CHAPTER IV

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

4.1 INTRODUCTION
Leadership style and stress affects the performance efficiency and
effectiveness quantitatively and qualitatively. Thus Human Resource is
largely dependent upon both the things. This study will help management
professionals in developing their leadership styles or selecting its
components in the execution of task on the basis of nature of workforce
in various Production oriented Public Sector Organization of UP and MP.
The basic reason to select production oriented Public Sector
Undertakings (PSUs) of MP and UP is that the in era of second
generation economic reforms brought new challenges to PSUs where
main thrust is upon cost reduction, effective utilization of human
resource, emphasis on privatization of not only sick industries but also
profit making organizations. This results into fostering the phenomenon
of change old rigid rules regulation and technology into the flexible of
rules and regulation along with latest cheaper technology affecting the
work culture of Indian PSUs. Specifically, executives who give emphasis
on effective results are adopting new managerial practices. Executives
apply different leadership styles which creates stress in the mind of
subordinates for getting quality output with limited resources. To find out
the reasons for stress among subordinates generated by superiors’
leadership styles this study has been initiated by the researcher.

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4.2 PROBLEM

The basic problem undertaken for examination in the present study is to

investigate the possible leadership styles adopted by business executives
working in Public Sector Units of UP and MP and to find out the
relationship with occupational stress level in their executive subordinate.

4.3 PURPOSE

A leader is a person who influences the activities of the group to which

he belongs and who plays a central role in defining group goals and in
determining the ideology of the group. Leadership can be defined as an
interpersonal influence exercised in a situation and directed through the
communication process toward the attainment of a specified goal or
goals. Thus the concept of leadership includes in itself the part of a
leader (influencer) to affect (influence) the behaviour of a follower. A
multitude of social, organizational, situational and task-related
constraints guide and limit the actions of the leader and his team
members.

Two clusters of leadership behaviour and attitudes have been the focus of
most psychological researches. These clusters have been variously named
as directive’, 'autocratic', 'authoritarian,' 'task-oriented' and' ‘initiating’,
on the one hand and ‘participative’, 'democratic,' 'equalitarian/
'permissive,' 'group-centered and 'considerate' on the other. The leader
can take the responsibility either of making decisions or of directing the
group members of his group. He can use the proverbial stick or equally
proverbial carrot for motivating his members. All these methods and any
combination of these have worked in certain situations and failed in

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others. The problem of what constitutes the best leadership style has,
indeed, been one of the major critical issues in this realm.

From the viewpoint of task-orientation, it is held that: (a) the leader

must be decisive; (b) he must think and plan for the group; (c) the
responsibility for directing, controlling, coordinating and-evaluating the
group members' action is primarily of the leader and it cannot be shifted
to others. However, an opposing viewpoint, represented by the human
relations oriented theorists holds that (a) the leader will be most
effective when he can induce the creativity and willing cooperation of
his followers; and (b) he can do his best only when he can get his group
members to participate in the decision making process and in the
direction of group action.

The occupational stress of executive subordinates in organizations is

influenced by most of personal and psychological factors; the external
environment of an organisation, its physical setting, its internal system,
its functional modes and the personalities of the superiors as well as of
subordinates.

Besides, various attempts have been made to study the relationship of

leadership styles and occupational stress. Again, there are differences in
opinion of the researches in analyzing the concept of occupational stress:
Occupational stress is contingent upon the role overload, role conflict,
role ambiguity, chances of using their competencies, supervision, job
content, rewards, wages, chances of promotion and career advancement
etc. These factors also can be related with personal, social and
organizational factors. In the present study the researcher has tried to

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 correlate various demographic variables of the respondents and superiors’
leadership styles he exercises upon his/her subordinates.

There have been a number of studies on leadership styles, which have

focused on most or some of the variables defined above. Besides,
efforts have been made to study the relationship of leadership with
occupational stress of subordinates. Mixed findings of such studies have
been obtained so far which do not lead to any specific conclusions. In
India, leadership studies have been made in educational and industrial
fields, but scarcely in the sphere of private and public- sector
undertakings. In the present study, as already pointed out, the main focus
of analysis is to find out the various leadership styles prevalent among
the executives as superiors and their relationship with the variables of
occupational stress in various Public Sector Units (PSUs) of UP and MP.

4.4 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

Besides the main objective as defined above, other ancillary objectives

of the present study are as follows;

The main objectives of the study are as follows:

1. To find out leadership styles among the executives prevailing in
different public sector organisations.
2. To find out the level of stress prevailing among the executives in
public sector organisation.
3. To find out reasons for stress among the executives in different
public sector organisation.
4. Study the relationship between leadership style and degree of stress
among the subordinates

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 5. To study the causes of stress among the subordinates in different
Public Sector Organisations.
6. To critically analyze leadership styles adopted by the superior and
its impact on the level of stress experienced by the subordinates.

4.5 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

Keeping into the mind the main objectives discussed above the research has
been extended its scope to the following areas;

1. This comparative study is focused on manufacturing Public sector

undertakings of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh only.

2. The dyadic relationships (superior –subordinate relationship) are in to

the focus especially, executive class is taken into the consideration in
the study.

3. Executives from different departments are covered which are

classified into technical and non-technical departments on the basis of
their job nature.

4. executives from different level in the executive class are covered

namely top management level (TML) which covers senior executive
and above, middle management level (MML) covering junior
executives to the mangers and Lower management level (LML) ,
covering supervisors, foreman, and office superintendents of different
departments.

5. Executives of different age groups and salary groups are considered in

the study.

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4.6 HYPOTHESES

Keeping in view the above objectives, the following hypotheses have

been formulated:

1. There will be different pattern of leadership styles among the

superiors with change in age, level, gender state, and other
demographic variables.

2. There will be different level of occupational stress among the

subordinates with change in age, level, gender state, and other
demographic variables.

3. Relationship of Leadership Styles and Occupational Stress.

a. Directive style will have a positive relationship with different

variables of occupational stress specifically which coincide
with the style.

b. Supportive style will have a negative relationship with different

variables of occupational stress specifically which coincide
with the style.

c. Participative style will have a negative relationship with

different variables of occupational stress specifically which
coincide with the style.

d. Achievement–oriented style will have a positive relationship

with different variables occupational stress specifically which
coincide with the style.

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 4. The various demographic variables of superior viz. level in
organization; age; gender; salary received; education; experience;
persons supervising; and training received for developing leadership
styles has impact on its determination.

5. The various demographic variables of subordinates viz. level in

organization; age; gender; salary received; education; experience;
persons supervising; and training received for managing occupational
stress will influence level of occupational stress.

4.7 RESEARCH DESIGN

For the present study, a correlational design has been used. In

correlational studies, observations relevant to two or more variables are
made for each of the samples of persons or groups. The degree of
direction of relationship among these observations is then determined by
the use of statistical methods. There is no attempt on the part of the
researcher to manipulate variables. Rather tried to determine their effects.

Correlational studies are particularly useful in the initial exploration of a

problem area. A large number of variables can be studied simultaneously
and with new data processing methods; extremely complex statistical
analysis can be performed quickly and economically. The research design
clearly indicates that in the present study, three hierarchical levels viz.',
higher, middle and lower were taken. The variables undertaken for the
study are demographic variables viz. age; gender; salary; qualification;
experience; persons directly report; training received for stress
management by subordinates and training received by superior for
leadership style development. Two questionnaires were administered for
superiors and subordinates. Superiors were asked to give their response

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 about their leadership styles and executive subordinates were asked to
give their response about their occupational stress.

The variables taken in the present study may be divided into two group
viz., dependent and independent. The independent variables have been
considered as Leadership styles of the superiors and dependent variable is
occupational stress of the subordinates. Leadership styles are divided into
four types namely; directive, supportive, participative and achievement-
oriented style. The occupational stress is measured by twelve important
variables namely; role overload, role ambiguity, role conflict,
group/political pressures, persons’ responsibility, under participation,
powerlessness, poor peer relations, intrinsic impoverishment, status,
strenuous working conditions, and unprofitability. It was found difficult
to draw conclusion from a single score of occupational stress, therefore,
the relationship of leadership styles with various variables of
occupational stress were taken separately.

4.7.1 VARIABLES

4.7.1.1 INDEPENDENT VARIABLES

1. Four leadership styles as judged

a. Directive
b. Supportive
c. Participative
d. Achievement - oriented
2. Demographic variables of superior and subordinates viz;
a. Age
b. Gender
c. Education

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 d. Experience
e. Level
f. Salary per month
g. Persons supervised
h. Training programme attended for leadership
i. Training programme attended for stress management
4.7.1.2 DEPENDENT VARIABLES
12 Variables of occupational stress has been taken for the computation as
dependent variables
a. Role overload
b. Role ambiguity
c. Role conflict
d. Group/Political pressures
e. Persons’ responsibility
f. Under participation
g. Powerlessness
h. Poor peer relations
i. Intrinsic impoverishment
j. Status
k. Strenuous working conditions
l. Unprofitability

4.8 METHODOLOGY

The sample for the present study has been drawn from the specific strata
of PSUs of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh involved in
manufacturing industries. The researcher has focused upon the areas,
which are covered under the study. This study is extended to the various

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 PSUs of MP and UP where Production goods are operationalised viz.
Scooters India Ltd., Lucknow, Bharat Pump and Compressor Ltd.
Allahabad, UP State Yarn Company Ltd., Jaunpur, Diesel Locomotive
Works (DLW), Varanasi, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BHEL), Jhansi,
Indian Telecom Industries (ITI), Naini, Allahabad, Railway Coach
Factory, Bhopal, Bharat Heavy Electrical Ltd. (BHEL) Bhopal, National
Fertilizers Ltd (NFL), Vijaypur, Guna, Gas Authority of India Limited
(GAIL), Vijaypur, Guna

4.8.1 TOOLS EMPLOYED

In order to accomplish the main objectives of the study two tools were
applied on the executives.

4.8.1.1 LEADERSHIP STYLES

In the opening paragraph of the questionnaire Respondents were

requested to fill the questionnaire completely and given an assurance of
using the information for the academic research only.

This questionnaire (Annexure I) has been used for Identifying Leadership

Styles based on Path-Goal theory of Leadership prepared by J. Indvik in
his unpublished doctoral dissertation at University of Wisconsin-
Madison.

The questionnaire has been divided into two parts. First part of the
questionnaire seeks the demographic information of the respondents like
Age, Gender, Qualifications Experience, Salary etc and in part two,
twenty items are covered for identifying four leadership styles namely;

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 CHART: 4.1
Leadership Styles Covering Number Items

LEADERSHIP NUMBER
SN
STYLES OF ITEMS
1 Directive 5 items
2 Supportive 5 items
3 Participative 5 items
4 Achievement–Oriented 5 items

Source: J. Indvik, unpublished doctoral thesis,

University of Wisconsin-Medison, 1985

4.8.1.2 OCCUPATIONAL STRESS

The second questionnaire (Annexure-II) named as Occupational Stress

Index (OSI) is finalized for measuring occupational stress of executives
prepared by Prof. S. K. Srivastava and Prof. A. P. Singh of Department
of Psychology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. This standardized
questionnaire has the reliability coefficient ascertained by Split half (odd-
even) method and Cronbach’s alpha- coefficient for the scale as a whole
were found to be 0.937 and 0.90 respectively.

The standardized questionnaire has been divided into two parts. In the
first part demographic information about the respondents are sought
covering Age, Gender, Qualification, Experience, Salary etc and in the
second part of the questionnaires 46 items are included covering 12
variables namely;

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 CHART: 4.2
Occupational Stress Covering Number Items

OCCUPATIONAL STRESS NUMBER

SN
VARIABLES OF ITEMS
1 Role overload 5 items
2 Role ambiguity 4 items
3 Role conflict 5 items
4 Group/Political pressures 5 items
5 Persons’ responsibility 3 items
6 Under participation 4 items
7 Powerlessness 3 items
8 Poor peer relations 4 items
9 Intrinsic impoverishment 4 items
10 Status 3 items
11 Strenuous working conditions 4 items
12 Unprofitability 2 items

Source: A. K. Srivastava and A. P. Singh, ‘The manual of Occupational stress

index’, Manovaigyanic Parikshan Sansthan, Varanasi, 1984

4.8.1.3 NORMS FOR OCCUPATIONAL STRESS INDEX

Norms have been prepared for the OSI as a whole as well as twelve sub-
scales separately of different cadre involved in production and non-
production activities. The scores were divided in to three categories i. e.
high, moderate and low following the principle of normal distribution.
The scores falling above +1 , between ± 1 and below -  were

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 categorised respectively as to indicate high, moderate and low levels of
occupational stress. Table below gives norms for the raw scores.

CHART: 4.3

Norms in judging occupational stress

Occupational Stress Level

SN VARIABLES Low Moderate High
(Below -1) (Between±1 ) (above +1)
1 Role Overload 6-14 15-22 23-30
2 Role Ambiguity 4-9 10-12 13-20
3 Role Conflict 5-12 13-17 18-25
Group/Political
4 4-9 10-14 15-20
Pressures
5 Persons 3-7 8-11 12-15
6 Under participation 4-9 10-12 13-20
7 Powerlessness 3-7 8-11 12-15
8 Poor Peer Relation 4-8 9-13 14-20
Intrinsic
9 4-9 10-13 14-20
Impoverishment
10 Low Status 3-6 7-11 12-15
Strenuous Working
11 4-9 10-12 13-20
Conditions
12 Unprofitability 2-4 5-7 8-10
TOTAL SCORE 46-122 123-155 156-230

Source: A. K. Srivastava and A. P. Singh, ‘The manual of Occupational stress index’,

Manovaigyanic Parikshan Sansthan, Varanasi, 1984

4.9 PROCEDURE

A systematic stepwise procedure has been adopted for achieving pure

results from the study. The steps are discussed under.

4.9.1 POPULATION

For collecting the data the researcher focused upon the population from
where the data were supposed to be collected the population for the

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 purposes was considered are, all the executives from the different
departments ranging from top to lower level of the public sector units of
the UP and MP. For this purpose only those organizations were selected
where production process is being carried out.

4.9.2 SAMPLE
From the population of executives of various PSUs of UP and MP sample
was collected through stratified. Random sampling in which sample was
selected from different departments and levels. During the sample
selection it was taken care off that respondents must be from different
department, span and their reporting relationship is clear as basic
objective of the research is to identify the impact of leadership style of
superior on the level of occupational stress on subordinates. A total of
150 questionnaires were distributed for the data collection and 120
questionnaires were recollected. 104 questionnaires were selected for the
data analyses as rest of the questionnaires were incompletely filled.

4.9.3 ADMINISTRATION OF QUESTIONNAIRES

First of all permission was sought and obtained from different PSUs of
MP and UP for interviewing executives of all level of their organization.
Following this the respondents were contacted personally. The
researcher time to time as per the convenience went to them. Mostly, the
questionnaires were filled in the office premises in the presence of
researcher.

Two sets of questionnaires were prepared. One for the superiors of any
span of control and second for the subordinates belongs to a particular
superior who has already filled the questionnaire as a leader in a span.

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 The questionnaires were distributed individually to all the members
selected for sample in each unit in different organisations. It was made
clear to the subjects that permission had been received from HR/
Personnel Department. Subjects were asked to fill-up a set of
questionnaire as per the instructions mentioned on them. Subjects were
assured of the confidentiality of their responses. All the respondents
were encouraged to express their ideas and opinion frankly and freely.
Precautions were also taken to obtain unbiased results. The executives
were observed to be very appreciative and cooperative in this endeavor.
On an average, it took 30 to 40 minutes for all level of executives to fill
in the questionnaires. The researcher collected the completed
questionnaires personally.

4.9.4 SCORING

CHART 4.4
Scoring Pattern for Leadership Styles
S. N. LEADERSHIP STYLES ITEMS
1 Directive 1, 5, 9, 14, 18
2 Supportive 2, 8 11, 15, 20
3 Participative 3,4, 7, 12, 17
4 Achievement – oriented 6, 10, 13, 16, 19
Total 20
Source: J. Indvik, unpublished doctoral thesis,
university of Wisconsin-Medison, 1985

The two different questionnaires used for the present study have different
patterns of scoring; the first questionnaires for identifying Leadership

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styles in which seven point Likert’s scale were used. The scores are
ranging from Always (7), Usually (6), Often (5), Occasionally (4),
Seldom (3), Hardly Ever (2) Never (1). The figures in parentheses
denoting their weightage.

CHART 4.5
Scoring Pattern for Occupational Stress

S. N. STRESS VARIABLES ITEMS

1 Role overload 1, 13, 25, 36, 44
2 Role ambiguity 2, 14, 26, 27
3 Role conflict 3, 15, 27, 38, 45
4 Group/Political pressures 4, 16, 28, 39
5 Persons’ responsibility 5, 17, 29
6 Under participation 6, 18, 30, 40
7 Powerlessness 7, 19, 31
8 Poor peer relations 8, 20, 32, 41
9 Intrinsic impoverishment 9,21 33, 42
10 Status 10, 22, 34
11 Strenuous working conditions 12, 24, 35, 43
12 Unprofitability 11, 23
Total 46

Source: A. K. Srivastava and A. P. Singh, ‘The manual of Occupational stress

index’, Manovaigyanic Parikshan Sansthan, Varanasi, 1984

The second questionnaire for measuring occupational stress in which

scores are sought on five points Likert scale from absolutely true (5),
almost true (4), partially true (3), almost false (2), absolutely false (1).

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 CHART 4.6
Coding of Demographic variables

DEMOGRAPHIC
SN CODING
VARIABLES
1 Age Up to 40- 1, 41 To 50-2, 51 and Above – 3
2 Gender Male- 1, Female –2
3 Marital Status Married- 1, Unmarried- 2
4 Designation (Level) Lower- 1, Middle- 2, Top-3
5 Department Technical-1, Non-Technical –2
6 Experience Up to 10- 1, 11 to 20 – 2, 21 & Above – 3
Up to Rs.15000 – 1, 1551 To 25000 – 2,
7 Salary 25001 & Above – 3
8 Persons Supervising Up to 5- 1, 6 & above – 2
Training Received
9 Yes-1, No.-2
for Leadership
Training Received for
10 Yes- 1, No- 2
Stress management
11 Qualification Graduate-1, Post Graduate-2

4.9.5 DATA ANALYSIS

Answers to questionnaires were compiled manually and later transferred

on a computer on Statistical package for social science (SPSS) 11.5
version worksheet and were analyzed. Main statistical tools have been
used are as under;
a. Mean
b. Standard Deviation (SD)
c. Range of scores
d. Frequency Analysis
e. Percentage Analysis
f. Reliability Analysis (Guttman Split-half)
g. t – Test

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 h. F- Test (Analysis of variance)
i. Correlations

4.10 REPORT WRITING

Finally the last phase of the study is devoted on critical analysis of data
and presentation of findings obtained during the course of investigation.

4.11 PLAN OF THE STUDY

For effective presentation of the conducted research this study has

segmented under the following chapters:

Chapter I:

Introductory part of the study focused on introduction of the topic

explaining the relevance of the study, new economic scenario which
encouraged to the researcher to conduct the research on the issue,
significance of the study explains the importance of the study and how
the corporate world could be benefited with this study and scope of the
study gives an idea that who are the respondents and what are the areas
which are covered under this study.

Chapter II:

This chapter has been divided into two parts. First part of the study
concentrates upon the conceptual framework of Leadership covering
various definitions, approaches to leadership and also discusses the
various leadership models along with their criticism. Second part of this
chapter focused on the concept of the occupational stress its model,
approaches, significance, managing stress at individual and
organizational level.

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Chapter III:

This chapter deals with literature review of Leadership studies and

occupational stress. The researcher has tried to focus on the previous
studies and researcher conducted in India and abroad by different
organizational behavior practitioners. Only those researches have been
included which are required to justify the objectives of the study. The
researcher arranges variable wise studies.

Chapter IV:

This chapter has been devoted to the research methodology. In this

chapter the researcher has tried to focus on the methodology. The
detailed information has been given about population, sample, data
collection, method of data collection, questionnaire used for the study,
research design and hypotheses and statistical tools has been used for the
data analysis.

Chapter V:

In the fifth chapter interpretation and discussion is made on leadership

styles and occupational stress. In this part analysis and interpretation is
done with different tables. Hypotheses are tested in this chapter along
with other findings.

Chapter VI:

The final chapter deals with Summary, Conclusion, Suggestion and

Limitations on the bases of data analyzed and gives scope for further
research.

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