muneek shah am2112

7/30/2019 Muneek Shah AM2112

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Name

Muneek Shah

(AM2112)

SubjectExecutive Stress Study

Submitted To

Dr. D. M. Pestonjee

Date

19 November 2012


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General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) has been widely held as a comprehensive model

to explain the stress phenomenon. This three-stage model states that when an

organism is confronted with a threat, the general physiological response occurs in three

stages (Hans Selye's):

1. Alarm Stage: The first stage includes an initial "shock phase" in which

resistance is lowered and a "counter-shock phase" in which defensive

mechanisms become active. Alarm reaction is characterized by autonomous

excitability; adrenalin discharge increased heart rate, muscle tone and blood

content; and gastro-intestinal ulceration. Depending on the nature and intensity

of the threat and the condition of the organism, the periods of resistance vary and

severity of symptoms may differ from `mild invigoration' to `disease adaptation'.

2. Resistance Stage: Maximum adaptation occurs during this stage. The bodily

signs characteristic of alarm reaction disappear. Resistance increases to levels

above normal. If the stressor persists, or the defensive reaction proves

ineffective, the organism deteriorates to the next stage.

3. Exhaustion Stage: When the adaptation energy is exhausted, signs of alarm

reaction reappear and resistance level begins to decline irreversibly. The

organism collapses.


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Cooper, Cooper and Eaker (1988) have identified the following six major sources

of stress at work.

1. Factors Intrinsic to the job:

Working conditions: The physical surroundings, i.e. noise, lighting, smells and all

the stimuli that affect an individual's senses can affect mood and overall mental

state.

Shift work: Many workers have jobs which require them to work in shifts; some of

which go round the clock. Research studies have found that shift work is

common occupational stress that affect blood chemistry, metabolic rates, blood

sugar levels, mental efficiency, and work motivation. Shift work also affects sleep

patterns, family, and social life.

Work overload: Two types of workload have been described by researchers.

Quantitative overload refers to having a lot of work to do. Qualitative overload

refers to work that is too difficult for an individual.

2. Role in the Organization:

When a person's role in an organization is clearly defined and understood and

when expectations placed on the individual are also clear and non-conflicting,

stress can be kept minimum.

3. Relationships at Work:

The working relationships which one has with people working in the same

organization can also be a major source of stress. Hans Selye 'suggested that

learning to live with other people is one of the most stressful aspects of life. There

are three critical relationships at work - those with superiors, those withsubordinates, and those with colleagues/co-workers - which can produce stress.

4. Career Development:

A lot of issues such as job security, fear of job loss, obsolescence, or retirement

and numerous performance appraisals can create pressure and strain. The


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frustration of having reached a career ceiling or having been over-promoted can

also induce a lot of stress.

5. Organizational Structure and Climate:

People working in organizations have often complained 'that they don't have a

sense of belonging and that they lack adequate opportunities to participate, they

feel that their behavior is unduly restricted and that they are not included office

communications and consultations. All this have been found to be related to overall

poor health, escapist drinking, depression, low self-esteem, absenteeism, and plans

to heave work.

6. Non-Work Factors:

There are other various factors apart from work that cause stress in an individual

such as family problems, economic problems, health problems etc. Even political

uncertainties can create stress.

Organizational Stress

The modem world, which is said to be a world of achievements, is also a world of

stress. One finds stress everywhere, whether it be a family, a business organization

enterprise or any other social or economic organization. The extent of stress is,

however, a matter of degree. Some organizations are more harmonious whereas others

have greater friction and tension.

Stress in organizations has been defined in terms of misfit between a person's skills and

abilities and the demands of his/her job and as a misfit in terms of a person's needs not

being fulfilled by his job environment. Cooper and Marshall (1976) are of the view that

by occupational stress is meant environmental factors or stressors such as work

overload, role conflict, role ambiguity, and poor working conditions associated with a


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PYSCOMETRIC INSTRUMENTS

Organizational Role Stress (ORS):

Role Space: Each individual occupies and plays several roles. A person 'X' is a son, a

father, an executive, a member of a club and so on. Al these roles constitute role space.

In the center of the role space is the self. Role space, thus, can be defined as "the

dynamic interrelationship both between the self and the various roles an individual

occupies, and amongst these roles."

Role Set: The individual's role in the organization is defined by the expectations of other

significant roles, and those of the individual himself/herself. The role set is "the pattern

of relationship between the role being considered and other roles.

1) Inter-Role Distance (IRD): It is experienced when there is a conflict between

organizational and non-organizational roles. For example, the role of an

executive versus the role of a husband / wife

2) Role Stagnation (RS): This kind of stress is the result of the gap between the

demand to outgrow a previous role and to occupy a new role effectively. It is the


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feeling of being stuck in the same role. Such a type of stress results in perception

that there is no opportunity for one's career progression.

3) Role Expectation Conflict (REC): This type of stress is generated by different

expectations by different significant persons about the same' role; and the role

occupant's ambivalence as to whom to please.

4) Role Erosion (RE): This kind of role stress is the function of the role. Occupants

feeling that some functions which should properly belong to his / her role are

transferred to / or performed by some other role. This can also happen when the

functions are performed by the role occupant but the credit for them goes to

someone else. Another manifestation is in the form of underutilization in the role.

5) Role Overload (RO): When the role occupant feels that there are too many

expectations from the significant roles in his/her role set, he/she experiences role

overload. There are two aspects of this stress: quantitative and qualitative. The

former refers to having too much to do, while latter refers to things being too

difficult and the accountability in the role.

6) Role Isolation (RI): This type of role stress refers to the psychological distance

between the occupant's role and other roles in the same role set. It is also

defined as role distance which is different from inter-role distance (IRD), in the

sense that while IRD refers to the distance among various occupied by the same

individual, role isolation (RI) is characterized by the feelings that others do not

reach out easily, indicative of the absence of strong linkages of one's role with

other roles. This can be geographic or systematic.

7) Personal Inadequacy (PI): This type of stress arises when the role occupant feels

that he/she does not have the necessary skills and training for effectively

performing the functions expected from his/her role. This is bound to happen


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when the organizations do not impart periodic training to enable the employees

to cope with the fast changes both within and outside the organization.

8) Self-Role Distance (SRD): When the role a person occupies goes against his/her

self-concept, then he/she feels self-role distance type of stress. This is

essentially a conflict arising out of mismatch between the person and his/her job.

9) Role Ambiguity (RA): It refers to the lack of clarity about the expectations of the

role which may arise out of lack of information or understanding. It may exist in

relation to activities, responsibilities, personal styles, and norms and may operate

at three stages:

When the role sender holds his expectations about the role,

When he/she sends it, and

When the occupant receives those expectations

10) Resource Inadequacy (RIN): This type of stress is evident when the role

occupant feels that he/she is not provided with adequate resources for

performing the functions expected from his/her role.

Role Efficacy:

Role efficacy means the potential effectiveness of an individual occupying a particular

position in an organization. People with high role efficacy seem to experience less role

stress and work-related tension.. A participatory environment provides staff higher

satisfaction and contributes to role efficacy. An environment characterized by control

seems to lower role efficacy.

Role efficacy has ten aspects. These aspects can be classified into three groups or

dimensions, namely, role making, role centering and role linking.


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1) Role making is an active attitude towards the role, i.e. defining and making the

role one likes to take on.

2) Role centering is concerned with increasing the power of the role, making it

more important.

3) Role linking is concerned with extending the relationship of the role with other

roles and groups. The three dimensions have been further sub-divided into the

ten aspects of role efficacy as shown in Figure.

Figure ten aspects of role efficacy

1) Role Making:

1. IntegrationAll people have strengths, experience, technical expertise, special skills, and someunique contributions to make. The roles that people play should provide an opportunityto utilize these skills and strengths to ensure a high level of role efficacy. When theirrole provides them with greater opportunity for using their special strengths, their roleefficacy is likely to be higher. If there is a gap between people and their roles, roleefficacy is likely to be low.


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2. ProactivityPeople respond to expectations of others in fulfilling their role at work. When that personis also expected to take the initiative in starting some activity, the efficacy will be higher.Reactive behavior (responding to the expectations of others) helps a person to beeffective to some extent; proactive behavior (taking the initiative rather than only

responding to others expectations) contributes much more to efficacy. If people like totake the initiative, but have no opportunity to do so in their present role in theorganization, their efficacy will be low.

3. Creativity

Any opportunity to be creative and try new and unusual ways of solving problems isimportant to increasing efficacy. If people perceive that they have to perform onlyroutine tasks, it becomes counterproductive in terms of their role efficacy. If they feelthat the role does not allow any time or opportunity to be creative, their efficacy is boundto be low. Managers need to appreciate and use new ideas given by their staff.

4. Confrontation

Confronting problems and finding relevant solutions contributes to efficacy. Whenpeople facing interpersonal problems sit down, talk about them and search for solutions,their efficacy is likely to be higher compared to situations where they either deny havingsuch problems or refer them to their higher officers.

2) Role Centering:

5. Centrality

All employees want to feel that their role is important. If people feel that the role theyoccupy is central to the programme, their role efficacy is likely to be high. If people feel

that their roles are minor, their potential effectiveness will be low. This is true for allpersons and not only for those at the lowest level.

6. Influence

The more influence and power people have in their roles, the higher their efficacy islikely to be.Influence and power at work come about from personal competence, position in thework place, leadership style, the ability to gain the respect of others and handle threatsand bullying. One factor that makes roles in the public sector or in civil services moreeffective is the opportunity to influence a large section of the community. Health careproviders have more influence because they treat people who are sick and are

therefore, often highly respected by the community.

7. Growth

Another factor, which contributes to role efficacy, is the perception that the positionprovides the individual with an opportunity to grow and develop. There are severalinstances of people leaving one position and becoming very effective in another. Thishappens primarily because they have greater opportunity to grow in the second


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position, due to the role they play in that position. If people feel that they are stagnatingin a position without any opportunity to grow, they are likely to have a low role efficacy.

3) Role linking:

8. Inter-role Linkage

Linking ones role with that of others in the programme increases efficacy. If there is anexchange of ideas, discussions, greater communication, and an effort to understandproblems and devise solutions etc., the efficacy of the various roles involved is likely tobe high. The feeling of role isolation (that a person works without any linkage with otherroles) reduces role efficacy.

9. Helping Relationship

There are two kinds of helping relationships - feeling free to ask for help and expectingthat help will be available when it is needed, as well as willingness to give help andrespond to the needs of others. The opportunity for staff to receive and give helpincreases their role efficacy. If there is a feeling that no help is available when asked for,or that the other person is hostile, role efficacy will be low. Staff must be made tounderstand that helping is a two-way interchange.

10.Super-ordination

When people performing a particular role feel that what they do is likely to be of value toa larger group, their efficacy is likely to be high. Super-ordination is working to servelarge causes or groups, usually with some collaboration. One major motivating factor for

health personnel, especially those working at the grass roots level is the feeling thattheir contribution to people They deal with, is likely to help larger sections of thecommunity and society.

Depression:

Depression is a very common, yet highly treatable, medical illness that can affect

anyone. About 1 in every 20 Americans get depressed every year. Depression is not a

character flaw, nor is it a sign of personal weakness. Depression is a treatable medical

illness. Unfortunately, many persons with depression do not tell their doctor how theyare feeling. This is very regrettable since effective treatments are available for

depression, and most people with depression can begin to feel better in several weeks

when they are adequately treated. Talking with a doctor about how they are feeling is

the depressed person's first important step toward getting better.


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Depression isn't just feeling "down in the dumps". It is more than feeling sad following a

loss or hassled by hard times. Depression is a medical disorder (just like diabetes and

high blood pressure are medical disorders) that affects your thoughts, feelings, physical

health and behaviors. People with major depression experience a number of symptoms

all day, nearly every day, for at least 2 weeks.

Symptoms of Depression are:

Feeling sad, blue or down in the dumps

Loss of interest in things you usually enjoy

Feeling slowed down or restless

Having trouble sleeping or sleeping to much

Loss of energy or feeling tired all the time

Having an increase or decrease in appetite or weight

Having problems concentrating, thinking, remembering or making decisions Feeling worthless or guilty

Having thoughts of death or suicide

The good news is that depression is treatable. Your primary care doctor can effectively

treat depression by supportive counseling, prescribing an antidepressant medication

and/or referring depressed persons to a mental health professional for counseling.

Talking with your doctor about how you are feeling is a very important first step. You

can further help you doctor treat you most effectively by participating actively in

treatment by (a) asking questions and (b) following through with the treatment that both

you and your doctor decides best for you.

Anxiety:

Anxiety (also called angst or worry) is a psychological and physiological state

characterized by somatic, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral components. It is the

displeasing feeling of fear and concern. The root meaning of the word anxiety is 'to vex

or trouble'; in either presence or absence of psychological stress, anxiety can create

feelings of fear, worry, uneasiness, and dread. However, anxiety should not be

confused with fear, it is more of a dreaded feeling about something which appearsintimidating and can overcome an individual. Anxiety is considered to be a normal

reaction to a stressor. It may help an individual to deal with a demanding situation by

prompting them to cope with it. However, when anxiety becomes overwhelming, it may

fall under the classification of an anxiety disorder.


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People often experience a general state of worry or fear before confronting something

challenging such as a test, examination, recital, or interview. These feelings are easily

justified and considered normal. Anxiety is considered a problem when symptoms

interfere with a person's ability to sleep or otherwise function. Generally speaking,

anxiety occurs when a reaction is out of proportion with what might be normally

expected in a situation.

Self-Rating Anxiety Scale

It is a 20-item self-report assessment device which includes measures of state and traitanxiety. Answering the statements a person should indicate how much each statementapplies to him or her.

Each question is scored on a Likert-type scale of 1-4, based on these replies:

1 - A little of the time,

2 - Some of the time,

3 - Good part of the time,

4 - Most of the time.

Overall assessment is done by total score. The total scores range from 20-80.

20-44 Normal Range

45-59 Mild to Moderate Anxiety Levels

60-74 Marked to Severe Anxiety Levels

75-80 Extreme Anxiety Levels

Loneliness:

Loneliness is defined as a lack of desired social connection and social support . It

is often associated with feelings of isolation, worthlessness, and sadness. Loneliness is

not necessarily the state of being alone. One can be utterly lonely in a room full of

people who dont seem to notice, in a college dorm with no special friend, in a marriage

with no understanding. Loneliness is not the peaceful solitude we cherish. It is the pain

of being without meaningful connection, a feeling of emptiness that entraps us in fears,

longing and negative perceptions about ourselves and others.

Higher the score, more lonely the person is.

Behavior Type

Behavior type A refers to ambitious, aggressive, business-like, controlling, highly

competitive, impatient, preoccupied with his or her status, time-conscious, and tightly-

wound. People with Type A personalities are often high-achieving "workaholics" who

multi-task, push themselves with deadlines, and hate both delays and ambivalence.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aggressivehttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Business-like&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controllinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Preoccupied&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Time-conscious&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tightly-wound&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tightly-wound&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workaholichttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workaholichttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tightly-wound&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tightly-wound&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Time-conscious&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Preoccupied&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controllinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Business-like&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aggressive


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Behavior type B refers to a behavioral style which is characterized by low levels of

competitiveness, time urgency and anger or hostility.

RESULTS AND INTERPRETATION:

ORS Scale:

DhruvTrivedi

BhargavDave

ShashankRana

HarshaShah

Jay Jadav

IRD 5 9 7 5 15

RS 7 6 7 7 10

REC 6 8 2 6 7

RE 3 7 5 3 12RO 3 11 6 3 12

RI 8 7 2 9 12

PI 8 10 4 7 15

SRD 8 5 3 8 9

RA 3 8 3 3 11

RIN 8 13 3 8 13

Result The person

has low level

of stress.

He is

having

stress due

to many

issues like

IRD, RO, PI

and RIN.

Other is at

low level.

He is having

a very low

level of

stress.

He is

having a

problem of

RI, SRD

and RIN.

The level of

stress is

very high

person is

having

issue in all

stress

except in

REC.

Type of

Behavior

B B A B A


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Dhruv Trivedi

o Role Efficacy Scale: (68.30%)

o Loneliness: (46) The person is suffering from moderately high level of

depression and there are many issues which are going to lead to very high level

o Anxiety: (43) The anxiety level is moderate. Having some worries and issues

o Self-Analysis- I: (30) Low level of burnout. Can be managed

o Self-Analysis- II: (30) The person is having a moderate level of burnout. And

need to fix the few issues.

Bhargav Dave

o Role Efficacy Scale: (63.30%) An average level of role efficacy. He has some

high expectation and thats why he does not think of his role very effective in the

organization.

o Loneliness: (48) The person is suffering from moderately high level of

depression and there are many issues which are going to lead to very high level.

o Anxiety: (27) The person is suffering from very low level of anxiety. He needs to

see to some of the issues and solve it.

o Self-Analysis- I: (30) the person presently felt no such problem of stress,

burnout or frustration. So he is almost normal.

o Self-Analysis- II:(29) The person is feeling some moderate low level of burnout

and frustration and need to consult some issues with relatives and friends to

solve it.

Shashank Rana

o Role Efficacy Scale: (76.67%) A moderately high level of role efficacy. He thinks

of his role somewhat effective in the organization and morally he is happy.


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o Loneliness: (31) The person is suffering from low level of depression, and there

are some issues which are to be solved.

o Anxiety: (23) The anxiety level is low and person has no fear or worry

o Self-Analysis- I: (24) The person is almost normal, just some of the feeling may

become an issue in future if not solved

o Self-Analysis- II: (23) The person is having a very low level of burnout.

Harsha Shah

o Role Efficacy Scale: (68.30%)

o Loneliness: (44) The person is suffering from moderate level of depression.

o Anxiety: (45) The anxiety level is very high.

o Self-Analysis- I: (30) Low level of burnout. Can be managed

o Self-Analysis- II: (30) The person is having a moderate level of burnout. And

need to fix the few issues.

Jay Jadav

o Role Efficacy Scale: (63.33%) An average level of role efficacy. He has some

high expectation and thats why he does not think of his role very effective in theorganization.

o Loneliness: (49) The person is suffering from very high level of depression and

there are many issues which are going to lead to very high level.

o Anxiety: (42) The anxiety level is at moderate level. He needs to confront issues

and need to remove the fear out.

o Self-Analysis- I: (35) the person is feeling and having some serious problems of

burnout. With a very high level. Consultation and social support is needed.

o Self-Analysis- II: (46) The person is having high level of burnout generally and

need to have a high social and emotional support.


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CONCLUSION:

In the present study the obtained results may be attributed to the fact of, high

performance and role efficacy naturally makes the employees to undergo higher

emotional labour experiences. Also one can clearly understand that in the process of

giving best service or performance, the employees are forced to suppress all their

individualistic emotions. As employees are expected to fall in line with the demands of

organization, in the process of doing so the employees automatically experiences high

emotional labour and in turn leading to some psycho-somatic problems. Thus, in view of

this, the employees of the organization are to be helped through intervention

programmes to cope with their emotional labour as well as to manage their emotional

labour experiences. Ultimately those who are trained in this direction will develop more

employability skill and higher chances of sustaining in the occupation.

SUGGESTION:

The Following Steps are recommended for the organization to take to prevent

employees stress:

1. Assessment and diagnosis: the identification of the problems in theworkplace

2. Solution generation: developing appropriate actions to address theseproblems, and setting clear and realistic objectives for these actions

3. Implementation: planning the introduction of actions, their timescales, theircommunication and their eventual evaluation

4. Evaluation: assessing the consequences of the actions against the initialobjectives

5. Ongoing monitoring and feedback: integrating the findings with othermanagement initiatives and policies.


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BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Aminabhavi, M. &. (n.d.). ROLE BASED PERFORMANCE AND ROLE EFFICACY .

International Journal of Engineering and Management Science, 26-27.

Devi, J. S. (2011). Role Stress among Employees. Gurukul Business Review, 1-2.

IGNOU. (n.d.). Organizational Stress and Burnout. In IGNOU. IGNOU.

K., R. (2011). Depression tool Kit for Primary Care.

Sadock, K. &. (2003).Synopsis Of Psychiatry: Behavioral Sciences/Clinical Psychiatry.

Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Srivastav, A. K. (2006). Role Stress in Public Sector. Institute of Integrated Learning in

Management, 2-5.

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