Time management

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Time Management

Executive Summary

Stress in the workplace is expected, essentially, it is inevitably not bad. In fact, stress is a normal human reaction to diverse aspects of the environment; further, at reasonable levels is in itself a motivation. Nevertheless, high stress levels are potentially harmful and can have an enormous impact on both physical and emotional health (Hicks, Trevor, and McSherry). In addition, excess stress is costly because it leads to low output, encouraged absenteeism, leads to high employee turnover, and improved employee reward structure. Likewise, stress in the workplace tends to make employees develop a resentful attitude towards their supervisors and the employer. Therefore, it is vital for employees to detect any indications of stress among work mates and within themselves in time to avert negative impacts on their performance and that of the organization as a whole. Ultimately, this will help the individuals identify the underlying causes and problems and consequently find ways to deal with it. The result of this will be a reduced impact of stress on the organizational functionality and productivity as a whole. As such, this paper pursues to identify the causes and forms of stress at work and how both individuals and management can identify the signs and symptoms of stress. Furthermore, the paper discusses ways through which to approach a stressed employee and help them appreciate that their stress has a damaging impact on their work and the entire work setting. Lastly, the paper will discuss how to use time and self-management as a tool to reduce stress in the workplace.

Introduction

As previously noted, stress is a naturally arising occurrence, however, several aspects both in and outside an organization result in high stress levels among employees. Primarily, there is the routine disorder, that is, workers having more work assigned that they can possibly handle within the given period. The result of this is that employees end up working entire shifts short of breaks; in this case, overworking is a primary source of stress (Cooper and Wright) . Secondly, career and job ambiguity are also a cause of stress among employees; essentially, this happens when numerous activities are prevalent within the workplace with little communication. This lapse makes employees uncertain about what the organization’s objectives are and their role in achieving them. Another source of stress for workers is a lack of appreciation from the management; thus, when employees feel like they have dedicated their efforts to the organization, they in return expect some form of recognition (Cooper and Wright). This can be a payment package or at the very least, some acknowledgment in the form of an award. When employees feel that their endeavors are unacknowledged or underappreciated, their dissatisfaction and stress levels rise. Another feature that contributes to stress is when employees do not understand their roles in an organization or the results of their efforts in the workplace go unnoticed. Apart from the above, mistrust among colleagues in the workplace is another cause of stress in the workplace. In addition, malicious workplace politics interrupts and adversely affects positive behavior in employees. In essence, this leads to a state whereby people repeatedly doubt themselves, as they are always on the lookout because they do not know how their colleagues perceive them (Cooper and Wright). In addition, inconsistent performance management also causes stress. For instance, one employee gets a pay rise without corresponding performance reviews, and another employee gets a positive review but gets laid off shortly afterward. Ultimately, a scenario like this will leave workers stressed because they cannot foretell their fate within the organization. Simply put, inconsistent management decisions create uncertainty among employees who end up feeling doubtful about their job security. Primarily, these causes of stress manifest in varying degrees and categories. A proper understanding of these categories of stress is vital in detecting the signs in both individuals and in the workplace as a whole.

Types of stress

The first category of stress is the time stress; principally, this type of stress transpires when individuals or employees do not have ample time to finish the duties they are required to complete (Mindtools.com). Such people end up worrying and are troubled by the amount of work they are expected to do; hence, they panic and dread that they will at a particular point fail to accomplish their tasks. Under these circumstances, such employees end up feeling trapped, and unhappy about their situation. Employees who experience this kind of stress are worried about targets and are always in a rush to avoid getting late to complete of tasks assigned.

Secondly, is the anticipatory stress that describes the stress experienced by workers regarding the future. Workers are naturally worried that something that might affect their job security might go wrong in the future (Mindtools.com). Such pressure usually focuses on a specific occurrence or incident in the organization that directly affects the employee, which they cannot control. In some cases, this type of stress is undefined and vague because individuals foresee their future. For instance, a systems administrator may be concerned that the database systems he/she is responsible for may be hacked. In other cases, the anticipatory stress is more specific and can be based on associations an employee makes in regard to their actual status, or of past instances in the organization.

The third kind of stress is the situational stress, which occurs when individuals find themselves in an intimidating situation that they have little or no control (Mindtools.com). Mostly, this type of stress occurs when there is a crisis in an organization. Such a situation may encompass a clash of interest or change of position in an employee’s group. For example, a situation where the HR department is asked to cut employee training costs to reduce the organization’s expenses. In such a case, the staff whose input has been disregarded, that is, the HR team in this case will experience situational stress. This will happen because they are expected to execute a task that they know is unfavorable to the well-being of the organization. Furthermore, when employees make major mistakes in the presence of supervisors or management, they are likely to experience situational stress by virtue of the awkwardness of the situation.

Finally is the encounter stress that revolves around individual contacts. Ultimately, people are likely to experience stress when they have to interact with a certain group of people or a particular individual (Mindtools.com). The most typical setup for this type of stress is when an employee has to communicate with a distressed customer or client. A good example would be doctors and nurses who have to interact with people in pain. Another good example would be an employee dealing with a security response team following a security breach, particularly, if the member of staff is concerned that they may be implicated in the incident. Consequently, it is vital that stress in in work places ought to be identified early so as to establish the best possible way to deal with the situation. Various signs manifest in people who are undergoing various forms of stress.

Signs and Symptoms of Stress

Firstly, there are the visible indications, especially, when an employee begins to lose interest in work, it most often means that the employee is experiencing high stress levels (Jodoin). Such employees most probably feel uninterested and demotivated to work. One more indication of stress is when an employee exhibits anxiety, depression, and is very irritable. This is often manifested by the individual short temperedness and mood swings. Such employees are likely to look worried, sad and often tend to drift away. A final visible sign of stress is when an employee exhibits social withdrawal and has trouble concentrating. Employees who all of a sudden shun the company of their coworkers tend to be undergoing stress, and they end up losing attentiveness and become withdrawn.

Secondly, to determine if an individual is experiencing stress, they need to conduct a transparent self-evaluation (Jodoin). Primarily, a person under stress is likely to experienced increased fatigue. One may also have trouble sleeping and show other physical signs such as stomach upset or in extreme cases, panic attacks may be present. Further, unexplained headaches and muscle tensions are also signs of stress in an individual. Finally, strong desires to withdraw from colleagues as well as feeling dejected and apprehensive are also signs within an individual that can indicate a person is under extreme stress.

Primarily, the prevention and control of stress in the workplace requires organizational level involvement because pressure arises from the organization. To effectively deal with stress, the organization can employ a risk assessment strategy to develop better stress management techniques. This risk assessment approach involves several stages; first, is the hazard identification that helps identify the causes of stress related to the work and working conditions for particular groups of employees to help ascertain the degree of exposure (Michie). Second, entails assessment of the harm, which details collection of evidence relating to the identified stressors to the impaired health in the group under assessment (Michie). For an organization, this should include a wide range health related effects that may include symptoms and health-related behaviors such as smoking and absence due to sickness. Third, is the identification of likely risk factors, which explores the relationship between exposure to stressors and the amount of harm caused to estimate their impact (Michie). The fourth is the description of underlying mechanisms, which comprises of understanding and describing possible mechanisms through which exposure to the stressors relates to the adverse health impact of the group under assessment, or the organization as a whole (Michie). Fifth is the audit of the existing organizational controls and employee support systems (Michie). In essence, this involves assessing all existing management structures in relation to both controls of stressors and the workplace stress, in connection with the provision of support for workers experiencing workplace stress. Finally, is the recommendations based on the assessment. Ultimately, this involves studying the existing control and employee support systems and making recommendations on the enduring risks related to the likely risk factors related to workplace stress (Michie).

Time management

When dealing with stress, organizations have devised various strategies; one such strategy is effective time management. Employees often find themselves faced with the tremendous task of balancing numerous works because of the limited time they have at their disposal often leading stress. Time management as a strategy for dealing with stress involves finding ways to work more efficiently to maximize output within limited time span. Notably, traditional time management approaches emphasize on efficiency and output and disregard the need to preserve a balance between work and life, which often leads to stress. When using time management as a means of dealing with stress, several approaches can be adapted.

The concept of time management as a stress management tool is defined in terms of groups of behavior considered to facilitate productivity and relieve stress. In essence, effective time management strategies have the potential to increase work output within employees. Ideally, most policies underscore starting large tasks before their due dates, breaking down large tasks into smaller tasks, and completing small tasks on a regular schedule. However, most employees and organizations constantly overlook these techniques and consequently find themselves in a dilemma.

Accordingly, poor management is the single most cause of workplace stress. When managers become stressed, the effects of their stress trickle down to the employees; eventually, it affects the entire organization. In eliminating stressors in the workplace, time management is the most important aspect; in essence, effective time management involves several factors defined by the time management matrix. To begin with, organizations need to spend time on important matters such as emergencies, demands from customers, and planned tasks or tasks that are overdue (Chapman). Secondly, organizations need to distinguish between important and urgent tasks (Chapman). For instance, while it may be important to design and develop strategies, these jobs are not necessarily critical to the organization. Thirdly, organizations need to be in a position to reject and explain certain jobs (Chapman). For example, a misunderstanding that may appear as a complaint from a client should not have much time allocated to it. Finally, managers need to put measures in place to resist and cease activities within the organization that constitute to time wastage (Chapman). For example, explicit policies on social interactions are required to ensure employees use the time in the office for office work.

The table provides a summary outline of the time management matrix

	Urgent	Not urgent
Important	1. Do now	2. Plan to do
Not Important	3. Reject and explain	4. Resist and cease

Cell 1

This cell represents tasks that are both important and urgent. Primarily, once an assignment has been confirmed to be important and urgent, the task needs to be executed immediately. For this reason, managers should prioritize such tasks based on their urgency. If a situation arises where two or more tasks are equally critical, the manager should initiate a discussion with the people involved to review the actual deadlines and requirements (Chapman). In addition, managers should share their tasks schedule with the employees involved in different task execution to explain their priorities in a logical way. Notably, assignments in cell two move into cell one when their due date arrives.

Cell 2

While tasks appearing here are most critical to the success of an organization, managers, more often than not neglect them. In essence, these tasks mainly involve strategic planning for the future of the organization. With this in mind, the organization's management must set aside adequate time for performing these tasks away from the distractions that may arise from cell one and cell three. In this case, project management tools are desirable options to explore.

Cell 3

Primarily, these tasks are only perceived to exist and are major distractors in the execution of other significant and urgent tasks. As such, when such tasks or distractors appear, one should scrutinize them and reassess their importance. Employees should develop their ability to explain and validate why they cannot perform these jobs. Ultimately, the best scenario is where an employee rejects these kinds of jobs immediately and informs the task originator accordingly. In addition, the employee can help the initiator find alternative solutions, which might involve delegation to another person (Chapman). In case such tasks are repetitive, the employee needs to educate others to come up with long-term solutions to these distractions. These kinds of distractions tend to cause stress because ultimately, it is one person bouncing their pressures on another.

Cell 4

Principally, these undertakings are not tasks but routine habits that provide a haven from the effort of discipline. Ultimately, a group of employees engaging in these kinds of activities results in a non-productive and inefficient workforce (Chapman). These activities within the organization are demotivating and are often caused by stress among employees and an investigation on the causes should be conducted. To effectively deal with these activities, a transparent system should be created where employees have specific tasks each day. This structure to deal with these problems is best established in cell two.

Apart from the above strategies employed in the time management matrix, there are several other strategies involved in effective time management when dealing with workplace stress. Most importantly, employees and managers need to develop a habit of keeping time and keeping time logs that will help them see the amount of time they waste. Consequently, this will help them save time and allocate time to important tasks thus reducing the stress that comes with last minute bids to beat deadlines. Secondly, time management training within an organization helps employees implement necessary changes to their routine and their response to others. In addition, training employees on the use of time management and project management tools improves their efficiency, thus, reducing occupational stress. However, time management alone is not enough to deal with workplace stress.

Emotional intelligence

Emotional intelligence is the awareness of individual emotional and rational response and that of colleagues (Srivastava). Ultimately, the actions and behaviors of managers have a direct influence on the organizational culture in the workplace. High emotional intelligence levels in managers help in talent identification, roles delegation, and conflict resolution in the workplace. What this means is that when managers exhibit high emotional intelligence levels, they easily resolve problems within the organization that may lead to the emergence of stressors. In the same manner, employee relationships, which may also cause tension in the workplace, are also dependent on the emotional intelligence of different employees. Likewise, high individual emotional intelligence leads to effective behaviors at work, which result in reduced depression, greater optimism, and positive learning influences (Srivastava). With the combination of all these forces, the workplace encounters less tension, and people work in a collaborative environment that ultimately leads to reduced chances of stress occurring. Undoubtedly, emotional intelligence is a skill that can be developed and is dependent on among others, emotional self-awareness, self-regulation, control, and adaptability. Moreover, it also depends on social skills like influencing, communicating, and building bonds (Srivastava).

Conclusion

To begin with, an organization or individual can spread out foreseeable sources of stress. As it is often possible to foresee events that are likely to cause stress, these events can be scheduled to happen at times when there are fewer responsibilities. Consequently, the stress likely to be caused by these events is lessened. Another way time can be used to reduce stress effectively is to understand the various steps necessary to get a particular task done. Once this is done, a mechanism based on experience can be used to improve the way the various steps are undertaken efficiently. Planning and prioritizing help in time management that ultimately reduce stress. When one plans well, chances of meeting challenges halfway through the task are reduced and consequently stress that would arise from unexpected events is minimized. When organizations plan well, it trickles down to the employees and the entire system experiences reduced stress levels. Ultimately, when people learn to adapt to various changes within the workplace, they grow more vibrant in their task execution. Equally, by analyzing the importance and urgency of tasks, they are scheduled based on their priority, thus, avoiding taking up too many unnecessary ones at a go and ending up with unfinished tasks. Additionally, with constant practice, managing time and stress becomes a habit, employees perform and produce better results, and the effect on their bodies due to stress reduces. Moreover, when managers and employees work to improve their emotional intelligence, their effectiveness affects the performance of the organization because stress there is a reduction in stress levels.

Works Cited

Chapman, Alan. 'Time Management Skills Training Articles, Techniques, Tips And Personal Tools'. Businessballs.com. N.p., 2015. Web. 13 May 2015.

Cooper, Cary, and Sue Wright. 'An Intervention Strategy For Workplace Stress'. Journal of Psychosomatic Research 43.1 (1997): 7-16. Print.

Hicks, Trevor, and Caroline McSherry. A Guide to Managing Workplace Stress. Boca Raton, Fla: Universal Publishers, 2006. Print.

Jodoin, Eric. 'Stress Management In The Workplace Identification And Coping Mechanisms'. Sans.edu. Web. 11 May 2015.

Michie, S. 'CAUSES AND MANAGEMENT OF STRESS AT WORK'. Occupational and Environmental Medicine 59.1 (2002): 67-72. Web. 13 May 2015.

Mindtools.com,. 'Albrecht's Four Types Of Stress: Managing Common Pressures'. N.p., 2015. Web. 11 May 2015.

Srivastava, Kalpana. 'Emotional Intelligence And Organizational Effectiveness'. Industrial Psychiatry Journal 22.2 (2013): 97. Web. 13 May 2015.