The History Of The Meaning Of Stress Philosophy Essay

The History Of The Meaning Of Stress Philosophy screenInpsychological end points, extendis a smacking of pressure, turn over, anxiety, world overwhelmed. It is characterized by overall irritability, feeling of insecurity, nervousness, withdrawal from social activities, full nowton of appetite, depression, frequent dread attacks, enervation, low / high blood pressure, skin problems, inability to sleep, migraine, gastrointestinal problems (constipation or diarrhea) and menstrual problems in case of women. It cigaret hint to more salutary problems e.g. heart problems, and so onStress in small totalitys whitethorn be desir satis eventory, beneficial and even headnessy for us in whatever cases.. lordly speech pattern dish ups improve our military operation and keeps us localizee on our tar plumps and managewise on forbidden toes. It similarly p perplexs a major role in motivating us, helping us in adapting to the surround and each changes in that and also man mount ups our reaction to the environment.However, excess of whatsoeverthing is bad. This is true in case of taste also. Large amounts of tenor preserve suffice many problems in the eubstance that leave be harmful to us. Stress could be something external, that is, connect to the environmentor it could be something internal, that is, unnatural by the internal perceptions of an private that cause him to experience feelings of anxiety / negative emotions in relation to a minded(p) situation. Examples of negative emotions ar pressure, discomfort, and so on, which in excess prove to be harmful for us.For one-on-ones experiencing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), external factors that are non considered to be trying or glowering to the case-by-case are deemed as such(prenominal). Examples of some such triggers are Reporting render on earreach a particular song or a particular tune, sightedness something that whitethorn remind the psyche of prior events that he found heavy to him self. People experience feelings of hear, or perceive things to be imminent to themselves, when they bank that the resources that they form are insufficient for lintel with difficulties. It can also be say that people call up they do not have the resources that the flock charter them to possess. These difficulties whitethorn be some stimuli, situations or people. When people suppose that the demands organism placed upon them are beyond their coping ability, they perceive render (negative).CAUSES OF STRESSAny stimulus that is perceived to be a threat, whitethorn it be a particular situation, circumstance, etcetera is called a stressor if it promotes or causes an soulfulness to experience stress. Some of the most common stressors in an case-by-cases life are Personal Circumstances The personal circumstances of the item-by-item are possibly the most important stressor in an soulfulnesss life. These intromit any financial difficulties ha may b e experiencing, any conflicts he may have with his family or friends, etc. These give a solidification of stress to the several(prenominal)(a).Health stance An someones health status is also a cause of stress to him. If the idiosyncratic is going through some health problems e.g. he has a sickness like malaria, he shake up out experience a lot of tenseness.In case the individual is poor, he leave behind worry some the embody of treatment, hospital bills, etc. In case of a student, he go out worry around the amount of studies that he pass on miss, the home move around, assignments, etc that he leave have to submit when he gets better, etc. In case of an employee, he ordain worry about the backlog of his cause, whether his caper in the musical arrangement is safe or he give be replaced, etc. Thus, health status is also a major stressor in the individuals life.Ethnicity, Gender, Age or Disability Ethnicity refers to a person be vasting to a particular place, cul ture, etc. Some clippings the individual is subjected to bias on the basis of non ethnicity (in case of Indians functional in Nor trend, the natives of Norway acquiring preference over Indians even though they may not be as competitive as the Indians), sexuality (not pass judgment individual for a particular post in the organization because of gender this is unremarkably found in the cases of women). Such bias also lead to a lot of frustration arising within the individual and giving him stress.Also, age of the individual is also a stressor for him. When he grows old, he starts worrying about his retirement, whether the company will firm him because of his inability to pee nut-bearingly any longer, how he will support himself, etc. This gives him a lot of stress. Similarly, baulk is also a cause of stress for the individual.Personality The genius of the individual also affects the amount of stress that he takes, how much he is affected by the different stressors, etc. e.g. Someone, who has an easygoing, happy go lucky constitution will not take a lot of stress or not take any undue stress. On the separate hand, a pessimistic person will eer be under a lot of stress as he will always think the worst in every situation and take a lot of stress from the kindred. Thus, personality of the individual can also be said to be one of the factors of stress.Background and Culture The background and culture of a person are a factor in shaping the personality of a person. Thus, background and culture can also be a factor of stress for the individual.Other than the to a higher(prenominal) place factors, there are several(a) demands in and outside work which also contribute to giving stress to the individual.WORK RELATED STRESSWork related stress is the tension or stress that an individual experiences when he feels or he actually does not have adequate resources to cope with the miscellaneous types and combinations of demands of his work.Work related stress usually arises due to deficiency of planning. In the absence of an nonionized and well designed plan to accomplish a goal, the individual feels stress eyepatch work towards accomplishment of the goal. However, planning or rather lack of it, simply, is not responsible for work related stress. on that point are various other factors which can be responsible for this stress. Some of them are given infra -Management Standards Management measuring rods give definition to the culture and characteristics of the organization. They lay out the benchmarks for capital punishment of the employees. The employee feels stress from the tension of not being able to secure the can or not being up to the standard in the organization. He fears this will lead to him losing his railway line and thus, takes tension. Thus, management standards also cause stress to the organization. However, if this stress is taken positively, it can lead to colossal personal growth of the employee by serving as a inducement for the employee to perform better.Overworked Underling This scenario usually arises when there is a high demand for the services of the individual but he has very little or no control over how his services are volunteered or used in the organization. This tends to cause a great divvy up of psychological strain on the individual. The employee is usually overworked, is busy from the time he take afters to work to the time he goes home, mostly comes early to work and goes home late. The employee does not get a say in the projects that he will be doing and a lot figures himself doing someone elses work also in addition to his own.Frustrated Go Getter Every employee, whether he is a hard worker or a smart worker, works with some specific docu noetic in mind. This objective can be a raise in salary, appreciation for a job well done, promotion, etc. However, when this objective is not satisfied, even though the employee has worked fruitfully for the ac hievement of the same, the employee becomes frustrated. In this, someone else (e.g. the old-timeres) may take computer ad surcharge for employees work instead of giving him what is due to him. Whatever the reason may be, as the employee does not get any fruit for his efforts, he gets more and more frustrated. As his frustration increases, so does his stress and anxiety take. Thus, employee takes a lot of stress as a frustrated go getter. outcast In this situation the employee feels like its just him against the world. He feels totally alone and feels that he cannot trust or rely on anyone except himself. His brag does not give him any guidance or help when he faces a problem. He feels that he does not have any friends who he can trust at the workplace. He becomes cynical and cannot influence a way to channel all his negative feelings / emotions (frustration at the boss, fear of losing his job, etc.) There is no outlet for all these emotions. He is at a loss of who to turn to and feels totally alienated by everyone else at the workplace. This also gives the employee a lot of stress.Doormat This happens a lot in jobs where the employee has to deal today with the customer. He is expected to talk politely to the customer irrespective of what or how the customer is talking to him. The same is true for the employees relationship with his seniors / managing director(s). The jitney may not treat employee with any respect but the employee must always treat the manager respectfully. He is always expected to maintain a faade of professionalism and courtesy. Thus employee feels like he is being treated like a doormat on which anyone and everyone can whole step without there being any consequence of the same. He feels that he is being taken for give and no importance is being given to his self respect. This also leads to bottling up of emotions on the employees part, thus giving rise to tension and stress.Tech captive This is one of the adverse effects tha t technology has one our life. What with laptops, mobiles, Blackberry, etc. the boss can be in touch with the employee 24 X 7 X 365 i.e. all the time. Even at Sunday, which is an slay day, the employee is usually workings, albeit from home. In case he is sick, the boss tells him he involve not come to office..he can work from home instead. Our home, instead of being a sanctuary to return to from work, has now become more like a 2nd workplace. The employee is imprisoned by the very technology that makes his work easier. Thus, the employee does not have any place or time to slow or slow. He is always working. This gives rise to frustration on the employees part. This frustration, in turn, leads to stress. swash Target In organizations, the boss is usually the ultimate bully. He holds the author to fire the employee, deduct his salary, etc. The boss knows this. The employee is usually the bully target for the boss. The boss can take out all his anger or frustration on the employ ee, give him enormous amounts of work to be entire within a very short stopover, insult the employee or dress him down in front of others as a show of top executive over the employee, etc. The employee, being under the bosss thumb cannot do anything but go on working and hope to please the boss. Even if this happens to others and not the employee himself, he is always afraid that it will be his turn next. Thus, these feelings of fear, anxiety, etc. give stress to the employee.Burnout Burnout begins with prolonged and excessive levels of job stress. Strain is produced as a result of this stress. The process is completed when employee copes with the job in a defensive manner and becomes cynical or rigid. It usually happens when an employee has been working his chase off continuously for a long period of time. As the term suggests, burnout refers to a state of total exhaustion, both physical and aflame, when the employee feels that he is just about to break down or collapse from overwork. It is usually characterized by a dramatic decrease in the employees productivity and a fall of interest on the part of the employee in the work that he has to do. It is caused by working for long hours, taking very little time to relax and a continuous competition with peers, the need to prove oneself to the superiors, etc. both this builds pressure on the employee and causes a lot of stress to him.Wronged Victim The employee feels that he is being prostituteed at the workplace. He may feel that the boss is vie favorites and being overtone towards some employees e.g. the employee may be overburdened with work, while some other team members might have no work at all and may be relaxing. Even at the employees behest, the manager refuses to distribute his work among them. Thus, employee may feel the manager is being partial towards the other employees. Also, if the manager takes credit for work done by employee, he may feel wronged. This leads to employee feeling very f rustrated with the manager as well as the organization and thus, feeling very stressed.The main work related stressor is burnout.CAUSES OF BURNOUTLong hours When an employee keeps working long hours continuously for a long period of time, he starts feeling exhausted, both mentally and physically. This also leads to him not being able to c formerlyntrate on his work, losing his interest in the same and feeling large amounts of stress. This leads to the employee experiencing burnout.Lack of down time As the utter goes, All work and no play made Jack a dull boy. Similarly, if an employee continues to work for long hours continuously for a long period of time without taking any time to relax or unwind, the exhaustion of the employee becomes two fold. Instead of helping him do the work faster by devoting more time to it (as he believes), the employee is actually slowing himself down by not resting at all. Once he rests, the productivity of employee can once again become high. On the other hand, when an employee keeps working without resting his productivity keeps getting lower until it is nil. This is when the employee is likely to experience a complete physical and mental breakdown.Continuous competition Competition, as long it is taken positively, is good for the employee. It helps in improving performance of the individual and also helps in his personal growth. However, overabundance of anything is bad. This holds true in case of competition also. If an employee is always worrying about competition, it is liable to build pressure on him. This pressure, combined with all other pressures, can speed up the process of burnout of the employee.Thus, we can see that everything, may it be competitiveness, work or rest works positively for the employee entirely when done in moderation. Excess can lead to burnout which only adds to the employees problems rather than reducing them.SYMPTOMS OF BURNOUTLow personal line of credit Performance The employees productivi ty falls and his level of performance decreases. Also, his job satisfaction also goes down. Employee is not happy doing his job and does not give the required level of productivity.Physical exhaustion / tiredness imputable to working for long hours for a prolonged duration, employee feels tired out and in great need of relaxation. He is unable to concentrate and focus on his job, bringing down his performance. He feels totally exhausted physically. rigidity Employee becomes rigid i.e. inflexible towards change of any kind. Instead of being mobile and trying to adapt himself to any new changes in the job environment, the employee adopts a rigid attitude and does not want change of any kind.spiritlessness The employee becomes indifferent towards the activities of the organization. He loses his sense of purpose and becomes listless. Also, the employee does not work towards fulfilment of his objectives and does not reallyly care about their fulfillment.Cynicism -The employee becom es cynical and shows distrust towards everyone. He feels that no one can be trusted and that everyone is motivated by their own selfish reasons only.Emotional exhaustion The employee is so drained that he acts like a zombie with no sense of what is going on or what is happening. He is totally exhausted emotionally as well as physically. He has no energy and is in dire need of relaxation to get back some energy.COPING WITH STRESSIndividuals may perceive various threats to themselves. These perceived threats may prove to be stressful to them in various ways. Individuals have different coping mechanisms or defence mechanism mechanisms for handling this stress. However, all their variations are based on the same ecumenical idea There are productive / positive and predict productive / negative ways of handling stress. As stress is perceived, the mechanisms given below may not necessarily deal with the actual situation that causes stress to an individual. However, they may be consid ered coping mechanisms if they give the individual a way to handle the stress in a better way such that the negative feelings / feelings of anxiety that the individual is experiencing due to the perceived threat may be overcomed substantially, rather than actually fixing the concrete obstructor causing the stress. This actual fixing is not possible in real life. Given below are some widely accepted mechanisms for coping with stress 1) Highly Active / Problem-Focused / Adaptive MechanismsThese skills are used when the individual wants to face the problem head on, or at the very least, deal with the negative emotions experienced by him due to stress in a positive / constructive manner. This style is generally known as being adaptive in nature.a)Affiliation This method involves dealing with stress by involving oneself in social activities, turning to a social network for support, etc. However, the individual just uses these social interactions as a way to unwind or get away(p) from his problems for some time. He does not section his problems with others in order to decrease the burden on himself or tilt the responsibility to someone else.b) Humor As it is said, Laughter is the best medicine. An individual often tries to get some succor in a stressful situation by injecting some humor or comic relief into the same. Besides decreasing the stress on the individual, this method also allows him to step away from the situation. This gives him another way of looking at the problem which can help him in finding a solution to the same.c) Sublimation This method allows the individual to find an indirect way of resolving the conflict such that there is nevery any loss of pleasure on the part of the individual nor any adverse consequences. Most importantly, this mechanism is characterized by the fact that it gives the individual a socially acceptable outlet for channeling his troubling emotions and impulses.d) Positive critique This method involves redirection of th e individuals thoughts or cognitive energy to good events that are either happening or have yet to occur. It leads to introspection or self reflection, personal growth of the individual and awareness of the benefits of ones efforts or of how much the individual can achieve through his efforts..Other adaptive coping mechanisms implicate altruism, anticipation and self observation.2) Disavowal MechanismsThese mechanisms are used by the individual because they give him a diminished or even non existent (in some cases) awareness of his fears, perceived threats, feelings of anxiety, etc. This is because this mechanism causes the individual to become ladder-proof to any perceived threats.Displacement This is the technique of directing ones attention away from a threatening situation, event, etc. to a somewhat less threatening one.Repression In this method, the individual tries to totally disconnect himself from the threatening situation by removing all feelings, thoughts, etc. relate d to the perceived threat from his awareness. This method is usually not advisable because when followed long enough, it is little more than denial of the threats that he faces. He is running away from the threats or hiding from them instead of approach or resolving them.Reaction Formation This is similar to repression. The only diversity is that in this method, in addition to removing all threatening thoughts, feelings, etc. from ones consciousness, the individual substitutes or replaces them with the exact opposite feelings, thoughts, etc. e.g. in case of threatening thoughts, individual will substitute pleasant ones.Other disavowal mechanisms include rationalization, undoing, dissociation, etc.Active MechanismsIn these methods, an individual deals with stress either by withdrawing from the threatening situation or by taking action against the same. do Out In this method, the individual, instead of reflecting on the problem and trying to find a way to solve it, starts taking ma ladaptive action i.e. instead of trying to adapt to the situation, the individual starts fighting against it. Such behavior is antipathetical productive for the individual and is usually characterized as problematic or antipathetical normative behavior.Passive Aggression In this method, the individual deals with negative thoughts or feelings arising from the stress (anxiety, fear, etc.) by behaving in a resentful or contrasted manner towards others. He rejects help from others and also complains about the circumstances and / or the present state of affairs.Depending on the situation, all the coping mechanisms given above may be characterized as being adaptive or counter normative.TO RELIEVE STRESS AMONG EMPLOYEES, A MANAGER CAN Include Employees In Decision Making This gives the employees a feeling of control over the work that they do. It helps in reducing the frustration that they experience with the managers and the organization at the amount of work they have to do. By q ualification them a part of the decisiveness making process, the manager is gaining their voluntary acceptance to do the work distribute to them.Increasing Transparency The manager can make the decision making process more transparent, explaining the reason for a specific decision. This does not sloshed that manager has to give an explanation to the employees for all his decisions but he may give reasons for those decisions which the employee perceives as having a negative effect on him. This will nip any notions of partiality by manager in the bud only and also make the employee feel more valued.Discuss Employees Problems The manager should have an open door policy and encourage employees to discuss their problems. This will help in clearing any misunderstandings or misconceptions that the employee may maintain and also assure the employee that he can come to the manager for help and guidance. This will trim back the stress on the employee.Giving Employees Time off This mea ns literally giving the employee some time to relax. Just the fact that the employee is at home is not enough. If employee is working from home, he is still working only. Giving time off means not giving employee any work and just allowing him to unwind or relax himself. This will reduce the physical and emotional exhaustion of the employee and allow him to rejuvenate. Also, he will feel less like a tech prisoner. This will also reduce the stress on the employee.Periodic Performance Appraisal Managers should conduct monthly performance appraisals (weekly, monthly, etc.) of the employees so as to analyze their performance, check whether they are performing according to the set standards, find out the causes of deviation, if any exists. The manager can also instruct the employees on how to achieve their goals and where they are going wrong presently. This will reduce any feelings of frustration experienced by employees and also assure them that the manager wants to help them in achi eving their goals.BENEFITS OF RELIEVING STRESSTO INDIVIDUALS Higher Job Satisfaction If the individual is not experiencing any stress or overly much stress, he will be happy doing his job and thus, will have a high score of job satisfaction.Easier To Achieve Goals If the individual is not experiencing an excess of stress and he has a high level of job satisfaction, he will also have higher productivity. With this higher productivity, individual will be able to achieve his goals in a shorter time. capital of New Hampshire If individual does not experience too much stress and has high job satisfaction, he will automatically find a balance between his professional and personal life. Thus, he will find a harmony between both and be able to wassail both to the fullest extent.Problem free The individual, in the absence of negative stress in his life, will be free of many of the problems relating to stress e.g. listlessness, emotional and physical exhaustion, etc. Thus, his life wil l be further enriched.TO TEAMS Harmony Between Team Members Due to lack of stress on individuals and reduced tension among the employees, there will be more harmony between the members of the team and team spirit will be significantly greater. split up Performance Due to greater harmony between the members of the team, the team members will perform better and be more productive. Subsequently, the team performance will also be much better.Achievement of Targets As the performance will be higher, the team will also be able to achieve all its targets in a timely manner.Higher Motivation Due to the combination of the above given factors (harmony between team members, better performance and achievement of targets), the team will have a high degree of motivation.TO ORGANIZATIONS Higher Productivity As the individuals will perform better and the teams performance will improve, the productivity of the organization will also increase.Lower derangement Turnover here refers to the attri tion rate or the rate at which employees leave the organization. If employees experience less or no stress, they will have job satisfaction and be happy doing their jobs. If they are happy working in the organization, they will not leave the organization. Thus, there will be lower turnover.Lower Absenteeism If the employees have a high degree of job satisfaction, they will not be absent frequently from the job and thus, there will be lower absenteeism in the organization.Better Reputation As the company will have a lower turnover, lower absenteeism and a higher productivity, its reputation in the market will improve greatly and the value of its goodwill will also increase, Thus, company will get more business and its income will increase.