How organizations or manager effectively to use structural and transactional approaches to prevent or alleviate the stress at work

Structural and transactional approaches Affiliation: How organizations or manager effectively use structural and transactional approaches to prevent or alleviate the stress at work
Introduction
Work stress according to Dewe & Cooper, (2012) are any work-related problems which bring strain and other negative impacts to an individual’s psychological and physical process and which may hinder their productivity in the work place. They include issues such as poor lighting, noise, unappreciative boss, uncouth employees among many others. There are different ways to alleviate these work stressors which can be implemented by the manager. The two of them: Structural and transactional will be discussed in detail below and how they can contribute to reduction of the stress.
Structural Approach
These refer to the psychosocial working conditions in the work place that cause individual stress and negative emotional experience in the workplace. The best explanation of this approach is the Karasek’s Demand-Control Model which explains that when the job demands are high and control over the outcome is low, the individual is highly stressed and especially over the performance outcome. When the demands of the job are low and the control is low as well, the job is passive. This is equally similar to when the demands are low and the control is high as the worker will still experience low strain and hence minimal stress (Barley, Meyerson & Grodal, 2011).
In order to prevent this type of stress, it is important to balance the demand even if the control will still be high. This will mean providing a work-life balance which will minimize the demand as well as handle employee relations effectively while still balancing the issue of increased computerization in the workplace which is not only demanding but draining and controlling (Barley, Meyerson & Grodal, 2011).
Transactional Approach
This is the approach which deals purely with the psychological mechanisms and stressors. According to this approach, work stress is caused majorly by psychological issues such as the process of appraisal, decision making and even lack of coping mechanisms in each and every employee. It is the work environment that demands a lot from an individual leading to threatening their psychological well-being and hence hindering performance.
In order to alleviate work place stress identified by this approach, it is important to identify which are the psychological stressors in the work place first. Other than those mentioned above of decision making and appraisal, others include the emotional demands of the work which are likely to cause emotional breakdown which is psychological. There is also the workplace violence, harassment, bullying or even discrimination that is directed towards certain employees and especially female employees and those from a different race or ethnic community (Brummelhuis, Hoeven, Bakker & Peper, 2011). If these issues are addressed and eliminated, then the psychological stressors in the workplace will be a thing of the pasta and performance will increase.
Conclusion
As mentioned in the instruction, workplace stress is caused by different issues taking place in the organization. If the management is able to identify what these stressors are, then they can be able to alleviate the stress in the workplace. The structural and transactional approaches which deal with psychosocial and psychological stressors respectively provide a perfect guideline to the management of an organization on what issues to address. The result of the alleviation is increased performance.
Reference
Barley, S. R., Meyerson, D. E., & Grodal, S. (2011). E-mail as a source and symbol of stress. Organization Science, 22(4), 887–906.
Brummelhuis, LL, Hoeven, CL, Bakker, AB. & Peper, B. (2011). Breaking through the loss cycle of burnout: The role of motivation. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology 84: pp. 268-287.
Dewe, P. & Cooper, C. (2012). Well-being and Work: Towards a Balanced Agenda. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.