McGraw-Hill/Irwin

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Copyright © 2013 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Managing Stress and Time
Knowing Objectives Doing Objectives
Understand the damaging consequences of Diagnose your own sources of stress and
excessive stress determine strategies to manage them

Know common causes of stress Intervene with a colleague to help manage

stress in evidence-based recommendations

Identify and describe evidence for Adapt research-supported strategies to

effective stress management interventions minimize choking in pressure situations

Recognize common time management Implement effective time management

traps and effective time management principles in your work and life

Identify the characteristics of workplace Facilitate workplace characteristics that

cultures that reduce stress while retaining promote high performance, health, and low
high performance stress

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 Stress = The physiological and psychological states
of arousal
 Examples: Rapid heartbeat, sweating anxiety

 Strain = Outcomes of chronic stress that is not

alleviated
 Examples: depression, low back pain, tension headaches

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 Stress is a personal, non-work issue and
should not be a concern in a business
 All stress is bad
 A stressor is a stressor (i.e., all stressors are
the same)
 Only novices choke
 Good time management means being an
efficient workaholic

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 Costs of stress and strain approximate $300
billion annually in U.S.
 Stress is associated with…
• Reduced organizational commitment
• Increased turnover
• Increased absenteeism

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 Eustress = A controlled or productive stress
that can give a competitive edge.

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 Transactional Theory of Stress
• Suggests the negative effects of stress are an interaction
between the person and the environment
• Different people find different things stressful and react
to them in different ways
• Appraisal Steps
 Primary appraisal = evaluate the potential stressor to
determine if it is a threat. If yes…
 Secondary appraisal = determine how to respond to the
stressor

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Potential Stressor: A trip to the dentist

Primary Secondary
Appraisal: Is Appraisal: How
this a threat? do I respond?

Stop:
Maria No No
Stress

Breathing/
Keisha Yes Relaxation
Exercises

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 Characteristics of Type A
• Achievement oriented
• In a hurry (e.g., talk fast, walk fast, eat fast)
• Perfectionism
• Hostility
 Associations with Type A Behavior
Pattern
• Coronary heart disease
 Recent research suggests the hostility component is
the aspect of Type A that most relates to heart disease

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 Locus of Control = The extent to which we
believe we control our own environments

 Internal Locus of Control

• Belief that you control your own environment
 In general, having an internal locus of control is helpful –
you believe you can make a difference so you take action!
 External Locus of Control
 Belief that sources outside you control your environment
 Example: fate, luck, other people

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 Self-efficacy = a personal assessment of how
well one can execute actions necessary to
handle a situation
 High self-efficacy is associate with…
• More motivation
I think I can…
• Better performance I think I can…
• Lower stress and burnout

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 Traumatic events are relatively rare but
significant situations that cause stress
• Examples: divorce, death of a loved one, layoff
 Daily hassles are common and relatively minor
annoyances and obstacles that also cause stress
• Examples: traffic jams, computer problems,
interruptions

Did you Research shows we tend to overestimate the effects of traumatic

know?? events but underestimate the effects of daily hassles!!!
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 Role theory suggests that stress can
result from role ambiguity or role
conflict.

• Role ambiguity = not knowing what our

roles are or how to fulfill them

• Role conflict = when we have multiple

roles, and they conflict with each other

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 Work-family conflict = a form of
inter-role conflict in which pressures
from work and family are
incompatible
 WIF = Work Interferences with
Family
• Can you give an example of WIF?
 FIW = Family Interferences with
Work
• Can you give an example of FIW?

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 Conservation of Resources (COR) = model
suggesting that stress results from 3 possible
threats to our resources:
• 1: Threat of losing a personal resource
• 2: Actual net loss of a personal resource
• 3: Lack of resource gain following investment of other
personal resources

Questions What is meant by “resources” in COR?

??? What are some examples of such resources?
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 Burnout = a syndrome resulting from
prolonged stress and depletion of resources.
 3 components of burnout syndrome
• Emotional exhaustion:
 Feeling “drained” or “used up”
• Depersonalization:
 Feeling cynical, detached, or indifferent to one’s work
• Reduced personal accomplishment:
 Feeling one’s work doesn’t really matter

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 Emotional Labor = regulation of feelings and expressions
for the benefit of the organization’s goals
• Surface Acting = managing your expressions that can be
observed on the surface
 Example: smiling at a customer even if you are
frustrated
• Deep Acting = managing your actual feelings so they are
consistent with the emotions that you are supposed to
express

Questions Describe a time when you have engaged in emotional labor.

??? In what jobs would emotional labor be most common?
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 Demands = physical, intellectual, and emotional
requirements of a job
 Control = amount of autonomy and discretion a
person has on the job
 Research shows stress is highest when demands
are high while control is low
High

Low control
Stress

High control

Low
Low Demands High
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 Primary Prevention Strategies
• Aimed at removing the SOURCE of stress
• Example:
 Stressor = traffic and long commute
 Primary Prevention = telecommuting (work at home)
 Secondary Coping Interventions
• Aimed at dealing with stressors that cannot be eliminated
• Example:
 Stressor = difficult boss
 Secondary Coping = meditate, social support from family

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 Increasing perceived control can reduce stress

Management needs employees to work overtime during the

Scenario holidays. How might they increase the perceived control amongst
the employees?
 Increasing predictability can reduce stress

Imagine that a small technology company is being acquired by a

larger company. How can management increase predictability for
Scenario employees in the acquired firm to minimize the stress of the
acquisition?
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 People with larger and more varied social networks
tend to have better well-being
 Types of Support
• Instrumental support = practical and direct type of support
(e.g., covering a shift for a colleague who is ill)
• Emotional support = sympathy, listening, and caring
• Informational support = giving information that helps
someone else solve a problem
• Appraisal support = giving esteem-building support

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 Choking = performance decrements under
pressure
 Antidotes for Choking
• Pressure Practice = practice the behavior in a pressure
situation
• Focused, Automated Behavior = devise a strategy and
then train until it becomes automatic so you don’t over-
think (and choke).

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 The ability to remain psychologically stable and
healthy in the face of significant stress
 4 Factors of Hardiness
• Physical Fitness
 Exercise reduces stress, anxiety, and depression
• Commitment
 Persevering through a hard time
• Control
 Striving to gain control and take action rather than being helpless
and hopeless
• Challenge
 Seeing problems as challenges rather than threats

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 Muscle relaxation
 Deep breathing
 Mood repair

Question What are your favorite healthy strategies for dealing with
??? stress in the moment?

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 First be effective, then be efficient
 Start with written goals
 Follow the 80/20 rule
 Use the time management matrix
• See next slide
 Learn to say no
 Plan the work, then work the plan
 Make good lists for effective prioritization
• ABC Method
 See slide after next

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Table 2.1
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 Create a to-do list
• Include long-term and short-term priorities
 Assign ABCs to each item on list
• A = high priority
• B = medium priority
• C = low priority
 Start with A’s on list, then B’s, then
C’s

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 Know Yourself and Your Time Use
• Track your time usage and determine your “internal
prime time” (when you work best)
• Arrange your schedule around your internal prime time
 Fight Procrastination
• Avoid spending all of your time on easy “C-priority”
tasks at the expense of harder “A-priority” tasks
• 2 –minute rule
 If a task will take 2 minutes or less, do it NOW – don’t wait.

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 Frequent and open communication
 Employee participation
 Incentives for work-life balance
 Cultivate a friendly social climate

Question For each of the bullet-points above, give at least one example
??? of how an organization might accomplish this goal

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 80/20 rule  Locus of control
 ABC method  Psychological hardiness
 Appraisal support  Reduced personal
 Burn out accomplishment
 Choking
 Role ambiguity
 Conservation of resources
 Role conflict
 Control
 Role theory
 Self-efficacy
 Deep acting  Small wins
 Demands  Strains
 Depersonalization  Stress
 Emotional exhaustion  Surface acting
 Emotional labor  Swiss cheese method
 Emotional support  Type A behavior pattern
 Eustress  Work interference with
 Family interference with work family
 Informational support  Work-family conflict
 Instrumental support

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