STRESS – A RISK FOR ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE Alecxandrina DEACONU Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest Lavinia RAŞCĂ The Institute for Business and Public Administration - ASEBUSS Abstract. Representing the central point of many heated theoretical debates, the concept of stress is often used, with meanings that are more or less concrete. It does not belong anymore only to medicine, although it owes a lot to the researchers who focused their efforts for defining the concept, for identifying the determining factors and for drawing up modalities of protection against the negative effects. The seventy years of investigations carried out by the stress researchers offer today plenty of data that help us understand the biological and psychological reality and orientate the individual and organizational actions. In the following lines it will be highlighted the way management identified the information regarding stress and the actions initiated in the view of reducing its destructive effects. Key words: stress, performance, stress management. 1. Stress and its Effects In the day-to-day life, the negative, dysfunctional aspects were traditionally highlighted. More and more voices warn about the possible risks that could emerge if the human resources management ignores the current signs. Under these circumstances it is thus important to understand what stress is. There are many definitions of stress. Mainly, they state that stress is the psychological, emotional and physiological response of the organism to any demand perceived as a threat to a person’s well-being. According to Hans Selye (1956), stress is due to the non-specific effects of any demand on the human organism. The phrase “non-specific effects” shows the fact that the organism’s response is a stereotype, independent from the specific stress factor. Each of the factors can produce specific individual changes in the human body and on the whole can create additional non-specific effects common to all factors. (Figure 1). At the workplace the negative stress appears as a consequence of the constant pressure put on the individual, to act in incompatible ways with his real or perceived ability, with the available time and resources. In other words, workplace stress can be defined as the most harmful physical and psychic response that appears when the requirements of the job do not match the employee’s resources, abilities or needs (Selye,1956).