Organizational Behavior

Chapter 22
Stress: Causes, Effects and Coping Strategies

Stress
Stress is the feelings of tension, exhaustion, pressure or strain. It is the products of demands
made on an individuals physical or mental capabilities.

Job stress
Job stress is the stress relating to the work, According to WHO definition it is the response
when people may have when presented with the work demands and pressures that are not
matched to their knowledge and abilities and which challenge their ability to cope.

Types of Stress
There are two types of stress

Eu-Stress or Positive stress

If the demand on an individuals energy is stimulating, causes an individual to put extra

efforts on his work this is called positive stress, we can call stress as positive stress
under following cases

1. Meeting challenges and difficulties.

2. Expectation of achievement.
3. Energizing and motivating.
4. Challenges put towards an individual.
5. Deadline given to a manager to accomplish a certain task.
6. Training or examination.

Dy-stress of Negative stress

 When the demands on individual energies goes out of limit or more than his capabilities
then it will become harmful and put a strain on individual eventually affecting his
performance

1. Physiological and psychological problems.

2. Feel irritable.
3. Sleeping difficulties.
4. No joy out of life.
5. Appetite is disturbed.
6. Relationship problems.
7. When an individual has to perform task beyond his capabilities.
8. When an individual has to perform task strange to him.
9. When an individual has to perform duty beyond his physical capabilities.

Symptoms of Stress (Strain)

Symptoms usually includes the following

1. Nervous tension
2. Withdrawal
3. Low morale: low confidence, dissatisfaction or hopelessness etc.
4. Individual is repressing the problems.

Personality traits
Personality traits which might affect the ability to cope with stress includes the following

1. Sensitivity
2. Flexibility
3. Interpersonal competence
4. Sense of responsibility

Symptoms/Consequences and Effects of Stress:

Physiological

1. High blood pressure

2. Muscle tension
3. Headaches
4. Skin disease
5. Impaired immune system
 6. Cancer
7. High level of cholesterol
8. Ulcer
9. Heart diseases

Psychological

1. Anxiety
2. Interpersonal aggression
3. Poor job performance
4. Resentment of supervisor
5. Inability to concentrate
6. Inability to make decision
7. Job dissatisfaction
8. Lower self esteem

Behavioral

1. Drug abuse
2. Tardiness
3. Absenteeism
4. Employee turnover
5. Under eating or over eating
6. Sleeplessness
7. Increases smoking
8. Increased drinking
9. Procrastination
10. Isolation
11. Nail biting

Burnout
Burnout is a fatigue that lasts more than two weeks. It is a state of exhaustion,
depersonalization and reduced personal accomplishment. It results from long unrelenting
stress. It is mostly due to no-win situations that dissolve competency and motivation.
Causes of stress

Extra organizational/Environmental causes

1. Social and technical changes- busy life, overcrowding, new technologies,

introduction requires updating.
2. Residential and community conditions- some disturbance in the area or utility
available issues.
3. Race and class problems- discrimination in the society.
4. Social isolation- boycott of people making you alone.
5. Job market- unemployment increasing.
6. Economical and financial conditions worsening.
7. High rate of inflation.
8. Shortages of essential commodities.
9. Law and order problems in a country.
10. Political changes in the country leading to uncertainty.
11. Physical environmental effects- weather conditions, deteriorating and increasing
pollution.

Organizational causes

1. Administrative policies and strategies not favoring employees- downsizing, competitive

pressure, merit pay plan, rotating work shifts, bureaucratic styles and advance
technology implementation.
2. Organizational structural problems- excessive centralization or decentralization, line
staff conflict, specialization leading to boredom, role ambiguity and conflict, no
opportunity for advancement and restrictive culture.
3. Management and organizational processes creating trouble for employees- tight
controls, only downward communication or little upward communication, centralized
decision making, lace of participation or juniors.
4. Management style showing less respect for staff- no credit for achievement,
communication problems, close supervisions and extreme pressure to perform
5. Interpersonal relations are not good- unsatisfactory or hostile interpersonal
relationships with supervisors, colleagues and subordinates.
6. Bad working conditions- crowdedness, excessive noise, polluted air, unsafe conditions,
lace of safety and strain.
 Group causes

1. Workers at lower level are likely to feel very stressful or their basic needs are not
satisfied.
2. Lack of group cohesiveness makes every member stressed out.
3. Conflict among group members make people disgruntled.

Role causes

1. Role ambiguity

It is a situation where an individual is not sure what his role is or when those around him
are not clear what his role is, this may arise for a manager through:

Uncertainty about the responsibilities of the job.

Uncertainty about the people expectation from him.
Lack of clarity about his performance evaluation.

2. Role conflict

It occurs when the individual is called upon to act in several roles at the same time and
they are incompatible with each other for example the dual roles of working mother or
a participative manager called upon to administer discipline.

3. Role overload

It occurs when an individual has too many roles to cope with and feels out of his depth
for example moving from a functional to general management positions.

4. Role under load

It occurs when an individual is moved into a role or set of roles which perceives a being
below his capacity for example delegation may make a manager feel unneeded and
unsecure.
 Individual (Personal) causes

1. Family situations- marital problems, family breakups.

2. Poor health of person.
3. Undisciplined children in family.
4. Disparity between income and expenses.
5. Legal disputes.
6. Relocation to some other parts of the city.
7. Sensitive nature of person.
8. Sense of responsibility.
9. Lack of interpersonal competence.
10. No personal control over the surrounding.
11. No time management skills.
12. Limited knowledge about organizational practices.
13. Any decision in career change

Handling Stress

Personal strategies

1. Find out the most productive time of the day so you can do most stressing job when
you are energetic and fresh.
2. Keep track or work progress so that the plan is updated and work moves on.
3. Carry undone jobs to the top of next days lost otherwise you may forget it.
4. Delegate to others as you cant do everything alone.
5. Let assistant handle phone calls as it is very distracting.
6. Have lunch in office as going outside creates lot of stress.
7. Relaxation of meditation can be done to regain energy.
8. Get involved in your favorite activity for relaxation.
9. Follow bio feedback.
10. Use cognitive therapy to remove self-defeating cognition with positive one.
11. Exercise or play games to make yourself physically stronger.
 Organizational strategies

1. Stress management programs may be conducted to teach employees stress

handling.
2. Organizations can hold gymnasiums to help employees physically fit.
3. No smoking and drinking policies can be implemented to help people follow healthy
life positions.
4. Working conditions can be improved to enhance safety of employees.
5. Companies policy- fair and transparent policies of performance reviews for
promotion.
6. Improving structural area to have proper formalization and centralization.
7. Improvements in managerial processes to make working smooth

Improvement is horizontal and vertical communication.

Supportive organizational climate
Clarification of goals to everyone.
Redesigning of task- if incompatible.
Removing role ambiguities.
Removing role conflicts.
Do counseling of employees.
8. When downsizing, following are the guidelines for downsizing

Make a comprehensive plan for laying off people- so they are given enough
time.
Arrange a workshop for survivors.
A session of survivors with CEO to boost their confidence.
Clarification of roles to survivors to make them comfortable.