Pressure in Work, University and Life

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Abstract

Pressure can sometimes be a source of stress at workplaces, college, and or life in general. Generally, pressure can never be avoided in life. There are times when it is intense and unbearable, while there are also times when it is bearable.

Pressure depends on the amount of work or activities an individual is compelled to undertake or the prevailing environment in which one finds him or herself. Pressure usually comes when a task has to be accomplished within a specific limited time. The objective of this research study is to find out how different people cope with pressure. The research was conducted using quantitative research methods. The data was collected from sample pollution of 15 participants; the data was then analyzed using simple data analysis techniques. The whole research process took a total of eight working days.

Introduction

Pressure at work is relatively the latest occurrence of the modern lifestyle. The nature of tasks at workplaces has undergone a lot of drastic changes over the past few years and is still set to continue changing. Stress at a job or any point in life is a chronic condition that negatively impacts an individual’s performance. Pressure is closely related to stress. Some individuals can easily become stressed if subjected to more pressure than they can afford to deal with.

Men and women are both known to react differently to pressure. Several studies have shown that men tend to be antisocial when under the pressure of stress while women tend to be the opposite. Psychologists argue that human beings are presented with two optional ways of reacting to stimuli: fight and flight. A varying degree of pressure may cause one to either flee from the fight. In comparing men and women, psychologists argue that men are more likely to take flight than women.

Objectives

To find out how men and women respond to pressure
To determine the main causes of pressure
Find out whether people cope differently with pressure

Hypothesis

Men and women respond differently to pressure
Pressure is brought about by energy-intensive activities and tasks
Different individuals have different methods of coping with pressure
There are many causes of pressure in life

Literature review

Nowadays many people feel as if they are being demanded to do what is not possible. Employees are expected to do more work than they may expect. The managers and top management of different organizations and institutions are expected to deal with their pressure. Workers are also expected to cope with all sorts of situations with a level head (International Labor Office, p7). Available literature shows that what makes one feel pressured may not be the case for another person.

This implies the perception that pressure is subjective and relative according to different individuals (Andreassi, p25). What one may feel like a source of pressure may be considered by another person as the source of strength; this means that there are individuals who can work well under pressure and tolerate it to some threshold while some are likely to be broken by the pressure (O’connor, para1-10). It is also shown that one can be subjected to pressure to do something or give certain needed information. According to available information, pressure has been used also by states to force some people to act in a particular manner. This is supported by the Center for the Defense of the Individuals (pp1-5)

Studies have shown that men and women respond or react differently to stress. Similar studies also indicate that age also plays a significant role in how individuals respond to stress. It is reported that stress will make women more social and aware of facial expressions while it has an opposite effect on men.

The latest research study shows that the number of people suffering from insomnia has been increasing. People suffer this condition due to the psychological pressure they experience. Pressure can be caused by individuals worrying too much over certain disturbing issues. According to the result of a study indicates that many people have revealed they suffer from sleep dysfunctions. The majority of these people agreed that pressure is a major cause of their sleep problems; in fact, some of them concurs that when under pressure, they tend to withdraw from what they are doing and also become sick, this is supported by HRM Guide (para1-6).

There are many techniques through which individuals cope with pressure. Some of these techniques are positives while the rest are negative. Psychologists have done a lot of research work and came up with several such coping methods. The first one is an adaptive mechanism which psychologists describe as having the ability to offer help. In this case, the conflicting thoughts that cause pressure are separated into compartments. One can also overdo one thing to compensate for weaknesses, shifting, emphasizing strength and ignoring limitations, and getting time to think. All these are parts of a positive way of coping with pressure.

The second is avoidance mechanism in which an individual decides to avoid the issue causing him or her pressure, third, an individual may also use a behavioral mechanism. In this case, the person under pressure may decide to give in to pressure, lower the target to an achievable level, and engaging altruism, and lastly, individuals may choose to use defense mechanism as described Sigmund Fraud (Changing Minds, para1-4).

Methodology

The researcher decided that the quantitative research method was appropriate for the study. Structured survey questionnaires were used in the process.

Sample

The population sample was drawn randomly using stratified methods of sampling. Five samples were randomly drawn from the female population and then ten males were also randomly drawn from amongst the male population. The sample population included individuals between the ages of 21-35 years.

Data collection and analysis

Data were collected using structured questionnaires. The questionnaires were issued to the 15 respondents who filled and returned to the researcher. During data collection, the respondents were assured that the information they would provide would only be used for the research, and such information would be kept private and confidential. They were also left at will to terminate their participation at any time they wished. The data collected was then appropriately coded and entered into the computer.

Findings and discussions

The research found out that indeed most people experience pressure either at work in colleges and other spheres of life. Individuals feel pressure at work due to the high demand for their time and energy. These findings are consistent with the claims of the International Labor Office (p7) that people get under pressure when they have too much work that makes them stay in offices for long hours. The findings were categorized into several sections in terms of whether one has ever felt pressured in certain instances, gender, reactions to pressure, and coping methods. Of the total respondents, 86.7% indicated that there are instances when they feel pressured.

The rest indicated they never feel pressure and in case they do it is always mild and never has any form of effect on them. This can be explained by the fact that certain people are positive toward pressure in life. Amongst the males, 90% accepted to have experienced pressure while 80% of the females have been under pressure. An average of 64.4% of the respondents indicated that amongst the causes of pressure are too much work, being forced to perform a task, and also not being able to tackle what one must do.

This proves the hypothesis that poses that there are many causes of pressure in life. Of particular interest is the case where respondents indicated that torture is one of the causes of pressure on an individual or groups of individuals. This supports the report by the Center for the Defense of the Individuals (pp1-5) about the use of torture to extract information from people.

Amongst the respondents, 73.3% were able to indicate negative effects of pressure, the remaining 26.7% included individuals who never take pressure negatively and there not able or willing to consider pressure as having some negative effects. This group also included those who claimed they have never experienced serious pressure in their lives. This finding, therefore, supports the arguments of O’Connor (para1-10) about individuals who can work well under pressure. This means that pressure is not just always negative; it is sometimes necessary to enable certain achievements under given circumstances. However, 80% of all the respondents indicated that pressure affects them negatively in almost all spheres of their lives.

Amongst the remaining 20%, some also indicated that it affects them positively. This can be interpreted to mean that there are times when pressure is beneficial and not to certain types of people. Looking at the findings, it became evident that men and women react differently to pressure. The majority of men will become anti-social as claimed by most psychological scientists. However, in most cases, both men and women experience changes in moods which may affect their relationships with others including the family.

Conclusion

The research study justified the hypotheses posed at the beginning of the study. It also managed to answer the research questions about the pressure in people’s lives. This study was limited by the size of the sample population. Future researchers can seek to find more about how pressure affects people differently by expanding on the sample size. The study can also be used to formulate another research on the same subject.

It is has served to make a step forward in the research field about how people experience, react to and handle pressure in their lives. The research was limited by the use of structured survey questionnaires. This did not allow the participants the opportunity to give more information on their perception of pressure. This limitation can be solved by using triangulation in the future research process. The effects of pressure on human lives are very diverse and therefore, cannot be studied in depth by mere use of structured methods.

Works Cited

Andreassi, John. Psychophysiology: Human behavior and physiological response. Mahwah, New Jersey: Routledge, 2006.

Center for the Defense of the Individuals. “Supplemental Information for the Consideration of Israel.” UN Committee Against Torture. 2009. Web.

Changing Minds. “Coping Mechanisms.” Sysque, 2010. Web.

International Labor Office. World labor report 1993. Volume 6 of World labor report, International Labor Office. Geneva, Switzerland: International Labor Organization. 1993.

O’connor, Anahad. “Some People Thrive Under Pressure.” Counseling Corner, 2010. Web.

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