Management > Stress at work

“Managers have the responsibility to their employees who are suffering serious ill effects of work related stress.” Do you agree or disagree with the statement? Support your position.

I think most work environment is stressful to some degree. Employees want to perform at a certain high level, but sometimes stressful circumstances that are above his/her control can interfere with this purpose.

First of all we have to define what stress is. It is a dynamic condition in which an individual is confronted with an opportunity, constraint, or demand related to what he or she desires, and for which the outcome is perceived to be both uncertain and important (Robbins and Decenzo 213). Stress is a very complex phenomenon, it can affect an employee in a positive or negative way as well. Stress is said to be positive when the situation offers an opportunity for one to gain something, for example the pre competition stress for an athlete can lead to a higher performance. A stress can be a negative force when constraints or unreasonably high demands are placed on the worker.

Managers not only have a responsibility towards their employees to help them deal with stress, but I think they shouldn’t even put an employee in a stressful position. It is of course often unavoidable. Some employees are a lot better than others in dealing with stress. All of us have constraints, we all have only a certain degree of education for example, and also all of us have mental limits. A manager must realize the limits of a person, and not try pushing those too hard. He/she can only push an employee to a certain point to achieve a higher performance. If the requirements are too demanding, it will cause a highly stressful situation for both the employer and the subordinate. Constraints and demands can lead to potential stress. When they combined with uncertainty about the outcome and the importance of the outcome, potential stress will become an actual stress. If uncertainty or the importance factor is removed, the stress will be eliminated too.

Stress related problems in today’s work environment are a real concern. It costs billions of dollars for US companies to deal with them. It is quite obvious that the rapid changes that are occurring in the business environment can cause a lot of uncertainty and therefore stress. If managers are better educated about how to deal with employees with anxiety, maybe it would be beneficial for both parties. I have to note here that I think managers are the ones who are most often prone to stressful situations in a company. So for them to try dealing with the problems of the employees might only add an unnecessary stress in addition to what they already have.

Managers’ role in reducing stress should start with selecting the right employees for the right job. Also letting employees know what exactly is expected from them, role conflict can be avoided. Redesigning a job can also help easy the work-related stressors. Employee participation has also been showed to help lessen stress. A manger has to realize that no matter what they do, there will always be an employee who will be more stressed-out than the others. Dealing with these people within a reasonable constraint is I think every manager’s responsibility.

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