Organizational Stress Around the World

Research and Practice

Kajal Sharma, Cary Cooper, D.M. Pestonjee, Kajal A. Sharma, Cary L. Cooper, D.M. Pestonjee

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000317633
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Gestione delle risorse umane
• Index: Business

Stress is defined as a feeling experienced when a person perceives that demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilize. It can occur due to environmental issues, such as a looming work deadline, or psychological, for example, persistent worry about familial problems. While the acute response to life-threatening circumstances can be life-saving, research reveals that the body's stress response is largely similar when it reacts to less threatening but chronically present stressors such as work overload, deadline pressures and family conflicts. It is proffered that chronic activation of stress response in the body can lead to several pathological changes such as elevated blood pressure, clogging of blood vessels, anxiety, depression, and addiction.

Organizational Stress Around the World: Research and Practice aims to present a sound theoretical and empirical basis for understanding the evolving and changing nature of stress in contemporary organizations. It presents research that expands theory and practice by addressing real-world issues, across cultures and by providing multiple perspectives on organizational stress and research relevant to different occupational settings and cultures. Personal, occupational, organizational, and societal issues relevant to stress identification along with management techniques/approach to confront stress and its associated problems at individual and organizational level are also explored.

It will be of value to researchers, academics, practitioners, and students interested in stress management research.

1 Introduction

Kajal A. Sharma, Cary L. Cooper, and D.M. Pestonjee

DOI: 10.4324/9780429292538-1

Stress has been accepted as a reality of modern work life. It is not a new problem but has aggravated in recent years and reached epidemic proportions. Today it is recognized as a massive health and safety challenge, and all countries are attempting to establish various strategies to overcome it. In a survey conducted by the International Labour Organization (2016), over 90% of participants acknowledged that work stress was a concern in their country, and nearly 70% of respondents reported that it was a source of higher concern in specific sectors like healthcare, education, services, finance, retail trade, transport, construction, and the public sector in general. The World Health Organisation’s report (2017a, 2017b) states that work-related health problems result in an economic loss of 4–6% of GDP for most countries. Hence, work stress is now recognized as an issue with global impact.

The modern, dynamic, complex, and stressful world of work has its roots in many old and new developments around the world. The developed economies, like the United States, United Kingdom, and other European countries, are currently facing economic uncertainty and minimal growth whereas emerging economies, like China, India, Russia, and Brazil, are expanding but have regional concerns resulting in challenges. Moreover, factors like rapid globalization, technological advancement, the rise of consumerist society, and climate change, to name a few, are also influencing the world of work. Such changes test the sustainability of organizations and drive their strategic choices like mergers, acquisitions, downsizing, restructuring, offshoring, outsourcing, the use of a temporary workforce, and many others. These circumstances have a profound impact on employees who face financial concerns, fewer choices, less control, job insecurity, unrealistic and multiple job demands, constant competition, and the continually changing nature of work and the work environment. All this translates into pressure at work for employees. Additionally, such employees receive little support from their managers and colleagues, and their fundamental needs, like recognition and respect at work, are not met due to work intensification (Semmer, 2007). Many work stressors like workload, family-work conflict, increasing work intensity, leadership styles, workplace conflict, organizational downsizing, restructuring, and organizational mergers have been identified across cultures and outcomes have typically considered job satisfaction, commitment, psychological health, work-family balance, and withdrawal behaviors (Burke, 2010). Results reveal that as increased work demands exceed employees’ capacity and ability to cope, it often leads to distress.

Painful experiences at work lead to various emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and physiological fallouts (Kompier & Marcelissen, 1990) in employees. The effects of stress on employees are well documented in literature. Ailments like frequent headaches, hypertension, obesity, increased heart rate, blood pressure, and cardiac arrest are linked to stress. Moreover, many health problems like anxiety, emotional disorders, musculoskeletal disorders, depression, burnout, and work-life imbalance in employees are also caused due to stress experienced at work. Belief in optimal levels of stress has been exploited, on various occasions by the organizations to justify poor management practices, but stress also has far-reaching consequences on the organization in terms of low motivation and productivity, an increase in health cost, and employee turnover (Sharma & Cooper, 2016). A report by the Health and Safety Executive (2019) suggested that in 2018/2019 stress, depression, or anxiety accounted for 44% of all work-related ill health cases, and 54% of all working days are lost due to employee ill health in the United Kingdom. Research in Malaysia concluded that the cost of absenteeism and presenteeism equated to 4.5% of the GDP in 2015 (Wee et al., 2019), and according to the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare, work-related suicide (known as Karo-Jisatsu – suicide due to overwork and stressful working conditions) has become a social concern. Depression, sickness absence and presenteeism problems cost Australian employers approximately AU$8 billion per year, and of that figure, AU$693 million is due to job strain and bullying (Dollard et al., 2012). A Canadian study (Anderssen, 2011) estimated that mental health problems cost employers about CA$20 billion annually. These results reflect that work stress leads to human distress and diminished economic performance globally.

Organizations have realized that they cannot eliminate stress from employees’ work life, but, at the same time, they cannot afford to be passive - as a decline in employee mental and physical health invariably leads to a decline in the organization’s productivity and competitiveness. According to the WHO (2019), negative working environment in organizations may lead to physical and mental health problems, use of harmful substances or alcohol, absenteeism, and lost productivity in employees; whereas, workplaces that promote employee mental health are more likely to reduce absenteeism, increase productivity, and benefit from associated economic gains. Hence, organizations have now concentrated energies toward creating a healthier work environment where there is a balance of job demands, resources, control, and support for employees to thrive. Emphasis is on handling stress by limiting the harmful conditions at work and endorsing health-promoting initiatives by managing issues like work-life balance, developing social support structures, mental health issues, diversity, and gender management. Research by Spreitzer and Porath (2012) suggests that thriving employees are highly energized as they know how to avoid burnout. Organizations can integrate the key components of a thriving environment-vitality and learning as suggested by Spreitzer and Porath (2012) in their culture to create healthy and creative work organizations.

Additionally, organizations can address this problem with a three-tier approach of primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention strategies as suggested by Cartwright and Cooper (2011). In the primary prevention stage, organizations identify and minimize or eliminate the source of employee stress. The secondary prevention stage consists of learning and training related to stress management for employees. Lastly, the tertiary prevention stage is comprised of rehabilitation of employees affected by stress through various support mechanisms in the role and organization. Organizations can select any intervention strategy; however, their key initiatives should embrace elements like changing poor business practices, building healthy culture, acknowledging stress, and providing appropriate support to employees experiencing stress caused by factors both inside and outside the workplace. Organizational culture and practices should focus on the physical and psychological safety of employees considering a whole-person approach. It is also important for contemporary organizations to build a trusting and healthy work culture wherein all employee groups – including women, BAME, and LGBT – achieve physical and psychological safety. It is important to emphasize that all employees should be trained on how to deal with stress at work, but it is equally important to train managers so that they can be sensitized to stress and mental health issues and illness at work, develop critical skills like empathy to break down the employee stigma and build trust, and effectively support employee well-being and welfare through engagement, performance, resilience, and general happiness. The right support received at the right time from the organization can help employees overcome stress, succeed, and thrive at work. Therefore, it should be the organization’s prime responsibility to devise proactive systems and strategies to support employees.

The current globally unfolding emergency caused by Covid-19 has once again highlighted the social relevance of work stress and employee health issues and has put the organization’s role in supporting employee health at the forefront. As businesses struggle to survive during the current pandemic, employers are also starting to realize the impact it has had on the mental and physical health of employees. According to CIPD (2020), early research on Covid-19 effects on employee health indicates an increase in fatigue, musculoskeletal conditions, poor work-life balance, reduced exercise, increased alcohol consumption, reduced motivation, loss of purpose and motivation, anxiety, and isolation. Such health implications have the potential to significantly impact the ability of many organizations to survive and cope during and post Covid-19 work and economic scenarios. However, timely and effective organizational policies and interventions to support employees achieve better health and work-life balance can make a real difference under the current circumstances. Recognizing workplace stress as a priority issue, this volume presents chapters representing the work of authors from several countries that offer an understanding of the evolving and changing nature of work stress in contemporary organizations across different countries. All contributors have reviewed country-specific organizational stress literature and drawn comparisons with international literature trends. We believe that issues raised concerning the nature of stress and its management in the following chapters are thought-provoking and can help organizations mitigate the barriers to creating healthy organizations around the world that offer safe, empowering, enterprising, and satisfying work environments for employees.

The second chapter in this volume offers insights on common international trends and unique stress topics like the impact of geographic distance, extreme heat, and threat from wildlife related to occupational stress research in Australia. It also provides an understanding of the primary flavors of contemporary occupational stress research conducted in Australia. The third chapter is on Brazil, which presents a literature review based on 118 studies published in the last decade. The discussion uncovers stress issues exclusive to the social, cultural, and economic contexts in Brazil. It climaxes with the discussion on future research which highlights the need to consider more explicitly the specific work conditions in the country, evolving more powerful methodological procedures, as well as more sophisticated analysis strategies, to provide a more holistic understanding of work stress in Brazil. Chapter Four investigates main job stressors and its consequences in Greater China (covering Beijing, Hong Kong, and Taipei) using a two-tier mixed-method study. A Six-factor model of job stressors was developed, tested, and found suitable in the contemporary Chinese work environment. The discussion also covers the investigation of local and international trends in literature. The fifth chapter on Greece scientifically exhibits how the occupational stressors and strains in Greece are unique, ever-changing, severe, and chronic as a result of economic and political instability associated with turbulent recessionary times. The sixth chapter is India-centric. It offers a systematic review of Indian stress studies published in the last decade encompassing descriptive and thematic analysis. Distinctive theoretical and methodological challenges and concerns are examined while comparing Indian research trends with international literature.

Chapter Seven offers a review of organizational stress research in Japan. Devastating stress problems unique to Japanese work culture – like long work hours, nonregular employment, workplace harassment, Karoshi (death from overwork), and Karo-Jisatsu (suicide caused by work stress) – are assessed in detail. Government policies and organizational responses to manage stress are also scrutinized. Chapter Eight investigates the status of organizational stress in different work sectors in Nigeria. Unique stressors and strains experienced by the Nigerian worker and their coping approaches are reviewed. The conclusion explores the mediating roles of state and culture on organizational stress in Nigeria. The Ninth chapter studies the increasing trend associated with psychosocial risks and work-related mental health risks in the Netherlands and Belgium. Consequences of these risks, challenges associated with their management, and effective strategies to prevent such risks are deliberated in the chapter. Chapter Ten offers a literature review on occupational stress research in Oman. The analysis explains culture-specific stressors and demonstrates that Oman is undergoing a rapid demographic, educational, and economic transition, but religion and culture have an immense influence on society. The Eleventh chapter summarizes the literature on occupational stress, health, and well-being research in Portugal. A qualitative systematic review and the two-step cluster analysis was undertaken based on 75 published papers. Critical observations on trends in Portuguese literature are presented in the conclusions.

Organizational stress in the Russian context is investigated in the Twelfth chapter. Stressors unique to Russian society are discussed at length; simultaneously, prevalent unhealthy coping approaches have been highlighted. The Thirteenth chapter is based on the South African occupational stress context. It offers an overview of South African stress studies and highlights specific work and living contexts from historical and contemporary perspectives of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Contemporary stressors, its consequences, and stress management strategies at individual, organizational, and societal levels have been researched in depth. The Fourteenth chapter provides coverage of salient concepts and measures relevant to organizational stress in the United States. The chapter explores the influence of the cultural context on organizational stress and concludes with a discussi...