Managing Personal Stress

Managing Personal Stress By Vasanth Sunder MSE 608B

Overview • Improving the Management of Stress and Time • Major Elements of Stress • Eliminating Stressors • Developing Resiliency • Temporary Stress Reduction Techniques • Conclusion • Case Study

Improving the Management of Stress and Time • Rising Stress is downsizing the nations economy by $500 billion. • 5.5 Billion work days are lost due to stress related complaints all over the world. • American Institute of stress imply USA spends $12 billion on stress management training.

Being in control of your life and having realistic expectations about your day-to-day challenges are the keys to stress management, which is perhaps the most important ingredient to lead a successful work life. • A company culture that facilitates employee happiness means lower turnover and better company performance. Employees are loyal and companies perform better. It’s a win-win.

Major Elements of stress Lewin’s Theory: • All prevail in an environment loaded with strengthening and restricting powers. • Strength of driving forces should match the strength of restraining forces. • Performance degrades when either of these forces gets imbalanced.

Reactions to Stress: • Alarm Stage: The body is aroused by a stressor and releases hormones to cope with the threat. • Resistance Stage: The body repairs any damage done during the alarm stage & returns to normal. • Exhaustion Stage: This may occur if the stressors are present ; the body is chronically aroused, cannot repair itself and adapt, and the person becomes impaired .

Managing Stress

Types of Stressors • Time Stressors • Work overload • Lack of control • Encounter Stressors • Role conflicts • Issue conflicts • Action conflicts

Situational Stressors • Unfavorable working condition • Rapid change • Anticipatory Stressors • Unpleasant expectations • Fear

Stress Elimination Schemes • Effective Time Management: Its important that you we develop effective strategies for managing our time to balance the conflicting demands of time. • Focusing on urgent and important task. • Setting clear goals and making them into discreet steps. • Periodically reviewing our progress.

Efficient time management: One way to enhance efficient time use is to be alert of our own tendencies to use time inefficiently. • For efficient time management, you need to manage yourself. • Some of time wasters are to watch dawdling, lack of planning, not delegating, interruptions. • Collaboration & team building: Developing collaborative, clan-like relationships with others is a powerful deterrent to encounter stress.

Emotional Intelligence: Developing the social aspects of emotional intelligence helps people manage the stresses. • Faultless observation of others passionate and behavioral reactions. • Managing and solving the interpersonal difficulties. • Work Redesign: • Combine Tasks: Extend the work of individual to gain satisfaction. • Form Identifiable work units: Formation of natural work units decreases the stress dramatically. • Establish Customer relationship: Eliminating the cradle by customer relationship department and sales personnel will reduce stresses.

Increased decision making authority: Participation of subordinates in decision making eliminates stress on manager. • Open Feedback Channels: Is the best objective to meet the requirements of the customer. • Goal Setting: It is as follows 1. Establish a Goal 2. Specify Actions and Behavioral Requirements 4. Identify Criteria of Success and a Reward 3. Generate Accountability and Reporting Mechanisms

Small Wins: Tiny but a definite change made in a desired direction to eliminate anticipatory stressors.

Developing Resiliency • Resilience is the personal capacity to cope with adverse events and return to normal life. • It is a psychological feature that contributes towards the prevention of the damaging effects by distress. • Features building resilience:

Social Resilience: It is the capacity to foster, engage in, and sustain positive relationships to endure and recover from life stressors and social isolation. • Psychological Resilience: It is defined as an ability of individual to adapt stress and adversity. • Hardiness: Stability, dedication, commitment and challenges are found in hardy people. • Type A personality: They sense urgency and are prone to stress, except for small wins. • Physiological Resilience: Physical condition matters a lot in eliminating the stress.

Temporary Stress Reduction Techniques • Breathing: practice deep breathing. • Progressive muscle relaxation • Guided Imagery. • Meditation. • Tapes, CDs etc.: Either something structured (commercial) or soothing music. • Choose and schedule it in.

Conclusion • Managing personal stress has been an engrossing topic which implies on our life. • Here we parted the stressors into time, encounter , situational and anticipatory. • Stressors can be conquered by time management, collaboration and team building, emotional intelligence, work redesign, goal setting and small wins. • Resilience is an essential character to cope with adverse events of stress. • Temporary stress reduction programs must be pursued to lead a healthy life.

Case Study • Standpoint: “There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm” - Willa Cather In my life I try to follow the above said quote as much as I can. I am an athlete, and I find peace which calms my mind when I'm out on the running track. But, there was this one situation where I had to represent my state in the Interstate running competition which overlapped with my interview for an internship at the end of that day. This Internship was very important for me and would give a good boost to start my career. But then, I was representing my state, so I had to keep my thoughts away and concentrate where I was present at that moment.

My Approach I knew this day would hectic and it would be a mess if I didn’t plan it out well, because I would loose both of them. So, I was well prepared for my interview way ahead. I prepared for my interview in such a way that, I could be called any moment and I would do it well. I even discussed my situation with my coach. He gave few good pointers. I have observed that stress is directly related to time management. I managed my time well, so I had no stress on my important day. I got the interview and did well in the competition too.

Gaining Power and Influence

Contents • Building a strong power base and using influence wisely • A balanced view of power • Strategies of gaining organizational power • Transforming power into influence • Summary

Building a strong power base and using influence wisely • Power gains co-operation from others and gets things accomplished in positive ways. • Competent managers know how to assess the politics of a situation, build relationships and coalitions, and put their ideas to work. • They gain and use power for the organizations good rather than for purely personal reasons,

A Balanced View of Power • Powerful people make others feel powerful. • They help accomplish exceptional or extraordinary tasks. • Ordinary management brings ordinary achievement levels, but it takes something special to bring about exceptional levels of achievement in others. Power: In social sciences and politics, power is the ability to influence the behavior of people.

Lack of Power: • Negative views are often associated with “Personal Power”. • People of individualistic and collectivist cultures have fundamentally different views of personal power. • Collectivist concern with welfare of the larger group, would likely feel uncomfortable with an emphasis on increasing a single individuals. • Individualists are those who accumulate and use power are capable of mobilizing resources to accomplish productive work in organization

Abuse of Power: • Abuse of power is the illegitimate use of power. • Heads with institutional power use it to advance the goals of organization. • Heads with personal power outlook use it for personal gain.

Strategies of Gaining Organizational Power • Power attributes and position characteristics are the factors to determine power of person in an organization. • Human capital refers to an individuals abilities. • Social capital refers to a person’s social connection.

Sources of personal power: • Expertise: Task relevant knowledge or experience. • Personal attraction: Friendship, Charisma, Agreeable behavior, Physical characteristics. • Effort: Higher than expected commitment of time. • Legitimacy: Behavior consistent with organizational values.

Sources of Position Power: • Centrality: • Expanding network of communication. • Information routed through you. • Serving a source of information to others • Flexibility: • Expanding task variety and novelty. • Getting involved in new projects. • Freedom to excess our own thoughts.

Visibility: • Expanding contact with senior people. • Inviting senior managers to help recognize important accomplishments within group. • Sending personal congratulatory messages. • Relevance: • Expanding domain of work, • Becoming involved in activities central to organization’s top priorities.

Transforming Power into Influence Influence Strategies: • Retribution through intimidation (pressure) or coercion (threaten). • Reciprocity through ingratiation (obligate) or bargain (exchange). • Reason through appeal to values (general principles) or presenting facts (merits and needs).

When to Use Retribution? • Influencer has complete power. • Tight time constraints. • Specific, unambiguous requests. • Resistance to request is likely. When to use Reciprocity? • Needs are specific and short-term. • Established exchange norms exist. • Parties viewed as trustworthy. • Commitment to broad values not critical.

When to use Reason? • There is adequate time for extensive discussion. • Common goals/Values. • Parties share mutual respect and ongoing relationship. Neutralizing Strategies: • Retribution: • Use countervailing power to shift dependents to interdependent. • Confront the exploiting individual directly. • Actively resist.

Reciprocity: • Confront individuals who are using manipulating bargaining tactics. • Refuse to bargain with individuals. • Examine the intent of any favor – giving activity. • Reason: • Defend your personal rights. • Firmly refuse to comply with the request. • Explain the adverse effects of compliance on performance.

Summary • Increase force and afterward transfer it into impact. • Individual properties and position attributes are wellsprings of force. • Don’t misuse power – use it successfully. • Wellsprings of personal/positional power. • Utilize the 3R’S to change power into impact. • Oppose unwanted impact, • Utilization issue selling/trickle up initiative to build criticalness.

Article Uploaded On: How To Gain Creative Confidence At Work Link: http://www.forbes.com/sites/danschawbel/2013/10/15/david-and-tom-kelley-how-to-gain-creative-confidence-at-work/

Feedback on: Anger Management Feedback Link: https://moodle.csun.edu/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=734544#p2066017

Feedback: Anger management is a vital outwork to survive in a company. The link is about being ease at work to acquire a high level stand. As mentioned in the article, the feeling isn't the problem, it's what you do with it makes a difference. While holding anger isn't good for your health, venting it out on people isn't good either. Control your anger and calm ourselves by doing the thing you like the most. Anger not only affects your health, but also affects your work life and relationships with closed ones. I know what is important for me. I always try to control my anger before it harms me any way by just getting away from the situation and rethinking about it and get back to the situation once I'm calmed.

Managing Personal Stress