Indian Conference on Management (ICOM) January 2009

Work Stress and Its Management

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Sanket Sarkhedi
Aman Sharma

Department of Business Administration

Bhavnagar University
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Job stress
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
worker
[Stress at work, United States National
Institute of Occupational Safety and Health,
Cincinnati, 1999]
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Is workplace stress always negative?

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Stressors

Stressors

Internal External

Acute Chronic
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Working environment and stress

Working environment is more likely to be a source

of chronic stress

• Task demands
• Time demands
• Physical demands
• Role demands
• Interpersonal demands
Signs and symptoms of excessive
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job and workplace stress

• Feeling anxious, irritable, or depressed
• Apathy, loss of interest in work
• Problems sleeping
• Fatigue
• Trouble concentrating
• Muscle tension or headaches
• Stomach problems
• Social withdrawal
• Loss of sex drive
• Using alcohol or drugs to cope
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Consequences of negative stress

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Roots of stress
• Money – The major cause of stress
• Massive layoffs in every sectors
Auto industry
Airlines industry
IT sector
Electronics industry
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Strategies for combating Job stress

Two key points:
1.Job stress has multiple causes, and so has to
have multiple solutions
2.Along with individual, organizational change
also has to occur

Three levels of change:

• Individual
• Small groups
• Organizational / Structural
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Potential Stressors Experienced Stress Consequences

Personal Factors Psychological
Family problems
Stress Management
Heart Disease
Financial problems Ulcers
Individual
Health problems Headaches
Seek help
Time management
Organizational Factors Emotional
Change jobs
High stress occupation Anxiety
Build resiliency
Job role Depression
Personality
Overload Burnout
Companionship
Under-utilization
Experience
Role ambiguity Behavioral
Health (Exercise, diet)
Role conflict Aggression
Relaxation
Responsibility for others Productivity
Recreation
Avoidance
Job Environment
Organizational
Poor working conditions Successful Coping
Job Design
Organizational politics High self esteem
Selection & Placement
Poor work relationships Goal accomplishment
Training & Mentoring
Feeling of well being
Team Building
Environmental Factors
Employee Assistance
Economic Uncertainty
Communicating
Technological Change
Wellness Promotion
Politics
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Personal intervention strategies

• Physical relaxation techniques
• Imagery
• Stress diary
• Anger management
• Conflict resolution
• Time management
• Prioritization
• Job analysis
• Performance planning
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Physical relaxation techniques

Physical relaxation techniques are as effective as
mental techniques in reducing stress
• Deep breathing
• Progressive muscular relaxation
• Relaxation response
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Imagery
• Employees can use imagination to recreate and
enjoy a situation that is very relaxing
• Imagery can be guided or unguided
Some relaxing images
• A day at the beach
• A rippling lake
• A walk in the woods
• Birds flying through the air
• A carpeted room warmed by a fire
• A sailboat floating on the water
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Stress diary
Stress Diaries are important for understanding the
causes of short-term stress.
Stress Diaries help us to understand:
• The causes of stress in more detail
• The levels of stress at which we operate most
effectively
• How we react to stress, and whether our reactions
are appropriate and useful
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Channeling anger into performance

• Anger is a well-developed coping mechanism
that employee turn to when goals are frustrated,
or when they feel threat to themselves or to
people, things and ideas they care about.
Some universal causes of anger
• Frustration of our goals
• Hurt
• Harassment
• Personal attack
• Threat to people, things or ideas that we hold dear.
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Conflict resolution
Conflicts at work place are
• Functional Conflict
• Dysfunctional Conflict
• Task Conflict
• Relationship Conflict
• Process Conflict

Effects of conflict at workplace

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Conflict resolution techniques

• Problem solving
• Superoridnate goals
• Expansion of resources
• Avoidance
• Smoothing
• Compromise
• Authoritative command
• Altering structural variables
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Time management
• Scheduling is the process by which we look at
the time available to us, and plan how we will
use it to achieve the goals we have identified

• Understand what we can achieve with our time

• Make the best use of the time available
• Leave enough time for things we must do
• Preserve contingency time to handle 'unexpected'
• Minimize stress by avoiding over-commitment
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Prioritization
Making best use of our time and resources

We can prioritize on the basis of

• Time constraints
• Potential profitability
• Benefit of the task we are facing
• Pressure we are under to complete a job
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Job analysis
• Job Analysis is a key technique for managing job
overload – an important source of stress
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Performance planning
• A pre-prepared plan that helps to deal effectively
with any problems or distractions that may
occur, and perform in a positive and focused
frame of mind
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Organizational change strategies

• Modifying shifts
• Reducing physical hazards
• Improving career ladders
• Modifying the use of training and technology
• Job rotation and enrichment
• Increasing skill levels
• Worker decision making
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Organizational approaches
Strategies that management might consider
• Personnel selection and placement
• Training
• Goal setting
• Redesigning jobs
• Increasing employee engagement
• Increasing organizational communication
• Establishment of corporate wellness program
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Yoga in corporate world

• Yoga is answer for healing stress among working men and
women
• Corporate segment is one of the fastest growing clientele for yoga

Laughter yoga in business

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Work-life balance
• It strives to create balance for employees by
determining initiatives that help create a better
balance between the demands of the job and
enjoyment of life outside work
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Cost of stress for organization

For the company or organization, the costs of
stress take many forms
• Absenteeism
• Higher medical costs
• Staff turnover
• Reduced productivity and efficiency
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References
• Luthans F. Organizational Behavior, 7th edition, New
York, McGraw Hill, 1995.
• Stephen P. Robbins and Seema Sanghi, Organizational
Behavior, 11th edition, New Delhi, Pearson Education,
2006.
• http://www.humannatureatwork.com/articles/workplac
e_stress/Combat-Workplace-Stress-By-Recession-
Proofing-Your-Workforce.htm
• http://www.sbnonline.com/Local/Article/15723/80/124
/It_pays_to_reduce_stress.aspx?Category=425
• http://www.stressreductionbasics.com/humorforstressr
eduction.html
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• http://employees.uchc.edu/engagement/worklife.html
• http://www.laughteryogacorporate.com/index.php?
option=com_content&view=article&id=110:laughter-
the-stress-medicine&catid=49:ly-for-stress-
release&Itemid=94
• http://www.employeefactor.com/?tag=stress
• http://www.businessballs.com/stressmanagement.htm
• http://www.mindtools.com/pages/main/newMN_TCS.h
tm
• http://www.icmrindia.org/business%20Updates/micro
%20casestudies/Human%20Resource
%20Management/MCHR0007.htm
• http://www.workhealth.org/prevention/prred.html