My Mind, My Heart, My File

INTRODUCTION
Do you have trouble concentrating? Are you always worrying? Do you feel anxious such that your hands tremble and your palms get sweaty? These are all signs of stress. You can control stress and not let it control you!

WHAT IS STRESS?
Stress is the body’s response to any physical or emotional changes in life. This response includes the release of a hormone, adrenaline, in the body. Adrenaline causes an increase in heart rate, breathing and in blood sugar levels. It also diverts the blood flow from your digestive system to your muscles (e.g. leg muscles). This response prepares you for “fight or flight”. Therefore you will feel more alert. We all experience stress as we cope with daily events. Daily demands such as rules, responsibilities, decisions, changes, relationships, illness and money can cause stress.  Stress can give life some spice and excitement. Positive stress helps you to cope with problems that might arise.
On the other hand, living under very stressful conditions for long periods of time, may harm your health, your relationships, and your enjoyment of life.

See detail : Manage Stress Before It Manages You

A to Z od Stress Management

•          Always take time for yourself, at least 30 minutes per day.

•              Be aware of your own stress meter: Know when to step back and cool down.

•              Concentrate on controlling your own situation, without controlling everybody else.

See detail :  A to Z of Stress Management

What Is Stress?
Depends On Who You Ask
K. Sue Hodgson, Ph.D.
West Virginia University
Carruth Center for Counseling and Psychological Services
Third Floor, Student Services Center; (304) 293-4431
Think you know what stress is? You probably have your own sense ibut that may be very different from what others think. This can make it difficult to communicate what you’re experiencing to someone else.
Most people’s definitions fall into one of two categories: situations or reactions. When people focus on situations, they say they’re “stressed” when they’re experiencing events that cause them discomfort. These can range from daily hassles to major life events. “Hassles” are those things that are irritating and frequently chronic: noisy neighbors, misplaced books, difficulty finding a parking space, etc. Major life events are those situations that disrupt our lives in some way: death of a loved one, moving, divorce, etc. These “stressors” (both hassles and major life events) frequently come from one of four sources*:
1. Environmental – noise, pollution, traffic, crowding, the weather, etc.
2. Physiological – illness, injuries, hormonal fluctuations, inadequate sleep, drug or alcohol misuse, etc.
3. Social stressors – financial problems, school demands, social events, etc.
4. Disruptive thoughts – negative self-talk, believing the worst will happen, perfectionism, etc.
See detail :  What Is Stress ?

INTRODUCTION
Stress management is set to become a primary strategic and operational concern for all organizations because of the direct relationship between decency and humanity, good employment practice, and successful business. Stress places a cost burden on organizations in all locations and sectors, and there is also a human price among those who work in stressful situations or suffer from stress-related injuries and illnesses.
This is reinforced in the European Union (EU) by legislation that requires an active responsibility for the health and well-being of employees. It includes specific attention to stress. While this form of social workplace legislation is a lesser concern elsewhere, the costs of managing individual cases and situations are nevertheless high.

COSTS
Costs incurred include the following.
» The cost of having staff off sick for stress-related injuries and illness.
» The cost of paying compensation to those who can demonstrate and prove that their lives have been damaged or ruined as the result of stress at work.
» Costs in reputation and, invariably, business losses as the result of publicity surrounding specific media coverage in cases of accident, disaster, bullying, victimization, harassment and discrimination. These costs include customers taking business elsewhere when able to do so because no-one likes to be associated with this kind of organization. Such organizations experience increased difficulties i recruiting and retaining high quality, expert staff, because nobody with any choice in the matter wishes to work for such a concern.
» Organization and managerial costs involved in investing and defending individual and collective complaints of stress, and in remedying and resolving these.
» Costs involved in having to manage, address and resolve related issues, for example, where staff have turned to drink and drugs as a relief from stress.
» Wider humanitarian concerns that bring costs with them. Known, believed and perceived stress-related illnesses and injuries cause general damage to workplace and human morale and motivation.HUMAN FACTORS Some stress is physical, such as Repetitive Strain Injuries (RSIs) and back injuries, and therefore much easier to address both managerially and culturally. Problems are compounded, however, because so much stress is psychological and behavioral, and is therefore much more difficult to observe and quantify.

Stress also has a very strong subjective element. Some individuals take in their stride what others find extremely stressful. Some people find different parts of work more stressful than others. For example, some nurses regard having to do paperwork as an opportunity to sit down away from hospital ward pressures, while others resent it because it interferes with the ward work. Some people complain of stress when, while it is known and understood that the particularworking environment is very pressurized, this is nevertheless simply the norm for the particular occupation or organization. Those who do complain consequently come to be badly thought of, and so the individual pressure is compounded. A major cause of individual stress is being on the receiving end of bullying, victimization, discrimination, and harassment. These activities are morally repugnant and an affront to basic humanity. They are endemic in all organizations, industrial, commercial, and public service sectors across the Western world and Far East. Organizations have active legal responsibilities in recognizing and resolving these matters in the EU, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa; and the moral and ethical case is absolute everywhere.

RESPONSIBILITIES
Effective stress management brings direct obligations and responsibilities, and these also have a cost. Organizations and their managers are going to be increasingly required to invest time, financial resources, and expertise in creating a quality of working life and environment that acknowledges the potential for stress. This requires recognizing where the potential for physical and psychological stress lies, and taking active steps in workplace, occupation and work design so that it is eliminated as far as possible, or else kept to a minimum. If this is not possible, organizations and their managers must be prepared to accept that theywill face problems of absenteeism, illness, injury, and burnout as a result.
It is also essential to create managerial and supervisory styles that ensure that problems and issues are raised and dealt with early, rather than being allowed to fester (which is in itself stressful). The fundamental approach has to be based on openness, honesty, and integrity. It is essential that a mutual respect and value between staff and managers is created and developed. This is vital, and possible, regardless of whether the organization is hierarchical, bureaucratic, authoritarian,
participative or democratic.
A general climate of mutual confidence is also required. This enables all those involved to talk openly about problems and issues so that they can be raised at whatever stage they become apparent, and from whatever source. This includes providing the capacity and willingness to address serious problems – especially those raised by ‘‘whistle-blowers.’’
An active management engagement is required in recognizing the institutional sources, causes, and potential for individual and collective conflict. This means acknowledging that the potential for conflict exists in all human situations, and this includes places of work. Managers are increasingly required to assess their own organizations, those employed, and desired and required ways of working, from the point of view of recognizing the potential for conflict in the particular situation. They are also required to create and develop the conditions in which conflict can be kept to a minimum and resolved quickly when it does break out.

CONCLUSIONS
Initially therefore, it is essential to understand the extent and prevalence of stress. While it is clearly understood to be a problem in some sectors, occupations, and professions, it should be recognized that stress has the potential to exist – and indeed does exist – across all sectors, industries, and national and social cultures. It is essential that organizations, managers, and individuals understand the costs that are attached to it, and the benefits of understanding, recognizing, and
addressing stress successfully and effectively.

Source : Stress Management by Richard Pettinger

Classification of the causes of stress at work
Stress affects people at work in many ways and the causes of stress are diverse. These causes can be associated with elements of the physical; environment, such as open plan office layouts, the way the organization is managed, relationships within the organization and even inadequate work equipment. The causes can be classified as follows.

1 The physical environment
Poor working conditions associated with the following can be frequent sources of stress in the workplace:
● Insufficient space to operate comfortably, safely and in the most efficient manner;
● Lack of privacy which may be disconcerting for some people;
● Open plan office layouts, resulting in distractions, noise, constant interruptions and difficulty in concentrating on the task in hand;
● Inhuman workplace layouts requiring excessive bending, stretching and manualhandling of materials;
● Inadequate temperature and humidity control, creating excessive discomfort;
● Poor levels of illumination to the extent that tasks cannot be undertaken safely;
● Excessive noise levels, requiring the individual to raise his voice; and
● Inadequate ventilation, resulting in discomfort, particularly in summer months.

2 The organization
The organization, its policies and procedures, its culture and style of operation can be a cause of stress. Culture is defined as ‘a state or set of manners in a particular organization’. All organizations incorporate one or more cultures, which may be described as, for example, friendly, hostile, unrewarding or family-style. Stress can be associated with organizational culture and style due to, for instance:
● Insufficient staff for the size of the workload, resulting in excessive overtime working;
● Too many unfilled posts, with employees having to ‘double up’ at tasks for which they have not necessarily been trained or instructed;
● Poor co-ordination between departments;
● Insufficient training to do the job well, creating uncertainty and lack of confidence in undertaking tasks;
● Inadequate information to the extent that people ‘do not know where they stand’;
● No control over the workload, the extent of which may fluctuate on a day-to-day basis;
● Rigid working procedures with no flexibility in approach; and
● No time being given to adjust to change, one of the greatest causes of stress amongst employees.

3 The way the organization is managed
Management styles, philosophies, work systems, approaches and objectives can contribute to the individual stress on employees, as a result of:
● Inconsistency in style and approach by different managers;
● Emphasis on competitiveness, often at the expense of safe and healthy working procedures;
● Crisis management all the time, due to management’s inability, in many cases, to plan ahead and to manage sudden demands made by clients;
● Information being seen as power by some people, resulting in intentional withholding of key information which is relevant to tasks, procedures and systems;
● Procedures always being changed due, in many cases, to a failure by management to do the basic initial research into projects prior to commencement of same;
● Over-dependence on overtime working, on the presumption that employees are always amenable to the extra cash benefits to be derived from working overtime; and
● The need to operate shift work which can have a detrimental effect on the domestic lives of employees in some cases.

4 Role in the organization
Everyone has a role, function or purpose within the organization. Stress can be created through:
● Role ambiguity.
● Role conflict .
● Too little responsibility
● Lack of senior management support, particularly in the case of disciplinary matters dealt with by junior managers, such as supervisors, and
● Responsibility for people and things which some junior managers, in particular, may not have been adequately trained to deal with.

5 Relations within the organization
How people relate to each other within the organizational framework and structure can be a significant cause of stress, due to, perhaps:
● Poor relations with the boss which may arise through lack of understanding of each other’s role and responsibilities, attitudes held, and other human emotions, such as greed, envy and lack of respect.
● Poor relations with colleagues and subordinates created by a wide range of human emotions.
● Difficulties in delegating responsibility due, perhaps, to lack of management training, the need ‘to get the job done properly’, lack of confidence in subordinates and no clear dividing lines as to the individual functions of management and employees.
● Personality conflicts arising from, for example, differences in language, regional accent, race, sex, temperament, level of education and knowledge.
● No feedback from colleagues or management, creating a feeling of isolation and despair.

6 Career development
Stress is directly related to progression or otherwise in a career within the organization. It may be created by:
● Lack of job security due to continuing changes within the organization’s structure.
● Overpromotion due, perhaps, to incorrect selection or there being no one else available to fill the post effectively.
● Underpromotion, creating a feeling of ‘having been overlooked’.
● Thwarted ambition, where the employee’s personal ambitions do not necessarily tie up with management’s perception of his current and future abilities.
● The job has insufficient status.
● Not being paid as well as others who do similar jobs.

7 Personal and social relationships
The relationships which exist between people on a personal and social basis are frequently a cause of stress through, for instance:
● Insufficient opportunities for social contact while at work due to the unremitting nature of tasks;
● Sexism and sexual harassment;
● Racism and racial harassment;
● Conflicts with family demands; and
● Divided loyalties between one’s own needs and organizational demands.

.8 Equipment
Inadequate, out-of-date, unreliable work equipment is frequently associated with stressful conditions amongst workers. Such equipment may be:
● Not suitable for the job or environment;
● Old and/or in poor condition;
● Unreliable or not properly maintained on a regular basis, resulting in constant breakdowns and down time;
● Badly sited, resulting in excessive manual handling of components or the need to walk excessive distances between different parts of a processing operation;
● Of such a design and sited in such a way that it requires the individual to adopt fixed and uncomfortable posture when operating same (see Chapter 7); and
● Adds to noise and heat levels, increasing discomfort and reducing effective verbal communication between employees.

9 Individual concerns
All people are different in terms of attitudes, personality, motivation and in their ability to cope with stressors. People may experience a stress response due to:
● Difficulty in coping with change;
● Lack of confidence in dealing with interpersonal problems, such as those arising from aggression, bullying and harassment at work;
● Not being assertive enough, allowing other people to dominate in terms of deciding how to do the work;
● Not being good at managing time, frequently resulting in pressure from supervisors and other employees to ensure the task is completed satisfactorily and on time; and
● Lack of knowledge about managing stress.

Some of the more common occupational stressors are shown in Table 2.1 below :

Source : Stress at Work Management and Prevention by Jeremy Stranks

What is stress?
‘Stress’ is a word which is rarely clearly understood and there is no single definition of the term. It means different things to different people. Indeed, almost anything anyone can think of, pleasant or unpleasant, has been described as a source of stress, such as getting married, being made redundant, getting older, getting a job, too much or too little work, solitary confinement or exposure to excessive noise.
Stress can be defined in many ways, thus:
● The common response to attack (Selye, 1936);
● Any influence that disturbs the natural equilibrium of the living body;
● Some taxation of the body’s resources in order to respond to some environmental circumstance;
● The common response to environmental change;

Introduction to stress
● A psychological response which follows failure to cope with problems;
● A feeling of sustained anxiety which, over a period of time, leads to disease;
● The non-specific response of the body to any demands made upon it.
The CBI defines stress as that which arises when the pressures placed upon an individual exceed the perceived capacity of that individual to cope. According to the TUC, stress occurs where demands made on individuals do not match the resources available or meet the individual’s needs and motivation. Stress will arise if the workload is too large for the number of workers and time available. Equally, a boring or repetitive task which does not use the potential skills and experience of some individuals will cause them stress. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) (1995) defined work stress as ‘pressure and extreme demands placed on a person beyond his ability to cope’. In 1999, the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) stated that ‘stress is the reaction that people have to excessive pressures or other types of demand placed upon them’. According to Cox (1993), ‘stress is now understood as a psychological state that results from people’s perceptions of an imbalance between job demands and their abilities to cope with those demands’. A further definition is ‘work stress is a psychological state which can cause an individual to behave dysfunctionally at work and results from people’s response to an imbalance between job demands and their abilities to cope’. Fundamentally, workplace stress arise when people try to cope with tasks, responsibilities or other forms of pressure connected with their jobs, but encounter difficulty, strain, anxiety and worry in endeavouring to cope.

Defining stress
A consideration of the above definitions of ‘stress’ produces a number of features of stress and the stress response, for example, disturbance of the natural equilibrium, taxation of the body’s resources, failure to cope, sustained anxiety, a non-specific response, pressure and extreme demands and imbalance between job demands and coping ability. Fundamentally, a stressor (or source of stress) produces stress which, in turn, produces a stress response on the part of the individual. No two people respond to the same stressor in the same way or to the same extent. What is important is that,
if people are going to cope satisfactorily with the stress in their lives, they must recognize:
● The existence of stress;
● Their personal stress response, such as insomnia or digestive disorder;
● Those events or circumstances which produce that stress response, such as dealing with aggressive clients, preparing to go on holiday or disciplining employees;
● Their own personal coping strategy, such as relaxation therapy.

Stress at Work Management and Prevention, by Jeremy Stranks