Question based on AU Assignment Solution and other course
Answer:
Stress can be temporary or mild. It can be recovered from easily. For example a student has to take a board exam for the first time. He is tensed and feels stressed. But this stress is temporary and will be gone once the examination is over. As he gets accustomed to such exams, the stress diminishes away. Mild stress is visible in form of insomnia, digestive problems, nervousness and high blood pressure.
If a person does not get accustomed to the new situation and is not being able to adjust, the mild stress does not diminish away. Rather it takes a chronic form. Such stress not only weakens the body physically but also psychologically.
Some other forms of stress are:
1 Frustration
It is an element of human behaviour which results from lack of something important to a desired goal, obstacles coming in the way of goal directed activities or a conflict arising between two equally attractive goals. A student may feel frustrated because he wants to take admission into a top engineering college but does not have enough money for taking expensive coaching classes. A student may feel frustrated because he is not being able to take an important exam due to illness. Frustration among employees can affect productivity, thus it is important for a manager to understand what causes it so that it can be managed.
2 Burn Out
If stress experienced is not properly managed and the situation continues for a longer duration, it results into physical or emotional exhaustion, irritation, ineffectiveness, health problems (hypertension, ulcers, heart problem, etc.) and lowered productivity. The factors which result in physical or emotional exhaustion can be personal or related to organisation. Problems related to personal factors like marital, financial, legal may develop a feeling of helplessness in a person. Instead of facing the situation boldly, he/ she may give up with the situation resulting in change of behaviour.
Thus, Burnout can be seen as a prolonged response to chronic emotional and interpersonal stressors on the job. It is a psychological condition, which has serious impact on an individual’s personal health and also on organizational effectiveness. According to Maslach and Jackson (1981), burnout is a syndrome which consists of three components. Emotional exhaustion refers to mental and physical tension and strain resulting from job-related stressors. Depersonalization refers to distancing of oneself from others and viewing others impersonally. Diminished personal accomplishment is a feeling of negative self-evaluation. There are a lot of definitions given by various researchers regarding burnout. These definitions point towards following three things: (i) burnout occurs at an individual level, (ii) burnout is an internal psychological experience involving feelings, attitudes, and motives and expectations and (iii) burnout is a negative experience for the individual.
Several studies in the past concluded that burnout has association with the nature of job. If the job done by a person is of a routine and mechanical nature, automated type, with too many rules and regulations to follow with a lack of interpersonal relationships, there are high chances of workers being prone to burnout. It has also been found that the people with jobs that are characterized by public dealing experience more burn out than those people with jobs having less contact with people. Another factor with which burnout has been found to be associated is personality. The personality Type A person has been found to be more associated with burn out. A person exhibiting Type A personality is generally restless, impatient with a desire for quick achievement and perfection. Type B personality is generally easy going, relaxed about time pressure and less competitive.
The negative effects that burnout has on job performance include: lower productivity and ineffectiveness at work leading to decrease in job satisfaction and commitment. People who are experiencing burnout tend to be less happy and they can have a negative impact on their colleagues, both by causing greater personal conflict and by disrupting job tasks. It can be contagious and can perpetuate itself through informal interactions on the job.
3 Depression
It is the emotional state of dejection, gloomy ruminations, feeling of worthlessness and guilt and usually apprehension. A person may feel depressed because he has been deprived of a promotion despite being qualified and experienced for the job and the promotion was given to a lesser qualified and experienced person. High aspirations and low self image also cause depression. Depression can be of two types — endogenous and exogenous. Endogenous depression is self made, largely of one’s own making without any apparent reasons, e.g., seeing a colleague prospers. Exogenous or reactive depression is due to factors beyond one’s control such as noise, environment, and pollution and so on. Because endogenous depression is within one’s control, it is easier to take care of it as compared to exogenous depression.
Depression in its acute form can even lead to suicide. Depressed people exist passively and without hope, alienated from their families, friends, work as well as themselves. A person suffers from sleeping and eating disorders in depression. He will either oversleep or wake up in the middle of the night or have difficulty in falling off to sleep. Also some people tend to overeat, while others tend to lose their appetite. Depressed persons are more inclined to complain of vague aches and pains too.
