Learning Outcomes
Show
If you poll a group of individuals about what their biggest stressors are, they’re likely to give you these four answers:
In most surveys on stress and its causes, these four responses have been at the top of the list for quite a long time, and I’m sure you weren’t surprised to read them. But managers should take pause when they realize that all four of these are either directly or indirectly impacted by the workplace. Still, there are so many differences among individuals and their stressors. Why is one person’s mind-crippling stress another person’s biggest motivation and challenge? We’re going to attempt to answer this by looking at the three sources of stress—individual, organizational, and environmental—and then add in the concept of human perception in an attempt to understand this conundrum. Individual FactorsLet’s start at the top. The first of three sources of stress is individual. Individuals might experience stressful commutes to work, or a stressful couple of weeks helping at a work event, but those kinds of temporary, individual stresses are not what we’re looking at here. We’re looking for a deeper, longer-term stress. Family stress—marriages that are ending, issues with children, an ailing parent—these are stressful situations that an employee really can’t leave at home when he or she comes to work. Financial stress, like the inability to pay bills or an unexpected new demand on a person’s cash flow might also be an issue that disturbs an employee’s time at work. Finally, an individual’s own personality might actually contribute to his or her stress. People’s dispositions—how they perceive things as negative or positive—can be a factor in each person’s stress as well. Organizational FactorsThere’s a plethora of organizational sources of stress.
Environmental FactorsFinally, there are environmental sources of stress. The economy may be in a downturn, creating uncertainty for job futures and bank accounts. There may be political unrest or change creating stress. Finally, technology can cause stress, as new developments are constantly making employee skills obsolete, and workers fear they’ll be replaced by a machine that can do the same. Employee are also often expected to stay connected to the workplace 24/7 because technology allows it. Practice QuestionAs a side note, it’s important to understand that these stressors are additive. In other words, stress builds up, and new elements add to a person’s stress level. So a single element of stress might not seem important in itself, but when added to other stresses the worker is experiencing, it can, as the old adage says, be the straw that broke the camel’s back. Individual DifferencesThose are the sources of stress, but differences within an individual determine whether that stress will be positive or negative. Those individual differences include
If those potential sources of stress sneak through the individual difference filters and manifest themselves as stress, they will appear in a variety of physiological, psychological and behavioral symptoms. We reviewed the physiological symptoms when we talked about the definition of stress. Add to that psychological symptoms, like tension and anxiety, but also job dissatisfaction and boredom, and behavioral symptoms, like turnover and absenteeism, and you can see how stress can become an organizational problem. How much of an organizational problem is stress? Well, stress can cost an organization a lot more than money. We’ll take a look at that next. Contribute!Did you have an idea for improving this content? We’d love your input. Improve this pageLearn More Which of the following is an organizational influence factor on job related stress?Although many factors in the work environment have been found to influence the extent to which people experience stress on the job, four factors have been shown to be particularly strong. These are (1) occupational differences, (2) role ambiguity, (3) role conflict, and (4) role overload and underutilization.
What are the four sets of organizational stressors?Four general sets of organizational stressors are task demands, physical demands, role demands, and interpersonal demands.
What are the organizational sources of stress?They include:. Organisation culture.. Bad management practices.. Job content and demands.. Physical work environment.. Relationships at work.. Change management.. Lack of support.. Role conflict.. Which stressors are stressors associated with workload pressure to complete tasks and time urgency?Stressors associated with workload, pressure to complete tasks, and time urgency. Stressors that keep you from reaching your goals (for example, red tape, office politics, confusion over job responsibilities). Responsibilities, pressures, obligations, and even uncertainties that individuals face in the workplace.
|