Stress – Causes, Challenges and Prevention Measures

Stress is a natural reaction generated within the body of a person to tackle a particular situation or event with focus, toughness and strength. The stress allows people to find out the unknown and hidden areas within them to face a situation. The stress mainly happens in two steps. One is the external stimulus referred to as the stressor that arises in an environment and the second is the response generated by the body to tackle that particular external stimulus.

Stress could be basically categorised into different types. Eustress is the term that was coined to explain positive gains due to stress whereas distress is the stress that causes painfulness and negative fall backs.… Read the rest

Stress and Personality

Stress is very personal as it depends on how you perceive events.   One of the factors that influences your perceptions is your personality.   Depending on your personality you may be more vulnerable to stress than some of your friends or colleagues.   It is important to understand this as many people wrongly think they are weak or at fault in some way because they feel stressed by something others appear to take in their stride.

There are in fact individuals who psychologists have termed ‘hardy’, because of their higher level of tolerance to stress.   A ‘hardy’ person has a particularly strong belief in their ability to control events, even when in reality they have limited control.  … Read the rest

Performance Under Stress Pressure

The difference between Pressure and Stress

It is important to understand the difference between pressure and stress.   When you are faced with a challenge you are confident you can meet, it is normal to experience positive feelings such as excitement and motivation.   This results in higher than normal levels of energy and an enthusiasm to work hard and succeed.   On the other hand however, when faced with a challenge you believe is beyond you, for whatever reason, you are in danger of experiencing stress.   Any level of pressure you perceive as excessive, may, if not reduced within a reasonable period of time, turn into chronic stress.… Read the rest

Determinants of Job Stress

One major source of job stress is the job itself. The way the job is designed, the amount of time pressure an individual faces and the amount of expectations others have of a person at work can all lead to job stress. Interpersonal relationships are a second source of job stress. How much contact an individual has with coworkers and managers, how much time he or she deals with clients or consumers, and how pleasant those interactions are all influences of how much stress an individual experiences at work. Third source is problems in personal lives, which can spill over into the work environment, adding further tension to an already stressful work situation.… Read the rest

Individual’s and Organizational Approaches to Managing Stress

As we know that stress has got a number of negative consequences for the individuals, that is why every individual should take personal responsibility for reducing his or her stress level. There are a number of ways by which a person can either avoid stressful conditions, change them or learn to cope with them. Stress can be managed by an individual, which will enable him to regain control over his life.

Some of the stress reducing strategies from individual’s point of view are :

1. Knowledge About Stress. In the first stage, an individual should become knowledgeable about stress. He should know about the process and effects of stress.… Read the rest

Consequences of Stress

As is pointed out in the introducing comments on stress, stress is not automatically bad for individual employees or their organizational performance. It is the dysfunctional aspects of the high level of stress that should be and are a major concern for contemporary society in general and for effective human resource management in particular. Distress experienced by individuals has negative consequences for them, their families and for the organizations they serve. The consequences of stress can be studied under three general categories :

Consequences for the Individual

Stress shows itself in a number of ways. An individual who is experiencing stress may develop the following symptoms :

1.Read the rest