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Occupational stress factors at the workplace

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 OCCUPATIONAL STRESS FACTORS AT THE WORKPLACE

Mohammad Amiri, Ph.D. Research Scholar, Department of Social Sciences,

Panjab University, Chandigarh, India. 160014
Email Id: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

Work is an aspect of life that regardless of the financial resources of some of the basic human needs such as
mental and physical mobility, satisfies social needs and self-worth. However, it can also be a source of stress.
In the last decade, the issue of stress and its effects on organizations has received much attention. Although
positive stress does exist and should not be viewed as a negative phenomenon, when it comes to stress more
attention is paid to its negative side effects. However, stress has many effects on the performance and activities
of the members of the organization. Managers, employees, and clients of the organization, under the influence
of nervous stress, develop certain mental states and perform actions that are directly reflected in the activities
and performance of the organization. In addition to the psychological effects, nerve pressures also have physical
effects. Severe stress causes uncertainty in goals and ways to achieve it. In this article, we aim to define job
stress, identify the factors that cause it, and describe ways to manage it.

KEY WORDS: Employees; Job stress; Managers; Occupational stress.

INTRODUCTION

Occupational stress can be said to be a combination of stressors and job-related situations that most people
agree that it is stressful (Amiri, Mohammad 2018). Occupational stress can also be defined as the interaction
between working conditions and individual characteristics of the worker in such a way that the demands of the
workplace are more than the individual can handle. In some cases, employing a person in a job that is
inconsistent with their abilities and information or changing their work activity can cause stress for the person.
Occupational stress is a type of chronic mental disorder caused by difficult working conditions that affects
one's personal performance and physical and mental health (Amiri, Mohammad 2019).

OCCUPATIONAL STRESS FACTORS

Factors that cause occupational stress in the workplace can be divided into three general categories:
  Individual factors: such as role conflict, role ambiguity, conflict in personal goals, unexpected personal
events, and economic issues.
 Organizational Factors: Includes organizational structure, organizational processes, organizational
policies, communication factors, job requirements, organizational physical conditions, and
organizational life stages.
 Environmental Factors: Includes economic factors, political factors, and technological factors.

ORGANIZATIONAL FACTORS OF JOB STRESS

Occupational stressors in the workplace include:

 Role Characteristics: Understanding psychological factors in the workplace is a way to gain an

understanding of occupational stress. Four important role characteristics can be role ambiguity, role
overload, role weakness, and role incompatibility.
 Role ambiguity: A definite job situation where some of the information needed to perform the job is
desperately inadequate or misleading. Role ambiguity actually leads to stress when it stops a person
from being productive and progressive.
 Excessive Role: If you can't do something that is part of a given job, you will be stressed.
 Role Comfort: In this situation one's skills are not fully utilized.
 Role incompatibility: Occurs when accepting one set of job requirements conflicts with accepting
another set.
 Job Traits: Job traits that influence job stress can be divided into four general categories: workflow,
job repetition, shift work, and task-related characteristics.
 Interpersonal Relationships: The quality of staff relationships in the workplace affects job stress.
 Organizational Structure and Atmosphere: Structures that give employees more decision-making less
stress.
 Human Resource Management Approach: Human resource management practices affect the amount
of stress on individuals.
 Technology and Material Characteristics: In relation to material variables stress occurs when minimal
living conditions are not available.
Why should managers be worried about their employees' job stress?

Stress causes many physiological and behavioral complications in people (Amiri, Mohammad 2017). People
who endure a lot of stress pay less attention to their work and may therefore be harming themselves and others
in the organization. In general, job stress reduces employee productivity. Working conditions play a key role in
causing stress for employees but cannot be ignored by individual factors (Cox, Tom 2004).

Occupational conditions that can cause stress;

i. Task Design: High workloads, short breaks, long shifts, tasks that do not use employee skills, and lack
of control.
ii. Management style: Lack of employee involvement in decision making, poor communication
iii. Work worries: job insecurity and lack of opportunity to grow, improve, or enhance; rapid changes to
what employees are not prepared for.
iv. Community Values: When community values vary among individuals, it can cause stress.
v. Low working pressure: Doing low work is also one of the causes of stress.

Work stress and performance

Levels of stress may help improve work performance. When there is no stress, employees become lazy and
tired. As stress increases, performance improves, and employees develop high mental and psychological
readiness to face challenges. If the amount of stress exceeds the optimal level, the demand will fall beyond the
capacity of the staff, resulting in a lower level of performance (Baehler, Karen, and Jane Bryson 2008).

Reducing stress

Stress management training can quickly reduce stress symptoms, such as anxiety problems and sleep
disturbances; they also have the advantage of being economical and easy to implement. However, stress
management programs have two major disadvantages: The beneficial effects of these trainings are short-lived;
in addition, these trainings often deny the importance of root causes of stress because they are employee-
centered rather than environmental.

One way to reduce job stress is to invite consultants and experts to advise on recommended ways to improve
working conditions. This approach is the most direct way to reduce stress at work, including identifying
successful aspects of work and designing strategies to reduce or eliminate stressors. The advantage of the
attitude is that it deals directly with the root causes of stress at work. However, managers sometimes disagree
with this attitude because it causes changes in routine work or production schedules, or changes in
organizational structure.

As a general rule, activities to reduce job stress in the workplace should prioritize organizational change to
improve working conditions. A combination of organizational change and stress management is the most useful
way to prevent stress in the workplace.

Preventing occupational stress

It is not possible to provide a comprehensive solution to stress prevention, but guidelines for its prevention
can be stated. In all situations, the process for stress prevention programs involves three distinct stages: problem
identification, intervention, and evaluation.

The least stress-related preparation includes:

i. Create public awareness about job stress

ii. Ensure superiors support the program
iii. Employee participation in prevention
iv. Employee engagement with managers in a problem-solving group can be a special and useful approach
to developing a stress prevention program.

Steps to prevent stress

Problem Identification: To identify problems in an organization, first consider the size of the organization and the
resources available to it.

Regardless of the method used to collect the data, the data should include employees' perceptions of their working
conditions and include levels of stress, health, and satisfaction. A list of working conditions that may lead to
stress provides warning signs and effects of stress are good starting points for deciding on the information
collected. Objective criteria such as absenteeism, illness and staff turnover, or functional problems can be
reasons for occupational stress. However, these criteria are only inaccurate indicators of job stress.

Design and Implementation of Interventions: Since the sources of stress are identified in the work and aspects of this
problem are understood, this step is set for designing and implementing the intervention strategy. In small
organizations, informal discussions that help identify stress problems may also produce fruitful ideas for
prevention. In large organizations a formal process may be required. Some interventions may be implemented
quickly (e.g improved communication, stress management training), but others may require additional time to
execute (e.g job redesign).

Evaluate Interventions: Evaluation is an essential step in the intervention process. Evaluation is necessary to
determine whether the intervention produces the desired effects, and whether changes in direction are needed.
The process of job stress prevention does not end with evaluation. Instead, occupational stress prevention
should be viewed as a continuous process that uses assessment information to modify or redirect the
intervention strategy.

Skills to Reduce Employee Job Stress

Here are some of the skills that employees can do to reduce job stress:

a. Deep, idealistic thinking and goal oriented

b. Time Management (Scheduling Compilation)
c. Turning to humor and jokes
d. Don't take the stress of others and remember that you can only change yourself, not others.
e. Social support
f. Do the most stressful or toughest tasks of the day and plan ahead.
g. Sport
h. Selfishness and a sense of usefulness

CONCLUSION

Although stress cannot be perceived as a permanent negative phenomenon and there are positive stresses,
however, stress has many effects on organizational members' performance and activities. Managers, employees,
and clients of the organization, under the influence of nervous stress, develop certain mental states and perform
actions that are directly reflected in the activities and performance of the organization. Therefore, managing
stress and using it for creativity and moving faster towards organizational goals is one of the goals that has
recently emerged in organizations. Organizations can effectively prevent negative stress and its consequences
by effectively training their employees and managers in order to better understand the stressor and manage it
better.
REFERENCES

1] Amiri, Mohammad. "Occupational Stress among Information Technology Employees in Chandigarh

city." National Conference on New Approaches to Management, Economics, & Accounting, Tehran, Iran. 2018.
Retrieved from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331132710_Occupational_Stress_among_Information_T
echnology_in_Chandigarh_City_India

2] Amiri. Mohammad. "Role of Job Stress on Job Satisfaction." International Journal of Management Studies,
Vol. VI, Issue. 4, Page no. 57-60. 2019. Retrieved from
http://researchersworld.com/ijms/vol6/issue4/Paper_08.pdf

3] Amiri. Mohammad. "Occupational Stress on Employees in Information Technology Organizations,

Asian Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities, Vol. 6, Issue. 3, Page no.103-109. 2017. Retrieved from
http://www.ajssh.leena-luna.co.jp/AJSSHPDFs/Vol.6(3)/AJSSH2017(6.3-12).pdf

4] Baehler, Karen, and Jane Bryson. "Stress, Minister: government policy advisors and work
stress." International Journal of Public Sector Management 21.3 (2008): 257-270. Retrieved from
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Karen_Baehler/publication/235316866_Stress_Minister_Gov
ernment_policy_advisors_and_work_stress/links/55ddf24508ae45e825d394c0/Stress-Minister-
Government-policy-advisors-and-work-stress.pdf

5] Cox, Tom. "Work-related stress, risk management and Management Standards." (2004).
 Biography of Author

Mohammad Amiri is a Post-Graduate degree holder in MS (Human Resource Management) and pursues his

Ph.D. in Panjab University, Chandigarh . He has several articles published in various International and
National Journals & newspaper. Amiri has been selected as a top (Ph.D.) student by Research Counselor of
Iran in Delhi, India in 2016-2017. He was also selected as a top researcher by Research Counselor of Iran in
2017-2018 in India. His books: 1) Performance Management as a System in B. G. Shirke Construction
Technology 2) Glimpse of Tangkhul Tribes Present & Past.

Research Gate URL: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mohammad_Amiri29

Academia.edu URL: https://puchd.academia.edu/Mohammad_Amiri

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