Running head: STRESS MANAGEMENT
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Stress Management
Esther Vancol
New York City College of Technology
Personnel/Organization Psych
PSY 2404
Katherine Barboza
December 05, 2012
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Abstract
The human body can be affected by several elements whether physically or emotionally.
Diseases, toxins, poisons, stress, just to mention a few. Each of these things affects the human
body in a specific way. Stress affects it both physically and emotionally. It can indirectly perturb
one’s social life, work performance, family, and so forth. So many books and journals have been
written on the impact of stress on physical, psychological, emotional, social, and mental health.
However, 80% of workers feel stress on the job, nearly half say they need help in learning how
to manage stress and 42% say their coworkers need such help (The American Institute of Stress,
n.d., p. 5). It is obvious that stress is a big issue in the workplace. Therefore, this paper will
describe some coping strategies that can be helpful in managing occupational stress.
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Stress Management
Stress is defined as the perception of threat or an expectation of future discomfort that
arouses, alerts, or otherwise activates the individual’s affect or behavior in an undesirable way
(Powell & Tahan, 2010, p. 349). Stress is not damaging in itself. It is the way one reacts to it and
copes with it that can trigger the problem. One can be stressed out by factors from different
environments. It can be from family, school, work and so on. Occupational stress has been
recognized as one of the most significant workplace health hazards for employees in the United
States and other developed countries (Spector, 2002, p. 133). Not being able to cope with stress
effectively is detrimental for the health and for the American businesses. It is stated that in short
term stress can lead to emotional distress, stomach disorders, sleeplessness, headaches, and loss
of energy, and in long term it can contribute serious illness, and even premature death, most
likely due to cardiovascular disease (Spector, 2002, p. 133). They argued that occupational stress
costs American businesses more than $150 billion per year because of absence, lost productivity,
and health costs (Spector, 2002, p. 133). Stress is really disadvantageous. It really needs to be
managed effectively. First, let’s analyze some of its causing-factors.
In the workplace, stress can be caused by many factors. Role confusion, role conflict,
ineffective time management, absence of support system, work overload are all listed as stresscausing factors.
The new employee can be under stress because there is role confusion which occurs when
the employee perceives his/her role to be one thing while the defined role is something else
(Powell & Tahan, 2010, p. 351). The new employee might walk in with his/her perception from a
previous job whereas in this new environment, the policy is totally different; things get done
differently. All new hires are a potential contribution to organization stress, because new
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members of the organization typically have ideas and preconceptions that are not in total accord
with the current way of operating (Huff, Huff, & Thomas, 1992, p. 58).
There might be role conflict which occurs when the employee executes his/her role one
way while the defined role is something else; that is there is a mismatch between role definition
and role acceptance (Powell & Tahan, 2010, p. 351). The new employee might be embedded in
his/her belief about how things should get done and is not ready to embrace a new approach.
That can cause a lot of stress.
Time management is another important factor. If an employee is not able to manage
his/her time effectively or the amount of work exceeds the time given to do the work, this
employee can really be stressed out.
Lack of support system can contribute to an employee’s stress. When an employee
doesn’t feel safe to express his/her feelings and concerns in a supportive environment, he/she can
take it all in and end up being stressed out and less productive.
Finally, workload is another factor that causes stress. When an employee is doing the
work that two or three employees should be doing, this employee is overloaded. Consequently,
this employee will be stressed out and the performance will be certainly poor.
In the healthcare system, there is consensus for health promotion. In the business
industry, businessmen are working hard to reduce the cost and increase the profit. Therefore, the
management of stress is something they need to give a closer look because good stress
management can be beneficial for both healthcare and business industry.
An old saying states that it is better to prevent than to heal. So, it is better to start by
preventing situations where stress can rise than to manage it.
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The first thing that can be done to prevent stress from role confusion and role conflict is
to give proper training and education session. Moreover, communication can play a factor in
preventing role confusion and conflict. To avoid role confusion and role conflict, communicate
with all members of the healthcare team and with all affected departments (Powell & Tahan,
2010, p. 352). Regardless of the format, the communication should, at a minimum, include goals
and expectations, table of organization, job description (Powell & Tahan, 2010, p. 352). If
adequate training is provided, the employee will be well-equipped and feel confident to do the
work and stress will be less likely to rise.
Time management is the process of organizing working hours by prioritizing one’s tasks
in order to better perform in a workplace. Time management is also essential in reducing stress.
The better one can manage time; the lower is the risk to be stressed out. The MayoClinic has
established some tips that can be helpful in managing time. There are summarized as follows:
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Assessing time robbers: the time robbers include anything that can stop an employee
from reaching his/her objectives efficiently. Identifying them will definitely help in time
management.
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Planning ahead: By planning ahead the employee will make a conscious choice of how
the time will be used; thus, he/she will be in control of the situation.
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Task priority: Prioritizing the tasks will help an employee to spend time and energy in
tasks that are really important.
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Refusal of non-essential tasks: The employee must consider carefully his/her present
tasks before taking on new ones.
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Delegation: The employee can delegate appropriate tasks that will help saving time to do
tasks that cannot be delegated.
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Professional help: If after trying everything the employee is still feeling out of control, it
is recommended to seek professional help (MayoClinic, 2012).
Support system is crucial for one’s emotional well-being. It is healthy for one’s emotional
state to know that one’s feelings and concerns can be expressed in a non-judgmental
environment and appropriate support will be provided. Knowing that the support of upper
management and fellow workers is available can give a sense of assurance and decrease the level
of stress.
An unreasonable workload can definitely become a source of stress. Doing the job that two
or three people were supposed to be doing can be overwhelming. An effective way to manage
that is by having a job description that doesn’t go beyond the employee capability.
To sum up, if both employees and employers are willing to do their part by avoiding role
confusion and conflict with proper training, by managing time effectively, by providing good
support system and by establishing a fair workload, this society will benefit significantly; the
healthcare system will profit from it as well as the business industry.
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References
Huff, J. O., Huff, A. S., & Thomas, H. (1992). Strategic Renewal and the Interaction of
Cumulative Stress and Inertia. Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 13, 55-75. Retrieved
from http://www.jstor.org.citytech.ezproxy.cuny.edu
MayoClinic. (2012). Stress Management. Retrieved from
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/time-management/WL00048/NSECTIONGROUP=2
Powell, S. K., & Tahan, H. A. (2010). Case Management: A Practical Guide for Education and
Practice (3rd ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Spector, P. E. (2002, Aug.). Employee Control and Occupational Stress. Current Directions in
Psychological Science, Vol 11, No 4, 133-136. Retrieved from
http://www.jstor.org.citytech.ezproxy.cuny.edu
The American Institute of Stress. (n.d.). Attitude in theAmerican Workplace VII. Retrieved from
http://americaninstituteofstress.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/2001Attitude-in-theWorkplace-Harris.pdf