There are various studies that have been conducted in linking 'Stress' to work related environment including job Satisfaction, organizational commitment and employee behaviour (Sullivan and Bhagat, 1992; Nauman, 1993; and Tett and Meyer, 1993)
However, there are some statistical studies that also indicate positive impact of Stress at Work. I have briefly summarized some points as below:
1. Results in Creativity: An article in Journal of Psychology (2012) by March, Cynthia Neal and Patricia share a result from a study conducted on 30 participants engaged in creative tasks. It indicated that activating positive mood had a stronger concurrent effect on Creative Process Engagement (CPE) and activating negative mood had a longer lasting effect on sustaining CPE across time. Isn't this an interesting finding and something to ponder upon?
2. Results in Agile and Effective Decision Making: In situations of stress, you may ponder over an action and its value addition to your profession. If you view things in a positive light, you would end up assessing various alternative suggestions to a problem and arrive at a decision with a greater speed and effectiveness. Your ultimate goal would be benefit the organization and mutually gain the same for self and others.
3. Results in a Sense of Urgency and Alignment to Goals: Having implemented point 2 above, you would now step up the task of implementing the action and insist on faster delivery for results, thus creating a sense of urgency around for the team. Once done, the team understands the importance of actions, the outcomes and will quickly align itself to the organizational goals.
Thus, Stress entirely is not bad. It depends on whether you use the stress to become more productive or burn out and quit.
References:
However, there are some statistical studies that also indicate positive impact of Stress at Work. I have briefly summarized some points as below:
1. Results in Creativity: An article in Journal of Psychology (2012) by March, Cynthia Neal and Patricia share a result from a study conducted on 30 participants engaged in creative tasks. It indicated that activating positive mood had a stronger concurrent effect on Creative Process Engagement (CPE) and activating negative mood had a longer lasting effect on sustaining CPE across time. Isn't this an interesting finding and something to ponder upon?
2. Results in Agile and Effective Decision Making: In situations of stress, you may ponder over an action and its value addition to your profession. If you view things in a positive light, you would end up assessing various alternative suggestions to a problem and arrive at a decision with a greater speed and effectiveness. Your ultimate goal would be benefit the organization and mutually gain the same for self and others.
3. Results in a Sense of Urgency and Alignment to Goals: Having implemented point 2 above, you would now step up the task of implementing the action and insist on faster delivery for results, thus creating a sense of urgency around for the team. Once done, the team understands the importance of actions, the outcomes and will quickly align itself to the organizational goals.
Thus, Stress entirely is not bad. It depends on whether you use the stress to become more productive or burn out and quit.
References:
-
March L. To, Cynthia D. Fisher, Neal M. Ashkanasy and
Patricia A. Rowe (2012) ‘Within-Person Relationships Between Mood and
Creativity’ Journal of Applied Psychology
. Vol 97, No. 3, 599 -612.
- Sullivan S C and Bhagat R S (1992), ‘Organizational Stress, Job Satisfaction and Job Performance: Where Do We Go From Here?’ Journal of Management, Vol. 8, No. 2, pp. 353-375
