By using the Person/Environment Fit Model; it can be hypothesized that certain individuals is at a higher risk on the work related stress then the others. For example, a person who has "Role Overload" feels unable to complete the work that’s given; this can interfere with the quality of work. This person is more likely to suffer from work stress then one who has a predictable workload. Role Overload in theory produces another stressor called "Role Conflict".
Role Conflict is a result of an employee being caught between two or more competing demands. Role Conflict develops if a person receiving not so clear directions from two individuals, if the instructions are different, and if the individual must spend more time to complete both projects. For example, if an IT is working to solve a problem in one computer, and the his supervisor suddenly comes and asks him to do another job and he must finish it within the time range that’s given by his supervisor while the original task that he has also unfinished yet. Of course it will give you stress when you think about it as if you can finish everything on time or not.
Role Under load is a wrong usage of intelligence, knowledge or manual skills. In the work force, this may mean that an individual is not suited for the task because the job does not challenge their intellectual or physical capabilities. This lack of challenge might leave too much time for individuals to think or wonder about something else such as personal problems that they will be experiencing. This also contributes an individual to develop a poor self esteem that can develop into a poor mental outlook. It is strange that if a person is over challenged, they will be stress; and within this case, if they are less challenge, they will be stress. Balance of the stressors seems to be the key!
Role Ambiguity is a stress caused by unclear tasks to be done to fulfill a single role. Role Ambiguity involves a mismatch of a person’s skills and knowledge. For example, an engineer is assigned to work as a production supervisor for an assembly operation instead of dealing with designs enhancements and process improvements. This can be so wrong to begin with because he will never ever learn something that is useful for his growth since he is not doing the task that match with his skill to come with. This is not good for both himself and his company that he works for. Role ambiguity demonstrated a negative relationship with performance rating
There is an example of jobs where Role Conflict can be resulted in the stress. These jobs are highly stressful due to the multiple tasks that the individual needs to be performed, the danger / pressure involved, and the responsibility with no control over the environment. Those jobs for example are the Jobs Inter-city High School Teacher, Police, Officer, Miner, Air Traffic Controller, Medical Intern, Stock Broker, Journalist, Customer Service/Complaint Department, and Waitress/Waiter Secretary which brings me to my next point that the impact on an organization. Products of Occupational Stress: There is an old saying; "A happy worker is a productive worker". An employee who is suffering from stress on the job is neither happy nor productive, they usually more prone to illness. In this research it was found that "Type A" or perfectionist like managers were more prone to coronary heart disease, such as high blood pressure and increased heart rate. Other stress related symptoms are headache, heartburn, backache and generalized fatigue.
There are ten warning sign of stress. Note that the signs vary from physiological or biological responses to physiological reactions. Warning Signs are the Intestinal Distress, Rapid pulse Frequent Illness, Insomnia Irritability, Nail Biting, Lack of Concentration, Increased use of Alcohol & Drugs, and Hunger for Sweets. When an individual reaches the point of emotional exhaustion, you may see more absenteeism and low moral within the company. The symptoms of the ailment that are less noticeable by coworkers in most cases, but contribute to the degradation of the person’s mental health are insomnia, and an increase using of drugs and alcohol as well as marital and family problem.
Stress related problems cost the industry billions of dollars. Some experts estimate the total cost of stress related aliments to be as high as 150 billion dollars a year. It was found that 10% of all industrial accidents were due to the unsafe conditions. That means that the remaining 90% will fall into the unsafe act category. No doubt about it that stress claims are increasing slowly but sure and the industry is spending billions for the court, lost wages, and the medical benefits.
Work Site Health and Stress Management Programs. In 1989, with an increase in the medical staff, a more proactive approach began by offering aerobics and karate classes on site at no charge to the employees from the company. Many employees showed an interest in these programs, so the Medical Manager decided to expand the companies’ health and lifestyle improvement program. The first order of the business was to find out where the need was. Free health screening was offered and was performed by a professional outside company. The survey revealed some enlightening facts; it was discovered that 24.5% of the employees were suffering from hypertension, and 34% of them was 20% over-weight. For the employees with hypertension, the regular blood pressure monitoring is done; and also, in an effort to calm the work force, a 240 gallon aquarium has been put down there in the main cafeteria area to help them relaxing. Physical activity really does help to relive stress.
Individuals who are exposed to the stressors on the job, and/or at home are at risk of becoming physically and psychologically ill even though that the social stress can be contributed to the occupational stress, and visa versa. Stress is an unavoidable fact of life. If it’s properly monitored and controlled using the stress reduction techniques and a healthy lifestyle; we all can reduce, but we will never eliminate every single stress from our lives. The only thing that is certain in our life is death, stress and taxes. It’s all problems that we see in our daily working life and outside the working area even sometimes you can’t just remember the happy days in our life.
Stress is the physical and/or psychological response to the demands made on the person. The relation between stress and productivity is portrayed as an inverse parabola because without some stress there would be no performance. As a human, we are a conformist, so when something change and we can’t deal with the change, it means that we will have stress. There are other variable that relate to stress vulnerability, including emotional and social isolation, level of ability to perform jobs, bored, and physical health of the person itself that were not mention in most of the article. The costs of stress are absenteeism, diminished productivity, employee turnover, accidents, direct medical, compensation, and insurance fees. The Physical effects of the stress are often not apparent unless the stress results in an accident, whereas the psychological effects of stress are less frequent to be reported than the physical effects. Therefore, consequences of the stress can not really be measured.
In conclusion, responses to stress depend on each individual. High job commitment correlates with fewer negative effects of stress and better coping skills to stressful situation. In contrast, lesser capabilities and skills to face role conflict, changes, bad relationship, and work overload result in stress that can be dangerous to an individual’s health and safety. So we have role conflict, role ambiguity, and role overload.
References
Kahn, R.L. & Byoriere, P. (1992) Stress in Organizations Handbook of Organizational Psychology, 2nd ed., Vol 3 571-575
Doby, V.J., & Caplan, R.D. (1995)> Organizational Stress to Reputation: Effects on Anxiety at Work and at Home. Academy Management Journal, 38, 1105-1123
Peterson, M.F., & Smith, P.B. (1995). Role Conflict, Ambiguity, and Overload. Academy of Management Journal, 38, 429-452
