Personal Analysis of Workplace Stress: GMBA8102 Report, Term 1 2020

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of workplace stress, drawing upon the student's personal experiences within a healthcare organization. The assignment fulfills the requirements of GMBA8102, focusing on the identification of stressful situations, categorization of stressors (including time, encounter, situational, and anticipatory stress), and documentation of personal reactions to these stressors. The student analyzes their experiences, highlighting issues such as role ambiguity, team conflicts, lack of work-life balance, and lack of recognition. The report applies the Mayo Clinic's 4 A's framework (avoid, alter, accept, adapt) to develop a personal stress management strategy. A critical review of the student's reactions and the effectiveness of their chosen strategies is also included, along with a conclusion summarizing key findings and insights.

Running head: WORKPLACE STRESS
WORKPLACE STRESS
Name of Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Discussion........................................................................................................................................3
Case study........................................................................................................................................3
Analysis and application..................................................................................................................5
Critical review.................................................................................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
Workplace stress refers to a situation where the employees are faced with emotional and
psychological harm because there is conflict between the demands of the job of the employees
and the control of employees over the job demands. Workplace stress may be due to many
reasons or just a single reason. Some of the major reasons for workplace stress include- conflict
between the team members of an organization, lack of flexibility in the job, lack of recognition in
the organization and other similar reasons (Kinman & Jones, 2005). Stressors refer to situations
of strain or stress and there can be three main types of stressors such as the chronic stress, acute
stress and also episodic stress. Further different individuals react differently to theses stressors.
The main aim of the paper is to identify and discuss about a situation of workplace stress, carry
out an analysis of the same and then finally carry out critical review. The paper will therefore
discuss about the case study or a situation of stress, analysis and application and can therefore it
will also discuss about a critical review of the case.
Discussion
Case study
I am presently working in an organization which is engaged in providing health care
services to the customers. My job role requires me to carry out administrative duties, answering
telephone, updating the medical records of the patients, handling correspondence, handling
various other books and also to coordinate with other professionals of healthcare to ensure
smooth functioning of the organization. However I have to face a lot of stress at work because of
job role ambiguity, conflict between team members, lack of proper work life balance and also
includes- lack of recognition. I feel stressed at workplace because I am asked to carry out a lot of

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activities and job duties without proper description of my job role and I do not have a clear idea
of what is expected from me because the same has not clearly been defined to me. This has also
been one of the major reasons for conflict between me and some of colleagues as many people
are appointed in our organization for the same work and therefore there are situations of job role
ambiguity in the organization. I also feel stressed at workplace sometimes because of conflicts
between the team members and as a result the workplace environment also becomes negative.
I was faced with workplace stress due to superiority of position of some professional
workers and also due to lack of accountability of some of the team members as compared to
others. At our organization we are not provided with proper work life balance because we have
to work for extended hours. This is so because in the health care sector emergencies may arise at
any time and therefore there is lack of proper work life balance. Moreover there have been
different situations where my work had not been recognized by the top management and that had
led to dissatisfaction in me because I felt like my efforts were not recognized. I often do not
speak up at work and do not interact with others properly because I am afraid that people may
not like me for who I am and as a result I usually avoid situations where I am required to interact
and discuss upon certain issues with my fellow co-workers.
Moreover these stressors can be classified into different types such as situational stress,
time stress, and anticipatory stress and also includes encounter stress (Valcour, 2016). The time
stress basically discusses about the lack of time or any type of stress due to time. For instance
when I am asked to do multiple task in a short span of time it can be said that I am being faced
with time stressor. The anticipatory stress discusses about the stress felt by an individual related
to anticipations about the future. For instance due to poor work life balance I may have to suffer
from anticipatory stress. I may feel stressed that I will not be able to fulfill a commitment due to

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extended working hours. The situational stress refers to a situation in which a person may feel
stressed because of lack of acceptance of loss of status. Due to lack of proper recognition when a
person was expecting the same this kind of stress may occur because that persons ego may get
hurt due to lack of timely recognition. The final type of stressor comprises of the encounter
stressor that usually revolves around a person. A person may feel this kind of stress when they
are afraid of interacting with other people or groups of people due to the fact that they do not like
them.
When I am faced with high work demands I feel like there is no energy left in me and
that prohibits me from taking part in any physical activity and as a result there is an increased
tendency of gaining weight. Sometimes due to extended working hours I am unable to complete
my sleep and that has a negative impact on my mental and physical health. In case of conflicts
my automatic emotional response includes being defensive. Moreover in situations of extreme
stress my hands start sweating and I start fumbling that is I fail to speak clearly in such
situations.
Analysis and application
According to the 4 A’s framework as given by Mayo clinic there are 4 major strategies
for dealing with stress that includes- avoid, alter, accept and adapt (Mueller, 2009). Avoid
strategy includes avoiding the stress and therefore take benefits reduced stress or pressure. In
order to avoid stress- it is necessary to take control of the surroundings, avoid those people who
actually bother us, learning to say a no and by changing the work schedule. Alter strategy helps
in reducing stress by taking inventory and then trying to change the situation for a better
situation. In order to alter the situation, it is necessary to ask others to change their behaviour
respectfully, communicating our feelings openly, managing our time in a better way and also

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includes- stating our limits in advance. The 3rd strategy as per Mayo’s clinic 4 A’s formwork
accept strategy (Michie, 2002). This strategy is based on the belief that sometimes things and
people need to be accepted as they are. For this it becomes necessary to talk to someone, to
forgive, to practice self-talk that is positive and also to learn from mistakes. Adapt strategy is
related to the thinking that a person cannot cope with a situation. This requires changing the
expectations and standards of the individuals.
Therefore when I am being faced with a situation of poor work life balance the first thing
I try to do is to avoid the stress created by this time demand stressor by trying to control my
surroundings, and learning to say a no to work when I have already pushed all my limits (Goh et
al., 2015). Then I will try to alter the situation by asking others to change their behaviour, by
trying to manage my time and then I will try to accept the situation as it is if I see that I have
tried my best but I could change the scenario and then I will try to adapt to the situation.
Moreover in situations of multitasking that need to be carried out in shorter span of time I will
try to avoid the same by saying no to many tasks that are being given to me, I will try to alter the
situation through communicating about my issues to my supervisor then I will try to accept the
situation if I am unable to change it and adapt myself to the same.
Critical review
Some of my stressors include the time stressor, encounter stressor and anticipatory
stressors (Sood, 2013). I am affected by the time stressor because I feel that I do not have
sufficient time sometimes to complete the task that have been assigned to me within a specific
time period. Further I suffer from encounter stress because I try to avoid conversations or
discussion with my fellow workers on the grounds that they may not like my opinion. I can also
say that I suffer from anticipatory stress because I have a tendency of over thinking and therefore

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I may feel that I do not have sufficient time with me to fulfill a commitment of my personal life
due to my extended working hours. In such situations some of my reactions includes lack of any
physical activity when I do not understand what needs to be done on my part and my palms start
sweating and I may even start fumbling (Cartwright & Cooper, 1997). However according to the
Mayo framework of 4 A my reactions are not so effective as a usually to accept things as they
are do not try to change them. However according to the framework I should first try to avoid the
situation, alter the same then accept it and adapt accordingly. Therefore it can also be said that I
need start confronting stress situations instead or just avoiding or accepting the same.
Conclusion
Therefore from the above discussion, it can be concluded that workplace stress is a
common phenomenon and therefore it is important is to identify the stressors such that the
organization can take a timely action to overcome the same. From the paper the stressful
situation faced by me in my organization has been understood which includes conflict between
the team members and also due to role ambiguity. From the paper it has been understood that
different people react differently to the stressors or the stress situation. Further from the paper it
is also evident that it is necessary to classify the reaction of individuals in different situation
according to Mayo clinic framework. This is so because classification of the reactions according
to Mayo clinic’s framework will help in relieving stress and help in carrying out stress
management. Further from the paper my insights have been understood through critical review of
all the factors contributing to stress in my case and the way I react to the same. Moreover the
critical review also help in sewing how effective are my responses.

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References
Cartwright, S., & Cooper, C. L. (1997). Managing workplace stress (Vol. 1). Sage.
Goh, J., Pfeffer, J., Zenios, S. A., & Rajpal, S. (2015). Workplace stressors & health outcomes:
Health policy for the workplace. Behavioral Science & Policy, 1(1), 43-52.
Kinman, G., & Jones, F. (2005). Lay representations of workplace stress: What do people really
mean when they say they are stressed?. Work & stress, 19(2), 101-120.
Michie, S. (2002). Causes and management of stress at work. Occupational and environmental
medicine, 59(1), 67-72.
Mueller, P. S. (2009). Incorporating professionalism into medical education: the Mayo Clinic
experience. The Keio journal of medicine, 58(3), 133-143.
Sood, A. (2013). The Mayo Clinic guide to stress-free living. Da Capo Lifelong Books.
Valcour, M. (2016). Beating burnout. Harv Bus Rev, 94, 98-101.