Work Stress.

 

Work is, for most people, the most important source of stress in life. What are the causes and consequences of stress and what can individuals and organizations do to reduce it?

 

What Is Stress?

Stress is a dynamic condition in which an individual is confronted with an opportunity, demand or resource related to what the individual desires and for which the outcome is perceived to be both uncertain and important. This is a complicated definition. Let us look at its components more closely.

 

Although stress is typically discussed in a negative context, it is not necessarily bad in and of itself; it also has a positive value. It is an opportunity when it offers potential gain. Individuals often use stress to rise to the occasion and perform at their maximum.

 

Recently, researchers have argued that challenge stressors (stressors associated with workload, pressure to complete tasks and time urgency) operate quite differently from hindrance stressors (stressors that keep you from reaching your goals, for example red tape, office politics or confusion over job responsibilities. There is also evidence that challenge stress improves job performance in a supportive work environment, whereas hindrance stress reduces job performance in all work environments. When challenge stress increases, those with high levels of organizational support have higher role-based performance but those with low levels of organizational support do not.

 

More typically, stress is associated with demands and resources. Demands are responsibilities, pressures, obligations and uncertainties individuals face in the workplace. Resources are things within an individual’s control that he or she can use to resolve the demands. To the extent you can apply resources to the the demands on you, such as being prepared, placing the exam or review in perspective or obtaining social support, will relieve your feeling of stress.

 

Consequences of stress

Stress shows itself in a number of ways, such as high blood pressure, ulcers, irritability, difficulty in making routine decisions, loss of appetite, accident proneness, and the like. These symptoms fit under three general categories:

 

Physiological Symptoms

Most early concern with stress was directed at physiological symptoms because most researchers were specialists in the health and medical sciences. Their work led to the conclusion that stress could create changes in metabolism, increase heart and breathing rates and blood pressures, bring on headaches and induce heart attacks.

 

Psychological Symptoms

Job satisfaction is “the simplest and most obvious psychological effect” of stress. But stress shies itself in other psychological states, for instance tension, anxiety, irritability, boredom and procrastination. Jobs that make multiple and conflicting demands or that lack clarity about the incumbent’s duties, authority and responsibilities increase both stress and dissatisfaction.

 

Behavioral Symptoms

Behavior-related stress symptoms include changes in productivity, absence and turnover as well as changes in eating habits, increased smoking or consumption of alcohol, rapid speech, fidgeting and sleep disorders.