EUSTRESS AND DISTRESS- A STIMULANT AND DETERRENT TO HEALTH AND PERFORMANCE

Abstract

Stress is the disequilibrium between a person’s inner capabilities and environmental conditions. When an individual finds difficulty in adjusting to environmental pressures and circumstances, he feels stressed. With increasing competition, high-end targets and quest for excellence, the degree of stress at workplace is accelerating among employees working across various levels, organisations and sectors. Consequent to occupational stress, increasing number of managers are exhibiting symptoms of chronic fatigue and burnout. Continuous stress leads to decreasing efficiency of the employees which in turn, declines productivity of an organisation. Occupational stress resulting from conflicting demands from upper hierarchy and increasing complexities of job constitutes a vital factor of modern corporate organisations. However, stress is a subjective issue and highly individualistic in nature.  Every individual has different tolerance of stress. Some people having high tolerance for stress can endeavour well regardless of several stressors in the workplace. For many, stress acts as an activator to challenge situations, workplace targets and performance goals. However, some individuals cannot perform in pressure; they cannot absorb moderate to high stress and hence fallback when they encounter major struggles in their personal or professional setting. In the present study, the positive and negative aspects of stress have been highlighted and its effect on performance and productivity of employees is discussed. The consequences of stress are reflected in an individual through different symptoms or responses like physiological, psychological or behavioural.

Keywords: Occupational stress, productivity, consequences, workplace, coping strategies.