Stress Management

for
Teams

Prof.Dr.Aung Tun Thet

Introduction
 Stress
• An important part of daily living for
everyone

• All need it to survive

 Teams
• Need stress to perform well

• In right doses, stress very healthy,

or even enjoyable
 Stress
• When excessive, very damaging

• Harm:
 health
 happiness
 work performance
 team spirit and co-operation
 relationships
 personal development
Stress Management
 At the simplest level

• recognising the symptoms of stress

• identifying the causes
• taking action to address the causes
and reduce the symptoms
• taking interim steps to relieve the
symptoms until the underlying causes
addressed
 “Trap”
• Neglecting steps 2 and 3 - only relieving the
symptoms

• Important to recognise and address the

underlying causes of stress, or the experience of
stress never goes away
 “Trap”
• For e.g., ‘Overwork' causing stress, resulting in
headaches

• If you only address the symptoms by taking pain

killers to reduce the headaches, the stress
remains, and the headaches return

• If you restructure your work so you are not

overworked, the headaches disappear without
the need for pain killers
 ‘Learned’ symptoms

• Removal of the underlying causes do not

always relieve the symptoms

• In the overwork example, the headaches might

continue long after the problem of overwork
addressed
 Signs of stress
 irritability
 headaches
 illness (particularly at weekends or
during holidays)
 insomnia
 tiredness/lethargy
 and many more ....
 Hidden Stress
• Experiencing it but your mind and body hiding it from
you and you are unaware of it

• Symptoms more subtle and difficult to recognise:

 working endlessly without tiring

 having little feeling or emotion (except the occasional
outburst of anger)
 increased use of alcohol, caffeine, cigarettes or other
drugs (which may suppress feelings of stress)
 behaviour that is 'out of character'
 an inability to relax
Hidden Stress (cont’d)
• Catch up with you eventually
• Causing more serious symptoms:

 stomach ulcers
 heart problems
 minor illness (allergies, skin disorders,
migraine)
 serious illness (e.g. arthritis, cancer, diabetes)
 mental problems (e.g. depression)
 “Be Strong”
• Cultural or social pressures

• To acknowledge that you are under stress a sign of

weakness and damage your career prospects

• Tempted to suppress your feelings of stress - a

strategy of stress denial rather than stress
management
 Excessive stress on
teamwork

• Harmful, and
• Damage:

 individual work performance

 team performance
 working relationships
 cooperation between team members
 team spirit
The more effort team members expend in managing their
own stress, the less they contribute to teamwork and mutual
support

STRESS/PERFORMANC
PERFORMANCE
E CURVE

STRESS
Causes of stress
Factors

al
Sp

ic
iri

og
uat

ol
l

Bi
Experiential Social/
Cultural
• Many and varied

Psy amic
l
dyn
na

cho
tio
Ra

-
• The “Analysis
Wheel” - useful
overview of causes Analysis Wheel

• Six different
perspectives
Biological
• Lie in the biological make up of
your body, or the interaction of

al
Sp
your body with the food you eat

ic
iri
or environment you live in

og
tu

ol
al

Bi
Social/ • Examples:
Experiential
Cultural • Lack of fitness
• Poor diet (e.g. deficiency of
Psy amic
l
dyn
na

vitamins; too much caffeine)

cho
tio

• Allergic reaction to chemicals in

Ra

food
-

• Genetic disorder resulting in

chemical imbalances in the
body
• Changes in bodily functions,
such as pregnancy, puberty,
menopause, PMT or ageing
 Social/Cultural
• Change of social
circumstances
• Pressure to conform to
social patterns of behaviour

al
Sp

(e.g., demands on an
ic
iri

og introvert to behave in an
tu

ol
al

extrovert manner)
Bi

Experiential Social/ • Conflict in relationships,

Cultural absence of praise and
Psy amic

being valued by others

l
dyn
na

• Lack of support, time to be

cho
tio

listened to, and time for

Ra

relaxation
• High-pressure job
 Psychodynamic
• Subconscious thoughts and
feelings, arise from
childhood experiences
• Examples:

al
Sp

ic
•

iri
Inner conflicts not

og
tu
addressed, but repressed

ol
al

Bi
• Encountering situations Social/
that evoke stressful Experiential
Cultural
feelings experienced in

Psy amic
l
dyn
childhood

na

cho
tio
• Expending effort to

Ra
maintain defences in

-
situations that threaten self-
esteem
• Lack of self-awareness
• Increasing self awareness
and personal growth
 Rational
• Interpret and evaluate the world
around; events interpreted in many
ways, and influence the level of
stress felt
al
Sp

ic • Examples:
iri

og
tu

• Perceiving the consequences of

ol
al

Bi

actions as being dangerous or

Experiential Social/ threatening
Cultural • An inaccurate perception of self.
Psy amic
l

•
dyn

Setting standards and expectations

na

too high, and falling short of them

cho
tio

• Misinterpreting the actions of others

Ra

• Not having the skill or knowledge to

cope with certain situations
 Experiential
• What you experience, and how you
personally, react to it?
• One person find a situation highly
stressful, whilst another find it stimulating
or enjoyable

al
Sp
• Many instant pressures cause an

ic
iri
individual to experience stress:

og
tu
• Too many simultaneous demands from

ol
al

Bi
different people
• Environmental stresses, such as noise, Experiential Social/
cramped conditions, or cluttered Cultural
surroundings.

Psy amic
l
dyn
na
• Needs unmet or frustrated.

cho
tio
• The appearance of a threat to survival,

Ra
self-esteem, or identity.

-
• Change in patterns of eating, sleeping,
time zone, relationships etc..
 Spiritual
• Spiritual side to the individual
• Include:
• Violation of personal or
religious moral code,
al contravention of accepted
Sp

group practice, or violation of

ic
iri

og

laws ("sin")
tu

ol
al

• Lack of spiritual development

Bi

Experiential Social/ • An absence of truth (e.g. self-

Cultural deception and deception of
Psy amic

others)
al
dyn
on

•
cho

Lack of a sense of personal

ti
Ra

agency
-

• Lack of forgiveness
Addressing the causes
of stress
 Addressing stress
Cause of stress
Need for time of privacy and
solitude not being met
Lack of fitness
Unexplained inner feelings of
stress
Lack of skill to resolve conflict or
manage demanding workload
Stressful job circumstances
Action that can be taken to
reduce stress
Find a place and a time of day
when you can be on your own, or
go on a retreat
Engage in sport or fitness activity
Consult a doctor, and get referral
to an appropriate specialist
Attend training courses in
assertiveness, conflict resolution
or time management
Negotiate different working
schedules
Conclusion
 Analysis wheel
• Useful in both
recognising the causes
of stress and in

al
Sp planning how to

ic
iri

og
tu address them

ol
al

Bi
Experiential Social/ • Each perspective offers
Cultural a different way of
Psy amic
explaining the origins of
l
dyn
na

stress
cho
tio
Ra

• Do not necessarily
provide 'either..or'
explanations
 Complementary and different
views of the same cause

• For e.g., if someone looking after a large number of

children find it stressful, the different perspectives offer
complementary explanations:

• Psychodynamic: Children invoking unpleasant memories

from childhood (e.g., bullied by a large group of children)
• Experiential: The person an introvert, and find external
demands difficult to cope with
• Rational: The person fearful that they are not able to cope
• Biological: Chemical imbalances in the brain causing
unpleasant feelings
• Social/Cultural: No support from others in the difficult
period, or a lack of skill in dealing with large groups of
children
• Spiritual: Unable to find an inner peace, and in inner
turmoil
Different Explanations
• Not totally independent
• Integrated or intertwined
Like several strands
of spaghetti on the
same plate - you
cannot alter one
without moving the
whole plateful
 Example
• The person, naturally an extrovert, become introverted as a result of
bullying in childhood

• Inner preference for extroversion in conflict with a self-perception of

introversion, which contributes to a lack of inner peace

• The person fearful that they cannot cope because they do not have
inner peace.

• The individual feelings of not coping based in past feelings that

he/she did not cope well when bullied in childhood

• A relationship between the defence mechanisms formed whilst

being bullied, and chemical imbalances in the brain

• Because the individual behave in an introvert manner, a network of

friends to provide support not built up
 Stress Management
• Bear the Analysis
Wheel in mind

al
Sp

ic
iri

og
tu

ol
al
• Consider stress from

Bi
Experiential Social/
a number of Cultural

Psy amic
perspectives

l
dyn
na

cho
tio
Ra

-
Summary
Stages involved in
managing stress

2. Recognising the symptoms of

stress
3. Identifying the causes
4. Taking action to address the
causes and reduce the
symptoms
5. Taking interim steps to relieve
the symptoms until the
underlying causes addressed
 Analysis Wheel
• Helps identify the
causes,

l
Sp

ca
iri

gi
• and solutions of

tu

lo
al

o
Bi
Stress Experiential Social/
Cultural

Psy amic
l
dyn
na

cho
tio
Ra