Organizational Behavior: Individual Dynamics in Organization
Module 4: Affect and Emotions
Lecture 4
Understanding stress
Dr. Abraham Cyril Issac
Assistant Professor
School of Business
Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati
What is stress?
• Stress can impact emotions at workplace to a great extent
• It’s repercussions may extend beyond the workplace and
to one’s wellbeing
• That is why it is important to understand stress, its
sources, consequences and its management
An unpleasant psychological
process that occurs in response
to
environmental pressures.
Stress types
Challenge Hindrance
stressors stressors
Keep you from
Associated
reaching your
with workload
goals
Red tape, office
Pressure to
politics,
complete
confusion over
tasks, and
job
time urgency
responsibilities
Demands and Resources
• Demands are responsibilities, pressures, obligations, and
even uncertainties that individuals face in the workplace.
• Resources are things within an individual’s control that
can be used to resolve demands
• Studies reveal that adequate resources help reduce the
stressful nature of demands when demands and
resources match.
• For example, if emotional demands are causing the
stress, resources in the form of social support can help
Potential sources of stress
Environmental • Economic uncertainties
factors • technological change
Organizational • Task demands
• Role demands
factors • Interpersonal demands
• Predispositions
Personal factors • personality
Additive nature of • It builds up
stress as a factor • A sum total of opportunity stresses, constraint stresses, and demand stresses
Individual differences in stress experience
Perception
Job experience
Social support
Personality
Cultural differences
Different cultures give rise to different sources of stress
Example: One study revealed that U.S employees feels
stressed by a lack of control whereas Chinese employees
feel the same by job evaluations and lack of training
Although stress is bad for employees across cultures, the
cause and coping may differ due to cultural factors
Consequences of stress
Physiological Symptoms
Psychological Symptoms
Behavioral Symptoms
Managing stress
Individual approaches
• Take personal responsibility for reducing stress levels
• Time-management techniques
• Increased physical exercise
• Relaxation training
• Expanded social support networks
Organizational approaches
• Improved employee selection and job placement
• Training
• Realistic goal-setting
• Redesign of jobs
• Increased employee involvement
• Improved organizational communication
• Employee sabbaticals
• Corporate wellness programs
Case: Extreme jobs and stress
People who spend more than half their time working and commuting to and from work are
deemed to be doing extreme jobs.
Why do people take extreme jobs (or allow their jobs to become extreme)? A 2006 study
suggested that for both men and women, the number-one reason for working long, stressful
hours is not pay. Rather, it’s the rush they get from doing stimulating or challenging work. As
one Asian manager said, “Building this business in markets where no one has done anything
like this before is enormously exciting. And important. We’ve built distribution centers that are
vital to China’s growth—they contribute to the overall prospects of our economy.” Although this
sounds all good, the situation is more complicated when you ask holders of extreme jobs about
what their jobs cost them. Among them, 66 percent of men and 77 percent of women say their
job interferes with their ability to maintain a home. For those with extreme jobs who have
children, 65 percent of men and 33 percent of women say it keeps them from having a
relationship with their children. And 46 percent of male and female extreme job holders say
their jobs interfere with having a strong relationship with their spouse.
Case: Extreme jobs and stress
The problem of overwork has become so pronounced in South Korea that many employers
are forcing employees to take time off and locking them out of their computer systems
during scheduled vacation times. Managers complain that Korean workers have become
comparatively unproductive during their work hours, in part because they are so exhausted
they cannot perform effectively. One authority on Korean society opines that employees are
worried that if they do not work extreme hours, their employers will see them as
expendable.
Source: Robbins, S. P., Judge, T. A., & Vohra, N. (2013). Organizational Behavior (15th ed.). Pearson.
Email: issacac@iitg.ac.in|yourcyril@gmail.com
Website: www.abrahamcyrilissac.com
