Stress is usually defined in terms of the internal and external conditions that create stressful situations, and the symptoms that people experience when they are stressed. STRESS MANAGEMENT is a very vital aspect of every organization. Stress management can be linked to our day to day activities.
McGrath (1976) proposed a definition based on the conditions necessary for stress. The most commonly accepted definition of stress (mainly attributed to Richard S Lazarus) is that Stress is a condition or feeling experienced when a person perceives that "demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilize." Williams and Huber (1986) defined stress as "a psychological and physical reaction to prolonged internal and/or environmental conditions in which an individual's adaptive capabilities are over extended."
In Gestalt Therapy Verbatim (Real People Press, 1969) Perls proposes a more general definition, where stress is a manifestation of thinking about the future. Anxiety is created by focusing attention away from the "here and now". When anxiety finds an outlet, we say that the stress was motivating; when it doesn't, we call it debilitating. French, Kast, and Rosenzweig(1985) also emphasized the idea that stress it self is not necessarily bad. "The term stress can be considered neutral with the words distress and eustress used for designating bad and good effects."
Stress has become a part and parcel of human life and is more pronounced in corporate life. While the idea to excel in life is a great thing to have, the same should not result in such a stressful situation where the individual is forced to devote more time in solving stress related problems than in achieving his objectives. This is what is happening in the present day corporate environment with deadlines hanging over one's head, day in day out. Yes a certain amount of stress is essential even in our day-to-day life without which nothing can be achieved: it could be even at school level where a student goes through stress while appearing for his exams, extending upto a CEO of a company as the accounting year end approaches. This stress gives us zest for life and releases our creativity in finding better ways of performing our tasks. But with the intense competition, work _related stress has assumed economic proportions as identified by the WHO. Employees are experiencing work related stress a little too frequently resulting in their inability to cope with both official and domestic lives ,since it manifests on psychological, physiological and behavioral planes companies are doing their best to remedy the situation through recreational facilities, flexible timings, forced holidays, yoga centers, gymnasiums and even with art of living programs. Whatever may be done at the organizational level to alleviate and free people from stress, unless it is addressed at an individual level no tangible results can be achieved.
[...] Yoga, by nature, is one of the most productive techniques of stress management as it deals with stress on various planes physical, mental emotional, attitudinal and lifestyle, thus having a holistic approach. Today, it is growing fast as the most popular tool for stress management in the corporate world and elsewhere. APPENDIX ARE YOU STRESSED? IF YES PLEASE ANSWER THIS QUESTIONNAIRE. This is a small questionnaire to know your views on Work Related Stress. This is for academic purpose ONLY and will be kept strictly confidential. [...]
[...] The present study entitled A STUDY ON STRESS MANAGEMENT' is aimed at finding the workforce stress levels and major stressors. The questionnaire was administered in random sample basis to the work force and was collected with in a week. The data regarding the policies, procedures used in order to reduce the stress levels of the employees have been collected from the HR Department. Apart from this data, other information has been gathered by personal observation and interviews. The data was collected from both primary and secondary sources. [...]
[...] HIGH DEMAND FOR PERFORMANCE: Unrealistic expectations, especially in the time of corporate reorganizations, which, sometimes, puts unhealthy and unreasonable pressures on the employee, can be a tremendous source of stress and suffering. Increased workload, extremely long work hours an intense pressure to perform at peak levels all the time for the same pay, can actually leave an employee physically and emotionally drained. Excessive travel and too much time away from family also contribute to an employee's stressors. TECHNOLOGY: The expansion of technology-computers, pagers, cell phones, fax machines and the internet has resulted in heightened expectations for productivity, speed and efficiency, increasing pressure on the individual worker to constantly operate at peak performance level. [...]
[...] Stress management programs teach workers about the nature and sources of stress, the effects of stress on health, and personal skills to reduce stress—for example, time management or relaxation exercises. (Heaps provide individual counseling for employees with both work and personal problems.) Stress management training may rapidly reduce stress symptoms such as anxiety and sleep disturbances; it also has the advantage of being inexpensive and easy to implement. However, stress management programs have two major disadvantages: The beneficial effects on stress symptoms are often short-lived. [...]
[...] Positive thinking: The employee should have a positive approach towards stress management like maintaining motivation, increasing his zeal through rewards and avoiding people who try to exert a negative influence on him. Get organized: This includes keeping the work area organized, planning the work in the right way, setting priorities in work, managing time cleverly, and being serious about deadlines. Take care of health: This refers to diet, taking food on time, drinking more water, avoiding smoking and alcohol, attending regular fitness programs such as walking, swimming, doing aerobics, and weight exercise. [...]
APA Style reference
For your bibliographyOnline reading
with our online readerContent validated
by our reading committee
