Essentials of Managing Stress in the Era of Globalization - An Organizational Perspective

Abstract

Stress is experienced by everybody in today’s fast changing life, amidst modernization and globalization. There can be no individual with absence of the problem in real terms. It is omnipresent in every day’s life of a person, irrespective of his or her position, status, occupation, credentials,  etc. Nonetheless, the level and kind of stress constantly varies. All human beings do not possess the same or uniform degree of stress or similar class of pressure. It definitely varies. Many a times, stress or anxiety  depends on several factors such as occupation, family environment, friends, relatives, personal etc. A study carried out by Associated Chambers (ASSOCHAM) suggests that many organizations and sectors  have the issue related to stress among their employees. Industry bodies such as Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) have already started  creating awareness on the subject throughout India. On the human resource front, personnel are being shifted frequently, adoption of quick hire and fire policies, changes in pay structure, different recruitment and promotion policies to different personnel, etc. happen to be on the rise.  Because of these and other factors such as power games, politics and management tactics, employees suffer much. Apart from that, much advanced technological revolutions have made things complex in one way  or other. Other issues pertain to working duration, infrastructure, changes  in environment, relations with peers, superiors, subordinates and others happen to impact upon employees physically and psychologically. The researcher has developed a few models of stress management. The Factor  odel states that whenever, quality in a specific job increases or decreases, it will have a definite impact on the total amount of stress undergone and increase in the quantity of work leads to an increase in the  amount of stress experienced by the employee. The Ability Model states that higher the level of ability to perform, lower the effects mentally and physically and the individual might lead a healthier life and vice versa. The level of stress depends on the rate of work demand and as such when the work exerted from an employee increases, the performance comes down and the employee might suffer out of increased
anxiety.