Workplace Harassment and Stress

This research paper explores the issue of workplace harassment and stress, discussing their causes, impacts, and ways to manage them. It emphasizes the importance of creating a safe and supportive work environment.

Running Head: WORKPLACE HARASSMENT AND STRESS 1
Workplace Harassment and Stress
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Table of Contents

WORKPLACE HARASSMENT AND STRESS 2
Executive summary.........................................................................................................................1
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Workplace harassment.....................................................................................................................3
Workplace stress..............................................................................................................................3
Findings...........................................................................................................................................4
Cause and impacts of workplace harassment and stress..................................................................4
Workplace harassment.................................................................................................................4
Causes.......................................................................................................................................5
Impacts.....................................................................................................................................5
Stress............................................................................................................................................6
Causes.......................................................................................................................................6
Impacts.....................................................................................................................................6
How the adverse consequences of workplace harassment and stress can be managed (controlled)
.........................................................................................................................................................7
Workplace harassment.................................................................................................................7
Stress............................................................................................................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
References........................................................................................................................................9

WORKPLACE HARASSMENT AND STRESS 3
Executive summary
Workplace harassment and stress are common in most organizations. Victims are often
unsure of what qualifies as harassment or stress and what to do when they are stressed or being
harassed in their places of work. It is clear that incidences of workplace harassment and stress
happen when the worker subjects another worker to the degrading trait, whether verbal abuse and
various threats or actual physical conduct. This research paper presents what is understood by
workplace harassment and stress among workers. Additionally, this article examines some of the
problems that the issue of workplace harassment and stress has on individual and organization
progress. It concentrates of discussing some of the adverse effects that workplace harassment and
stress has on the wellbeing of workers and operations of the organization. This research paper
also examines some of the essential techniques that can be used to manage or control instances of
workplace harassment alongside stress.
Introduction
Workplace harassment together with stress is widespread issues where society needs to
be educated on to help in putting an end to such issues. The causes of these issues are complex
and multifaceted, and yet it can be managed or prevented from happening among organizations.
Workplace harassment and stress puts unnecessary strain on the workers (Hsiao, 2014).
Therefore, it is the responsibility of worker and organizations to offer a bully-free setting for
their workers in their daily operations. Workers should have the right to feel safe in their work
setting and be free from harassment and stress in their workplaces. Consequently, stress in places
of work has become one of the increasingly popular contexts of discussion over the past decades.
The issue has become the major concern among different organization leading to the creation of
an impact on the management and operations of corporations (Mainiero & Jones, 2013).

WORKPLACE HARASSMENT AND STRESS 4
Therefore, this paper aims at offering a detailed discussion of workplace harassment and stress
by focusing on their causes, effects and how their adverse effects can be managed within
operations of organizations.
Workplace harassment
It is the type of discrimination among workers that violates federal regulations.
Workplace harassment is just an offensive and unwelcome conduct that can either be in actions,
words, visual displays, or gestures. These conducts are always so severe or pervasive that it
influences the terms as well as conditions of the employment of a given victim (McGregor,
2014). In the legal world, harassment in place of work is just a form of discrimination that is
illegally only when based on an individual’s gender, race, age, religious belief, disability, or
other traits. Harassment in most workplaces become unlawful when enduring the offensive
conducts that become a prerequisite to continued employment. The other way that harassment
becomes unlawful is when the conduct is pervasive or severe enough (Chernyaeva, 2013). The
conduct can become severe where a reasonable individual would consider the workplace hostile,
intimidating, or abusive. Besides, in the event when harassment by an administrator results in the
obvious change in status or salary of a worker, such conduct would be termed to be unlawful
workplace harassment (Ghumman, Ryan, & Park, 2015). There are various forms of harassment
in places of work, but the most common one is sexual harassment. In most instances, sexual
harassment refers to the unwanted or nonconsensual.
Workplace stress
It is the emotional together with harmful physical responses that happen when the
worker’s expertise, capabilities, resources, and needs do not match with the requirements of the

WORKPLACE HARASSMENT AND STRESS 5
job. Under these conditions, the worker always faces workplace stress (Kelloway, 2015). It
happens under various circumstances, but the conditions can become tough to manage for
different managers when the workers have the thought that they possess little concern of
management of the organization or from their immediate administrators. Besides, workers can
also face workplace stress when they have the least control over their duties as well as coming up
with the demands along with the demands of the organization. In other occasions, the issue of
workplace stress is misconceptualized with different challenges or pressures whereas the matter
of stress is entirely varied from pressure. The concern makes it tough for workers and managers
to deal with this issue (Taris, 2013). Therefore, stress remains to be the adaptive response
mediated by the characteristics of an individual or an individual’s psychological process. These
characteristics of individual results due to any external action, events, or action that places
special psychological together with physical demands upon an individual. Other factors that lead
to stress in the workplace are a strain which is a factor that tends to distort normal operations of
the body, and it also induces body and mental tension. Therefore, workplace stress is much
greater than just the fastidious situation (Kato, 2014). Stress refers to the responsive reaction of
an individual to a specific situation.
Findings
Cause and impacts of workplace harassment and stress
Workplace harassment

WORKPLACE HARASSMENT AND STRESS 6
Causes
Major causes of harassment in the workplace are not limited to behaviors that are
considered to include threat, intimidation, inappropriate statements, derogatory statements,
malicious statement, unwelcome advances, physical advances, or verbal advances. All these
behaviors foster the hostile working set for the individual on the receiving end of the harassing
actions or words (Okubote, 2013). Presence of any uninvited comments, conducts, or behaviors
regarding favors in terms of sex or sexual orientation remain to be the major causes of workplace
harassment that do not only happen amongst co-workers of the differing gender, but it is not
narrowed.
Impacts
Workplace harassment whether it occurs in person or platforms of online sites, it is a
concern that affects some business operations, both big and small enterprises. While the most
known types of harassment are psychological and verbal, there are also more serious types that
affect business operations, and they include physical and sexual harassment (Lockwood &
Marda, 2014). All kinds of harassment in the workplace are illegal and do not just affect the
productivity of workers, their comfort, alongside their safety at the place of work, but it puts the
operations of an organization in legal jeopardy. For instance, verbal harassment in the workplace
can be the ongoing battle of destruction that can threaten an individual’s career and health. It
comprises of demeaning remarks, offensive gestures, and unreasonable criticism. It can comprise
of slurs, insults, unwanted ‘jokes’ as well as hurtful comments. Additionally, psychological
harassment in the workplace can mentally break down the victim leading to loss of self-esteem
and deliberately undermining their jobs (McCarthy, 2018). Although physical harassment in
places of work can vary in degree, they can be more severe gestures leading to damage to

WORKPLACE HARASSMENT AND STRESS 7
personal properties. These effects of harassment in place of work affect both mental and physical
wellbeing of workers. It leads to time loss as most affected workers spend much of their time
trying to gain necessary support and defend themselves from instances of harassment.
Stress
Causes
There is a great concern that requires business leaders to understand some of the
precursors to workplace stress. Through the process of understanding what can create stress
within their workforce, not only will it aid them to perform better management of risk, they are
probably to also come across as a more understanding as well as an empathetic manager. Some
of the common causes of stress in places of work consist of the culture of an organization,
trauma, and presence of little change in management, bad practices of management, and
demands from the authority or clients (McVicar, Munn‐Giddings, & Seebohm, 2013). Other
causes comprise of working environment that does not suit the needs of workers, bad
relationships among workers, lack of required resources for operations, conflicts on assigned
roles, and poor ergonomics among other factors.
Impacts
Stress in most places of work is derived from various sources that impact activities of
organizations and individual workers in different ways. Stress affect operations of the
organization as it can result in the negative influence of performance of duties among people as it
makes these workers to be discriminated, harassed, anxious, and operate for long durations.
Some of the impacts of workplace stress on workers and organization consist of poor time
management, the presence of strained relationships, disorders of wellbeing, lack of proper focus,

WORKPLACE HARASSMENT AND STRESS 8
and quarrels among families. Most individuals according to study by Tentcher (2017) are
affected by stress in the workplace due to the pressure on achieving deadlines of operations even
after they return home after work. It is clear that workplace stress is the major factor that results
to increase in cases of the rate of mortality rate that is comparable to some of the massive causes
of demise among people in society (Gillespie, Bresler, Gates, & Succop, 2013). Therefore,
workplace stress results in poor time management among individuals. It also leads to strained
relationships, lack of proper concentration on and off duties among individuals. Stress in most
workplaces normally results in headache, fatigue, anxiety, restlessness, and depression that low
morale of workers.
How the adverse consequences of workplace harassment and stress can be managed
(controlled)
Workplace harassment
For effective handling case of harassment in the workplace, there is the need for the
business managers to prepare appropriate guidelines on issues that relate to harassment and stress
of workplace. The organization can focus on having guidelines that describe various instances of
harassment and their impacts on workers so that each employee regardless of the posts that they
hold can follow and understand such requirements (Drabek & Merecz, 2013). Additionally,
taking every complain made by worker serious and doing follow up can help in reducing cases of
harassment in the organization. Management needs to ensure that workers stay unstressed and
active with the harassment that they get from their coworkers or managers. The process of
performing an extensive survey and debate on the matter of harassment is crucial in the
operations of companies (McGregor, 2014). It helps in assisting the organization in filling the

WORKPLACE HARASSMENT AND STRESS 9
legal loopholes that might exist in their operations. Presence of effective employment policy in
every organization that ensures well-planned paths of career based on merit help in decreasing
the vulnerability of individuals and harassment by people that abuse their authority and power.
Stress
The constant process of consulting workers is an efficient way can help in managing
cases of stress. Most workers will be ready to tell their employers what is stressing their
operations and necessary guidelines can be taken to correct the situation. Different suggestions
taken from workers must be considered and make changes accordingly (Chung, 2018). The idea
can help in ensuring that every element that is affecting their operations is dealt with
appropriately. The proper definition of the job description can be a vital aspect in managing
instances of stress in the workplace. Definition of job descriptions can allow workers to focus on
working while conveying their skills and understanding that are required in a specific job (Taris,
2016). Creation of better systems of communication y the management can also help in
managing cases of workplace stress. The availability of appropriate training, selection, and
development of staff for various operations can improve the output of workers leading to
minimization of cases of stress in their operations. However, management of the company must
note that it is right to hire the right individuals for the right job (Drabek & Merecz, 2013).
Management of various organizations needs to maintain a reasonable level of socializing in the
organization and teamwork should be considered as a way of encouraging peaceful coexistence
among workers. All these activities are essential in ensuring that instances of workplace stress
are eliminated or minimized in the operations of an organization.

WORKPLACE HARASSMENT AND STRESS 10
Conclusion
From the above presentation, it is evident that the issue of workplace harassment and
stress is not a new concern because several types of research have in the past been conducted in
this subject. However, there are lots of organizations in which the concerns have not received
deserving attention. Issues of harassment and stress in the workplace are seen to be a sensitive
issue that affects the operations of most organizations and workers. It is clear from this work that
different organizations have the mandate of playing proactive function, offering behavioral
support and discuss these aspects as the section of their routine operations. The workers in every
organization must focus on nurturing an inclusive, respectful, alongside supporting setting in the
workplace to create the congenial working setting.
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