Sayonara To Stress

Managing stress is an indispensable part of both individual and corporate responsibility, reports Syed Zafar Mehdi from CII Conference on Stress Management in Kolkata.

Managing stress is an indispensable part of both individual and corporate responsibility, reports Syed Zafar Mehdi from CII Conference on Stress Management in Kolkata.

Stress at workplace is a relatively new phenomenon that has far-reaching consequences not only on the performance and productivity of an employee in an organisation but also in the other spheres of his or her life. Workplace stress can be caused by job insecurity, long work hours, demanding work environment, conflict with fellow workers, use of sophisticated latest technology, burnout, personal problems etc. It has, of late, assumed alarming proportions across the world. So, to address this issue, stress management has emerged as an important and indispensable discipline. Today, managing stress has become an essential and integral part of both individual and corporate responsibility.

Most organisations are using a holistic approach to workplace stress by identifying employees’ common stressors and implementing the interventions at the primary level. To address these burning issues related to workplace stress management and the ways to break the cycle of stress for optimising productivity, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) organised a day-long conference in Hotel Hindustan International, Kolkata on April 30, 2013. The conference was attended by many high-profile corporate leaders, academic scholars and experts from various parts of India. The Human Factor was the magazine partner of the event.

The first session titled ‘Emotional Management: Where is Your Life Pulling You’ deliberated upon the different aspects of emotion management. The session was chaired by Prof. Vidyanand Jha, Professor – Behavioural Sciences, IIM Calcutta. The panelists included Dr. Rajeev Puri, Management Consultant and Founder of The Doppelgangers; Mr. Bharathwaj V, Founder and CEO of MyndGenie Systems Pvt Ltd; Dr. Maria Christine Nirmala, Head, Content and Research at SHRM India. The panelists discussed how different individuals interpret and approach stressors.For instance, one employee could view a difficult supervisor as a challenge to be overcome and attempt to learn from him or her; whereas for another employee, this could act as a stressor in the form of frustration. The underlying differentiator between two diverse reactions, according to the panelists, is the emotion with which the stressor is approached and addressed. The panelists discussed the methods and ways to develop the resilience in effectively managing the emotions and identifying the cognition behind the emotion to focus on desired outcomes.

“Emotions precede rational thoughts,” said Mr. Jha, while talking about the phenomenon of ‘emotional labour’. He invoked Lord Buddha and shared some interesting anecdotes to put his point across. “Stress,” said Mr. Puri, “is a most common cause of cancer.” He discussed the Plutchik’s model of emotions and positive and negative hormones. “Quality of emotions determines the quality of our lives,” observed Mr. Bharadwaj. He talked about ‘emotional fitness’ and mechanics of cognitive restructuring. “To lessen the level of stress, change the body posture,” he opined. Dr Nirmala spoke about the problem-focused and emotion-focused coping patterns. The second session titled ‘Systematic Way of Adressing Stress at Workplace’ focused on the systematic way of addressing stress at workplace. It was chaired by Mr O.B. Krishna, Chief – Corporate Safety, Tata Steel Limited. The panelists included Mr Nihar Ranjan Ghosh, Executive Director – HR, Spencer’s Retail Ltd., RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group; Dr. B Udaya Kumar Reddy, Board Member, International Stress Management Association. The panelists discussed the importance of addressing the different dimensions of an individual’s life – physical, intellectual, emotional, social and spiritual – to systematically address stress at the workplace. For individuals to handle stress in a more systematic and holistic manner, the panelists emphasised, it is important to identify and focus on the gap and help build the necessary skills.

38“The most important is to ensure right balance of challenges and competencies,” remarked Mr. Krishna. Mr. Ghosh shared his experiences as an HR leader and how he addresses the stress-related issues at work. “The unmanageable stress disturbs the quality of life,” said Mr Ghosh. Mr. Reddy discussed the various quotients that define stress management. “Every emotion has an ability to disturb the autonomous nervous system,” said Mr. Reddy. Mining industry, he said, was most stressful.

The third and final session of the conference titled ‘Interventions (primary, secondary and tertiary) to Combat Stress and Organisation Level’ focused on how to reduce and effectively cope with the workplace stress at the individual and organisational level. The session was chaired by Mr. Rajiv Burman, Director (India and China) – MSIT, Micrsoft. The panelists included Dr Rabin Chakraborty, Director of Cardiac Sciences, Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals; Mr. R.S. Dabas, Senior Vice President – HR, Jindal Steel and Power Ltd.; Mr. Sujoy Banerjee, President – Group HR & OD, McNally Bharat Engineering Company Ltd. According to the panelists, the most desirable are the primary interventions, which are essentially preventive in nature. Organisations must take preventive measures in the form of ongoing risk assessment and initiate mechanisms that help in improving communication processes and redesigning jobs.

Mr. Burman spoke about stress-related issues in IT industry and how workers cope with it. “It is a mind-game and has to be played with caution and care,” he said. “Stress can be productive,” said Dr. Chakraborty. He spoke on eustress (that pushes you to achieve more) and distress (that affects your morale). “The culture of an organisation is a key to stress management,” he said. Mr Dabas spoke about the measures taken by his company to tackle the stress related issues at workplace. Mr. Banerjee talked about the role of HR in stress management.

Each session was followed by brain-storming question and answer round, in which the inquisitive members of the audience threw a volley of questions at the panelists. CII pledged to organise more such conferences in future that can bring together the best of minds and immensely contribute to the knowledge economy.