Stress Management Techniques in Workplace

Topic: Stress Management Techniques: The Need to Rein in Stress at the Workplace
Research Questions
1. What impact does employee stress at the workplace have on organizational performance?
2. What strategies and techniques should employees adopt so as to combat high workplace stress levels?
3. How would organizations benefit when employees are able to better handle stress in a more effective manner?
Thesis Statement
Employees need to be taught how to cope with stress so that they can perform better at the workplace. This would in turn further enhance organizational performance.
Type of Claim
In the words of Nazario, Borchers, and Lewis (2012), “there are four claims you can make in your thesis: claims of fact, claims of cause and effect, claims of value, and claims of policy” (p. 355). The claim in this case is a claim of cause and effect. This is more so the case given that it aims to highlight what exactly needs to be done so as to bring about desired change in some area. The cause, i.e. better stress management, will bring about better performance at the workplace (the effect).
Discussion
In the past, I have attempted to make the argument I present herein to my colleagues at the workplace – specifically the Human Resources Manager. My argument was based on observations I have made over time regarding the impact of stress at my workplace. It is important to note that stress has been a real concern at my place of work. As a consequence of high stress levels, people are not as motivated as they ought to be in the performance of their duties. It is not uncommon for employees to neglect their duties and perform sub-optimally at tasks assigned to them. Also, absenteeism levels are quite high. Combined with lack of motivation, high absenteeism rates could bear significant costs for the organization. Lack of motivation gets in the way of good relations at the workplace thus effectively affecting teamwork, indiscipline, and triggering poor work ethic. Absenteeism costs, on the other hand, could include, but they are not limited to additional overtime hours and unnecessary delays in organizational activities (Hart, 2004). When employees fail to show up, arrangements may have to be made to assign urgent tasks to somebody else thus resulting in additional overtime hours (which attract premium rates). When it becomes difficult to find replacements, tasks may be delayed thus resulting in lost opportunities or decreased productivity. These are the arguments I presented to some of those I shared my concerns with, including the Human Resources Manager. I made a suggestion to the effect that there is need to see to it that employees are able to handle stress so as to ensure that the situation at the workplace is turned around. The presentation was oral.
Although my argument was rational and based on actual circumstances at my place of work, no action has been taken to date in an attempt to address the situation. I believe the reason for this is that the argument I presented was taken to be a personal opinion. In that regard, I believe I would need to make a more structured argument founded on facts and backed up by research done on the subject matter in the past. Atkinson and Delamont (2010) are of the opinion that to gain support for an argument, there is need to present “particularly strong evidence in support of claims” (p. 395). My argument will, in this case, be presented as a formal written document.
References
Atkinson, P. & Delamont, S. (Eds.). (2010). SAGE Qualitative Research Methods. Washington, DC: SAGE.
Hart, R. (2004). The Economics of Overtime Working. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Nazario, L., Borchers, D. & Lewis, W. (2012). Bridges to Better Writing (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Cengege Learning.