View of DEMYSTIFICATION OF JOB STRESS AT WORK PLACE AND ITS IMPACT ON JOB PERFORMANCE

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ACCENT JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS ECOLOGY & ENGINEERING

Peer Reviewed and Refereed Journal IMPACT FACTOR: 2.104 (INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL) UGC APPROVED NO. 48767

Vol.03, Issue 04, April 2018, Available Online: www.ajeee.co.in/index.php/AJEEE

Paper Id /Ajeee-1220

DEMYSTIFICATION OF JOB STRESS AT WORK PLACE AND ITS IMPACT ON JOB PERFORMANCE

ARUN SAXENA

Abstract:- Work place has become a source of extreme stress as a result of technological changes, mass retrenchments, mergers and acquisition, information overload, demand for more products, fierce competition, and uncertain future. Stress which is felt while doing the job is considered as a job stress may be because physiological, personal, psychological and organizational problems. In today’s changing and competitive work environment stress level is increasing day by day. Employees and employers sensed a chronic fatigue and burnout due to job stress. Many researchers have concluded that job stressed people are not good for the organizations. Job stress is a big problem in almost all the countries of the world irrespective of whether the economy is strong or weak. That is why it is very essential to include Job Stress as one of the study in human behavior. We must know what stress is, what are the causes of stress, what are its consequences and then, what should be done to reduce it. The basic object of this study to identify the various reasons that results the job stress.

Keywords: Job stress, Chronic fatigue, Physical and mental stress, Fierce competition, Changing Environment.

INTRODUCTION

Stress is our physical, mental, psychological and chemical reactions to circumstances that frighten, confuse, endanger or irritate us. Stress is mental and physical response to environmental situations. Stress can lead to emotional, physiological problems and can also strain relationships with other people. Very simply we can say stress refers to the individual’s reaction to a disturbing factor in the environment. According to National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, USA workplace stress can be defined as the harmful physical and emotional responses that occur when requirements of the job do not match the capabilities, resources, or needs of the worker. Basically Job Stress reasons can be job dissatisfaction and low morale etc. Since stress at the work place arises due to continuing workplace conditions. Health conditions may continue for long periods, and may lead to serious health problems. Some amount of pressure and job stress on employees is good for increasing productivity. But organizations with recent studies have shown that organization actively taking care of employees’ health concern in the form of internal policies is able to increase their bottom lines.

Organizations are working up to the truth that high levels of job stress in the

organization do not make for good business practice. Increased job stress leads to increased absenteeism, tardiness and Intensions to leave the job, all lead to decreased productivity. Workplace Stress, also known as Occupational Stress is the stress that one gets from working at his job.

Chief causes are unrealistic short-term goals, unexpected responsibility-sharing and high expectations. While the job itself might not be stress-inducing, the way it is done and the working environment are crucial factors in creating stress. Workplace Stress is also related to pressure from seniors and peers and in the absence of support from colleagues. In the US, an overwhelming number of people identify having no control or say in their workplace as the biggest cause of stress in their lives.

When workplace stress is not controlled and properly channelized, it can create a lot of coping issues and unreliability.

According to The Random House Dictionary, Stress can be defined as physical, mental, or emotional strain caused by a situation or an occurrence of an event. The word stress is derived from a Latin word which means distress. We all face situations where we are so stressed out and feel so unbalanced that we tend to overlook all tasks that we know are important because we cannot manage a single thing.

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REVIEW OF LITERATURE

According to Steve, (2011) stress is resulted as a reaction of an employee when certain demands, pressures and professional aspects have to be faced at the work place which does not match their knowledge levels there by posing a challenge and threat to the capabilities of the employee which in turn would create a struggle for existence in terms of being employed in a place. According to Jaffe, Smith and Segal, (2007) different professional context also creates stress conditions to the employees at the work place. When the employee feels that he or she is not being supported by their managers or leaders or colleagues when they don’t have control over the work they do or the lack in the knowledge of competing a task that would match the requirement that would meet the requirements of the given task and the constraints that they will have to face in the in doing so.

Job Stress has been of great concern to employees and other stakeholders of organizations. Researchers agree that stress is a serious problem in many organizations (Cooper and Cartwright, 1994; Varca, 1999; Ornelas and Kleiner 2003). The cost of occupational stress is very high in many organizations in recent times. For instance, the International Labour Organization (ILO) reports that inefficiencies arising from occupational may cost up to 10 percent of a country‘s GNP (Midgley, 1996).

Occupational or Job Stress is defined as the perception of a discrepancy between environmental demands (stressors) and individual capacities to fill these demands (Topper, 2007; Vermut and Steensma, 2005; Ornels and Kleiner, 2003; Varca, 1999). Christo and Pienaar (2006) for example, argued that the causes of job stress include perceived loss of job, and security, sitting for long periods of time or heavy lifting, lack of safety, complexity of repetitiveness and lack of autonomy in the job.

In addition, job stress is caused by lack of resources and equipment; work schedules (such as working late or overtime and organizational climate are considered as contributors to employees stress.

Occupational stress often shows high dissatisfaction among the employees, job mobility, burnout, poor work performance and less effective interpersonal relations at work (Manshor, Rodrigue, and Chong, 2003). In contrast, negative stress has the following characteristics; causes anxiety or concern, can be short or long-term, is perceived as outside of our coping abilities, feels unpleasant, decreases performance, can lead to mental and physical problem.

(Ornelas & Kleiner, 2003). Occupational Stress occurs in a wide range of work circumstances but is often made worse when employees feel they have little support from supervisors and colleagues and where they have little control over work or how they can cope with its demands and pressures.

Work stress is recognized world- wide as a major challenge to workers’

health and the healthiness of their organizations (ILO 1986; 1992). Workers who are stressed are also most likely to be unhealthy, poorly motivated, less productive and less effective at work and their organizations are less likely to be successful in a competitive market. Stress can be brought about by pressures at home and at work. Organizations cannot usually protect their workers from stress arising outside of work, but they can protect them from stress that arises through work.

Occupational stress can be a real problem to the organization as far as its workers are concerned. Good management and good work organizations are the best forms of stress prevention. If employees are already stressed, their managers should be aware of it and know how to help in order to get the best out of their employees.

CONSIDERATION TOWARDS DISTRESS AND EUSTRESS

When stress is created by desirable and successful effects it is called eustress on the other hand when stress is created by undesirable outcomes it becomes distress.

Anxiety is psychological and emotional whereas stress operates in the physiological sphere also along with psychological sphere and even we may say nervous tension may be a result of stress. Stress is also a subconscious action. The high level of

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stress may cause the burnout in the social work e.g. emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and diminished personal accomplishments.

FIVE MODELS OF WORKPLACE STRESS

❖ Person environment fit model In this model the job profile is matched with individual’s needs, knowledge and skills-sets.

❖ Job characteristics model

This model proposes that for an employee to be successful in any job he needs to have some degree of autonomy and he should be able to give a feedback which is heard.

❖ Diathesis-stress model

This model makes a distinction between stressful job conditions and individual strains. Strains can be mental, physical or emotional and most of the times, these strains change from person to person.

❖ Jobs-demand resources model This model depicts that workplace stress can be associated to the difference of job demands and resources available.

❖ Effort-reward imbalance model This model focuses on the relation between efforts and rewards. When employees put in hard work, they expect management to reward their efforts. In absence of any such reward program, the employees get demotivated and underperform.

REASONS AND COPING WITH JOB STRESS THROUGH STRESS MANAGEMENT AND COUNSELING

Generally the symptoms of job stress are headache, upset stomach, sleep problems, irritability and short temper, difficulty in concentrating, job dissatisfaction, low morale, cordial diseases etc. Some organizations provide training to employees on stress management and Employee Assistance Program (EAP). Nearly half of the companies in USA are providing training to employees on ways to handle stress. These programs teach employees the causes and consequences of stress, the way to handle them and some relaxation exercises. These programs are able to alleviate some

symptoms of stress, like sleep disturbances and anxiety. Some companies also provide counseling sessions to some employees who also have some personal problems.

However, these benefits are short lived in nature as they do not strike the problem at the root, if the genesis of the problem lies somewhere in the work practices being followed by the organization. Dealing with workplace stress through organizational changes. Another way to handle the problem is to employ a consultant, who studies the organizational work environment and gets first hand feedback from the employees. The consultant is then able to suggest the steps to be taken to reduce the levels of stress at workplace. This approach strikes at the root cause of the problem. The consultant, through his firsthand experience of the situation, is able to pin point the exact causes of stress at the workplace like too much workload, contradictory expectations, mismatch in responsibilities and authorities, etc.

REFERENCES

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