STRESS AND ITS MANAGEMENT

Stress is a person's adaptive response to excessive psychological or physical

demands caused by some stimulus.

Stressor are the stimulus that causes stress. These are events that threaten
or challenge people. They are the sources of stress, such as having to make a
decision, natural disaster or getting married etc.
Eustress is a positive stress caused by good things. It is a healthy and
normal stress.
Distress is a negative stress caused by something bad. It is adverse
psychological, physical, behavioral and organizational consequences due to
stressful events.
E.g. a loved one is seriously ill.

POSSIBLE SOURCES OF STRESS

The causes of stress can be categorized into environmental, organizational and
personal.

Environmental factors:

Economic uncertainties of the business cycle. Political uncertainties of political

systems. Technological uncertainties of technical innovations. Terrorism in threats to
physical safety and security.

Organizational factors:

Organizational structure (rules and regulations). Task demands related to the job.
Organizational leadership (administrative hierarchy). Health and safety

Personal factors:

Family and personal relationships. Economic problems from exceeding earning

capacity. Life trauma (high degree of stress).

CONSEQUENCES OF STRESS
Consequences of stress causes high level of stress like behavioral, physiological,
and psychological symptoms.

Behavioral problems (tardiness, absenteeism, turnover, and accidents etc.), psychological

problems (mood change, lowered self-esteem, job dissatisfaction, and inability to make
decisions etc.) and physiological (ulcer, headache, diabetic, and heart problem, etc.)

MANAGING STRESS
A number of individual and organizational strategies have been developed to cope with these
stress-induced problems. Exercise, relaxation, behavioral self-control techniques, cognitive
therapy techniques, institutional programs etc. are some potentially useful strategies that are
being observed in different organizations.