ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses sources of stress in project management and presents techniques that can be applied to maintain high levels of individual and team performance. It begins with a definition of stress, followed by a description of the impact that the stress response has on performance. The chapter presents a selection of stress management approaches to provide a menu of techniques that can be applied in the project environment. It concludes with a discussion of best practices for making personal changes, because any personal initiative directed towards improving ones ability to modulate project stress involves embracing personal change abandoning less functional approaches to coping whilst simultaneously being willing to try something new. When a project professional makes the individualised appraisal that a project variable or situation is stressful, that person is now immersed in the powerful and familiar fight or flight reaction. Chronic stress and its impact upon project performance are nicely represented by the Yerkes-Dobson curve.
