Introduction
Human feelings and attitudes to their duties and the organisations they have to work at play a very important role in business management. As soon as some concerns or challenges occur, the quality or amount of work could be dramatically changed. Any organisation is at threat of being destroyed and broken in case some employees fail to cope with their duties. Therefore, a number of managers try to pay enough attention to such issues as organisational stress, burn-out, and anxiety and their possible relations to transformations and change in organisations.
Education is the field where people have to deal with a number of tasks and duties and develop their knowledge to the highest possible levels in order to teach students, help young people to become mature in certain subjects, and differentiate personal and organisational problems. The existing variety of expectations and missions makes teachers worry, uncertain of their abilities, and unable to decide and succeed. Organisational stress is the problem of many teachers and other employees. Therefore, it is important to understand how to accept and recognise stress and deal with such personal challenges as burn-out and emotional concerns.
Problem statement
People have to understand that organisational stress could be caused by a variety of reasons and lead to the changes they cannot always be prepared for. Besides, organisational stress promotes certain emotional challenges that could influence the quality of work performed by teachers. Stress is the form of how a human body and mind could respond to a particular situation, demand, or threat. Therefore, stress is an element of human life that cannot be ignored (Vasudevan 2015). The main problem is the inability to understand how organisational stress could influence the work of teachers and if it is necessary to cope with it or neglect its possibility.
Significance of the study
This study aims at exploring the peculiarities of organisational stress, burn-out, and emotional challenges among teachers and explaining the connection between such terms and “stress” and “change”. It is expected to clarify how the organisational stress of one person could influence the work of the whole organisation. As soon as the concept of organisational stress is analysed, it is possible to investigate the theories and models which could help people deal with stress, avoid or, at least, reduce the level of burn-out, and use theories and the experiences of different researchers. Klassen and Chiu (2010) admit that stress among teachers could be caused by poor work conditions, high demands of students and their parents, and the necessity to cooperate with different types of people at the same time meeting different goals and missions. In other words, stress can hardly be avoided even if people recognise it and understand its importance and possibilities to cause changes and transformations in individuals and in an organisation. Therefore, this research helps to investigate the role of stress among teachers and the possible effects of burn-out and organisational stress on changes and transformations in individuals and organisations.
Research questions
The literature review will be offered in the study as the main method in order to discuss the peculiar features of organisational stress and its effects on individual transformations and change. The main research question of the study is “What is organisational stress?”
It is also expected to answer several additional research questions that help to understand the essence of stress among teachers:
- What could cause stress?
- What changes could be caused by stress?
- Why is it necessary to investigate organisational stress?
- What connection between organisational stress, burn-out, and change is?
- What are the positive and negative implications of stress among teachers?
Aim of the study
The main aim of the study is to investigate organisational stress from different perspectives, clarify the reasons for why teachers could suffer from burn-out, and identify what transformations and changes could be caused by those emotional challenges. Stress is an important condition, and each person is under a threat of stressful situations that could influence their work and the outcomes of their work on different people. Teachers have to know as much information as possible about organisational stress in order to recognise it at early stages and deal with it in a short period of time and avoid serious outcomes that could influence the work or lives of other people. This research is a good opportunity for teachers and other stakeholders of the topic to learn it deeper.
Methodology
This research is conducted on the basis of a thorough literature review of the sources found online and in the library. The literature review helps to develop a solid foundation for understanding the main topic, organisational stress, and related issues such as organisational change, transformations, working conditions of teachers, and the connection that exists between change and stress. In addition to the creation of a solid background, the literature review could inspire new research ideas, develop interesting research questions, and identify the gaps in knowledge (Cronin, Ryan & Coughlan 2008). A researcher has to understand the goals of the literature review and take the correct steps.
Data collection
The literature review should be conducted in order to collect the required portion of information that could address the chosen research question, “what is organisational stress?” and other related questions identified before in the paper. The evaluation of the peer-reviewed articles and the reference to several academic books has to be offered. To answer the research question, it is not enough to provide several descriptions and explanations of the concepts. It is more important to investigate different situations, identify theories that help to comprehend stressful situations teachers could face in their everyday life, and use the examples given in different sources. Research studies developed during the last 5-10 years are used to explain what stress is, why teachers have to learn the peculiarities of stress, and what role stress could play in individual and organisational transformations and change. Table 1 in Annexure contains the main findings of the study.
Data analysis and findings
The data gathered from different sources has to be properly analysed, and the findings have to be introduced in the literature review. The articles have to be thoroughly read, and the main ideas of the authors should be presented. Besides, it is necessary to make appropriate references and underline what conclusions could be made from the literature gathered. An inductive approach is used to analyse the qualitative data. It consists of several stages during which the observations are made, the definitions are given, and the theories are explained. In other words, this approach helps to connect theories and praxis connected with stress, burn-out, and possible changes (Kolaksazov 2015).
Literature Review
Stress is the outcome people could experience after they feel certain social, personal, or emotional challenge. Organisational stress is the type of stress a person could experience at work because of poor working conditions, inabilities to communicate with colleges or other people involved in the same field, or even some environmental concerns (Hanif, Tariq & Nadeem 2011). Stress is a kind of reaction. Therefore, it should have its own causes and effects on a person. Besides, a person, who experiences stress, could be changed and undergo some transformations that have to be recognised. Finally, it is important to clarify how to cope with stress in order to avoid the difficulties and challenges at work. Organisational stress is a multi-sided topic, and the literature review is an attempt to underline the main points for consideration.
Definition of stress
In order to know how to cope with stress or how harmful stressful situations could be, it is necessary to understand the essence of this concept and clarify what the word “stress” means. A number of authors demonstrate their approaches in defining “stress”. In the book by Weinberg et al. (2010), it is possible to find out several definitions of stress taken from the Encyclopedia and Dictionary of Medicine, Nursing and Allied Health where stress is explained as a physical, psychological, or both phenomena, or the Steadman’s Medical Dictionary where stress is introduced as the body’ reaction to the forces that have deleterious nature. Anyways, in the majority of cases, stress is defined as something negative and compared to a disease.
Koolhaas et al. (2011, p. 1292) offer their explanation and say that stress could be defined as “the non-specific response of the body to any noxious stimulus”. Therefore, it is possible to accept the fact that stress is not always a negative reaction. It is just an obligatory response of the body to the outside factors, also known as stressors. People have to understand that due to the fact that stress is usually connected with some negative situations and reactions should not define stress as a negative concept as well. Sohail and Rehman (2015) develop an idea that stress is a protective response that helps people to deal with unpredictable changes and dangers that demand something from people. In case people do not know how to behave in stressful situations or fail to react to some challenge or change in a proper way, stress could become one of the worst conditions when the rise of emotions cannot be controlled and lead to the development of depression, hostility, and the cases of antagonism (Sohail & Rehman 2015). Therefore, the definition of stress, as well as the clarification of its main characteristics, reasons, and effects has to be properly given so that people could be ready for it at work or in everyday life.
Regarding the explanations of the term “stress”, the concept of “work stress” could be explained as the appearance of adverse physical or emotional reactions to job demands changes and the inabilities of employees to identify the required abilities and skills to meet those demands and understand the changes in time (Sohail & Rehman 2015).
Types of stress
Schwabe et al. (2011) say that stress could be experienced in different forms and degrees almost every day. If there is a need to understand the nature of stress, it is necessary to identify stressor types, stress varieties, and their main characteristics. As soon as people are aware of them, they are to solve stressful situations. The American Psychological Association introduces four main types of stress that teachers or other people, who work and who do not work, could be imposed to (See Figure 1). They are acute, episodic acute, chronic, and situational types of stress (Hiriyappa 2013).
Acute stress is a common type of stress that could be based on too high demands and expectations in the workplace. Acute stress is usually linked to the changes that occur in central and peripheral physiology (Berker et al. 2016). The peculiar feature of acute stress is the possibility to experience it in small doses and manage it as soon as symptoms are recognised. Episodic acute stress differs from the first type by the possibility to be repeated. People who have to live in a rush but still are unable to meet the deadlines have to spend much energy (Idoko et al. 2015). This form of stress is hard to be managed because the majority of sufferers could not accept the necessity of change and continue resisting it (Mujtaba et al. 2010). Chronic stress is a grinding type of stress that bothers people day after day. It could destroy human bodies, minds, and lives and makes people dysfunctional (Idoko et al. 2015). This form of stress is dangerous because it could lead to traumas, social isolation, and inabilities to change something. Finally, there is situational stress that happens when a person is in a scary situation that cannot be controlled (Idoko et al. 2015). In other words, it is a kind of emergency caused by an organism in a certain situation such as a conflict, unpredictable changes, a loss of salary, and an extra working day.
Identification of stressors
Stressors are the sources of the stress that exist in the environment (Weinberg et al. 2010). It is important to identify stressors at their early stages in order to get an idea on how to cope with them, what kind of stress is under consideration, and if there are some fast and safe ways to overcome its development. Stressors could gain a number of forms including a biological agent, a chemical substance, an environmental condition, or an event that is not expected or is not pleasant. At the same time, it is wrong to believe that stress could be either an environmental or personal pressure. Therefore, it is suggested to identify stressors as a complex system of transactions that could exist between a person and the environment (Idoko et al. 2015).
According to the statistics gathered globally, women are exposed to stress more frequently than men (See Figure 2). Stressors have to be identified because they could also be the reasons for personal satisfaction and success (Robbins et al. 2013). The point is that when people experience pressure or need to do something in a rush in order to meet the deadline, they try to demonstrate their best qualities and use their knowledge to succeed in the activity and avoid problems in future. Occupational stress could occur in the workplace, and the reason for such stress could be any kind of activity, order, or even thought that contradicts personal judgements and lead to some conflicts. Beru, Kilelo and Rotich (2015) say about such types of conflict as personal conflict (between two or more people on some personal discontents), role conflict (between two or more people on the roles they play in an organisation), and interpersonal conflict (between people of the same group). Though conflicts may be not destructive, they could motivate people to do or not to do something and experience organisational stress, anxiety, and burn-out. Therefore, such changes as the necessity to meet a new deadline, the obligation to cooperate with certain people, and the requirement to perform certain roles in a certain environment could be defined as the main causes that lead to stress in the workplace.
Outcomes of stress and burn-out
There are many outcomes of job stress, and people have to understand that each outcome is the combination of their personal attitudes and abilities, the environment, and the portion of help obtained. For example, job burn-out is one of the most affective reactions due to the prolonged exposure to stress (Fernet et al. 2012). Researchers focused on the reasons that could cause burn-out and came to the conclusion that the work environment with its problematic demands and resources had to be identified as its main determinant. Burn-out is the ongoing process that could emerge over time (Fernet et al. 2012).
Therefore, the suggestion offered by Roeser et al. (2013) that stress and burn-out are the outcomes that cover personal and professional issues of teachers has to be considered as the correct one because, on the one hand, physical and mental changes in the form of anxiety and depression are observed and, on the other hand, absenteeism and diminished capacity could challenge teachers at work. Stress and burn-out are also the reasons for the decreased job satisfaction and organisational commitment (Anari 2012). Finally, in this study, it is obligatory to underline that the presence of stress and the development of stress hormones in an organism could influence a number of memory processes (Raio et al. 2014). In case stress gains a serious form and cannot be managed in time, a person could be under a threat of losing memory or inabilities to memorise the material. In such situation, job burn-out is one of the favourable outcomes of stress among teachers that could be managed.
Changes and transformations caused by stress
As soon as teachers or other employees face stress, burn-out, and anxiety in the workplace, they have to be ready for certain changes and transformations. All changes should not be identified only. They have to be comprehended and explained. Stress could affect a human body in a variety of ways including the changes in a human body and mind. For example, stress could lead to the transformation of the immune system so that people could get sick more often than usual. Stress could be the reason for people to ask for sick leaves and find the solutions to their stress-related disorders (Sahlin et al. 2014). People could experience additional health problems in the form of a headache and high blood pressure.
The results of such instabilities are the inabilities to work hard and focus on the details that are crucial in the sphere of education (e.g. communication with students, identification of problems, clarification of weaknesses, and explanation of hidden threats or challenges). In addition to health changes and transformation in a human organism, stress could lead to personal changes and transformations in behaviour. Adults have an ability to adapt and make the required transformations in regards to stressful and similar experiences. As a rule, such changes could be explained by reviewing cellular and molecular mechanisms and the work of brain (McEwen et al. 2012). The authors admit that it is possible to expect such mood changes, the development of fear or unwillingness to do something, inabilities to control behaviour and express the required emotions (McEwen et al. 2012).
Stress could be also caused by the cases of violence and bullying when teachers have to deal with unpredictable situations and responses, offers and suggestions. In such situations, multiple outcomes could be observed. For example, decreased job satisfaction could lead to the low levels of productivities and the inabilities to meet the deadlines and work to a full extent (Fox & Stallworth 2010). The changes in the relations teachers could develop with their students, colleagues, and even family members may be observed. Still, the nature of transformations depends on teachers and their abilities to cope with stress. On the one hand, teachers could demonstrate aggressive classroom management, yell in anger, or stay sarcastic in order to hide personal concerns and challenges (Romi et al. 2011). Besides, stress could make teachers or the representatives of other organisations (i.e. managers or leaders) promote punishment as the form of communication (Lewis, Roache & Romi 2011).
Silence is another factor that could become the reason and the outcome of stress. Silence may disturb the relations between people by influencing creativity and lowering productivity (Adamska 2016). Finally, stress is closely connected with burn-out and anxiety when people experience emotional exhaustion, personal accomplishment, and some kind of depersonalisation when a person prefers to stay isolated from others and solve problems alone or avoid the necessity to find the solutions (Fisher 2011).
Role of changes and transformations in stressful situations
In addition to the fact that stress could be caused by changes and lead to a number of changes and transformations in a human organism, it is also necessary to admit that changes and transformations could be used to cope with stressful situations and find out the solutions that could help. Burn-out is the outcome that can ruin careers and deprive people of the possibilities to develop their skills and achieve the goals set. Therefore, it is necessary to think about the ways of how stress, anxiety, and burn-out can be avoided or, at least, be survived. Teachers and the representatives of other professions could try to change something in their lives. For example, when people feel that stress cannot be avoided, it is possible to change something and find a new direction and solution at the same time. In case teachers suffer from burn-out but have to continue completing their tasks, they could try to change the methods of their work or change people, who have to be involved in work (Fernet et al. 2012). Finally, teachers could change the location in order to find out new opportunities. Still, it is important to stay careful and use analytical skills in order not to make a change a new type of stressor.
At the same time, personal transformations could be the answer to stressful situations. As soon as a person experiences stress, it is necessary to think about the situation and clarify what kind of personal work could be done to achieve personal satisfaction and the required portion of results. Sometimes, it is enough to change the mood or a manner of speaking. Sometimes, people address to some insignificant changes like the changes in hairstyle, shopping, or vacation. Therefore, changes could perform the functions of stressors, outcomes, and solutions to people in stressful situations. The same situation could be observed in the relations between stress and burn-out. On the one hand, burn-out could be a stressor for a person and the reason of why some changes could be required. On the other hand, burn-out could be an outcome of stress when some changes and new requirements have to be taken into consideration. The connection between these three items is tight indeed, and people have to comprehend the nature of these relations in order to cope with stress, avoid burn-out, and accept changes in a favourable way.
How to cope with stress
Stress management is a complicated issue because each person could be affected by stress in different ways (Weinberg et al. 2010). If people have to deal with stress regularly, they could worsen their health and get sick a lot of times. Acute stress could become chronic. Therefore, teachers, as well as other workers, have to understand the importance of stress management and learn the ways to cope with it in a short period of time. There are several ways people could follow to cope with organisational stress, anxiety and burn-out:
- People could take care of themselves and understand their personal abilities and sources that could be used to cope with stress, anxiety, and burn-out at work. They need to sleep well, talk to people, discuss their problems, meditate, listen to music, and never believe that stress is something that cannot be avoided (Adamska 2016).
- People, who suffer from stress, could search for professional help and ask the experts to solve their problems or, at least, to show the way to be followed in a solution-making process.
- People should not be afraid to make changes, stop doing ordinary things, and take breaks.
- People have to everything possible to avoid using harmful substances (drugs or alcohol) to deal with stress (Koolhaas et al. 2011). Stress is a very challenging period, and people have to understand that it is not the time to make mistakes or wrong decisions.
Stress avoidance
The investigations show avoidance could be one of the management strategies used by people to investigate or solve stressful situations (Beru, Kilelo & Rotich 2015). Such approach deserves attention because it could be characterised by a number of positive and negative outcomes at the same time. The essence of avoidance is the possibility to pay no attention to stress and its outcomes on a human organism and behaviour. Besides, this strategy promotes the creation of a total or partial separation of the stressors that could limit interactions (Beru, Kilelo & Rotich 2015). As a rule, people, who choose stress avoidance, neglect many things and try to believe that everything is better than it seems. On the one hand, if the level of stress is not too high, and it is possible not to pay attention to stressors, stress avoidance could help to decrease the level of harmful outcomes and overcome the challenges in a short period of time. On the other hand, if important stressors are neglected, and the solution of conflicts is avoided, a person could omit some important information and the possible impact on an organism. Organisational stress could be developed in the workplace even if people cannot recognise it. Therefore, its effects may be unpredictable and dangerous for people and the level of their productivity.
Conclusion
In general, organisational stress is proved to be a crucial issue in the lives of many people. Teachers, as well as the representatives of other jobs, experience stressful situations and are exposed to the outcomes of stress. This literature review of organisational stress and the possible methods of coping with it provides a detailed plan on how to recognise stress and its reasons, identify its physical and psychological effects, and investigate its stressors in order to destroy them. In addition to the role of stress in human lives, the analysis of the literature helps to understand a tiny connection between such concepts and stress and change. Anxiety and burn-out could be the components of stress and the factors that make people change their behaviours, styles of work, communication, etc. However, change has a number of characteristics in stressful situations. It could be the reason for stress. Change could also be an outcome of stress. Finally, it is possible to use change as the solution to a stressful situation. Therefore, it is suggested to focus on the interconnection that exists between stress and change and promote new research on this topic.
Reference List
Adamska, K. (2016). Silence and breaking the silence in an organization. Annals of Psychology, vol. 19(1), pp. 89-101.
Anari, N.N. (2012). Teachers: emotional intelligence, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. Journal of Workplace Learning, vol. 24(4), pp. 256-269.
Berker, A.O., Tirole, M., Rutledge, R.B., Cross, G.F., Dolan, R.J. & Bestmann, S. (2016). Acute stress selectively impairs learning to act. Scientific Reports, vol. 6, pp. 1-12.
Beru, M.K., Kilelo, H. & Rotich, K.J. (2015). Occupational stress and conflict management in organizations: Understanding the organizational behaviour.International Journal of Economics, Commerce and Management. Vol. 3(7). Web.
Cronin, P., Ryan, F. & Coughlan, M. (2008). Undertaking a literature review: a step-by-step approach. British Journal of Nursing, vol. 17(1), pp. 38-43.
Fernet, C., Guay, F., Senecal, C. & Austin, S. (2012). Predicting intraindividual changes in teacher burnout: The role of perceived school environment and motivational factors. Teaching and Teacher Education, vol. 28, pp. 514-525.
Fisher, M.H. (2011). Factors influencing stress, burnout, and retention of secondary teachers. Current Issues in Education. Vol. 14(1). Web.
Fox, S. & Stallworth, L.E. (2010). The battered apple: An application of stressor-emotion-control/support theory to teachers’ experience of violence and bullying. Human Relations, vol. 63(7), pp. 927-954.
Hanif, R., Tariq, S. & Nadeem, M. (2011). Personal and job related predictors of teacher stress and job performance among school teachers. Pakistan Journal of Commerce and Social Sciences, vol. 5(2), pp. 319-329.
Hiriyappa, B. (2013). Stress management: leading to succeed. Bloomington: Booktango.
Idoko, J.O., Agoha, B.C.E., Muyiwa, A.S. & Kunle, O.A. (2015). Stress and its management. Open Access Library Journal, vol. 2(12), pp. 1-8.
Klassen, R.M. & Chiu, M.M. (2010). Effects on teachers’ self-efficacy and job satisfaction: teacher gender, years of experience, and job stress. Journal of Educational Psychology, vol. 102(3), pp. 741-756.
Kolaksazov, A. (2015). Risk management in investment decisions: real options approach. Berlin: GRIN Verlag.
Koolhaas, J.M., Bartolomucci, A., Buwalda, B., Boer, S.F., Fluegge, G… & Fuchs, E. (2011). Stress revisited: a critical evaluation of the stress concept. Neuroscience and Behavioral Reviews, vol. 35, pp. 1291-1301.
McEwen, B.S., Eiland, L., Hunter, R.G. & Miller, M.M. (2012). Stress and anxiety: Structural plasticity and epigenetic regulation as a consequence of stress. Neuropharmacology, vol. 62(1), pp. 3-12.
Mujtaba, B.G., Lara, A., King, C., Johnson, V. & Mahanna, T. (2010). Stress at work in a slowing economy. Journal of Applied Management and Entrepreneurship, vol. 15(2), 26-42.
Raio, C.M., Brignoni-Perez, E., Goldman, R. & Phels, E.A. (2014). Acute stress impairs the retrieval of extinction memory in humans. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, vol. 112, pp. 212-221.
Robbins, S., Judge, T.A., Millett, B. & Boyle, M. (2013). Organisational behaviour. Frenchs Forest:Pearson.
Roeser, R. W., Schonert-Reichl, K. A., Jha, A., Cullen, M., Wallace, L., Wilensky, R., Oberle, E., Thomson, K., Taylor, C. & Harrison, J. (2013). Mindfulness training and reductions in teacher stress and burnout: Results from two randomized, waitlist-control field trials. Journal of Educational Psychology. Web.
Romi, S., Lewis, R., Roache, J. & Riley, P. (2011). The impact of teachers’ aggressive management techniques on students’ attitudes to schoolwork. The Journal of Educational Research, vol. 104(4), pp. 231-240.
Sahlin, E., Ahlborg, G., Matuszczyk, J.V. & Grahn, P. (2014). Nature-based stress management course for individuals at risk of adverse health effects from work-related stress-effects on stress related symptoms, workability and sick leave. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, vol. 11(6), pp. 6586-6611.
Schwabe, L., Joels, M., Roozendaal, B., Wolf, O.T. & Oitzl, M.S. (2011). Stress effects on memory: an update and integration. Neuroscience and Behavioral Reviews, vol. 36(7), pp. 1740-1749.
Sohail, M & Rehman, CA 2015, Stress and health at the workplace – a review of the literature. Journal of Business Studies Quarterly, vol. 6(3), pp. 94-121.
Vasudevan, V. (2015). Do organizational stress really matters in career satisfaction? Hamburg:Anchor Academic Publishing.
Weinberg, A., Cooper, C., Sutherland, V. & Bond, F. (2010). Organizational stress management: A strategic approach. New York:Palgrave Macmillan.
Annexure
Table 1: Sources for the literature review.
