Question

what are the delimination of occupational stress

Answer 1

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Answer:

INTRODUCTION

Occupational Stress

A term commonly used in the professional business industry, occupational stress refers to the ongoing or progressing stress an employee experiences due to the responsibilities, conditions, environment, or other pressures of the workplace. There are several types of occupational stress, depending on the individual employee, their job role, the company culture, and more.

Major causes of occupational stress

While the sources of occupational stress can vary from person to person, it’s important to know that employees of all organizations—regardless of how big or how small they may be—can be affected by occupational stress. Some major examples of occupational stressors include:

• Strict policies and protocols implemented by the organization

• Restricted possibilities for professional and personal self-growth

• Conflicts among individuals in a department or between organizational groups

• Workforce micromanagement and mismanagement

• Lack of support from human resource departments

• Personal, situational, or professional issues

• Bullying, belittling, and discriminating

• Poor time management

• Little to no occupational guidance or direction

• Being overworked

• Performance expectations that far surpass an employee’s training and abilities

• Regular threats of termination

• Loss of wages, pay cuts, and benefits

No matter what the cause may be, the effects of occupational stress can be monumentally damaging to the overall well-being and productivity of the employee. Not only can occupational stress cause accelerated aging and other personal issues, but it can also greatly hamper an employee’s motivation, inspiration, and dedication to their work.

Sources of Occupational Stress

Occupational stress models have focused on several categories of job stressors. Among them are Individual job stressors, Physical stressors, and organizational stressors. Role problems (conflicts and ambiguities), job content demands (workload and responsibility), work organization (lack of participation, number of hours worked), reduced professional perspectives (career ambiguities, skill underutilization), and physical environment (noise, temperature, safety) are all examples of potential stressors.

One interesting way to classify individual sources of stress is according to their origin: job context (extrinsic) or job content (intrinsic). As shown in figure, many extrinsic stressors have linear relationships with adverse consequences, whereas intrinsic stressors have curvilinear relationships. The implications are important. Extrinsic stressors may have an additive and cumulative effect; for instance, role conflict, in addition to poor working conditions and added to a strong feeling of pay inequity, may cause stress, which would be nonexistent if only one of the stressors were present. Similarly, a low level of extrinsic stressors may have no negative effect. The consequences of intrinsic stressors are more complex. In the case of either over-stimulation (e.g., too much responsibility) or under-stimulation (not enough responsibility), adverse consequences may manifest. Thus, the extrinsic sources of stress are linearly related to strains, while the intrinsic sources of stress have a curvilinear relationship to strain. Figure 9-3 illustrates the difference. The severity of the stress consequence is, of course, moderated by the degree of social support and by the personality of the job incumbent.

Figure : The Relationship between Extrinsic and Intrinsic Sources of Stress and Strain

Extrinsic Sources of Stress

• Role Conflict and Role Ambiguity You have probably experienced role conflict at some point. If your mother asks you to make dinner and five minutes later asks why you're not doing your schoolwork, you'd become frustrated because of the difficulty in fulfilling the roles of chef and student at the same time. When you feel that conflicting demands are being placed upon you, you experience role conflict.
• Role conflicts occur in the workplace when a person is expected to fulfill incompatible roles at the same time. For example, managers today are often required to play the role of team member and leader. Playing these two roles simultaneously can be difficult, since managers are usually responsible for evaluation and discipline of other team members. A manager who is working on team projects may find it difficult to put aside the leadership role and participate on an equal level with other team members.
• Other times, employees are asked by their supervisor to stay after work to complete an assignment. The employee may feel frustrated if not paid for the overtime. When the performance expectations of an employee are incompatible or confusing (as the last example illustrates), the employee may experience role ambiguity .
• Both role ambiguity and role conflict occur in many different types of jobs. However, these types of stressors are particularly common among managers and professionals whose job description is unclear.
• Poor Employee Appraisal and Feedback Another common source of stress in organizations is lack of feedback or erroneous feedback that is based on a poor system of performance appraisal. Imagine that you studied hard and regularly turned in assignments that you didn't ever receive back. How would you know how you were doing in the course and whether you were on the right track preparing for exams? How would you react to this information vacuum? Feedback is essential for informing people about how they're doing, and, if they're making mistakes, how to correct them. Frequently, employees don't receive much feedback, contributing to feelings of stress. Managers are usually overworked, and performance evaluation takes time. In addition, many managers find it difficult to give negative feedback and tend to avoid it if possible. However, we all need feedback in order to learn and progress. And, of course, positive feedback reduces stress and improves motivation and satisfaction. 1
• Lack of Career Progress As the workforce ages and many organizations today face downsizing, the result is a number of career-related problems such as fewer promotion opportunities and more competition. If you do not advance as rapidly as you wish, stress may result. Conversely, if you are promoted into a job that exceeds your abilities, you may suffer from the fear of being out of your depth and hence failing. Let's elaborate a bit on these two issues.
• A person who reaches a point beyond which the probability of advancement is low is said to have arrived at career plateau . Employees who reach this stage can be divided into two categories: solid citizens, who continue to perform well in spite of limited promotion opportunities; and deadwood, employees whose performance levels have deteriorated below acceptable levels. Labeling employees as "not promotable" could be risky, since they will be excluded from any career development opportunities and thus will fall into a cycle of skill deterioration and career stagnation. Even solid citizens can be turned into corporate deadwood.
• Mid-career and senior employees are vulnerable to skill obsolescence , which can increase stress. Skill obsolescence results from a combination of job changes as well as personal changes. Obsolescence can occur when opportunities for training fail to keep pace with changing job requirements. Similarly, it may be the result of employees falling behind in their abilities to use new techniques. Older workers are particularly vulnerable to skill obsolescence because they have longer work histories, during which skills and knowledge can erode.
• Rapid Changes in Pace and Content of Work In their struggle to become competitive, organizations are trying new methods for processing work. Often, they implement one program, and before it is over another new program takes over. Organizations that are desperate to grasp any new management "technique" or "philosophy" but do not have the patience to stick to it are stressful environments for employees who are expected to be able to constantly adapt to the changes. Buzzwords such as TQM (total quality management) are being rapidly replaced with "Flatter Organizations," "Continuous Improvement," or "Re-engineering" (concepts that will be explained in Chapter 13). The changes in organizations and individual jobs are a major cause of stress.
• A related subject that is also a common source of stress for employees is the implementation of new and advanced technology. Although you have likely been using computers for some time, many older workers did not grow up using computers and the other advanced technologies that are now available to organizations. They often find the new technology intimidating and fear that they won't learn how to use it properly. Computerization has caused problems and stress for both managers and employees over the last decade.
• Poor Working Conditions Many organizations have problems with their physical environment. For instance, some offices have poor lighting and poor air circulation; factories are often noisy and may be too hot or cold. Such job conditions can be a source of discomfort and stress for an employee and often lead to deterioration in work performance. Finally, environmental stressors interact and intensify other sources of stress. Thus, managers should be aware of poor job conditions and try to correct them.
• A couple of years back, an article in Newsweek magazine entitled "Stress on the Job" identified these occupations as high stress ones: air traffic controller, customer service or complaint department worker, inner-city high-school teacher, journalist, medical intern, miner, police officer, secretary, stockbroker, and waitress. These jobs are stressful owing to danger, pressure, or having responsibility without control.2 other studies add the following occupations: crown attorneys, nurses in emergency rooms and intensive care units, social workers assigned to youth protection, and needle workers (sewers) who work on performance-based pay systems.

The occupational stress scale

Bristol Stress and Health at Work conducted a thorough study that helped determine the scale and severity of occupational stress across a broad and random population of employees. This study also highlighted what occupational stress is and how it affects individuals more than general life stress, and how occupational stress affected performance and efficiency. In addition to finding that 20% of participants suffer from high or extremely high levels of occupational stress due to stressful working conditions, the study also emphasized that this excessive stress had a negative effect on physical and mental health, as well as physiology and mental performance.

As exemplified by this occupational stress scale, workplace conditions can have a great impact on the overall well-being and productivity of employees. HR departments can develop their own occupational stress scale to survey the effects of these pressures in their own organizations. By determining if, when, and how employees are being affected by workplace stressors, HR departments can take the necessary steps and changes to improve occupational stress management tactics, workplace conditions, and employee wellbeing.

Occupational health stress at work

When it comes to understanding what work-related stress is, it’s critical to first be able to identify the signs of stress in the workplace. The most common symptoms of occupational stress include:

• Lacking the motivation to complete basic job requirements

• Missing deadlines

• Frequent feelings of general stress, chaos, and confusion

• Feelings of inferiority to coworkers

• Anxiety and abnormally high blood pressure

• Noticeable changes in diet

• Increased sleeplessness and irritability

• Abnormal feelings of depression, hopelessness, helplessness, dejection, and failure

• Excessive perspiration and heart palpitations

• Inability to perform or communicate in a productive manner

• Feelings of excessive burnout

Employees suffering from occupational stress generally exhibit signs of a stress response. There are three stages of the stress response which can be used to identify if an individual is, in fact, struggling with occupational stress.

• Stage 1: Alarm. Physical, emotional, or mental stress, triggers the “alarm” response which is the body’s physical “fight or flight” response. This acts as an alarm to the physical and mental system, sending a surge of adrenaline to all parts of the body. In the sense of general life stress, this stage is often short-lived. However, with occupational stress, this stage can be long-term, which triggers stage 2.

• Stage 2: Resistance. After a prolonged surge of adrenaline, the body tries to regain balance by boosting chemicals in the brain like melatonin which counteract and calm the alarm system. However, with prolonged stress, the first stage of alarm overpowers the resistance stage which begins a toxic cycle and can cause sleep deprivation, fatigue, irritability, and concentration issues.

• Stage 3: Exhaustion. After battling a cycle between Stage 1 and Stage 2, the body simply succumbs to the unending stress and completely shuts down. Once the body’s mental and physical defense systems are inhibited, it can quickly fall victim to illness and infection.

Many people who suffer from untreated prolonged occupational stress present a variety of health concerns like viral and bacterial infections, increased hormone levels, excessive internal damage, and severe skin conditions. For these reasons alone, treating occupational stress is critical.

Signs to look out for :

Always be vigilant with your employees, and look out for any signs that they are under occupational stress of any kind. Some of the main telltale signs are;

• An employee who is lacking the motivation to complete basic tasks in their working day
• They are constantly missing deadlines; whether they’re important ones or BAU deadlines
• Employees displaying frequent feelings of general stress, chaos and confusion
• Physical signs such as anxiety, abnormally high blood pressure, noticeable changes in diet, sleeplessness and irritability
• Abnormal feeling of depressions amongst your worker; listen out for an alarm bells ringing in conversations with them
• Inability to perform or communicate in a productive manner
• Feelings of excessive burnout.

Effects of occupational stress on your business :

Occupational stress not only has devastating effects on the individual employee but also on your business. Having an employee going through occupational stress can lead to the following:

• Low productivity in the workplace; if the employee is feeling unmotivated to work to the best of their ability
• Job dissatisfaction, low morale and workplace conflict across the board
• Absenteeism in the employee
• Increase number of workers’ compensation claims
• Increased turnover in your employees

As you can see the effects on occupational stress and poor employee wellbeing can leave you with poor scores across the board in your business. So this gives you even more of a reason to regularly check in with your employees. If you ignore any major warning signs, you’re not only putting your employee at more risk of emotional damage – but you will end up making an even bigger impact on your business.

Coping with occupational stress

There are several ways employees can treat, cope with, and ward off occupational success. By maintaining a diligent, reasonable work pace, employees can prevent procrastination and consistently finish the tasks they begin. Additionally, employees should place importance on things like punctuality, regularity, time management, honesty, diligence, and discipline, as these characteristics help promote a positive, professional attitude that’s often recognized and rewarded by upper management personnel.

HR departments, on the other hand, can do their part in preventing occupational stress among staff members by encouraging a positive, proactive workplace environment. Quickly extinguishing bullying, discrimination, and harassing behaviors is vital, as is promoting an open-door policy in which individuals feel safe and comfortable reporting such behavior. More than anything, however, by implementing activities, initiatives, and tactics that keep employees feeling supported, motivated, and comfortable, HR departments can play a major role in keeping occupational stress levels to a minimum.

Tips on overcoming occupational stress ?

There are several ways employees can cope and deal with the signs and symptoms of work-related stress.

1. Control your working deadlines. By maintaining a diligent, reasonable work pace, employees can prevent procrastination and consistently finish the tasks they begin. This means that they won’t feel overloaded, overworked or overwhelmed with the number of unfinished tasks they have left to do.
2. Learn to push back. A lot of time people dealing with stress at work will take on too much and this makes the situation worse. Make sure your employees feel comfortable and confident enough to push back on tasks that they just don’t have the capacity to do. Employee wellness is linked to productivity at work, so you should aim to create an environment that promotes employee well-being at all times. A good place to start is by letting your employees feel comfortable in having an open conversation with you as a manager, leader or HR professional. It’s good for them to have a place where they can clarify what’s expected of them, ask for any necessary resources or support from other colleagues or enriching their job to include more challenging or meaningful tasks.
3. Take a break. Make sure your employees are taking regular breaks and getting outside for some fresh air for at least 10 minutes in the day. It’s also important to that everyone takes the time to recharge. To avoid the negative effects of occupational stress and burnout, humans need time to relax, destress and return to work with a fresh outlook and mindset. Switching off from work by having periods of time off, when you are neither engaging in work-related activities or thinking about work, is really important in making sure work-related stress doesn’t take over. Establish some work-life boundaries for yourself. That might mean making a rule not to check email from home in the evening, or not answering the phone during dinner. Your time off is important and should be valued.
4. Track stressors. Make sure you are taking notes to identify which situations create the most stress and how you responded to that stress. Record any thoughts, feelings and information about the environment, including the people and circumstances involved. This will give you a better understanding of how you deal with certain situations and what you can do better in the future.
5. Relax. Techniques such as meditation, deep breathing exercises, regular exercise and mindfulness can help melt away work-related stress. Find what helps you relax and make sure you do it regularly. It’s your time to switch off and not think about the world of work for even just five minutes of the day.
6. Ask for support. Accepting help from trusted friends, family or even other co-workers can improve your ability to manage stress. Your employer may also have stress management resources available through an employee assistance program (EAP). If you continue to feel overwhelmed by work stress, you may want to talk to a psychologist, who can help you better manage stress and change unhealthy behaviour.

DELIMITATIONS OF OCCUPATIONAL STRESS:

The occupational stress is limited and confined to these areas:

Work contents includes - job content (monotony, under-stimulation, meaningless of tasks, lack of variety, etc) - work load and work pace (too much or too little to do, work under time pressure, etc.) - working hours (strict or inflexible, long and unsocial, unpredictable, badly designed shift systems) - Participation and control (lack of participation in decision-making, lack of control over work processes, pace, hours, methods, and the work environment)

Work context includes - career development, status and pay (job insecurity, lack of promotion opportunities, under- or over-promotion, work of 'low social value', piece rate payment schemes, unclear or unfair performance evaluation systems, being over- or under-skilled for a job) - role in the organization (unclear role, conflicting roles) - interpersonal relationships (inadequate, inconsiderate or unsupportive supervision, poor relationships with colleagues, bullying/harassment and violence, isolated or solitary work, etc) -organizational culture (poor communication, poor leadership, lack of behavioural rule, lack of clarity about organizational objectives, structures and strategies) - work-life balance (conflicting demands of work and home, lack of support for domestic problems at work, lack of support for work problems at home, lack of organizational rules and policies to support work-life balance)

Work-related stress : scientific evidence-base of risk factors, prevention and cost

Work-related stress is still an evasive concept to many, although the topic is covered in hundreds of papers published every year. The seminar will focus on the main evidence of risk factors extracted from existing research, as concerns in particular work-related stress interventions and related costs. The presentation will provide an overview of the vast amount of knowledge we already have.

Recognition and respect at work: a fundamental human need

Being respected and appreciated by significant others is one of the most fundamental human needs. Consequently, people go to great pain to gain acceptance and approval. Recent research in the domain of occupational health psychology shows that many stressful experiences are linked to being offended – for instance, by being offended or ridiculed, by social exclusion, by social conflict, by illegitimate tasks. Such experiences of being treated in an unfair manner constitute an “Offence to Self”, and this may have quite far reaching consequences in terms of health and well-being. Conversely, being appreciated is one of the most important factors that increases motivation and satisfaction as well as health and well-being. The presentation below covers examples from recent research and draws conclusions concerning the many ways in which appreciation and respect (or lack thereof) can be communicated and how this knowledge can be useful for prevention in the field of health and well-being.

Many work factors can be identified as potential causes of stress, or stressors, and most can be divided into three areas:

1. Working conditions
2. Doing the job
3. Work relationships

Working conditions	Doing the job	Work relationships
Too hot or too cold	Excessive workload or long hours	Bullying or harassment
Too noisy	Boring or repetitive work	Discrimination
Poor equipment / work station	Deadline pressures	Client hostility
Inadequate security	Too little training or support	Conflict with supervisors/ managers
Poor lighting	Confusion over, or too much, responsibility for others	Poor relationships with colleagues
Overcrowding	Lack of control over work	Lack of communication or consultation between manager and employees
Inflexible work schedules or unpredictable hours	Organisational change/relocation	Negative culture based on blame for and denial of problems
Toxic fumes and chemicals	Unnecessary monitoring of employees
Vibration	Job insecurity
Poor childcare facilities	Inadequate pay and conditions
Poor maintenance	Confusion over priorities, timeframes and standards
	Inadequate or unclear procedures: eg disciplinary, promotion, transfer, etc

Workers attempt to cope with stress in a number of ways and with varying degrees of success. However, if the person is consistently exposed to stressful situations, adverse consequences will result. When the body is exposed to a stress, the level of hormones in the body increases to mobilise energy resources in preparation to 'fight or flee' the situation. This response may be appropriate in the case of a Stone Age person confronted by a wild beast, but should be out of place in today's work environment.