Workplace Stress: Causes, Effects and Coping Methods

This literature review analyzes the causes and effects of workplace stress on employees' physical and mental health, personal lives, and work performance. It also suggests coping methods to reduce workplace stress.

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Literature Review
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Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................2
Body of Review...........................................................................................................................................2
Knowledge Gaps.........................................................................................................................................5
Research Questions.....................................................................................................................................6
Limitations and Conclusion.........................................................................................................................7
References...................................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
Some of the stress at the workplace is normal, while some stress inputs excessive pressures and
effects the performance, output as well as the physical and mental health of the employees. It
also has an impact on personal relations and domestic lives. The stress at the workplace
determines the success and failure of the work from the part of the employees. An employee
could not manage everything in their workplace, but that does not signify that the employee is
powerless, even if he or she is stuck in a tough condition. There are measures the employees
could take to safeguard themselves from the harmful impacts of stress, develop their level of
work satisfaction, and strengthen their welfare in and out of the office. As for example, when the
pressure at the workplace is affecting the performance, physical and mental health and personal
lives of the employees, it is time for them to take actions and solve their causes of stress at the
workplace. There are many ways to decrease the levels of stress at the workplace and gain a
management sense in workplace, irrespective of the lifestyles and stressful factors of works of
the employees (Jain and Batra, 2015). The paper will analyze the elements of stress at the
workplace from the perspective of the employees. It will also review some literary journals for
evaluating the stress at the workplace. It will state some gaps in knowledge on the basis of the
author's view on workplace stress. Some research questions will be made on the basis of the gaps
of knowledge in the literature review.
Body of Review
Stress in the workplace is not always severe. Little stress could help an individual concentrated,
energetic and capable of facing new challenges in the workplaces. As per Dahl, (2010), the stress
helps to keep alert at the time of personation for the prevention of any expensive errors.
However, in the current hectic business world, the workplace is like a roller coaster. Long
working hours, strict deadlines and high demands left an individual worried and drained out.
When the stress becomes more than the coping power of an individual, it leads to mental and
physical damage.
There is a deep connection between the changes in the organizations and the health of the staffs.
The changes in the organization have an adverse effect on the standards of the staffs. Apart from
this, it is also related to the current debate about the reaction and response of the staffs to the
organizational change. It has been noticed by González-Moralesa and Neves, (2015) that the risk

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of taking stress-related medicines has increased considerably for staffs at the companies that
have changed, especially those who experience extensive and simultaneous changes with many
scopes. So, the changes in the organizations are considerably related to the risks of health issues
of the staffs. These effects are in context to the staffs at different levels of hierarchy. It also has
an impact on the companies of various sizes and from different areas. According to Michie,
(2002), the organizational change is an important feature of successful companies. Some
researchers have noticed that changes in the companies have drastic and internal outcomes to the
staffs. Some of the companies have successfully implemented the changes. As mentioned by
Tripathy, (2018), some other researchers have agreed that the schedules of the company are
structural to bring a specific change in the company. That change is predictable and helps to
increase the performances of the staffs in the company, as a result of environmental stress. Some
ecologist of the companies has debated that the companies would fail to bring changes in the
companies. As some of the companies are integrally uninterested in bringing change, they have
argued that difference in those companies is expensive, complicated and risky.
The direct companies' expenses have led to the failure of the companies, shares of the market and
turnover of the staffs. As per Kesavan and Gobi, (2018), some studies have revealed that the
changes in the companies significantly influence the emotions and psychological welfare of the
staffs. The performances of the companies depend on the productivity of the staffs. From the
perspective of the economy, the conflicts and unrest in the workplaces could decline the
productivity of the workers and ultimately lead to monetary losses. In the words of Hashemi et
al., (2018), the levels of satisfaction and the productivity of the staffs rely highly on the mental
health of the staffs. The staffs are not only absent from their work but also the concentration and
the productivity of the staffs are decreased in the workplaces. Some of the stress on the part of
the staffs is positive for the production and awareness of the companies. But when this stress
takes a critical shape and leads to insomnia and depression, it becomes a serious health problem
both for the employee and the company. The changes increase the chances of the stress of the
staffs, and if the changes are in the companies, then it can have a profoundly adverse effect. The
staffs of the companies that have changed due to several factors at the same time show a higher
risk of stress due to the adverse effects. In spite of concentrating on change management in the
training of the managers, average large companies have failed to manage these methods.

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The ethical-based stress takes place when the ethical attitude of a person varies from the real
ethics, environment or levels of the employees of the companies where he or she is working.
This can take place in many ways. As stated by Dehghan et al., (2015), differentiation in the
ethical opinions among the individual and other employees of the company may lead to ethical
stress. Stress could also take place when as a whole the ethical levels of the individual is higher
than the other employees of the company, or, the ethical levels of the individual is lower than the
other employees of the company. If the ethical differences exceed before knowing the actual
cause of the stress, although it appears to be possible to imagine than the reality. Anyways, the
ethical differences among the individual and the other employees in the workplaces are the
adequate cause to assume as the possibility and not the existence of ethics-based stress. Very
little is known about the effects of ethical stress on public companies. The factors, as well as the
outcomes of good stress, has not been analyzed before.
Several possible discussions can be given to describe the negative influences on the staff’s level
like the injustice, unfairness, contracts breach, and feedback failure. According to Ugwu and
Okafor, (2017), it is an undeniable fact that the society is interested in knowing the effects of
organizational changes on the staffs or more particularly the consequences of the decisions and
policies of the companies on the mental health of the staffs. As mentioned by Whitaker et al.,
(2015), stress can be defined as a psychological and physical condition which take place when an
individual is not able to cope up with pressures and demands of the circumstances. The stress can
decide the success of the objectives both for the employees and the companies. The strengths and
needs of the workplace lead to pressure in the employees. The aspects of the workplace are
connected with the risks of stress and health in the context of the work. The factors which are
connected with the workplace are long hours of working, work overload, severe or complicated
tasks, time pressure, lack of breaks, shortage of variety, and poor physical environments of
working like temperature, light, and space. The stress could be due to indistinct work or
inconsistent roles and limitations as well as the unclear responsibility for the employees. Under
the promotion, lack of training, and work insecurity are stressful factors which lessen the
potentialities of the growth of the job are against the present situations of stress.
The demands on the employees in the workplace which eventually reach in the houses and the
social lives of the staffs. Lengthy unspecific and unsocial hours, job distance from the house,

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taking the office work in the house, high responsibility standards, work insecurity and transfer in
the job are the factors that might very badly impact the duties of the family and activities at the
leisure time. These factors probably affect the excellent and relaxing life apart from work, which
is an essential aspect against the stress due to the workload. Apart from these factors, pressures
of the domestic tasks like the duties of the childcare financial worries, grief, and lodging issues
might impact the energy of the individual at work. So, various reasons are responsible for stress
caused in the life, workplace or house of an individual falls over and makes it difficult for the
individual to cope up with all these factors. In the words of Zafar et al., (2016), women have
more possibilities of facing stress as they have to bear more the responsibilities of the childcare
and also the household works than the men. Apart from this, the women have to be satisfied with
low pay, low job positions and sometimes have to shift their job timings to take care the
domestic duties and might have to face harassment and discrimination.
Work relationships and the organizational culture are two other stress sources or factors of stress.
The stress in workplaces also caused due to serious, tough, unsupportive or bullying managers,
while a positive and social aspect of work and an excellent operational team can decrease the
work stress. As per Giorgi et al., (2015), unpaid and overtime work and must-present rules for
the employees are part of the culture of the companies as well as the reasons for stress. On the
other side, the culture of the companies which consists of the decisions making peoples, keep
them updated about the events of the companies and deliver good facilities and recreation
services could decrease the stress of workplaces. The changes in the companies, especially when
consultation is not sufficient, is also a great source of stress. These changes consist of mergers,
repositioning, reorganization, individual contracts, and terminations in the companies.
Knowledge Gaps
Many researchers have contributed to a steady growth of research adding significance to the
work and the companies as a factor of workplace stress and health of the employees. But, this
topic of research stays loosely associated and is not able to cope up with the new customs of the
companies and safety and health issues raised by these customs. There is a lack of awareness in
the workplace stress as well as lack of resources apart from the other existing factors responsible
for pressure in the workplace (Chao et al., 2015). There is a need for attention in cultural factors
while dealing with workplace stress. Religion and devoutness along with the rituals of the

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society are necessary more than gaining the material assets or money. For the female staffs, the
social resources to take care of their families are generally accessible in the economy. But the
everyday logistics resources are not up-to-date with the technological development which could
be implemented in the society and personal facilities like the bill payment through emails, phone
or internet services (Kawakami and Tsutsumi, 2016). Even if these facilities are available in
some workplaces, most of the staffs could not access them, and the daily activities in the
workplaces become time-consuming and tiring.
Research Questions
 What are the mechanisms that generate employee stress at times of organizational change?
 How can the researchers contribute more to solve the issues of workplace stress in
companies?
 How can the employers be made aware to reduce the issues of workplace stress in the firms?
 What are the ways to provide equal opportunities to female workers to reduce their
workplace stress?

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Limitations and Conclusion
The stress of the workplace is often referred to as bad by different factors like gender diversities,
poor participation and poor management of pollution to illiteracy, poor hygiene, poor nutrition,
and poverty. The organizations often face the issue of shortage of resources and infrastructure for
the protection of their staffs or themselves from the stress of the workplace. This makes the
companies challenging to handle the employee's groups in the context of distribution of the
information and support. Apart from this, the lack of development in the strategies of the
companies, regarding psychological risks and stress of the workplace, makes it hard for
organizations of all sizes, to manage the policies and deal with these problems efficiently
(Tetrick and Winslow, 2015),. The mental problems related to the stress of the workplaces are
dealt in sporadic cases even if they are readily accessible.
The paper had considered the stress of the employees at the workplace. The factors of workplace
stress impact not only the physical state but also the mental conditions of the employees. The
continuous changes in the environment of the workplaces and the need to remain equal to the
changes could be a stressful matter. The paper had analyzed the causes of a workplace and also
evaluated briefly the effect of stress on the health of the employees and environment related to
the workplaces. It had also considered those factors of coping that could be useful to reduce the
workplace stress (LaMontagne et al., 2015). But it is vital to know that the differences between
good stress and severe stress. The literature review could be beneficial to study the coping
methods of workplace stress.

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References
Chao, M.C., Jou, R.C., Liao, C.C. and Kuo, C.W., 2015. Workplace stress, job satisfaction, job
performance, and turnover intention of health care workers in rural Taiwan. Asia Pacific Journal
of Public Health, 27(2), pp.1827-1836.
Dahl, M. (2010). Organizational Change and Employee Stress. pp.1-41.
Dehghan, H., Mortzavi, S.B., Jafari, M.J. and Maracy, M.R., 2015. The reliability and validity of
questionnaire for preliminary assessment of heat stress at workplace. ISMJ, 18(4), pp.810-826.
Giorgi, G., Arcangeli, G., Mucci, N. and Cupelli, V., 2015. Economic stress in the workplace:
the impact of fear of the crisis on mental health. Work, 51(1), pp.135-142.
González-Moralesa, M. and Neves, P. (2015). When stressors make you work: Mechanisms
linking challenge stressors to performance. WORK & STRESS, 29(3), pp.213-229.
Hashemi, S.E., Savadkouhi, S., Naami, A. and Beshlideh, K., 2018. Relationship between job
stress and workplace incivility regarding to the moderating role of psychological capital. Journal
of Fundamentals of Mental Health, 20(2), pp.103-112.
Jain, P. and Batra, A., 2015. Occupational Stress at Workplace: Study of the Corporate Sector in
India. IOSR Journal of Business and Management, 17(1), pp.13-21.
Kawakami, N. and Tsutsumi, A., 2016. The Stress Check Program: a new national policy for
monitoring and screening psychosocial stress in the workplace in Japan. Journal of
Occupational Health, 58(1), pp.1-6.
Kesavan, M.C. and Gobi, G., 2018. STRESS AT WORKPLACE–AN EMPHIRICAL STUDY
OF ANGANWADI WORKERS IN TIRUCHIRAPPALLI DISTRICT. INTERNATIONAL
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LaMontagne, A.D., Keegel, T., Shann, C. and Noblet, A., 2015. Integrating job stress and
workplace mental health literacy intervention: Challenges and benefits. In Derailed
Organizational Interventions for Stress and Well-Being (pp. 27-35). Springer, Dordrecht.
Michie, S. (2002). CAUSES AND MANAGEMENT OF STRESS AT WORK. Occup Environ
Med, 59, pp.67-72.

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Tetrick, L.E. and Winslow, C.J., 2015. Workplace stress management interventions and health
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Tripathy, M. (2018). Recognizing & Handling the Underlying Causes of Stress at Workplace: An
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Ugwu, E.S. and Okafor, C.O., 2017. Organizational commitment, occupational stress, and core
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Whitaker, R.C., Dearth-Wesley, T. and Gooze, R.A., 2015. Workplace stress and the quality of
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Zafar, W., Khan, U.R., Siddiqui, S.A., Jamali, S. and Razzak, J.A., 2016. Workplace violence
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