1. Chapter : 7 Managing Stress and the Work-Life Balance Dr.Mahmood AsadMGT233 3–1 University of Bahrain College of Business Administration MGT 233: Organizational Behavior Managing People and Organization

2. 1.Define and describe the nature of stress. 2.Identify basic individual differences related to stress. 3.Identify and describe common causes of stress. 4.Discuss the central consequences of stress. 5.Describe various ways that stress can be managed. 6.Discuss work-life linkages and their relation to stress. MGT233 Chapter Learning Objectives After studying this chapter you should be able to: Dr.Mahmood Asad 3–2

3. Stress Defined –A person’s adaptive response to a stimulus that places excessive psychological or physical demands on that person The Stress Process (Selye) –General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) Identifies three stages of response to a stressor: alarm, resistance, exhaustion Sources of stress: – Eustress: pleasurable stress accompanying positive events – Distress: unpleasant stress accompanying negative events MGT233 Dr.Mahmood Asad 3–3

4. FIGURE 7.1 MGT233 The General Adaptation Syndrome Dr.Mahmood Asad 3–4

5. MGT233  a)Stage 1—alarm. The GAS is initiated when a person first encounters a stressor. At this point, the person may experience some degree of panic or feel unable to cope.  b)Stage 2—resistance. If the stressor is extreme, the person may simply be unable to cope with it initially. In most cases, however, the individual gathers physical and/or emotional strength and resists the negative effects of the stressor.  c)Stage 3—exhaustion. In many cases, the resistance stage ends the GAS. However, prolonged exposure to a stressor without resolution may bring on stage 3. At this point, the person can no longer fight the stressor and gives up. (cont’d) Dr.Mahmood Asad 3–5

6. Individual Differences and Stress Type A Personality Profile –Extremely competitive, highly committed to work, have a strong sense of time urgency Type B Personality Profile –Less competitive, less committed to work, have a weaker sense of time urgency Hardiness –A person’s ability to cope with stress Optimism –The extent to which a person sees life in relatively positive or negative terms MGT233 Dr.Mahmood Asad 3–6

7. (cont’d)  Hardiness and Optimism.  Hardiness is the ability of an individual to cope with stress. People with hardy personalities have an internal locus of control, are strongly committed to the activities in their lives, and view change as an opportunity for advancement and growth.  Optimism is the extent to which a person sees life in relatively positive or negative terms. A person with a lot of optimism will tend to handle stress better, see the positive characteristics of the situation, and recognize that things may eventually improve. MGT233Dr.Mahmood Asad 3–7

8. (cont’d) Cultural differences are also important in determining how stress affects people. American executives may experience less stress than executives in many other countries. Women may be more prone to experience the psychological effects of stress, whereas men may report more physical effects. MGT233Dr.Mahmood Asad 3–8

9. MGT233 FIGURE 7.2 Causes and Consequences of Stress Dr.Mahmood Asad 3–9

10. Causes and Consequences of Stress Most Common Causes of Stress –Organizational stressors –Life stressors Most Common Consequences of Stress –Individual consequences –Organizational consequences –Burnout MGT233 Dr.Mahmood Asad 3–10

11. MGT233 Table 7.1 Most and Least Stressful Jobs Top Most Stressful Jobs Top Least Stressful Jobs 1. Surgeon1. Actuary 2. Commercial airline pilot2. Dietitian 3. Photojournalist3. Computer systems analyst 4. Advertising account executive4. Statistician 5. Real estate agent5. Astronomer 6. Physician (general practice)6. Mathematician 7. Reporter (newspaper)7. Historian 8. Physician Assistant8. Software engineer Dr.Mahmood Asad 3–11

12. (cont’d) Most Common Causes of Stress – 1- Organizational stressors: – Organizational stressors are factors in the workplace that can cause stress. Four general sets of organizational stressors are task demands, physical demands, role demands, and interpersonal demands. 1. Task demands are associated with a specific job. a)Some jobs (e.g., air traffic controller, surgeon) are more stressful than others (airplane baggage loader, receptionist). See Table 7.1. b)Certain occupations (e.g., coal mining, toxic waste handling) pose threats to workers’ health. c)Security is an important task demand in positions that offer little job security. d)Overload occurs when a person simply has too much work to do. High levels of overload result in worker tension and anxiety; underload results in boredom and apathy (refer to Figure 7.3). Thus, a moderate degree of workload-related stress is optimal, because it leads to high levels of energy and motivation. MGT233 Dr.Mahmood Asad 3–12

13. (cont’d) MGT233  2. Physical demands relate to aspects of the setting of the job that can lead to stress, such as uncomfortable temperatures, poor lighting, and inadequate work surfaces.  3. Role demands also can be stressful. A role is a set of expected behaviors associated with a specific position in a group or organization. A person may experience either role ambiguity or role conflict.  a)Role ambiguity occurs when a person is uncertain as to the exact nature of a particular role or when there is a lack of clarity as to what is expected.  b)Role conflict arises when demands of or messages about a role are essentially clear but somewhat contradict one another or there is incongruence among two or more roles.  c)Interrole conflict occurs when a person experiences conflict among two or more roles.  d)Intrarole conflict arises when a person gets contradictory messages from different people in the same role. Dr.Mahmood Asad 3–13

14. (cont’d) MGT233  e)Intrasender conflict is when the same person sends contradictory messages to the recipient.  f)Person-role conflict occurs if there is some basic incongruence between the person and his or her job.  g)Role overload occurs when expectations for the role exceed the individual’s capabilities.  4. Interpersonal demands consist of group pressures, leadership style, and conflicting personalities.  a)Group pressures include pressures to restrict output, to conform to group norms, and so forth.  b)A superior’s leadership style may cause stress if it conflicts with the subordinate’s needs or expectations.  c)Stress may result when two or more people who work together have conflicting personalities, values, or attitudes. Dr.Mahmood Asad 3–14

15. MGT233 Table 7.2 Life Changes and Life Change Units Dr.Mahmood Asad 3–15

16. (cont’d) MGT233  Most Common Causes of Stress 2- Life stressors:  Stress in organizational settings may be influenced by events that take place outside the organization. Two categories of life stressors are life change and life trauma.  1. Life change is any meaningful change in a person’s personal or work situation. Holmes and Rahe argue that major changes in a person’s life can lead to stress and eventually to disease. Table 7.2 summarizes their listing of major life change events.  a)Each event in Table 7.2 is assigned a point value intended to reflect the severity of its impact on the individual. The weights represent life change units (LCUs). A person is capable of handling a certain threshold of LCUs, but beyond that threshold problems can set in. Holmes and Rahe suggest that people who encounter 150 or more LCUs in a given year will experience a decline in health the following year. Between 150 and 300 LCUs carries a 50 percent chance of major illness, whereas the chance of illness increases to 70 percent if the LCUs exceed 300. Dr.Mahmood Asad 3–16

17. (cont’d) MGT233  b)Although the life change approach provides interesting insights into the impact of stress, research has provided only mixed support.  2. Life trauma is any upheaval in a person’s life that alters his or her attitudes, emotions, or behaviors. The life trauma perspective is similar to the life change view, but it has a more narrow, direct, and short-term focus. Major life traumas that may influence stress include marital problems, family difficulties, and health problems initially unrelated to stress. Dr.Mahmood Asad 3–17

18.  Consequences of Stress: The consequences of stress can be positive or negative. The results of positive stress, or eustress, may be increased energy, enthusiasm, and motivation. The potential consequences of negative stress, or distress, are categorized in Figure 7.2 as individual consequences, organizational consequences, and burnout. (cont’d) MGT233Dr.Mahmood Asad 3–18

19. (cont’d) Most Common Consequences of Stress –Individual consequences: Include behavioral, psychological, and medical consequences. –Organizational consequences: Any of the individual consequences can also affect the organization. Other consequences of stress that bear directly on the organization include performance decline, withdrawal, and negative changes in attitudes. –Burnout: Burnout is a general feeling of exhaustion that develops when an individual simultaneously experiences too much pressure and too few sources of satisfaction. MGT233Dr.Mahmood Asad 3–19

20. MGT233 FIGURE 7.4 Individual and Organizational Coping Strategies Dr.Mahmood Asad 3–20

21. Managing Stress in the Workplace Managing Stress in the Workplace: Stress management involves individual coping strategies and organizational coping strategies (refer to Figure 7.4.). A.Individual Coping Strategies. Several strategies for helping individuals manage stress have been suggested. 1.Exercise can reduce stress and tension, increase self-confidence, and improve one’s health. 2.Relaxation, if done properly, can help people adapt to and deal with stress. 3.Time management can help ease daily pressures. 4.Role management involves individual activity to avoid overload, role ambiguity, and role conflict. Specific strategies include asking superiors to clarify what one is expected to accomplish and learning to say no to excessive demands on one’s time and energy. 5.Support groups are simply groups of family members or friends to whom a person can turn, especially in times of crisis. MGT233Dr.Mahmood Asad 3–21

22. (cont’d) B.Organizational Coping Strategies: Increasingly organizations are recognizing that they should help employees cope with stress-related problems. One rationale is that because the organization is at least partly responsible for creating the stress, it should help relieve it. Another is that employees experiencing lower levels of detrimental stress will be able to function more effectively with the proper organizational assistance. Two basic organizational coping strategies are institutional programs and collateral programs. 1.Institutional programs include efforts to design work and/or work schedules to reduce stress, efforts to foster a culture that reinforces a healthy mix of work and nonwork activities, and efforts to encourage supportive supervision. 2.Collateral programs include programs for stress management, health promotion, career development, and other areas. MGT233Dr.Mahmood Asad 3–22

23. Work-Life Linkages MGT233  A.Fundamental Work-Life Relationships: Interrelationships between a person’s work life and personal life. 1.There are many ways to characterize the role of work in a person’s life: current job, career goals, interpersonal relations at work, and job security. 2.Likewise, there are several ways to characterize the nonwork life aspects: spouse or life companion, dependents, personal life interests, and friendship networks. 3.Work-life relationships refer to any interrelationship that might exist between dimensions of the person’s work life and the person’s personal life. 4.Stress occurs when there is a basic inconsistency or incompatibility between salient dimensions of a person’s work and life dimensions. Dr.Mahmood Asad 3–23

24. (cont’d) MGT233  B.Balancing Work-Life Linkages: Balancing work-life linkages is not easy to do because demands from both sides can be extreme and people may need to make trade-offs. ◦ Importance of long-term versus short-term perspectives ◦ Significance of evaluating tradeoffs between values  1.Individuals need to recognize the difference between long-term versus short-term perspectives in balancing their work and personal lives.  2.People must also decide what they value and what trade-offs they are willing to make. Dr.Mahmood Asad 3–24