DEFINITION AND CONCEPT

Stress:-

Stress may be understood as a state of tension experienced by individuals facing

extraordinary demands, constraints or opportunities.

Stress Defined as

Stress is an adaptive response to an external situation that results in physical,

psychological and behavioural deviations for organizational participants.

Stress is a persons adaptive response to a stimulus that places excessive

psychological or physical demands on that person

We need to examine components of this definition carefully. First is the notion of

adaptation. It means that people may adapt to stressful circumstances in any of several
ways. Second is the role of stimulus. This stimulus, generally called a stressor, is anything
that induces stress. Third, stressor can be either psychological or physical. Finally,
demands the stressor places on the individual must be excessive for stress to result.

Two Faces of Stress:

There are actually two faces of stress, as depicted through figure:

Constructive Stress (Eustress)

Destructive Stress (Distress)
Constructive Stress (Eustress) acts in a positive manner for the individual and the
organization, e.g., winning a contest, falling in love. Eustress is the pleasurable stress that
accompanies positive events.

Destructive Stress (Distress) is not healthy for individual and organization. Distress
would indicate effects that are out of balance or outside the tolerance limits. Distress is
the unpleasant stress that accompanies negative events.

The Stress Process

1
 Much of what we know about stress today can be the pioneering work of Dr. Hans
Selye. Among Selyes most important contribution was his identification of the General
Adaptation Syndrome.

General Adaptation Syndrome: Dr. Selye gave three stages of the General Adaptation
Syndrome. These three stages are known as: Alarm, Resistance and exhaustion.

Alarm is called first stage of GAS. At, this stage person may feel some degree of
panic and begin to wonder how to cope with it. A persons resistance often dips slightly
below the normal level during this stage.

Next comes actual resistance to the stressor, usually leading to an increase above the
persons normal level of resistance. Finally in third stage, exhaustion may set in and the
persons resistance declines sharply below normal levels.

Individual Differences and stress

The stress can affect different people in different ways:-

Type A and Type B Personality Profiles

The most fully developed individual difference relating specifically to stress is the
distinction between Type A and Type B personality profiles. Cardiologists Friedman and
Roseman have identified several personalities characteristics of people who are most
prone to stress. They labeled these behavior patterns Type A and Type B.

The extreme Type A individual is extremely competitive, very devoted to work and
has a strong sense of time urgency. Moreover, this person is likely to be aggressive,
impatient, and highly work oriented. He or She has a lot of drive and motivation and
wants to accomplish as much as possible in as short a time as possible.

The extreme Type B person, in contrast, is less competitive, is less devoted to work,
and has a weaker sense of time urgency. This person feels less conflict with either people
or time and has a more balanced, relaxed approach to life. She or he has more confidence
and is able to work at a constant pace.

2
 A common sense expectation might be that Type A people are more successful than
Type B people. In reality, however, this is not necessarily true. The Type B person is not
necessarily any more or less successful than the Type A.

Hardiness and Optimism

Two other important individual differences related to stress are hardiness and
optimism. Research suggests that some people have what are termed hardier personalities
than others.

Hardiness is a persons ability to cope with stress. People with hardy personalities
have an internal locus of control, are strongly committed to the activities in their lives,
and view changes as an opportunity for advancement and growth. Such people are seen as
relatively unlikely to suffer illness if they experience high levels of pressure and stress.
On the other hand, people with low hardiness may have more difficulties in coping with
pressure and stress.

Optimism is another potentially important individual difference. Optimism is the

extent to which a person sees life in positive or negative terms. A popular expression used
to convey this idea concerns the glass half filled with water. A person with a lot of
optimism will tend to see it as half full, whereas a person with less optimism will often
see it as half empty. Optimism also related to positive and negative affectivity. In general,
optimism people tend to handle stress better. They will be able to see the positive
characteristics of situation and recognize that things may eventually improve. In contrast,
less optimism people may focus more on the negative characteristics of the situation and
expect things to get worse, not better.

The Stress Experience

Not all individuals experience stress with same intensity. Some people overact to
stressors and get highly stressed. Some others have the stamina, endurance and
composure to cope with any stressors. How an individual experiences stress depend upon
the four reasons. These four reasons are:

1. the persons perception of the situation

2. the persons past experience
3. the presence or absence of social support

3
4. individual differences with regard to stress reaction

Perception
Past Experience
Social Support
Individual Differences

Stressor Stress

Relation between Stressors and Stress

Perception: Perception refers to a psychological process whereby a person selects and

organizes stimuli into a concept of reality. Employees perception of a situation can
influence whether or not they experience stress.

A simple transfer from one place to another may be perceived by one employee as
opportunity to see new places and learn new things. The same transfer may be understood
by another employee as extremely threatening and indicating unhappiness of the
management with his or her performance.

Past Experience: Whether a person experiences stress on his or her past experience with
a similar stressor. Writing anonymous letters against the boss or giving leads to the
newspaper and getting false stories published in them against the boss are common
among disgruntled employees.

4
 The relationship between stress and experience is also based on reinforcement.
Positive reinforcement or previous success in a similar situation can reduce the level of
stress that a person experiences under certain circumstances; punishment or past failure
under similar conditions can increase stress under the same circumstances.

Social Support: The presence or absence of other people influences how individuals in
the workplace experience whether stress and respond to stressors. The presence of co-
workers may increase an individuals confidence, allowing the person to cope more
effectively with stress. For example, working alongside someone who performs
confidently and competently in a stressed situation may help an employee behave in an
identical way. Conversely, the presence of follow workers may irritate some people or
make them anxious, reducing their ability to cope with stress.

Individual Differences: Individual Differences in motivation, attitudes, personality and

abilities also influence whether employees experience work stress, and if they do, how
they respond to it. What one person considers a major source of stress, another may
hardly notice it.

Common Causes of Stress:-

Stressors are the things that cause stress. It is important for an organization to
understand and be able to recognize stressors because they cause job-related stress, which
influence work attitude and behavior of employees. The major causes of stress are given
below:-

1. Organizational Stressors
2. Personal Stressors
These two stressors are main causes of stress and these are also known as
organizational factors and life factors. These also show three categories of stress
consequences:-

1) Individual consequences
2) Organizational consequences
3) Burnout

5
 Organizational Individual
Stressors Consequences
1. Occupational demands Behavioral:-
2. Role Conflict Alcohol and drug Abuse
3. Role Ambiguity Violence
4. Role Overload Psychological:-
5. Role Underload Sleep Disturbance
6. Interpersonal Relationships Depression
7. Ineffective Communication Medical:-
8. Responsibility Heart Disease
9. Job Change Headaches
10. Climate with a company

Organizational
Consequences
Life Decline in Performance
Stressors Absenteeism
Turnover
Life Change
Decreased Motivation and
Life Trauma
Satisfaction

Burnout

This diagram shows the relation between Organizational stressor, Life stressor and
between individual consequences, organizational consequences, and burnout.

Organizational stressors:-Organizational stressors are various factors in the

workplace that can cause stress. These are given below:

1) Occupational demands: Some jobs are more stressful than others. According to The
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the following jobs are considered
to be more stressful: Laborer, Secretary, Inspector, Chief Laboratory technician, Office
manager, Foreman, Manager/administrator, Waitress/waiter, Machine operator, Farm owner,

6
Miner, Painter. Certain jobs seem to contain a high amount of in-built stress in the form of
time pressures, too many meetings, difficulties in meeting standards, inter-personal games
etc., especially at higher levels. According to Parasuraman and Alutto, at lower levels also
stress-producing situations emerge on technical grounds (equipment breakdown) or role
frustration (low status, inadequate supervision).
2) Role conflict: Role conflict occurs when the messages and cues constituting a role are
clear but contradictory or mutually exclusive. Four types of role conflicts may generally
come to surface:
Intrasender conflict occurs when one person asks you to accomplish two
objectives that are in apparent conflict. If your boss asks you to hurry up and finish your
work but also decreases pay for your mistake, you would experience this type of conflict.
Intersender conflict occurs when two or more senders give you incompatible
directions. Your boss may want you to complete a crash project on time, but company
policy temporarily prohibits authorizing overtime payments to clerical assistance.
Interrole conflict results when two different roles you play are in conflict.
Your company may want to travel 50 percent of the time while your spouse threatens a
divorce if you travel more than 25 percent of the time.
Person-role conflict occurs when the role(s) that your organization expects
you to occupy are in conflict with your basic values. Your company may ask you to fire
substandard performers, but this could be in conflict with your humanistic values.
3) Role ambiguity: Role ambiguity occurs when position holders are uncertain about
limits of their authority and that of others, company rules, and the methods used to evaluate
their work. Role ambiguity arises when a role is unclear. It is also found that role ambiguity
was significantly related to low job satisfaction and to feelings of job related threats to mental
and physical well being.
4) Role overload: Imagine for a moment about an executive who is attempting to
`dictate a letter, talk on three phones, conducting an interview and writing a report at the
same time. There is no use trying
to do too much in too little time. Constant interruptions , changing hats every five
minutes, a constant stream of visitors, a mountain of files and prepare to process and a
number of subordinates looking up to his valuable advise and guidance all increase the
qualitative and quantitative overload. Persons who experience such conditions show clear
signs of stress and report health problems.

7
5) Role underload: At the other extreme, having nothing to do or being
asked to do too little in ones work can also be quite stressful. Two factors succinctly
explain the relationship between stress and underload. Most persons wish to feel useful
and needed. Thus, when they find that they are doing very little and achieving next to
nothing in their jobs, their self esteem may be threatened. Secondly, people want
stimulation. They dont like the idea of staring blankly into space all the time. They prefer
to interact with the world around them and do something worthwhile.

6) Interpersonal relationship: Another source of stress in organization is poor

interpersonal relationships with others, `be they supervisors, co-workers, subordinated
or clients. When interpersonal relationships at work not pleasant, employees develop a
generalized anxiety, a feeling of fear about upcoming meetings and interactions.
7) Ineffective communication: Stress can result from a lack of communication or from a
lack of the right kind of communication at the right time. We begin to see the world
differently and we tend to interpret communication efforts differently. For example, there is
nothing more stressful than finding that you have arrived at an appointment with your boss at
the wrong time.
8) Responsibility: Any type of responsibility can be burdensome for some people. Different
types of responsibility function differently as stressors. One way of classifying this variable is
in terms of responsibility for people versus responsibility for things. The more responsibility
for people reported, according to one research study, the more likely the person was to smoke
heavily, have high blood pressure and show higher cholesterol levels.
9) Job change: Individuals and work undergo constant changes as organizations try to
become more competitive and aggressive in the marketplace. These changes can cause stress
for the job holders. For example, a bank may computerise its accounting functions. As a
result, a job that did require certain decisions and calculations may become merely a data
collection and entry position for the computer.
10) Climate within a company: Employees can also experience stress when they feel
that they should get more money for their work, of if company restrains them from doing
things they feel they must do to be effective in their job. For example, a manager wishes
to assign few extra duties to an individual for special project but union regulations do not
permit it. Stress can also result from prohibitive physical settings such as heat, cold,
safety hazards, air pollution, uncomfortable spatial arrangements, shift work etc.

8
 Life stressors: Stress in organizational settings also can be influenced by events that take
place outside the organization. Life stressors generally are categorized in terms of life
change and life trauma.

Life change: - Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe first developed and popularized the
notion of life change as a source of stress. A life change is any meaningful change in a
persons personal or work situation.

Life Trauma: life trauma is similar to life change, but it has a narrow, more direct, and
shorter term focus. A life trauma is any upheaval in an individuals life that alters his or
her attitudes, emotions, or behaviors. Major life traumas that may cause stress include
marital problems, family difficulties, and health problems initially unrelated to stress.

Consequences of Stress:

Stress can have a number of consequences. As we already noted, if the stress is

positive, the result may be more energy, enthusiasm, and motivation. These consequences
can be classified into the following categories:

Individual consequences:-

The Individual consequences of stress, then, are the outcomes that mainly affect the
individual. The organization may also suffer, either directly or indirectly, but it is the
individual who pays the real price. Stress may produce behavioral, psychological, and
medical consequences.

a) Behavioral consequences: The behavioral consequences of stress may harm the

person under the stress or others. Accident proneness, drug use, emotional outbursts,
excessive eating, excessive drinking and smoking, impaired speech and nervous
laughter are such behaviors.

b) Psychological consequences: Psychological consequences of stress relate to a

persons mental health and well-being. When people experience too much stress at
work, they may become depressed or find themselves sleeping too much or not enough.
c) Medical consequences: The medical consequences of stress affect a persons
physical well-being. Heart disease and stroke, among other illnesses, have been linked
to stress. Other common medical problems resulting from too much stress include

9
 headaches, backaches, ulcers and related stomach and skin conditions such as acne and
hives.
Organizational Consequences:-

Any of individual consequences just discussed can also affect the organization. Other
results of stress have even more direct consequences for organizations. These include
decline in performance, withdrawal, and negative changes in attitudes.

Performance: One clear organizational consequences of too much stress is a decline in

performance. For operating workers, such a decline can translate into poor-quality work
or a drop in productivity. For managers, it can mean faulty decision making or disruptions
in working relationships as people became irritable and hard to get along with.

Withdrawal: Withdrawal behaviors also can result from stress. For the organization, the
two most significant forms of withdrawal behavior are absenteeism and quitting. People
who are having a hard time coping with stress in their jobs are more likely to call in sick
or consider leaving the organization for good. Stress can also produce other, more subtle
forms of withdrawal.

Attitude: Another direct organizational consequence of employee stress relates to

attitude. As we just noted, job satisfaction, morale and organizational commitment can
all suffer, along with motivation to perform at high levels. As a result, people may be
more prone to complain about unimportant things, do only enough work to get by, and so
forth.

SCOPE OF STRESS MANAGEMENT IN HRM

10
The scope of this research would be to identify the stress the employees at different levels
face in the organization and how much mentally they are fit to face this kind of stress. To
learn the ways the organization deals to handle the kind of stress the employees face. To
know how the organization gets affected due to the stress faced by the employees.

People experience stress, as they can no longer have complete control over what happens in
their lives. The telephone goes out of order, power is shut down, the water supply is
disrupted, an expected promotion is denied, children perform poorly at school, prices of
essential commodities increase disproportionately to income, etc. we feel frustrated, and then
stressed.

There being no escape from stress in modern life. We need to find ways of using stress
productivityely, and reducing dysfunctional stress.

Several terms that are synonymous with stress, or similar in meaning, have been used. In
order to avoid confusion we will use the following terms: stress for stimuli that induce stress;
stress for the affective part in the experience of incongruence, symptoms for the
physiological, behavioral and conceptual responses or changes: and coping for any behavior
that deals with the emotional component in the experience of incongruence, e.g Stress. The
term stress will be used here to refer to such terms and concepts as strain, pressure, etc.

As already stated, role can be defines as a set of functions, which an individual performs in
response to the expectations of the significant members of a social system, and his own
expectations about the position that he occupies in it. The concept role and the two role
systems(role space and role set) have a built in potential for conflict and stress.

Stress is normal. Everyone feels stress related to work, family, decisions, your future, and
more.

Stress is both physical and mental. It is caused by major life events such as illness, the death
of a loved one, a change in responsibilities or expectations at work, and job promotion, the
loss, or changes

Smaller, daily events also cause stress. This stress is not as apparent to us, but the constant
and cumulative impact of the small stressors adds up to big impact.

11
In response to these daily stresses, your body automatically increases blood pressure, heart
rate, respiration, metabolism, and blood flow to your muscle. This stress response is intended
to help your body react quickly and effectively to any high-pressure situation

GLOBAL SCENARIO

12
Stress testing is a risk management tool for firms to evaluate the potential impact of an event
or movement on the firms asset quality, profitability, capital and other financial variables.
Stress testing aims to primarily identify latent exposures those that are less obvious,
perhaps hidden across a wide variety of instruments, credits and derivatives positions. It
focuses on traded market portfolios, which are well suited to stress testing because they can
be marked to market on a regular basis. Stress testing of funding liquidity and operational risk
is common in financial institutions such as banks (the scope of this paper) although loan book
stress testing is less frequent. Stress tests are a valuable aid in assessing the stability of
banking systems. They permit a forward-looking analysis and adopting a uniform approach to
identifying potential risks to the banking system as a whole. Unlike Value at Risk (VaR),
which reflects price behaviour in everyday markets, stress tests simulate portfolio
performance during abnormal market periods. Thus, in general, VaR and stress test exposure
estimates are not added to each other. Stress testing is needed for the following reasons:

Capturing the impact of exceptional but plausible large-loss events on a portfolio

Checking if the capital buffer is sufficient under stress conditions

Introducing forward-looking elements in the capital assessment process

Reducing reliance on model parameters (e.g. when historical correlation may no longer be
valid)

Ascertaining changes in the business environment, e.g. in liquidity

Reviewing changed horizons and liquidity of instruments

Supporting portfolio allocation decisions beyond the range of normal business conditions

Identifying hidden correlations within portfolios

Assessing the tail events beyond the level of confidence assumed in a given statistical model
because, under stress conditions, the following may occur:

Less predictability in the behaviour of stress factors - Rapid price movements and contagion
may impact other markets - Shocks may spread across multiple markets - Economic
conditions in affected regions may suddenly deteriorate A stress test measures the x% tail in a
profit and loss distribution of an asset, while VaR measures the mark-to-market gain or loss
that an asset would experience, should one or more of the underlying economic factors that

13
determine the assets value experience a specific change in value. Stress tests capture
exceptional but plausible events: they provide information about risks falling outside those
typically captured by the VaR framework (Figure 1). These risks include those associated
with extreme price movements and with forward-looking scenarios not reflected in the recent
history of the price series used to compute VaR. The application of stress tests has broadened
due to its wide acceptance by firms, from the exploration of exceptional but plausible events
to the exploration of the risk profile of firms, the allocation of economic capital, the
verification of existing limits and the evaluation of business risks. Stress testing scenarios
have four main undergirding principles:

Plausibility. They must be realistic, i.e. have a reasonable probability of actually occurring.

Consistency. They should be consistent with existing quantitative frameworks

. Adaptivity. Stress scenarios should be specifically designed for a given portfolio.

14
INDIAN SCENARIO

The two main classifications of stress are Eustress and Distress. Eustress is a
positive stress. It is caused by continuous success and when expectations become higher. This
develops the sense of urgency and alertness needed for survival when confronting threatening
situations. And stresses to hold their position becomes more. Distress is a negative stress. It is
caused due to disappointments, failures, threats, embarrassment and other negative
experiences. This can result is distrust, rejection, anger and depression which eventually may
turn out to get headaches, stomach upsets, rashes, insomnia, ulcers, high blood pressures, etc.
And this can have harmful effects over ones physical, mental and spiritual health.

STATISTICS ON WORK STRESS

o 40% of workers reported their job was very or extremely stressful.

o 25% view their jobs as the number one stressor in their lives.
o 29% of workers felt quite a bit or extremely stressed at work.
o 26% of workers said they were "often or very often burned out or stressed by
their work".

EMPLOYEE STRESS REASON

Fresher/Trainee Fear of losing job Incapablity
Employee for less than Mental stress Wrong comparison with co-
1 year workers
4-5 yrs experience Self induced stress Unmarried and wants to
settle in life
5+ yrs of experience Less concentration Lack of time management

These ways are newly adapted by people to overcome stress and one may find it to
be silly too. First key is to laugh. Laughter releases endorphins, and endorphin relieves stress.
To laugh, picking up a funny movie or a boring movie and enjoying over it by commenting
would be best recommended. Since our body could not differentiate between a real laughter
and a fake laughter, we could take advantage over it. Second key is friend. Choose one best
friend of yours. You list out your stressors and ask your friend to do the same. Now, exchange
the lists among yourselves. You tell him how you would sort out his stress if you were onto
his shoes, and ask him to suggest you the same way. This will make our thinking wider and
more solutions could be obtained from it. Next the third thing is self tuning up. Practice

15
 yourself to wake up and get ready, not for work, but for your day. On the drive to work, listen
to music, humor, instead of attending office calls over the phone. Take an alternate route to
work, as the change in scenery will help you stay alert to the road and keep your mind off the
job. Plan your work and work your plan. Devote every paid minute to your job. Deviate from
your work plan only when absolutely necessary. Take your allotted breaks. Remember that
the opposite of stress is relaxation. Dont work through lunch or coffee breaks. This also
means dont think or talk about work during your breaks. Instead of soft drinks, opt for water,
juice, or electrolyte infused drinks as dehydration often is the cause of fatigue. Coffee and
soft drinks that contain caffeine may seem to keep you going, but in reality they add to
stress and dont keep your body hydrated. Making out a stress journal can help in identifying
the regular stressors in life. Taking a note of what caused your stress, how you felt physically
and mentally, and how you responded to it can help you draft a way out of the stress.

SWOT ANALYSIS

SWOT Analysis is a useful technique used for understanding an organizations strategic

position. It is routinely used to identify and summarize:
Strengths: The capabilities, resources and advantages of an organization.
Weaknesses: Things the organization is not good at, areas of resource scarcity and
areas where the organization is vulnerable.
Opportunities: The good opportunities open to the organization, which perhaps
exploit its strengths or eliminate its weaknesses.
Threats: Things that can damage the organization, perhaps as people exploit its
limitations or as its environment changes.

The Stress SWOT tool is a variant of this technique, focused on helping you to understand
your unique strengths and weaknesses in the way you manage stress. It also helps you to
identify the resources you have available to you, and points out the consequences of
managing stress poorly.

Strengths:
To use the tool, start by listing your strengths. Write down:
Your personal strengths things you are good at and people respect you for, your
areas of good experience, etc.;

16
 Your support network family, friends, professional or other networks, government
services, powerful contacts, co-workers, your team, etc.; and
The resources you can draw on money, assets, power, etc.
Next, work through your stress diary and look at the times where you managed stress well.
Write down the practical skills you used to do this these are likely to be your stress
management strengths.
Finally, look back into the past, and think about times when you handled intense stress
successfully. Again, write down how you did this.
Weaknesses:
Next, list your personal weaknesses and the limitations in your position. Write down:
Personal weaknesses areas where you are aware that you are not strong, or things
that people fairly criticize you for;
Lack of resources where other people at your level have access to these resources,
or where the absence of resources is impacting your situation; and
Bad situations where you are experiencing problems with your job or
relationships, or where you have a poor living or working environment.

Challenge these weaknesses rationally to ensure that they are fair and genuine, and that you
are not being excessively harsh and self-critical. At the same time, challenge whether you
could realistically expect more resources to be available.

Then work through the stress diary again, looking at the times where you did not handle
stress well. Identify where you have problems managing stress. Again, look into your past at
stressful situations. Where you think you handled stress poorly, write down why you think
this was the case.

By cataloging all of these, you are identifying possible areas of change in your life, and are
spotting where you need to develop new skills. In the next section, we will bring these into
your Stress Management Plan.
Opportunities:
In the Opportunities section, brainstorm the opportunities you have available to you.

First, work your way through the strengths you have identified. Ask yourself how you can
draw on these strengths to help you manage stress. For example, are there people whose job it
is to help you? Are there people whose help you could call on? Could you pay people to take

17
on tasks you do not have time for? Are you fully using the tools or assets you have available?
Could you use your skills and strengths in one area to help yourself in another area?

Second, work through the weaknesses you have identified. These are opportunities for
positive change and for development of new skills.

Finally, consider the real world, practical opportunities that would be open to you if you took
advantage of these opportunities to improve your stress management.

Threats:
In the threats section, consider the consequences of leaving your weaknesses uncovered.
Consider the damage to relationships, career and happiness that would come from failing to
manage stress.

Use this consideration of the downside as a spur to ensure that you take stress management
seriously!

Summary:
A Stress SWOT Analysis helps you to understand your unique position with respect to stress
management.

By looking at strengths, you ensure that you recognize all of the personal strengths, skills,
resources and social networks that can help you manage stress. By looking at your
weaknesses, you identify areas you need to change in your life, including new skills that you
need to acquire.

By looking at opportunities, you should be able to better see how you can take advantage of
your strengths to help manage the stress in your life. You should also understand the rewards
of good stress management. By looking at threats, you should recognize the negative
consequences of managing stress poorly, and this should be a potent source of motivation

TRENDS AND FUTURE

Today, stress can seem like an inescapable feature of modern life. For HR
professionals focusing on the rising cost of health care, stress has become a major wellness
issue.

18
 In a December 2012 Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) survey on
workplace wellness initiatives, commissioned by and conducted in collaboration with the
Alliance for a Healthier Minnesota, HR professionals nationwide identified stress and mental
health issues to be among their top employee health concerns.

That is not surprising given that stress, depression and other mental health conditions
are principal causes of employee absences.

Stress is the most common cause of long-term absence for all workers, according to
theAbsence Management 2012 survey report from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and
Development and Simplyhealth. It causes more long-term absences than physical conditions
such as neck pain and repetitive strain injury among manual workers and acute illnesses such
as cancer or heart attacks among office workers.

Though much is still unknown about the causes of depression and other mental
illnesses, there is strong evidence that work-related stress can play a role. Factors such as low
job control, job insecurity, a lack of social support, work-family conflict and high job
demands have all been noted by researchers to be potential causes of depression.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in a given year 18.8
million American adults, about 9.5 percent of the adult population, will suffer from a
depressive illness. In a three-month period, patients with depression miss an average of 4.8
workdays and experience 11.5 days of reduced productivity. The federal agency estimates
that depression causes 200 million lost workdays each year at a cost to employers of $17
billion to $44 billion.

Almost all HR professionals share concerns regarding the impact of stress on

employees' wellness and productivity, but researchers provide evidence that some
occupations lead to higher levels of stress than others. HR practitioners whose employees are
in professions associated with high rates of stress or depressionmost notably those in
service industries such as personal care, and food service and preparationhave a special
interest in helping employees manage stress.

19
 An important part of any organization's wellness program will be helping employees
deal with stress and mental health conditions. This effort should provide employees with
resources and make the workplace less stressful.

Possible approaches include providing greater workplace flexibility so that employees

can manage their own time and schedules, managing productivity and workloads by offering
variety and work challenges, and helping employees feel safe in their work environments.

Unfortunately, stress is unlikely to go away. But the 406 HR professionals who

responded to SHRM's wellness survey reported an overall positive return on investment for
wellness initiatives. Enhancing such initiatives can help employees reduce stress and provide
even better returns through fewer absences and happier, more productive employees.

20
 COMPANY PROFILE

ABOUT US

Solar HR Consultancy, is a division of Solar HR Management Pvt. Ltd., Approved by

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, United Arab Emirates. The management of Solar HR
Consultancy has in-depth knowledge and experiences in each and every aspect of
Human Resource Management and development, where client satisfaction is our top
most priority. We at Solar HR Consultancy believe that our client both employers and
employees are central to our services. They need to be supported at every stage of our
services to them believe that each individual has its own special strength and potential
to grow. Our Endeavor is to identify them with utmost sincerity and honesty.

Incorporated in the year 1990, formally known as "Solar Enterprises" India's One of
the leading and professionally managed Manpower Recruitment Consultants offering
Global placement services to companies for their manpower requirements. It started
as a humble single office venture in New Delhi, It has evolved into a full-fledged
company with Branch Offices in Lucknow, Cuttack, Gorakhpur, Mairwa,
Muzaffarpur, Chennai, Ramnad, Nagapattinam and associate offices in Chandigarh,
jalandar, Jamshedpur, Nepal and Bangladesh

Since commencement, Solar HRM has widened its scope to identifying & supplying
Qualified, Experienced and Dedicated Human Resource Promote and Establish Joint
Industrial venture Catering to all levels of requirements in Asia and GCC countries
with the main focus on the Middle East. Solar HRM has a distinct competitive
advantage with a solid base of clients in the Middle East; Chief among them is the
pre-eminent ETA Ascon Star Group, a pioneering and highly respected corporate
entity in the UAE, whose entire Manpower requirements are covered by Solar HRM.

Company

21
 Founded in 1990

Approved by Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, Govt. of India

Based in Delhi, Branches & Associated Offices at all over India.

Huge Database of qualified professionals.

A large pool of competent professionals with industry-specific know-how.

Specialized in Headhunting.

Track-record of over twenty years of proven performance in placement services.

Determine Shortlist

Arrange Client/Candidate Interview

VALUES

Integrity: We embrace and uphold the highest standards of personal and professional
ethics, honesty and trust. Because we stand for passion, performance and probity in
business.

Respect: We treat everyone with uncompromising respect, civility and fairness.

Empowerment: We are empowered to deliver operational excellence through
innovation and leadership at all levels.

Responsibility: We are responsible to fullfill our commitments to colleague and

clients with a clear understanding of the urgency and accountability inherent in those
commitments.

Mission: To develop a quality and innovative recruitment solution that is driven by

passion and focused on the needs of our Clients and job Seekers.

22
 Vision: Solar HR Consultancy endeavors to redefine HR-Services and create a win-
win situation for its Clients the Employers & the Employees, by supporting them to
excel in their pursuit, appreciating the individual potential and respecting humanity.

Why Solar HRM To choose

Reputation of being a overseas recruiter in the field for the past 20 years
Promote and establish joint industrial ventures.
Places personnel right from Executives to skilled and unskilled labourers.
Shortlists best suitable candidates.
Candidates are offered premium services at low fees.
Arranges medical examination, Visa stamping, Emigration clearance and timely
deployment of selected candidates.
Maintains excellent rapport with various Foreign Missions and Emigration authorities
expediting Visa and Emigration process.
Identifying & Supplying Qualified, Experienced, & Dedicated Human Resource.
Arrange tickets and immigration services for shortlisted candidates.

Methodology

Assignment & Job Specification

Assignment Confirmation

Candidate Search

Arrange Advertising if Required

Initial Screening of Candidates

Agree Preferred Candidates with Client

Interview Preferred Candidates

Determine Shortlist

Arrange Client/Candidate Interview

Discuss Results

23
 Conduct Reference Checks

Negotiate offer with Successful Candidate

Assist with Induction of Employee

Performance Follow Up at Agree Period with Client

Debrief Unsuccessful Applicants

OUR CLIENTS

Samama
Ejadah
Eta ascon
Arab tech
Al muftah group
Al ain
Arabian holdings
Larsen and toubro
Dabur
Petronash
QBG landscaping
Elite contracting co llc
Pivot
Danube
ASIA prime general contracting co
APEX employment services
Drake and Skull
Green star pvt ltd
Dubai dry docks

24
NEED FOR THE STUDY:

In the past decade, the news headlines have definitely made it clear that the need for stress
management should be one of the top agendas in modern days society.

Living today is a lot tougher than it was even in the days of the great depression. Its been
coming out in many ways such as all time occurrence of stomach and intestine ulcers. Others
finds sleep disorders during busy days.

Today stress management is important in everyones lives. Its necessary for long happy lives
with less trouble that will come about. There are many ways to deal with stress ranging from
the dealing with the causes of stress to simply burning off its effects

Today stress management is important in everyones lives. Its necessary for long happy lives
with less trouble that will come about. There are many ways to deal with stress ranging from
the dealing with the causes of stress to simply burning off its effects

25
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE

To study the STRESS MANAGEMENT of employees in Solar HR Management ltd, at

Chennai

SECONDARY OBJECTIVE
To identify factors influencing stress in the work place.
To study the employee satisfaction and problem associated with stress management
system
To identify employee perception about the stress in the work place.
To suggest measures to removing stress and the effectiveness of methods

26
SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The project intends to study the management of stress level Solar HR

Management pvt ltd. Chennai

The present world is fast changing and there are lots of pressure and demand at
work. These pressures at work lead to physical disorder. Stress refers to individuals reaction
to a disturbing factor in the environment. Hence this study would help the organization to
know the factors of stress and to reduce the stress in employees as it is a well known fact that
Healthy employees is a productive employee

27
LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY:

1. Some information required for the study may be confidential and therefore company is not
disclosing the same.
2. Time factor can be major limitation of this survey. Because it has to be completed within
the time limit without disturbing the company process or the work of the concern
employees.
3. The study was confined to the employees of SOLAR HR MANAGEMENT Private
Limited.

28
REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Viljoen, J.P., and Rothmann, S.8 aimed at studying and investigating the relationship
between occupational stress, ill health and organizational commitment (2009). The results
were that organizational stressors contributed significantly to ill health and low organizational
commitment. Stress about job security contributed to both physical and psychological ill
health. Low individual commitment to the organization was predicted by five stressors,
namely work-life balance, overload, control, job aspects and pay. Schmidt, Denise Rodrigues
Costa; Dantas, Rosana Aparecida Spadoti; Marziale, Maria Helena Palucci and Laus, Ana
Maria.9 In their work title on Occupational stress among nursing staff in surgical settings
This study aimed at evaluating the presence of occupational stress among nursing
professionals working in surgical settings and investigating the relations between
occupational stress and work characteristics.

Li-fang Zhang10conducted a study titled Occupational stress and teaching

approaches among Chinese academics (2009) He suggested that controlling the self-rating
abilities of the participants, the conducive conceptual change in teaching approach and their
role insufficiency predicated that the conceptual change in teaching strategy is negative.

Kayoko Urakawa and Kazuhito Yokoyam 11 in their journal Sense of Coherence

(SOC) may Reduce the Effects of Occupational Stress on Mental Health Status among
Japanese Factory Workers (2009) has resulted the adverse effects on mental health due to the
job demand and job strees was positively associated with SOC (sense of coherence), the
mental health status of males in managerial work was adversely negative, where as it was
positive among the female co-workers. Thus, SOC is an important factor determining the
coping ability over the job stress for both the genders J.E. Agolla12 in his research article
titled Occupational Stress Among Police Officers:

The Case of Botswana Police Service, (2009) has conducted a study among the
police to find out work stress symptoms and coping strategies among the police service in

29
Botswana. This study reveals that the police work stressors are; getting injured while on duty
and the use of force when the job demands to do so, etc. The coping strategies were identified
as exercising, socializing, healthy eating or diets, career planning and employee training.
Connolly, John F and Willock, Joyce and Hipwell, Michele and Chisholm, Vivienne13 in
their research titled Occupational Stress & Psychological Well Being following University
Relocation (2009) they describe and analyze that management standards for work related
stress

(demand, support, control, role, relationships and change) can be analysed by

examining 1) overall levels of psychological strain 2) job satisfaction, and 3) the psychosocial
working conditions

Chen, Wei-Qing; Wong, Tze-Wai; Yu, Tak-Sun14 in their book titled Direct and
interactive effects of occupational stress and coping on ulcer-like symptoms among Chinese
male off-shore oil workers, (2009) has suggested that gastric/ulcer like health problems, age,
educational qualification, marital status has been positively associated with occupational
stress and internal behaviour coping methods, but negatively associated with
external/social behaviour coping methods.

Chang-qin Lu; Oi-ling Siu; Wing-tung Au; Sandy S. W. Leung15in their article titled
Manager's occupational stress in stateowned and private enterprises in the People's Republic
of China (2009) has showed that managers in private enterprises experienced higher levels
of occupational stressors and psychological strains than those in state-owned enterprises.
Moreover, Organizational structure and climate was also found to be a major stressor when
predicting both psychological and physical strain in both economic sectors.

Stewart Collins16 in his book titled Statutory Social Workers: Stress, Job
Satisfaction, Coping, Social Support and Individual Differences (2008) he is highlighted that
healthy or unhealthy coping strategies have gender difference and the importance of support
in various forms with in the work setting, where as mutual group support accompanied by
individual differences are linked to good self-esteem, personal hardiness and resilience.

Richardson, K. M., and Rothsetin, H.R. 17in their article titled Effects of
occupational stress management intervention programs (2008) they provided an empirical
review of stress management interventions, employing meta-analysis procedures. The results
also revealed that relaxation interventions were the most frequent type of intervention.

30
Further, there were a few stress interventions focused on the organizational level. More
specific results also indicated that cognitive-behavioural interventions produced larger effects
than other types of interventions.

Pal, S., and Saksvik, P.18 In their article titled Work-family conflict and psychosocial
work environment stressors as predictors of job stress in a cross-cultural study (2009)
conducted a study on job stress on 27 Norwegian doctors and 328 nurses and 111 Indian
doctors and 136 nurses. The result was that work-family conflict was not predictive of job
stress in Norwegian doctors, but work-family conflict, high job demands, and low flexibility
in working hours predict job stress in Norwegian nurses. For the Indian sample, job stress
was predicted by high family-work conflict and low social support in nurses and low job
control in doctors. Hence, it seems to be overlapping and some differences in cultures when
considering the role of demands, control, support, and flexibility in predicting strain.

Nagesh, P. and Murthy, M. S. Narasimha19 in their study titled Stress Management

at IT Call Centres (2008) has identified that the six factors contribute to workplace stress:
demands of the job, control over work, support from colleagues and management, working,
clarity of role, and organizational change. This paper also suggested measures in the form of
training to enable organizations and individuals to manage stress at workplaces in general and
IT call centres in particular. The paper is based on a study carried out in respect of a few
selected IT call centres.

Mki K, Vahtera J, Virtanen M, Elovainio M, KeltikangasJrvinen L and Kivimki

M.20 in their study titled Work stress and new onset migraine in a female employee
population (2008) examined whether work stress, as indicated by the job strain model and
the effortreward imbalance model, predicts new-onset migraine among 19 469 female
employees with no history of migraine at study entry. The proportion of new migraine cases
attributable to high effort-reward imbalance was 6.2percentage. This study suggested that the
high effort-reward imbalance might function as a modifiable risk factor

onset migraine. Magee, and Bill21 in their article titled "Stress, Anxiety and Anger
about Home and Work" (2009) they suggested that mediate associations between the
differentiated forms of work with me matching effects at home. Their interference seems to
play a relatively limited role in maintaining the cross-domain association which is affected in
either form of negative or positive.

31
 Kopp, Maria S; Stauder, Adrienne; Purebl, Gyorgy; Janszky, Imre; Skrabski, Arpad22
in their research paper titled Work stress and mental health in a changing society (2008)
they conducted a study indicates that a cluster of stressful working and psychosocial
conditions are responsible for a substantial part of variation in self reported mental and
physical health with work related factors.

Katherine Pollak. Eisen. George J. Allen. Mary Bollash and Linda S. Pescatello23 in
their book titled Stress management in the workplace (2009) it suggested that work stress
significantly contribute to corporate health costs. Comparison through randomised controlled
design of stress management and intervention provided by an instructor-led group and
computer presented format, has resulted in significantly higher attrition in computer based
presentation format.

Hampel, Petra; Meier, Manuela; Kummel, and Ursula24 in their article School-
Based Stress Management Training for Adolescents: Longitudinal Results from an
Experimental Study (2008) they investigated the effectiveness of a school-based universal
preventive stress management training program for early and middle adolescents in
comparison with a no-treatment control group. The experimental group scored higher on
perceived self-efficacy compared to the control group at the follow-up assessment.

Gbolahan and Gbadamosi25 in their research titled Stress at Work: Any Potential
Redirection from an African Sample (2008) they conducted a study which explored the
relationship among perceived stress, perception of sources of stress, satisfaction, core self-
evaluation, perceived health and well being. Data were collected from 355 employees in
botswana. Result indicated that significant links existed between perceived stress,
Satisfaction, Core self-evaluation and Well being.

D.R. Rutter and M.J. Lovegrove26 in their research titled Occupational stress and its
predictors in radiographers, (2009) they conducted a study to establish the level of
occupational stress in UK NHS radiographers, and to examine its causes. The result was
significantly lower in the mammography group than in the others. However, the junior staff
reported low level stress due to role ambiguity, role conflict and work problems and the
superintendents reported a high level stress; but the effects were sometimes buffered by social
support from colleagues.

32
 Christopoulos, M. And Hicks, R.E. 27 in their article titled Perfectionism,
occupational stress and depression among Australian university students. (2008) they carried
out a study and investigated the relationship of perfectionism between occupational stress and
depression in the context of an Australian university student population. The study revealed
that as expected maladaptive perfectionism significantly correlated with occupational stress
and depression; however, unexpectedly adaptive perfectionism did not correlate significantly
with occupational stress and depression.

Buddeberg-Fischer, B; Klaghofer, R; Stamm, M; Siegrist, J; Buddeberg,28 in their

book titled Work stress and reduced health in young physicians: prospective evidence from
Swiss residents (2008) they investigated the perceived job stress, its association with the
amount of working hours, and its impact on young physicians self-reported health and their
satisfaction with life during residency. Stress at work in young physicians, especially when
being experienced over a longer period in postgraduate training, has to be a matter of concern
because of its negative impact on health and life satisfaction and the risk of developing
symptoms of burnout in the long run.

Sang, Katherine J. C.; Dainty, Andrew R. J.; Ison, Stephen G.29 In their research
titled. Gender: a risk factor for occupational stress in the architectural profession (2007)
jointly aimed to research gender differences in occupational health and well-being. In this
study, the female respondents reported significantly lower overall job satisfaction and due to
it, significantly higher levels of insomnia and constipation, work-life conflict and turnover
intentions.

Upson, John W.; Ketchen Jr., David J.; Ireland, R. Duane30 in their article titled
Managing Employee Stress: A Key to the Effectiveness of Strategic Supply Chain
Management (2007) focused their research on supply chain activities and studied the
dangerous role of stress among supply chain members. They have also given measures to
address this stress. The researchers concluded that by using the suggested initiatives, both
employees' quality of life and the organization's performance can improve.

The study by Mikolajczak, Mora; Menil, Clmentine; Luminet, Olivier31 in their

article Explaining the protective effect of trait emotional intelligence regarding occupational
stress: Exploration of emotional labour processes (2007) focused that, when confronted with
emotional labour, high trait EI individuals experience lower levels of burnout and somatic

33
complaints, and this effect was found to be mediated by the choice of emotional labour
strategies.

Wated, Guillermo; Sanchez, Juan I.,32 in their research titled The Role of Accent as
a Work Stressor on Attitudinal and Health-Related Work Outcomes, (2006) has stated that,
data collected from the employees who spoke English with a supported accent and prediction,
by examining in their role in group, self-efficiency and perceived control in the process where
none of the proposed coping mechanism had an impact of perceived discrimination on
employees accent.

W. de Vente; J.H. Kamphuis; P.M.G. Emmelkamp33 in their article. Alexithymia,

Risk Factor or Consequence of Work-Related Stress (2006) they investigated the level and
the type of alexithymia associated with occupational stress. Group differences in alexithymia
were analyzed using ANOVAs. The type of alexithymia was investigated by (a) determining
absolute and relative stability, (b) exploring state dependence by adjusting alexithymia for
burnout and distress complaints and (c) associating recovery of complaints with change in
alexithymia. According to them, Alexithymia was significantly elevated among the patients.
In the patient group, absolute stability of two alexithymia dimensions (identifying feelings,
describing feelings) and relative stability of one alexithymia dimension (identifying feelings)
was lower than they were in the healthy group.

Stetz, Thomas A.; Stetz, Melba C.; Bliese, Paul D.34 In their article titled The
importance of self-efficacy in the moderating effects of social support on stressorstrain
relationships (2005) has explained that organizational constraints, co-workers support and
self efficiency had significant interaction for predicting the job satisfaction and psychological
well being. It had resulted that intervention aimed for reducing strains are expected through
increased social support and considering self efficiency of individual.

Richards, David; Bee, Penny; Barkham, Michael; Gilbody, Simon; Cahill, Jane;
Glanville, Julie.35 In their research article The prevalence of nursing staff stress on adult
acute psychiatric in-patient wards (2006) their study reviewed the prevalence of low staff
morale, due to stress, burnout, job satisfaction and psychological well-being amongst staff
working in in-patient psychiatric wards. It has resulted that particular mental health studies
has specific and non specific samples, it explain that using of validating measures of stress
together with personal and organisational variation requires the process influencing the stress
over the staff.

34
 Raidn, Ani Birgit; Dainty, Andrew R. J.; Neale, Richard H. 36 in their study on
Balancing employee needs, project requirements and organisational priorities in team
deployment (2006) the team deployment strategies of a large construction company with the
view of establishing how a balance could be achieved between organizational strategic
priorities, operational project requirements and individual employee needs and preferences,
suggested that project priorities often took precedence over the delivery of the strategic
intentions of the organisation in meeting employees individual needs.

Noblet, Andrew; LaMontagne, Anthony D.37 conducted a study on The role of

workplace health promotion in addressing job stress (2006). The enormous human and
economic costs associated with occupational stress suggested that initiatives designed to
prevent and /or reduce employee stress should be high on the agenda of Workplace Health
Promotion (WHP) program. The aim of the second part of this study is a detailed description
of what the comprehensive approach to stress prevention/reduction looks like in practice and
to examine the means by which WHP can help develop initiatives that address both the
sources and the symptoms of job stress.

Kushnir, Talma; Melamed, and Samuel38 in their study titled Domestic Stress and
Well-Being of Employed Women. (2006) Respondents were 133 mothers employed in
secretarial and managerial jobs. It is suggested that in families (as in teams), shared decision
control may be a more potent coping resource than personal control.

Keeva, and Steven39 in their article titled Depression Takes a Toll (2006) deal with
the high rates of mental depression among lawyers in the U.S. Studies which highlighted the
depression problem among lawyers are cited. It discusses the suicide of Judge Mack Kidd of
Austin, Texas. It explores the role of occupational stress in depression among lawyers. J

ackson, Leon; Rothmann, Sebastiaan40 in their titled Occupational stress,

organisational commitment, and ill-health of educators in the North West Province (2006)
discussed to determine the differences between occupational stress and strain of educators in
different biographical groups, and to assess the relationship between occupational stress,
organizational commitment and ill-health. A sample of 1170 was selected and Organizational
Stress Screening Tool and a biographical questionnaire were administered. The results show
differences between the occupational stress, organizational commitment and ill-health of
educators of different ages, qualifications and associated with different types of schools

35
 . H., Azlihanis A.; L., Naing; D., Aziah B.; N., Rusli 41 in their titled Socio-
demographic, Occupational And Psychosocial Factors Associated With Job Strain Among
Secondary School Teachers In Kota Bharu, Kelantan (2006) they conducted a study to
identify the factors associated with job strain among teachers working in secondary schools
in Kota Bharu, Kelantan. A sample size of 580 teachers was taken. The result was significant.
There was linear relationship between job strain and the duration of service in the present
employment, duration of working hours, job insecurity and social support.

Coetzer, and W.J.; Rothmann, S. 42 In their article titled Occupational stress of

employees in an insurance company, (2006) they identified occupational stressors for
employees in an insurance company. The results showed that job insecurity as well as pay
and benefits were the highest stressors in the insurance industry. They also assessed the
relationships between occupational stress, ill health and organisational commitment.

Botha, Christo; Pienaar, and Jaco43 in their titled South African correctional official
occupational stress: The role of psychological strengths (2006) conducted a study to
determine the dimensions of occupational stress of employees of the Department of
Correctional Services in a management area of the Freestate Province of South Africa. The
results indicated that an external locus of control and negative affect contributed to the
experience of occupational stress.

Bernhart, and Molly44 in their article, Work intensity showing up in stress,

employee attrition, (2006) focused the intensification of work by employers to increase
productivity with fewer employees, where human resource turnover are in large number due
to shortage of skilled workers, retiring employees, stressed out workers, work-life option
should be set up in such way to eliminate employee stress for filling the vacancy by bridging
the gap between retiring employees and stress out workers.

Barzilai-Pesach, Vered; Sheiner, Einat K.; Sheiner, Eyal; Potashnik, Gad; Shoham-
Vardi, Ilana45 in their research work titled The Effect of Women's Occupational Psychologic
Stress on Outcome of Fertility Treatments, (2006) examined the possible association
between women's occupational stress and its outcome during pregnancy has made the women
workers perceive that their job demanding more was less to achieved work load, by
measuring full time with part time job it was found that woman who conceived are
significantly associated less with full time job until successful completion of the pregnancy
period.

36
 Akerboom, and S.; Maes S.46 in their paper titled Beyond demand and control: The
contribution of organizational risk factors in assessing the psychological well-being of health
care employees., (2006) examined that both the unique and the additional contribution of
organizational characteristics and the organizational Risk Factors explain the importance part
of their outcome and their training opportunities which gives importance to carriers and job
satisfaction.

Adriaenssens, Liesbeth; De Prins, Peggy; VloeberghS, and Danil. 47 In their work

titled Work Experience, Work Stress and HRM at the University, (2006) investigated (1)
the well-being of academic staff at the University of Antwerp, (2) the specific factors of the
work environment that have an impact on employee well-being, and (3) the interaction
between HR practices and employee well-being. They have concluded the work with
suggestions of improvement of the work environment.

Adams, Richard E.; Boscarino, Joseph A.; Figley, and Charles R. 48 Conducted their
study titled Compassion Fatigue and Psychological Distress among Social Workers: A
Validation Study, (2006) the article highlights the factors analysed and indicated that the
compassion fatigue (CF) scale measured multiple dimensions, which measures increasing
ability of professionals meet the emotional needs of their clients which results in stressful
environment without experiencing CF (compassion fatigue)

Yates, and Iva49 in their research work titled Reducing Occupational Stress, (2005)
the survey explains in detail that 40% of worker in a manufacturing company reported that
their job was very stressful and another 25% expressed that this job was extremely increasing
the stress towards their family life, this survey has identified various job conditions that can
be adopted to maintain a stress less work life which leads to a stress less family life.

Wiesner, Margit; Windle, Michael; Freeman, Amy50 in their research article titled
work stress, substance use, and Depression among young adult Workers (2005) they
examined the main and moderated relationships between 5 job stressors using data from a
community sample of 583 young adults (mean age = 23.68 years). Analyses revealed a few
direct associations among the job stressors of high job boredom, low skill variety, low
autonomy, depression measures and heavy alcohol use.

Van Vegchel, Natasja; de Jonge, Jan; Landsbergis, Paul A.51 In their article titled
Occupational stress in (inter)action: the interplay between job demands and job resources

37
(2005) they addressed theoretical issues involving different interaction effects between job
demands and job resources in an analysis on 471employees. Results including cross-
validation showed that only a multiplicative interaction term yielded consistent results for
both the DC model and the ERI model. Theoretical as well as empirical results argue for a
multiplicative interaction term to test the DC model and the ERI model.

Vakola, Maria; Nikolaou, Loannis52 In their article titled, Attitudes towards

organizational change (2005) they suggested that occupational stress and organizational
change are now widely accepted as two major issues in organizational life. The study
explored the linkage between employees' attitudes towards organizational change and two of
the most significant constructs in organizational behaviour; occupational stress and
organizational commitment. The results were in the expected direction showing negative
correlations between occupational stressors and attitudes to change, indicating that highly
stressed individuals demonstrate decreased commitment and increased reluctance to accept
organizational change interventions.

Salmond, Susan; Ropis, Patricia E.,53 In their research work titled, Job Stress and
General Well-Being: A Comparative Study of MedicalSurgical and Home Care Nurses
(2005)they analysed the job stress among medical-surgical and home care nurses in the U.S.
According to them, high stress leads to negative work environments that deprive nurses of
their spirit and passion about their job. Key factors contributing to workplace stress include
team conflict, unclear role expectations, heavy workload, and lack of autonomy.

Ryan, P.; Hill, R.; Anczewska, M.; Hardy, P.; Kurek, A.; Nielson, K.; Turner, C.54 In
their book titled, occupational stress reduction (2005) they have attempted to address the
issue of work-related stress through whole team training programmes, on a background of
largely ineffective stress reduction training programmes offered to individuals within the
workplace. The findings show significant implications to the conceptual, methodological and
everyday organizational practice levels of tackling this central issue to the health of the
workplace.

Oliver, A.; Toms, J. M.. Ansiedad y Estrs55 In their research work titled,
Consequences of Work Stress (2005) empirically tested the two broad hypotheses of Warr's
vitamin model: non-linear effects of working conditions on well-being, and moderator effects
of personal characteristics on these relationships. The results did not support the non-linear

38
hypothesis of Warr's model, and the support for the moderator effects of personal
characteristics on the stressors-well being is weak.

Ogiska-Bulik, Nina56 In their article titled Emotional Intelligence In The

Workplace, (2005) explored the relationship between emotional intelligence and perceived
stress in the workplace and health-related consequences in human service workers. They
selected 330 respondents as sample size. Three methods were used in the study, namely, the
Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire with Polish modification, the Subjective Work
Evaluation Questionnaire developed in Poland, and the General Health Questionnaire with
Polish modification. The results confirmed an essential, but not very strong, role of emotional
intelligence in perceiving occupational stress and preventing employees of human services
from negative health outcomes.

Noblet, Andrew; Teo, Stephen T.T.; McWilliams, John; Rodwell, John J.57 In their
research work titled, work characteristics predict employee outcomes for the public-sector
employee (2005) indicted that the middle managers and HR managers can have positive
impact on employees through the introduction of new public management which is caused be
reducing the employees job strain. It is done through the useful tool job strain model
which has increasing utility in public sector environment. Michailidis, Maria; Georgiou,
Yiota58 In their article titled, Employee occupational stress in banking,(2005) have stated
that occupational stress literature emphasized the importance of assessment and management
of work related stress. The recognition of the harmful physical and psychological effects of
stress on both individuals and organizations is widely studied in many parts of the world. A
sample of 60 bank employees at different organizational levels and with different educational
backgrounds was used. Data collection utilized the Occupational Stress Indicator (OSI). It
implied that educational levels affect the degree of stress they experience in various ways
finally, the drinking habits (alcohol) of the employees were found to play a significant role in
determining the levels of occupational stress.

Marsella, Anthony; Wong, Paul T. P.; Wong, Lilian C. J.; Leong, Frederick T. L.;
Tolliver, Dwight59 In their article titled, Towards an Understanding of Occupational Stress
Among Asian Americans, (2005) explained how the stress literature on Asian Americans can
help understand and conduct future research on occupational stress. In an attempt to stimulate
more direct research on this topic, they used the theoretical framework of occupational stress
developed by Osipow and Spokane (1987) to guide us in this review.

39
 Hrenstam, Annika60 In their book titled, working life and increasing occupational
stress (2005) discussed two types of objectives in their article. First, it provided an
explanation for the increase in occupational stress and sick leaves in Sweden in terms of the
structural and organizational conditions. Second, it discussed measures that address these
issues. The results indicated that management technologies distribute risks between segments
of the labour market,

Haraway, Dana L.; Haraway III, William M.61 In their book titled, Analysis of the
Effect of Conflict-Management and Resolution Training on Employee Stress at a Healthcare
Organization, (2005) conducted a study in which, 23 supervisors and managers in a local
healthcare organization participated in for 3-hour sessions designed to teach practical
conflict-management strategies immediately applicable to their workplace duties and
responsibilities. A comparison of pre test and post test measures indicated statistically that
there were differences in four areas and suggested a positive influence of the brief
intervention. This is clearly explained in the article titled Analysis of the Effect of Conflict
Management and Resolution Training on Employee Stress at a Healthcare Organization,

Green, Rosemary; Lonne, Bob62 In their article titled, Great Lifestyle, Pity about
the Job Stress (2005) examined the rural practice and occupational stress. While employers
and colleagues may attribute stress reactions to the individual practitioner's inability to cope
with the demands of rural practice, strategies that are both systemic and structural, are
required to address this significant occupational issue.

Gillen, Mark C.; Ed Chung63 In their article titled, An Initial Investigation of

Employee Stress Related to Caring for Elderly and Dependent Relatives at Home, (2005)
examined that the problems confronting individuals who not only had employment
obligations to their employers, but who also had responsibilities as caregivers to aging/sick
parents or other family members at home. The modern organizational person has come to
accept the importance of task interests--getting the job done--in exchange for ways to further
their career interests and perhaps directly or indirectly their personal interests.

40
 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Sources of data
Research can be defined as A Scientific and systematic search for pertinent information on a
specific topic.

Research is an organized activity with specific focus (objective) on a problem or issue

supported by compilation of related data and facts, involving application of relevant tools of
analysis and deriving logically sound inferences based on originality.

RESEARCH DESIGN:

The researcher has used descriptive research design. In descriptive research design, the
researcher is supposed to describe the problem using a questionnaire or a schedule. This
method helps the researcher to explore new areas of investigation. A researcher develops his/
her hypothesis based on his knowledge about the subject matter of the study.

Descriptive Research includes fact-finding enquires.

Descriptive Research studies are those studies, which are concerned with describing
characteristics of a particular individual, or of a group.

The main characteristic of this method is that the researcher has no control over the
variables; he can only report what has happened or what is happening.

3.2 SAMPLE DESIGN:

Sample design is a definite plan determined before any data are actually collected for
obtaining a sample from a given population. Deciding the way of selecting a sample is
popularly known as sample design.

41
The researcher used an unrestricted sampling design. The sampling design consists of two
steps:

Sampling unit and

Sampling size.

SAMPLE UNIT:

The area selected for the study is Adyar, Chennai.

SAMPLE SIZE:

Hr professional:
The researcher focused on a comprehensive set of workplace practices that influence
employee motivation, commitment and willingness and desire to achieve at work. The
researcher identified these practices and a deep understanding of typical organizational
programs to ensure that the questionnaire covered the broadest spectrum of tangible and
intangible aspects of the work environment. As a result, the questionnaire included items
about the full range of rewards, practices leadership and management effectiveness,
communication culture and attributes relegated to these tangible and intangible aspects.

Employees:
The prime focus of this questionnaire was to compare with the responses obtained by the
above questionnaire. The stress management initiative is taken by the hr professionals but the
implication of this initiative is on the employees. By this questionnaire, the researcher tried to
find out the effectiveness, necessary of such Stress management initiative as well as the work
satisfaction level of the employees.

To analyze the effectiveness of Stress management at solar HR management, the researcher

selected 100 persons as sample size. The respondents were selected on the basis of Random
Sampling Technique;

SAMPLE METHOD:

42
The study involved probability random sample for selecting the respondents. It is one of the
types in probability sampling. When population elements are selected randomly on uniform
size then if they are selected randomly and if every element get a chance equally, it can be
called as random or unrestricted sampling.

3.3 FORMULATION OF QUESTIONNAIRE:

The required information for the study is collected through a structured questionnaire. The
questionnaire consists of closed-ended questions and open ended questions. In this type of
questionnaire, both the questions and the answers are well structured. The questionnaire has
two types of questions:

Dichotomous Question:

In this type, the questions have only 2 answers (i.e.) Yes and No.

Multiple Choice Questions:

These are questions, which has a number of options to select. It allows the respondent
to select the appropriate one of their own.

METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION:

There are several ways of collecting the appropriate data, which differ considerably in
context of money costs, time and other resources. With regard to this study questionnaire
method of data collection is followed. Since the study is to know the effectiveness of talent
identification and management at Solar hr mangament Private ltd

Primary data is collected from Employees of SOLAR HR MANAGEMENT Private

Limited. A well-structured non-disguised questionnaire was made use to collect the relevant
data for the study. The questionnaire was framed such a way so as to elicit the required
information. From a list of employees at SOLAR HR MANAGEMENT Private Limited at
random 100 employees were considered for the study. Out of the 150 employees, only 100

43
employees responded. Hence out of a total population of 150, 100 employees was the
research sample size.

The secondary data was collected through company profile, books, and internets. Through
secondary data basic information about the organization was known.

STATISTICAL DESIGN:

To draw inferences and conclusions from the data collected appropriate conventional and
non-conventional techniques were adopted in the study. The conventional techniques used
here is percentage analysis, pie chart, the non-conventional technique used in this study is
Pearson Chi Square, Chi Square and Correlation.

STATISTICAL TOOL:
The collected data were classified tabulated, and analyzed with some of the statistical tools
like.

1. Percentage method
2. Chi-square method
a) Pearson Chi Square
3. Correlation co-efficient

PERCENTAGE METHOD:
Percentage method is an analysis which is derived from the statistical technique for finding
the average of collected data/information. This techniques is used to draw the bar diagram,
histogram, pie-chart etc.

This helps to pin point the percentage of collected datas.

Number of respondents
Percentage= -------------------------------- *100
Total number of respondents

44
CHI-SQUARE TEST:
Chi-square test is a non parametric test used most frequently by researchers to test
hypothesis. This test is employed for testing hypothesis when distributed of population is not
known and when nominal data is to be analyzed.

The following formula for calculating the value of chi-square,

x2 = (O-E) 2/E

Where, O = Observed frequency

E = Expected frequency

CORRELATION CO-EFFICIENT:
Correlation is used in measuring the closeness of the relationship between the two variables.
It mainly determines the existence of the relationship and tests significantly. It establishes a
cause and effect relationship. The Pearson co-efficient of correlation is denoted by the
symbols that are used universally for describing the degree of correlation between two series.

The formula for computing Karl Pearson r is

Nxy - xy
r = ------------------------------------
(Nx^2-(x)^2 - Ny^2 (y)^2)

45
 QUESTIONNAIRE

Name:
Age : Gender: Male Female Education :
Occupation :
Contact no :

Factors influencing stress in the workplace

FACTORS Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly

agree disagree

Lack of cooperation among co-

workers in office causes stress

I feel emotionally drained by my

work

46
Time pressure to complete work is a
reason for stress and related problem

I have a feeling that I can get fired

from my job, without much cause

Physical environmental problems

in the work place cause stress
(temperature, Poor lighting, dust,
noise etc.,) in me.

I receive an assignment without

adequate resources & materials to
execute the job

Employees perception on stress management

s.no FACTORS Strongl Strongl Neutral Disagre Strongly

y agree y e disagree
disagree

1. Do you think that Stress

management is necessary?

2. Do you think that Stress

Management is important for
company?

3. Can you complete your work

within a given time?

4. Does your organization have

any specific stress
management initiative?

47
5. Is stress management system
implemented regularly and
feedback given to you?

6. Do you think that stress

management is important for
you?

7. Does Stress management

helps the employees to
relieve from the stress?

48