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Enjoying Your Work Richard Brislin |
Stress in the workplace
affects workers in
different waysDifferent people react in various ways to potential sources of stress in the workplace. Imagine two people who work in the same high-pressure office marked by fast moving technological changes, unpredictable markets, demanding customers and intense bosses who pounce on the slightest error. One person remains calm and in control and even seems to thrive on pressure. The other becomes noticeably upset. His blood pressure and heart rate increase, he approaches problems with the attitude that he can't do anything about them, and he is less effective in the everyday performance of his job duties. In short, he is "stressed out." What are the differences between the two people?
I have found a three-stage model of workplace stress to be very helpful. In the first stage, people assess whether a potential stressor might affect their behavior. For some people, speaking in public is a stressor, but others are very comfortable with this task. For some customer service representatives, dealing with angry and shouting clients is very disconcerting. On the other hand, some representatives look upon these clients as a challenge and enjoy calming them down so that issues can be effectively addressed. The question people can ask, then, is whether a potential source of stress is a concern for them.
If people feel that a stressor may lead to difficulties, they enter the second stage. Here, they assess whether they have resources that will allow them to cope effectively. Resources include knowledge and experience. If people are asked to speak in public, stress is reduced if they have taken courses in public speaking and can choose the topic. A major source of resources for coping is a person's support group. Different people can offer various kinds of help: emotional uplifts, key information and volunteered time to help meet an approaching deadline.
If people assess their coping resources and still feel overwhelmed, they can enter the third stage known as "benign reappraisal." This term refers to thought processes that lead people to put their stress in a proper perspective. They can ask themselves, "Is this problem so overwhelming that I should allow myself to become so stressed as to affect my health? Can I break down this seemingly complex problem into a series of steps that I can manage? Are there larger issues than this potential stressor, such as the well-being of my family, that I should also attend to?"
With benign reappraisal, people often reduce their stress by viewing their problems as more controllable and manageable than they first thought. This approach to thinking reminds me of the serenity prayer from twelve-step programs.
People ask for acceptance of the things they cannot change, the courage to change the things they can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
The purpose of this column is to increase understanding of
human behavior as it has an impact on the workplace. Given the amount
of time people spend at work, job satisfaction should ideally be high and
it should contribute to general life happiness. Enjoyment can increase as
people learn more about workplace psychology, communication, and group influences.
Richard Brislin is a professor in the College of Business Administration,
University of Hawaii. He can be reached through the
College Relations Office: cro@cba.hawaii.edu