STRESS MANAGEMENT IN A WORKING ENVIRONMENT Stress is a perceptional phenomenon resulting from a comparison between the demand on a person and

his ability to cope. An imbalance in this mechanism, when coping is important, gives rise to the experience of stress, and to the stress response (Cox, 1978:25). This transactional view highlights the importance of perception and the relationship of the individual to the environment (i.e., work setting). If there is an improper fit between the individual and the environment, the individual experience stress. There are different causes of stress as Greenberg (2003) concluded that workplace stress comes in many forms. Stress may be caused by occupational demands, role ambiguity, role conflict or role judging. Moreover, illness is another major cause of stress. Catching a cold, breaking an arm, and a sore back all cause stress (Burns, 1990). Smith (1989) asserted that environmental factors also can cause stress. Things such as very high altitude and very cold climates can be stressful. Stress affects in numerous ways and can result in poor attendance, excessive use of alcohol or other drugs, poor job performance, or even overall poor health (Mondy, Noe & preneaux, 2002). High level of stress results in high levels of employee dissatisfaction, illness, absenteeism, and turnover, low levels of productivity and as a consequence difficulty in providing high quality service to customers (Organ & Bateman, 1989; Matteson & Ivancevich, 1987). Turner (2002) indicated that stress chemicals that stay in the body can obstruct the digestive and immune systems and also deplete human energy. Different strategies can be followed to overcome stress.Peterson (2003) found the visualisation, progressive muscle relaxation, spiritual growth and managing the worry time as techniques for dealing with stress. Cryer, Mc Crathy and Chidre (2003) suggested four steps that they argue should reduce employees stress, first is to recognise and... [continues]

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INTRODUCTION 20TH century has been regarded as the period of incredible change in human history. Philosophers and scientists have been various names to this period. Peter Drucker has called it The Age of Discontinuity, John Galbraith has called it The Age of Future Shock and Hari Albrecht called it The Age of Anxiety. Stress has become the 21 century buzz word, from the high pervading corporate echelons to the bassinets of teaching infants nurseries we find this world liberally used. Stress is part of modern life. Various events in life cause stress, starting with the birth of a child and enduring with the death of a dear one. Urbanization, industrialization and the increase scale of operations in society are some of the reasons for rising stress. It is an inevitable consequence of socio-economic complexity and to some extent, its stimulant as well. People experience stress as they can no longer have complete control over what happen in their lives. The telephone goes out of order, power is shut down, water supply is disrupted, children perform poorly at school etc, we feel frustrated and then stressed. The word stress is derived from a Latin word stringere, meaning to draw tight. From the view point of physical sciences, the phenomena of stress are evident in all materials when they are subjected to force, pressure, strain or strong-front. Every material steel, rock or wood has its own limit up to which it can withstand stress without being damaged. Similarly human beings can tolerate certain level of stress. Stress is highly individualistic in nature. Some people have high levels of stress tolerance for stress and thrive very well in the face of several stressors in the environment. In fact, some individuals will not perform well unless they experience a level of stress which activates and energizes then to put forth their best results. For every individual there is an optimum level of stress under which he or she will perform to full... [continues]

REVIEW OF LITERATURE According to Mr. Madhup Johri, Assistant Director, IPM Meerut in his articles Stress management strategy and techniques he has pointed out Stress is a part of day-to-day living of every individual. The college students may experience stress in meeting the academic demands, people on the job, business men may suffer stress to reach office in time and to complete the projects on time and even the house hold ladies may experience stress in managing the home affairs and to look for the maid servant. The reasons for the stress differ from person to person. The stress people experience should not be necessarily treated as harmful. An optimum amount of stress can always act as an energizer or motivator and propel people to apply the efforts and complete the work. But a high level of Stress can be a serious threat to the personality traits of the Individual and can cause physiological and social problems. Source: http://www.humanlinks.com/manres/articles/stress_management.htm

16. 16 According to Mr.Chris latter in his article How t o overcome stress in IT sector he has pointed out that when we really start to learn how to overcome stress, we realize that it is mainly a choice that we make every day. You either decide to allow stress to affect you or you don't. While some may be more in the habit of doing this than others, everyone can overcome it. If you catch yourself getting stressed again, just think about this and you will more often than not feel better. Your stress will slowly but surely begin to subside. Relax your by taking brake or you can chat with your friends that allows to free your mind and continue the work. In IT sector there is more work pressure so you need to manage by following some tactics. Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-OvercomeStress!&id=2086194 According to Mr.Bhatt in his articles A study of general role stress among IT/ITES sector he has pointed out that IT/ITeS industry in India got tremendous boost in the past decade due to factors like liberalization and globalization of the Indian economy coupled with favorable government policies. This sector of the sunshine industry brought a new work environment and sea changes in the employment trends. Service providers characterized this sector by adhering to strict deadlines

set by their customers, working in different time zones, interdependency in teams, multitasking, increased interaction with offshore clients and extended work hours. IT/ITeS professionals are constantly working and they feel more pressurized in their work so company should take initiatives to make the employee retention by providing suitable facilities to overcome stress in their environment. Source: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-179978543.html A review on the previous studies on stress among the employees is necessary to know the areas already covered. This will help to find our new areas uncovered and to study them in depth. The earlier studies made on stress among the employees are briefly reviewed here. 17. 17 The research study of Jamal. M* finds that job stressors were significantly related to employees psychosomatic problems, job satisfaction, unproductive time at the job, and absenteeism. Type A behavior was found to be an important moderator of the stress outcome relationship. Brief. A. P. and J. M. Atieh*, argues that it is not safe to assume that job conditions that have an adverse impact on affective reactions to the job will also have a negative impact on overall subjective well-being. Fienmann views stress as a psychological response state of negative effect characterized by a persistent and a high level of experienced anxiety or tension. Recent research into the interaction between the mind body show that we may place our body on stress alert quite unconsciously, because of our psychological and emotional attitudes to stress. Anticipatory emotions like impatience, anxiety, and anger can produce the same nerve impulses and chemical reactions as being faced with a concrete challenge. So when faced with a stressful situation, we must either use up the energy created by the body to challenge or learn how to turn off, the response using a conscious relaxation technique. * Jamal M. Job stress-prone Type A behavior, personal and organizational consequences, Canadian Journal Administration Sciences, 1985. pp 360 74. Brief. A. P and J. M. Atieh, Studying job stress: Are we making mountains out of molehills? Journal of occupational behavior, 1987 pp115 -

26. Hans Seyle, the endocrinologist, whose research on General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS), for the first time, revealed how human beings adapt themselves to emotional strives and strains in their lives. According to him emotional stress occurs in three important stages. 1. Alarm reaction stage 2. Resistance stage 3. Exhaustion stage. 18. 18 Alarm reaction is caused by physical or psychological stressors. Resistances are brought about by ACTH hormone of the body. Exhaustion follows when ACTH dwindles as a result of continual stress. (ACTHAprinocorticotropic) According to Stephen .P. Robbins*, stress related headaches are the leading cause of loss of work time in U. S. industry. Cooper and Marshall* visualize stress as characteristics of both the focal individual and his environment. They designate the internal and external consultive forces as pressures or stressors and the resulting stalk of the organism on stress. Stress through lack of communication can be overcome through get to gathers, birthday parties, recreational tours that are been conducted by the organization. Company should implement certain changes in order to over come stress in the work place such as flexible work hours, work load and periodic relaxation. The counseling should be focused on building up interpersonal relationship between the employees and superiors. The company should provide frequent counseling to the employees in order to over come stress.31. SUGGESTIONS

1. Stress management: -It is the amelioration of stress and especially chronic stress oftenfor the purpose of improving everyday functioning.Stress produces numerous symptoms which vary according topersons, situations, and severity. These can include physicalhealth decline as well as depression. 2. Types of Stress Management: -(A)Acute StressAcute stress is usually for short time and may be due to work pressure,meeting deadlines pressure or minor accident, over exertion, increasedphysical activity, searching something but you misplaced it, or similar things.Symptoms of this type of tension are headaches, back pain, stomachproblems, rapid heartbeat, muscle aches or body pain.(B)Acute StressAcute stress is common in people who take too many responsibilitiesand are overloaded or overworked, disorganized, always in a hurry andnever in time. These people are generally in positions of importance attheir workplace and stressful lifestyle is inherent in them.Symptoms of this type of stress are prolonged tension headaches,hypertension, migraines, chest pain and heart disease.(C)Chronic StressThis type of stress is the most serious of all the 3 stress types. Chronicstress is a prolonged stress that exists for weeks, months, or even years.This stress is due to poverty, broken or stressed families and marriages,chronic illness and successive failures in life. People suffering from thistype of stress get used to it and may even not realize that they are underchronic stress. It is very harmful to their health

3. 2 3. Causes of Stress Management: -Whenever our body feels something not favorable, then it tries to defenditself. If this situation continues for a long time, then our body isworking overtime.There are several causes of stress. For example, you are under stresswhen you are worried about something, worried about your children,worried about the illness of your father, worried about your job security,or worried about your loans or similar things.You may be under stress due to several causes. Look at the followingcauses of stress. 1. Causes of Stress at Home o Death of spouse, family, near relative or friend. o Injury or illness of any

family member. o Marriage of self or son or daughter or brother or sister. o Separation or divorce from partner. o Pregnancy or birth of a new baby. o Childrens behavior or disobedience. o Childrens educational performance. o Hyperactive children. o Sexual molestation. o Argument or heated conversations with spouse, family members or friends or neighbors. o Not sufficient money to meet out daily expenses or unexpected expenditure. o Not sufficient money to raise your standard of living. o Loss of money in burglary, pick-pocketed or share market. o Moving house. o Change of place or change of city or change of country. 4. 32. Causes of Stress at Work o To meet out the demands of the job. o Your relationship with colleagues. o To control staff under you. o To train your staff and take work from them. o Support you receive from your boss, colleagues and juniors. o Excessive work pressure. o To meet out deadlines. o To give new results. o To produce new publications if you are in research area. o Working overtime and on holidays. o New work hours. o Promotion or you have not been promoted or your junior has superseded you. o Argument or heated conversations with co-workers or boss. o Change of job. o Work against will. o Harassment. o Sexual molestation. 3. Other Causes of Stress o Fear, intermittent or continuous. o Threats: physical threats, social threats, financial threat, other threats. o Uncertainty. o Lack of sleep. o Somebody misunderstands you. o Setback to your position in society. 5. 44. Stress Management in Work Place: - There is no doubt that stress is one on of the leading factors in illness and absenteeism among employees. Besides lowering a persons immune response, stress makes us want to avoid whatever is causing it. If there is stress at work, workers who feel mildly off will feel even worse and resist coming to work. This costs many hours of productivity, especially when key personnel or production workers are absent-in fact, its estimated that $300 billion is lost on stress-caused illnesses and absenteeism. A workplace that supports stress management through workplace wellness programs not only helps their employees to handle pressure better and stay healthier during times

of stress, it also sends a message that their company cares about them. This provides emotional support as well as physical support for fighting the effects of stress. How a Workplace Wellness Program Can Help when your employees are stressed, very likely there is one primary cause and several secondary causes. For instance, a worker may suffer stress due to poor interpersonal relationships with other workers and problems communicating. Addressing stress will help the worker feel better and regain connections to other workers, thereby reducing the stress in those areas. Although a workplace wellness program cant de-stress everything a worker faces-like layoffs, cutbacks, firings, etc.-it can help with the physical effects of stress and help the worker cope when getting the pink slip. A healthy employee will have enough energy to move on and find another job but the unhealthy employee may suffer even more physical maladies from stress and plunge into 6. 5depression. An employee who is watching others get fired or laidoff will always be thinking, "When am I going to get the axe?"There are several steps you can take to reduce job stress.Get a clear job description to avoid miscommunications that causestress, and to make sure you are doing tasks within your sphere ofresponsibility only.Get a new job. While this is not always an ideal solution,sometimes its the only one-a workplace wellness program willhelp with the stress of this change.Find supportive agencies and programs to help you either deal withthe stress-such as the workplace wellness program-or find a newposition. Isolation is destructive.Change positions within the company. Perhaps your training is notin the field where you are working, or you are being asked by asupervisor to do things far outside work hours and describedresponsibilities. If you like the company you work for but hateyour job, this may be the answer.See if your company has an employee assistance program, which issometimes part of a workplace wellness program, if there arelayoffs and firings going on around you. If so, use these serviceseven if you have been told you will remain at the companythingschange daily in the business world.

7. 65. Need of Stress Management: - In the past decade, the news headlines have de Improved employee overall health Improved employee attitude Lessstressful, more efficient workplace Improved job performance Lessworkers compensation loss due to stress-related illness or accidents Lessabsenteeism due to stress-related disorders finitely made it clear that the need for stress management should be one of the top agendas in modern day society. The rages alone such as Road Rage and the trends of violent acts in life today prove a lot of it well. Living today is a lot tougher than it was even in the days of the great depression. Its been coming out in many ways such as all time occurrences of stomach and intestinal ulcers. Others find sleep disorders and wind up zombies during their busy days. Insomnia is growing in leaps and bounds. Today stress management is important in everyones lives. Its necessary for long happy lives with less trouble that will come about. There are many ways to deal with stress ranging from the dealing with the causes of stress to simply burning off its effects.6. Advantages of Stress Management: Business advantages of stress management:

Cost effective - Non-surgical Non-pharmacological Noside-effects Increased sense of control and improved self-esteem"Research studies demonstrated that stress management techniquescan lower cholesterol levels and blood pressure independent ofdiet."-Dean Ornish, Reversing Heart DiseaseConsumer advantages of stress management: Increased ability to relax physiologicallyreduced pain, increased ability to manage pain Decreased use of medications Decreased anxiety Improved slee Decreased stress-related symptoms8. 7Health advantages of stress management:

9. 87. Disadvantages of Stress Management: -Stress can be a motivator. For example, if youre stressed out becauseyou have a big assignment due, this may motivate you to work on itand complete it. The stress can help you to put in your very besteffort. If youre afraid of losing your job, stress may encourage you toraise your own standards and make improvements you most likelywould not have made without the threat of

unemployment.Stress is a disadvantage because it can potentially raise your heart rateand weaken your immune system. Also, it can be a factor in poordecision making because under stress we may not think logically orconsider the consequences of the choices we make.While we all experience stress frequently in our daily lives, noteveryone handles it in positive ways. The key for us all is to learnwhat strategies and behaviors help us to cope with stress in a positivemanner.Finding a friend or family member wholl listen as you vent about thestresses in your life is a much better way to handle tension thanisolating yourself and worrying.Going for a walk, listening to music or doing something you enjoyare much better ways to clear your mind than drinking, eating,smoking etc.To me the key is realizing that some of the ways we choose to dealwith stress can make our situation worse than just weathering out thehectic time.Realizing that we always have choices when dealing with stress is thefirst key to making stress work for us and not against us.

This report is intended to point out some facts about the important issue of stress management. The information is based on internet research and on the statements of our fellow collegues. Information about stress Dr. Matthew Budd of Harvard University says stress is the most common cause of ill health in our society, probably underlying as many as 70% of all visits to family doctors. Stress affects us all in different times of our lives, but especially when it comes to school years. All that amount of information you have to remember can literally make you crazy. Except these rare situations, we have all complained about eating disorders or headaches and other problems caused by the stressful times in school. The causes of stress are multiple and varied. But how can we manage our stress? You will see next. Solutions found by students Most of the students asked said that eating chocolate is the number one step in dealing with the stress. Because of the antioxidants it contains chocolate helps with the regeneration of your brain cells. Another solution in dealing with the stress issue is practicing sport. Being active always helps your state of mind. Some students prefer instead of sport taking walks in the park. Both solutions are very effective.

Another solution suggested by many students is taking a break to do something relaxing like watch a movie, listen to music, play a game a.s.o. Conclusion To sum up, stress affects us all and the most common ways in dealing with it are eating chocolate, being active and taking a break. I also need to add that massage can also releave you of stress. Personally when Im very stressed I go to massage and feel like new afterwards, so I recommand it with all my heart. [continues]