INDIVIDUAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL APPROACHES TO OVERCOMING STRESS

Simona ŠAROTAR ŽIŽEK, Sonja TREVEN, Vesna ČANČER

Abstract


Stress has recently become one of the most common topics. It greatly affects not only people but also organizations. Over the years it has been defined in a variety of t ways. The most common and generally accepted definition is that stress is an interaction between the situation and the individual. Because of their needs people spend a half of the day or even more at work and that is why work became one of the most stressful factors. Workplace is on the one hand an important source of demands and pressures which cause stress and on the other hand offers structural and social resources to counteract with stress. Demands at the workplace reach out into homes and social lives of employees. Therefore it is very important to prevent and manage stress and at the same time maintain well-being of employees. Individuals can manage stress by following two main groups of approaches: the organizational and the individual ones.

 Individual approaches are the easiest way of managing and preventing stress. They should aim to change the individual’s skills and resources and help the individual to change his situation.

 Organizational approaches can help employees with stress management in two main ways. The first way is the introduction of strategies for controlling stress. Another way includes various programs that assist in the maintenance of the well-being of employees and serve as a preventive measure.

 

 The paper also presents the results of the empirical research on stress, which was conducted among employees in Slovenian organizations in 2011. The analysis shows which individual and organizational approaches to overcoming stress are most commonly used by employees in Slovenia. The highest percentage of organisations implement physical activity (various forms of sport), followed by eating healthy food and getting a massage. The research results show that the highest mean was calculated for organization of work and the lowest for physical activities. Furthermore, intergenerational adaptation as stress prevention method is not widely used. This supports the findings of qualitative research.

 


Full text: PDF

Keyword(s)


employee, organization, stress, individual approaches to overcoming stress, organizational approaches to overcoming stress

JEL Codes


I31, M12, M14

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