We live in an age of crises. There is large scale erosion of values. There is widespread corruption in all walks of life. The term "stress''' has come into wide use in behaviour study only within the past two decades. Originating in the physical sciences, the term has the meaning of a force which acting on a body produces strain or deformation. Later stress has come to represent the bodily condition under strain. Both in the physical and biological sciences and behavioural study, the concept of stress meant an extreme condition, involving tension perhaps damage. If one asks people about their stress and in particular how they know it exists, two general kinds of things are described: Firstly, there are experiences of mental discomfort, often accompanied by feelings if not being able to cope, that things are falling a part, that one is not in control of oneself and one's situation or just a general increase that all is not well without any particular cause being apparent. Secondly, there are physiological manifestations of loss of appetite, sleepless men, sweating and ulcers or other physical illnesses of various degrees.
Man has been a victim of stress since time immemorial. Modern man faces on unending variety of problems which cause enormous strains and stress for him. The modern day man does not have 'fight or flight' option before him. Man faced diseases such as plague, small pox, leprosy, etc. some of these were great killers and certain others were highly infections in nature and consequently caused immensely stressful situations. Modern science and technology due to which it has been possible to eliminate the impact of a large number of sources.
However, a mankind got over certain ailments; it got new ones in such formidable form as cancer, heart attacks, Aids etc. A large number of these are caused or aggravated due to increased pace of urbanization, industrialization, and the complexities of modem living. Prosperity has not been an unmixed blessing, but h3S brought in its wake a number of problems associated with it. Hence modern man faces an unending variety of problems which cause enormous strains and stress for him.
When body faces a stressful situation either by way of a physical attack or a psychological threat, the central nervous systems is alerted first and then adrenal and pituitary glands get activated and stare secreting hormones and cortisone etc. As a result of this the level of blood pressure rises. All this body's reaction to build a defense and raise energy level so that the body can take recourse to fight or flight response. However the modern day Man who lives in a complex, abstract, andcivilized society does not exercise flight or fight option due to tactical reasons and consequently the excess hormones secreted by the glands keep on getting accumulated and get converted into toxins. The toxic level rises in the body and can give rise to diseases. No wonder that a large number of diseases and ailments are said to be stress related. Further more the cause of most physical diseases lies in the suppression of feelings and emotions. Extensive research work the world over has revealed that mental illnesses and coronary diseases are particularly caused due to stress.
Stress may be caused due to a number of environmental factors. However the same factor may cause little or no stress to another. Stress comes from the attitude that one takes towards the events. Some people are susceptible to stress while others develop certain amount of immunity. For eg, when two managers had their job duties changed, a situation in which one manager will see the new dutyasan opportunity to learn new skills and such a change given to him due to the vote of confidence from higher management. The second manager will perceive the same situation to be extremely threatening and will conclude that the change was meant to punish him. Hence an individual’s susceptibility to a stressed situation depends on various factors like,
v Personality type, perception, past experience.
v Social, economic and personal factors like financial problems, family conflicts and ailment and diseases.
v Relationship with others, job change, role ambiguity, role over load, or under load and unhealthy working conditions.
v Irrational behaviour, Poor performance etc.
v Low self stress poor intellectual performance, depression and burnout syndrome.
v Occurrence of stress related diseases
v Financial problem
v Conflict between family demands and organizational demands
As seen above, there seems to be a growing interest in what organizations do to its employees i.e. both managers and managed. One of such aspectis interest in 'organizational stress’. Management experts are becoming increasingly involved in helping employees to cope with organizational life.
Stress leads to physical disorders because the internal body system changes while trying to cope withstress.Stress over a prolonged time also leads to diseases of heart and other parts of the body system. Therefore it is important that stress, both on and off the job be kept at a low level so that most people may be able to tolerate without developing either emotional or physical disorders.
In each and every organization, employees have to be kept fully satisfied, happy and motivated so that productivity, efficiency andperformance will be at its peak level. By this employees may understand the organization and start functioning in optimum efficiency. Oneof the most significant ways to achieve the organizational efficiency is to identify the reasons or causes of 'stressors’ and the way to cope with it.
There is emerging evidence that in some situations, organization can be held legally liable for the emotional and physical impact of stressors on employees. Poor working conditions, sustained conflicts with supervisors, traumatic events, and intentional harassment of employees sometimes result in anguish, neuroses or even suicide. If liability is established, employees could claim benefits under worker's compensation laws as well as sue for financial damages. Frequent studies on stress would help to uncover the shadow areas; so that steps can be initiated to minimize the effect of the determinant factors of 'stressors' and also help individuals and organizations evolve new and effective coping strategies.
"Stress like relativity is a scientific concept which has sufferedfrom the mixed blessing of being too well known and too little understood” says Dr. Hans Selye.
