CHAPTER SIX

STRESS MANAGEMENT
6.1. Meaning of Stress
Stress is the general term applied to the pressures people feel in life. The presence of stress at
work is almost inevitable in many jobs. The nature of stress has been studied by scholars in a
wide range of academic disciplines. Physicians, psychiatrists, and researchers in management
have all studied its causes and its symptoms, and have defined the term in a variety of different
ways. Stress is defined as "the reactions of individuals to new or threatening factors in their work
environments”. Stress can be either positive or negative. Some new work situations can bring us
positive challenges and excitement. For example, promotions to new jobs present employees
with positive stress. Employees may feel anxious about their new work assignments; they also
anticipate them eagerly and look forward to the additional challenges, rewards, and excitement.
In these cases, the new and uncertain job situations create positive stress. The positive stress is
also called the Eustress.
However, there are certain other types of work that are very threatening and anxiety arousing.
For example, depression in the economy can create negative stress for sales personnel, because
they will be much more anxious about making sales commissions.
6.2. Potential Sources of Stress
Stress is a reality of our everyday life. There are both positive and negative stresses that
come from our work and non-work lives. Among others, the work and non-work domains of
one's life are closely interrelated. The stresses and strains experienced in one domain are carried
over to the other. Thus, if one experiences stress at work, that stress will be carried over to the
home.
Generally speaking there are three categories of potential stressors.
1. Environmental Factors
Environmental factors influence the stress level among employees in organizations.
Environmental factors includes: economic uncertainty, political uncertainty and technological
uncertainty.
 Economic uncertainty: It occurs due to change in the business cycle. When the economy is
contrasting, people become increasingly anxious about their security.
Minor recessions also increase stress levels. Dawn ward swings in the economy are often

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accompanied by permanent reduction in the work force, temporary layoffs, reduced pay, shorter
work weeks, and the like.
 Political uncertainties: Political uncertainty tends to create stress in countries that do not have
stable political systems where change is not typically implemented in an orderly manner.
 Technological uncertainty: New innovations can make an employee’s skills and experience
obsolete in a very short period of time. Computers, robotics, automations, and other forms of
technological innovations are a threat to many people and cause them stress.
2. Organizational Factors
Pressures to avoid errors or complete tasks in a limited time period, work over load, a demanding
or insensitive boss, and unpleasant coworkers are a few factors within the organization that can
cause stress. These factors can be categorized around task, role and interpersonal demands,
organizational structure, organizational leadership and the organization’s life stage.
 Task demands: Are factors related to a person’s job? They include the design of individual job
(autonomy, task variety, degree of automation), working conditions and the physical work lay
out. The more interdependence between a person’s task and task of other, the more potential
stress there is. Autonomy, on the other hand tends to lessen stress. Jobs where temperatures,
noise, or other working conditions are dangerous can increase anxiety. So, too, can work in an
overcrowded room or in a visible location where interruptions are constant.
 Role demands: Relates to pressures placed on a person as a function of the particular role she
or he plays in the organization.
 Role conflict: Often employees discover that different groups of people in an organization
have widely varying expectations of them, and that they cannot meet all those expectations. This
inconsistency of expectations associated with a role is called role conflict, which results in stress.
 Role overload: Role overload is a situation in which employees feel they are being asked to do
more than time or ability permits. Working under time pressure is especially stressful.
 Role ambiguity: When there is a lot of uncertainty surrounding job definitions or job
expectations, people experience role ambiguity. With the recent increase in mergers and
acquisitions among major organizations, more and more employees are experiencing job stress
as a result of role ambiguity. Role ambiguity is anxiety arousing among employees that leads to
job stress. In short role ambiguity is created when role expectations are not clearly understood
and the employee is not sure what he or she is to do.

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 Interpersonal demands: Are pressures crated by other employees. Lack of social support from
colleagues or poor interpersonal relationships can cause considerable stress, especially among
employees with a high social need.
 Organizational structure: Defines the level of differentiation in an organization, the degree of
rules and regulations and lack of participation in decisions are examples of structural variables
that might be potential source of stress.
 Organizational leadership: Represents the managerial style of the organization’s senior
executive. Some chief executives officers create a culture characterized by tension, fear and
anxiety. They established unrealistic pressures to perform in the short run impose excessively
tight controls and routinely fire employees.
 Organizations life stage: Organizations go through a cycle. They’re established; they grow,
become matured, and eventually decline. When an organization is in this four stag cycle creates
different problems and pressures for employees. The establishment and decline stages are
particularly stressful. The former is characterized by a great deal of excitement and uncertainty,
while the latter typically require layoffs. Stress tends to be least in maturity stage.
3. Personal Factors
Employees’ personal lives have a marked effect on their lives at work. If things are going well
personally, they are more likely to be upbeat and optimistic. They have more energy and
patience for dealing with problems at work. On the other hand, if employees are having some
personal problems, they might be more tense or distracted when they go to work.
Factors that influence how much stress people bring from their persona! Lives to the work
setting are as follows:
 Career Concerns: One major career concern that can cause stress is lack of job security. A
second career concern that can cause employees stress is status incongruity, i.e., having jobs with
less status, power and prestige than they think they deserve.
 Geographical Mobility: Geographical moves create stress because they disrupt the routines of
daily life. When geographical moves arc undertaken as part of a job transfer, the moves can be
even more stressful. The transferred employees are likely to feel out of control at work, too, and
experience their new work environments as unpredictable.

6.3. Consequences of Job Stress

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Negative stress has unpleasant consequences for them, their families and for the organizations
they serve.
Effects on the Individual
The impacts of distress on individuals are of following types:
 The subjective or intrapersonal effects of stress are feelings of anxiety, boredom, apathy,
nervousness, depression, fatigue, and anger. Sometimes experiencing the stress may cause
aggressive behaviors on the part of the individual.
 The cognitive effects include poor concentration, short attention span, mental blocks and
inability to make decisions.
 The physiological effects can be seen in increased heart and pulse rate, high blood pressure,
dryness of throat, and excessive sweating.
 The behavioral effects arc manifest in such things as accident proneness, drinking, excessive
eating, smoking, impulsive behaviors, depression, and withdrawal behaviors.
 The manifest health effects could be stomach disorders and other psychosomatic disorders. In
addition, the mental health, i.e. the ability to function effectively in one's daily life, will also
decline as excessive stress is experienced.
Consequences for the Family
Negative stress, which is handled by individuals in dysfunctional ways, such as drinking or
withdrawal behaviors, will have an adverse effect on their home life. Spouse abuse, child abuse,
alienation from family members, and even divorce could result from dysfunctional coping
mechanisms.
Consequences to Organizations
The adverse consequences on an organization include low performance and productivity, high
rates of absenteeism and poor decision-making. It also leads to loss of customers because of poor
worker attitudes, increased alienation of the worker from the job, and even destructive and
aggressive behaviors resulting in strikes and sabotage.
The stresses experienced by employees who take on critical roles and are responsible for safety
can sometimes be detrimental to the public. For instance, the stresses experienced by a train
driver or railway guard, or that of an airline pilot, navigator, or air traffic controller may result in
serious accidents. Needless to say that the costs of employee stress to the organization in terms
of lost profits, poor image and loss of future business are enormous.

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6.4. Methods of Managing Stress
1. Role Analysis Technique (RAT): The Role Analysis Technique helps both the manager and the
employee to analyze the requirements and expectations from the job. Breaking-down the job into
various components clarifies the role of the job for the entire system. This also helps to eliminate
reduction of work and thus lowering down the stress level.
2. Job Relocation: Job relocation assistance is offered to employees who are transferred, by
finding alternative employment for the spouses of the transferred employees and getting
admissions in schools for their children in the new place. These arrangements help to reduce the
anxiety and stress for the moving family.
3. Job Relocation: Job relocation assistance is offered to employees who are transferred, by
finding alternative employment for the spouses of the transferred employees and getting
admissions in schools for their children in the new place. These arrangements help to reduce the
anxiety and stress for the moving family.
4. Recreational Program: Providing recreational facilities, arranging group meditation programs,
help to reduce the stress levels of the employees.
5. Employee Assistance Program: Another widely used strategy is the employee assistance
Programs, which offer a variety of assistance to employees. These include counseling employees
who seek assistance on how to deal with alcohol and drug abuse, handling conflicts at the work
place, dealing with marital and other family problems.
6. Career Counseling: Career Counseling helps the employee to obtain professional advice
regarding career that would help the individual to achieve personal goals. It also makes the
employees aware of what additional educational qualifications or specialized technical training,
if any, (hat they should acquire. By becoming knowledgeable about the possible avenues for
advancement, the employees who consider their careers to be important can reduce their stress
levels by becoming more realistic about their options and can start preparing themselves for it.
7. Time Management: Another way of coping with stress is to manage time more effectively.
People can learn to get better organized so that they can do their work more efficiently.
8. Delegation: Another way of coping with job stress is to delegate some responsibilities to
others.
Delegation can directly decrease workload upon the manager and helps to reduce the stress.
9. More Information and Help: Some new employees have to spend more time on a job than

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necessary because they are not sure what they are doing. So it is necessary that some help should
be provided before doing the work that would lead to much efficient, effective work. It would
also reduce anxiety and stress among the employees.
10. Health Maintenance: Probably the most frequently used organizational stress management
program is health maintenance. Many companies invest large sum of money in gym and sport
facilities for maintaining the health of the employees.
11. Supervisor Training: Another type of stress management program that organizations are
experimenting with is supervisor training. The emphasis on supervisory training Program is how
to prevent job stress. Managers are trained to give better performance appraisals, to listen to
employees’ problems more effectively, and to communicate job assignments and instructions
more clearly.