At the work place, the issue of stress amongst the personnel, down from themanagement to the subordinate is a common issue. Stress can be defined as the mental strain and pressure that reciprocates in the disturbance of the normal functioning of the body. Stress amongst the workers can either be caused by internal pressures or at times external pressures which in turn may affect their productivity. Stress on the organization’s personnel will have different effects on the various individuals differently. In the organization, stress can lead to the individual either giving more than he thought he could achieve while in some instances less than the required. This essay I will consider the effects of stress amongst the members of the organization and its end effect in the organization.It is not a new issue to see individuals in the organization rushing up and about to finish a project them were assigned or others sleeping in the office in order to meet some set deadline or others working overtime each and every day in order for them to be able to land the promotion that they were eying for a very long time. These instances are among the various examples of stressors that may lead to a member of the organization being stressed.
Once when I was doing my attachment, a member of the organization who for purposes of this essay, I will call John, was a very hardworking man who in most instances tried to do work to the best of his ability but each and every time, the manager would always come down shouting and yelling at him that the work was not up to standard. Over the time I was at the organization, he never smiled, was always a loner and would always work the whole day and at time she would work till late into the night. The members of the organization even joked that that, there’s no need for the company to hire a security guard, since John will always look after the office well. However, one afternoon as always John was at his desk, when suddenly he started shouting and tearing the papers and throwing items everywhere and he even, broke his monitor. He was able to be subdued and rushed to the hospital where it was realised that his depression levels had hit chronic heights and hence he had to be enrolled into a mental institution.
This is a one of the many instances of work related stress that reciprocates in depression. Over the years various researches have been carried out to show the various stressors in the organization and the effects of the stress in the productivity of the personnel.
In the research carried out by Science Nordic (2013) was one that was conducted in the Denmark where 4500 workers from various organizations were given questionnaires to show the various causes of stress and depression at their places of work. It was realised that a huge number of them were of the opinion that work related depression is in most cases not caused by the huge workload but rather, the over shouting and insatiable boss.The research further revealed that the best way in which the stress levels of the organizations is by treating the members of the personnel in a humane manner. In that, the pressure that they are subjected to must not be those that may cause an individual to feel less human or feel despised at the work place.
As per Aaron Schat and Kevin Kellowav, depression is among the Psychological outcomes of stress. Further, this depression as realised in most instances will always have a further effect on the end product of the organization. This is since, it has been realised that too much stress in most instances, leads to the individual performing poorly at his or her work place. This is due to the fact that they are stressed with the external factors and the events that lead to the stress, in most cases the individual tends to have in mind that he has no control over the issue.
In addition to this, the stressed personnel in most case will always tend to be introverts at the workplace. This action of them being introverts will in most instances lead to them not being good team players. Teamwork in the organization will in most instances help the organization to grow and if the stressed colleague doesn’t value team work, he or she will in most instances affect the production levels of the organization. They may further be distracted, disorganized and at times they tend to be too pessimistic when they carry out their activities and may careless of how they carry out their activities.
Lastly, by the fact that John was always stressed over the working conditions within the organization, together with the fact that he was always being threatened of being fired, this may be seen to be among the various causes of stress which in turn reciprocated in his depression. The organization should also in most instances have in place the various seminars and talks which will in turn help the members of the organization cope with stress. However, as Alice Mills stated, coping with stress is always an individual matter.
In conclusion, for the betterment of the production of the organization, the personnel should be subjected to positive levels of stress and the managers or bosses should do all in their powers to help and monitor the way the employees carry out their activities.
References
Sjøgren, K. (2013, October 27). The boss, not the workload, causes workplace depression. Retrieved June 12, 2016, from Science Nodic: http://sciencenordic.com/boss-not-workload-causes-workplace-depression
Wrench, J. S.-C. (2015). Organizational communication: Theory, research, and practice. Washington D.C: Flat World Knowledge.
