Workplace Stress Management Research Articles

The Impact of Workplace Stress Management in a Business Organisation in the Service Industries – A Case Study on Kingstel Hotel Limited -Takoradi, Ghana

This research presents readers with adequate information about workplace stress and its impact on the productivity of employees in the service industries, factors in the working environment that cause stressful situations and negative health consequences of workplace stress. It was necessary to undertake this research on workplace stress due to the rapid changes in the service industries which come with some sort of pressure and making the workplace more prone to stress for managers and frontline service personnel. Service personnel need to control their personal emotions so that they will be capable of managing the emotions of their customers and provide them with their service requirements in an organization. The major objective for conducting this research work is to analyze the effectiveness of workplace stress management practices at Kingstel Hotel Limited and how sources of job stress for service personnel such as perceived customer demands, uncooperative attitudes of employees, role ambiguity, role conflict, role overload and how teamwork and other mediators such as job autonomy, training, and motivational programs helps to minimize workplace stress. To enhance better understanding and thorough analysis of stressors, questionnaires were administered to service personnel at Kingstel Hotel to gather primary data for further analysis and investigation. The researcher also interviewed the marketing manager of the hotel to gather further information. Moreover, in other not underrating the significant benefits of secondary data, various articles and publications were reviewed to enrich our knowledge and information base. With the use of an online survey, the questionnaire response was translated into tables and figures for further analysis. With the help of SPSS, correlations analyze was conducted to examine correlations in the variables used and the results of the study indicated that service personnel does not have personal stress management activities and this may result in health- related issues at the workplace more often. The study also identified from the analysis that workplace stress management activities will reduce working hours. Findings suggest the more uncooperative colleagues tend to be in an organization, the heavier workload will be for employees and hence higher probability to suffer from stress. Finally, recommendations for future research are given and areas are highlighted where there is a need for more empirical research.

Influence of Personality Traits on the Stress Management among the Teaching Faculties in Public Sector Universities

This research paper is aimed to explore the influence of personality traits on stress management. As for the achievement of organizational goals, the management has to be assured that its’ employees are not stressed due to any reason for productive outcomes. Stress is unavoidable in any organization especially if it belongs to the teaching sector. However, students and teachers are normally found under stress because of the demanding environment that is generated in physical schools and classrooms. For this purpose, this study has examined to what extent personality traits including extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience influence stress management. This leads to the fact which personality traits of employers especially those that belong to educational institutes can manage their stress and how their personality affects them to take decisions at the time of stress. This research article proposed a descriptive methodology in which cross-sectional data are randomly collected from the different public higher educational universities of Sindh, Pakistan. For the data collection, the survey questionnaire is applied. After the process of data cleaning, 252 responses of teaching faculty as respondents were found accurate for further analysis. By applying the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 26.0 the data was data analyzed. The results of Pearson’s correlation and multiple regression analysis showed that agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience have a positive and significant influence on stress management. On the other hand, extroversion and neuroticism have not found a significant influence on stress management. This research study may provide useful insights for policymakers and top management in public higher educational institutions like universities to identify the stress management strategies that are implemented by the management of education institutions to manage workplace stress among the teaching faculty. Keywords: Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, Openness to Experience and Stress Management.

Management-led interventions for workplace stress and mental health of academic staff in higher education: a systematic review

PurposeThis paper aims to focus on management-led intervention strategies aimed at achieving stable mental well-being among academic staff in higher education institutions (HEIs) by reviewing and synthesising existing literature on varying intervention strategies to managing workplace stress and improving mental health.Design/methodology/approachTwenty-two peer-reviewed articles were identified through databases (PsycARTICLES, PsycINFO, Business source complete, Academic search complete) and the application of the PRISMA guideline. A quality check was carried out on the selected articles, and a data extraction table was developed to aid the discussion.FindingsAlthough the awareness of mental health is a global issue, there was minimal research evidence in managing stress and mental health among academic staff in HEIs through increased university management involvement. Most HEIs were more focused on corporatisation and student satisfaction while unconsciously neglecting its impact on the well-being of academic staff even though universities’ management portray staff welfare as priority.Research limitations/implicationsThere is limited information measuring the outcome of various management-led mental well-being strategies in HEIs. Further research applying more robust study design rather beyond self-reported questionnaires and similar study designs is needed in this area.Practical implicationsEstablishing routine mental health assessment, effective communication, continuous promotion of existing and available support is imminent to improve the mental well-being of academic staff by HEIs management.Originality/valueThis is the first systematic review that describes and synthesises the various mental health triggers, including workplace stressors, that affect academic staff in higher education institutions (HEIs) and summarises various possible management intervention strategies.

Temporomandibular dysfunction among working Australian adults and association with workplace effort-reward imbalance.

To explore the prevalence of temporomandibular dysfunction (TMD) among working Australian adults and examine whether workplace effort-reward imbalance is associated with TMD. Data were from Australia's National Survey of Adult Oral Health (NSAOH) 2004-06, a cross-sectional stratified clustered sample of Australian adults. The NSAOH data included information from a Computer Assisted Telephone Interview, self-complete questionnaire and oral epidemiological examination. Data included demographics, socio-economic characteristics, caries experience, diagnostic criteria for TMD, the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and a modified version of the Effort-Reward Imbalance instrument (ERI) where ERI ratio is the weighted ratio of workplace effort/reward subscales. Subpopulation analysis for working adults was conducted including complex sample descriptive statistics, bivariate and multivariable logistic regression models. NSAOH had 4014 participants with 2329 (65.1%, SE=1.3%) working adults included in the subpopulation analysis. Among working adults, TMD prevalence was 9.4% (SE=1.0%), which was slightly less than population prevalence (PR=9.9%, SE=0.8%), and was higher for females (PR=12.4%, SE=1.4%), people aged ⟨35 years (PR=11.2%, SE=2.2%) and uninsured (PR=11.8%, SE=1.7%). TMD prevalence was associated with the ERI ratio (OR=2.5, 95% CI: 1.3-4.5) and PSS scores (OR=1.1, 95% CI: 1.0-1.09) in bi-variate associations. In multivariable logistic regression, TMD was associated with being female (OR=2.1, 95% CI:1.3-3.6), university qualified (OR=0.43, 95%CI: 0.21-0.88) and with the ERI ratio (OR=2.63, 95% CI: 1.47-4.72). Greater effort-reward imbalance in the workplace is a psychosocial risk factor for TMD. This finding might need to be considered by clinicians managing TMD patients with need for investigating the efficacy of workplace stress management interventions.

A Scoping Review Identifying the Need for Quality Research on the Use of Virtual Reality in Workplace Settings for Stress Management.

Workplace stress management is a growing problem that can have significant mental health and financial impact for workers and their employers. There is a growing body of evidence supporting the efficacy of Virtual Reality (VR) treatments for stress and anxiety, however no reviews of VR to date have looked specifically into the use of VR for this purpose in the workplace. This scoping review aimed to identify available evidence in this environment (i.e., workplace) and investigate whether using VR might reduce workplace stress levels. The academic databases, CINAHL, Medline, Proquest, PsychINFO, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science, were searched using terms focused on VR, stress or relaxation, and workplaces. Results from the articles reviewed demonstrate a wide variety of study designs and techniques, with a general indication that the interventions reduce stress. Commonalities, differences, and levels of workplace focus are examined. Areas for future studies are highlighted, and the importance of the unique contribution VR can make to stress management in the workplace is identified as a gap in the research to be filled.

Stress and Job Satisfaction Among Polytechnic Lecturers in Malaysia: A Need Analysis Study

The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that stress is a global epidemic and that the United Nations (UN) is reporting workplace stress labeled as a 'disease' of the 20th century. The more complex and dynamic an organization is, the higher the source of stress. Work stress comes from many aspects such as job management characteristics, organizational relationships, workload, organizational structure and climate, job characteristics and more. Excessive work stress not only adversely affects the organization but also affects the physical and mental health of employees and family relationships. Failure to control work pressure will also affect job satisfaction. As such, This concept paper analyzes the need to conduct stress and job satisfaction studies among polytechnic lecturers in Malaysia. This analysis is not only intended to catalyze this research, but it also has the potential to assist polytechnic management in developing workplace stress management programs and improving job satisfaction among lecturers

Managing workplace stress in the design office

Julia Allison presents the results of a survey of sources of stress among Institution members, and considers steps individuals and firms can take to address these problems.

How Contextual Constraints Shape Midcareer High School Teachers' Stress Management and Use of Digital Support Tools: Qualitative Study.

BackgroundPersistent psychosocial stress is endemic in the modern workplace, including among midcareer high school (secondary comprehensive) teachers in England. Understanding contextual influences on teachers' self-management of stress along with their use of digital health technologies could provide important insights into creating more usable and accessible stress support interventions.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to investigate the constraints on stress management and prevention among teachers in the school environment and how this shapes the use of digitally enabled stress management tools.MethodsSemistructured interviews were conducted with 14 teachers from southern England. The interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis.ResultsTeachers were unanimous in their recognition of workplace stress, describing physical (such as isolation and scheduling) and cultural (such as stigma and individualism) aspects in the workplace context, which influence their ability to manage stress. A total of 12 participants engaged with technology to self-manage their physical or psychological well-being, with more than half of the participants using consumer wearables, but Web-based or smartphone apps were rarely accessed in school. However, digital well-being interventions recommended by school leaders could potentially be trusted and adopted.ConclusionsThe findings from this study bring together both the important cultural and physical contextual constraints on the ability of midcareer high school teachers to manage workplace stress. This study highlights correlates of stress and offers initial insight into how digital health interventions are currently being used to help with stress, both within and outside high schools. The findings add another step toward designing tailored digital stress support for teachers.

Educational needs of employees in work-related stress management.

Dynamic and intense socio-economic, scientific and technological development has both positive and negative effects on the business world. Due to increasing problems of work-related stress, the issue of stress management has arisen. Primary stress management and proactive interventions in work-related stress prevention are specifically activated. In this regard, the issue of educational needs of employees for the prevention of work-related stress is of particular importance. The basic concern that has drawn our attention is whether employees generally show the desire and need to adopt the knowledge in the field of work-related stress prevention and relief and whether they are supported by the management of their business organization. We used several methods to conduct this research: survey, scaling and comparative method. The comparative method was used for the analysis of legal documents in the field of occupational safety and health in six Balkan countries with the aim of determining the legal obligations of employers in managing workplace stress. The research population consisted of employees in small and medium-sized enterprises in the city of Kraljevo (the Republic of Serbia), while the research sample was determined by a random sampling method and included 450 respondents. Despite the recommendations of international organizations, the employers in most countries are not legally bound to deal with work-related stress management. The results have shown that there is a correlation between work-related risks/stressors and educational needs of employees for learning or acquiring knowledge in the field of work-related stress prevention. Employees express the desire to become acquainted with the possibilities of overcoming work-related stress. Employees' education and training have an invaluable role and considerable importance in primary, work-related stress management. The knowledge about the causes and mechanisms of work-related stress development is an important step towards its prevention. The research has shown that employees express the need for acquiring knowledge to prevent stress at work. In this regard, it is necessary to provide legally binding support of the manager in order to undertake the activities of work-related stress management. Interventions should target work-related stress at its source with a focus on prevention rather than an individual approach whose long-term benefits are uncertain.

Improving Stress and Positive Mental Health at Work via an App-Based Intervention: A Large-Scale Multi-Center Randomized Control Trial.

Mobile health interventions (i.e., “apps”) are used to address mental health and are an increasingly popular method available to both individuals and organizations to manage workplace stress. However, at present, there is a lack of research on the effectiveness of mobile health interventions in counteracting or improving stress-related health problems, particularly in naturalistic, non-clinical settings. This project aimed at validating a mobile health intervention (which is theoretically grounded in the Job Demands-Resources Model) in preventing and managing stress at work. Within the mobile health intervention, employees make an evidence-based, personalized, psycho-educational journey to build further resources, and thus, reduce stress. A large-scale longitudinal randomized control trial, conducted with six European companies over 6 weeks using four measurement points, examined indicators of mental health via measures of stress, wellbeing, resilience, and sleep. The data were analyzed by means of hierarchical multilevel models for repeated measures, including both self-report measures and user behavior metrics from the app. The results (n = 532) suggest that using the mobile health intervention (vs. waitlist control group) significantly improved stress and wellbeing over time. Higher engagement in the intervention increased the beneficial effects. Additionally, use of the sleep tracking function led to an improvement in sleeping troubles. The intervention had no effects on measures of physical health or social community at work. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed, focusing on benefits and challenges of using technological solutions for organizations to support individuals’ mental health in the workplace.

Sarcasm Detection for Workplace Stress Management

Working stress is becoming very common. Handling working stress at the workplace is really going to be challenging. As a result, most of the time most of the time people start behaving in sarcastic ways through verbal communication, through different gestures, using emoticons, or writing reviews or comments that leads to increasing their anxiety sometimes promotes depression. It is difficult to identify sarcasm in written notes or communication. Feedback analysis is not a direct method since feedback or employer reviews are written in more formal language. This motivates the authors to work on the employee feedback system. The currently developed system helps to detect the sarcastic emotions by applying different methodologies on several types of statements. This will help corporations and other big organizations to identify reasons behind sarcastic behavior or increased anxiety. As a result, they can promote counseling programs, psychological treatment, or yoga-meditation camps.

Gender Differences in Stress Management: A Literature Review

Though most experts agree that a balance of gender in the workplace is ideal, studies show that women tend to excel in some areas and men excel in others. However, under the present period of economic hardship, social upheavals and political uncertainty, employees from all works of life, ages, sexes, and levels are exposed to work stress. As such, different persons adopt different strategies to cope with and manage workplace stress. This study draws from an on-going study on gender differences on coping and managing work stimulated stressors among employees. The research method adopted was a multi-methods literature search approach. New models on the causes of stress, effects of occupational stress and effects of coping and managing work stress were proposed. In spite of the identified differences that exist between men and women in the workplace, the literature reviewed in this work offered inconclusive results with regard to who among the genders manages workplace stress better than the other.

Managing Work Place Stress

Managing Work Place Stress

Managing Workplace Stress: Organizational Approach

Evolution of the modern labor market creates new risks, including socio-psychological, among which workplace stress has a special place. In order to prevent productivity and financial losses, company management needs to handle the new type of risk. Existing technologies of stress management proposed by psychological literature are insufficient. We elaborate a new group of theories that consider workplace stress as a social problem and propose that not only individuals but also organizations are responsible for regulation of stress-based risks. The paper describes key approaches to stress research and systematizes different levels of stress factors including organizational and macrosocial factors. We then present and analyze European models of stress management on the firm level and the elements of government policy for the workplace stress regulation and highlight the key research gaps that specifically important in the Russian context.

Employee Stress, Reduced Productivity, and Interest in a Workplace Health Program: A Case Study from the Australian Mining Industry.

The Australian mining sector has an elevated industry prevalence of stress and high stress related productivity impairment costs. This study surveyed 897 employees from an Australian mining company to identify characteristics associated with: (a) high stress related productivity impairment costs; and (b) likelihood of stressed employees wanting stress management assistance at work. Groups associated with average annual productivity impairment costs in excess of $50,000 per employee included: permanent day shift employees; employees who reported being stressed at work most of the time; employees who reported being stress at work all of the time; and employees who were contemplating better managing their stress in the next 6 months. Overall, 52% of employees who identified as being in the contemplation stage of change for stress management and 52% of employees who experienced stress most of the time reported wanting stress assistance with stress. However, only 33% of stressed permanent day shift employees and 36% of employees who experienced stress all the time reported wanting stress assistance. To achieve a high return on investment when implementing workplace stress management programs in the mining industry, practitioners need to strategically target health promotion to engage stressed employees with high productivity impairment costs and low desire for stress management assistance.

SOURCES OF WORKPLACE STRESS IN SERVICE SECTOR ORGANISATIONS

Stress, as a dominant feature of the modern society, represents a serious problem for numerous organizations as it has significant effects on their business results. The aim of this paper is to examine and analyze the various sources of stress which employees in service sector organizations face. The key tendency of service sector organizations is to achieve efficiency, cost decrease, income growth, all of which impose high expectations and pressure upon employees. The sources of workplace stress in those organizations are observed from the perspective of job characteristics, organizational context and the employees’ personality traits. A review of key stress factors from above-mentioned perspectives enables a holistic approach to human resource managers, which could be of great importance for setting up a strategy and planned approach to managing workplace stress.

Supervisor support for stress management and intervention process

PurposeThis purpose of this paper is to investigate the possibility of non-linear relationships between supervisor support for stress management and intervention process ratings from a workplace stress management intervention to highlight how context shapes intervention experience.Design/methodology/approachData from 37 nurses and nurse aides assigned to the treatment group in an occupational stress management intervention were analyzed using polynomial regression in SPSS.FindingsA quadratic function with a U-shape best explained variance in process variables for the relationship between supervisor support for stress management at baseline and ratings of intervention relation reactions and overall perceptions of session helpfulness in both sessions and for task reactions in session 1. Those with low and high supervisor support for stress management tended to perceive the intervention favorably, which is framed in terms of the intervention compensating for or complimenting their work environment, respectively.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough exploratory and based on a small sample, this paper lays the groundwork for future theoretically-grounded investigations of relationship between intervention context and process.Practical implicationsResults provide a rationale for training supervisors in stress management support as a supplement to a workplace intervention.Originality/valueThis paper investigates a novel molar supervisor support construct and challenges previous research that assumes that the relationship between context and intervention process or outcomes always conform to a simple linear relationship.

Personal and contextual factors related to teachers’ experience with stress and burnout

ABSTRACT Teaching has been characterised as a stressful profession that is prone to burnout. Less is known about the specific ways in which teachers experience and navigate stressors associated with their work. This study aimed to qualitatively understand how teachers who perceive high and low levels of burnout characterise their lived experiences in school environments. Data were collected through interviews with 28 inservice teachers (11 male, 17 female) from the US Midwest who reported high- or low-burnout on a psychometric survey. Data were analysed by two experienced qualitative researchers. Results indicated that (a) low-burnout teachers perceived nurturing teaching environments, (b) high-burnout teachers perceived combative and constraining teaching environments, and (c) all teachers had to manage workplace stress. Building from these findings, we present a model for understanding how the school environment influences teacher burnout. This model highlights the importance of developing optimal working conditions that nurture teacher development. Abbreviation: MBI-ES = Maslach Burnout Iventory-Educators Survey; IEP = Individualized Education Plan

Managing workplace stress in community pharmacy organisations: lessons from a review of the wider stress management and prevention literature.

Workplace stress in community pharmacy is increasing internationally due, in part, to pharmacists' expanding roles and escalating workloads. Whilst the business case for preventing and managing workplace stress by employers is strong, there is little evidence for the effectiveness of organisational stress management interventions in community pharmacy settings. To identify and synthesise existing evidence for the effectiveness of organisational solutions to workplace stress from the wider organisational literature which may be adaptable to community pharmacies. A secondary synthesis of existing reviews. Publications were identified through keyword searches of electronic databases and the internet; inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied; data about setting, intervention, method of evaluation, effectiveness and conclusions (including factors for success) were extracted and synthesised. Eighteen reviews of the stress management and prevention literature were identified. A comprehensive list of organisational interventions to prevent or manage workplace stress, ordered by prevalence of evidence of effectiveness, was produced, together with an ordered list of the benefits both to the individual and employing organisation. An evidence-based model of best practice was derived specifying eight factors for success: top management support, context-specific interventions, combined organisational and individual interventions, a participative approach, clearly delineated tasks and responsibilities, buy-in from middle management, change agents as facilitators and change in organisational culture. This literature review provides community pharmacy organisations with evidence from which to develop effective and successful stress management strategies to support pharmacists and pharmacy staff. Well-designed trials of stress management interventions in community pharmacy organisations are still required.

An assessment of employer liability for workplace stress

PurposeThis study aims to examine workplace stress in a random sample of litigated cases heard in UK courts. The majority of claims related to clinical depression. The alleged causes of workplace stress most commonly cited in the litigation included excessive workload, followed by poor management practices; organisational, economic or technical changes; aggressive management style; and bullying by co-workers.Design/methodology/approachThe term claimant is used to refer to the worker who made the original complaint of workplace stress, and the term defendant refers to the employing organisation defending the claim. In an attempt to establish the number and type of claims brought forward, the population of individual case records relating to workplace stress was accessed electronically from a variety of legal databases.FindingsThe presence of effective workplace stress management policies were important interventions that played a particularly significant role in avoiding legal action and reducing employees’ detrimental experiences. A significant finding was that 94 per cent of the cases were found in favour of the employer as the defendant, and the implications of this for managerial practice are suggested. This analysis of 75 cases between 1992-2014 will shed valuable light on the nature of workplace stress claims heard in the courts and the likelihood of the claimant employee’s success in such cases.Research limitations/implicationsFurther work could be undertaken to examine the extent to which the legal framework could be regarded as encouraging a compensation culture and placing excessive burdens on employing organisations. This paper assesses the scope of liability for workplace stress through an analysis of some of the legal claims made and evaluates whether these sorts of fears are justified.Practical implicationsThese court cases are real scenarios in which various organisations faced civil action arising from workplace stress claims. The main contribution that this research makes to the existing body of literature on the subject is to discern the different contexts that led to litigation in these cases.Social implicationsResearchers have reported on the negative consequences associated with workplace stress, both for individuals and organisations (Cooper and Marshall, 1976). It has been recognised that employers have a duty, which is in many cases enforceable by law, to ensure that employees do not become ill (Michie, 2002). The aim of this paper is to analyse the legal record on litigation since 1992 and discuss how the findings inform the wider literature.Originality/valueWorkplace stress claims have been described as the “next growth area” in claims for psychiatric illness (Mullany and Handford, 1997; Elvin, 2008; Horsey and Rackley, 2009). Hugh Collins stated “owing to the limitations of the statutory compensatory scheme in the UK […] private law has been used to expand the range of protection against illness […] in the workplace” (Collins, 2003). To understand how court decisions are changing, the development of this body of law needs to be traced (Ivancevich et al., 1985).