ASSIGNMENT ON

"Stress management at corporate level"

DEPARTMENT OF BBA

(58th Batch)

Course title: Industrial Psychology

Course code: BUS - 3102

Submitted to: Afsana Tajnin

Submitted by: MD Shakil

Student id: 202111158007

Contact: 01797772485
 Stress management at corporate level

The Definition and Characteristics of Stress:

• Stress is a natural response to a perceived challenge or a threat. When someone perceives

a situation as challenging or threatening and dangerous, he or she is likely to experience
the situation as stressful. Physiologically, stress is a buildup of hormones in your body
that create tension, strain, or pressure and that is initially a positive response readying the
person to freeze, flee, or fight. At an optimum level, this “positive stress” can act as a
motivational force and provide physical strength and clarity of thinking.
• Once the additional stress hormones are no longer necessary or the person perceives he or
she is no longer in danger, the excess stress hormones need to be released from the body or
they build up and become toxic. The body’s stress control or ‘allosteric system’ becomes
charged too frequently with no chance to vent the buildup of energy
The human response to stress as can be seen in the cycle below includes our initial reactions and
then the wear and tear on our body, from the muscles in our legs that hold us up to the sweat
glands that try to cool us from the heat as well as many hormones and organs that help try to
manage a stressor. Under stress, our immune system can be compromised, allow for an increase
in health related problems such as colds or infection. If we do not recover from a stress response
to our normal functioning, we then have an increased risk of experiencing more negative effects
from additional or repeated stressors.

Stress Management at Corporate Level

On the corporate level, stress management addresses deeper psychological structures and can be
developed through corporate rituals. Historically, rituals have been connected to certain
meaningful life events like seasons, harvest, birth, initiation, etc., thereby helping to withstand
droughts and diseases, to survive difficult days or to transition from one life phase to the other.
The power of the “ritual” was in collective repetition, which transmitted group values and made
each person feel part of their tribe. The ability to follow rituals was a symbolic guarantee of
security and prosperity and even today still maintains this significance. In the corporate world,
rituals perform much of the same function, strengthening a sense of belonging and safety.

The most effective and accessible ritual for today’s companies is weekly meetings. It is advisable
to hold them either at the beginning or at the end of the week to talk about the work that has been
completed and plans for the upcoming week. It’s an excellent opportunity to indirectly involve
staff in common goals and values and expand their understanding of the functionality within an
organization. The ritual of weekly meetings symbolizes a tribal gathering, whereby all family
members huddled around a fire — united by a common territory, common language, common
traditions and even a common enemy — and talked about how to survive. In this way, a weekly
meeting is also an opportunity to discuss stressors and offer support.

Another form of rituals can be embodied in a wide range of non-tangible motivations: awards,
gifts, titles, lists of the best, etc. The purpose of these rituals is to increase employee involvement
and indirectly cultivate a certain behavior that fits into the framework of corporate values.
Motivational rituals also include allowing the best employees to share their professional secrets
with others as a way to recognize their contribution and talent. These kinds of rituals are very

BUS - 3102 Page 2

 Stress management at corporate level

powerful given that they appeal to the archetype of a “hero” or a “warrior,” the one who is
willing to challenge circumstances, step outside of their comfort zone and make a difference.

Corporate events as a ritual could also include celebrating personal and professional holidays,
organizing sports competitions, attending conferences and so on. Such events contribute to team-
building, dissolve the accumulation of problems in relationships and help to identify informal
leaders. The main purpose of these rituals is to create an atmosphere where employees can
expose a cheerful, more relaxed and less formal “other self” that is not typically visible or
manifested in the workplace. Don’t overlook the importance of dancing at corporate events — in
a psychological sense, it has a very strong influence on our subconscious and has roots that trace
back to ancient ritual dancing. Traditionally, tribes used collective dancing to connect with
spirits and initiate a mystical feeling of kinship.

As with ancient tribes, symbolically, each company should develop its own rituals that
promulgate the corporate identity or the so-called face of the company. As with the chief of each
“tribe,” each company leader determines what kind of company they wish to develop — faceless
or unique with an inimitable set of rituals. Uniqueness is productive for two reasons: It maintains
stability and enhances the sense of belonging, both of which mitigate stress levels and create the
appropriate degree of employee tolerance.

BUS - 3102 Page 3

 Stress management at corporate level

Corporate level Stress Management

It is the responsibility of program managers and supervisors to provide a structure by which the
staff’s exposure and coping with the stress of disaster response circumstances are addressed.
Leaders can design procedures that assist in the mitigation of direct and secondary traumatic
stress (stress experienced as a result of helping survivors) and compassion fatigue as well as
creating an corporate level culture that supports stress management and self-care for all the staff.
Some of the ways to provide corporate level stress management include the following:
Structure

• Providing a clearly articulated and often repeated purpose, goals, scope, and limits of the
program. Ensure that staff have functionally defined roles that are reinforced through
supervision and understand their responsibilities as well as their limitations or restrictions
in a way that applies to them directly.
• Articulating and enforcing policies related to work hours, holidays, supervision, and
attendance at staff meetings and training and debriefing events. This means monitoring
time off, expecting that staff will use their benefit time, and mandating it, if necessary. It
also means providing access to supervision, peer support, and training opportunities, and
expecting and even mandating staff where appropriate to use these opportunities.
Supervision and Peer Support

• Ensuring sound clinical consultation, support, and supervision through a clearly defined
management and supervision structure with sufficient contact with leadership, access to
supervision in various modalities, and a sense of support for each staff member from his or
her direct manager.
• Providing a structure by which staff can build supportive peer relationships, such as
implementing a weekly peer support meeting, addressing conflict, and acknowledging
special events, landmarks, and accomplishments.
Roles and Responsibilities

• Providing a clear set of criteria for crisis counseling service provision, including who is
served and for how long, requiring justification and approval by supervisory staff for
extended or unusually long, continued counseling contacts.
• Clearly articulating and enforcing safety policies, including those related to traveling,
working with a buddy, reporting itinerary changes, having access to communications in the
field, and avoiding "hot zones."
• Clearly articulating and enforcing ethical conduct related to confidentiality, special needs
survivors, and proper boundaries, even within the flexibility of disaster response.

BUS - 3102 Page 4

 Stress management at corporate level

Training and Stress Management

• Creating an active stress management program that formalizes staff stress management
strategies and activities that are integrated throughout the life of the disaster response
program.
• Creating a comprehensive training plan that adequately prepares counselors for their work.
Include these components:

• The use of modeling, role play, and simulation exercises to give staff an opportunity to
practice crisis counseling, and especially responses to highly distraught people
• A repertoire of introductory statements that are free of mental health references but speak
to disaster distress
• Practice on how to conclude a counseling relationship
• Examples of signals that indicate whether talking about problems is bringing relief to the
survivor or agitating him or her
• Examples of calming techniques and basic coping skills
• Examples of how to employ the buddy system
• Education about the differences between helping and rescuing
• Education about the differences between empowerment and infantilizing

The End

BUS - 3102 Page 5