A Case Study on Stress and Its Related Effect

Ngee Ann Polytechnic

School of Interdisciplinary Studies

A study of Stress and the subsequent causes and effects it has on the corporate arena

By

Ahmad Syafiq bin Ahmad Ghozali

Student No.: s10152598F

T11

For

Ms. Irene Lupton

Lecturer

School of Interdisciplinary Studies

22 July 2015

A study of Stress and the subsequent causes and effects it has on the corporate arena

1. Introduction

According to award-winning neurobiologist Robert Sapolsky, "stress is not a state of mind... it's measurable and dangerous, and humans can't seem to find their off-switch." (Mercola, 2014). Stress the most prevalent ‘disease’ that has afflicted mankind, has consumed the current generation and has thus far shows no signs of stopping. The purpose of this essay is to study the causes of stress in the corporate arena and its subsequent effects. This essay will cover the plausible stressors in the workplace, its effects on the economy and its psychological and physical impacts. This essay will also cover the actions that companies and nations can take to alleviate this problem.

1. The causes of stress in the work environment

There are numerous stressors that can be found in everyday life. 72% of people surveyed by the American Institute of Stress identified their jobs as their number one stressor in their lives. (“Stress is killing you”,2014)

1. Personally created stressors

Most cases of workplace stress are said to be self-induced. The plausible reason for these ‘self-induced stressors’ could be the lack of perceived control and the possibility of change.  For instance, many employees grapple with a lack of control with regards to retrenchment, promotion, and recognition of their work, this is because the final decision falls on their bosses and not solely on their merit.  The possibility of change is also another factor that contributes to stress, as some people when forced to adapt start to feel more frustrated than others. These factors are dependent on an individual’s attitude towards change and their adaptability to a given situation, if the individual accepts change as an eventuality they would feel more at ease than those who do not.

1. Environment induced stressors

Environmentally induced stressors are stressors that are caused by the atmosphere around an individual. In the corporate arena, stressors include deadlines and unreasonable workloads. Coupled with the fact that the current corporate arena encourages cut-throat competition, people are getting worried of being retrenched because of missed deadlines or the incompletion of their task. With promising interns annually and the lack of other jobs, getting fired is one of the reason that workers are stress. Research has shown 46% who have identified their workloads and 6% have identified job insecurity as their main stressors. (“Workplace stress”,n.d)