Northern Negros State College of Science and Technology

TIME and WORK STRESS

MANAGEMENT

Submitted by Group 4:

Suncuaco, Precious Gold

Mahilum, ubiemherose
Castillo, Arthur
Tingson, felimar
Moleño, teena
Galvesolo, dyrell jean
Bebila, Lee ann
Estilo, anthony

Submitted to:

Mr. Rae Egcas

November 25, 2012

TIME AND WORK STRESS MANAGEMENT

What is Time Management?

 Time Management refers to managing time effectively so that the

right time is allocated to the right activity.
  Effective time management allows individuals to assign specific time
slots to activities as per their importance.
 Time Management refers to making the best use of time as time is
always limited.

Time Wasters

 Is something that prevents a person from accomplishing the job or

achieving the goal

Common Time Wasters include:

 Interruptions, such as telephone calls and drop-in visitors

 Meetings, both scheduled and unscheduled
 Lack of clear-cut goals, objectives, priorities
 Lack of daily and/or weekly plans
 Lack of personal organization and self discipline
 Lack of knowledge about how one spends one’s time
 Failure to delegate, working on routine tasks
 Ineffective communication
 Waiting for others, not using transition time effectively
 Inability to say NO

Time Management plays a very important role not only in organizations but
also in our personal lives.

Time Management includes:

1. Effective Planning

Plan your day well in advance. Prepare a To Do List or a “TASK PLAN”.

Jot down the important activities that need to be done in a single day
against the time that should be allocated to each activity. High Priority
work should come on top followed by those which do not need much of
your importance at the moment. Complete pending tasks one by one.
Do not begin fresh work unless you have finished your previous task.
Tick the ones you have already completed. Ensure you finish the tasks
within the stipulated time frame.

2. Setting goals and objectives

Working without goals and targets in an organization would be similar

to a situation where the captain of the ship loses his way in the sea.
 Yes, you would be lost. Set targets for yourself and make sure they are
realistic ones and achievable.

Goals are specific statements of outcomes that are to be achieved.

They provide direction and vision for actions as well as a time line in
which activities will be accomplished.

Goal Setting helps to relate current behaviors, activities, or operations

to the organization’s or individuals long-range goals. The focus should
be to develop measurable, realistic, and achievable goals.

3. Setting deadlines

Set deadlines for yourself and strive hard to complete tasks ahead of
the deadlines. Do not wait for your superiors to ask you every time.
Learn to take ownership of work. One person who can best set the
deadlines is you yourself. Ask yourself how much time needs to be
devoted to a particular task and for how many days. Use a planner to
mark the important dates against the set deadlines.

4. Delegation of responsibilities

Delegation is the process by which responsibility and authority of

transferred to another individual. It involves assigning tasks, determining
expected results, and granting authority to the individual expected to
accomplish these tasks.

Learn to say “NO” at workplace. Don’t do everything on your own.

There are other people as well. One should not accept something which
he knows is difficult for him. The roles and responsibilities must be
delegated as per interest and specialization of employees for them to
finish tasks within deadlines. A person who does not have knowledge
about something needs more time than someone who knows the work
well.

5. Prioritizing activities as per their importance

Prioritize the tasks as per their importance and urgency. Know the
difference between important and urgent work. Identify which tasks
should be done within a day, which all should be done within a month
and so on. Tasks which are most important should be done earlier.
Determining Priorities

Urgent and Important these are the activities that needs to be dealt
with immediately and they're important, called as "firefighting".

Important but not urgent although the activities here are important,
and contribute to achieving the goals and priorities - they don't have to
be done right now. As a result, they can be scheduled in when you can
give quality thought to them, called as “Quality Time".

Urgent but not Important these are the activities that help you
achieve your personal and professional goals, and complete important
work. Make sure that you have plenty of time to do these things
properly, so that they do not become urgent.

Not Urgent and Not Important these activities are just a distraction,
and should be avoided if possible. Some can simply be ignored. Others
 are activities that other people may want you to do, but they do not
contribute to your own desired outcomes.

6. Spending the right time on the right activity

Develop the habit of doing the right thing at the right time. Work done
at the wrong time is not of much use. Don’t waste a complete day on
something which can be done in an hour or so. Also keep some time
separate for your personal calls or checking updates on Facebook or
Twitter. After all human being is not a machine.

For Effective Time Management one needs to be:

 Organized - Avoid keeping stacks of file and heaps of paper at your

workstation. Throw what all you don’t need. Put important documents
in folders. Keep the files in their respective drawers with labels on top
of each file. It saves time which goes on unnecessary searching.

 Don’t misuse time - Do not kill time by loitering or gossiping around.
Concentrate on your work and finish assignments on time. Remember
your organization is not paying you for playing games on computer or
peeping into other’s cubicles. First complete your work and then do
whatever you feel like doing. Don’t wait till the last moment.

 Be Focussed - One needs to be focused for effective time

management.

Develop the habit of using planners, organizers, table top calendars for
better time management. Set reminders on phones or your personal
computers.

What is Employee Stress or Work Stress?

Employees stress or Work Stress is a growing concern for organizations

today. Stress can be defined as a lively circumstance in which people face
constraints, opportunities, or loss of something they desire and for which the
consequence is both unpredictable as well as crucial. Stress is the response
of people to the unreasonable/excessive pressure or demands placed on
them.
Stress is not always negative. It may also bring out the best in individuals at
times. It may induce an individual to discover innovative and smarter way of
doing things. This positive dimension of stress is called as enstress. But
usually, the term stress has a negative implication and this negative aspect
of stress is termed as distress.

Symptoms of Stress

Some of the symptoms of stress at workplace are as follows-

 Absenteeism, escaping from work responsibilities, arriving late,
leaving early, etc.
 Deterioration in work performance, more of error prone work,
memory loss, etc.
 Cribbing, over-reacting, arguing, getting irritated, anxiety, etc.
 Deteriorating health, more of accidents, etc.
 Improper eating habits (over-eating or under-eating), excessive
smoking and drinking, sleeplessness, etc.
 Undue, prolong anxiety, phobias, or a persistent state of fear
 Depression, which causes people to withdraw from family and
friends.
 Abrupt changes in mood and behavior, which may be exhibited as
erratic behavior.
 Physical Illnesses, such as ulcers, arthritis, colitis, Hypertension, MI,
and migraine headaches.

Burnout refers to the perception that an individual has used up or available

energy to perform the job and feels that he or she doesn’t have enough
energy to complete the task. Burnout is a combination of physical fatigue,
emotional exhaustion, and cognitive weariness.

It is thus very essential to have effective stress management strategies in an

organization so that the detrimental repercussions of stress on the
employees as well as their performance can be reduced and controlled.

Sources/Causes of Stress

The factors leading to stress among individual are called as stressors. Some
of the factors/stressors acting on employees are-

1. Organizational factors- With the growth in organizational stress and

complexity, there is increase in organizational factors also which cause
stress among employees. Some of such factors are-
 a. Discrimination in pay/salary structure
b. Strict rules and regulations
c. Ineffective communication
d. Peer pressure
e. Goals conflicts/goals ambiguity
f. More of centralized and formal organization structure
g. Less promotional opportunities
h. Lack of employees participation in decision-making
i. Excessive control over the employees by the managers

2. Individual factors- There are various expectations which the family

members, peer, superior and subordinates have from the employee.
Failure to understand such expectations or to convey such
expectations lead to role ambiguity/role conflict which in turn causes
employee stress. Other individual factors causing stress among
employees are inherent personality traits such as being impatient,
aggressive, rigid, feeling time pressure always, etc. Similarly, the
family issues, personal financial problems, sudden career changes all
lead to stress.

Examples of Individual factors

a. Deficiency Focusing- is the habit of focusing on the negatives

at the expense of the positives. There is a tendency to
exaggerate weaknesses and disregard strengths. Persons
become so overwhelmed with what might go wrong that they
don’t look at options and opportunities that also are present.

b. Necessitating- is the belief that is imperative or necessary that

a particular task be done by a specific person; it is a belief
structure that limits choice.

c. Low skill Recognition – is the least stress producing of the 3

habits but maybe the only one that needs the most attention in
an unstable and unpredictable environment. Low skill recognition
is a tendency not to recognize the role of one’s own ability has
played in producing one’s successes.

d. Role Conflict- is the result of incompatibility between the

individual’s perception of the role and its actual requirements.
 3. Job concerning factors- Certain factors related to job which cause
stress among employees are as follows-
a. Monotonous nature of job
b. Unsafe and unhealthy working conditions
c. Lack of confidentiality
d. Crowding

4. Extra-organizational factors- There are certain issues outside the

organization which lead to stress among employees. In today’s
modern and technology savvy world, stress has increased. Inflation,
technological change, social responsibilities and rapid social changes
are other extra-organizational factors causing stress.

Strategies for Managing Stress

One of the first-steps in managing stress is to recognize stressors in the

environment.

There should be Role Definition which involves clarifying roles and

attempting to integrate or tie together the various roles individuals play. If
there is role conflict, it is important to confront others by pointing out
conflicting messages. Role definition may also involve in renegotiation of
roles in an attempt to lessen overload.

To manage stress and keep a stress level that enhances one’s performance
rather than deplete energy the key is to develop some RESILIENCY which
requires a comprehensive approach to managing stress that involves
planning, time and energy.

Stress experienced by the employees in their job has negative impact on

their health, performance and their behaviour in the organization. Thus,
stress needs to be managed effectively so as to set off these harmful
consequences.

Strategies for managing stress are as follows:

Organizational strategies for managing stress

1. Encouraging more of organizational communication with the

employees so that there is no role ambiguity/conflict. Effective
communication can also change employee views. Managers can use
 better signs and symbols which are not misinterpreted by the
employees.
2. Encourage employees’ participation in decision-making. This will
reduce role stress.
3. Grant the employees greater independence, meaningful and timely
feedback, and greater responsibility.
4. The organizational goals should be realistic, stimulating and particular.
The employees must be given feedback on how well they are heading
towards these goals.
5. Encourage decentralization.
6. Have a fair and just distribution of incentives and salary structure.
7. Promote job rotation and job enrichment.
8. Create a just and safe working environment.
9. Have effective hiring and orientation procedure.
10. Appreciate the employees on accomplishing and over-exceeding their
targets.

Individual strategies for managing stress

1. The employees should make a “to-do” list daily, prioritize the acts in
the list and plan the acts accordingly. Take regular breaks during work
to relax you. By effective time management, the employees can
achieve their targets timely and can meet work pressures and, thus,
avoid stress.
2. Do hard work. Strive to achieve your goals but do not do it to the
harm of family, health, or peer.
3. Indulge in physical exercises. It helps in effective blood circulation,
keeps you fit, diverts mind from work pressures.
4. Encourage a healthy lifestyle. Take a regular sleep, have plenty of
water, have healthy eating habits. Promote relaxation techniques such
as yoga, listening music and meditation.
5. The employees should have optimistic approach about their work.
They should avoid connections with negative approach employees.
6. The employees should have emotional intelligence at workplace. They
should have self-awareness, self-confidence and self-control at
workplace.
7. The employees should build social support. They should have close
connections with trustworthy peer who can listen to their problems and
boost their confidence level. This social network will help the
employees to overcome stress.
8. Employee counselling is a very good strategy to overcome employee
stress. Through counselling, employees can become aware of their
strengths and how to develop those strengths; their weaknesses and
how to eliminate them; and they can develop strategies for changing
 their behaviour. Employees are also given career counselling which
helps in reducing their ambiguities with regard to career.
9. Find a fun way to release stress, such as, cracking jokes, playing
tennis, golf, etc.
10. Do not remain pre-occupied with yourself. Turn your focus outwards.
Help others. This will release some stress.