Managing Workplace Stress

While there are existing businesses and constantly changing competitive business environments, the skills required to not only run a business but to sustain its performance and, more importantly, to rise above the rest are deemed of utmost significance. Although the employees in a specific company’s workforce are separate individuals in one way or another, it cannot be doubted that the overall performance of the workforce poses a great amount of influence in the total functioning of every company. While achieving this particular objective, this also causes stress in the workforce which may led to a decrease in productivity levels of employees. This is one of the reasons why stress management procedures are crucial to every business venture. More importantly, a great deal of the creation and management of teams to make them more effective rests at the heart of business undertakings if they feel like they are not working at all.  Read also Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Similar to a well-oiled machine composed of individual but interrelated parts, it can be said that business management teams, in order to accomplish and even surpass their goals, are expected to work together fluently and effectively with the indispensable addition of satisfaction and low stress levels. The smooth interaction and constant dealings of these people in the business organization will most likely lead to favorable consequences in the operations of the business from a larger scheme. On the other hand, the weight of the team manager in assembling a team that is composed of individuals that are not stressed fit well the positions they are to handle is of paramount importance as well. This is because a team that is created with members occupying specific positions strictly in accordance to their capabilities and related experiences is a team whose identifiable roles are devoid of apparent complications and performance-related problems related to stress (Foxman, 2006). Individual and team conflicts may never be far behind inn such a scenario in a stressful working environment. One way in order to preempt such an unwanted instance is to practice techniques that will ensure a high team performance. The Relationship of Stress and Alterations in Health In man’s day to day activities, there are certain factors that hinder him from functioning normally in the office. It may be physical, mental, emotional, or a combination of any of these three. As long as it incapacitates him or debilitates him from doing things normally, then it is a problem that needs to be taken care of. These factors are what are commonly known as stress. According to Peurifov, stress is defined as the â€Å"forces from the outside world impinging on the individual. † Putting it on the medical language, stress is considered as disruption of the balance in our bodies or homeostasis by means stimulus which is physical or psychological in nature (Peurifoy, 2005). These stress stimuli can be of different natures like mental, physiological, anatomical or physical involuntary reactions of our body. There are several processes of our body which we don’t really has a direct control over it. It can be an involuntary habit or reaction that usually arises when something familiar or unfamiliar happens or shows up. If the occurrence of stress made a greater impact to the person, it could be the cause of several serious changes in the person. These changes are alterations in the human health, as it is caused by stress. Once a person is exposed to a certain traumatic stress, he could be facing various changes in the limbic system, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, and some important neurotransmitters. Some manifestations of these alterations can be classified into hyper arousal, dissociation, numbing, and the reoccurrence of certain trauma. Stress and traumatic experiences may trigger several parts of the human brain, most especially the limbic system, which is responsible for maintaining the chemical balance of the body or homeostasis depending on the outside factors. Several networks of the neural regions can be greatly affected in the occurrence of stress and traumatic experiences (Colbert, 2005). When this occurs, the brain could have involuntary abnormal reactions to similar, non-traumatic situations. The messages being sent by the brain to the different parts of the body is affected or hampered at times. There are also several researches that points out the effects of stress on the human’s immune system, as it was examined with different kinds of psychological stressors. Some highlights on the research showed that psychological stress can possibly be able to alter or change a person’s response to a vaccine, thus increasing the risk of infection (Glaser, 1996). It is relevant because we are able to see how the body actually reacts to the occurrence of these live viruses, and how our bodies respond to it. Stress alterations are also being tested on its effect on the body’s ability to repair the wound, since it was found that those undergoing psychological stress heals a lot slower than those who are in a normal living condition (Harding, 2006). The impending problem regarding this matter is about the lingering signs of stress after a stressful experience has occurred. An accident may have caused a post-traumatic stress disorder on a certain person, yet he is unable to notice this. Because of this, he suffers from continued impairment and incapacity as a normal human being. This could be caused by undetected injuries that could have resulted from an assault, several alterations in health behaviors, compromised immune system functioning and several stress-induced health issues (Brealey, 2006). If these concerns are not taken care of, this could lead to permanence in the alteration that he is suffering which would impair the patient for a very long period of time instead of recovering from the stress. The Case of Telstra. One case which can be used as an example is that of Telstra. Aimed at competing with major telecommunications players, the company resorted to create a business team that will seek the most desirable designs for telecommunications services as well as the innovations obtainable through benchmarking as well as an in-depth research of the industry (Siebel, 2001). In order to find the most suitable individuals that will fill-up the various positions in the team, it is an imperative for the prospective team members with varied expertise to be derived from various departments in Telstra. This way, the time to adapt to the company culture may be lessened and at the same time decrease stress in the workplace. Thus, this particular move could inhibit higher productivity. In general, the consequent results to the objective of managing stress in the team and will be reported to higher management for future stress management procedures. With several hefty expectations pending, the composition of the team should indeed be one which is devoid of or at least with very minimal complications so as to accomplish the objective of minimizing stress in the workplace completely. Primarily, the type of team being assembled is a cross-functional task force since the aim is to create a team for Telstra composed of employees coming from different departments that can be dissolved after the completion of the task with minimum stress. Conversely, the team is temporary by nature and, hence, there is a strong desire to compound the best employees of varying expertise. In the same way, this could provide an avenue for the discovery of new environments which lessens stress and competition within the company (Bruzzese, 2007). Further, there are several essential measures that must be taken in order to achieve the ends. One of these is to place the finest employee in a position in accordance to his or her expertise. Another essential measure is to highlight the common purpose of the team as well as to ensure trust among the team members and the team manager. Granting incentives and sharing motivations will aid the team surpass challenges along the way thereby also reducing stress and motivating workers at the same time. Although conflicts in the performance of each of the team members may tend to arise, the key is to be able to work with the stress in the office and still pursue the tasks at hand. Stress Management Skill of Managers Enhances Productivity Levels On the other hand, a figure of an effective manager does not only circle around the vicinity of technical and intellectual capabilities. It also requires a huge heart with sentiments not for personal advantage alone, but for the creation a harmonious relationship with the group and at the same time reducing work related stress. It does not mean that the leader, having been vested with the power to rule or govern over the organization, will be inconsiderate of his constituents’ feelings. Managers must bear in mind that the position under his control requires much in conceptual and emotional skills, rather than technicalities. Internal and External Demands According to Miller, Several organizational changes which are blatantly occurring in the 21st Century pressures conventional managers to be more agile and resilient so as to meet the standard constraints in the extremities on complex and interdependent organizations, which on a state of realization is quite hard to comply (Miller, 2008). As a result, some organizations find themselves hooked a maze of mistakenly trying to be all things to be all people in an attempt to meet proficient external and internal demands and creating stress among employees along the way. The form of leadership required for organizations must align with visualization, resources, and dedication to sustain a frontward impetus in the midst of modifications in twists of challenges faced by the organization (O'Connor, 2005). This helps a lot in reducing work-related stress in the office as employees are faced with an outlook driven goal like in the case of Telstra. Leadership, as defined, is an element of interaction armed with the power to supervise, command, lead and influence members under his leadership in achieving the specified organizational goals willingly, which then implies that effective stress management is collaborative (Miller, 2008). However, the precise definition of the term seemingly confuses many for the reason that application of the word along with its function varies on the nature of the organization, its type, the contingency of the environment, and the leadership style which is to be applied. The complexity of the word is vast and puzzling which then requires conceptualization and analysis, or else a slight mistake on its utilization may shatter the organization as a whole. Human Resource Issues and Challenges to Consider – Including Suggested Solutions. The challenge to have a trained and skilled workforce is the ultimate competitive advantage for any organization. This is also an implied reason why stress should effectively be managed in the workplace (Wheeler, 2007). The rapidly expanding base of new information and technologies affects every one of us, from factory floor to business office and this causes stress. No matter how capable or successful an organization is, like Telstra, if staff training and continuing education is overlooked, there will be problems in the organization. The challenge is to get the best value for the training dollars spent by choosing training that suits the needs of the company and least impacts the bottom line. In order to meet the challenge of reducing stress in the workplace, comprehensive approach to employee development can be adopted like what Telstra does. Set goals and reach them, identifying the needs, developing the right intervention, and delivering a practical, results-oriented solution. Interactive training is designed for the adult learner, requiring involvement in the learning process (Luskin and Pelletier, 2006). Handle specialized workplace challenges with customized group training. Handle challenges specific to the organization (Siebel, 2001). A good approach is to maximize training dollars spent by tailoring content to the organization’s explicit situation to produce the results needed. For instance, Telstra employs top-notch trainers who can combine their experiences with the latest in learning techniques in stress management for interactive sessions that emphasize skill development and application. Analysis on Stress Management. Stress Management in Telstra fragility caters two factors, the dependent and independent variables which simultaneously changes depending on the type of manager, the type of stress reducing procedure being imposed which adheres with the level of knowledge and skills required for the certain designation as well as the height of control which is to be employed (O'Connor, 2005). Stress management patterns of today’s generation are carefully crafted and studied for the benefit of the certain organizations seeking for clarity in the intricacy of some theories, otherwise, a clashing of actions will most likely float up.