hrm 370 r2

download hrm 370 r2

of 15

Transcript of hrm 370 r2

  • 7/30/2019 hrm 370 r2

    1/15

    HRM 370.1

    MANAGERIALSKILLS &

    DEVELOPMENT

    Research

    TopicStressor couldbe the unique

    source ofManagerial

    skills basedInnovation &

    Change.

    Presented To:

    Jasim Uddin(JDn)

    Presented By:Group-6

    Submission

    date:8th April 2012

  • 7/30/2019 hrm 370 r2

    2/15

    Prepared By

    MD. MUNTASIR JASHIM ID-

    093-0113-030

    MD.HASAN RABBANI ID-093-

    0620-030

    KASHFIA MAHBUB ID-

    TASHRIF KHALED ID-

    ABUL HASAN CHOWDHURY ID-

    2

  • 7/30/2019 hrm 370 r2

    3/15

    Table of content

    Contents Page Number1. Introduction

    2. Topic Review &

    Analysis

    3. Theoretical Framework

    4. Relevant Examples &

    Feedbacks in Context

    of Bangladesh

    5. Critical Analysis

    6. Conclusion

    7. References

    3

  • 7/30/2019 hrm 370 r2

    4/15

    Introduction

    According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, job stresscan be defined as the harmful physical and emotional responses that occur when

    the requirements of the job do not match the capabilities, resources, or needs of the

    worker. Job stress is often linked or equated with challenge, but the two are very

    different. Challenge motivates and energizes us psychologically and physically to

    learn new skills and master given tasks. When a challenge is met, we feel a great

    sense of accomplishment. We feel relaxed and satisfied. Challenge is beneficial in the

    work environment as it helps increase productivity. This is what people are referring

    to when they say - "a little bit of stress is good for you." It might be more accurate

    to say - "a little challenge is good for you.

    Stress can be a result of both positive and negative experience, and it is necessary part

    of our daily lives. From an evolutionary stand point stress was necessary for survival

    and some stress continues to be a helpful part of our modern lives since it motivates

    us to accomplish tasks or make needed changes. We all feel pressure of our

    environment during times of transition. For example we face stress at the time of our

    higher secondary graduation, feeling stress before an exam may be a critical

    motivator in studying for the exam.

    There are many different definitions and theories of stress. However, a commonly

    recognized one is the interactive model of stress (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). It

    suggests there are three key components involved: a) the situation & demand, b)

    subjective & demands, c) perceived resources for meeting the demands.

    Workplace stress is the harmful physical and emotional response that occurs when

    there is a poor match between job demands and the capabilities, resources, or needs of

    the worker. A variety of factors contribute to workplace stress such as negative

    workload, isolation, extensive hours worked, toxic work environments, lack of

    autonomy, difficult relationships among coworkers and management, management

    bullying, harassment and lack of opportunities or motivation to advancement in ones

    skill level.

    Managing stress is all about taking charge of thoughts, emotions, schedule, work

    environment and they of dealing with problems. The ultimate goal is a balanced life,

    4

  • 7/30/2019 hrm 370 r2

    5/15

    with time for work, relationships, relaxation and fun- plus the flexibility to hold up

    under pressure and meet challenges head on. Stress management starts with

    identifying the source of stress. This is not as easy as it sounds. However when stress

    is considered as challenge then it can be an unique source for managerial skills based

    on challenge and innovation.

    TOPIC REVIEW & ANALYSIS:

    Most of us experience stress at one time or another. Without stress, there would be no

    life. However, excessive or prolonged stress can be harmful. Stress is unique and

    personal. A situation may be stressful for someone but the same situation may be

    challenging for others. For example, arranging a world level symposium may be

    challenging for one person but stressful to another. Some persons have habit of

    worrying unnecessarily. Stress in organizations is widespread. About half of the

    workers feel the pressures of job-related stress. Extensive research shows that

    excessive job stress can adversely affect the emotional and physical health of

    workers. The result is decreased productivity, less satisfied, and less healthy workers.

    The role of management becomes one of maintaining an appropriate level of stress by

    providing an optimal environment, and by doing a good job in areas such as

    performance planning, role analysis, work redesign/job enrichment, continuing

    feedback, ecological considerations, and interpersonal skills training. Many modern

    organizations view the management of stress as a personal matter. An effort to

    monitor employee stress levels would be considered an invasion of privacy. However,

    Lawless (1991) found that nine out of ten employees felt that it was the employers

    responsibility to reduce worker stress and provide a health plan that covers stress

    illnesses. She emphasized that "employees have no doubt that stress-related illnesses

    and disability should be taken seriously. Employees expect substantive action by their

    employer and hold their employer financially responsible for the consequences of job

    stress." Work stress imposes enormous and far-reaching costs on workers wellbeing

    and corporate profitability, says former Direct of National Institute for Occupational

    Health and Safety (NIOSH) Linda Rosenstock. Rice (1992: 267) mentions a usefulrange of possible strategies to reduce and manage work related stress: redesign the

    5

  • 7/30/2019 hrm 370 r2

    6/15

    task, redesign the work environment, establish flexible work schedules, encourage

    participative management, include the employee in career development, analyze work

    roles and establish goals, provide social support and feedback, build cohesive teams,

    establish fair employment policies and share the rewards. Job stress mirrors the

    developmental peaks and valleys in the employees career. According to an

    international study of work stress, people bring several specific hopes to a job. They

    hope for rapid, or at lease steady, advancement. They hope for some freedom in the

    job and increased earning power. Preferably, they hope to learn new things and work

    at new jobs. Finally, they hope to find solutions to certain work problems (Veniga &

    Spradley, 1981: 196). People with high desire for controlling stress tend to have

    internal control, to have higher aspirations, to be more persistent and respond more to

    challenge, and to see themselves as the source of their success using stress in

    innovation (Burger, 1985:1521; Newton & Keenan, 1990: 1229-1230).

    Some jobs are quite simply more stressful than others. Various studies have shown

    that certain features associated with particular jobs are stressful. For example, the

    greater the extent to which the job requires: making decisions, constant monitoring of

    machines or materials, repeated exchange of information with others, unpleasant

    physical conditions, and performing unstructured rather than structured tasks, the

    more stressful the job tends to be (Hildebrand, 1986:80; Potgieter, 1996: 210). The

    more stressful the job is the more innovative changes are visible in the organization.

    According to Matt Buttells Productivity equation:

    Productivity = outputs / inputs (within a time period, quality considered)

    He then goes on to claim that stress both rational and misplaced impacts the inputs

    variable in the equation. Stress can help employees to be motivated and creative (e.g.

    only two more hours to get this done, lets get working!), but it also can make the

    employee freak out about small, irrelevant factors in work. No one reaches peak

    performance without being stressed, whether an athlete, an office worker or a

    manager.

    Other sources of stress in organizations can be changed. One particularly effective

    way for managers to minimize employee stress is to clarify ambiguities, such as job

    assignments and responsibilities. (Arnold and Feldman, 1986) Employee stress is

    directly related to the amount of uncertainty in their tasks, expectations, and roles.

    6

  • 7/30/2019 hrm 370 r2

    7/15

    Managers can encourage employees to search for more information when they are

    given unfamiliar tasks, or when they are uncertain of their roles.

    Stress can be a motivator and a unique managerial skill. For example, if a manager is

    stressed out because of have a big assignment due, this may motivate him to work on

    it and complete it. The stress can help him to put in his very best effort. If the

    manager is afraid of losing job, stress may encourage him to raise his own standards

    and make improvements he most likely would not have made without the threat of

    unemployment. Situations, circumstances or any stimulus that is perceived to be a

    threat is referred to as a stressor, or that which causes or promotes stress."(Brian Luke

    Seaward).

    There are many other successful ways of dealing with stress. These include stress

    reduction workshops, tranquilizers, biofeedback, meditation, self-hypnosis, and a

    variety of other techniques designed to relax an individual. Programs that teach

    tolerance for ambiguity often report positive effects. One of the most promising is a

    health maintenance program that stresses the necessity of proper diet, exercise and

    sleep. People often work well under certain stress leading to increased productivity.

    Many times employees do not know in advance and the stress periods may be sudden.

    The situation may not be under control. Too much stress is harmful. Managers should

    know their level of stress that allows them to perform optimally in the organization.

    7

  • 7/30/2019 hrm 370 r2

    8/15

    THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK

    Mangers of organizations have a dual perspective of stress. They need to be aware of

    their own stress levels, as well as those of their subordinates. Most of the literature

    focuses on ways of reducing stress. There are many other successful ways of dealing

    with stress. Stress can be a motivator and also stress is not always bad. It could be the

    unique source of skills, innovation & organizational change.

    Managers must learn to monitor the stress levels, firstly to identify the optimum level

    of stress and secondly to learn when they must intervene to increase or decrease thelevel of stress. This way stress works positively. By managing stress we can improve

    our quality of life and do a better job, either in academic life or professional life. If

    stress is not handled properly it can increase the negative consequences for an

    individual.

    Relationship between Stress and Performance

    The above diagram represents the relationship between stress and performance. When

    an employee is in the Low Stress Boredom stage he tends to be in less stress and

    performs moderately. When the employee is in the Optimal Stress level he is in stress

    8

    Low

    Stress

    Boredom

    High Stress

    Anxiousness

    Unhappines

    Area of Optimum

    Performance

    Optimum Stress

    P

    E

    R

    F

    O

    R

    M

    A

    N

    C

    E

    STRESS LEVEL

  • 7/30/2019 hrm 370 r2

    9/15

    still performance in high. The reason behind of giving augmented level of

    performance is motivation and stress. Stress not always works negatively it can work

    in a positive way in work performance as shown in the above diagram. But high level

    of stress brings anxiousness and unhappiness. So, when stress seems to be in a

    moderate level employees work performance increases and gives higher productivity

    in the organization.

    There are essentially three strategies for dealing with stress in organizations (Jick and

    Payne, 1980): 1) Treat the symptoms, 2) Change the person, and 3) Remove the

    cause of the stress. When a person is already suffering from the effects of stress, the

    first priority is to treat the symptoms. This includes both the identification of those

    suffering from excessive stress, as well as providing health-care and psychological

    counseling services. The second approach is to help individuals build stress

    management skills to make them less vulnerable to its effects. The third approach is

    to eliminate or reduce the environmental situation that is creating the stress. This

    would involve reducing environmental stressors such as noise and pollution, or

    modifying production schedules and work-loads.

    Selyes General Model of Stress:

    Hans Selyes model deals with how the stress is a physiological reaction to all

    stressors. He observed by studying rats that all reactions to stressors were basically

    similar, the body's adrenalin level rises and there is heightened awareness. He

    claimed the body was nonspecific, that it reacted to all stressors the same.

    9

    STRESSORS

    Stage: 1ALARM

    Anxiety

    Fear

    Sorrow

    Depression

    Confusion

    Stage: 2RESISTANCE

    Aggression

    Regression

    Repression

    Withdrawal

    Fixation

    Stage: 3EXHAUSTION

    Physical

    Psychological

    Interpersonal

  • 7/30/2019 hrm 370 r2

    10/15

    Selye's model is called the general adaption syndrome or GAS. It is split into three

    stages. The first stage is called Alarm Stage which is characterized by acute

    increases in Anxiety or Fear if the stressor is a threat or by increase in Sorrow or

    Depression if the stressor is a loss. These reactions are largely self-correcting if the

    stressor is of brief duration. However, if it continues, the individual enters the

    Resistance Stage, in which defense mechanisms predominate and the body begins to

    store up excess energy. Five types of Defense Mechanism are typical of most people

    who experience extended levels of stress. The first is Aggression, which involves

    attacking the stressor directly. Second is Regression, which is the adoption of

    behavior pattern or response that was successful at some earlier time. A third defense

    mechanism, Repression, involves denial of the stressor, forgetting, or redefining the

    stressor. Withdrawal is the fourth defense mechanism and it may engage in fantasy,

    inattention or purposive forgetting. And the last level is Fixation, which persisting in

    a response regardless of its effectiveness. While each Reaction Stage may be

    experienced as temporarily uncomfortable, the Exhaustion Stage is the most

    dangerous one. When stressors overpower or outlast the resiliency capabilities of

    individuals or their ability to defend against them, chronic stress is experienced and

    negative personal and organizational consequences generally follow. Such as

    Physiological (e.g. heart disease), Psychologically (e.g. severe depression),

    Interpersonally (e.g. dissolution of relationships).These changes result from the

    damage done to an individual for which there was no defense from an inability to

    defend continuously against a stressor or from lack of self-awareness so that stress is

    completely unacknowledged.

    Dealing with Stressful Situations: The Four As

    10

    Chan e the Situation Chan e the Reaction

    Avoid the stressor.

    Alter the stressor.

    Adapt to the stressor.

    Accept the stressor.

  • 7/30/2019 hrm 370 r2

    11/15

    Stress management strategy #1: Avoid unnecessary stress

    Not all stress can be avoided, and its not healthy to avoid a situation that needs to be

    addressed. First step is Learn how to say no By knowing the limits and stick to

    them. Whether in personal or professional life, managers should refuse to acceptadded responsibilities when they are close to reaching them. Taking on more than

    they can handle is a surefire recipe for stress. Second step is Avoid people who stress

    out If someone consistently causes stress life and one cannot turn the relationship

    around, limit the amount of time they spend with that person or end the relationship

    entirely. Third step is Controlling the Environment If the evening news makes

    someone anxious, then he should turn the TV off. If traffics got one tense, take a

    longer but less-traveled route. If going to the market is an unpleasant chore, theavoiding it one can go for grocery shopping online. Fourth step is Avoid hot-button

    topics If a manager get upset over religion or politics, he should cross them off

    from conversation list. If de repeatedly argues about the same subject with the same

    people, he might stop bringing it up or excuse when it is the topic of discussion. And

    the last step is Pare downing To-Do list By analyzing the schedule,

    responsibilities, and daily tasks. If someone got too much on the plate, distinguish

    between the should and the musts the he might drop tasks that are not truly

    necessary to the bottom of the list or eliminate them entirely.

    Stress management strategy #2: Alter the situation

    If a manager cannot avoid a stressful situation, the he might try to alter it. Figure out

    what he can do to change things so the problem doesnt present itself in the future.

    The very first step of Alter the Situation is Express the feelings instead of bottling

    them up- If something or someone is bothering, communicate concerns in an open

    and respectful way. If he or she should not voice the feelings, resentment will build

    and the situation will likely remain the same. Second step is willing to compromise-

    When one ask someone to change their behavior, he should willing to do the same. If

    both are willing to bend at least a little, one might have a good chance of finding a

    happy middle ground.Third step is being more assertive- an employee must not take

    a backseat in his own life. He must deal with problems head on, do the best to

    anticipate and prevent them. Fourth step is to Managing Time- Poor time

    management can cause a lot of stress. When a manager stretched too thin and running

    11

  • 7/30/2019 hrm 370 r2

    12/15

  • 7/30/2019 hrm 370 r2

    13/15

    be very cathartic, even if theres nothing he can do to alter the stressful situation. And

    Lastly Learning of forgiveness- Accept the fact that we live in an imperfect world

    and that people make mistakes. One should let go of anger and resentments from

    negative energy by forgiving and moving on.

    13

  • 7/30/2019 hrm 370 r2

    14/15

    Relevant Example

    Employees often face to mental and emotional pressures as part of their daily work

    lives. These pressures can be related to working conditions, competing priorities,

    demanding schedules, management or team practices, standards of quality or work-

    life balance. When the pressure becomes too great, people fall victim to stress, which

    causes a variety of mental and physical illnesses.

    GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is one of the most top pharmaceutical companies all over

    the worlds. They have 100,000 employees worldwide and 116 numbers of offices in

    several counties. In response to use stress management in innovation and change GSK

    implemented a Team Resilience program for its employees and managers in 2001.

    GSK executed this program to take corrective team actions against job stressors. The

    program included an online survey designed for GSK by Dr. Stephen Williams, an

    international expert on workplace stress. The assessment provides managers and

    employees with information about the sources of job-related stress and the levels of

    different pressures experienced by the work team. After discussing the assessment

    results, managers and their teams use organizational development tools to map action

    plans, prioritize needs and begin to work on making fundamental changes to enhance

    their mental well-being. Team Resilience is one of the key components of the

    Employee Health Management (EHM) department, which is part of HR Corporate

    Shared Services. EHM is responsible for developing partnerships with the customer

    (business and employees) to enhance GSKs health and well-being. The GSK stress-

    prevention strategy is a companywide commitment to improving the resilience of the

    staff. The term resilience is used in an effort to refocus staff toward workplacehealth and well-being. It emphasizes the positive nature of organizational initiatives

    aimed at improving performance in a competitive business environment, as well as

    emphasizes the positive nature of taking personal responsibility for maintaining good

    health at the individual level. Besides, GSK often arranges workshops for their

    employees, from what they may learn new assessments for their workplace and train

    themselves to cover up with workplace and personal stressors. More likely to be said,

    GSKoften sends their prospective employees to visit their foreign ventures. So that,

    they may understand the global competitiveness of the company and that may

    14

  • 7/30/2019 hrm 370 r2

    15/15

    motivate themselves to work under high stressors in the organizational environment.

    So, as a result of these, GSKs productivity increasing rapidly and they are

    successfully reducing employee turn-over from their organization.

    15