Understanding and Addressing the Psychological Stress in the Workplace

Annotations
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Annotations
STRESS
Wolever, R. Q., Bobinet, K. J., McCabe, K., Mackenzie, E. R., Fekete, E., Kusnick, C. A., & Baime, M. (2012). Effective and viable mind-body stress reduction in the workplace:a randomized controlled trial. Journal of occupational health psychology, 17(2), 246.
Stress is a serious issue in the workplace because of its consequences. Stressed employees will add more costs to the organizations based on different factors such as poor performance when they are involved in various activities within the organization especially in decision-making process. Consequently, they are prone to greater risk health conditions such as diabetes, depression and anxiety, obesity, cancer and fatigue. Therefore, addressing the issue of stress in the workplace will help to reduce the firm’s additional costs.
The article provides an evidence-based interventions that can help organizations address stress in an effective way. The two Mindfulness at WorkTM two interventions have emerged to the most beneficial stress management program in organizations because of the benefits it has. Training the body and mind allows individuals to notice changes in them and realize how intentions and behaviors are formed. This might enable them manage their behaviors and attitudes to minimize the consequences they might have not only to them but also to the larger group or organizations.
As a unit manager in my organization, I notice most of my colleagues being stressed from both personal lives to work pressures that they cannot handle on their own and this results in poor performance in my group. To increase the performance I will have to guide them in addressing and managing their own stress as well. Stress management results in various benefits such as motivation which is a key to improved performance.
Beehr, T. A. (2014). Psychological stress in the workplace (psychology revivals). Routledge.
In this book Beehr addresses various issues in the workplace starting with the various types of occupational stress in the first part to stress treatment in the last part of the book. Beehr provides a theoretical framework through which stress can be handled in the modern world where the stressors have increased than in the past business environments. Stressors have increased due to various factors such as rapidly increasing living standards, family issues and increased competition in the business environment. Through Beehr’s theoretical approaches to stress in the workplace, one can come with a proper way of addressing it. However, most people have been thinking that motivation reduces stress, but Beehr provides a contrary opinion which suggests that motivation maybe a stressor at the end of it. This is a new approach that most scholars have been disregarding because it may make people to overwork so that they can be rewarded. This may make them work more and if they do not get achieve their objectives, the stress may escalate to cause some of the chronic diseases such as heart disease.
This book is provides various ways through which one can identify stressors in a simple manner within the organization. As a unit manager, this book opens my scope of how to address stress not only in my group but to the organization as a whole. Initially, I thought that motivating the employees will develop them as the performance of the organization is improved, but Beehr explains that this might stress them as well. Secondly, occupational roles and other various factors such as position of an employee are some of the aspects that I will be paying attention to in order to address this issue effectively. Beehr’s approaches to stress in the work place are holistic in nature.
MOTIVATION
Bernadette van Rijn, M., Yang, H., & Sanders, K. (2013). Understanding employees' informal workplace learning: The joint influence of career motivation and self-construal. Career development international, 18(6), 610-628.
The issue of motivation is more complex, the motivational theories have played an important role in explaining the concept but more needs to be done. However, the early motivational theories provided a base for addressing the issue. All the modern scholars’ arguments on motivation revolves around the early theories. The authors of this article have addressed it from a different approach of career development. They study the various informal workplace learning activities and the impact they have on employee motivation. Career development is among the workplace motivational factors and understanding it can boost the intrinsic motivation of employees which is more important than extrinsic motivation. The framework the authors use in addressing the issue is more straightforward and is what happens in the workplace environment. Being up-dated with the current knowledge and skills gives the employees a competitive advantage over their colleagues, this motivates them with the desire to produce more and stay ahead. Asking for feedback from the supervisors does not enable the employees improve on their skills, it strengthens the interrelationships among them which is boosts the internal morale of the employees. On the other hand, knowledge sharing is also important as it strengthens the interrelationships among the employees. Knowing that you can get something from someone is important in boosting individual motivation.
All the three informal learning activities have a direct influence on career motivation. However, a career motivated individual is also motivated to improve his performance. The authors have addressed an aspect that is disregarded not only by other scholars but also by most organizations. Majority of organizations have implemented career development plans for their employees through scholarships, but not all the employees are successful. Career motivation is more than just the formal scholarships, it requires informal factors as well. As much as career motivation is concerned, the authors have addressed all that is required. As a unit manager and a member of the decision-making committee, I will emphasize on clear and proper implementation of informal workplace learning activities since they do not only influence career motivation but also strengthens interpersonal relationships within the organization. This is important in the growth and development of the organization as well as creation of a cooperative culture.
Cho, Y. J., & Perry, J. L. (2012). Intrinsic motivation and employee attitudes: Role of managerial trustworthiness, goal directedness, and extrinsic reward expectancy. Review of Public Personnel Administration, 32(4), 382-406.
Employee motivation is among the primary factors for a good organizational performance. However, this depends on the type of motivation, intrinsic or extrinsic motivation. According to the available literatures, intrinsic motivation is more rewarding because the employees are motivated from their inner-selves. The articles takes this intrinsic motivation to a new level by examining the role of managerial trustworthiness, goal directness and extrinsic reward expectations on intrinsic motivation. The article demonstrates that all the three factors plays a significant role in intrinsic motivation of the employees. A trustworthy managerial role and clear goal directness boosts ones motivation based on the idea that they know that are doing it for their own benefits. However, extrinsic rewards expectancy decreases ones intrinsic motivation based on the fact that the idea of doing something for external purposes decreases the intrinsic motivation of the employees. The article uses real life situations by studying employees in the public administration. The issue of motivation is a complex one and if not well addressed, the intended objectives might not be achieved.
As unit mangers we are always face underperforming employees even when all the incentives are in place. However, most of our incentives are extrinsic rewards. This articles has opened my scope in regard to the motivation of employees. I happen to be among the decision-making committee of the organization in regard to rewards. No matter the types of extrinsic rewards we put in place, not all employees improve in terms of performance. Based on this article, I will advise my organization to focus on intrinsic motivation than on extrinsic motivation. When employees know that they are doing something for their own benefit, they are highly motivated than when they are doing it for something else that do not come from within themselves.
PROBLEM SOLVING
Carmeli, A., Gelbard, R., & Reiter‐Palmon, R. (2013). Leadership, creative problem‐solving capacity, and creative performance: The importan...