(More on Stress cont. 3)

Major Categories Potential Sources of Stresses

The below diagram demonstrates the 3 major categories of potential sources of stresses

(source: S. Robbins et al as quoted by Beverley McNally, 2000)

What is missing from this diagram are additional consequences, such as
"...substance-abuse, ie nicotine and/or alcohol, eating disorders, relationship breakdowns, family violence and even in some cases suicide, can be directly attributable to workplace stress..."
Beverley McNally, 2000

Some comments on the organisational factors:

- task demands (factors related to a person's job, etc)

- role demands (relates to the pressure placed on a person as a function of a particular organisational role; these demands can create a great deal of conflict for those in leadership roles: an example, attempting to ensure survival in your own role while making other people redundant.)

- interpersonal demands (colleagues and staff can create pressure as you can be dependent on their ability to perform; lack of social support from colleagues and poor interpersonal relationships add to the stress; can cause 'you feel pressured by me and I feel stressed by you' syndrome)

- organisational structure (this defines the level of differentiation in the organisation; continual reconstructions,  reorganisation, etc can increased stress levels)

- organisational leadership (represents the managerial style of organisation's senior executives; senior executives have many and varied stakeholders to satisfy, eg board of directors, shareholders, customers, government regulators, staff, etc)

- organisational lifestage (position on the life-cycle or S-curve, ie from start up to maturity and decline - for more detail, see elsewhere in the Knowledge Base)

NB Stress is a normal part of everyday life. It only becomes a problem when it is out of control, predominantly negative and becomes a dominant feature of an individual's life.

Furthermore, stressors can be a cumulative, ie stress builds up and is additive
"...each single stress in and of itself may seem unimportant, but when added to an already high level of stress, could be the one thing that pushes someone to complete break down..."

Beverley McNally, 2000

However, many executives thrive on high levels of eustress which can result from
"...challenge, demanding projects, fast-paced work environments and the ability to make a difference..."

Beverley McNally, 2000

Six key factors in determining stress levels for employees

i) workload (it is the key dimension of organisational life; for an organisation, workload means productivity; for an individual, workload means time and energy; getting a balance between organisational and individual workloads can be a challenge)

ii) reward (can be internal or external; challenges in the workplace can reduce the capacity of organisations to reward people in meaningful ways; types of reward include

        a) money

        b) prestige

        c) security

NB Don't underestimate the importance that comes from when a person takes pride in what they are doing and regard it as important and/or of value to others, because they are doing the job well.)

iii) control (level of autonomy or control a person has over their work
"...people want the opportunity to make choices and decisions, to be able to use their ability to think and to solve problems, and to have some input into the process of achieving the outcomes for which they will be accountable. Failure to feel a sense of control over one's work can lead to a lack of motivation, and job satisfaction and, ultimately, a sense of powerlessness..."
Beverley McNally, 2000)

iv) community (community provides a sense of belonging that exists when people work together; anything that reduces the focus on people and their relationships, like short-term profits, repeated downsizing, etc will reduce the community sense of belonging and create more stress)

v) fairness (there are 3 elements to fairness:

        a) trust

        b) openness

        c) respect

"...when an organisation achieves community, people trust one another to fulfil roles in shared projects, to communicate openly about their intentions and to show mutual respect..."
C. Maslach as quoted by Beverley McNally, 2000

When an employee feels under threat, values like trust, openness and respect can be diminished.Many change processes put individuals in conflict with each other, in addition to confronting uncertainty regarding their own futures)

vi) values (values influence everything about one's relationship with work, people, etc; some work environments can create considerable conflicts in individual's values, eg can be an emphasis on excellent customer service, yet at the same time take actions that damage the quality of work:
"...people are making decisions about what is really important to them. They will tolerate a conflict of values for a certain period of time, but eventually in order to prevent burnout they must make decisions about their future within the organisation..."
Beverley McNally, 2000)