2.

1 INTRODUCTION

A lot of literature is available on Stress Management, by Indian and

foreign authors. In the present chapter, an attempt is made to review the

important studies undertaken in India and abroad. Articles published in

research journals, doctoral theses submitted to various Indian and foreign

universities and papers presented in national and international seminars have

been reviewed. It is hoped that the review will be helpful in identifying the

research gaps in the area of the Stress Management and to determine the

method that should be adopted for the present study.

2.2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Khan et.al in their study “Organization Stress” have studied the role of

conflict and ambiguity and have identified role of conflict as one of the forms

of role based stress, with the absence of role.1

Stressors most common to our lives involve the adaptation to change or

the experience of daily hassles. Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe found

that the more significant changes a person had in his or her life, the greater the

chance that he or she would contract some physical or psychological illness.

Since they conceptualized stress as adapting to change, Holmes and Rahe


1
R.L.Khan., et.al., Organizational Stress: Studies in Role Conflict and Ambiguity, Wiely, New
York,1964.

12

viewed more change as equivalent to more stress and consequently, more

illness and disease.2

Thomas G. Cummings et.al in their study “A cybernetic Framework

for Study Occupational Stress” analyzed the impact of job stress of employees

on their work.3

“Stress and work”, a research study undertaken by Ivencevich J.M.

and Matterson .T.M identified three critical factors role ambiguity, role

conflict and the degree of responsibility as the major sources of employees’

stress. The study did promote some understanding about stressors but did not

provide realistic solutions to reduce the effect of job stress.4

Srivastava and Sigh in the study “Construction and Standardization of

occupational stress index: A pilot study” developed an occupational stress

index. It assesses perceived occupational stress related to role overload, role

ambiguity, role conflict, group and political pressures, poor responsibility for

persons under participation, powerlessness, poor peer relations, intrinsic

improvement, low status, and strenuous working conditions and unprofitable.5


2
Holmes TH, Rahe RH. “The Social Readjustment Rating Scale”.,Journal of Psychosomatic Research,
11(2):213-8, 1967.
3
Thomas G Cummings et.al, Frame work of studying of Occupation of Stress, Human Relations, May,
pp. 395-418, 1979.
4
Ivencevich J.M. and.Matterson T.M, Stress and Work, Glen view, IL : Scott Foreman, 1980.
5
A.K. Srivastava and A.P.Sigh, Construction and Standardization of and Occupational Stress Index: A
pliot Study, Indian Journal of Clinical, Psychology Vol. 8(2), pp.133-136, 1981.

13

 A organizational Determinants of Anxiety Based Management Stress a

study conducted by G.S. Das, has reported that negative workgroup eliminated

and powerlessness many be dominant causes of stress experienced by Indian

managers than a role of ambiguity.6

Parasuraman and Cleek investigated coping behaviours in mangers

relating to occupational role stressors. Questionnaire regarding occupational

role stressors and coping styles were sent to a random of 300 respondents. The

findings of the study indicated that the women managers engage in more

adaptive coping Behaviours than the male, disconfirming previously held belief

that female managers coped poorly with role pressures. Environmental stress

pertains to the physical environment at the work place.7

Keenan and Newton provide an example of study pertaining to the

person environment fit. The study measured factors pertaining to work related

environmental stress. The sample included 401 graduate engineers working in

the engineering industry. Dependent variables were the anger reactions, latent

hostility, job dissatisfaction and work related anxiety. Environmental stress was

measured by using a questionnaire that consisted of items measuring emotional

responses relating to work environment. From the multiple regression analysis

used, it was found that the organizational climate, role stress and social support

contributed to the environmental frustration experienced by the engineers. The


6
Das G.S., Organizational Determinants of Anxiety Based Management Stress, Vikalpa,7(3), pp.217-
222, 1982.
7
Parasuraman.S and Cleek. M.A, “Coping Behaviour and Manger’s reaction to role stressors”, Journal
of Vocational Behaviour, vol.24, 1984, pp.179-193.

14

main areas associated with environmental frustration were role stress,

organizational climate and social support. A limitation of the study was that the

sample of engineers were all young, recently graduated with little, if any work

experience in the industry.8

Billings .A.G and Moos. R.H (1984) in their study “Copies Stress and

Social Resources among Adults with Univocal Depression” explain the role of

stress, social resources and coping men and women entering treatment for

relaxation. They found that work stressors had greater impact on men than on

women. Social support was strongly related to the functioning of women than

of men.9

Caplan and Tripathi have identified the lack of participation in the

decision making process, lack of effective consultation and communication,

unjustified restriction on behaviour, office politics and no sense of belonging as

potential sources of stress. The study concluded that lack of participation in

work activity is associated with negatively psychological mood and

behavioural responses, including escapist drinking and heavy smoking.10

Jamal in his study “Job Stress and Job Performance Controversy”

examined the relationship between job stress and employee performance and

withdrawal behaviour. The job stressors assessed were role of ambiguity, role

8
Keenan A and Newton T.J, “Frustration in organizations: relating to role stress, Climate and
psychological strain”, Journal of Occupational Psychology, pp.57-65, 1984.
9
Billings A.G. and Moos R.H., Coping Stress and social Resources Among Adults with Univocal
Depression, journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46(4), 1984, pp.877-891, 1984.
10
Caplan and Tripathi, Coping and Defence Consultation Verses Components, Journal of Health and
Social Behaviour, Vol. 25, pp 303-320, 1984.

15

conflict, and role overload and resource inadequacy. Withdrawal behaviour

stressed where absenteeism, tiredness and anticipated turnover. The result

found support the negative linear relationship between stress and performance.

All the stressors were found to be related to job performance in a negative

linear fashion. Role overload and role conflict were also found to be the reason

for absenteeism, tiredness and anticipated turnover in a positive linear

fashions.11

Ahmad et.al, their study has found that public sector executives

experience slightly more stress than their counterparts in the private sector.

Demographic ground factors like age, education, income, experience and

marital status of executives were unrelated to role of stress in both the groups

of people.12

Bhagat et.al in their study “Total Life Stress: Effects on

Organizationally Valued Outcomes and Withdrawal Behaviours” explained

that the effects of stress in both organizational and personal life domains the

employee with regard to organization out comes like job satisfaction,

organizational commitment, job strains, alienation, turnover intention and

absenteeism. It was found that there was a strong correlation between negative

life of stress and outcomes. Also all the outcomes except absenteeism were

better predicated by the job stress. It was found that negative stress from both

11
Jamal M., Job Stress and Job Performance Controversy An Empirical Assessment, Organizational
Behaviour and Human Performance, 33, pp.1-21, 1984.
12
.Ahmad S., et.al, “Study of Stress Among Executives, Journal of Personality and Clinical Studies”.
Vol. 1, pp.47-50, 1985.

16

employee’s job and personal life would have an effect on organizational

outcomes.13

In Meta analysis, Jackson and Schuler on role of ambiguity and role of

conflict found that there is no relationship between role of stress variables and

individual characteristics. With respect to age, they felt that there were no

theoretical reasons to predict that they are correlated with role of ambiguity or

role conflict, through spurious correlation may occur due to an association of

age with job experience or tenure.14

Baroudi J.J. and M.J. Ginsberg in their study, “Impact of

Technological Environment on Programmers/Analysts job outcomes” showed

that the work of software professionals is team based that requires them work

of function from different locations as a part of a functional team as well as

report to a serial of people at various levels. This causes software professionals

to receive conflicting job performance information and hence there is a lack of

clear and precise information on what is expected of them.15

Jaffe in his study has explained the myth of the wounded healer who

sheds some light on the ways in which the helper is personally affected by the


13
Bhaget R.S., et.al, “Total Life Stress : A Multimethod Validation of the Construct and its Effects
Organizationally Valued Outcomes and Withdrawal Outcome Behaviour”, Journal of Applied
Psychology, 70(1) , pp.202-214, 1985.
14
Jackson and Schuler, “A Meta Analysis and Conceptual Critique of Research on Role Ambiguity and
Role Conflict in work settings”, Organizational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes, pp.16-18,
1985.
15
Baroudi. J.J, and Ginzberg M.J., “Impact of Technological Environment of Programmers/Analysts
job outcomes, Communications of the ICM”, Vol.29, pp.546-555, 1986.

17

helping process. He argues that health professionals must see that they cannot

simply give and remain detached from their feelings. Instead, they must look

inward at their personal needs. He decries the notion that healers are not

supposed to have needs, that personal feelings are not relevant, and that helpers

should learn to cut themselves off from their own pain as they work with

other's pain. According to Jaffe, helping professionals need to recognize the

impact on their own life of working with suffering people. They must become

aware of their inner responses and learn to work through their own pain in a

constructive manner if they hope to avoid burnout.16

Kottler argues that most therapists understand that they are jeopardizing

their own emotional well-being when they intimately encounter the pain of

others. He observes that the client and the therapist change each other and that

there are hazards to the therapist as a result of this intimate relationship. There

are tremendous risks for the therapist in living with the anguish of others, in

being so close to others' torments. According to him sometimes one become

desensitized by human emotions and experience an acute overdose of feeling;

we turn ourselves off. Other times one overreacts to personal incidents as a

result of lingering dissonance created during sessions.17

Matheny, et.al designed a major study that attempted to synthesize the

research on methods of coping. They define coping as any effort, healthy or


16
Jaffe, D. T. The Inner Strains of Healing Work: Therapy and Self-renewal for Health Care
Professionals. New York: Brunner/Mazel. 1986.
17
Kottler, J. A. On Being a Therapist. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1986.

18

unhealthy, conscious or unconscious, to prevent, eliminate, or weaken

stressors, or to tolerate their effects in the least harmful manner. Their model

includes both preventative and combative strategies.

There are three general strategies for preventing stress: (1) avoiding or

reducing stressors, such as physically removing oneself from the stressful

situation, (2) altering stress-inducing behaviour patterns, by decreasing "Type

A" behaviours and self-destructive thinking, and (3) developing coping

resources, to include a sense of physical health, cognitive assets, and social

support.

The integrative model of coping also outlines five combative strategies:

(1) monitoring stressors and symptoms, being aware of those situations which

one finds stressful and you react to them, (2) marshaling one's resources,

drawing on one's resources and developing an effective plan of attack for the

stressor, (3) lowering stressful arousal, relaxation methods and leisure can be

most useful in reducing tension, (4) using problem-solving methods, such as

assessing the problem, finding out relevant information, challenging limiting

assumptions, and identifying alternative behaviours, and (5) learning to tolerate

those stressors that cannot be eliminated, cognitive restructuring can be used to

combat one's negative self-talk and "catastrophic" thinking.18

Motowidlo et al in their study “Occupational Stress: Its Causes and

Consequences for job Performance” explored the causes of stress and its

18
Matheny, et.al. “Stress Coping: A Qualitative and Quantitative Synthesis with Implications for
Treatment.”, The Counseling Psychologist, 14(4), 499-549, 1986.

19

consequence for job performance among nurses. It was found that events

associated with stress involved factors such a as work load, unco-operative

patients, criticism, negligent co-worker, lack of support from supervisors and

difficulty with physicians. Performance was related to the perception of

stressful events, depression and hostility. Further strong type A. Individuals felt

more stressed regardless of how frequently or intensely they experienced

stressful events. They also felt more anxious and depressed regardless of their

perception of stress. It was also found that feeling of job related stress lead to

feelings of depression that caused individuals to perform less effectively in the

interpersonal and cognitive/motivated aspects of their jobs. 19

Schmind and Lawler in their study “Handiness type A behaviour and

stress Illness-Related in working women” explain the relationship between

stress and illness, with hardiness and type A behaviour pattern acting as

moderators, the results showed a strong positive relation between stress and

illness, but not between type A Behaviour and illness. 20

Kalimo et.al emphasize social environmental factors as a significant

source of potential occupational stress and refer to it as the ‘person

environment fit’. The person environment fit relates to the individual’s


19
. Motowidlo S.J, et.al, Occupational Stress: is Causes and Consequences for Job performance. Journal
of Applied Psychology, 76,(4),pp.618-629, 1986.

20
Schmind L.A, and Lawler K.A., Hardiness Type A Behaviour and the Stress Illness-Relation in
working women, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51 (6),pp.1218-1223, 1986.

20

fulfillment of ‘psychological needs’ in order to do his or her work well with in

the specific occupational environment. 21

A growing number of studies have demonstrated the efficacy of

worksite stress management training for reducing worker psycho-physiological

arousal and subjective reports of anxiety, depression, and somatic complaints.

Murphy and Joseph have studied the role of stress management in the larger

context of occupational stress reduction. An application of stress management

as one component of an organisational stressor reduction programme is

described. Other components in the process which have been completed

include the formation of a stress reduction committee and conduct of a stress

assessment survey. Future plans include the formulation and implementation of

recommendations for reducing organisational stress and repeated evaluations of

their efficacy. The purpose is to depict element of the overall process and to

report progress to date in this effort.22

Helen and Cary have stated that the organisational change, for some

employees, can pose threat, for others challenge. It has been found that, given

the same organisational stressors, certain individuals fall victim to stress and

ill-health, whereas others remain healthy. In order to seek a clearer

understanding of this phenomenon, the personality/stress/health relationship is

explored with reference to individual differences in Type A behaviour, locus of


21
Kalimo et.al, “Psychosocial factors at work and their relation to health” Geneva, Macmillan, 1987.
22
Lawrence R. Murphy, Joseph J. Hurrell, Jr, "Stress Management in the Process of Occupational
Stress Reduction", Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 2 Iss: 1, pp.18 – 23, 1987.

21

control, hardiness, extraversion, neuroticism, and tension discharge rate. It is

suggested that organisational change management should be within the

framework of communication, control and counselling. Future research should

pursue a multidimensional, interactive course to gain a greater insight into this

highly complex relationship.23

The main findings of S. Kumar in his study “Role stress, Role

satisfaction and Role Efficiency among Public Sector Executives” indicated

that unmarried executives, executives married to working women and

marketing executives married have significantly have higher total stress. Role

of stagnation and personal adequacy were found to be significantly higher

among lower level executives.24

Lysonski and Nilakant have stated that project management has

become a common organisational approach to manage complex projects.

Despite its popularity, few studies have used a human resource perspective to

understand the behavioural dimensions of the project manager. Their study

reports an empirical investigation on some of the causes and consequences of

role stress among project managers. The sample consisted of 101 project

managers in both projectised and matrix organisations. The study investigates

the relationships between role stress and communication aspects such as


23
Helen Taylor, Cary L. Cooper, "Organisational Change — Threat or Challenge?: The Role of
Individual Differences in the Management of Stress", Journal of Organizational Change Management,
Vol. 1 Iss: 1, pp.68 – 80, 1988.
24
S.Kumar, “A Study of Role Satisfaction and Role Efficiency Among Public Sector Executives”,
Unpublished PhD Thesis, M.D. University, Rohtak, 1989.

22

boundary spanning, perceived effectiveness, satisfaction and job tension. It also

examines the effect of role autonomy, need for achievement, age and

experience on effectiveness, satisfaction and performance. Implications of the

study, in terms of project management effectiveness are discussed. The study

concludes with a summary of critical behavioural issues which impinge on

project management effectiveness.25

Stress has been recognized as a cause of sexual dysfunction and until

recently due to a male oriented society. Greenberg has studied the female

sexuality and stress related problems that have been sadly neglected. Dealing

with stress entails not only an emotional or physical response but results in a

complex cognitive process relating to how the individual perceives or thinks

about the stressful events.

Occupational stress can be an extremely difficult concept to define.

Obviously, it is stress on the job; but stress on the job occurs within a person.

Here is where we run into problems since every worker brings to the job a level

of predisposition to be stressed

In his research, first published in his classic book, Comprehensive Stress

Management, he has summarized stress reactivity as a three-phase process that

has been termed the general adaptation syndrome:

Phase 1: Alarm Reaction. The body shows the changes characteristic of

the first exposure to stressor. At the same time, its resistance is diminished and,

25
Lysonski S., et.al, "Role Stress among Project Managers", Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 4
Iss: 5, pp.25 – 31, 1989.

23

if the stressor is sufficiently strong (severe burns, extremes of temperature),

death may result.

Phase 2: Stage of Resistance. Resistance ensues if continued exposure to

the stressor is compatible with adaptation. The bodily signs characteristic of the

alarm reaction have virtually disappeared and resistance rises above normal.

Phase 3: Stage of Exhaustion. Following long-continued exposure to the

stressor, to which the body had become adjusted, eventually adaptation energy

is exhausted. The signs of the alarm reaction reappear, but now they are

irreversible, and individual dies.26

James and Arroba in a article acknowledges the need for managers to

be more politically sensitive, due to social and organisational changes. The

dual nature of the link between politics and stress is explored. First, the

question of how political situations lead to stress is examined. In order to

analyse the second link a model of political sensitivity and a model of stress are

presented. This enables the effect of stress on the dimensions of political skill

to be assessed. In conclusion, the implications of these links for management

and organisation development are drawn.27

Klarreich describe work underload as an occupational stressor which

means that insufficient task for the worker may lead to boredom or frustration.


26
Greenberg, J. S. Comprehensive Stress Management (3rd ed.). Dubuque, IA: Wm. C. Brown
Publishers, 1990
27
Kim James, Tanya Arroba, "Politics and Management: The Effect of Stress on the Political
Sensitivity of Managers", Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 5 Iss: 3, pp.22 – 27, 1990.

24

Role based stress concern the roles that the worker has to perform in the work

setting and includes role conflict and role ambiguity.

Role conflict exists when the worker is torn between conflicting job

demands, namely doing task he or she dislikes or does not consider his or her

responsibility. Role ambiguity arises when the individual does not have clarity

as to the work objectives of the job with the role conflict, role ambiguity and

inadequate coping resources being major contributing factors regarding stress

related disorder especially burnout which is described as a progressive metal

deterioration resulting in the individual becoming emotionally exhausted and

depressed.28

Tanya and James presented the model of organisational stress

management in four stage process, comprising: getting the organisation to

recognise stress; training individuals in stress management; providing helping

skills; and providing a stress audit. It is argued that each of these stages

involves a series of interesting tasks, which can be either facilitated or hindered

by a range of organisational supports or constraints. The management of stress

is of major importance to all management functions – not only personnel – in

the light of its heavy potential costs.29


28
Klarreich, “Work without stress: A Productive guide to emotional and physical well being on the job,
New York: Brunner/ Mazel.inc, 1990.
29
Tanya Arroba, Kim James, "Reducing the Cost of Stress: An Organisational Model", Personnel
Review, Vol. 19 Iss: 1, pp.21 – 27, 1990.

25

 Trauer refers to the person environment fit as the way in which the

individual and the environment for together and states that stress arises from a

mismatch between the worker and his occupational environment. A mismatch

between the employee and his environment mainly occurs when there is a

conflict between the worker’s expectation, perception or ability regarding the

actual demands of the job. 30

As identified in the study conducted by Donat and Neal, situational

sources of occupational stress are often experienced by mental health

counselors in state hospital settings. The results of the study indicated that the

damaging effects of stress and burnout can be compounded in institutional

settings such as state hospitals. State hospitals often house exceptionally

difficult to manage residents and typically have low staff-resident ratios with

limited professional resources. The combination of an exceptionally impaired

resident population, lack of adequate guidance, and low pay can add to the

stress experienced in such settings.

Eight factors, accounting for 71% of the total variance were revealed.

These factors were labeled as follows: staff conflict over duties/treatment

decisions; inability to control resident behaviour; lack of control over treatment

decisions; inconsistent/unfair work conditions; lack of respect from

coworkers/the system; inadequate care by other staff members, lack of

administrative support for duties; and working with uncooperative/incapable


30
Trauer.T , “Coping with stress: how to relieve tension for a healthier life”, Tafelburg Publishers Ltd,
1990.

26

residents.31

Lazarus distinguishes 15 basic emotions. Nine of these are negative

(anger, fright, anxiety, guilt, shame, sadness, envy, jealousy, and disgust),

whereas four are positive (happiness, pride, relief, and love). (Two more

emotions, hope and compassion, have a mixed valence.) At a molecular level

of analysis, the anxiety reaction, for example, is based on the following pattern

of primary and secondary appraisals: there must be some goal relevance to the

encounter. Furthermore, goal incongruence is high, i.e., personal goals are

thwarted. Finally, ego- involvement concentrates on the protection of personal

meaning or ego- identity against existential threats. At a more molar level,

specific appraisal patterns related to stress or distinct emotional reactions are

described as core relational themes. The theme of anxiety, for example, is the

confrontation with uncertainty and existential threat. The core relational theme

of relief, however, is `a distressing goal-incongruent condition that has changed

for the better or gone away'.32

Mc Donald and Korabik in their study titled “Sources of stress and

ways of coping among male and female managers” studied stress and coping

managers, Ten male managers in a low stress group and ten male and ten

female among managers in a high stress group described stressful work-related

situations that they had experienced and assessed additional type of stressors. It


31
Donat, D. C., & Neal, B. Situational Sources of Stress for Direct Care Staff in a Public Psychiatric
Hospital. Psychosocial Rehabilitation Journal, 14(4), 76-82, 1991.
32
Lazarus, R S, Emotion and Adaptation. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.

27

was found that women were more likely than men to report that prejudice and

discrimination and work/family interferences were sources of stress. 33

Siefert and Jayaratne present the findings of two consecutive surveys

of factors associated with job satisfaction and burnout in national samples of

health care social workers. The first survey was undertaken in 1979 and the

second in 1989. The conceptual framework used by the authors assumes that

job satisfaction and burnout are separate but related functions of the interaction

between the social worker and various aspects of his or her job.

The following nine job characteristics were measured for the

identification of job satisfaction: role ambiguity, role conflict, value conflict,

workload, challenge, comfort, financial rewards, promotional opportunities,

and overall job satisfaction. All job characteristics were measured using well-

established indexes of demonstrated reliability and validity.

Results of the study demonstrated that between 1979 and 1989 there

were significant increases in the proportion of social workers employed in

private versus public agencies, in quantitative workload, and in social worker’s

perceptions of the challenges presented by their job’s role conflict and role

ambiguity, lack of comfort, and dissatisfaction with financial rewards emerged

as significant predictors of depersonalization, loss of job satisfaction, and


33
Mc Donald and Korabik, Sources of Stress and ways of coping Among Male and Female Managers
Special issue hand Book on Job Stress, Journal of Social Behaviour and Personality Vol. 6(7), pp.185-
198, 1991.

28

burnout. However, at the same time, a significant increase in social worker’s

feelings of personal accomplishment also occurred, and high challenge

emerged as a significant predictor of sense of effectiveness.34

Marie and Shirley are of the opinion that organization development is

to achieve the objective of improving organizational effectiveness, It is

essential that companies adopt a proactive and preventive approach to stress

management. Such an approach would reduce the costs of stress which result

directly from organization development and, additionally, the costs of

previously existing stress factors such as high labour turnover, absenteeism and

reduced productivity. A practical all-encompassing model is presented which

brings the organization towards a philosophy of “total stress management”

(TSM). Organizations which develop this philosophy, through the adoption of

the practical action model, will be able to reduce the cost of stress

substantially.35

Rajeswari conducted a research work entitled “Employee Stress: A

Study with Reference to Bank Employees” with a sample of 34 officers and 79

clerks from five nationalized banks. The study revealed that structural rigidity


34
Siefert, K. & Jayaratne, S. Job Satisfaction, Burnout, and Turnover in Health Care Social Workers.
Health & Social Work, 16(3), 193-203, 1991.
35
Marie McHugh, Shirley Brennan, "Organization Development and Total Stress Management",
Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 13 Iss: 1, pp.27 – 32, 1992.

29

and poor physical working conditions sources of stress”. This study also failed

to indicate the coping strategies followed to reduce job stress.36

Rice has suggests that job stress results from job features that pose a

threat to the individual. Threat may be due to either excessive job demands or

insufficient supplies to meet employee’s needs. When the job requires too

much work in too short a time, job overload exists. Supply deficits concern

things employees expect from their jobs: adequate salary, job satisfaction, and

promotion or growth on the job.

When most people talk about stress, it is usually in terms of pressure

they are feeling from something happening around them or to them. Students

talk about being under stress because of poor exam performance or an

impending deadline for a major paper. Parents talk about the strain of raising

teenagers and the financial burdens of running a household. Teachers talk about

the pressure of maintaining professional currency while still managing to keep

on top of duties connected with the classroom teaching. Doctors, nurses,

lawyers, and therapists talk about meeting the endless demands of their patients

and clients.37

Corey and Corey in their study has viewed that it is unrealistic to think

that you can eliminate stress from either your personal life or your professional


36
Rajshwari T.R., “Employee Stress: A study with Reference to Bank Employees”, Indian Journal
Industrial Relations, Vol. 27(4), pp.419-429, 1992.
37
Rice, P. L. Stress & Health (2nd ed.) Pacific Grove, California: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company,
1992.

30

life. According to them one does not have to be the victim of stress, for one can

recognize how one is being affected by it and can make decisions about how to

think, feel, and behave in stressful situations. One can become aware of one’s

destructive reactions to stress and learn constructive ways of coping with it. In

short, you can learn to manage and control stress rather than being controlled

by it.38

Akinnusi in his study has highlighted the relationship between stressors

and outcomes. The role of individual differences in the above relationship was

studied. It was found that women showed greater stress than men. Educational

attainment and level in the organization were positively related to

organizational stress while marital status was negatively related to stress. Age

was not related to stress. Many of the stressors were positively related to

outcomes like desire to quit temporarily withdrawal from work.39

Aregyis .C pointed out that job related tension and job dissatisfaction

are correlated with little participation in decision making, ambiguity about job

security and poor use of skill and ability.40

Fontana states that the emotional effects of stress include hypochondria,

changes in personality traits, an increase in the consumption of alcohol, drugs,


38
Corey, G. & Corey, M. S. Becoming a Helper (2nd ed.) Pacific Grove: Brooks/Cole Publishing
Company, 1993.
39
Akinnusi D.M., Relationship Between Personnel Attributes Stressors, Stress Reaction and Coping
Styles, Journal of Management and Labour Studies Vol.19(4), pp.211-218, 1994.
40
Aregyis C., Integrating the Individuals and Organisation, Wiely, New York, 1994.

31

food or cigarettes or other indications of negative coping behaviours related to

stress.41

According to La dou and Colemen women shift workers exhibit a

higher incidence of nervous disorder and greater health problems than men,

resulting in countries like Japan and Germany not allowing women to work on

rotating shifts as a matter of national policy. Approximately 30% of Indian

workers are involved in the mining, steel, services, petrochemical and

manufacturing industries with the result that the Indian economy relies heavily

on the contribution of its shift workers.

In terms of home versus work pressures, fear of job loss, work overload

and work related pressure have an impact on the families of employees.

Manager may face the conflict between family responsibility and work

demands, especially in their career years. This could be in the form of longer

hours at work or job transfer or extended periods away from home. The dual

career family is a potential source of stress for men and women, especially if

family expectation is in conflict with work demands.42

According to Sowa and May, persons in the occupation of providing

services to others, such as mental health counselors, are especially vulnerable

to the accumulation of occupational stress and of subsequent burnout. The


41
Fontana D, “Problems in practice: managing stress. London Biddles Ltd, Guildford and Kings Lynn,
1994.
42
La Dou. J and Coleman R, “Physical and biological hazards of the work place”, Newyork: Von
Nostrand Reinhold, 1994.

32

numerous demands which are placed upon counselors and the ethical dilemmas

inherent in the counseling profession contribute to the occupational stress of

mental health counseling as a profession.43

David Johnson has stated in his study that the “stress management

industry” has developed whereby organizations and individuals offer stress

management interventions. These interventions claim to address a problem,

about which there is still a great deal of uncertainty. Most of the literature

about stress and its management has been derived from, and thus limited to,

large organizations. Explore the issue of stress management as it is experienced

by owner-managers of small and medium-sized businesses in the UK. By

looking into some of the recent theoretical and empirical literature and has

concluded with recommendations for stress management within the small firms

sector.44

Bellani and Furlani have pointed out that in the professions like mental

health counseling, close interactions with clients, time pressures, diminishing

resources, increased workloads, and diminishing rewards from their work

outcomes can lead to severe reactions to burnout The burned-out report

symptoms such as emotional exhaustion, reduced personal accomplishments,

loss of positive attitude toward clients, lowered self-esteem, and the intention

to quit. Reactions to burnout may include physical illness, the formation of


43
Sowa, C. J. & May, K. M. Occupational Stress Within the Counseling Profession: Implications for
Counselor Training. Counselor Education & Supervision, 34(1), 19-30, 1994.
44
David Johnson, "Stress and stress management among owner-managers of small and medium-sized
enterprises", Journal of Workplace Learning, Vol. 7 Iss: 5, pp.14 – 19, 1995.

33

ulcers, heart conditions, elevated blood pressure, migraines, and the like as well

as emotional and behavioural problems. 45

Carson and Fagin identified further occupational stressors, as the pace

of organizational change within the health service industry has increased

rapidly. Previously, professionals had been able to dictate the shape of mental

health care delivery. Health service positions were considered to be jobs for

life, as long as professionals were working competently according to

supervision review and consensus. However, this has been replaced by a

predominantly management led industry where performance indicators (such as

maintaining productivity levels), arbitrary standards, and audits determine

whether the mental health service is achieving acceptable levels of quality. This

has led to widespread dissatisfaction among many mental health counselors,

where many of the previously dedicated and committed professionals are now

having to distance themselves from patient care and regard their positions as

being "just a job.”46

Stress and burnout are clearly problems for mental health workers, and

the evidence culled so far indicates that these factors not only affect the level of

performance and the success of their interventions with their patients, but also

their job satisfaction and ultimately their own health. Are these occupational

hazards part of the job, inherent in everyday practice, revealing the nature of

45
Bellani, M. L., & Furlani, F. Burnout and Related Factors Among HIV/AIDS Health Care Workers.
Aids Care, 8(2), 207-222, 1996.
46
Carson, J., & Fagin, L. Stress in Mental Health Professionals: A Cause for Concern or An Inevitable
Part of the Job. The International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 42, 79-81, 1996.

34

the task in hand? Or is the situation getting worse, as a result of increasing

pressures, financial and managerial constraints, and levels of demands on

service.47

In another study of metal health among employees, conducted by

Martin et.al, the relationship between subclinical depression and the

fulfillment of work roles was examined. Their analysis controlled for social

processes that precede the development of depressive symptomology and

potential distortion associated with self-report of symptoms and performance.

Interview data was collected from 256 community dwelling adults with a mean

age of 40.6 years. The data indicated that depressive symptomology is

significantly related to externally rated performance at work.

These symptoms were found to be independent of other social

influences of interpersonal stress, such as co-workers, spouses and family

members, and job stress related to job dissatisfaction. Subclinical depression

was related to an increase in job stress and resulting decrease in job

performance. Job stress and its effects on psychiatricsymptoms have also been

associated with an employee's propensity to leave his or her job.48

Schwartzberg and Dytell completed a study to scale work stress and

family stress, as well as outcome measures of depression and self-esteem. In

the study, they used 94 mothers and 48 fathers in dual-income families to

examine levels of stress.


47
Ibid.
48
Martin, et.al. Subclinical Depression and Performance at Work. Social Psychiatry, 31(1), 3-9, 1996.

35

 Working mothers and fathers reported equal levels of family stress,

work stress, job and family interference, and psychological well being.

However, self-esteem and depression amongst the dual-earner mothers and

fathers were affected by both occupational stress and family stress, with a lack

of domestic task sharing by their mates significantly predicting depression

among the dual-earner mothers.49

John Rose has stated the evidence is mounting to suggest that stress not

only influences an individual's well-being, but can also have an impact on the

quality of work they perform. This paper starts with a consideration of some

important issues relating to stress in staff who work with people who have

learning disabilities, particularly those who work in community group homes.

Current research indicates a number of common themes. A model is presented

that attempts to summarise some of these. However, it is also clear that there is

considerable variability between organisations. This variability must be

assessed when considering the needs of individuals and groups of staff. Some

groups of staff seem to Report higher levels of stress and can benefit from

stress management interventions. For stress management to be effective,

assessments that take into account individual and organisational issues are

necessary. An example of a successful intervention package is provided. This is


49
Schwartzberg, N. S. & Daytell, R. S. Dual Earner Families: The Importance of Work Stress and
Family Stress for Psychological Well-being. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 1(2), 211-
223, 1996.

36

based on the assessment of staff teams and implemented within a problem-

solving framework.50

Prosser et.al, in another study examined perceived sources of stress and

satisfaction at work among 121 mental health staff members. Data were

collected as part of a questionnaire study investigating several areas including

socio-demographic and job factors, mental health, burnout, job satisfaction, and

perceived sources of job stress and satisfaction.

The authors have identified 5 factors that were derived from sources of

work stress items (i.e., role, poor support, clients, future, and overload), which

accounted for 70% of the total variance. In addition, 4 factors were derived

from the items related to sources of job satisfaction (i.e., career, working with

people, management, and money), accounting for 68% of the total variance.

Stress from “overload” was associated with emotional exhaustion and with

worse mental health accounting for less “career” satisfaction.

In the USA, Great Britain, and other developed countries, the closure of

large mental health hospitals and the transfer of care into the community has

led to major changes in the roles of mental health professionals.51

Sethi and Barrier in their study entitled “An examination of the

correlates of burnout in information systems professionals”, examined the


50
John Rose, "Stress & Stress Management Among Residential Care Staff", Tizard Learning Disability
Review, Vol. 2 Iss: 1, pp.8 – 15, 1997.
51
Prosser, et al. Perceived Sources of Work Stress and Satisfaction Among Hospital and Community
Mental Health Staff and Their Relation to Mental Health, Burnout, and Job Satisfaction. Journal of
Psychosomatic Research, 43(1), 51-59, 1997.

37

correlates of burnout in the information systems professionals. While there has

been little previous research in the area of burnout among information systems

professionals, anecdotal evidence shows that burnout causes a negative impact

on the performance of information systems professionals. These negative

impacts can take the form of cynicism, dissatisfaction and turnover. The study

empirically examines the correlations between burnout with several work

attributes that are considered to be either antecedents or consequences of

burnout. Two role stressors are examined in this study – role ambiguity and

role conflict. These variables are theorized to be antecedents of burnout. In

addition two dimensions of organizational commitment – affective and

continuance commitment – are examined as possible consequences of burnout.

The emotional exhaustion subscale of the Maslach burnout inventory is used to

measure the information systems professionals. In addition affective

commitment was found to be negatively correlated and continuance

commitment positively correlated with burnout.52

As recognized earlier in the study conducted by Winkoski, mental

health counselors, psychologists, and social workers are all a part of a

profession that deals with quality of life issues. It is a profession where client

service is often a major source of gratification, to the exclusion of the worker's

needs. This overwhelming need for continued help by people who live in an


52
Sethi V and Barrier “An examination of the correlates of burnout I information systems
professionals”, Managing Information Technology resources and application in the world economy,
1997, pp.2-5

38

increasingly demanding and stressful world, has created ethical dilemmas, a

greater occurrence of compassion stress, and other negative affects upon

mental health counselors. The changing demands of the managed care industry,

close interaction with difficult clients, time pressures, diminishing resources,

and increased workloads have led to increased stress and burnout reactions in

some counselors. As a result of this increased job stress and increasing external

locus of control, many counselors experience the fear of loss of positive

attitude for their clients as well as the diminishing resources to adequately

address the needs of those seeking their professional assistance.53

Steber says that the documentations of stress at work indicate that

stressors can come from multiple sources. Some stressors are identified as

routine work stress, or those intrinsic to the job, some are related to the

employee’s role within the organization (role identity stress), some to

interpersonal stress, some to career development, and still others to work

environment stress, or of the climate and organization of the work place. In

physics, stress is a pressure exerted on a body. Sources of physical stress are

found in tons of rock crushing the earth, in cars smashing one another, and in

stretching rubber bands. Psychological stresses also “press,” “push,” and

“pull.” People can feel “crushed” by the need to make a life changing decision.

They can feel “smashed” by a disaster, or “stretched” to the brink of

“splitting”.54


53
Winkoski, J. J. Job Satisfaction Among Mental Health Professionals. Menomonie: University of
Wisconsin-Stout, 1998.
54
Steber, W. R. Occupational Stress among Frontline Corrections Workers. Menomonie: University of

39

 Biswas U.N has studied the relationship between life stressors and

organizational effectiveness. The researcher has collected the data from 160

managers, 47 supervisors and 50 workers from the public sector organizations.

The findings showed that the stress caused by performance, threat and

frustration led to a low degree of organizational commitment.55

Bruce and Adrian surveyed in a weekly managerial newspaper that the

abbreviated German version of the Occupational Stress Indicator’s Coping

scale was completed anonymously by over 200 readers. Of these the

researchers have selected only those who were categorised as management so

160 respondents has been selected for the study. The mean coping score for the

full Coping scale was 36.98 (SD 8.65) with a split half reliability of 0.76 (total

alpha = 0.84). Alpha coefficients for the two subscales were 0.85 and 0.58.

There was no difference in coping profiles of men and women, but different

levels of management and educational status did influence preference for

coping styles. More specifically, as they progress to the more senior levels of

management, delegation and maintaining stable relationships are considered

the most useful forms of coping with stress. The more academically trained

manager with a postgraduate degree is more likely to implement such coping

methods as effective time-management and planning ahead.56


Wisconsin-Stout, 1998.
55
Biswas U.N, Life style Stressors and Organizational Effectiveness, Indian Journal of Industrial
Relation Vol. 34(3), pp.55-72, 1998.

56
Bruce Kirkcaldy, Adrian Furnham, "Stress coping styles among German managers", Journal of
Workplace Learning, Vol. 11 Iss: 1, pp.22 – 26, 1999.

40

 Organizational stress among Information Technology Personnel in

Singapore – A study” by Lim and Hian analyzed the factors which generated

stress among information personnel in Singapore. Lack of career advancement,

workload, risk-taking and decision making and employee morale and

organizational culture were identified as four broad categories of stressor. 57

Tichatonga surveys that the literature will undoubtedly show that the

last two decades have witnessed a proliferation of research studies on

occupational stress among educational personnel, and that interest in this area

has not abated. Unfortunately, little is known about occupational stress in many

developing societies because a preponderance of these studies have been

carried out in industrialized and developed societies where conditions may be

dissimilar to those obtaining in developing societies. Therefore, the current

study sought to contribute to a better understanding of occupational stress in

teaching by investigating the sources, incidence and intensity of administrative

stress among headteachers in Zimbabwe. The results of a survey of a sample of

95 headteachers showed that the sample experienced relatively high levels of

administrative stress compared with previous findings. In addition, the study

revealed several demographic characteristics and school variables which

influenced the respondents’ perceptions of situations which cause stress.


57
Lim V.K.G. and Hian T.T.S., Occupational stress Among Information Technology Personnel in
Singapore, www.occuphealth. File/info/asian/ap, 1999.

41

Finally, implications of the study were discussed in terms of policy, preparation

of school administrators, school management and future research.58

“Women in Call Centres” published in the Economic and Political

Weekly found serious health problems among women associated with the call

centre industry, particularly those working late night shifts. It said, “90% of the

respondent has no social life or interaction with people in the family”.

This paper examines the sources of stress likely to be encountered by

emergency managers when responding to a disaster. Stressors relating to

environmental (e.g. time pressure, level of risk, heat), organisational (e.g.

bureaucracy, appropriateness of information, decision support and management

systems) and operational (e.g. incident command, decision making, interagency

liaison, team and media management) demands are considered. The mediating

role of personality and transient states of physical (e.g. fitness and fatigue) and

psychological (e.g. high levels of occupational stress) states are reviewed in

terms of their influence on stress, judgement and decision making. Strategies

for identifying which of these potential stress factors can be controlled or

reduced and for training emergency managers to deal with the others are

discussed.59

In recent years, staff members in many libraries have struggled to adjust

to an accelerating rate of change. Mary Pelzer Hudson has noted increasing


58
Tichatonga J. Nhundu, "Determinants and prevalence of occupational stress among Zimbabwean
school administrators", Journal of Educational Administration, Vol. 37 Iss: 3, pp.256 – 272, 1999.
59
Douglas Paton, Rhona Flin, "Disaster stress: an emergency management perspective", Disaster
Prevention and Management, Vol. 8 Iss: 4, pp.261 – 267, 1999.

42

levels of stress and conflict in the workplace, that is probably related to the

rapid pace of change. In view of the transformation that is taking place in

libraries and library services, it has become essential that library managers

assist staff in coping with the resultant stress and conflict. To manage change

effectively, it is important to understand the difference between change and

transition, and to be aware of the process staff members are experiencing.

Developing an inclusive decision-making style, fostering positive employee

attitudes towards change, and utilizing effective communication skills can help

make change a more positive experience.60

A research study was conducted by Cristallini on “Stress and the

Improvement of Working Conditions: an Individual and Collective

Responsibility”. It was conducted in various departments of a large French

hospital, a residential centre for handicapped adults and help centre for

unemployed people. The findings of the study indicated that stress was an

integral part of the manager’s workload. Stress could be treated by organizing

and improving the serenity of the person and his activities which could be one

thought of not necessarily impinging directly on the psychology of the

individual nor on the group dynamic.61


60
Mary Pelzer Hudson, "Conflict and stress in times of change", Library Management, Vol. 20 Iss: 1,
pp.35 – 38, 1999.

61
Cristallini V., Stress and the Improvement of working Conditions: and Individual and Collective
Responsibility, Gestion, Volume 17, No.5.sep-oct ,pp.15-33, 2000.

43

 Patnayak in his study, “Effect of Shift Work and Hierarchical Positions

in Satisfaction Commitment Stress and HR Climate” found that the level of

stress experienced does not vary according to position. Executives and

supervisors irrespective of the shift did not show significant differences in their

job stress. 62

Vijay Raghavan et.al in their study entitled “An Investigation of a

Transactional model of stress in Information Technology workers: Preliminary

findings”, have identified that the stress factors for the information technology

workers with a view to suggesting organizational strategies that may be

employed to recruit and retain the IT workers. Stress factors were studied at the

organizational level rather than at the cognitive or individual level. Anecdotal

evidence suggested that workload, changes in technology, poor project

management and anxiety about corporate direction where stress factors that

were commonly experienced by the IT workers. Potential stress relieved

strategies that organizational may employ include work life balancing

strategies such as flexible hours and telecommuting, job sharing and support

for professional development activities, different types of IT workers:

application programmers or database programmers, system analysts and project

leaders and their demographic characteristics were included as moderating

variables in the proposed model. 63


62
Patnayak B., Effect of Shift work and Hierarchical Position in Satisfaction Commitment stress and
HR Climate, Management and Labour Studies, 25(2), pp.126-135, 2000.
63
Vijay Raghavan et.al, “An Investigation of a Transactional model of stress in Information
Technology workers: Preliminary findings” ,AMCIS proceeding, 2001, pp1950-56

44

 Neves and Joseph have viewed about the teacher motivation and are of

the view that it is the paramount concern for educational leaders and managers.

Both the commonly observed deficiency in teacher motivation and the

abundance of teacher stress are serious problems that can be mitigated through

teacher education. This study describes a relational-training stress-management

course that was prepared and implemented in an attempt to reduce teacher

stress. The 30-hour programme was divided into ten sessions that included

thematic exercises on a variety of topics: sharing professional experiences with

colleagues, identifying specific stress factors and possible coping strategies,

replacing irrational beliefs with more appropriate beliefs, analysing strategies

for dealing with student discipline and motivation problems in the classroom,

and practising assertiveness and relaxation. Following the course, participating

teachers showed a significant decrease in their irrational beliefs and

professional distress, as well as an increase in professional motivation and the

perception of wellbeing.64

Mishara P.K. and Rani D.L. conducted a study on: “Occupational

Stress among Women in Emerging Service”. They collected data on 39 young

and 23 old doctors as well as 50 young and 32 old nurses. Their results show

that while older doctors and nurses experienced more role stagnation they


64
Saul Neves de Jesus and Joseph Conboy, "A stress management course to prevent teacher distress",
International Journal of Educational Management, Vol. 15 Iss: 3, pp.131 – 137, 2001.

45

found their job less stressful. On the other hand, young doctors and nurses felt

greater personal inadequacy and hence experienced greater stress at work. 65

Mina Westman investigating the crossover of job stress and strain

between partners has shown that job demands are transmitted from job

incumbents to their partners, affecting their psychological and physical health.

Based on the crossover literature and on models of job stress and the work-

family interface, this chapter develops a comprehensive framework to integrate

the literature conceptually, delineating the mechanisms that underlie the

crossover process. Three main mechanisms that can account for the apparent

effects of a crossover process are specified. These mechanisms include

common stressors, empathic reactions, and an indirect mediating process. Gaps

in the literature are identified, recommendations for future research are

proposed, and the implications for organizational theory and practice are

discussed.66

Paul et.al have integrated occupational stress theory with emerging

analytic and theoretical considerations related to multilevel modeling. The

authors begin by differentiating among models at different levels, and identify

the inferential errors that can inadvertently arise when applying occupational

stress findings to organizations. Second, they discuss the basic framework for

using multilevel modeling to study occupational stress processes over time.


65
Mishara P.K. and Rani D.L. Occupational Stress Among women in Emerging Service, Management
and Labour Studies, issue 26(1), pp.25-36, 2001.
66
Mina Westman, Crossover of stress and strain in the family and workplace, Emerald Group
Publishing Limited, pp.143-181 (book), 2002.

46

Finally, they apply the implications of the first two sections to a popular

occupational stress model. In so doing, they show how multilevel theory and

methodology can be used to enhance our understanding of occupational stress

processes. The conclusion of this research is that multilevel theory and analytic

techniques have much to offer occupational stress researchers from both a

theoretical and methodological perspective.67

Philip and Michael presented a report of research which surveyed

managers’ views on stress, their beliefs about stress interventions and who

should be responsible for addressing job-related stress problems. Stress

management interventions have embedded in them a range of practices that

offer opportunities for individual development and employee wellbeing.

Equally, though, there is a strongly-held belief that many interventions fall

short, because they offer only a partial solution or fail to recognize the wider

contextual-structural issues within which organisational behaviour takes place.

One reason for this may be that little attempt has been made to find out what

managers understand by stress and the extent to which they think that their

organisation has a responsibility to address problems of stress. Both qualitative

and quantitative techniques were used to explore these issues, using a sample

of 540 New Zealand managers. The results draw attention to a number of issues

including: do managers’ views of stress reflect acknowledged definitions? Who

should assume responsibility for managing stress? What do managers mean


67
Paul et.al, Integrating multilevel analyses and occupational stress theory, Historical and Current
Perspectives on Stress and Health (Research in Occupational Stress and WellͲbeing, Volume 2),
Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp.217-259, 2002.

47

when they indicate that an intervention is effective? Are stress interventions

any different from standard human resource practices and is there a role for

theory in stress interventions?68

Douglas in his research paper has used a risk management framework

and discussed an approach to conceptualizing disaster stress risk that can be

used to develop readiness strategies that facilitate an adaptive response to

disaster stress in emergency managers. It illustrates this process by describing

how incident, operational and organisational demands interact with resilience

and vulnerability factors to affect stress risk during the mobilisation, response

and reintegration phases of disaster response. It argues for stress risk

management to be integrated with the application of the risk management

paradigm to other aspects of disaster management.69

Rajeswari and Ananthraman in their study, “Role of Need for Clarity

in the Relation between Occupational Stress and Work Exhaustion among

Software Professionals” explored the need for clarity in the relationship

between occupational stresses and work existing among software professionals

in India. The study was based on 156 responses obtained from the software

industry in India. They found that need for clarity served to moderate the


68
Philip Dewe, Michael O’Driscoll, "Stress management interventions: what do managers actually
do?", Personnel Review, Vol. 31 Iss: 2, pp.143 – 165, 2002.
69
Douglas Paton, "Stress in disaster response: a risk management approach", Disaster Prevention and
Management, Vol. 12 Iss: 3, pp.203 – 209, 2003.

48

relationship between stress caused by threat of obsolescence in the work,

family interface and technical constrains and work exhaustion. 70

Anna Shuttleworth says that stress is a key issue facing many

organizations.Yet, despite the increasing awareness of how it impacts on

business, many companies are unsure of the best way to fulfill their duty of

care towards their employees. This article looks at how training can have a

positive impact on tackling stress in the workplace – helping employees

become more resilient towards stress, and enabling them to tackle the root

causes of any problems. It highlights the importance of providing additional

training for managers who not only need to manage their own stress levels, but

have responsibility for their direct reports. It focuses on the case of East

London and The City Mental Health Trust and how it has used training to

provide support for colleagues suffering from stress caused by bullying and

harassment.71

Marie and Shirley says that organization development is to achieve the

objective of improving organizational effectiveness, it is essential that

companies adopt a proactive and preventive approach to stress management.

Such an approach would reduce the costs of stress which result directly from

organization development and, additionally, the costs of previously existing


70
S. Rajeswari and R.N. Ananthraman, Role of Need for Clarity in the Relation Between Occupational
Stress and work Exhaustion Among Software Professionals, Management and Change, Vol.7 ,No.2,
2003.
71
Anna Shuttleworth, "Managing workplace stress: how training can help", Industrial and Commercial
Training, Vol. 36 Iss: 2, pp.61 – 65, 2004.

49

stress factors such as high labour turnover, absenteeism and reduced

productivity. A practical all-encompassing model is presented which brings the

organization towards a philosophy of “total stress management” (TSM).

Organizations which develop this philosophy, through the adoption of the

practical action model, will be able to reduce the cost of stress substantially.72

Raitano and Kleiner have stated that the stress management is a

continuous process of monitoring, diagnosing, and prevention of excessive

stressors that adversely affects employees, managers, and productivity. These

stressors are as much a function of the environment as one’s perception of the

environment. Therefore, stress management is as much the responsibility of

employees as it is managers. Both must maintain the lines of communication

and feedback to determine appropriate means of diagnosis and a suitable mix of

primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention methods. Diagnosis may be as

simple as circulating questionnaires throughout the office or as extensive as

group discussions to investigate possible problems and resolutions. From

diagnosis results, managers and employees must agree upon an effective

method(s) of prevention. If lapses in either diagnosis or prevention methods

occur, employees and managers risk a decline of productivity, morale, and a

deterioration of physical and mental health.73


72
Marie McHugh, Shirley Brennan, "Organization Development and Total Stress Management",
Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 13 Iss: 1, pp.27 – 32, 1992.
73
Robert E. Raitano, Brian H. Kleiner, "Stress management: stressors, diagnosis, and preventative
measures", Management Research News, Vol. 27 Iss: 4/5, pp.32 – 38, 2004.

50

 According to Sonja and Vojko, the study emerges that individuals vary

considerably in their ability to manage stress. Self-perception, locus of control,

type A or B behavioural patterns and flexibility or rigidity, all appear to

influence stress management abilities. Some organisations might choose to

assist individuals to manage stress by providing relevant training

programmemes. The paper develops a model of training for stress prevention.

This model could be customised to the specific needs of small, medium and

large organisations.74

World Socialist Web Site (WSWS), news and analysis study documents

exploitation in Indian Call Centre by Jake Skeers. The work force at Call

Centre is under constant stress because of their work load, competitive pressure

and surveillance staff in this sector reported health problems such as

nervousness, chronic fatigue, body ache, insomnia, nausea and anxiety,

restlessness and depression due to odd working hours and stress have been

reported. 75

Kalai Selvan N., in his article, “Managing workplace Stress” has

discussed the different categories and stages of workplace stress and has

suggested various approaches to manage it for the betterment of the individual

and the organization. 76


74
Sonja Treven, Vojko Potocan, "Training programmes for stress management in small businesses",
Education + Training, Vol. 47 Iss: 8/9, pp.640 – 652, 2005.

75
http://www.wsws.org
76
Kalai Selvan N., Managing workplace Stress: An Effective Approach, HRM Review, Dec, 2006.

51

 Pamela and Tiffani in their study has explores the relationship between

work stress, coping resources, and mental health. Utilizing data collected from

a unique sample of professional African Americans, the study distinguishes

between five forms of work stress (perceived discrimination, token stress, role

overload, role conflict, and scrutiny) and several indicators of mental health

(depression, anxiety, somaticism). The results show that token stress and role

overload are more consistent predictors of mental health than any other form of

work stress among Black elites. In terms of coping effectiveness, confrontation

(e.g., seeking out someone who will listen) appears to be a beneficial strategy

for handling work pressures. Forbearance (e.g., hiding one's feelings) and

avoidance (e.g., leaving a situation) strategies are related to poor mental health.

There is additional evidence however, that confrontational styles of coping are

not always conducive during times of elevated work stress, especially when

Black elites are faced with token stress. Optimistic comparisons, on the other

hand, are useful coping resources among those elites who are dealing with high

token stress and role overload.77

Sunetra and Jayanthi in their research had studied the distress,

wellness and organizational role stress of professionals in the area of

Information technology and the effect of sex and age on the above variables as

well as the predictability of the variables from stressful life events and coping

resources taken together were also examined. Results of the study revealed that

women experienced more distress. Distress could not be predicted from the life

77
Pamela Braboy Jackson, Tiffani Saunders, Work Stress, Coping Resources, and Mental Health: A
Study of America's Black Elite, Employee Health, Coping and Methodologies (Research in
OccupationalStressandWellͲbeing,Volume5), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp.139-169, 2006.

52

events and coping be predicted from the life events and coping resources taken

together. Wellness and organizational role stress could be predicated from

these two variables. 78

According to Kaban, in a recent survey conducted by the international

Labour Organization it has been reported that women suffer from more stress

related depression than men and that the main sources of stress were lack of

decision making, unrealistic deadlines, isolated working conditions and

inadequate child care arrangements. Not all the studies indicate that women

cope less positively with work stress than their males.79

Tiwari et.al in their study entitled “Information Technology – induced

stress and human performance: a critical review” examined the relationship of

information induced stress in terms of mental workload and automation

malfunction detection performance in highly computer aided task scenario.

Modern information technology puts hard pressure on individuals’ resources by

demanding constant refreshing of skills. A large number of researches have

been done in different areas revealing the stressful aspects of technology

however, the actual discussion about the role of modern technology as a

sources of stress is limited. This review is an endaeavour to highlight the pros

and cons of the use of sophisticated automated technology. The mental


78
Sunetra and Jayanthi “ Distress wellness and organizational role stress among IT professionals: Role
of life events and Coping Resources”, Journal of the Indian Academy of Applied Psychology, Vol.33,
No.2, 2007, pp.168-178

79
Kaban E, “Workplace stress will be bigger threat to global productivity that aids by 2020”, Business
report, P.17, 2007.

53

workload has been considered as a consequence of highly computerized system

use has been discussed in the light of various automated complex task

scenarios. Moreover the purpose of this review is also to attract human factors

and ergonomics researchers to recognize this problem as to design a system

that to be stress free as possible for the users 80

Karad in his article “ Job stress in Information technology sector – the

cause and effect analysis” stated that in today’s changing work environment

stress level is increasing and is encompassing everyone. Prolonged stress not

effectively managed causing various physical, physiological and

psychosomatic diseases that are affecting the health and productivity of an

individual and also functioning of an organization. The present research paper

is devoted to cause and effect analysis of the job stress in the IT sector. 81

Saddam Hussain Rahim in his article has pointed that The biggest

killer is not AIDS or cancer but psychological problems, and one see that very

high level of stress found in bank employees. The banking sector is becoming

increasingly competitive around the country and the level of product and

service quality being offered to customer is almost same. Hence, the bank

management adds more responsibilities on the shoulders of employees,


80
Tiwari et.al, “Information Technology – induced stress and human performance: a critical review”,
Journal of the Indian Academy of Applied Psychology, Vol.34, No.2, 2008, pp.241-249

81
Karad, “ Job stress in Information technology sector – the cause and effect analysis”, Journal of
Commerce and Management thought , Vol .1, No.3, 2010

54

resulting into a pressure on them, with increasing psychological problems i.e.

stress, strain, anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, etc. This situation, in which

the employees have little or no sense of identification with their job, can cause

an individual looking for another job or don’t perform efficiently their own.

Therefore, it is very difficult for management that how maintains bank

employees’ ability to develop successful performance with their organization

under present conditions? Since the 1990s, the subject of Emotional

Intelligence (EI) has gradually become the concern of academics and

researchers for the impact on stress. This article has also demonstrates that EI

competencies have the profound impact on stress. It also noted that very little

research has examined EI skills in the banking sector while in Pakistan, there is

no research that examines the impact of EI competencies to prevent stress

among bank employees. This study carries out to assess the relationship of EI

competencies and stress among the bank employees who work under stressful

conditions.82

Smith et.al in their paper they determine how the soft competencies of

an information technology (IT) project manager, specifically optimism and

stress, can affect project success. The research was exploratory. Experienced IT

project managers were requested to relate a “structured” story regarding a

significant, personal experience relating to optimism or stress and how this

affected the project outcome. In total, eight stories were captured on the


82
Saddam Hussain Rahim, “Emotional Intelligence and Stress: An Analytical Study of Pakistan
Banks”, International Journal of Trade, Economics and Finance, Vol. 1, No. 2, August, 2010.

55

optimism theme and five on stress. Themes from these stories were identified.

Their major findings are Qualitative analysis of the stories identified several

project managers’ optimism themes that strongly influenced IT project success.

In addition, it was concluded that IT project success was both positively and

negatively influenced by stress. To improve their chances of project success, it

was concluded that IT project managers should have a positive but realistic

degree of optimism based on a well-accepted project plan. Whilst the project

team should expect and embrace stress during the project, this should be

carefully managed. Six important project management practical activities were

deduced from the analysis which could assist project managers and their teams

to better handle optimism and stress. These activities, when applied effectively,

could lead to improved project outcomes.83

Jyoti Sharma and Arti Devi has concluded that The foregoing

analysis reveals that there are eight underlying role related factors which

represent the twenty-two variables considered originally in the present study.

The theoretical significance of the findings of this study is noteworthy as it has

tried to explore the antecedents of organizational role stress in the commercial

banks which are 'Role Indistinctness', 'Role Excess', 'Role Invasiveness', 'Role

Divergence', 'Role Augmentation', 'Self-Diminution', 'Role Fortification', and

'Resource Shortage'. It has also pointed out the need for public sector banks,

which significantly differ for employee experiences of role stress in role

augmentation, self-diminution and role fortification, to give emphasis on


83
Smith D.C., et.al, “A project manager's optimism and stress management and IT project success”,
Research paper, InternationalJournalofManagingProjectsinBusiness Volume: 4 Issue:1 2011.

56

providing opportunities for learning, training and development to its

employees.

The policy implications of the study establish the relevance for

development of platforms to intensify communication throughout the

workplace which would not only reduce ambiguity at work but also help

employees prioritize the tasks for better management of work. This becomes

important as role indistinctness, role excess, role invasiveness and role

divergence have emerged as crucial determinants of role stress at commercial

banks. Since, the majority of role senders of the employees come from their

immediate work group, it is suggested that attempts to relieve role stress, by

focusing on communication, should concentrate on team or group support

building and the development of individual communication skills. Role

divergence may be overcome by engaging in stricter policy enforcement which

may help in clearing any inconsistency between employee expectations and

capabilities and others' expectations. Efforts to provide growth and learning

opportunities to the employees must be encouraged to offset stress created by

role augmentation, role fortification and self diminution factors identified in the

study. In special regard to the public sector banks where statistically significant

differences for employee experiences of role stress in role augmentation, self-

diminution and role fortification have been found, opportunities for growth and

learning in the form of training, development, challenging assignments, and the

like have greater relevance. Building in job design features that increase the

57

variety in work is likely to increase interest and motivation of the employees

and will reduce role stress caused due to lack of it at public sector banks. 84

Ajay solkhe in his study entitled “Occupational Stress among Banking

Professionals: A case study of Nationalised Bank” has stated that due to these

changes, the employees in the banking sector are experiencing a high level of

stress.

The result obtained was analyzed using descriptive statistics and Pearson

Correlation. The study concluded that stress exist in the employees of the bank

under study, specifically higher on the dimensions of poor peer relations,

strenuous working conditions, powerlessness and unprofitability. It is further

concluded that the problem of stress is inevitable and unavoidable in the

banking sector. A majority of the employees face severe stress- related ailments

and a lot of psychological problems. Hence, the management must take several

initiatives in helping their employees to overcome its disastrous effect. The

productivity of the work force is the most decisive factor as far as the success

of an organisation is concerned. The productivity in turn is dependent on the

psychosocial well-being of the employees. In an age of highly dynamic and

competitive world, man is exposed to all kinds of stressors that can affect him

on all realms of life. The growing importance of interventional strategies is felt

more at organisational level. This particular research was intended to study the

impact of occupational stress on Nationalized Bank employees. Although


84
Jyoti Sharma and Arti Devi, “ Role Stress among Employees: An Empirical Study of Commercial
Banks” , Gurukul Business Review (GBR) Vol. 7, 2011, pp. 53-61

58

certain limitations were met with the study, every effort has been made to make

it much comprehensive.85

Kalimo et.al provides principal psychological characteristics presented

in a work situation. Some of the main psychological characteristics are

1. Challenges - relates to the extent to which the worker’s skills and

abilities are used

2. Pace control – concerns the control that the worker has over the

speed required for the task

3. Task feedback – is the information that the worker receives from

his supervisor or peers on how he or she is performing at work.

4. Autonomy – is the amount of freedom that the workers has in

determining how the task will be completed and

5. Skill adequency – includes the training and competence that the

worker has in relation to the job demands.86

A study by Vijaylakshmi and Meti found that non-executive

employees exhibited signs of significantly higher occupational stress than

executives on such dimensions as role conflict, political pressure, poor peer

relations and job responsibility.87


85
Ajay solkhe, “Occupational Stress among Banking Professionals: A case study of Nationalised
Bank”, University School of Management,Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, Haryana.
86
Kalimo et.al, “Work and Sense of Coherence: Resources for competence and life satisfaction”,
Behavioural medicine, pp 76-88.
87
Vijalakshmi A. and Meti V.., A Study of Occupational Stress Executives of Private Industrial
Organization, organization Management Issue.15(4),pp.26-32.

59

 Jex and Gudanowski in their study “Efficacy Beliefs and Work Stress:

An Explanatory Study”, investigated the role of self-efficacy in the relationship

between stress and strain. Stressors studied were role ambiguity, situational

constrains and hours of work, it was found that individual efficacy was related

to frustration and anxiety and showed no moderating effects, collective efficacy

was strongly related to both stressors and strain like job dissatisfaction, anxiety,

frustration and turnover intent. Collective efficacy also moderated the

relationship between hours of work and strains. 88

Keinan in his studies “decision-making behaviours under stress” found

that those who were exposed to either controllable or uncontrollable stress

showed a significantly stronger tendency to offer solutions before all available

alternatives have been considered and to scan their alternatives in a non-

systematic fashion than did subject who were not exposed to stress. The

controllability of stressors was found to have no effect on the subject

performance.89


88
Jex S.M. and Gudanowski, Efficacy Beliefs and work stress : An Explanatory Study, Journal of
Organizational Behaviour, Vol.92, pp.509-517.
89
G. Keinan, Decision Making under Stress scanning of Alternative under C0ontrollable and
Uncontrollable Threats, Journal of Personality and Social psychology, Vol.52(3) , pp.639-644.

60