585 Stress at work
Deonpalmgrove
Bauer1_0-PPT-Ch07uc.pptTalya Bauer and Berrin Erdogan
Learning Objectives
Understand the stress cycle
Recognize the sources of stress for employees
Recognize the outcomes of stress
Understand how to manage stress in organizational contexts
Understand the role emotions play in attitudes and behaviors at work
Learn about emotional labor and how to manage it
Understand how emotions can affect perceptions of what is ethical
Understand cross-cultural differences in stressors
Chapter 7 Managing Stress and Emotions
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Getting Emotional At American Express
© 2010 Jupiterimages Corporation
As the American Express case illustrates, selling life insurance can be both an emotional and stressful job.
The Stress Process
Stress is the body’s reaction to a change that requires a physical, mental, or emotional adjustment or response.
According to Gallup’s findings, 80% of Americans feel workplace stress at least some of the time.
In Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) model, stress affects an individual in three steps: alarm, resistance and exhaustion.
Alarm
Resistance
Exhaustion
Resistance to Stress
The Stress Process
Alarm
When an outside stressor jolts the individual, insisting that something must be done.
Resistance
When the body begins to release cortisol and draws on fats and sugar to find a way to adjust to the demands of stress.
Exhaustion
When the body has depleted its stores of sugars and fats, and the prolonged release of cortisol has caused the stressor to significantly weaken the individual.
Workplace Stressors
Role Demands
Workplace Stressors
Information Overload – The information processing demands on an individual’s time to perform interactions and internal calculations exceed the supply or capacity of time available for such processing.
Top 10 Stressful Jobs
- Inner City High School Teacher
- Police Officer
- Miner
- Air Traffic Controller
- Medical Intern
- Stockbroker
- Journalist
- Customer Service / Complaint Worker
- Secretary
- Waiter
Work-Family Conflict
…when the demands from work and family are negatively affecting one another.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:George_Lucas,_Pasadena.jpg
George Lucas found making The Empire Strikes Back stressful both personally and financially. Those who worked with him describe him as being fully engrossed in the process, which led to, among other things, work-family conflict.
OB Toolbox
How Stressed are You?
Part of the Holmes-Rache Scale:
| Life Event | Points | Life Event | Points |
| Death of spouse | 100 | Foreclosure of mortgage or loan | 30 |
| Divorce | 73 | Change in responsibilities at work | 29 |
| Martial separation | 65 | Son or daughter leaving home | 29 |
| Jail term | 63 | Trouble with in-laws | 29 |
| Death of close family member | 63 | Outstanding personal achievement | 28 |
| Personal injury or illness | 53 | Begin or end school | 26 |
| Marriage | 50 | Change in living location/condition | 25 |
| Fired or laid off at work | 47 | Trouble with supervisor | 23 |
| Marital reconciliation | 45 | Change in work hours or conditions | 20 |
| Retirement | 45 | Change in schools | 20 |
| Pregnancy | 40 | Change in social activities | 18 |
| Change in financial state | 38 | Change in eating habits | 15 |
| Death of close friend | 37 | Vacation | 13 |
| Change to different line of work | 36 | Minor violations of the law | 11 |
Outcomes of Stress
Work Outcomes
Individuals who are able to find the right balance of not too much work challenge which spills into exhaustion and not too little work challenge which can signal apathy see increases in performance.
Low
High
Stress
Low
High
Individual Differences in Experienced Stress
- We’ve just seen how the three phases of the General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) can play out in terms of physical stresses such as cold and hunger. Can you imagine how the three categories of this model might apply to work stress as well?
- List two situations in which a prolonged work challenge might cause an individual to reach the second and third stage of GAS.
- What can individuals do to help manage their time better? What works for you?
- What symptoms of stress have you seen in yourself or in your peers?
Discussion
Individual Approaches to Managing Stress
Flow
A key to flow is engaging at work, yet research shows that most managers do not feel engaged in purposeful work.
Designing Work That Flows
Diet
Eating healthy foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables is a key to stress management.
© 2010 Jupiterimages Corporation
Time Management
Time management is defined as the development of tools or techniques that help make us more productive when we work. There are online utilities to help us accomplish this. This is an example of output from a RescueTime user (www.rescuetime.com), which is free to use.
Source: Used by permission from RescueTime.
Organizational Approaches to Managing Stress
Organizational Approaches to Managing Stress
Telecommuting helps employees avoid traffic jams like this one.
© 2010 Jupiterimages Corporation
- Have you ever been in a state of flow as described in this section? If so, what was special about this time?
- Whose responsibility do you think it is to deal with employee stress – the employee or the organization? Why?
Discussion
Emotions
Desired Event
Undesired Event
Emotional Contagion
OB Toolbox
Practice Changing Your Emotions
- How easy do you think it is to “manage” one’s emotions?
- Which types of emotions are most socially accepted in the workplace? Why do you think this is?
- What are factors that affect your emotions?
- Share an example of either positive or negative emotional contagion. How did it start and stop?
- What do you do, if anything, to try to change how you are feeling? How effective are your strategies?
Discussion
Emotions Affect Attitudes and Behavior at Work
Affective Events Theory (AET) explores how events on the job cause different kinds of people to feel different emotions.
Emotional Labor
Emotional Labor
When it comes to acting, the closer to the middle of the circle that your actions are, the less emotional labor your job demands. The further away, the more emotional labor the job demands.
Emotional Intelligence
The four steps of emotional intelligence build upon one another.
- What is the worst job you ever had (or class project if you haven’t worked)? Did the job require emotional labor? If so, how did you deal with it?
- Research shows that acting “happy” when you are not can be exhausting. Why do you think that is? Have you ever felt that way? What can you do to lessen these feelings?
- How important do you think emotional intelligence is at work? Why?
Discussion
Emotions And Ethics
Scenario 1
A trolley is racing down a track, about to kill five people. You have the ability to steer the trolley onto another track, where it will only kill 1 person.
Scenario 2
A trolley is racing down a track, about to kill five people. You can push a large man onto the tracks, which will save the other five.
Joshua Green’s Experiment:
Most felt this was OK – the lesser of two evils.
Most felt the sacrifice was emotionally wrong.
Lack of Leisure Time and Stress around the Globe
- Explain a time when you have seen emotions help someone to be more ethical than they might have otherwise been.
- Explain a time when you have seen emotions help someone to be less ethical than they might have otherwise been.
- Why do you think some countries have so much vacation time compared to others? In your opinion, is this a problem? Why or why not?
Discussion
