Stress is a psychological condition where an individual faces certain setback to his work or activity due to factors both internal and external. According to DeCenzo and Robbins, “Stress is a dynamic condition in which an individual confronts an opportunity, constraint or demand related to what he or she desires, and for which the outcome is perceived as both uncertain and important. (DeCenzo & Robbins, 2010, p. 354)”
Workplace stress can be both positive and negative. When an employee is psyched to complete a certain project (eg: a project presentation) to come to fruition this can induce stress. But this is considered positive as this type of stress fuels the employee’s drive to work harder to perform better. On the other hand overload of work when delegated to an employee to be completed in a given time frame will induce a negative stress which will inhibit their drive to perform better.
Before managing stress it is important to understand what causes stress in a workplace. Understanding these triggers creating stress can help in determining the contributing factor and strategy to manage them. The stress contributing factors are Task Demand, Role Demands, Interpersonal Demands, Organizational Structure, Organizational Leadership and Personal Factors.
After understanding the stress contributors’, managers can work towards addressing stress in the workplace through the following ways.
1. Job Design: Job design is a term that loosely explains the job responsibility, authority and the working condition of the staff in the workplace. For example if staffs do not have autonomy to exercise authority for certain decision making or their job tasks are not clear then this could lead to stress. Similarly the working environment if is not healthy like lighting, heating, noisy then the stress can build up.
2. Targets and Performance Standards: Expectations from a staff’s job that is too large to be completed by one person can induce stress. Unreachable targets, overambitious performance standards or unclear standards will trigger stress in an employee. Therefore while setting targets and performance standards they must be both viable and reacheable.
3. Job Placement: Understanding the capability of an employee is very important. For example capacity based on academic and experiences are two different measurements for an HR manager. Thus job placement based on these measures can reduce stress as the job standard caters to the capacity of the staffs.
4. Career Development: In this modern era human resource planning is an important aspect for the growth and sustainability of any organization. Thus career development of staffs methodically according to their capacity can reduce stress of staff feeling left out.
5. Performance management process: A process that enables a free flow of communication between the manger and the staff concerning their problems and future expectations can also reduce the stress level.
6. Counselling: Counselling can be either formal or informal. For example a senior comforting a junior for small conflicts or stress induced aggravation could also be a counselling. Most organizations have set channels for an employee to address their problems. There may have suggestion boxes or can come directly to an HR and talk about their problems. Sharing problems to managers can help reduce stress.
7. Anti-bullying campaigns: “Hence, bullying not only generates negative emotions, but it also seems to reduce the positive ones, and in effect reduces job satisfaction and organizational commitment while increasing the targets’ intentions to seek employment elsewhere. Glasø, L., PhD, & Notelaers, G., PhD. (2012).” Bullying is directly related to the emotional wellbeing of a person in an organization and directly affects his working. Thus anti-bullying campaigns, trainings and group works can help reduce bullying reducing stress.
8. Organizational Structure: Some leadership is based on fear which directly increases stress. Thus leadership values and types should also be changed to manage stress.
9. Personal Stress: Employees bring their personal problems to organization. They are stress and on edge at these times. HR needs to understand that a personal reason also plays a vital role in stress. With conversation and counselling this personal stress can be reduced to some level. Work flexibility at these times could also help with stress management.
These are some ways in which stress can be managed. If stress is left unmanaged it could lead to burnout and decrease in staff performance leading to less productivity and even loss in an organization.
References
DeCenzo, D., & Robbins, S. P. (2010). Stress. In S. P. David DeCenzo, Fundamentals of Human Resource Management (p. 436). America: John Wiley & Sons Inc.
Glasø, L., PhD, & Notelaers, G., PhD. (2012). Workplace bullying, emotions, and outcomes. Violence and Victims, 27(3), 360-77. Retrieved from search.proquest.com/docview/102063...
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Stress is a psychological condition where an individual faces certain setback to his work or activity due to factors both internal and external. According to DeCenzo and Robbins, “Stress is a dynamic condition in which an individual confronts an opportunity, constraint or demand related to what he or she desires, and for which the outcome is perceived as both uncertain and important. (DeCenzo & Robbins, 2010, p. 354)”
Workplace stress can be both positive and negative. When an employee is psyched to complete a certain project (eg: a project presentation) to come to fruition this can induce stress. But this is considered positive as this type of stress fuels the employee’s drive to work harder to perform better. On the other hand overload of work when delegated to an employee to be completed in a given time frame will induce a negative stress which will inhibit their drive to perform better.
Before managing stress it is important to understand what causes stress in a workplace. Understanding these triggers creating stress can help in determining the contributing factor and strategy to manage them. The stress contributing factors are Task Demand, Role Demands, Interpersonal Demands, Organizational Structure, Organizational Leadership and Personal Factors.
After understanding the stress contributors’, managers can work towards addressing stress in the workplace through the following ways.
1. Job Design: Job design is a term that loosely explains the job responsibility, authority and the working condition of the staff in the workplace. For example if staffs do not have autonomy to exercise authority for certain decision making or their job tasks are not clear then this could lead to stress. Similarly the working environment if is not healthy like lighting, heating, noisy then the stress can build up.
2. Targets and Performance Standards: Expectations from a staff’s job that is too large to be completed by one person can induce stress. Unreachable targets, overambitious performance standards or unclear standards will trigger stress in an employee. Therefore while setting targets and performance standards they must be both viable and reacheable.
3. Job Placement: Understanding the capability of an employee is very important. For example capacity based on academic and experiences are two different measurements for an HR manager. Thus job placement based on these measures can reduce stress as the job standard caters to the capacity of the staffs.
4. Career Development: In this modern era human resource planning is an important aspect for the growth and sustainability of any organization. Thus career development of staffs methodically according to their capacity can reduce stress of staff feeling left out.
5. Performance management process: A process that enables a free flow of communication between the manger and the staff concerning their problems and future expectations can also reduce the stress level.
6. Counselling: Counselling can be either formal or informal. For example a senior comforting a junior for small conflicts or stress induced aggravation could also be a counselling. Most organizations have set channels for an employee to address their problems. There may have suggestion boxes or can come directly to an HR and talk about their problems. Sharing problems to managers can help reduce stress.
7. Anti-bullying campaigns: “Hence, bullying not only generates negative emotions, but it also seems to reduce the positive ones, and in effect reduces job satisfaction and organizational commitment while increasing the targets’ intentions to seek employment elsewhere. Glasø, L., PhD, & Notelaers, G., PhD. (2012).” Bullying is directly related to the emotional wellbeing of a person in an organization and directly affects his working. Thus anti-bullying campaigns, trainings and group works can help reduce bullying reducing stress.
8. Organizational Structure: Some leadership is based on fear which directly increases stress. Thus leadership values and types should also be changed to manage stress.
9. Personal Stress: Employees bring their personal problems to organization. They are stress and on edge at these times. HR needs to understand that a personal reason also plays a vital role in stress. With conversation and counselling this personal stress can be reduced to some level. Work flexibility at these times could also help with stress management.
These are some ways in which stress can be managed. If stress is left unmanaged it could lead to burnout and decrease in staff performance leading to less productivity and even loss in an organization.
References
DeCenzo, D., & Robbins, S. P. (2010). Stress. In S. P. David DeCenzo, Fundamentals of Human Resource Management (p. 436). America: John Wiley & Sons Inc.
Glasø, L., PhD, & Notelaers, G., PhD. (2012). Workplace bullying, emotions, and outcomes. Violence and Victims, 27(3), 360-77. Retrieved from search.proquest.com/docview/102063...