Week 5 Assignment 1
Camia Parker
Psychology 100

Professor Marino

Strayer University

November 2, 2013

Avoiding Stress and Factors in Human Resources
Demands of today’s society along with demands on employees cause stress. A common fact in life, encounters of stress are common. The solution is how to manage stress when it arises. Many would agree it would be far better to avoid and eliminate the components of stressors. Time management, time allocation, setting goals, and being effective are ways to create a productive and pleasant work atmosphere for employers as well as employees.
“You reach inside yourself to discover your personal resources, of what it takes to match them to the challenge.”(http.//thinkexist.com/quotes/arnorld_palmer/) Many challenges may be eliminated by using personal resources. When it comes to stress the importance is defining the factor. “a physical, chemical, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension”(Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 2006, p. 1247.) Emotional stress has been related to job strain, tension and burnout.
Physical stress may be a form of genetics. Some individuals are more likely to pressure from outside sources. Many job requirements place physical stress on the body. Including posture and standing for long periods of time. Reliance on informational systems for management, accounting, and human resources (HR) are a concern because they increase computer interaction time. Managing time allocation and posture are beneficial in reducing stress factors.
It is imperative to set control allocations. Goals should be realistic time frames for employer and employees. It has been suggested that employees who acknowledge workplace stress and implement stress management programs can decrease costs associated with absenteeism, turnover, substance abuse, health care, and reduced productivity (Miree, 2007). Stress prevention will eliminate substance abuse, high turnovers, and absenteeism. Majority of the time employees take a day off because of stress.
In other cases substances are used to cope with stress. Some companies replace employees with high turnover. Eventually stress may lead to the hire and fire motive. The right solution requires effective leadership development. Likewise, equipping supervisors and managers with the right people management skills is essential in sustained growth.
“Be there,” “Play,” “Make Their Day,” and “Choose Your Attitude” (Christensen, 2012, para. 1). This philosophy, which was created by Christensen (2012), encourages attentiveness, creativity, and playfulness in the workplace. Playfulness is an effective technique for coping with workplace stress. Strategies of rewards and appreciation reduce stress in the workforce. Without techniques of approaching stress management, void takes place and stress may arise.
Considering effective meetings are helpful in finding the source of stress and prevention thereof. Making decisions based on analysis. Would it be urgent or important? Managing procrastination and attacking the causes of stress. Poor time management will prevent business from reaching its full potential.
The advanced technology in the human resource (HR) workplace imposes additional emotional and physical stress on business office employees, managers, and executives. One of the more recognizable impairments of the physical stress that computers impose is that of carpal tunnel syndrome. Carpal tunnel syndrome is inflammation of the carpal tunnel area of the palm side of the wrist that occurs with prolonged computer use. Another physical impairment is that of repetitive stress injuries, including tightness, discomfort, stiffness, burning in the hands, wrists, fingers, and forearms.
Loss of strength and coordination as well as pain in the upper back, shoulders, and neck may occur (Joshi, 2004). It has been suggested that prolonged computer use may threaten eye health or subject a person to weak electromagnetic radiation fields, creating other health problems. Studies of prolonged computer use are still in their infancy and therefore lack significant scientific evidence of the previously noted impairments (Joshi, 2004). It is estimated that 25% of computer users already experience physical computer related injuries. Further estimations suggest that the United States spends $2 billion dollars on computer-related problems (Joshi, 2004).
There are no known strategies that prevent carpal tunnel syndrome, but stress may be minimized by taking precautions. Reducing force along with frequent breaks may help. Avoid bending wrist up or down. When using a keyboard; place it at elbow height or slightly lower. Also, keeping a good posture is very helpful.
Incorrect posture may cause shoulders to roll forward. When shoulders are in this position, neck and shoulder muscles are shortened, compressing nerves in the neck. This can affect wrists, fingers, and hands. Stress management programs can decrease the costs associated with stress-related liability. Education and training about workplace ergonomic standards will make employees proactive in reducing physical technology stressors, thus reducing workers’ compensation claims and the employer’s potential liability.
In conclusion, the growth of computer, the Internet, email, and web-accessible telephone use increases the employee-technology interaction time. Competitive pressures have led to an increase in employees working from home in addition to the traditional business hours. Although technological advances in the workplace were intended to boost productivity, the heightened emotional and physical stress will manifest physical and mental impairments in employees, which, of course is counterproductive. Career counselors need to make an extra effort to make sure they have communicated fully with employees and offer assistance to those who are experiencing stress. They should try to include employees in the informal communication and helping networks of their units.
Career counselors must adopt all reasonable measures to help employees cope with physical and emotional stress. Palmer (1995) provided the following useful guidelines to managers and employers: (1) Stress audit to identify all potential workplace stressors. (2) Key personnel such as managers and officers should receive training to recognize stress related problems. (3) The organization should have a “stress policy”. (4) Attempt to create an atmosphere at work that encourages staff to ask for assistance when they are suffering from stress. (p. 56)
Counselors should take measures to develop networks among coworkers within the same company. HR departments and/or managers obviously have a key role in dealing with discrimination issues. Because most employees, especially minorities, will typically not initiate complaints the HR department and managers must be proactive in opening up lines of communication. It may be desirable to have an employee ombudsman. Research could be extended to workplace physical and emotional stress among workers in different industries and in different countries. Researching these types of employees will require a different strategy. Furthermore researchers will need to be creative to get access to these employees.

References
Christensen, J. (2012). What is the FISH! Philsphy? Retrieve from http??www.charthouse.com/content.aspx?nodeid=22610
Joshi, S.M. (2004, October 16) Computer Related Health Disordrs [ Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.lorenlorendita.blogspot.com/2011/10/computer-related-disorders.html
(Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 2006, p. 1247.)
Miree, L.F. (2007, March). Financial implications of employee job stress. Presentation given at the first annual student/faculty research conference at the American University of Bulgaris, Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria.
Palmer, S.(1995) Occupational stress and the law. Journal of the Institute of Health Education, 33, 55-56.