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Stress: An Adaptive Response To A Situation That Is Perceived As Challenging or Threatening

This document discusses stress and its causes and outcomes. It defines stress as an adaptive response to challenging or threatening situations. Stress can be caused by organizational stressors like work overload, role conflict, and role ambiguity. Stress can lead to psychological, physiological, and behavioral reactions, as well as burnout. Certain personality types like those high in negative affectivity are more prone to experiencing stress. Organizations can help reduce workplace stress through measures like job redesign, increasing social support, implementing family-friendly policies, stress management programs, and promoting work-life balance.

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154 views

Stress: An Adaptive Response To A Situation That Is Perceived As Challenging or Threatening

This document discusses stress and its causes and outcomes. It defines stress as an adaptive response to challenging or threatening situations. Stress can be caused by organizational stressors like work overload, role conflict, and role ambiguity. Stress can lead to psychological, physiological, and behavioral reactions, as well as burnout. Certain personality types like those high in negative affectivity are more prone to experiencing stress. Organizations can help reduce workplace stress through measures like job redesign, increasing social support, implementing family-friendly policies, stress management programs, and promoting work-life balance.

Uploaded by

Murtaza
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Stress

An adaptive response to a situation that


is perceived as challenging or
threatening

What causes stress?


(Stressors)

Stress

Organizational Stressors
3

Work overload

Role conflict

Too much work (paid, overtime, unpaid overtime)


When fulfilling the requirements of one role interferes
with the fulfillment of another role requirement
Inter-role: two different roles conflict
Intra-role: conflicting instructions on what to do (one role)
Person-role: expectations conflict with values

Role ambiguity

Uncertainty about job duties, performance expectations,


level or source of authority, etc.

Quiz Question
4

Dereks supervisor asks him to work late


into the evening on a report that is due next
week but he is supposed to pick up the kids
from daycare. We can be sure that Derek:
A) is experiencing burnout.
B) is experiencing role ambiguity.
C) is a Type A personality.
D) is experiencing intra-role conflict.
E) is experiencing inter-role conflict.

Organizational Stressors
5

Psychological Environment Stressors

Organizational injustice, interpersonal conflict


Psychological contract
Job insecurity
Organizational change

Physical Environment Stressors

Excessive noise
Poor lighting
Safety hazards

Work Non-work
Stressors

Time conflict

Time required for non-work activities


interferes with work
E.g.,

family responsibilities (e.g., caring for sick


parents), volunteer work etc.

Strain conflict

Stress from one domain spills into other


Relationships,

finances, new responsibilities, etc.


Attitudes can be transmitted to other people

Outcomes of Stress?
7

Stress

Outcomes of Stress
8

Psychological reactions
Physiological reactions

Behavioural reactions

High blood pressure, sweatiness, heart


palpitations, dizziness, more cortisone, etc.
Attempts to cope (e.g., shopping, exercise)

Videos of Office Stress

Burnout
9

Emotional exhaustion

Cynicism / depersonalization

Lack of energy, difficulty emoting


Compassion fatigue: no longer able to empathize
Indifferent attitude to work
Treating individuals as objects / callousness
Strict adherence to rules and regulations

Reduced professional accomplishment

Lower self-efficacy
No longer see value of extra effort

10

Organizational
Outcomes
Too much stress can lead to:
Job dissatisfaction
Occupational injuries and illnesses
Decision-making, cognitive abilities, task
performance
Absenteeism, turnover

Question
11

Are certain types of people more


stressed out than others?

Personality
12

Personality can affect both the extent to


which potential stressors are perceived
as stressful and the types of stress
reactions that occur.
Personality

Stressors

Stress

Outcomes

Locus of Control
13

Peoples beliefs about the factors that


control their behaviour
Externals are more likely to feel anxious
in the face of potential stressors

E.g., The world is against me

Internals are more likely to confront


stressors directly

E.g., I can get through this

Type A Behaviour
Pattern

14

A personality pattern that includes


aggressiveness, ambitiousness,
competitiveness, hostility, impatience, and a
sense of time urgency.
Type A: cant relax, constantly busy,
impatient
Type B: easy-going, patient, relaxed
Question: Which personality type are you?
Are you one or the other?

15

Negative and Positive


Affectivity

Negative: The propensity to view the


world, including oneself and other people,
in a light

Positive: View world in a + light

E.g., pessimistic, moody


E.g., happy go lucky, always smiling,
optimistic

People high in NA report more stressors in


the work environment and feel more
subjective stress

16

Reducing or Coping with


Stress

Some of the things that organizations


can do to reduce workplace stress and
assist employees in coping with stress
include:

Job redesign
Social support
Family-friendly human resource policies
Stress management programs
Work-life balance programs

Job Redesign
17

Organizations can redesign jobs to


reduce their stressful characteristics.
Most formal job redesign efforts involve
enriching operative-level jobs to make
them more stimulating and challenging.
There is growing evidence that providing
more autonomy in how service is
delivered can alleviate stress and
burnout.

Social Support
18

Social support refers to having close ties


with other people.
A social network acts as a buffer against
stress.
The buffering aspects of social support are
most potent when they are directly
connected to the source of stress.
Coworkers and superiors are the best
sources of support for dealing with workrelated stress.

19

Family Friendly Human


Resource Policies

Family friendly human resource policies


include some combination of formalized
social support, material support, and
increased flexibility to adapt to employee
needs.
A common form of material support is
corporate daycare centres.
Flexibility is also important and includes
flex-time, telecommuting, job sharing, and
family leave policies.

Stress Management
Programs

20

Programs designed to help employees


manage work-related stress.
Stress management programs involve
techniques such as meditation, training in
time management, and biofeedback
training.
They can be useful in reducing
physiological arousal, sleep disturbances,
and self-reported tension and anxiety.

Work-Life Balance
Programs

21

Work-life balance programs encourage


employees to participate in activities to
improve their mental and physical health.
Work-life balance programs include fitness
facilities and memberships, employee
assistance programs, and health food
programs.
Work-life programs are believed to lower
health-care costs due in part to stress
reduction.

Wellness Programs
Research

22

My study on wellness programs


Findings suggest that after one year
health promo initiatives decrease return
on assets (ROA), while work-life balance
initiatives increase ROA. However, both
effects become non-significant after
three years.

Group Exercise
23

Form groups of 5 to 6 people. Share your


results within your group from your
stress test. Talk about potential stressors
and outcomes of your stress. Talk about
effective ways to deal with stress.
Pick a spokesperson to summarize your
results
I will randomly call on a few groups to
present

Summary
24

There are different styles to managing


conflict but no style is inherently
superior (contextual)
Stress isnt necessarily a bad thing but
it depends on how we cope with it

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