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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
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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-
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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
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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,
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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
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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.
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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.
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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
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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
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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.
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STRESSORS
Stage: 1ALARM
Anxiety
Fear
Sorrow
Depression
Confusion
Stage: 2RESISTANCE
Aggression
Regression
Repression
Withdrawal
Fixation
Stage: 3EXHAUSTION
Physical
Psychological
Interpersonal
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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
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Chan e the Situation Chan e the Reaction
Avoid the stressor.
Alter the stressor.
Adapt to the stressor.
Accept the stressor.
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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