Occupational stress is becoming an increasing problem and the links between workplace and familial stressors, health and productivity are becoming better recognised. Whilst it is normal for us all to feel pressure from time to time at work, if this pressure exceeds our ability to cope, or we don’t have the social support, and the state of distress continues for a long period, we can easily become ill and suffer health effects as a result. There will also be impacts at the organisational level.
It is acknowledged nowadays that there are two key health affects from excessive distress:
1. direct effects on autonomic responses and neuroendocrine pathways, featuring two thirds of the problem, and
2. indirect behavioural impacts of stress like poorer diet, less exercise and excessive drinking, featuring one third the problem.
Acute Stress Responses
People are affected by stress in one of three ways:
Psychologically – like when bullying or harassment are issues, our thinking is affected. This is a direct avenue to illness if it is not handled properly. Psychological impacts include depression, anxiety disorders and the like.
Physiologically – our bodily responses at the cellular, tissue and organ level happen without our control, and many times this is linked with psychological antecedents toward psychosomatic (mind-body) signs and symptoms; another direct avenue to illness, for example, elevated heart rates and blood pressure leading to hypertension and coronary heart disease.
Behaviourally – when people are not comfortable with their lives they tend to go off track; routine health behaviours take a slide as people compensate with more of this and less of that. Comfort eating and binge drinking are common.
A Model for “Job Stress and Organisation Impact” was presented by Professor Niki Ellis of the University of Queensland at a recent conference. This ‘stressbuster,’ a foremost occupational safety and health physician, spoke how eleven (11) important occupational considerations or stressors relating to 1) the way work is organised, and 2) the way work is managed determine the “health” of work systems’ efficacy regarding stress.
These job stressors lead to acute stress responses (mentioned above) and lead subsequently to 1) organisational impacts and 2) illness. Factors impacting this causation flow include:
- Individual factors like personality and stage of the person’s career development
- Non-work factors like finances and family/marital dynamics
- Buffer factors (mentioned above) like coping abilities and level of social support
These factors above are the difference from one individual’s response to the next. One can imagine a sliding scale regarding these three (3) important inputs. Someone who’s got a strong, resilient personality and is not particularly pressed in adjusting to their present career development situation, and has good family support and little financial pressure is less likely to succumb to an acute stress response and therefore the risks of organisational impacts and the likelihood of illness will be lessened.
Copyright © 2008, S. J. Wickham. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.
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