Wednesday, September 11, 2013

When the 'Dog' wags its Tail...

Two interesting research finding on Stress at Workplace -

The first study pertains to a recent research study done by Michael Ford1, family-supportive workplaces and the influence of supervisors -- good or bad -- on employee health.

While work scored above everything when it came to the biggest stressor in life, Supervisors at workplace were found to have maximum contribution to the same. A bad and an abusive supervisor can add a great deal of stress in an employee’s life.
This stress for sure spills over to personal life and has negative impact on marriage, kids, food choices, lifestyle, health hazards like obesity and cardiovascular diseases. It can even hamper the lives of the family members.
A supervisor who simply listens to the employees and can provide emotional support to them at times of need is a huge support at workplace but also a rarity.
Another research done by Prof. Randolph Barker2 and his five member research team at Virginia Commonwealth University’s business school found that letting employees bring their dogs at workplace substantially reduces their stress and also makes them feel more satisfied about their work. Dogs may be a great buffer to the impact of workplace stress and can inspire greater personal interactions among employees.
I never knew ‘Dogs’ could have such an impact on stress-levels at workplace.
Dogs are no simple creatures. Take dog’s waging tail for instance. Dogs wag their tail to communicate strong emotions like agitation, annoyance, displeasure or happiness. A person gets bitten by a dog when he makes mistakes in interpreting the waging tail. 
So make no mistake, there is a science to a dog’s tail especially when it wags! Love or hate, follow the Dog!!!

1.     Prof. Michael Ford is an assistant professor of psychology at the University at Albany-State University of New York, and his research was funded by U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and presented in a Conference on ‘Work, Stress and Health 2013: Protecting and Promoting Total Worker Health’ ( May 16-19, 2013, Los Angeles).
2.     Prof. Barker’s research was published in the International Journal of Workplace health Management in 2012.

10 comments:

Vishnu Raghavan said...

Very very interesting
The bit about the supervisor causing heartburn and stress should serve as a wake up call especially to abusive supervisors.Many of us felt that the Naukri.com ad with an abusive employer called Hari Sadu was a joke but it seems its more chilling than just that.
Bringing dogs to the workplace will cheer up those who have kept pets is quite touching. All those who have kept pets attest to the relaxation they feel owing to the pets be they cats dogs goldfish or hamsters. My own pet cats have given me huge amounts of happiness.
Dogs of course have the advantage that they are attached to people hence the novel step of allowing dogs in the workplace. Quite exciting

Dr. Debashish Sengupta said...

Dear Vishnu,

Thanks for reading and commenting.

Best,
Debashish

Unknown said...

Work is on the top list of every human being and the greed for better living with any kind of adjustments. It is a very true fact that this is the biggest stress booster . Dogs are the best creatures and the most understanding ones in this world .They might not talk but their expressions and movements are more than enough to fathom anything.Money will buy you a pretty good dog,but it wont buy the wag of his tail .Taking dogs to the workplace is a rejoicing idea but it again depends on how an individual takes it.

Unknown said...

very interesting blog .

Unknown said...

Very interesting article. Work is an inevitable event in any human beings list. The more amount of workload along with a stress boosting supervisor is a good formula for a good day to go worse.
Taking a dog to the workplace is only one of a many solutions that can help us to enjoy work. It is true though dogs are no simple creatures. The bond that a dog and its master has is something that is inexplicable. But then bringing a dog to the workplace depends upon the corporate culture that is entertained in the organisation. Each and every person may have a way to reduce their stress. It may be either through listening to music or through some other kind. Finding that way is might help in some way to reduce the tension at workplace.

Unknown said...

Totally agree with the article. Abusive supervisors can affect the victims and co workers alike. Dogs in the workplace can create a positive environment. They can surely lower your stress levels and encourage increased communication among employees raising a more united workforce. Dogs in the workforce could even encourage people to work longer hours, which will increase a company’s bottom line.

Unknown said...

i have got to know that encouraged people will work longer hours..and it will result an vigorous impact on company's economic level....and have never seen such an impressive blog...totally agreed..and also..it will reduce their stress..and dogs wag their tail...and those are the strong emotions...one can feel..and it is a good stress relief

Unknown said...

Article is very interesting..Dogs in work force encourage people to work longer and also it has a good impact on united workforce...and also it increase company's life..and by implementing dogs in work force..is quite EXCITING...

Prachi Rani said...

Workplace is like a second home for employees.... a abusive supervisor can make difficult and stressful to work there.... stress can be released by anything that we like or like to do.Blog very well describes how employees working environment and spirit are not only effective by monitoring professional factor but also by emotional factor.

Unknown said...

well written article about factors which can influence stress at workplace ....
boss coworkers all carries a major part in creating stress or removing stress from a persons life .....
healthy work place environment means good work as well as a stable out of work life
and not so cooperative work environment means more stress and negative impact on out of work life ...
dog at a work place good idea or a bad idea depends on place where you work like google will be a good place to carry your dog but not an it industry where the work place is not that friendly
nice article .....