Stress at Work

Khan Sarfaraz Ali∗

∗
Office politics, the issue of loyalty versus personal independence, and role conflicts all create stress for
organizational members, and some evidence indicates that young people are more vulnerable to stress than older
employees.i Fortunately, many of the causes and effects of stress can be managed. What exactly do we mean by
stress? One widely accepted definition is offered by Joseph E. McGrath “… there is a potential for stress when an
environmental situation is perceived as presenting a demand which threatens to exceed the person’s capabilities and
resources for meeting it.”ii
The sources of pressure and tension that cause stress are known as stressors. When most of us imagine a
stressful environment, we envision a harried office worker, in-box overflowing with work to be done, trying
simultaneously to answer the phone, explain to the boss why everything is late, and write a report. This picture is not
inaccurate-role overload is a major cause of stress at work.
There are two kinds of overload. Quantitative overloading occurs when a person has more work than he or
she can complete in a given time. Quantitative overloading occurs when the employee lacks the skills or abilities to
complete the job satisfactorily. Under loading can also be a problem-a person who does not have enough to do face
boredom and monotony, which are also quite stressful.
In addition to role conflicts and over-and under loading, a variety of aspects of the work environment can
cause stress. These include:
 Responsibility for others. Those who must work with other people, motivate them, and make decisions that
will affect their careers experience more stress than those who do not have such responsibilities.
 Lack of participation in decisions. People who feel that they are not involved in decisions that influence
their jobs have relatively high levels of stress.
 Performance evaluations or appraisals. Having one’s performance evaluated can be very stressful,
especially when it affects one’s job and income.
 Working conditions. Crowded, noisy, or otherwise uncomfortable working conditions can be a source of
stress.
 Change within an organization. Stress can result from any major change within an organization-an
alteration in company policy, reorganization, or a change in leadership, for example.
Obviously, different jobs vary greatly in the amount of stress they generate Physicians, office managers,
and supervisors, for example, must endure a good deal of stress. Craft workers, farm laborers, and college
professors, on the other hand, face relatively little on-the-job stress.
Effects of Stress
Many medical practitioners believe that 50 to 70 percent of all physical illnesses are related to stress. The link
between stress and heart disease is well known, and high levels of stress are associated with diabetes, ulcers, high
blood pressure, and arteriosclerosis. Stress can also cause depression, irritation, anxiety, fatigue, lowered self-
esteem, and reduced job satisfaction and performance. Sustained over a long enough period, stress can lead to
attempts to escape through the use of drugs or alcohol. It may also lead to burnout, a state of physical, emotional,
and mental exhaustion.
Salvatore R. Maddi and Suzanne C. Kobasa have investigated the factors that cause some people to become
exhausted and drained by stressful events and others to be stimulated and challenged by them. The ability to handle
stress, they found, is a function of four characteristics: (1) personal style and personality (how the individual tends to
perceive, interpret, and respond to stressful events); (2) social sup-ports (the extent to which family, friends, co-
workers, and others provide encouragement and emotional support during stressful events); (3) constitutional
predisposition (how robust and healthy the individual’s body is); and (4) health practices (the extent to which the
individual stays in good physical condition through exercise and avoiding destructive behaviors like smoking). The
most important factor by far, they found, was a personality dimension they called “hardiness.” Individuals high in
hardiness are committed to their work and life rather than alienated from them, have a sense of control rather than a

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Associate management Counselor, Bangladesh Institute of management (BIM)
01817528067 / sarfarazbim@gmail.com
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The tension and pressure that result when an individual views a situation as presenting a demand that threatens to exceed
his/her capabilities or resources are known as Stress.
feeling of powerlessness when confronted with problems, and interpret change and problems as challenges rather
than as threats.
These three characteristics – commitment, control, and challenge – lead individuals to think about stressful
events in optimistic ways and to act decisively toward them, thus changing them in a less stressful direction. This
transformational coping process not only serves hardy individuals well in managing their organizations but also
reduces the likelihood of illness in both the short and the long run. Un-hardy individuals, on the other hand, tend to
think pessimistically about stressful events and to take evasive action to avoid contact with them. This makes them
less effective managerially as well as much more likely to experience health problems.
Managing Stress
If individuals are to grow and prosper in organizations, they must learn to prevent and manage stress. Perhaps the
single best way to prevent stress is to pay more attention to management can be a primary method of reducing stress.
Managers can also eliminate some of the overloading that causes stress by delegating work to their
subordinates, passing some tasks on to other units of the organization, and planning carefully for periods of peak
workload. In addition, upper-level managers can reduce stress throughout the organization by decentralizing
authority (to reduce feelings of helplessness among employees); by adjusting reward systems (so that performance
appraisals are viewed as fair and reasonable); by allowing employees to participate in making decisions that will
affect them; by improving and broadening lines of communication; by enlarging jobs so that they include more
varied activities; and directing their own careers.
One of the best ways to cope with stress is to develop the habit of viewing problems optimistically and
acting decisively toward them so that one experiences commitment, control, and challenge rather than alienation,
powerlessness, and threat. Although Maddi and Kobase refer to hardiness as a “personality” characteristic– and
personality is notoriously difficult to change – they are optimistic about people’s ability to increase their hardiness
and offer some specific suggestions for doing so. Similar approaches are used in coping skills training programs in
which people learn to recognize and cope with situations that cause them to feel helpless.
Improving physical fitness is another way to handle stress. People who exercise to strengthen their
cardiovascular systems and increase their endurance are less susceptible to illnesses caused by stress. Training in
relaxation techniques can also diminish the effects of stress. Relaxation training is a popular method in which
people learn how to relax their muscles progressively. Deep breathing can also lower tension, as can meditation, in
which individuals assume a comfortable position, close their eyes, and attempt to clear all disturbing thoughts from
third minds. Finally, biofeedback techniques help people learn how to detect and control physical changes (such as
high blood pressure) that may be linked to stress. Occupational stress-management programs use techniques such as
these to help people handle stress on the job.iii
i
Saroj Parasuraman and Joseph A. Alutto (June, 1984), Sources and Outcomes of Stress in Organizational Settings: Toward the
development of a Structural Model. Academy of Management Journal 27, no 2 . pp. 330-350
ii
Joseph E. McGrath (1983), “Stress and Behavior in Organization” in Marvin D. Dunnette, ed. Handbook of Industrial and
Organizational Psychology. New York. Wiley. p. 1352
iii
Stoner James A. F and Freeman R. Edward (1995), Management (5th edition).Prentice hall of India Pvt. Ltd. pp. 568-569