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  • Stress: Role related issues

    In the last byte, we looked at how task related issues act as a source of stress. In today’s byte, we look at how role related create a social-psychological demand in a work environment and act as source of stress.

    We can classify role related stress into 2 categories:

    1. Role Conflicts
    2. Role Ambiguity
    Role Conflicts result from result from inconsistent or incompatible expectations communicated to a person. Role Ambiguity is the confusion of a person experience related to the expectations of others. Role ambiguity may be caused by not understanding what is expected, not knowing how to do it, or not knowing the result of failure to do it.

    We can understand Role Conflicts better if we can categorize the same. We can classify these into:

    1. Interrole conflict: is caused by conflicting expectations related to two separate roles. Example: an individual could be as an employee and be a parent. In such cases work-family demands could lead to stress.
    2. Intrarole conflict: is caused by conflicting expectation related to a single role. Example: A manager would press an employee to work fast and also deliver a high-quality work – this in some cases could cause conflict for the employee!
    3. Person-role conflict: is caused when an employee is expected to behave in a way that violates personal values, beliefs or principles. Ethics violations are one source of such person-role conflicts.

  • Stress: Task Demands

    In the last byte, we looked categorized the sources of stress. In today’s byte, we look at the first category of the source of work related stress – Task Demands.

    We live in a world of change. Globalization has ushered in dramatic changes in the way we work (to know more about the drivers of the most recent wave of globalization read – World is Flat). With change comes a lot of uncertainty – which for an individual translates to the lack of predictability in the daily tasks and activities. Some manifestation of these changes in the work environment could be – job loss, or underemployment, monotony and boredom at work etc. These create stress in the individual who is facing these changed scenarios.

    Technology (in a colloquial meaning – not the business classification we discussed about earlier) is an important driver of business, and this the change of these technologies only compound the problem further. The change in technology brings along with the fear of being outdated – while training, education and skill development are ways to address this to a certain extent; none the less the uncertainty associated would cause stress.

    While working, there are certain critical factors that we feel are important to be controlled – lack of control could lead to the inability to influence the timing of tasks and activities (and other similar problems) – and create situations that are difficult and psychologically demanding – thus increasing the stress associated.

    Invariably, everyone has a career aspiration and when one gets into a career gridlock (pretty common in the middle management level) it build us stress – this is further compounded by the time pressures one has to address to at work place.

  • Stress: Work and Non Work Related

    In the last byte, we looked at what happens to the body when it is stressed. In today’s byte, we try to understand the source of stress and continue the discussion as we move through the next few bytes.

    We could broadly classify sources or stress into 2 categories – Work related and non work related. These categories are from the context of the origin of the stress. Following is a summary of this classification.



  • Stress: Psychoanalytic Approach 2

    In the last byte, we summarized the various approaches towards understanding stress. Out of these, the psychoanalytic approach highlights the relation between the ego-ideal and self-ideal; it would be interesting to see how the body and mind would trigger a set of responses; this is what we discuss in today’s byte.

    The response to any stress situation is characterized by a predictable sequence of mind and body events. Broadly speaking, stress triggers the release of chemical messengers, primarily adrenaline, into the blood stream. These messengers activate the sympathetic nervous system and the endocrine (hormone) system. These 2 systems work together and trigger four mind-body changes to prepare the person for – fight or flight:

    1. the redirection of the blood to the brain and large-muscle group and away from the skin, internal organs and extremities.
    2. Increase alertness by way of improved vision, hearing, and other sensory processes through the activation of the brainstem (ancient brain)
    3. The release of glucose (blood sugar) and fatty acids into the blood stream to sustain the body during the stressful event
    4. Depression of the immune system, as well as restorative and emergent process (such as digestion)
    The combination of the above events, shift a person from being neutral or naturally defensive to an offensive posture.

    In some cases, the stress response could be very functional; it need not be inherently bad or defensive.

  • Stress: Approaches

    In the last byte, we looked at psychoanalytic approach. Just as a pointer to the discussion, it would be right to summarize the discussion on stress with the following diagram.

  • Stress: Psychoanalytic Approach

    In the last byte, we looked at person-environment fit as a source of stress. In today’s byte, we look at the psychoanalytic approach to understanding stress.

    In our formative years we create a set of expectations of our “prefect” self and improve on this perfect self as we mature. As time progresses, we begin realizing that there exists a self image that is pretty distinct from the ideal self that we had imagined. Here we talk of 2 distinct terms:

    1. ego-ideal: Is the embodiment of a person’s perfect self
    2. self-image: Is how a person sees himself or herself both positively and negatively.
    These 2 terms were coined by Harry Levinson who defined stress based on the Freudian psychoanalytic theory. He believes that 2 elements defined above interact to cause stress.

    Stress results from the discrepancy between the idealized self (ego-ideal) and the real self image. The greater the discrepancy, the more stress a person experiences. This theory helps us understand the role of unconscious personality factors as causes of stress within a person.

  • Stress: Person-Environment Fit

    In the last byte, we look at Cognitive Appraisal Approach towards understanding stress. In today’s byte, we look at the Person-Environment fit Approach towards understanding stress.

    It is not uncommon for us to see that people around us have various expectations from us. When we live up to their expectations, we feel happy about having lived up to the bar, but in other cases, it is not surprising that we feel sorry for not having been able to do it. In extreme cases, we feel a sort of strain – in extreme cases could result into depression!

    This area of study of the relationship of how confusing and conflicting expectations for a person in a social role could create stress in him/her was conducted by Robert Kahn. This evolved as a part of social psychology in the attempt to understand stress.

    The approach of studying the stress that gets created due to expectations which are confusing or conflicting between people was extended to include the person-environment. A good person-environment fit takes place when a person’s skills and abilities match a clearly defined, consistent set of expectations. This results in no stress for the individual. But when the role expectations are confusing or conflicting or when the person’s skills and abilities are not able to live up to the demands of the role, we find stress emerging up.

  • Stress: Cognitive

    In the last byte, we looked at Homeostatic approach towards understanding how stress evolves. In today’s byte, we look a cognitive appraisal approach towards understanding stress.

    In our daily lives we observe that some situations which are stressful for some isnt stressful for others! For example, an employee would be more stressed facing an upset supervisor, compared to when the supervisor is not upset; of for that matter another supervisor itself. It is really the perception that makes this impact.

    This aspect was studies by Richard Lazarus who focused more on the psychology of stress. It is similar to Cannon’s approach in that it talks about the discussion between the person and environment, but the emphasis is on the cognitive appraisal of the situation at hand. Individuals differ in their appraisal of events and people!

    In addition to these, there could be 2 other forms of such stress:

    • Problem Focused
    • Emotion Focused
    While the problem focused coping emphasizes on managing the stressor; the emotion focused approach focuses on the response management.

  • Stress: Homeostatic & Medical Approach

    In the last byte, we looked at the various approaches towards understanding stress. In today’s byte, we look at the homeostatic/medical approach towards understanding stress.

    Walter B Cannon discovered stress but had called it “the emergency response” or “the militaristic response”; this indicates the reason why the definition of stress uses – “the fighting emotion” as a root.

    As humans, we love to be in a steady state – where everything is predictable, expected, sure; however this is far from reality. This “state of steadiness” that we are most comfortable with, is disturbed by external or environmental demands. The steady state balance or equilibrium is called “homeostasis”. [Defn: A steady state of bodily functioning and equilibrium.] Cannon believed that, the body was designed with natural defense mechanisms to keep it in equilibrium/homeostasis.

    Cannon’s research going further explored the role of sympathetic nervous systems and how this would affect an individual’s stressful condition.

  • Stress 2

    In the last byte, we looked at some definitions associated with the concept of stress. In today’s byte, we look at the nature of stress and initiate the discussion on the various theories that attempt to explain stress.

    Stress is an important concept in the study of organizational behavior – this is partly due to the increased competitive pressure that exists in the current business world and this intern takes a toll on the workers and managers alike. Poor Leadership, Work-Family conflicts are some of the leading causes of stress in the present working scenario.

    Stress is definitely one of the most creatively ambiguous words in the vocabulary – it has many interpretations and has a variety of meanings. It carries a negative connotation for few, and is generally thought of as something that is best avoided. Having defined the terms related to stress, it is now time to initiate the discussion on the different approaches that have been taken up to explain stress and related behavior. These are:

    1. The Homeostatic/Medical Approach
    2. The cognitive Appraisal Approach
    3. The person-environment fit Approach
    4. The psychoanalytic Approach
    We shall discuss about these in detail in the next byte.