Module 6

STRESS MANAGEMENT AND WORK LIFE BALANCE

Module Introduction
As individuals grow old, responsibilities and challenges become part of our daily
living. We experience getting through these and yet there are times that it is seemingly
inevitable to avoid stress. When we are unable to cope up to deadlines, hit the target or
accomplish our goals, we eventually feel stressed. Hence, most people think that it is
common to go through stressful situations. What matters is how they are able to manage this.
Job stress is also present in any organization. Some employees are challenged to meet
their job demands while others do not know how to balance the requirements of their work
and their personal life. In the context of organizational behavior, stress and work life balance
go hand in hand. This module deals on how important it is to manage stress in one’s life and
work as well. Discussion on the concepts of work life balance shall likewise be included,
where quality of work life will also be introduced.

Topic Outcomes
After reading and understanding this module, students will be able to:
1. Explain the importance of managing stresses in the workplace;
2. Describe how the concepts of work-life balance relate to stress management

Nature and Sources of Stress

Generally, almost everyone knows what it feels like to be stressed. It has been a topic
arguable to various researchers and psychologists, as its definition and concept itself have
been a question for several years. Stress is defined as the reaction of individuals when the
demands in situations exceed their ability to cope up and meet the expectations. Stress can
be manifested in humans physically and psychologically. Most people who experience stress
think that this can probably affect their wellbeing, and can result in frustrations and feeling
of tension. In the workplace scenario, it is also unavoidable to encounter stress. The term job
stress is used to explain the mental, physical and emotional strain of employees when the
job demands are conflicting with their abilities and means. One may not really be able to
avoid stress, but there are ways to manage it.
A question was raised regarding the existence of stress -- Are all types of stress
bad? When a person gets out of his comfort zone, he/she may experience stress. The
same is true when someone is getting married, moving from one school to another or
even changing careers or any job. Isn’t it that even stress can do good to you too? Getting
out of your comfort zone leads you to more opportunities, unleash your inner skills and
even develop your self-esteem. The wedding preparation may be tedious and stressful,
but at the end of the day, you feel more than happy and satisfied marrying your favorite
person in the world. Transferring from one school to another gives you a chance to meet
new friends and learn with other people. Having a new job brings you a challenge to
show your capabilities. Ergo, not all stress is negative. Most of us actually do not notice
that we also benefit from this.
 The bad stress which is common to everyone is coined as dystress. This type of
stress is negative and really means the term “stress” that brings pressure and uneasy
feeling to individuals. On the other hand, the above mentioned examples exhibit
eustress. This refers to the positive stress that one may experience as difficult and
challenging but leads to positive outcomes.
Stress can also be classified as acute or chronic. Short-term reactions to immediate
threats is known as acute stress.This is considered as the most common kind of stress that
people are experiencing. For instance, students have common deadlines for all of their
course requirements. Students feel stressed as they do not know how to be able to meet all
the requirements on time. This form of stress can be categorized as acute stress, since after
that all those requirements are submitted on a particular date, the stress is over. The stress is
only short-term.
While long-term and persisting stress is called chronic stress. This kind of stress lasts
for months and even years. Classic example of chronic stress is when an individual
encounters a traumatic experience. It takes time before the individual is able to forget the
stressful scenario making it difficult for him to move forward. Most people experiencing
chronic stress tend to live with them the problems and endeavors without looking for
solutions.

Both are negative to individuals’ wellbeing but chronic stress is more severe. Mayo
Clinic has cited conditions that can result from Acute and Chronic Stress.

Exhibit 6.1
Stress-Related Conditions
Adapted from Hitt, Miller and Collela (2012)
Causes of Stress
Stress arises from various conditions and factors in the environment. These are
known as stressors.

Individual Stressors
1. Type A and B Personality. Since people with Type A personality are competitive,
aggressive and impatient, they are more prone to stress compared with those of Type
B personality. In the workplace, Type A personalities tend to accept more workloads
and spend more hours. Being competitive, they even do tasks at home and only have a
few time to relax. Hence, stress comes their way.
2. Self-esteem and personal control. People with low self-esteem are most likely to
encounter stress. They often feel that they have a little control over various situations.
On the other hand, people with high self-esteem are confident, believing that they
have the ability to manage challenging situations.
3. Hardiness. This refers to the ability of an individual to tolerate and cope in
challenging and difficult situations. Basically, low hardiness results in more stress-
related experiences for individuals. High hardy individuals have lower levels of stress
because they are able to manage challenging situations. High hardy individuals are
tough and resilient.
4. Gender. Research showed that women are more prone to stress compared to men.
Women, by nature, are emotional and often seek social support.

Group Stressors
1. Group cohesiveness. It is important that a group become cohesive or together. Group
cohesiveness reduces the occurrence of conflicts. This therefore results in a lower rate
of stress in groups.
2. Social support. Individuals need others to keep them company. They often need to
release and express what they feel to others, whether this is something positive or
problem related. Thus, lack of social support can result in a more stressful situation.
When people feel like they're alone in the challenges that they are facing, the more
stressed do they get.

Organizational Stressors
1. Role ambiguity. This means that an employee does not know clearly what his job is
and what is actually expected and required of him. Ambiguous role and lack of clarity
in the organization brings about stress to individuals since they tend to become
anxious about what they are doing.
2. Role conflict. This refers to the role-related factor whereby an individual is faced with
simultaneous roles and complying to one makes it difficult to comply with the other.
Contradictory roles make it stressful for an individual to make decisions in the
workplace.
3. Resource Inadequacy. Resources in the organization include people, time, supplies
and equipment and others. Lack of resources may result in difficulty in accomplishing
given tasks. Employees face stress when the job demands are high but the resources
are inadequate.
 4. Work Overload. Increasing job demands often result in stress. People who have heavy
loads at work experience difficulty in managing work and personal life. Those with
high job demands spend longer working hours. Both their physical, mental and
psychological state of an individual become at stake due to voluminous tasks. It
results in hostility and overfatigue.
5. Management Style. The way the organization and employees are managed affect the
stress level of an individual. This is due to pressure that one may experience due to
management and leadership styles.
6. Job insecurity. When one feels insecure about their jobs, they feel stressed in the
organization. Security of tenure can make one feel relieved about his job status.
7. Work environment. The environment where an employee works can affect the stress
level of an individual. For instance, when the physical working condition is not good,
it makes the individual uncomfortable in the workplace. The same is true when the
psychological aspects like relationships with the colleagues, are working well, less
pressure and stress are experienced by the employees.

Consequences of Stress
Stress when not properly managed may result in several negative consequences.
Individuals, groups and organizations may experience various undesirable effects with
accompanying signs and symptoms. These stress manifestations have direct effects to
individuals’ physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, or relational wellbeing. To be able to
create stress management strategies, it is important to identify those signs and symptoms
that may occur when an individual experiences stress.

Exhibit 6.2
Sign and Symptoms of Stress
PHYSICAL MENTAL EMOTIONAL SPIRITUAL RELATIONAL

1. Appetite 1. Difficulty 1. Frustrati 1. Emptines 1. Isolation

Change solving on s 2. Intoleran
2. Tightnes problems, 2. Depressi 2. Loss of ce
s in Neck making on Meaning 3. Clamming
3. Upset decisions, 3. Mood 3. Doubt up
Stomach concentra Swings 4. Unforgiv 4. Sexual
4. Poundin ting, and 4. Quick to ing Problems
g Heart calculatin Anger 5. Loss of 5. Fewer
5. Accident g 5. Nightma Direction contact
Pronenes 2. Negative res with
s self talk 6. Irritabilit friends
6. Cold Feet 3. Negative y 6. Lack of
and Attitude 7. Easily intimacy.
Hands like Discoura
7. Sweating believing ged
8. Unexplai nothing is 8. Little Joy
 ned
Choking
9. Feeling
Fatigue
10. Constipat
ion
11. Chills
12. Restlessn
ess
13. Back
Pain
14. Memory
Loss
15. Muscle
wrong,
Tension
being
16. Difficulty
overly
Sleeping
suspiciou
17. Blurred
s
Vision
18. Diarrhea
19. Chest
Pain
20. Breathin
g
Difficulti
es
21. Headach
es
22. Prematu
re Aging
23. Nausea
24. Overeati
ng
Further, work-related stress also has its consequences. These increase the cost
incurred by the organizations.

1. Burnout. This is the feeling of total exhaustion of an individual in the workplace. This
has been crucial to any organization. Burnout reflects overfatigue, disengagement at
work, and confidence loss and lack of motivation.
2. Absenteeism and turnover. Stressed individuals tend to lose enthusiasm for work.
This results in frequent absences until they have found new employment and
opportunities outside the organization.
3. Diminished productivity. Employees who are too stressed are not able to perform well
the tasks assigned to them. Quality and quantity of work are both affected, thus there
 is a diminished productivity. This also affects the organizational performance.
4. Aggression. This is resulting from employee’s frustration and hostility. When
aggression occurs, employees think that they are on the dead end and have nothing to
lose. Thus, some end up doing undesirable behaviors and sabotage.

Coping with Work-Related Stress

There are mechanisms and strategies for individuals to cope with work-related stress.
Stress management programs will help achieve a pleasant work environment. There are 4 As
in dealing with stress.
1. Avoid the stressor. Be aware of what causes you stress. As much as possible, avoid the
situation. Go with people who make you feel comfortable. Believe that everything has
its own time. Do not rush trying to do everything.
2. Alter the stressor. If one cannot really avoid the stressor, alter it. Find ways to change
the situation. For instance, having yourself being helped by your peers is a means to
alter stress. Communicating and time management are effective ways.
3. Adapt to the stressor. When the first 2 As are not seemingly effective, creating coping
mechanisms is a great way to manage stress.
4. Accept the stressor. There are some stressors that are inevitable. The best way to get
through stressful situations is to accept it. This way, it will become easier for the
individual to devise effective means to deal with it and reduce the likelihood of
having negative consequences.

Individual Stress Management

Exhibit 6.3
Individual Stress Management
Adapted from Hitt, Miller and Collela (2012)

It is important for an individual to have proper exercise, proper diet, relaxation

techniques and social-support networks to manage stress. Proper exercise and diet improve
the physical well being of an individual especially during overfatigue. While relaxation
techniques and social-support networks enhance the cognitive perspective and psychological
wellbeing.
Further, it is worthy to note that self awareness plays a big part in the mindset of an
individual in dealing with stressors. When individuals are aware of their capabilities and
think that they can manage situations, they are less likely to experience stress.

Organizational Stress Management

It is the responsibility of the management to ensure that the wellbeing of their
employees are in good condition. They must be aware of its negative effects that could be
detrimental to the organization. Creating stress management programs in the organizational
level could minimize additional costs that companies may incur due to stressful situations
that their employees are facing.
Job redesign is important in managing stress of employees. It was identified earlier
that work overload, role ambiguity and role conflict are considered work related stressors.
Thus, enriching or enlarging jobs may be helpful. Job rotation may also alleviate stress.
Human resource management of organizations may likewise include counseling programs
for their employees. Coaching and mentoring can promote self-awareness of employees and
can develop professional relationships as well. These strategies when implemented can
address stressful situations of individuals and groups in the organization.

The Concept of Work-Life Balance

Work-Life Balance has become a new concept in organizational behavior. Many
research have shown that this plays a role in maintaining a healthy working environment.
Work life balance can be defined as the harmony between an individual's work and personal
life. In the 21st century, where job demands are increasing, it is important that the
management consider paying attention to this concern. The challenge is due to the increased
usage of technology in every organization. This removes the limitation of office in physical
existence. This has led to telecommuting, virtual offices and teams, and others. The boundary
now between professional and personal life seems to be warranting. Poor work life balance
often leads to job stress. When a person is not able to balance the requirements
A person whose job demands are too high will find it difficult to comply with it when his/her
responsibility at home is also requiring attention and time. This is commonly being
experienced by working mothers. For instance, a mother who is about to pick up her son in
school at 4pm was asked by her manager to do overtime for urgent tasks is stressful for her.
This is the key issue of work life balance. The employees start feeling stressed when they are
not able to create harmonious work-life integration. Stressed employees tend to be less
productive and are prone to making errors.

Importance of work-life Balance

The company’s efforts towards employee’s work life balance assessment can help in
effective and efficient resource allocation that can improve organization’s productivity and
workforce stability. This will lead to:
1. Motivated employees in the workplace
2. Desirable attitudes and behavior of employees towards their jobs
3. Improved organizational effectiveness.
Quality of Work Life
Related to work life balance is an emerging concept coined as quality of work life
(QWL). This concern has been globally demonstrated by the United Nations as sponsored by
the International Labor Organizations (ILO) so as to facilitate creation of better and
meaningful job opportunities. The term quality of work life (QWL) is too broad that it has
several connotations and interpretations to different people, thus, many researchers were
led to studying its dimension. For some, quality of work life may mean the balance between
their time for their job and for their social life. To others, for instance, a typical factory
worker, quality of work life means having equal pay for equal work or a fair day’s pay
coupled with a safe working environment.
Quality of Work Life is a concept in organizational behavior that deals with the
overall focus on the employee as an individual rather than just the work being done by
him/her. Employee dissatisfaction may be brought about when they experience low quality
of work life.

Components of QWL
Mahmoudi (2015) identified six components of quality of work life.
1. Fair and adequate payment. This refers to remuneration being received by an
employee while rendering his/her services to the organization.
2. Safe and healthy workplace. This is characterized by a work environment free from
any form of hazards and strain to ensure good health and psychological conditions of
employees.
3. Provide opportunities for persistent growth and security. This refers to the
availability of career advancement and security of tenure in the organization.
4. Legalism in the organization of work. This is the constitutionalism in the workplace
through freedom and equity.
5. Social dependence of work life. This is related to ethical behaviors and fair treatment
to employees.
6. Total living space. This is the balance of an employee's personal and professional life.

Importance of Quality of Work Life

Several organizations recognize that paying attention to the needs of employees can
benefit them in various means. The following are identified as the advantage of increased
employee quality of work life.
1. Improved public relations and credibility.
2. Increased productivity,
3. Higher retention attraction and retention rates
4. Reduced absenteeism
5. Improved employee quality of working lives
6. Increased job satisfaction and involvement

Stress and Work-life Balance during Covid 19 Pandemic

COVID 19 Pandemic has brought about major changes in the organizational
functioning. This includes work arrangements of employees. Since community quarantine
has limited the movement of people, including workers, work from home, flexible work
hours, compressed work work week and other alternative work arrangements have been
adapted. This has created arguments as the regular working hours and job demands have
changed. Meetings can be conducted at night, office set ups have been far different from
what employees were used to and more activities are done sitting all day long. How can one
adapt to this new normal?

Eight ways to manage stress was adapted from fond.co

(https://www.fond.co/blog/manage-stress-during-covid-19/).
1. Move Every Day. Cabin fever is one of the illnesses that people may experience when
being cooped at home for quite a long period. But doing movements can minimize
this. Engage in physical activities and set flexible work hours. Regular physical
movement is good in one’s health. Few-minute workout can likewise be of help.
2. Practice Mindfulness. Meditate. Reflect on your feelings, thoughts and sensations.
3. Eat Well. Stress-eating does not mean eating well. Focus on nutrition rich food and
maintain a balanced diet. Others may prefer eating their”comfort and happy” food for
emotional nourishment. Eat accordingly.
4. Get Enough Sleep. Regain energy by getting enough hours of sleep. Care to create a
healthy sleep routine.
5. Fall Back on Old Habits. Keep up the simple daily habits like following your typical
routinary activities, e.g. getting up early, getting dressed for work, to feel some sense
of normalcy.
6. Create Meaningful New Habits. In the new normal. Embrace the new normal and
create new habits and routines. Consider this an opportunity to learn new things.
7. Connect With Others. Social distancing is not isolating yourself from the world, but
rather only to practice physical distancing. Keep in touch with your social
environment without leaving home.
8. Reframe Negative Thoughts. Make a positive mindset and right attitude

After all, KEEP GOING...

End of Chapter Test

Review Questions.
1. In any organization, managing stress is very important. Young as you are, you already
face some stressful situations which you often think are not manageable. In not more
than 10 sentences, write down some common signs of stress you are experiencing and
things you do to cope with stress. Be specific with examples.

Activity.

Interview any of your household members who are employed. The student shall
present their data through a short-film, photo story or powerpoint presentation in
Google Classroom. The output should be able to answer the following questions:
 1. Do today’s employee working hours reflect the slogan : “Eight hours labour, eight
hours recreation, eight hours rest”?
2. What does the quality work of life of today’s workers mean?
3. What stress management programs can you suggest in the attempt to improve their
work-life balance?

References
Books
Black, S., Gardner, D. G., Pierce, J. L., & Steers, R. (2019). Organizational Behavior.
OpenStax Rice University.

Hitt, M. A., Miller, C. C., Colella, A., & Triana, M. (2017). Organizational Behavior (5th
ed.). Wiley Global Education

Hitt, M. A., Miller, C. C., and Colella, A. (2012). Organizational Behavior (3rd ed.). Wiley
Global Education

Luthans, F. (2010). Organizational Behavior (12th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.

Mullins, L. J. (2010). Management and Organisational Behaviour (9th ed.). Pearson

Higher Ed.

Electronic References

Retrieved from https://www.civicsandcitizenship.edu.au/cce/fq2_activity_2d_work-

life_balance_in_the_21st,29668.html, August 10, 2020

Retrieved from https://www.fond.co/blog/manage-stress-during-covid-19/, Aug 6, 2020

Retrieved from https://www.hrzone.com/hr-glossary/what-is-work-life-balance, Aug 6, 2020