Definition:

a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or demanding circumstances

Potential Sources of Stress:

What causes stress? As the model shows, there are three categories of potential
stressors: environmental, organizational, and personal.
Environmental Factors
Just as environmental uncertainty influences the de-sign of an organizations
structure, it also influences stress levels among employ-ees in that organization.
Indeed, uncertainty is the biggest reason people have
trouble coping with
organizational changes.
There are three main types of environmental uncertainty: economic, political, and
technological. Changes in the business cycle create economic uncertainties.
Organizational Factors

There is no shortage of factors within an organizationthat can cause stress.

Pressures to avoid errors or complete tasks in a limited time, work overload, a
demanding and insensitives boss, and unpleasant co-workers area.
Task demands relate to a persons job. They include the design of the job (its
degrees of autonomy, task variety, degree of automation), working condi-tions, and
the physical work layout.
Role demands relate to pressures placed on a person as a function of the particular role he or she plays in the organization. Role conflicts create expecta-tions that

may be hard to reconcile or satisfy. Role overload occurs when the employee is expected to do
more than time permits. Role ambiguity means role expectations are not clearly understood and
the employee is not sure what to do.
Interpersonal demands are pressures created by other employees. Lack of social
support from colleagues and poor interpersonal relationships can cause stress,
especially among employees with a high social need. A rapidly growing body of
research has also shown that negative co-worker and supervisor behaviors,
including fights, bullying, incivility, racial harassment, and sexual harassment, are
especially strongly related to stress at work.

Personal Factors Our final category, then, is factors in the employees per-sonal
life: family issues, personal economic problems, and inherent personality
characteristics. National surveys consistently show people hold family and
personal relation-ships. Marital difficulties, the breaking of a close relationship, and
disci-pline troubles with children create stresses employees often cant leave at the
front door when they arrive at work.
The researchers concluded that some people may have an inherent
tendency to accentuate negative aspects of the world. If this is true, then a
significant individual factor that influences stress is a persons basic disposition.
That is, stress symptoms expressed on the job may actually originate in
the persons personality.

Individual Differences
Some people thrive on stressful situations, while others are overwhelmed by them.
What differentiates people in terms of their ability to handle stress? What individual
variables moderate the relationship between potential
Stressors and experienced stress? At least fourperception, job experience, social
support, and personalityare relevant.

Consequences of Stress
Stress shows itself in a number of ways, such as high blood pressure, ulcers,
irritability, difficulty making routine decisions, loss of appetite, accident proneness,
and the like. These symptoms fit under three general categories: physiological,
psychological, and behavioral symptoms.
Physiological Symptoms
Most early concern with stress was directed at physiological symptoms because
most researchers were specialists in the health and medical sciences. Their work led
to the conclusion that stress could create changes in metabolism, increase heart
and breathing rates and blood pressure, bring on headaches, and induce heart
attacks. Evidence now clearly suggests stress may have harmful physiological effects. One
study linked stressful job demands to increased susceptibility to upper-respiratory
illnesses and poor immune system functioning, especially for individuals with low selfefficacy.
Psychological Symptoms
Job dissatisfaction is the simplest and most obvious psychological effect of stress.
But stress shows itself in other psychological statesfor instance, tension, anxiety,
irritability, boredom, and procrastination. For example, a study that tracked
physiological responses of employees overtime found that stress due to high
workloads was related to higher blood pres-sure and lower emotional well-being.
Jobs that make multiple and conflicting demands or that lack clarity about the
incumbents duties, authority, and responsibilities increase both stress and dis-satisfaction.
Similarly, the less control people have over the pace of their work, the greater their stress and
dissatisfaction. Jobs that provide a low level of variety ,significance, autonomy, feedback, and
identity appear to create stress and reduce satisfaction and involvement in the job.
Not everyone reacts to autonomy in the same way, however. For those with an external locus of
control, increased job con-trol increases the tendency to experience stress and exhaustion.
Behavioral Symptoms
Research on behavior and stress has been conducted across several countries and
over time, and the relationships appear relatively consistent. Behavior-related stress
symptoms include reductions in productivity absence, and turnover, as well as
changes in eating habits, increased smoking or consumption of alcohol,
rapid speech, fidgeting, and sleep disorders.
A significant amount of research has investigated the stress
performancerelationship. The most widely studied pattern of this relationship is the
inverted U shown in Exhibit 18-9.

The logic underlying the figure is that low to moder-ate levels of stress stimulate the
body and increase its ability to react. Individuals then often perform their tasks
better, more intensely, or more rapidly. But too much stress places unattainable
demands on a person, which result in lower performance. In spite of the popularity
and intuitive appeal of the inverted-U model, it doesnt get a lot of empirical
support.

So we should be careful of as-suming it accurately depicts the stressperformance

relationship. As we mentioned earlier, researchers have begun to differentiate
challenge and hindrance stressors, showing that these two forms of stress have opposite
effects on job behaviors, especially job performance. .

Self-Management
Self-management is a key skill that will help you throughout your life. It involvessetting
goals and managing your time. Developing your motivation and concentration skills will help you to
overcome the lure of procrastination. Effective self-management will help you to avoid stress and
provide you with more opportunities to get involved in fun campus actitivies.
A key skill in self-management is self regulation. Self-regulation refers to individuals monitoring,
controlling and directing aspects of their learning for themselves.

Self-Management Strategies

Monitor dont just let things happen, assess and see why then pick a strategy

Evaluate take the time to ask if things are working out for you

Reinforce

Career management is the combination of structured planning and the active management choice
of one's own professional career.The outcome of successful career management should include
personal fulfillment, work/life balance, goal achievement and financial security.

7 Ways To Actively Manage Your

Career

Far too many professionals today look to their managers to manage their career path
and trajectory when in fact; this is yours and yours alone to manage. Its so easy to get
caught up in our work that we lose sight of our career. So, how do you manage your
own career with confidence? Here are seven ways you can start managing your career
today:
1. Set and communicate clear goals
The key to getting what you want is knowing what you want. You must know what you
want out of your career and you should be clear about these goals with your manager
and your mentor. These goals are also great ways to measure your progress through
the year and years in your regular performance reviews.
2. Create an open feedback loop
The hardest thing to do is to hear honest feedback, because it isnt always positive. But,
the ability to listen to all feedback and adjust accordingly is what will elevate your
career. Be sure you are open to the good, the bad and the ugly feedback. This will help
you adjust your work and your goals.
3. Think about your accomplishments differently
Try to think about your work in terms of NEAR: Numbers, Examples, Achievements, and
Results. We all have responsibilities. But the people who stand out talk about their
responsibilities in terms of numbers, achievements, and results and they have examples
to back it up. What numbers, examples, achievements, and results did you produce this
year?

4. Manage your work samples

You probably do a great project once per quarter and one that definitely meets the
NEAR criteria. You know, a project or deliverable that you are super proud of that
contributed to the success of the company. Take that work and store it in a special folder
on your computer or in the cloud. Check out Dropbox, CredHive, or Box and start
curating your work.
5. Get in the conversation
Read industry publications, websites and blogs. Share the best articles and have a point
of view of your own. Position yourself as a voice of the industry and a valuable resource
within your professional community. When you see great content, make an insightful
comment and connect with influencers in the industry.
6. Raise your hand
When a new project comes up and it aligns with your goals, raise that hand. Let your
manager or HR team know that you want to learn some new skills or gain new, more
advanced experience. Be clear on what you can offer to the project and get involved.
7. Spend time maintaining it
I know youre busy working and getting things done. This is the extra stuff thats
required to take ownership of your career. I personally spend a few hours a week in the
conversation and connecting with new people. I also spend about an hour a quarter
maintaining my best work files and my social profiles. It isnt a ton of investment; its just
a new habit to create in managing your own career trajectory.