JOB STRESS, COUNSELLING AND MENTORING

1. EXCEL BOOKS 29-1 JOB STRESS, COUNSELLING AND MENTORING

2. 29-2 ANNOTATED OUTLINE INTRODUCTION Stress may be understood as a state of tension experienced by individuals facing extraordinary demands, constraints or opportunities. Stress is the spice of life and there is way to avoid it totally. A certain minimum level of stress, in fact, may help executives to stretch their capabilities fully. This is where psychologists draw the line between constructive stress and destructive stress. • Eustress: this is positive stress that accompanies achievement and exhilaration • Distress: this is harmful stress, characterised by a loss of feelings of security and adequacy. An optimum level of stress, as research evidence indicates, is needed to spur people to peak performance. Job Stress, Counselling And Mentoring

3. 29-3 Two faces of stress Job Stress, Counselling And Mentoring

4. 29-4 General Adaptation Syndrome Hans Selye called the three phases of the defence reaction that a person establishes when stressed as the general adaptation syndrome. • The alarm stage • The reaction stage • The stage of exhaustion Symptoms of Stress • Biological • Psychological • Behavioural Job Stress, Counselling And Mentoring

5. 29-5 Sources of Stress Important sources of stress may be listed thus: Organisational factors 1. Organisational demands 2. Role conflict Intrasender conflict Intersender conflict Interrole conflict Person-role conflict 3. Role ambiguity 4. Role overload 5. Role underload 6. Interpersonal relationships 7. Ineffective communication 8. Responsibility Job Stress, Counselling And Mentoring

6. 29-6 Sources of Stress 9. Job change 10. Climate within a company Personal factors 11. The impact of life change The Social Readjustment Rating Scale Life event Scale value Death of spouse 100 Divorce 73 Marital separation 65 Jail term 63 Death of close family member 63 Major personal injury or illness 53 Marriage 50 Fired from work 47 Marital reconciliation 45 Retirement 45 Cont… Job Stress, Counselling And Mentoring

7. 29-7 The Social Readjustment Rating Scale Major change in health of family member 44 Pregnancy 40 Sex difficulties 39 Gain of a new family member 39 Business readjustment 39 Changes in financial state 38 Death of a close friend 37 Change to a different line of work 36 Change in number of arguments with spouse 35 Mortgage over $ 10,000 31 Foreclosure of mortgage or loan 30 Change in responsibilities at work 29 Son or daughter leaving home 29 Trouble with in-laws 29 Outstanding personal achievement 28 Wife begins or stops work 26 Begin or end school 26 Change in living conditions 25 Job Stress, Counselling And Mentoring

8. 29-8 The Social Readjustment Rating Scale Revision of personal habits 24 Trouble with boss 23 Change in work hours or conditions 20 Change in residence 20 Change in schools 20 Change in recreation 19 Change in church activities 19 Change in social activities 18 Mortgage or loan less than $ 10,000 17 Change in sleeping habits 16 Change in number of family get-togethers 15 Change in eating habits 15 Vacation 13 Christmas 12 Major violations of the law 11 Source: Rahe. L.O. & Holmes. T.H. Scaling of Life Change: Comparison of direct and indirect methods, Journal of Psychosomanic Research, 1971. Job Stress, Counselling And Mentoring

9. 29-9 Sources of Stress 12. Type A and Type B personalities Characteristics of type A personality • Always moves, walks and eats rapidly • Feels impatient with the pace of things, hurries others, dislikes waiting • Does several things at once • Feels guilty when relaxing • Tries to schedule more and more in less and less time • Uses nervous gestures such as clenched fist, banging hand on table • Does not have time to enjoy life Job Stress, Counselling And Mentoring

10. 29-10 Characteristics of type B personality • Is not concerned about time • Is patient • Does not brag • Plays for fun, not to win • Relaxes without guilt • Has no pressing deadlines • Is mild mannered • Is never in a hurry 13. Externals vs. Internals and the belief in external locus of control 14. Other reasons. Job Stress, Counselling And Mentoring

11. 29-11 Consequences of Stress Stress reveals itself in a number of ways Subjective effects: Anxiety, aggression, apathy, boredom, depression, fatigue, frustration, guilt and shame, irritability and bad temper, moodiness, low self-esteem, tension, nervousness, and loneliness. • Behavioural effects: Accident proneness, drug use, emotional outbursts, excessive eating or loss of appetite, excessive drinking and smoking, excitability, impulsive behaviour, impaired speech, nervous laughter, restlessness and trembling. • Cognitive effects: Inability to make decisions and concentrate, frequent forgetfulness, hypersensitivity to criticism and mental blocks • Physiological effects: Increased blood and urine catecholamines and corticosteroids, increased blood glucose levels, increased heart rate and blood pressure, dryness of the mouth, sweating, dilation of the pupils, difficulty in breathing, hot and cold spells, lump in the throat, numbness and tingling in parts of the limbs. • Organisational effects: Absenteeism, poor industrial relations and poor productivity, high accident and labour turnover rates, poor organisational climate, antagonism at work and job dissatisfaction. (Source: T.Cox, Stress, Baltimore, University Park Press, 1978) Job Stress, Counselling And Mentoring

12. 29-12 Management of Stress There are a variety of ways in which individuals cope or deal with stress at work. Broadly speaking, these could be classified into two categories: Individual coping strategies • Time management This would require identification of factors that cause wastage of time and finding appropriate solutions to each one of the identified time wasters. Job Stress, Counselling And Mentoring Job Stress, Counselling And Mentoring

13. 29-13 Time wasters: causes and solutions Cont… Job Stress, Counselling And Mentoring

14. 29-14 Time wasters: causes and solutions Job Stress, Counselling And Mentoring

15. 29-15 Management of Stress • Physical exercise • Meditation and relaxation Useful Individual Coping Strategies • Keep a pet • Say your prayers • Sing aloud • Laughter, the elixir • Sleep right • Be good at loving • Spend time with children • Take a walk • Make friends • Enjoy the idiot box • Cultivate interests • Dare to dream Job Stress, Counselling And Mentoring

16. 29-16 Management of Stress Organisational coping strategies • Role clarity • Supportive climate • Clearer career paths • Company-wide programmes Job Stress, Counselling And Mentoring

17. 29-17 Company wide programmes to manage stress • Job enrichment • Employee counselling • Training and development programmes • Establishing autonomous work groups • Establishing variable work schedules • Setting up health clubs and offering health facilities • Service benefits including marriage gifts, birthday bonus, transport subsidy, long service bonus (NIIT for example, offers this to those employees who stay with the company for more than 5 years. Infosys Technologies offers the stock option plan to all employees who remain committed and loyal etc.) family planning gifts, health club memberships, credit cards, housing/car loans etc. Job Stress, Counselling And Mentoring

18. 29-18 Burnout Burnout is the total depletion of physical and mental resources caused by excessive striving to reach an unrealistic work-related goal. The following self-test clearly reflects what executive burnout is Burnout self-test • Are you working more now and enjoying it less? • Do you find it more difficult to confide in others? • Must you force yourself to do routine things? • Are you listless, bored, constantly seeking excitement? • Would you rather be somewhere else? • Have you lost the joy of sex? • Do you drink more than you used to? • Do you need a tranquiliser to face the day…..a sleeping pill to get through the night? • Are you resigned about your future? • Is your need for a particular crutch increasing? (smoking, nail biting etc.) Job Stress, Counselling And Mentoring

19. 29-19 Burnout Reducing burnout • Identification • Prevention • Mediation • Remediation Checklist of temporary escape techniques —Spend time reading those books you have been promising yourself you would read. —Go to the movies. —Listen to good music. —Work it off by exercising. —Avoid striving. Shun the Superperson urge. —Give in more often. —Create a quiet scene and escape for a while Cont… Job Stress, Counselling And Mentoring

20. 29-20 Checklist of temporary escape techniques —Use "not now" buttons. —Plan your work. —Write a letter. —Take an adult education course. —Take a walk.. —Talk it out, confide in someone you trust. —Cry. —Take a bubble bath. —Focus on enjoyment. —Avoid making too many big changes at once. —Be realistic. —Tackle one task at a time. —Hit a tennis ball against a wall and work off your anger. —Do something for others. —Go easy with criticism. —Establish a nutritious diet Job Stress, Counselling And Mentoring

21. 29-21 Employee Counselling Counselling is a dyadic relationship between a manager who is offering help and an employee to whom such help is given. Counselling helps a person overcome emotional problems and weaknesses related to performance. Features of Counselling • The focus is on developmental, educational, preventive concerns • Processes such as guidance, classification, suggestion etc., are commonly employed • The emphasis is on problem-solving and situational difficulties • The relationship between the counsellor and the counsellee is friendly, advisory, helpful and trustworthy. • The aim is to clear the mind (of a counseller) of cob-webs, mental blocks and improve personal effectiveness. Source: N.K Singh, HRM, Excel Books, New Delhi 1999. Job Stress, Counselling And Mentoring

22. 29-22 Employee Counselling The process of counselling • Rapport building • Exploration • Action planning Job Stress, Counselling And Mentoring

23. 29-23 The process of performance counselling Job Stress, Counselling And Mentoring

24. 29-24 Employee Counselling Effective counselling requires active participation from the subordinates, fair and objective evaluation of performance-related factors by the superior with an intention to rectify mistakes and improve subordinates’ performance and a proper organisational climate built around mutual trust and understanding. Job Stress, Counselling And Mentoring

25. 29-25 Helping A helping relationship is one in which at least one of the parties has the intent of promoting the growth, development, maturity, improved functioning, improved coping with the life of the other. Helping can be reactive or proactive. Helping relationship Job Stress, Counselling And Mentoring

26. 29-26 Helping Helping behaviour, thus, depends on three essential things • The task • The helper • Communicate • Be positive • Give freedom • Show empathy • Accept the client's personality unconditionally • The receiver • The helping climate Job Stress, Counselling And Mentoring

27. 29-27 The rewards of effective helping relationship In effective helping relationships, the recipient is able to: • explore new possibilities • visualise things about oneself that one was not aware of • able to ‘unfreeze’ himself • face the realities of the situation confidently • get on well with colleagues, by having a better grip over events and situations • notice the consequences of one’s actions • take a holistic view of people, events, situations, behaviours, and consequences. Job Stress, Counselling And Mentoring

28. 29-28 Mentoring Mentoring is the use of an experienced person to teach and train someone with less knowledge in a given area. Technical, interpersonal and political skills can be conveyed in such a relationship from the older to the younger person. Mentor’s ways of helping the protégé • Share knowledge and skills related to the job • Explain unwritten rules of conduct and behaviour of the organisation • Prevent the protege from doing wrong things and committing mistakes • Provide important insights into the corporate affairs • Extend emotional support and guidance continuously so that the protege can develop his skills and knowledge over a period of time and stand on his own. Job Stress, Counselling And Mentoring

29. 29-29 Mentoring Steps in Mentoring • Establishing trusting relationship between the mentor and the protégé • Modelling behavioural norms for the young persons • Listening to the job related problems of the protégé • Helping the protégé to find alternative ways to resolve the problems • Responding to the emotional needs of the protégé, without making him dependent on the mentor • Developing a long lasting relationship based on mutual trust and understanding. Job Stress, Counselling And Mentoring