There are many factors in the workplace that work against productivity. One of the major, multi-faceted problems faced is that of stress. While there are some beneficial kinds of stress—the eustress, or “euphoria and stress,” that motivates some people when in a challenging or difficult situation—stress can ultimately cause unneeded and unwarranted damage.
The effect of work and non-work demands on employees can result in a stressful environment which lies host to a whole new set of problems. Stress has been proven to lead to health problems and worker dissatisfaction—problems that can severely hinder the organization’s goals. Stress manifests itself physiologically by redirecting blood to the brain and large-muscle groups, increasing alertness through improved sensory processes, releasing glucose and fatty acids into the blood-stream, and suppressing the immune system as well as restorative and emergent processes. This produces an overall need to either fight or flee the situation, and since a workplace is not the proper venue for either option, employees find themselves stifled. By evaluating the causes, or stressors, managers can work to effectively combat the source of stress. The most common types of stressors are listed below:
Work Demands | |
Task Demands | Role Demands |
Change Lack of control Career progress New technologies Temporal pressure | Role conflict Role ambiguity |
Interpersonal Demands | Physical Demands |
Emotional toxins Sexual harassment Poor leadership | Extreme environments Strenuous activities Hazardous substances Global travel |
Non-work Demands | |
Home Demands | Personal Demands |
Family expectations Child-rearing/day care arrangements Parental care | Workaholism Civic and volunteer work Traumatic events |
Methods of understanding stress comprise of four different approaches:
- · Homeostatic/Medical Approach: developed by Walter B. Cannon, this approach argues that stress is rooted in the “fighting emotions” and the popular fight-or-flight responses. According to this theory, stress occurs when some outside force upsets an individual’s homeostasis.
- · Cognitive Appraisal Approach: Richard Lazarus focuses on the psychology of stress and how a person’s interaction with the environment is the reason behind stress. However, unlike Cannon, Lazarus states that it is the person’s perception and not what is causing the stress which he or she deems to be stressful. This accounts for why one person may not be affected by something another person is stressed by.
- · Person-Environment Fit Approach: the social psychology of stress was conceived by Robert Kahn who believed that when a person’s role in society is producing confusing or conflicting signals then stressors are released.
- · Psychoanalytic Approach: working with Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, Henry Levinson claims that a person’s ego-ideal (the embodiment of a person’s perfect self) and self-image (how a person really sees themselves) lead to stress when there is a discrepancy between the two images. The bigger the discrepancy the more the person will be stressed.
In order to combat stress in a work environment, managers can employ several levels of intervention. The primary method of intervention is proactive which aims to help people already free of stress to continue what they are doing without releasing new stressors into the environment. The second intervention method is ameliorative which modifies responses to stressors, ie, giving tools to employees to effectively control stressful situations. Lastly, tertiary intervention is reactive as it minimizes the reoccurrence of stress that has already transpired. By combining these three ways of fighting stress in the workplace managers can produce an environment that is easy and productive for others to work in.
Dr. Roohangiz Karimi and Dr. Farhad Alipour maintain that an individual’s locus of control—the generalized belief that external factors are not as crucial as internal factors—is the most fundamental element in the reduction of workplace stress. For role demands, like role ambiguity and role conflict, which constitute a great deal of stress, an individual’s locus of control helps to maintain equilibrium. Managers who provide comprehensible objectives and clearly lay out the responsibilities and duties of the role will decrease occupational stress. A manager can also help to promote a good locus of control in their employees through promotions based on the individual’s merits, ensuring job satisfaction, keeping self-esteem healthy, elevating salaries, and generally increasing the quality of life in the organization. Workers who report a high locus of control have also been found to be more medically healthy, leading to the overall benefits of creating an environment free of stress.
Differentiating the fact that having an internal locus of control is more valuable than an external locus of control is also worthy of note. People who have an external locus of control are more likely to belief that outside factors like fate, chance, luck, managers, and other people are responsible for their successes or failures. Those with an internal locus of control are more likely to cope well with stressful situations as they take ownership for the events they find themselves in.
Stress comes from many different avenues and seems to be an unavoidable part of working in an organization. Whether work or non-work related, stressors can crop up and negatively affect the workplace. However, by properly identifying the causes of stress, managers can work towards correcting the situations. Also, implementing the three forms of intervention can control preexisting stress as well as prevent future distress. Finally, recognizing that locus of control—especially internal locus of control—aides in determining how different people will react to stressful situations will help managers in an organization to deal with stress.
Bibliography
Karimi, Roohangiz, and Alipour, Farhad. “Reduce Job Stress in Organizations: Role of Locus of Control.” International Journal of Business and Social Science 2.18 (2011): 232-237.
Nelson, Debra L., and James C. Quick. ORGB. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning, 2011.
