, a woman works as a real estate broker, which is a male-dominated field. She is constantly subjected to sexual innuendo. She is even made to look incompetent in client meetings by her male counterparts who ask ridiculous and irrelevant questions. (web) Employees are required to perform in adverse working conditions, which often cause signs of stress.
For instance, a mill worker is subjected to the constant humming of machines. There are many methods how stress can be prevented within an organization. Managers should ensure that the workload is in line with workers capabilities and resources. They should also design jobs to provide meaning, stimulation, and opportunities for workers to use their skills. Workers roles and responsibilities should be clearly defined and workers should have opportunities to participate in decision-making process. Improvement of communications can reduce uncertainty about career development and future employment prospects.
Establishment of work schedule that is compatible with demands and responsibilities outside the job may also help to reduce stress. Some people view occupational stress a necessary life style to stay competitive in an aggressive business or manufacturing setting. If an individual is bombarded by enough stressors, burn out may be inevitable. Individuals who are exposed to stressors on the job, and / or at home are at risk of becoming physically and psychologically ill. This type of stress creates barriers to productivity for organizations and can cause low employee morale, absenteeism, and high turnover.
After looking at all the facts, it is very obvious to see that stress is an unavoidable fact of life. If properly monitored and controlled through stress reduction techniques and a healthy lifestyle we all can reduce, but never total eliminate stress from our lives. Bibliography: Evans G. , Cohen S. ; (1987) Environmental Stress Handbook of Environmental Psychology chapter 15, vol 1 Wiley Interscience Publication, New York, NY. , 572 - 576 Hendrix William H; Steel Robert P & Schultz Sherry A (1987) Job Stress and Life Stress Journal of Social Behavior & Personality Aug Vol 2, 291 - 302 Hurrell, J. J. Jr & Murphy, L. R. (1998).
Occupational Stress. In W. N. Rom (Ed. ), Occupational and Environmental Medicine, (3 rd edition). New York: Little, Brown and Co. Hurrell, J.
J. Jr. , Murphy, L. R. & Sauter, S. L. & Cooper, C. L. (Eds. ). (1988). Occupational stress: Issues and developments in research.
New York: Taylor and Francis. Kahn, R. L. & Byoriere, P. (1992) Stress in Organizations Handbook of Organizational Psychology, 2 nd ed. , Vol 3 571 - 575, Palo Alto CA: Consulting Psychologist Press Strunk Jr. , W. & White, E. B. (1979) The Elements of Style (3 rd Ed. ) NY: MacMillan Publishing, 351 - 352 web
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Research essay sample on Stress In The Work Environment
