Individual and Organizational Approaches to Manage Stress in the Essay - 1

Individual and Organizational Approaches to Manage Stress in the Workplace - Essay Example This paper illustrates that stress is a standard term which is used in the society to describe the feelings of a person who is under pressure, depression, or any kind of tension. Stress is not an injury or disease, so employees cannot claim compensation for the same unless and until stress results in physical injury. The mental injury that occurs due to work-related stress is known as psychological damage. The symptoms that are usually seen in such circumstances are anxiety, adjustment disorder, depression, and trauma. These injuries are compensable under the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act of 1988. In order to better explain the stress at a workplace and its effect on the well-being of an individual, the stress models would be scrutinized to comprehend the complex association between the stress at a workplace and its negative effects on the physical and psychological health of the employees. The Demand-control-support theory or model projected by Karasek suggests that th e increasing and decreasing demand may result in a negative outcome. This means the employees who have high demands at the workplace have less control over their work; therefore exposure to stress is high. Similarly, the employee whose demand is low is also stressed because he/she feels inferior to others. The revised theories in this model also state that in both the cases the probability or risk of illness is high due to social pressure. Similarly, Siegrist’s effort-reward imbalance model discloses the imbalance that lies between the effort of the employees and the rewards at the workplace. So the failure of an employee to receive reward or recognition at workplace also results in depression and anxiety. The Demand-control-support theory or model projected by Karasek and the Effort-reward imbalance model focus on the relationship between the work and health.