JOB ANXIETY AND STRESS

 Stress is an inevitable part of today’s life.In this age of globalisation

and liberalisation of the economy, competition among organisations
has increased. Managers try to out perform each other to reach the
top.
 Therefore, modern organizations are facing the problems of executive
stress. Individuals and orgns have to pay econoomic & human cost due
to these problems.
 Stress is the order of the day and it is impossible to be entirely without
stress.
 CONCEPT OF STRESS:
 The word stress is derived from the Latin word “Stringers” which
means “to draw tight.”
 Some define stress as the non-specific response of the body to any
demand on it. When the demands on an individual exceed its
capability and adjustment resources , stress occurs.
 Stress is different from anxiety which is a state of uncertainty . It is
also different from agitation which is the physical part of
anxiety.Stress is also different from frustration which is blocked goal
attainment.
 Stress is a condition which causes hard ship. It is the internal
phenomenon and a mental attitude. Stress is generally believed to have
a deleterious effect on the health and performance, but a minimal level
of stress is necessary for effective functioning and peak performance.
Whether something is felt to be stressful or not depends on the
individual’s point of view.
 Thus, stress is a mental, emotional or physical reaction resulting from
an individual’s response to environmental pressure and similar
stimuli.
 Hans Selye the father of stress believes that stress is the spice of life
and absence of stress is death. Different persons respond to stressful
situations in different ways.
 Causes or Sources of Stress:
 1. Organizational Stressors: There are several potential stressors as
given in the table below.

 2. Individual stressors:Personality, motivation, ability, experience,

status, life style, belief and values
 A Model of Managerial Job Stress

Outcome
Organizational Stressors Individual Stressors
1. Job Qualities 1. Biographical Variables
Job Stress 2. Needs and Values
2. Physical Environment
3. Roles in the 3. Life Stages
Organisation 4. Type A/B Behaviours
4. Relationships Stress Outcomes 5. Locus of Control
5. Career Development Eustress
or 6. Flexibility/Rigidity
6. Change Distress 7. Introversion
 Organizational Stressors:
 I. Roles in the organization
 Role Conflict
 Role conflict
 Too little management support
 Middle mgt position
 III. Job Qualities
 Quantitative overload
 Qualitative overload
 Time pressures
 Responsibility & work pace
opportunity
II. Relationships
With superiors
With subordinates
With colleagues
Inability to delegate
IV. Organizational Structure
Lack of participation
No sense of belonging
Poor communication
Restrictions on behaviour& lack of
 Inequity in pay and per.evaluat.
 Hours of Work
 V. Physical environment Career development
 working conditions Status congruity
 Under & over promotion
 Mid & top of career
 Prof. Obsolescence
 Factors inherent in the person, interact with his job. Stress occurs when
the abilities of the person are incongruent with the demands of the job,
or when obstacles exist to fulfilling strong needs or values.
 It is therefore important to take into a/c how aspects of personality
inflence and individual’s response to potential stressful situation.
 An Interaction Model of Stress

Personality Factors

Job Factors Home Environment

Satisfaction

Adjustment

Dissatisfaction

Stress
 When the individual enters the job market, he has certain aims and
goals with regard to his future job which are consistent with earkier
experiences and with his personality, interests, attitudes, etc.

 Once he begins his work, he starts to evaluate it against his initial goals
and criteria. Every aspect of his organizational life no matter how
insignificant, will influence the manager. The interaction may make
possible several outcomes shown in the next figure:
Extraversion Achievement Attitudes
Introversion Orientation * Rigid
* Conforming
Neurotic Sense of self Values
Tendencies Interests
Emotionality Other Factors

Job Factors Home Environment

Clarity of role in organisation Relationship with
Relationship with • Parents
• Superiors • Spouse
• Subordinates • Children
• Peers • Other Relatives
Working Conditions • Neighbours
Nature of Work
Recreational Activities
Communication
Financial Conditions
Org. Climate
Career Prospects Other Factors
Other Factors

Outcomes
 Outcomes

Satisfaction Dissatisfaction

Adjustment Coping

Faulty Coping Mature Coping

Stress Adjustment

Elaborated Transactional Model

 Characteristics of a person exercise a great influence on stress level.
Deviation in routines creates stress,. Fear is a great stressor. Infection
and exposure to heat or cold can also cause stress when the body fails
to adjust to them. Emotional imbalance, environmental changes,
unplanned decisions, personal and domestic problems are other main
sources of stress.
 CONSEQUENCES of STRESS:
 On the Individual
 Physical ailments: Headache, Indigestion, insomnia, heart
troubles.
 Mental: Anxiety, Irritability, lack of clear thinking, inability to
relax, frustration, helplessness, loneliness etc.
 Behavioural: Excessive smoking or drinking, withdrawl from
relationships, speech disturbances.
 2. On the Organization: Low productivity, poor quality, higher costs,
increased absenteism, low job satisfaction, accident pronenes, poor
interpersonal communications.
 COPING STRATEGIES FOR STRESS:
 Individuals and organizations cannot remain in a continuous state of
stress. Some action becomes necessary. Coping with stress involves an
adaptive response to stress so as to eliminate or reduce the stress
producing factors. Some of the common methods of managing stress
are: Exercises, Know yourself, Forecasting and Preparing,
Organize Work and Time.
 Develop Positive Attitude. Have Faith, Rational Emotive
Therapy--a dynamic action oriented learning process where
individuals are made to recognise the futility or irrationality of their
firm beliefs and viewpoints and develop rational beliefs and view
points.

 Concept of Burnout: Burnout is a syndrome wherein a person breaks

down physically and emotionally due to stress overload.Conversely,
Rust out stress syndrome takes place due to stress under load.


 The five stages of burnout :
 1. The stage of job contentment--Symptoms--Enthusiasm to work,
high energy levels, positive attitude, good outlook
 2. The stage of fuel short stage--symptoms--physical and mental
fatigue, frustration and disillusionment, low morale
 3. The stage of withdrawal and isolation--symptoms---avoiding contact
with colleagues, anger, negativism.
 4. The stage of crisis---Symptoms---Very low self
esteem,absenteeism,cynicism, terminally negative feelings
 5. The final break down---symptoms--- Alcoholism or drug addiction,
suicidal tendencies, heart attacks etc.
 Causes of Burnout or glow up-- Work of Udai Prateek Pareek
 1. Level of stress--optimal level for glow up---example of strings
instrument
 2. Type of stress---functional, eustress---dysfunctional, distress
 3. Personality
 4. Nature of the job or role---role stress
 5. Non work life
 6.Life Style
 7. Coping styles
 8. Organizational climate
 EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES:
 Developing self obligation orientation
 Increasing self acceptance
 Increasing Role efficacy
 Intervening in non work life
 De-scripting--redesigning life style
 Interventions for role effectiveness
 Training in Assertion and Colloboration
 Humanising organizations.
 To summarise, both the individual executive and his organization need
to act to avoid burnout. The primary role of the individual executive
should be to alter his life style, increase his role efficacy and learn new
orientations to be able to control his destiny in the organization.

 The organizations should pay major attention to the redesigning of

roles, training of executives, in personality building and stress
redesigning, diagnosing and improving the climate and attending to
some aspects of non work life of executives.
 Short tips to fight burnout
 Pace yourself as you are running a merathon.
 Do not burn into details, delegate.
 Try to work smatrter not just harder.
 Give yourself regular breaks at short intervals
 Review your reasons for working hard.
 Make a list of your priorities and follow it.
 Enjoy life, after all you have ONE