Causes, Symptoms, Consequences and Occupational Stress Management

Abstract

Research Question (RQ): What are the most common causes for occupational stress? What are the most common stress symptoms? What are the most common stress consequences? How can we manage stress?

Purpose: The purpose is to study articles regarding causes, symptoms, consequences and occupational stress management separately for EU, USA and Slovenia, to review and summarize researches for different levels: individual, group, leadership and organizational level. The article should give a brief result presentation with overview on common features of these regions. The goal of this article is to identify and present differences regarding causes, symptoms, consequences and occupational stress management in EU, USA and Slovenia. 

Method: The research used an integrative review of scientific and professional literature in the field of occupational stress management. We searched articles trough different bases (Google Scholar, dLIB) using relevant keywords. Articles used in this research work were not older than ten years with impact factor higher than 1.5 (EU and USA articles). Article published in indexed journal was the only condition to use Slovenian article in this research. Review included 19 articles. The data were processed by thematic qualitative analysis.

Results: Most common causes of stress are high-strained jobs and poor relations among employees in organization, which is often manifested in employee burnout, low productivity, increasing sick leave, work accidents, alcohol, tobacco and drug abuse. Most common stress management activities are proactive primary interventions that include regular physical activity and healthy lifestyle, high level of work autonomy, various educational and wellness programs, social support and promoting healthy work relationships among employees in organization.   

Organization: Results of this study imply management activities, approaches and methods that deliver good results  regarding stress management to highest and middle management.

Society: By taking proactive activities to manage occupational stress in organizations we counteract the negative effects of  overexposure to occupational stress, thereby positively affecting job wellbeing, increase work effectivity and prevent the emergence of stress-related diseases, that evidently reduce productivity and enlarge healthcare costs.

Originality: This study provides direct comparison of the causes, consequences and interventions for occupational stress management in three researched regions, offering a shift of existing paradigms and the basis for designing and complementing existing approaches to occupational stress management.

Limitations/Future Research: Comparison of work stress management was carried out in three regions (USE, EU and Slovenia). For a broader and more comprehensive view of stress management it would be recommended to extend research to Asia (China, South Korea and Japan).