Stressors on organizations and stress management

Stress is a situation where by an individual is emotionally, psychologically or emotionally under pressure because of certain variables in their work places. Statistically, many people in Canada and around the globe live in situations full of stressing activities. They emanate from all angles such as work places, homes and almost everywhere (James and Peter 2007). In this paper, our emphasis will be on the work stress which forms the basis of organizational stress, a factor that can influence performance but again, quite encouragingly, can be positive and improve on the work scale of an employee (Neil 2001).

This comes when organizations or even individuals themselves intervene in the stress management systems by identifying the causes of such stress. It is known by all and sundry that stress can arise from individual factors like personality, self esteem as well as the social support. According to (Armstrong 2007), organizations may also be the source of some stress especially if they don’t understand their employees, provides poor working conditions or gives them poor wages. Research has shown that several factors if left unaddressed can induce stress or even increase the level of stress in individuals.

It comes with relief that chief executive officers, and managers in Canada can now be educated on theories of stress management researched by psychologists and in so doing get the upper hand in managing stress(Altiman 2005). Poor relationship with the boss as stressor In terminologies of stress, poor relationship with the boss may be perceived as a threat whereby the employee is confronted with both the fear of losing the job in the event of a small misunderstanding with the boss and the possibilities of falling as victims of circumstances.

Order custom essay Stressors on organizations and stress management with free plagiarism report

450+ experts on 30 subjects Starting from 3 hours delivery

Get Essay Help

Poor relationship with the boss originates from the broader angle that there is pressure and tension (Cary1998). If the relationship is poor, it is definite that an employee will be stressed up. In this case, the poor relationship will be the stressor because, it will lead to an employee to be afraid of what might crop up in the next minute which injects in fear of the loss of the job. Employees who afraid will not be peaceful and as a result, their performance will be compromised. Every time this employee will just feel withdrawn and hence not in a position to work and deliver (James and peter 2007).

Research has explained that such kind of stressor have its causes and consequences which are very specific to particular situations . If a company has a bad boss, the level of trust in the management will decline and result to depression and anger, thus induce stress in the organization. According to chief executive officers in a fortune 500 company, constant reshuffle and reorganization has to be done in order to evaluate and reevaluate the performance and wellbeing of the employer and thus improve on the relationship between worker-worker and worker-employer (Wilmer 1997).

This will enable the company to identify any upsurge of such stressor and handle it in the uniqueness of its situation. The stimulator of this kind of organizational stressor is the bad boss syndrome. Recent studies in the US have suggested that bad bosses may cause havoc to the company. On many occasions these bad bosses seem to be hardworking, experienced or even result oriented persons, but still they become interpersonally challenged (Cary 1998).

If you approached a Canadian folk and asked them how it feels to work with a bad boss, the response would be source of all sorts of stress. Generally, such bosses hamper performance, reduce productivity and even lowers the morale of the workers. After 20 years of research, Saratoga institute reported that out of the 600,000 people interviewed , 80% of them accepted having been stressed up by their bosses and the result was that their relationships with the bosses was unsatisfactory and their performance vey dismal (Armstrong 2007).

In addition, pressure exerted by bosses to meet unrealistic deadlines gives room for the boss-worker poor relationship. This way, the work expected to be done will eventually not be handled in a free atmosphere that hinders effective completion. It becomes so unbearable to most employees that they end up not accomplishing tasks and in the end the worker feels stressed. Human beings desire a certain amount of time; space stability and certainty to enable the work appropriately and without any negative pressure. This will see to it that the work is done very efficiently.

This problem can equally be solved by distributing the work load to various workers because, most employees deem it good to share and the spirit of team play will be cultivate(Neil 2001). Job policies and designs designed internally by the boss that do not make sense also add as stressor. Every job design and policy must meet the professional ethics and do not expose them to hazards. This has been realized to be a tool used by particular companies in order for them to realize high profit margins. Such companies resort to employ workers of the African origin and then expose them to dangers.

According to the University of Texas study People who struggle to spend a lot of time at workplaces are more likely to be exposed to dangers such as premature deaths than those who get time to relax (Altiman 2005). Heavy workload according to the same study can generate high stress hormones and they in the long run suffer health risks which may make the worker to have the tendency of absenteeism and eventually decreased productivity. Similarly , a sure way to kill human motivation is through getting workers in a company to do jobs that they do not understand its purpose and again there is almost little to be excited about in that job.

In addition, some job requirements are not realistic because, in a survey study to identify the satisfaction a job gives, showed that people would go for jobs that are meaningful and which fits to a larger framework (Bernedette 1997). In this regard to this factor, managers design jobs with several workload and pressure whose end result is health hazard like hypertension and high Blood Pressure. Lack of effective communication forces that includes feedback is a stressor at some point. Sometimes managers do not get the necessary positive feedback that they require.

Or even if they get it, the manner in which it is given is not appropriate. Such managers will subject their own problems to the juniors and eventually the whole lot under that manages will definitely be stressed up. At the same time, some bosses do not commend the good work done by the juniors or just keep on giving negative comments every now and again. Workers under this situation would feel demotivated and finally this will come in a stressor. Such feedbacks may compromise ones self confidence and self esteem (Wilmer 1997). Inability of works to balance between work and family life is in itself a stressor.

Recent study carried out by the University of Maryland clearly underscores the point that majority of working parents have sacrificed to compromise the time they allocated to be with their families. In the study, over 500 employee of in a fortune company agreed that working for long hours breeds the conflict in the family (James and Peter 2007). With the under mentioned conflict stress level rises which may cause depression and underperformance. Honestly this identifies why despite the recent economic meltdown and uncertainties, life should not be built at the axis of work.

Leisure and entertainments that is as will achieve in the family, serves to increase the production index of an individual through boosting confidence and self-esteem. If one juggles between family, leisure and hobbies and work, high instances of stress will not be reported (Altiman 2005). In comparative terms, Co-workers contribute greatly to the stress levels experienced by workers through conspiracy to spy on a fellow worker with the boss or reporting negatively to boss. As Neil (2001) said,’ we catch colds and bad moods from the sorounding’. Just like bad bosses, our fellow unpleasant workers inflict stressful pains in our lifes.

This may is linked to the idea that stress will emanates from team work, our personal style of doing things or even our socio-political orientation that different from those of our workmates. Theories explaining poor relationship with the boss The theory of self concept argued to deal with poor relationship of an employer with the boss. According to the director of reemployment programming in Atlanta, organizations and individuals need to embrace the theory of self concept to enable them to manage certain changes that range from stressful to unstressful (Bernedette 1997).

In so doing; organizations should encourage their employee to share information openly. The shared information would encourage all the stakeholders to know themselves and appreciate all the changes in every situation even if the situations are very adverse. the organizations empower the workers to adjust to changes in various elements (Armstrong 2007). Psychodynamic theory tries to unearth the cause of the stressor and whether they are environmentally socially or psychologically triggered. Getting to know the needs of the worker and proving for those needs will mean a lot to the workers (James and Peter).

This embraces the branch of offering services to the workers and their families. Such services include the Gym, childcare centers or even entertainment spots. This will serve as a measure not only to counter fatigue but also to motivate workers. Through these workers will help the organization to review its working hours, shifts and the whole concept of working conditions (Cary, 1998). According to (James and Peter 2007), a biochemical theory is concerned with reducing the chemicals that stimulate stress level.

Initiating a forum where everybody in the organization highlights and gives the idea that would inject satisfaction both to the employer and the employees would help a great deal. This will help the whole organization to know the interests of the workers and strike a balance between the workers lives and the perspective of the organization (wilmer, 1997). Alongside this; the organization will get a better platform where they educate their employee to practice positive lifestyles such as time management, social support, consistent and correct exercise among others.

Finally, allow workers some vacations so that they may get time to recollect on their lives as well as resting both physically and mentally (Neil 2001). Agencies that help in stress management Canadian Health Resource Centre offers services in stress management and is considered as professionals with formal training to facilitate counseling. The centre has qualified psychotherapist who deal in healthy living, mental health and good relationships with other. For all their services, a fee is levied. Stress specialists are another lot.

They operate as an organization or individuals that are accredited to offer stress management education and treatment (Altman2005). Critical incident stress management is involved individuals families and small group counseling and education regarding stress. They often work with hospitals and non governmental organizations to help people who suffer from stress. They uncover causes of mental health problems by analyzing someone’s dreams, early experiences and the person’s subconscious mind. Their approach to handling the poor relationships with the boss, is based on adaptive response which is moderated by the victims individual differences.

Therefore, the sources of stress can be established to be in terms of working conditions or even the socio-economic environment (Armstrong 2007). Public safety experts for traumatic stress offer credit counseling services and their clients are mainly people involved in financial credit. The counselors guide you on possible avenues of settling of the debts and give them the possible ways to take charge of their situations. The Apollo Health consultant deals in drugs that reduce stress level especially in chronic and extreme cases (wilmer 1997).

However, to clearly identify stress levels in respect to poor relationship with the boss, many agencies use organizational stress A-model suggested by James and Peter (2007) (figure1). This model gives the connection between stressor and the worker, the boss or the organization at large with emphasis on cognitive, behavioral and psychological outcomes. The entire effects of are analyzed to ascertain if the level evolved from psychological effects, infected the cognitive level and whether it is approaching the behavioral level (James and Peter2007).

This model offers a coherent stress managerial style that eventually reduces the stress level in a worker. Conclusion and recommendations There is a deeper view of stressors that encompass a far broader agenda that has been covered here. Examples include, the relationship and the nature of decision making in stress, reward approach like giving incentives and team work in organizational structure. This question underscores he whole structure of stress management that deals with the importance of self esteem, and confidence to better the organizational ability to adopt fresh courses of actions.

Researchers could however come up with long term mitigating factors of stressor because; the conditions have already been described and analyzed. This means, that such agencies may adopt measures to educate workers, co-workers and managers on how to realize what might cause a stress-related behavior and how to intervene for help. Appended documentation Figure1. Organizational Stress: A Model Source: James Walker, Peter Stephenson, 2007. “Human Resources Strategy”, Organizational Dynamics, vol. 6, pp. 192 Reference Altman, E. (2005), Organizational behavior: theory and practice: The University of Michigan, Academic Press,

Cary, L. C (1998) Theories of Organizational Stress: London, Oxford University Press Wilmar, S. (1997) Professional Burnout: Recent Developments in Theory and Research: New York, CRC Press Bernadette, A. (1997). Self-diagnostic approach to understanding organizational and personal stressors: the C-O-P-E model for stress reduction, Michigan, Quorum Neil, A. (2001). Handbook of Industrial, Work and Organizational Psychology: London, SAGE James, W. & Peter S. (2007). “Human Resources Strategy”, Organizational Dynamics, vol. 6, pp. 192 Armstrong, G. (2007). Managing performance appraisal systems: New York, Butterworth

Don't let plagiarism ruin your grade

Run a free check or have your essay done for you

Check my essay Hire Writer