Question based on Anna University Assignment Solution and other course
Answer:
Stress is a term which is defined differently by psychologists, medics, management consultants and others. Stress in physics mean pressure or force on a system. In medical science, stress means the effect on body reacting to pressure in form of muscle tensing. For a common man, it is the discomfort felt by him or her. Stress is generally taken in terms of a negative sense and is associated with things that are not considered good like a student is stressed because he/ she does not get good marks, an employee is stressed because he/ she has been given a notice for poor performance, stress due to some family member being not well, pressure due to rising prices of essential commodities, etc. According to Hans Seyle, this form of stress is called distress. But there is another form of stress which is not associated with discomfort. It is called eustress. This form of stress has a positive value and is coined from the Greek word ‘eu’ meaning good. Stress taken in the form of a challenge to meet a higher target, getting more marks, finishing work by the deadline actually builds a positive pressure which results in improving the performance of an individual. Eustress is considered as a motivator since in its absence the individual lacks the instinct necessary for peak performance. There is an inverted-U type of relationship between stress and performance. At extremely low and high levels of stress, performance becomes poorer. At moderate level of stress there would be an optimal level of performance. At the moderate level of stress, the person is supposed to be adequately activated, so that no extra energy is needed or the available energy is wasted. Most of the available energy resources are invested towards performance. A nominal amount of stress is considered important for a performance because, in absence of it a person may not feel inspired to act and perform beyond his/ her capacity.
We will be learning about stress at work or job stress. There are a lot of definitions regarding the meaning of job stress.
According to Beehr and Newman, job stress is a condition arising from the interaction of people and their jobs and characterized by changes within people that force them to deviate from their normal functioning. According to Ivancevich and Matteson; stress is an adaptive response, mediated by individual differences, that is consequence of any external environmental situation that place excessive psychological/ physical demands upon a person. This definition can be explained as:
- stress comes through an adaptive response which is the result of some external factors.
- causes of stress are external which have internal impact on mind and body.
- mediation by individual implies that outcome of stress depends on the realization of an individual. If an individual does not realize the external factors as threatening, the stress is not formed.
- psychological/ physical demand means impact on mind and body. If the demand or impact does not occur, the stress does not take place.
According to Luthans, stress is defined as an adaptive response to an external situation that results in
physical, psychological and/or behavioral deviations for organizational participants. Another definition of stress says that it is a dynamic condition in which an individual is confronted with an opportunity, demand or resource related to what the individual desires and for which the outcome is perceived to be both uncertain and important. Stress is associated with constraints and demands. The constraints (difficulties/ hurdles) prevent one from doing what one desire. For example a person wants to go on a world tour and is not able to mobilize the large amount of money required for the tour. The demands are responsibilities, pressures, obligations that an individual faces. For example desiring to attend one’s friend’s wedding in another city but not being able to because of work pressure. It refers to the loss of something desired. Constraints and demands together lead to potential stress. Potential stress becomes actual stress when there is: (i) an uncertainty over the result and (ii) the result itself is very important. When the certainty of winning (or even loosing) is there, people will feel low stress. When there is uncertainty for winning or losing, people will feel high stress. But along with this the importance of the outcome also has a role. If winning or losing is unimportant for a person, he will feel low stress. But if winning or losing is important for a person, he will feel high stress.
While learning what stress is, it is also important to know what stress is not. Anxiety and nervous tension may result from stress but are not stress. Anxiety has emotional/ psychological impact whereas in stress, the emotional/ psychological impact occurs along with physical impact.
Further stress is not necessarily bad. Eustress is a stress which has a positive and developmental impact. It acts as a motivator and results in higher performance.
