Instructor Resources
Denhardt, Managing Human Behavior in Public and Nonprofit Organizations 4th edition
SAGE Publications 2016
Chapter 4 – Managing Stress
Slide 1 – Opening
Slide 2 – Chapter Objectives
•Importance of understanding stress
•Identifying the symptoms of stress
•Identifying the stages of the General Adaptation Syndrome
•Recognize the consequences and costs of stress
•Recognize the sources of stress
•Understand ways to cope and manage stress
Slide 3 – Understanding Stress
•Anyone who has worked in the public service knows that it can be stressful for a variety of
reasons. As public servants, we tackle a broad range of difficult and important problems, often
Slide 4 – Symptoms
•Are you stressed? The truth is that all of us experience stress at some level. But it is important to
know when we might be exhibiting the symptoms of stress that is too frequent or too intense.
Such stress often is exhibited in physical symptoms.
Slide 5 – Sources
•Although we primarily concentrate on the sources of stress that are work and job related, it is
important to remember that all types of life events and changes can lead to stress. Furthermore, it
is not only big changes and life events that cause stress. In addition to events such as major job
moves, shifts in responsibilities, and organizational changes, the day-to-day realities of work can
make you feel stressed.
Slide 6 – Definition
•The word stress is an everyday part of our vocabulary. If you talk about being “stressed out” at
work, you are likely to elicit knowing nods and personal stories of feeling overworked,
overpressured, and overwhelmed.
Slide 7 – Three Stages
•While in the alarm stage, bodily changes enhance our capacity to fight or flee, but there also are
other physical consequences, particularly when stress becomes chronic and exhaustion sets in.
As our bodies are bombarded with stress-related chemicals over time, all types of health
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Instructor Resources
Denhardt, Managing Human Behavior in Public and Nonprofit Organizations 4th edition
SAGE Publications 2016
Slide 8 – Do We Behave Differently?
•Although the physical and chemical responses to stress are the same, there is some evidence
that men and women may behave differently in reaction to these changes. For example, the
“fight-or-flight” response is the dominant behavioral response among males, but that females are
more likely to engage in what they called “tend and befriend” behaviors in response to stress.
Slide 9 – Consequences
•The consequences and costs of stress to individuals, to organizations, and to society at large are
nothing short of enormous. It has been estimated that more than 10 million American workers
suffer from stress-related problems.
Slide 10 – Good, Bad, Ugly
•So, why do we not avoid stress at all costs? There are two answers to this question. The first is
relatively simple: We cannot avoid stress while still living normal lives. The second is that we
would not want to do so even if we could. Despite all of its negative consequences and costs,
Slide 11 – Individual Factors
•Individual sources of stress stem from our personalities or events in our personal lives. The
primary source of stress is life. We all know that negative changes, such as loss of a loved one,
lead to stress. But even positive changes—such as getting married or moving to a new house—
carry the potential of stress. Classic research showed that people who experience more changes,
both good and bad, experience more symptoms of stress and are more likely to have health
problems.
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Instructor Resources
Denhardt, Managing Human Behavior in Public and Nonprofit Organizations 4th edition
SAGE Publications 2016
Slide 12 – On the Job Stress
•Although working with people can be a great source of satisfaction, work also can become
stressful when we encounter interpersonal conflicts. Competitiveness may play a role in
encouraging such conflict. Workplace bullying can also be a very significant source of stress.
•Role ambiguity and role conflict also can be work-related stressors. Organizational roles can be
thought of as a set of expectations about what an individual should do. When faced with role
conflict, individuals may withdraw, change their personal values, rationalize, or become
aggressive.
•Workload demands can vary not only with the amount of work but also with the difficulty of the
work. Very low work complexity can lead to boredom, and very high work complexity can lead to
fatigue, anxiety, and stress
Slide 13 – EAPs
•Organizations are recognizing the role of personal stress factors and providing assistance to their
employees to resolve such problems. Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) cover many
personal areas.
Slide 14 – Coping and Managing
•Recognizing and evaluating how stress is influencing both our own performance and that of
others is the first step in using stress constructively and avoiding its destructive aspects.
Slide 15 – Coping and Managing
•Lifestyle decisions play a significant role in influencing our physical health and well-being as well
as our ability to cope successfully with the demands, challenges, and stresses of our work.
•Our perceptions and attitudes can make a difference in how we respond to potentially stressful
situations as well as alter our subjective experiences of stress when it occurs; Studies of how to
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Instructor Resources
Denhardt, Managing Human Behavior in Public and Nonprofit Organizations 4th edition
SAGE Publications 2016
•One of the key mediating factors in determining how well people cope with stress is the amount
and quality of social support that they receive. Positive relationships with and support from the
people we work with can act as a buffer or mediator to job-related stress. Relationships with our
supervisors, our employees, or our coworkers can provide structural, functional, emotional, and
tangible support, thereby enabling us to ameliorate the potentially harmful effects of stress in the
workplace.
•All of us regulate our emotions to a greater or lesser extent under different kinds of
circumstances. Particularly at work, we may choose to conceal or alter the external display of our
emotions for our own reasons or because the employer has set up certain rules for behavior.
While emotional regulation can cause stress, it can also be important to smoothing the cycles of
social interaction.
Slide 16 – Ways of Acting
•Take charge. Identify the major stresses in your life and evaluate which you can control or
influence and which you cannot.
•Take care of yourself. Keeping yourself healthy makes you more resilient in the face of stress and
stress-related health problems.
•Reach out to others. Time with friends at work or outside of work will help you to cope with stress
and keep you mentally healthy. Do not forget to laugh and enjoy yourself.
•Find a balance. If work is your whole life, then you and your work probably will suffer. Those who
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