Stress in the Workplace

Stress in the workplace has become the black plague of the late twentieth and the twenty-first centuries. This is likely to get worse as international competition increases with the development of the European Union, the Pacific Basin and the economic and political liberation of Eastern Europe. Organisations must begin to manage people at work differently, treating them with respect and valuing their contribution, if we are to enhance the psychological wellbeing and health of workers in the future (Arnol d, 2005, p421).

With reference to the above quote explore how organisations might manage employees more effectively. Definition A stress in any force that pushes a psychological or physical factor beyond its range of stability, producing a strain within the individuals (Cooper, 1996). What is stress? Concepts. 1) External forces are seen as exerting pressure upon the individual, producing strain. (hand out) engineering approach 2) 2) Defines stress as a persons response to a disturbance.
physiological approach

3) Scientific way to explain stress related illness is HANS SELYE (1946) describes 3 stages that a person will go through when encountered by a stressful situation, alarm (lowered resistance, counter shock, defence), resistance (adapt, either return to equilibrium if not then...) exhaustion (unable to adapt). Changes in the environment Over the past few years external environmental changes that had a huge impact on the work structure, this has lead to new challenges that problems for mangers and their work force. There has been an apparent decline in the manufacturing sectors and an increase in new technologies, with increased globalisation, acquisitions, outsourcing and international competition. Companies are under increasing pressures to adapt to these changes whilst also learning new skills in order to remain on top of the game thus intern creating a more stressful environment. Schabracq and Cooper (2000) state that the combination of new technology, globalised economies, and new organisatio nal products and processes, have caused unprecedented changes and increasing stakes.

The cost of stress There are many different costs of stress, physical, psychological and social. Worryingly over the past few years there has been an increase in stress related illness, Cooper and Quick (1999) contended that in the developing world, stress is directly implicated in four causes (heart disease, strokes, injuries and suicide and homicide). In Britain, heart disease accounts for a loss of 70 million working days per year and causes 180,000 deaths (Earnshaw & Cooper, 1994). Alcohol misuse, which may be related to work stress in some individuals, costs the UK economy an estimated 2.2 billion from sickness absence and turnover (Earnshaw & Cooper, 1994) . Arnold, Cooper and Robertson stated in 1995 that some estimated the total cost of sickness absence in the UK to be as much as 10% of the Gross National Product. There is palpable evidence that stress is not only affecting the individual but is affecting the nation, therefore companies must have adequate strategies in place to prevent, deal with and manage stress in the work place. By looking at the different stress theories....? It will give a deeper understanding of what a company can do in order to prevent of the day to day stresses.

Person-Environment fit model (French, 1973) theory suggests that the relationship between a person and their work environment is the holds the source to their health. The model points out the importance of the individuals perception of their role, for example a person may feel they lack the abilities they perceive the work demands (misfits). Therefore for a healthy company managers must insure that their employees attitudes, abilities, skills and resources live up to the demands of the roles/task. It also points out that the work environment should meet the knowledge and expectations of their employees (positive misfits). These strains can relate to health related issues, lower productivity, and other work problems (French, Caplan & Harrison, 1982). This concept is also supported by the work of Yerkes-Dodson (Yerkes-Dodson Law) which highlights the point that both boredom and excessive pressure can cause increasing ill health.

Relationships at work Lazarus (1966) suggests that supportive social relationships with peers, supervisors and subordinates at work are less likely to create interpersonal pressures and will directly reduce levels of perceived jobs stress. An unsupportive relationship is made up of different aspects, mistrust, high role ambiguity, poor communication and the feelings of low job satisfaction. Relationship with superiors As Sparks et al have pointed out that, competitive pressures on organisations in turn usually mean pressure on individual managers, managers that are unable to cope with this pressure might displace their anger or frustration by bullying their employees. This places emphasis on the importance of the leadership style that a manager chooses adopt, there are various different styles that will have a direct affect on the level of stress employees could feel in the company and the notion of how much power and control when it comes to making a decision. The authoritarian style is where the focus on power lies with
the manager, he/she sets the rules and controls the group; he/she rewards or punished according to how they see fit. This implies that the elements of power and control are based on the notion of fear, therefore increasing stress within the organisation. The democratic style is where the focus of power lies in the hands of the group. The manager is part of the team and interacts with them in order to make a decision. The third style is a laissez-faire approach to power; the power is pushed onto the group whist the manager observes. Career Development With the increasing economic strains on organisations, there has been increasing fear of job security, The thought that both employees and mangers might be asked to leave or made redundant and that it is out of their hands has become a normal aspect of todays working life. Ivancevich and Matteson (1980) suggest that individuals suffering from career stress often show high job dissatisfaction, job mobility, burnout, poor work performance, less effective interpersonal relationships at work and so on. Whilst the economic strains on a company are external factors and it is inevitable that certain cuts must be made however by combining the importance of the perception of control, the need for trust and my own experience, I believe that stress levels can be lowered if the

employees are kept in the loop and are involved in some of the decision making. The resulting sense of control seems vital for well -being of workforce (Sauter et al 1989; Spector, 2000) Home work Interface Organisations are now being encouraged to realise that stress does not only exist in the workplace but can also be part of home life. With the change in social trends, more women are no longer just a housewife but are career women, this shift in roles have added increased press ures to combine family duties with work tasks. Legal legislations have given women the chance to work and have a successful family, with the introduction of maternity leave, child care facilities at work and more recently the recommendations issued to organisations to aid women to continue to breast feed when they have returned to work. This proactive attitude has decreased the stress of women at the work place. However whist social trends have opened opportunities to women, technological advances can be argued have created too much opportunity. The internet and mobile phones have meant that the boundary between work time and home time have become blurred. The pressure to continue to work will travelling, attend to work emails at home or even on holiday have become expected from some organisations, thus having less time and energy for family, friends and relaxation. Conflict between work and home can produce a verity of symptoms of stress (Kossek and Ozeki, 1998). In my experience a successful organisation in preventing stressful home work conflict, is one that allows for flexible hours, is seen to encourage employees to use their work hours to complete their tasks and not to deal with work at home. Organisations are using employee assistance programmes (EPA) and stress management training in an attempt to demolish stress related illnesses. This is where employees are taught how to cope with stressors. The EPA can come in different forms, from a gym at work to psychological counselling. However whist these changes can aid the employee to deal with the problem it does encourage the organisation to deal with the cause of the stressors. It is more of a treatment rather than preventing the stress in the first place. Reasons for this is that, it is c onsidered easier and less distributive to business to change the individual then to embark on an extensive and potentially expensive organisational development programme. (Cooper and Cartwright 1994). I would argue that if an organisation worked on preventing the cause of stress, in the long run it would reduce staff turnover, increase efficiency, reduce legal claims and therefore save the organisation from unwanted financial costs and save time.

Practical changes to help prevent stressors from fully d eveloping Elkin and Rosch (1990) pointed out a range of useful range of possible organisation directed strategies to reduce stress. If a task is causing a problem then redesign it, redesign work environment, establish work flexible work schedules, encourage participative management, include the employee in career development, analyse work roles and establish goals, provide social support and provide feedback, build cohesive terms, establish fair employment policies and share rewords.

Conclusion To have a successful organisation is not only about the bottom line but to have a healthily, able and motivated workforce. y Resources y Autonomy y To prevent and deal with uncontrollable stress y To value and accept the importance of home life y To review and evaluate their stress in the workplace strategies, to ensure they are working. y Invest in their Human capital