Discuss comfort zone and phase theories in business environment Essay

Discuss comfort zone and phase theories in business environment - Essay Example In performance management, motivation and anxiety are useful tools which are of great help since both are behaviorally subsets of stress. Both anxiety and motivation are constructive in different circumstances. In a certain scenario, introduction of anxiety might be appropriate while in another case, motivation may be most suitable. However, when excessive motivation or anxiety is used, it may decelerate performance because of too much stress. In order to be able to maximize performance in a given team or individuals an organization uses the appropriate management style in the various phases. If inappropriate management style is put to use on matters of people management, it may result to very poor performance. When utilizing performance enhancing steps, the new performance cycle should be at the point where the older cycle began to decelerate. The comfort zone The comfort zone is known to be a state of behavior whereby, an individual operates in a condition which is anxiety- neutral . In this state, an individual strives to deliver a level of performance which remains steady while using a limited set of behaviors without any sense of risk. This means that the level of performance remains constant as long as the anxiety or the applied skills does not change. In case the skills applied or the anxiety is altered, the end result will be either an upward or downwards change in the level of performance. The impact of anxiety on performance was investigated by Yerkes and Dodson. They found out that performance can be improved by anxiety to a point where, a given level of arousal has been reached (attained). However, performance begins to drop as the levels of anxiety gets higher and higher. The conclusion is that performance may be improved by increase in anxiety, but performance may also decrease when anxiety becomes excess (intolerable). In either case, an individual will be forced to move out their comfort zone and react to new stimuli. In terms of performance mana gement, improvement of performance as a result of increased anxiety is a good thing and is normally referred to a state of arousal. This state of arousal is defined as being the optimal performance zone, which all managers should strive to achieve to improve performance in their companies. However, the level of anxiety that causes performance deterioration is defined as being a good thing or danger zone. The research conducted by McCelland, Atkinson et al, on motivation illustrated the same relationship between motivation and performance. Carnall, when dealing with management of change came up with the correlation between individual’s performance and their own self esteem. Considering stress Carnall found out that stress increases an individual’s performance until a given level is attained. Beyond this given level, performance decelerates with increase levels of stress introduced to a worker. This continues until a given level where performance can enter into a free fa ll as behavior becomes unstable. The following model is developed from the above conclusion. The smallest circle illustrates the comfort zone, while the larger circle illustrates the optimal performance zone. Outside the two ovals is the danger zone that stress can lead an employee to. This illustrates that in a comfort zone, a slight increase in anxiety can bring an individual to a danger zone, however,