Stress Management an Organization Starts

Stress Management

An organization starts its operation with certain objectives in mind. The management of the organization adopts certain strategies and initiatives that contribute toward attainment of the objectives. The objectives shape the external policies of the company, external policy includes interaction and dealing with public, suppliers, governments, competitors, and taxation departments. The core of the external policy is the achievement of certain criteria within expected time period. The policy emphasizes more on production, minimum utility, maximum revenue collection and maximum profitability. These standards vary according to the nature and type of the organization, in case of service industry maximum production is replaced by 'maximum service offerings and maximum number of clients' (Evolution toward Fit).

On the sidelines of external policy, the organization implements internal policy which emphasis more on organizational structure, employment, auditing and research. These criteria vary significantly from organization to organization depending again on the nature of the organization. The organization is responsible for implementation of an internal policy that favors and supports the employees of the organization. The employee and employer have to workout a mutually acceptable strategy which brings return to the company. Organization having progressive vision towards creating harmony between the employer and employee is bound to success and achieve more than expected. The results are much dependent on the organizational policy, because it enhances the abilities and potential for the workforce.

WorkForce AND EMPLOYER

Employees are crucial for the organization, the support for an organization is not only gathered from its accumulated financial capital but rather it is also evaluated on the basis of number of devoted and sincere the employees it recruits. The employer and employee have an understanding under which the employee is expected to input struggle, knowledge and available resources, thereby optimizing the rate of return for an organization. The employee is expected to abide by all the norms and regulations of the company, and is to obey and adopt the goals and objectives of the organization. The employee is expected to be sincere, and offer allegiance to his employer without any reservations or conditions. The privacy and secrecy of the organization's matters have to be respected by the employer. All nature of commitments and understandings has to respected and achieved.

The employee has certain level of expectations from the employer. The employer is expected to offer certain financial incentives, and other benefits in return of the employee's complete dedication and hard work. Health care, low-interest loans, insurance scheme, provident funds, family support incentives, leasing facility are other expectations that employee associate with his employer. The employee expects job stability, job promotion and growth after regular intervals.

The organizational affairs are handled keeping in view the expectations and agreements that employee and employer have reached. The organizational policy is 'the permeable of all that employee and employer' (Management of Innovation) have developed understanding upon. The organization then develops a front for itself, and the strategies launched share mutual participation from employee and the employer.

However on the sideline of the understanding between employee and employer, there is a need of mutual co-ordination for creating a conductive environment that empowers the employee without any threat to the standing of the employer. Conducive environment is broad term, and includes many different aspects associated with the mental moral, psychological behavior, socializing factor of the workforce.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

Conducive Work Environment is important factor in determining the profitable figures of an organization. The threshold of profits and returns can easily be overcome and achieved if proper organizational structure and work environment is provided. Organization within its capacity offers and launches certain development programs whose major objective is to strengthen and nourish the social, psychological and mental constraints of the workforce.

Before reviewing how mental and psychological constraints can be removed, let us discuss the consequences that an organization has to bear if certain remedial steps and measures are avoided. It has to be understood that mental health is important; the mental health/stability of an individual is function of the professional knowledge, socializing factor, work environment and professional cum family conditions the workforce survives in. The human growth is evaluated mainly on the basis of the mental capabilities, and the factor that nourishes it, is the conductive environment. The human nature demands a stress free environment, where human mental activities are not limited by rigid rules and regulations. Any kind of mental trauma or pressure buildup discourages the individual's potential and limits his innovative, creative and provocative thoughts and ideas. Also imposition of certain barriers restricts the employee's unexpected movements, it should be realized that all leading inventions were never pre-assumed rather they were accidental, and the inventors has free will and permit to exercise and practice all they desired. What we have now is a miraculous society, where no move is undetected rather communication has given new meaning to our life, whether personal or professional.

Following are the conditions and factors which build stressful and pressurized workforce,

High expectations from the employer.

Insufficient financial gains to the employees.

Discouraging the participation of the workforce in the policy making related to the organization or organizational plans

Practice of immoral values by the employer.

Workforce evaluation on the basis of the ethical, racial, religious and social grounds.

Long working hours.

Repeated activities without any element of motivation.

Restricting employee's innovative and creative thoughts, and imposing unjustified policies on the workforce.

Increasing workload without any lucrative deals including holidays, bonuses.

Warning the workforce with dire consequences.

Encouraging rivalry and grouping within the organizational structure'. (Fortune Magazine)

Therefore it is important to realize that such organizational development plans and programs should be launched that support and provide free hand to the employees to practice and exercise their knowledge, keeping in view the expectations associated with their moves. Organizational policy should discourage any offensive strategy against the workforce. The moral values have to be respected and practiced, and human values have to be considered before involving the workforce into any activity. Recruitment of employees not at all means that employer has the ownership right of the workforce, rather the free will of the employee has to be respected, and such activities have to be introduced which requires heavy participation the workforce, to ignite the spirit of enthusiasm and motivation.

ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM: IMPROVING ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE AND STRESS Management

Stress Management and Conflict resolution are related. The organization's development program should encompass the resolution of differences and conflicts that are experienced within the organization. In this regard, the organizational authority has to be responsible in evaluating its own policies and attitude towards the workforce. On parallel, within the workforce the elements of disparity and grouping have to be discouraged and dissolved. The workforce should support and influence the organization and fellow employee's activity but none has the right to dominate the organizational policy and free will of the employee with any concrete reason.

Organizational situations are also accountable for creating a stressful work environment. Organizational situations and conditions should be improved so that the employee has free environment to exercise and practice his knowledge and contribute towards the growth of the organization. Within the workplace, factors evolving stress and pressure on the workforce should be minimized. Motivation is the force that drives the spirit of the employee, and enhances his professional capabilities. The program should focus more on motivating the employees, giving them boost, assuring them of consistent support, providing them with incentives, rewarding them periodically, and looking into the other aspects so to reduce the element of stress.

In some of the cases when the nature of the job requires complete focus and attention towards the work load of the organization, the employee should be asked to handle such situations with proper training and aid. Training sessions emphasizing more on the stress management, individual support, enhancement professional capabilities should be arranged such that the employee is provided with guidance to reduce his stress level, without demanding relieve from work load.

Potential conflict is a reality when you have two or more people in an organization. Even when we are all alone, we frequently argue ourselves.

Learn the subtle but important difference between confronting and confrontation.

If we are able to confront skillfully without putting people on the defensive, we are likely to avoid a confrontation.

Learn how to deal with the differences in those you manage. Learn how different people are motivated. Realize where your buttons are, what happens when they get pushed, and how to deal with them. Understand the same for the employees' (The Networking Survival Guide).

Stress Management requires flexibility on part of employer, expecting a lot or coming up with unrealistic goals for the employee to be achieved is immoral practice. The employer has to keep himself on the level of employee, and after understanding the employee's constraints and limitations; only then the employer has the right to expect more out of the employee. If the limitations or constraints either professional or personal, within workplace or outside can be sorted out be employer, will definitely provide significant relief to the employee, resultantly improving the employee's efficiency and dedication towards the workload.

Stress Environment has to be 'wiped out' (Net-Working Survival Guide), if not than employee has to be trained to handle stressful situations. But expecting a lot out of employee's limited resources and restrictions is unfair. Deterministic view has to be adopted while improving the organizational structure such that the level of stress is significantly reduced.

Organizational structures can be improved by adopting following strategies,

Realistic Approach: Realistic Approach is required not just in terms of imposing the employee with the work load but also while making expectations out of the employee. The performance of the employee has to be evaluated much on the grounds of the results the employee within the work environment rather than evaluating on the basis of results only. Proper and realistic margin should be kept in case the employee fails to handle the job. The employee firstly has to be assured that his performance will never have significant impact on his job security, but it is also the right of the employer to warn the employee of reduction or limitation of other financial offerings. Definitely an understanding has to accorded reach time assignments are handed over to the employee, but it is important that all policies and organizational structures are devised with realistic approach.

Work Environment and Favoritism: The employer should adopt neutral and impartial stand, the employer's preference or likeness for a particular employee should be on the based of performance. The bias attitude of the employer also subjects the employee under stress. Organizational structure should be such that it provides the employees under same position with equal opportunity to excel and participate. The work environment should be conducive, and polarities within the employees should be avoided. This factor can be minimized if within organizational structure such methodology is devised which discourages the top management from splitting up. The grouping within the top management of the organization leads way for the formation of poles within the employees, and this further develop certain stress and pressure on the employee, who has no other option but to join any for his survival.