What are some workplace stressors associated with teamwork?
The potential of a team at workplace gets affected by stressors, as result the productivity level declines. Few of the commonly found stressors include ambiguous targets set by the manager, no support from team members, hard deadlines set by team leader, uneven distribution of workload among the members, being underrated, low involvement in decision making, displeasure with the assigned job tasks, late sitting because other members of the team are working, pressure from peers, interdependency of tasks within team, bullying and disruption from team members (Lawrence and Theodore ,1993).
How might the team help or hinder an individual in dealing with stress? (Examples: missed deadlines, poor performance by members, social loafers, emotional support, etc.)
Team members can play a vital role in either facilitating or deterring the stress level in team. If the members are supportive they can proactively minimize the hassle by helping each other in given task completion. Morale and emotional support from colleagues’ can boost up the motivation level and members can also technically help out each other. They can take time out together to rejuvenate their nerves, they can make work environment relaxing by propagating a supportive culture and developing strong coalition among members. On the other hand same team members can turn your life into a deadly nightmare by not showing complete absence of motivation, non-compliance, conflict of interest, low productivity and less coordination in team, harassment and other such non productive behaviors develop stress on those who want to get their job done at best.
What work life balance considerations may occur when working in teams? What worklife arrangements or benefits would be most helpful, and why?
It is very important to maintain a reasonable balance between domestic and professional obligations. Some noticeable considerations like domestic stress of a team member may hamper his performance in the team that eventually pose a detrimental impact on the objectives achievement of the team. Similarly the work stress of a team affects the psychological and mental well being of an individual’s family life. Certain arrangements can be helpful like offering flexibility in choosing working shift and hours, splitting and sharing job, family gathering of team members, even the option of flexible place. Relief providing policies can be very helpful to assist employees maintain balance between two domains (Jaffery and David, 2012).
How might the team help or hinder the worklife balance? (Examples: deadline pressures, job-sharing, virtual team meetings, etc.)
A team can play a very important role to help an individual by adopting a knowledge sharing culture among its members. Successful and target oriented teams always maintain a family like relation, do counseling of team members to assist in handling stress and act as a mentor to prosper both professionally and personally. Contrary to these, working in team with low morale, less dedication, uncooperative culture an individual with ends up with nerve wrecking stress and dead end job.
Reference
Lawrence R. Murphy, Theodore F. Schoenborn. 1993. Stress Management in Work Settings. Pennsylvania, PA:DIANE Publishing.
Jeffrey A. A. Kottler, David D. D. Chen.2012. Stress Management and Prevention: Applications to Daily Life. Oxford, UK: Routledge
