Public Administration Journaling
Instructions
* Your task is to contemplate some of the most common contributors or causes to personal workplace stress and how this stress affects your performance.
* After you have done this, review some of the stress management methods that have been discussed in this unit (or through your own research) that you have not implemented before and that are of particular interest to you.
* Next, extend the relationships between stress mitigation and creativity development practices that you have not implemented before or that interest you. How can enhancing your creativity help with stress mitigation? Explain.
*Finally, develop a reflection paper where you review the contemplated contributors and express your thoughts on the general effectiveness and viability of the management tactic(s) selected.
The reflection (4 points (*) above) must be at least two pages in length. Outside sources and references are not required; however, if outside sources are used, please adhere to APA Style when creating citations and references for this assignment.
Public Administration Journaling
Job stressors are demands at work and environmental conditions that tax people. There are positive stressors known as challenging stressors, and negative stressors, also known as hindrance stressors. The challenge stressors have a positive effect on a person’s behavior or attitude towards work like the time pressure, workload, job responsibility, and complexity, among others, which help a person grow and excel in their career. The hindrance stressors harm a person’s behavior and attitude towards work like job instability, role ambiguity, organizational politics, and the rest, which thwart a person’s goal attainment and personal growth.
Some of the most common causes of personal workplace stress include working for long hours without a break. That brings about fatigue, which makes a person unproductive at work. The second cause could be a heavy workload. Without time to relax, a person becomes dull and unproductive. The third is over-supervision at work where a person is always being observed, which means the manager does not trust the employee. The fourth is changes within the workplace. That could be a cause of personal stress in the workplace because when a person is used to a certain routine or certain people, then changes are made all of a sudden or reshuffling is often done; this could affect the employee, therefore, lead to stress. Others include conflict with coworkers, job interfering with family life, travel, or communication problems.
Some stress management tips would be of interest to me if I were in this position. Some of these include keeping a positive attitude at work, accepting that some things cannot be changed, being assertive instead of unnecessary aggressiveness like asserting beliefs, feelings, and opinions instead of always jumping into conclusions or being angry, passive, or defensive (Rawlings, 2018). Others include eating a healthy and balanced diet, learning relaxation techniques like yoga, and exercising regularly. I can also ensure that I get enough sleep, especially if I had a lot of work during the day and make time for relaxation, hobbies, and fun. It is also good to seek social support, which helps in relieving stress.
Employee creativity is a person’s ability to generate novel and valuable ideas in the workplace for concepts, products, processes, and services that are different from what was already there. Engaging in creative behavior improves overall health, improves mental health, physical health, and brain function, and most importantly, it helps mitigate stress (Deswal). Enhancing creativity increases happiness by reducing anxiety, slowing down the heart rate, and boosting the mind. When a person creates, an imagination is invoked, usually a constructive and productive use of the mind. When a creative task is intensely focused, a person can achieve a state of flow whereby the best performance is achieved at an optimal state of consciousness.
In conclusion, increased stress may lead to behavioral distress like increased alcohol consumption or smoking, aggression, drug abuse, and dietary extremes. Stress compromises the immune system making them vulnerable to diseases and illnesses. It also has psychological effects like fear, frustrations, pressure, conflicts, confusion, and loneliness. There are implications of poorly managed stress in the workplace that are also profound, which causes a direct or an indirect cost in an organization. Direct consequences are like decreased performance, increased absenteeism, accidents, or violence. The primary cause of individual stress is life changes. Mitigating stress requires one to prevent harmful levels of stress and effectively to respond to stress.
References
Rawlings, D.M.P.A.K. C. (2018). Managing Human Behavior in Public and Nonprofit Organizations. [VitalSource Bookshelf]. Retrieved from https://online.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781506382654/
Deswal, N. Stress, Therapy, and Comic Relief. National Development, 113.
