Stress Testing : Why And How Might These Weaknesses Affect An Institution?

Stress is a part of everyday life and as such is a part of all organisations. Cole in his 2004 book ‘Management Theory and Practice’ describes stress as:

A person experiences stress when they perceive that the demands of their work are greater than their ability to cope. Coping means balancing the demands and pressures placed on you (i.e. the job requirements) with your skills and knowledge (i.e. your capabilities). For example, if you give a member of your team a tight deadline on a project they feel they have neither the skills nor ability to do well, they may begin to feel undue pressure which could result in work related stress.

Society defines stress as anything which forces us to change. Through technical terms stress is defined as “a negative emotional state occurring in response to events that are perceived as taking or exceeding a person’s resources or ability to cope.” To explaining stress researchers came up with the “Cognitive appraisal model”, this system works to tell us whether we believe we have enough resources to deal with the situation without becoming stressed. For instance as a now college student those who have had previous experience taking finales in high school can have less stress than those who have not taken it. This is because they have previous experience with taking the tests and learning how to study while those who have never taken one can become extremely stressed over the unknown of the test. Stress is one of the sub branches that is attached to the world of health psychology. Health psychology is a quickly growing branch that deals with the way the mind and body work together. Psychologists that work in the health field came up with the biopsychosocial model. This model explains the complex interaction with biological, psychological, and social factors.

Stress is a big factor in everyday life. It influences how we approach life and events. Stress is why people run tight schedules and diet regularly. The power stress has is a negative effect over our brain and our body. Many people do not understand how to cope with stress. Therefore, people suffer from physical illness due to stress. Learning is not taking place when someone undergoes stress.

stressors, and what steps to take in order to avoid these factors are covered in this article.

Many know the stressful feeling of having to take the ACT. The exam room fills slowly with worried faces and remains quiet until the test stars. Students grasp their pencils tightly, their palms sweating with the thought of their future at stake with this single test. In order to get into any college, an ACT or SAT score is required. These required scores for admission vary from school to school which can make it difficult for every student to attend their dream school. A single test will determine who can and cannot attend a certain college. With this system, it can deny students with potential in certain fields a place in a college because they might not test well. College admission should not be based on

    In order to have our project succeed to a high standard we must gather information on multiple items. For our criteria of stress we must identify

Stress is a nonspecific response of the human organism to any demand make upon it. It can influence the way we perform on tests and homework and how we act at home or work. There are different types of stress that can occur in the body. Acute stress is the body’s response to imminent danger. This short-term stress usually occurs when we are told we will have a quiz or have to give a speech in class. Chronic stress is a prolonged physical or emotional stress. This can cause damage to the body if the stress lasts for too long. Optimal stress is intense enough to motivate and physically prepare us to perform well but not enough to cause harm to the body.

Standardized testing creates a lot of stress on students and educators alike. Because of how much stress is put on them to prepare students for these tests, many excellent teachers quit their jobs everyday. In fact, in April, new federal data stated that 17 percent of new public school teachers leave their profession after four years due to stress and other reasons. Some teachers fail to teach students skills that go beyond the tests because they’re so pressured to get their students ready for these exams. This amount of stress can lead to feelings of negativity towards school and learning in general as well as cause negative health issues. Standardized tests places a large amount of stress on both teachers and students.

Stress can be caused by many different things within an organisation but the main causes of stress can be broken down into “six management standards” Anon (2009) how to tackle work related stress http://www.hse.gov.uk/ I used these areas to construct the chart below and discussed stress at a team meeting and asked my team to complete a Circle of influence around areas over which they felt they had no control Appendix 1 we also discussed what we / I could do to manage the six main causes of stress

Have you ever been taking standardized test and thought “wow this sucks”? Did you know that the average 8th grader spends about 20-25 hours taking and preparing for standardized tests. Some people would say that we need more standardized test, but I think we already have enough test. I believe that we do not need any more test, because stress, it isn’t

According to ULifeline, “stress is a burst of energy that basically advises you on what to do. In small doses, stress has many advantages. For instance, stress can help you meet daily challenges and motivates you to reach your goals. In fact, stress can help you accomplish tasks more efficiently. It can even boost memory… [And] help to fortify the immune system.”

Central Idea: There are many forms of stress and it is important to know what they are and why they are that way.

Studies from different parts of the world made by different health organizations have showed that long working hours and pressured work lead to stress which affects the employees mentally and physically and leads indirectly to low productivity levels. Not only stress, but it can cause a lot more of health issues like extreme fatigue including sleepiness, poor concentration, and increased susceptibility to illness. These symptoms can a have a noticed effect on the general productivity of an organization.

    Stress today can be described as "that which disturbs a person's mental and physical well-being" (Morrison 1).  Common symptoms of stress include chronic fatigue, changes in appetite, drug and/or alcohol abuse,  difficulty sleeping, body aches, and changes in emotions (Cooper 1-2).  And although stress is something that is inevitable, it can be controlled.  Just about everything we do today creates stress, both good and bad.  In the face paced and technological world we live in, stress management is key to survival as well as sanity.