Management

African Research Review vol.1(1)

Managing Stress At Work Mukhtari Ado Jibril (Phd)

Abstract

Stress is a reality and an inevitable part of our lives, especially at work, and to be free from stress or to have a stress free life is not a possibility. However, people need to be aware of its existence and its side effect as well as learn to live with it without suffering its effects. This paper examines the concept of stress, its nature, its consequences in the organisation, and how it could be managed both at the organisational and individual levels. Introduction Stress as a topic is receiving a lot of attention. As a word it is now firmly rooted in our vocabulary. It is frequently used and you can hear people saying ‘they are stressed’, and the word is used to describe a wide variety and range of feelings, symptoms and situations. These feelings are almost always linked or associated with situations at work and home. It is a difficult area to study, because what one individual may find stressful, another may find exhilarating. One view of stress (Milkovich & Boudreau, 2006) relates it to control; lack of ability to make one’s own decisions at work (or in life) or use range of skills. But what stress exactly is has no generally accepted meaning. It is however generally accepted that, the term refers to ‘any force, pressure or strain applied to a system’. Selye (1956) introduced the term into the health psychology language. Today, there are few areas of contemporary psychology that receive more attention than stress. The literature as submitted by Jibril (2003) reflects researchers’ belief that stress is a major factor affecting people’s lives, is intimately tied to mental health, and is very possibly linked to many problems of physical health. This is evident in the works of several stress researchers (e.g. Hobfall, 1989, 1986; Milgram, 1986; Lazarus & Folkman, 1984 and Kaplan, 1983). The interest in stress has also caught the attention of the popular press,...