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Category: Classification

  • Stress: Distress Classification

    In the last byte, we understood why stress behaves the way it is indicated by the Yerkes-Dodson Law. In today’s byte, we look at some of the implications of distress on the individual front.

    As indicated in the table (in this blog), we can classify the individual distress into the following

    1. Psychological Disorder
    2. Medical Illness
    3. Behavioral Problems
    The most common types of psychological distress are depression, burnout, and psychosomatic disorders. Depression and Burnout could lead to emotional exhaustion which internal may also be caused by the requirement for emotional expression on the job. Psychosomatic disorders are physical disorders with a psychological origin.

    Numerous medical illnesses have their origin in a stress-related component. While there is no clear evidence that stress is a direct causal agent in the onset of diseases like cancer, it definitely would play an indirect role in the progression of the disease.

    Behavioral problems are the third form of individual distress. These include workplace aggression, substance abuse, accidents etc. Since we see examples of this all over the news, this need not be explained explicitly here.

    These three forms of individual distress cause a burden of personal suffering, and could also lead to a collective burden reflecting in organizational distress.

  • Values – Classification

    In the last byte, we understood about values and their increasing significance in the organizational context today. In today’s byte, we look at the classifying these values and attempt to understand them better.

    When one looks at the remarkable accomplishment of Dr Muhammad Yunus, one would definitely begin to wonder where he got this energy from! It is to be understood that, if he didn’t have a larger than life goal of seeing a better living standard for the people surrounding them, then something like this wouldn’t have been possible to achieve. This terminal goal played a serious role in his ability to achieve the change that he has been to initiate.

    Similarly, values could be seen as terminal in nature – these values represent the goals to be achieved or the ends state of existence. Goals like World Peace, Self-respect, and Prosperity etc are all examples of those.

    While these are more a goal to work, there are other values that represent the acceptable behavior to be used in achieving some end state. These are called Instrumental Values. Examples of these could be values like independence, courage, ambition etc.

    It could be seen that, both terminal and instrumental value work in concert to provide individuals with goals to strive for an acceptable way to achieve the goals.