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STRESS MANAGEMENT
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Business Administration (2012-2014) affiliated to Punjabi
University, Patiala.
PROJECT GUIDE SUBMITTED BY
Prof. Narinder Singh Wadi SIMRANJEET KAUR
MBA- IV
Roll No.:-
CORDIA INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
STUDENT DECLARATION
I hereby declare that the Project Report “Stress Management” submitted in
partial fulfillment of the award of the degree of Master of Business
Administration to Cordia Institute of Business Management (Affiliated
to Punjabi University, Patiala) is one of my original works and not
submitted to any other Degree/Diploma, fellowship or other similar title.
SIMRANJEET KAUR
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Perseverance, inspiration and motivation have always played a key role
in success of any venture. In the present word of competition there is a
race of existing in which those who are having willed to come forward
succeed. Project is like a bridge between theoretical and practical
working. With willing I join this particular project.
To design and compare a project report is very laborious work, which no
student complete without taking any help from any professional.
First of all I would like to thank the supreme power of almighty GOD
who is obviously the one who has always guided us to work on right path
of our life. Next I would like to thank my Parents whom greatly indebted
for having me brought me love and encouragement of this stage.
I wish o express my gratitude o Dr. R.K Sharma (Director Cordia
Institute of Business Management, Sanghol) who has guided me lot in the
completion of project.
I express my deep gratitude to my guide Lect. Narinder Singh Wadi for
his invaluable guidance during the project. I am also thankful to the staff
members for their encouragement & cooperation in this successful
completion of my project.
Simranjeet Kaur
CERTIFICATE BY THE GUIDE
This is to certify that the final project report entitled “Stress Management”
submitted project report of the requirement for the degree of MBA, affiliated
to the Punjabi University, Patiala is a work carried out by Simranjeet Kaur
under my supervision and guidance.
Project Guide:
Mr. Narinder Singh Wadi
INTRODUCTION
Many people think of stress as a simple problem. In reality however,
stress is complex and often misunderstood. We all know that stress is the
body’s reaction to any demand on it. Perceptions of events, whether
positive or negative, activate stress. It is, therefore, a highly individual
affair. What is stressful to ‘X’ may not be so to another. But it is fairly
easy to conclude that everyone lives under a certain amount of stress. In
fact, the only people without stress are dead. At the same time it is
certainly wrong to conclude that stress is always bad. Mild stress may
improve the productivity. It may force people to focus more sharply on
the problem and produce solutions. But if stress is severe and persist for
long periods of time, it can be harmful. Stress can be disruptive to an
individual as any accident.
What is Stress:-
Stress may be understood as a state of tension experienced by
individuals facing extraordinary demands, constraints or opportunities.
Stress Defined as
“Stress is an adaptive response to an external situation that results in
physical, psychological and behavioral deviations for organizational
participants.”
“Stress is a person’s adaptive response to a stimulus that places
excessive psychological or physical demands on that person”
We need to examine components of this definition carefully. First is
the notion of adaptation. It means that people may adapt to stressful
circumstances in any of several ways. Second is the role of stimulus. This
stimulus, generally called a stressor, is anything that induces stress.
Third, stressor can be either psychological or physical. Finally, demands
the stressor places on the individual must be excessive for stress to result.
Two Faces of Stress:
There are actually two faces of stress, as depicted through figure:
Constructive Stress (Eustress)
Destructive Stress (Distress)
Constructive Stress (Eustress) acts in a positive manner for the
individual and the organization, e.g., winning a contest, falling in love.
Eustress is the pleasurable stress that accompanies positive events.
Destructive Stress (Distress) is not healthy for individual and
organization. Distress would indicate effects that are out of balance or
outside the tolerance limits. Distress is the unpleasant stress that
accompanies negative events.
The Stress Process
Much of what we know about stress today can be the pioneering work
of Dr. Hans Selye. Among Selves’ most important contribution was his
identification of the General Adaptation Syndrome.
General Adaptation Syndrome: Dr. Selye gave three stages of the
General Adaptation Syndrome. These three stages are known as: Alarm,
Resistance and exhaustion.
Alarm is called first stage of GAS. At, this stage person may feel
some degree of panic and begin to wonder how to cope with it. A
person’s resistance often dips slightly below the normal level during this
stage.
Next come actual resistance to the stressor, usually leading to an
increase above the person’s normal level of resistance. Finally in third
stage, exhaustion may set in and the person’s resistance declines sharply
below normal levels.
Individual Differences and stress
The stress can affect different people in different ways:-
Type A and Type B Personality Profiles
The most fully developed individual difference relating specifically to
stress is the distinction between Type A and Type B personality profiles.
Cardiologists Friedman and Roseman have identified several
personalities’ characteristics of people who are most prone to stress.
They labeled these behavior patterns Type A and Type B.
The extreme Type A individual is extremely competitive, very
devoted to work and has a strong sense of time urgency. Moreover, this
person is likely to be aggressive, impatient, and highly work oriented. He
or She has a lot of drive and motivation and wants to accomplish as much
as possible in as short a time as possible.
The extreme Type B person, in contrast, is less competitive, is less
devoted to work, and has a weaker sense of time urgency. This person
feels less conflict with either people or time and has a more balanced,
relaxed approach to life. She or he has more confidence and is able to
work at a constant pace.
A common sense expectation might be that Type A people are more
successful than Type B people. In reality, however, this is not necessarily
true. The Type B person is not necessarily any more or less successful
than the Type A.
Hardiness and Optimism
Two other important individual differences related to stress are
hardiness and optimism. Research suggests that some people have what
are termed hardier personalities than others.
Hardiness is a person’s ability to cope with stress. People with hardy
personalities have an internal locus of control, are strongly committed to
the activities in their lives, and view changes as an opportunity for
advancement and growth. Such people are seen as relatively unlikely to
suffer illness if they experience high levels of pressure and stress. On the
other hand, people with low hardiness may have more difficulties in
coping with pressure and stress.
Optimism is another potentially important individual difference.
Optimism is the extent to which a person sees life in positive or negative
terms. A popular expression used to convey this idea concerns the glass
half filled with water. A person with a lot of optimism will tend to see it
as half full, whereas a person with less optimism will often see it as half
empty. Optimism also related to positive and negative affectivity. In
general, optimism people tend to handle stress better. They will be able to
see the positive characteristics of situation and recognize that things may
eventually improve. In contrast, less optimism people may focus more on
the negative characteristics of the situation and expect things to get
worse, not better.
The Stress Experience
Not all individuals experience stress with same intensity. Some people
overact to stressors and get highly stressed. Some others have the
stamina, endurance and composure to cope with any stressors. How an
individual experiences stress depend upon the four reasons. These four
reasons are:
1. the persons perception of the situation
2. the person’s past experience
3. the presence or absence of social support
4. individual differences with regard to stress reaction
Relation between Stressors and Stress
Perception: Perception refers to a psychological process whereby a
person selects and organizes stimuli into a concept of reality. Employee’s
perception of a situation can influence whether or not they experience
stress.
A simple transfer from one place to another may be perceived by one
employee as opportunity to see new places and learn new things. The
same transfer may be understood by another employee as extremely
Stressor Stress
Perception Past Experience Social Support Individual Differences
threatening and indicating unhappiness of the management with his or
her performance.
Past Experience: Whether a person experiences stress on his or her past
experience with a similar stressor. Writing anonymous letters against the
boss or giving leads to the newspaper and getting false stories published
in them against the boss are common among disgruntled employees.
The relationship between stress and experience is also based on
reinforcement. Positive reinforcement or previous success in a similar
situation can reduce the level of stress that a person experiences under
certain circumstances; punishment or past failure under similar
conditions can increase stress under the same circumstances.
Social Support: The presence or absence of other people influences how
individuals in the workplace experience whether stress and respond to
stressors. The presence of co-workers may increase an individual’s
confidence, allowing the person to cope more effectively with stress. For
example, working alongside someone who performs confidently and
competently in a stressed situation may help an employee behave in an
identical way. Conversely, the presence of follow workers may irritate
some people or make them anxious, reducing their ability to cope with
stress.
Individual Differences: Individual Differences in motivation, attitudes,
personality and abilities also influence whether employees experience
work stress, and if they do, how they respond to it. What one person
considers a major source of stress, another may hardly notice it.
Common Causes of Stress:-
Stressors are the things that cause stress. It is important for an
organization to understand and be able to recognize stressors because
they cause job-related stress, which influence work attitude and
behaviuor of employees. The major causes of stress are given below:-
1. Organizational Stressors
2. Personal Stressors
These two stressors are main causes of stress and these are also known
as organizational factors and life factors. These also show three
categories of stress consequences:-
1) Individual consequences
2) Organizational consequences
3) Burnout
This diagram shows the relation between Organizational stressor, Life
stressor and between individual consequences, organizational
consequences, and burnout.
Organizational stressors:-Organizational stressors are various factors in
the workplace that can cause stress. These are given below:
Organizational Stressors
1. Occupational demands2. Role Conflict3. Role Ambiguity4. Role Overload5. Role Underload6. Interpersonal Relationships7. Ineffective Communication8. Responsibility9. Job Change10. Climate with a company
Individual Consequences
Behavioral:-Alcohol and drug AbuseViolencePsychological:-Sleep DisturbanceDepressionMedical:-Heart DiseaseHeadaches
Organizational Consequences
Decline in Performance Absenteeism Turnover Decreased Motivation and Satisfaction
Burnout
Life Stressors
Life Change Life Trauma
1) Occupational demands: Some jobs are more stressful than others.
According to The National Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health, the following jobs are considered to be more stressful: Laborer,
Secretary, Inspector, Chief Laboratory technician, Office manager,
Foreman, Manager/administrator, Waitress/waiter, Machine operator,
Farm owner, Miner, Painter. Certain jobs seem to contain a high amount
of in-built stress in the form of time pressures, too many meetings,
difficulties in meeting standards, inter-personal games etc., especially at
higher levels. According to Parasuraman and Alutto, at lower levels also
stress-producing situations emerge on technical grounds (equipment
breakdown) or role frustration (low status, inadequate supervision).
2) Role conflict: Role conflict occurs when the messages and cues
constituting a role are clear but contradictory or mutually exclusive. Four
types of role conflicts may generally come to surface:
Intrasender conflict occurs when one person asks you to
accomplish two objectives that are in apparent conflict. If your boss asks
you to hurry up and finish your work but also decreases pay for your
mistake, you would experience this type of conflict.
Intersender conflict occurs when two or more senders give
you incompatible directions. Your boss may want you to complete a
crash project on time, but company policy temporarily prohibits
authorizing overtime payments to clerical assistance.
Interrole conflict results when two different roles you play are
in conflict. Your company may want to travel 50 percent of the time
while your spouse threatens a divorce if you travel more than 25 percent
of the time.
Person-role conflict occurs when the role(s) that your
organization expects you to occupy are in conflict with your basic values.
Your company may ask you to fire substandard performers, but this could
be in conflict with your humanistic values.
3) Role ambiguity: Role ambiguity occurs when position holders
are uncertain about limits of their authority and that of others, company
rules, and the methods used to evaluate their work. Role ambiguity arises
when a role is unclear. It is also found that role ambiguity was
significantly related to low job satisfaction and to feelings of job related
threats to mental and physical well being.
4) Role overload: Imagine for a moment about an executive who is
attempting to `dictate a letter, talk on three phones, conducting an
interview and writing a report at the same time. There is no use trying
to do too much in too little time. Constant interruptions , changing hats
every five minutes, a constant stream of visitors, a mountain of files and
prepare to process and a number of subordinates looking up to his
valuable advise and guidance – all increase the qualitative and
quantitative overload. Persons who experience such conditions show
clear signs of stress and report health problems.
5) Role under load: At the other extreme, having nothing to do or being
asked to do too little in one’s work can also be quite stressful. Two
factors succinctly explain the relationship between stress and under load.
Most persons wish to feel useful and needed. Thus, when they find that
they are doing very little and achieving next to nothing in their jobs, their
self esteem may be threatened. Secondly, people want stimulation. They
don’t like the idea of staring blankly into space all the time. They prefer
to interact with the world around them and do something worthwhile.
6) Interpersonal relationship: Another source of stress in organization
is poor interpersonal relationships with others, `be they supervisors, co-
workers, subordinated or clients. When interpersonal relationships at
work not pleasant, employees develop a generalized anxiety, a feeling
of fear about upcoming meetings and interactions.
7) Ineffective communication: Stress can result from a lack of
communication or from a lack of the right kind of communication at the
right time. We begin to see the world differently and we tend to interpret
communication efforts differently. For example, there is nothing more
stressful than finding that you have arrived at an appointment with your
boss at the wrong time.
8) Responsibility: Any type of responsibility can be burdensome for
some people. Different types of responsibility function differently as
stressors. One way of classifying this variable is in terms of responsibility
for people versus responsibility for things. The more responsibility for
people reported, according to one research study, the more likely the
person was to smoke heavily, have high blood pressure and show higher
cholesterol levels.
9) Job change: Individuals and work undergo constant changes as
organizations try to become more competitive and aggressive in the
marketplace. These changes can cause stress for the job holders. For
example, a bank may computerise its accounting functions. As a result, a
job that did require certain decisions and calculations may become
merely a data collection and entry position for the computer.
10) Climate within a company: Employees can also experience stress
when they feel that they should get more money for their work, of if
company restrains them from doing things they feel they must do to be
effective in their job. For example, a manager wishes to assign few extra
duties to an individual for special project but union regulations do not
permit it. Stress can also result from prohibitive physical settings such as
heat, cold, safety hazards, air pollution, uncomfortable spatial
arrangements, shift work etc.
Life stressors: Stress in organizational settings also can be influenced by
events that take place outside the organization. Life stressors generally
are categorized in terms of life change and life trauma.
Life change: - Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe first developed and
popularized the notion of life change as a source of stress. A life change
is any meaningful change in a person’s personal or work situation.
Life Trauma: life trauma is similar to life change, but it has a narrow,
more direct, and shorter term focus. A life trauma is any upheaval in an
individual’s life that alters his or her attitudes, emotions, or behaviors.
Major life traumas that may cause stress include marital problems, family
difficulties, and health problems initially unrelated to stress.
Consequences of Stress:
Stress can have a number of consequences. As we already noted, if the
stress is positive, the result may be more energy, enthusiasm, and
motivation. These consequences can be classified into the following
categories:
Individual consequences:-
The Individual consequences of stress, then, are the outcomes that
mainly affect the individual. The organization may also suffer, either
directly or indirectly, but it is the individual who pays the real price.
Stress may produce behavioral, psychological, and medical
consequences.
a) Behavioral consequences: The behavioral consequences of stress
may harm the person under the stress or others. Accident proneness,
drug use, emotional outbursts, excessive eating, excessive drinking and
smoking, impaired speech and nervous laughter are such behaviors.
b) Psychological consequences: Psychological consequences of
stress relate to a person’s mental health and well-being. When people
experience too much stress at work, they may become depressed or find
themselves sleeping too much or not enough.
c) Medical consequences: The medical consequences of stress affect
a person’s physical well-being. Heart disease and stroke, among other
illnesses, have been linked to stress. Other common medical problems
resulting from too much stress include headaches, backaches, ulcers and
related stomach and skin conditions such as acne and hives.
Organizational Consequences:-
Any of individual consequences just discussed can also affect the
organization. Other results of stress have even more direct consequences
for organizations. These include decline in performance, withdrawal, and
negative changes in attitudes.
Performance: One clear organizational consequences of too much stress
is a decline in performance. For operating workers, such a decline can
translate into poor-quality work or a drop in productivity. For managers,
it can mean faulty decision making or disruptions in working
relationships as people became irritable and hard to get along with.
Withdrawal: Withdrawal behaviors also can result from stress. For the
organization, the two most significant forms of withdrawal behavior are
absenteeism and quitting. People who are having a hard time coping with
stress in their jobs are more likely to call in sick or consider leaving the
organization for good. Stress can also produce other, more subtle forms
of withdrawal.
Attitude: Another direct organizational consequence of employee stress
relates to attitude. As we just noted, job satisfaction, morale and
organizational commitment can all suffer, along with motivation to
perform at high levels. As a result, people may be more prone to
complain about unimportant things, do only enough work to get by, and
so forth.
Management of Stress
It is true that employees don’t want any stress at work. There are a
variety of ways in which individuals cope, or deal with stress at work.
Broadly, these could be classified into two categories:
I. Individual Coping Strategies
II. Organizational Coping Strategies
Let us examine these strategies in detail:-
Individual Coping strategies
First step in managing stress is to understand that the individual is
exposed to stressors. We cannot manage stress unless we know what
causes stress and how these causes are affecting us psychologically,
physiologically and organizationally. Individual strategies to cope with
stress are:-
1. Time Management: Most of us are poor in time management. The
result is feeling of work overload, skipping schedules and attendant
tension. The truth is, if one can manage time effectively, he or she can
accomplish twice as much as the person who is poorly organized. Some
basic principles in time management are:
(1) Preparing daily a list of activities to be attend to
(2) Prioritizing activities by importance and urgency
(3) Scheduling activities according the priorities set
(4) Handling the most demanding parts of a job when one is alert and
productive
We must pay attention to the following ides suggested by of the
leading trainers, Sanjeev Duggal in The Global Manager, 1997.
Time Thoughts
You cannot control how much time you have but you can
control how to use it.
Time is finite and it needs utilization when it is available.
Writing a daily plan, listing priorities that require attention help
us save lot of time while at work.
Time cannot be managed like other resources; rather you have
to manage yourself in relation to time.
Time is money. Time and tide wait for none. And every
moment, utilized or not, is gone with the wind. It cannot be
retrieved.
Tips for Time Management:
Carry your ‘to do’ list with you at all times.
Put all the tasks you need to remember however small, on the
list.
Delegate or choose not to do some tasks.
Review the list in the evening.
Write a new list every day.
Ask yourself “is this important?”
Check if you need to do a task at all.
Ask yourself, “would anything terrible happen if I didn’t do it?”
If the answer is ‘no’, think if you need to do it at all.
Do the most difficult part first.
Do it now.
Look consciously for tasks which you can delegate.
Praise the results after you have delegated the tasks.
Provide action plans for moments when problems might arise.
Open your mail near the wastebasket and discard the envelopes.
Enter the key details of meetings immediately in your diary.
2. Exercise: Physical inactive individuals have a higher incidence of
heart attacks and death than do active individuals. Exercise, as most of
the studies indicate, reduce depression, anxiety and phobias. When the
exercises regularly, the day long tension on the job is given a decent
burial. Individual focus more on body than mind. It may be useful to
recount the benefits here:-
Increase strength and endurance
More efficient use of energy even in mental tasks.
Proper circulation is maintained.
Reduction of chronic tiredness and tension.
Improve weight control.
Reduction in degenerative risk factors.
Improved posture and muscle tone.
Not surprisingly, many organizations nowadays encourage their
executives to be physically fit and active. Companies like Infosya
Technologies, Escorts, NIIT, Tata Group companies have created in-
house physical fitness facilities for the benefit of employees.
3. Meditation and Relaxation: Mind gets the needed relaxation when
we engage in a creative hobby like painting, reading, gardening etc. the
wonderful effect of prayers as a relaxation measure have been well
documented in our ancient scriptures. Meditation also helps in putting
our nagging thoughts to rest. Mediation is a way of focusing on
something in a relaxed state in a serene and quite environment. You can
focus on muscular relaxation, an image, an object, a symbol, a point or
anything you like. The advocates of Transcendental Meditation have
scientifically proved the beneficial impact of the techniques on human
brain in recent times. The practice of TM involves the use of a
meaningless sound called a ‘mantra’. A trained instructor individually
assigns the mantra to the meditator, and proper use of the mantra is said
to automatically reduce the level of excitation and disorderly activity of
the nervous system and to quite the mind while maintaining its alertness.
One sits comfortably with closed eyes and repeats the mantra for about
20 minutes twice a day.
4. Biofeedback: Biofeedback is another popular relaxation technique.
This technique uses sophisticated equipment to observe some of the
internal body processes and to report this in observable ways. The
equipment is used to measure skin temperature, muscular tension,
heartbeat and blood pressure. This information is given to the person in
the forms of sounds, lights or wavy lines on graph.
An article published in the Hindustan Times, dated 31.1.1998
catalogues other individual coping strategies thus:
Keep a Pet: There is nothing funny about keeping a pet. Research
has indicated that keeping a pet can be a very effective stress killer.
Families that have a dog or a cat or for the matter any kind of ret, suffer
from fewer stress related affliction than families without pet.
Say your Prayers: Being religious helps in controlling stress.
Prayers and meditation done in private often provide cathartic release.
Research has proved that faith and religion do wonders for individuals
under stress.
Sing Aloud: It doesn’t matter if you don’t sound too good or the
neighbours object. Singing gives that release of emotions which helps
you live with fewer frowns. Singing is an acknowledgement of the
wonders of creation, the joy of living and a vocalization of inner feelings.
Laughter, the Elixir: Break into laughter and see the tension
dissolve around you. A good laugh relaxes the mind, exercise facial
muscles, reduces blood pressure and improves circulation. Laughing
heartily is one of the best ways of getting rid of the frustration and
tensions of modern existence.
Sleep Right: A sleeping beauty is less likely to be prone to stress
than a workaholic. Napping and dozing can refresh and relax.
Be Good at Loving: A good lover definitely means leading a good
and healthy sex life. Fulfilling and satisfying sex is the key to many
problems and is one of the most effective stress busters ever invented.
Aerobics, workouts and other forms of exercise can’t bring the same
amount of benefit and happiness as a good sex life. It can drive away
tensions, relax and soothe as well as exercise the heart too.
Spend Time with Children: Children have a therapeutic effect on
people who spend time playing with them. Their innocence, joie de
vivre and capacity for happiness can be infectious. An hour spend with
children can bring loads of relaxation and happiness.
Take of Walk: Walk in the mornings, walk in evenings, and walk just
about every time. Walk with friends or walk alone but do try long walks
for cutting down on stress.
Enjoy the Idiot Box: Watching one’s favorite sitcom on TV can be a
great relaxant. No matter what people say about idiot box, it does have
some good effects. And one of them is helping you unwind. Put your
feet up on a stool, your favorite drink in hand and let the magic of the
small screen take over and cast a spell over you.
Cultivate Interests: An interesting pastime is one of the greatest
anxiety busters. It could be gardening, playing an instrument, reading,
writing, cooking; just about anything that interests you. Plants have a
very relaxing effect on most people.
Organizational Coping Strategies:
Stress management includes stress prevention also. This is best
achieved through certain organizational coping strategies. Organizational
coping strategies help reduce the harmful effects of stress in three ways:-
1. Identify and then modify or eliminate work stressors
2. Help employees modify their perception and understanding of work
stress
3. Help employees cope more effectively with the consequences
The organizational coping strategies are:
1. Role clarity: Define employee roles clearly. Employees must have a
clear understanding of the job. They must know what the company
expects and be confident that they can meet these expectations. Stress,
most often, occurs when employees are not very sure about their work
roles or fear they cannot do their jobs. When excessive stress is present in
a role, management can initiate steps such as:
Redefining the person’s role
Reduce overload by redistributing the work
Set up procedures to prevent hindrances to work
Arrange for a meeting of all those involved in a messy situation
and try to find a way out
Make a job intrinsically meaningful , challenging and rewarding
2. Supportive Climate: Factors such as freedom to think and act
independently, a certain amount of informality with key employees, clear
communications, participative decision making, friendly conversation- all
help in reducing stress levels in an organization. If practiced regularly,
they also reveal a supportive organizational climate where everybody is
willing to contribute his best and share the rewards thereafter. A friendly,
supportive climate builds trust and confidence among employees and
they will be quite happy to extend a helping hand to management,
whenever required.
3. Clear career paths: To reduce uncertainty, each employee must be
sure of where he is heading for, say after 5 years within same
organization. A clear career path and the job rewards and the benefits that
follow committed service would go a long way in preventing or reducing
stress level greatly.
4. Company- wide programmes: A variety of programs can be used to
manage work stress and these include:
Job enrichment
Employee counseling
Training and development programs
Establishing autonomous work groups
Establishing variable work schedules
Setting up health clubs and offering health facilities
Management can help reduce stress in the work environment by
holding team meetings, using proper management techniques, employing
effective communication system and reducing uncertainty among
employees.
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
African American college students and stress: School Racial composition self-Esteem and social support (source: college student journal, v41 p823-830 Dec. 2007)
College students are a very vulnerable group to experience stress, the latter of which is related to a variety of outcomes, such as health and academic performance. However, there is a dearth of research examining African American college students and stress. We first examined the relationship between self students stress using the students stress survey. A non probability sample (N=344) of predominately African American students was collected at a Historically Black college & university(HBCU) while 165 students compromised the non probability sample of white students from a predominately white institution (PWI).the top five reported sources of stress were :Death of family member (interpersonal stress) 82%, low grade(academic stress) 69%, time management (academic stress) 61%, boy friend/girlfriend problems (interpersonal stress) 57%, and missed classes (academic stress) 55%. In addition significant creations between self-esteem, social support and stress for all students except African American at PWI’s were found. The study points out the needs for colleges and universities to develop stress intervention programs that address stress specifically based on race and school racial composition.
An Assessment of stress experienced by students in a prepharmacy curriculum (source: journal of instructional psychology, v 35 p 17-23 Mar 2008)
This study evaluated stress levels experienced by students in a prepharmacy curriculum. A survey was used to evaluate perceived levels of stress, factors that contribute to stress, and mechanisms used to cope with stress. Participants were first year students enrolled in a cooperative pharmacy program. Data were collected using an individual interview that consisted of both a demographic and stress questionnaire. The questionnaire includes
items regarding perceived stress levels and methods used to reduce stress, factors that contribute to stress and levels of support from family, friends and faculty. Students rated stress to be average or above average; yet only 60% reported using some form of active approach to stress reduction. In addition 50% reported no awareness of campus resources to help reduce stress levels. Students may benefit from programs that teach coping strategies.
.
Perceived Stress by Students in a Pharmacy Curriculum (Source: Education, v129 p 139-146 Feb 2008)
This study evaluated stress levels experienced by students in a pharmacy curriculum. A survey was used to evaluate perceived levels of stress, factors that contribute to stress, and mechanism used to cope with stress. Participants were first, second, and third year students enrolled in pharmacy school. Data were collected using an individual interview that consisted of both a demographic and stress questionnaire. The questionnaire included items to measure perceived stress levels and methods used to reduce stress, factor that contribute to stress , and levels of support from family, friends, and faculty. Students rated stress to be average or above average and 70.5% reported using some form of active approach to stress reduction. However, the remaining reported no awareness of campus resources to help manage stress levels and many students offered only passive coping strategies, despite the fact that these students had two to four years of academic experience. Findings demonstrate that students may benefit from programs that teach effective coping strategies.
Relationship among stress coping, secure attachment, and the trait of resilience among Taiwanese College Students (Sources: College Students Journal, v42 p312-325 Jun 2008)
College students often have stressful lives, yet some college students appear adapt better than their peers in similar situations. Active coping appears to be a vital factor that contributes to a successful adaptation. This study explored relative effectiveness among stress, secure attachment, and the trait of resilience in predicting active coping in high, general, and low stress situations. General stress situations are referred to as a combination of high and low stress situation. Multiple regressions were applied to explore
effective predictor of effective coping. Whereas stress was not significantly correlated with active coping, the trait of resilience was the most effective predictors of active coping in high, general, and low stress situations. Secure attachment was an affective predictor of acting coping in general situations but not in high or low stressful situations. Two-way ANOVA was applied to detect interaction effect of stress and the trait of resilience on active coping. No interaction effects of stress and resilience on active coping was found. Findings suggest that counselors can help college students to actively cope with stressful situations by enhancing more students’ resilience than their secure attachment, regardless of students stress level.
Social support and stress among university students in Jordan (source: international journal of mental health and addiction, v6 p442-450 Jul 2009)
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between perception of social support and perceived stress among university students in Jordan. A sample of 241 university students from private and government universities in Jordan answered self-report questionnaires including the perceived social support scale. The results showed that university students have moderate perception of social support and stress. Female university students had higher perception of stress and social support than male university students. Perceived stress had a negative correlation with perceived social support from family (-0.29, p less than o.o5)the perceived social support from family was a better predictor of perceived life event as stressful situations than perceived life event as stressful situations than perceived social support from friends. The study implications for research and intervention were discussed.
Supporting assessment stress in key stage 4 students (sources: Educational studies, v34 p83-95 may 2008)
Research has indicated that 13% of students in the UK experience a high degree of assessment-related stress/anxiety, which may have debilitating health, emotional and educational effects. Recent policy initiatives have attempted to encourage a responsibility for promoting well being in schools; however at present there is little known about what, if any, support is provided for students over assessment stress/anxiety. The purpose of this exploratory study was to gather data on the conceptualization and understanding of assessment stress/ anxiety in key stage for students and what current policy and practices are adopted to support students
experiencing a high degree of assessment stress/ anxiety. Data were collected from semi structured interviews conducted with 34 students and nine members of staff from six schools in the north of England and analyzed. Teachers conceptualized assessment stress/anxiety as resulting from assessment demands requiring skills and knowledge beyond the current capabilities of students. Support was mostly structured along academic lines, theorized as reducing stress by increasing the student’s ability to cope with assessment demands. Students who experienced a strong degree of manifest anxiety during examinations were moved to alternative venues, but students were not routinely identified in all schools. Staff and students also emphasized the importance of a good relationship in receiving both emotional and academic forms of support. These strategies were theorized as “bolt-on” policies. Schools had few specific strategies for dealing with assessment stress/ anxiety directly but used existing policies related to behavior management and the promotion of achievement
The sources and manifestations stress amongst school-Aged Dyslexics, compared with sibling controls (sources: dyslexia, v14 p291-313 Nov 2009)
This study investigates whether dyslexic children, by way of their educational and social difficulties, experienced higher levels of stress at school. The school situation survey was used to investigate both the sources and manifestation of stress amongst dyslexic children and non-dyslexic in academic years 3-5 experiencing the highest stress level, specifically in interactions with teachers , worries over academic examinations (SATs) and performance testing , causing emotional(fear, shyness and loneliness )and psychological(nausea, tremors or rapid heart beat )manifestation. Results also suggest that dyslexics in larger families (3-4 sibling families) experiences greater stress in interactions with their peers, than those in smaller families( two sibling families)-possibility from unfair sibling comparison.
A structural equation modeling approach to study of stress and psychological adjustment in emerging adults (source: child psychiatry and human development, v39 p481-501 dec 2008)
Today’ society puts constant demands on the time and resources of all individuals, with the resulting stress promoting a decline in psychological adjustment. Emerging adults are not exempt from this experience, with an alarming number reporting excessive level of stress and stress-related problem. As a result, the present study addresses the need for a comprehensive model of emerging adult adjustment in the context of stress and coping variables and highlights the importance of accounting for differences males and females in research concerning stress, social support, coping, and adjustment. Participants for this study are 239 college students (122males and 117 females). Results of structural equation modeling suggest that stress, social support, coping, and adjustment show unique pattern of relationship for males versus females. For both males and females, stress and social support show similar relationship to adjustment. In contrast, social support is related only to coping behaviors in females. Females, social support appears to be a important variable for female adjustment, whereas other coping behaviors appears to be more pertinent to male adjustment.
A longitudinal study of negative life Events, Stress, and School Experience of Gifted Youth (source: Gifted child quarterly, v53 p34-49 2009)
An 11 year mixed- method, cross sectional longitudinal study began with a group of 121 children, identified as gifted, and followed them until high-school graduation. Parents annually identified negative life events experienced by child and family and at graduation; students completed an open-ended retrospective questionnaire, focusing on events, impact of events, supports and hindrance during the school years. As a result of attrition, participants became increasingly homogeneous over time. School data were available for 59 students (of 63 family units who sustained involvement) at the end. They usually cited academic challenges, school transition, peer relationship, and over commitment as their most challenging experiences, not life events. Almost without exception, they maintained high achievement. Putting the research to use: Gifted students may not communicate their distress to adults who are invested in their achievements or non achievements. Though habits of achievements may help them to
maintain high grades and high levels of extra curricular performance, achievers might quietly experience high level of stress from their heavy involvements in or outside of school. Low achievements and a high number of absences may also reflect personal stress in gifted students. Showing non-voyeuristic, holistic interest in gifted students as complex individuals, and offering credible comments about personal strengths and resilience might offer crucial support at a time of vulnerability.
.
Prof. Robbins
According to Prof. Robbins stress is a condition in which an individual is
confronted with an opportunity, constrain or demand related to what
he/she desires and for which the outcome is perceived to both uncertain
and important. So, stress is associated with:
Constraints or demand
Uncertainty over the outcome which is regarded as important
Miller and Hester (1986)
Miller and Hester reviewed stress management training techniques and
found they included such approaches as relaxation training, biofeedback
and systematic desensitization (i.e., focusing on environmental factors to
reduce anxiety). Miller (1992) also identified aerobic training as a stress
management approach. Other approaches have included meditation,
muscle relaxation and transcendental meditation.
Fletcher (1988)
It has been shown how the further down the skill level in the ‘job chain’
one looks the worse off the mental health of those groups becomes.
Further it has also been shown how…. “Conditions of work most adverse
to workers” health is to be found in blue collar professions and in some
health care positions such as nursing. A common and possibly decisive
denominator of these work conditions is that they expose the worker to a
combination of high psychological stress and physical workload and a
low level of decision latitude.”
Brown Et Al (1990)
A recent study by Brown Et Al examined the relationship between
stressful life events and drinking outcome among male alcoholics who
had completed an alcohol treatment program. Approximately 40% of the
pre-treatment stressors were found to be directly or indirectly related to
alcohol use. Results showed that men who returned to drinking after
treatment experienced more serve or highly threatening stress before their
relapse than men who re
Spector & Connell (1994)
As an individual , the issues of ‘Locus of Control’(LOC), whereby one
may perceive oneself as a victim or an agent of control in one’s own
life(external or internal LOC), appears to be one of three key personality
facts linked to how an individual reacts to stressful situation . The other
two are: Negative Affectivity or the tendency to experience a variety of
negative emotions across time and situations; and type A personalities
who seem to be hyper- reaction to uncontrollable stressors and more
reactive than type B.
Miller and Hester (1986)
Miller and Hester reviewed stress management training techniques and
found they included such approaches as relaxation training, biofeedback
and systematic desensitization (i.e., focusing on environmental factors to
reduce anxiety). Miller (1992) also identified aerobic training as a stress
management approach. Other approaches have included meditation,
muscle relaxation and transcendental meditation.
RESEARCHMEHDOLOGY
Purpose
The main purpose of this research is to determine the important drivers of
job stress and to analyze the effect of job stress on the performance of the
Management students or future entrepreneurs.
Research Design
The survey method is the basic research design. The structured
questionnaire was administered to the respondents, which solicits
information about their level of job stress.
Sample Size
A survey of approximately 150 MBA students working in different
organizations provided the database for this study. The sampling
technique used was convenience sampling under this sample of
respondents was chosen according to the convenience of the researcher.
Data Collection:
The purpose of research was explained to the employees and
questionnaires were being administered to them.
Evaluation
After scoring the questions, the raw data are used to draw charts. These
charts are further analyzed to draw inferences and deductions about the
impact of job stress and to identify the main methods to remove stress.
OBJECTIVES
1. To identify the main reasons of stress among management people.
2. To study the effect of stress on their performance
3. To find the methods of removing stress and the effectiveness of
methods
RESULT AND
DISCUSSION
Q1. Do you believe that your job is a stressful job?
Yes - 102 No- 48
Yes68%
No32%
Q. 2 how much job stress do you feel at job?
High- 51 Low-23 Moderate- 34
High48%
Low21%
Moderate31%
A very high percentage of the respondents i.e. 68% believe that
engineering is a stressful job. From these, 48% respondents feel high job
stress; 21% feel low job stress and 31% feel moderate job stress.
Q 3.Do your junior employees and colleague make your job
stressful?
Yes- 46 No- 104
Yes31%
No69%
Only 31% respondents say that their junior employees and colleague
make their job stressful. The remain 69% are not in favor of this
statement.
Q 4. According to you, which things make your job stressful?
Workload- 70 Excessive rules of Organization- 28
Interpersonal relationship- 4 Daily changes in work Schedule- 48
workload46%
excessive rules of
organisation
19%
interpersonal
relatationship3%
daily changes in work
schedules32%
According to 46% respondents’ workload is major cause of stress; 32%
are agree with daily changes in work schedules; 19% say that excessive
rules of organization is a cause of stress; Only 3% are in favor of
interpersonal relationships.
Q 5. Do you feel that your boss shows lack of interest or focus in your
work?
Yes- 42 No-108
Yes28%
No72%
Only 28% are agreeing with this fact that their boss shows lack of interest
in their work.
Q 6. Does your job interfere with other responsibilities?
Always- 16 Sometimes-128 Often- 6
Sometime85%
Often4% Always
11%
11% respondents say that their job always interferes with other
responsibilities; 85% says sometimes and only 4% say often in the
response of this statement.
Q7. Do you become upset when an emergency work arises in your
job?
Strongly agree-10 Agree-44 Neutral-80
Disagreee-12 Strongly disagree- 4
neutral53%
Strongly agree
7%
Strongly disagree
3%agree29%
disagree8%
3% say strongly agree; 29% say agree; 53% say neutral; 8% say disagree
and 7% say strongly disagree with this statement.
Q 8. Do you frustrate when things don’t run smoothly or according
to you?
Always- 52 Never- 10 Sometimes- 88
Always35%
Seldom58%
Never7%
Only 7% never get frustrated when things don’t run smoothly or
according to them; but 35% Always and 58% seldom get frustrated.
Q9. Do you feel that problems at home interfere with your
performance at work?
Always- 8 Never- 38 Sometimes- 104
Sometimes
70%
Always5%
Never25%
5% feel that it happen always when their home problems interfere with
their work performance; 70% feel that it happens sometimes but 25% say
never in the response of statement.
Q10. Do you feel sometimes that you are unpleasant with job
conditions?
Yes- 80 No-70
Yes53%
No47%
53% respondents are unpleasant with the job conditions but 47% are
happy with the conditions provided by their organizations.
Q11. Do you think that your performance is affected by stress?
Always- 46 Never- 44 Sometimes- 60
31% say always; 40% say sometimes but 29% never feel that their
performance is affected by stress.
Always31%
Never29%
Someties40%
Q12. Are the bureaucratic rules of any organization work as source
of stress for employees?
Strongly agree-26 Agree- 88 Neutral- 24
Disagree- 12 Strongly disagree- 0
Agree59%
Disagree8%Neutral
16%
Strongly disagree
0%strongly
agree17%
17% are strongly agreed; 59% are agreed; 24% say neutral in favor of
this fact. But 8% are disagree i.e. they don’t think that bureaucratic rules
of any organization work as source of stress for employees.
Q13. Do you think that low job security is also a cause of job stress?
Strongly agree- 48 Agree- 70 Neutral- 24
Disagree- 8 Strongly disagree- 0
Agree47%
Disagree5%
Strongly disagree
0%
Strongly agree32%
Neutral16%
32% are strongly agreed that low job security is also a cause of stress;
47% are agreed; 16% gave neutral response; and 5% are disagreeing with
this fact.
Q14. how would you say you are with your job?
Very satisfied-28 Some what satisfied- 48
Not too satisfied- 68 Not at all satisfied- 6
not too satisfied
45%
not at all satisfied
4%very
satisfied19%
some what satisfied
32%
In the response of this statement, 19% say very satisfied; 32% say some
what satisfied; 45% say not too satisfied and only 4% say not at all
satisfied with their job.
SUGGESTIONS 1. To successfully attract and relieve job stress among the employees
the organizations need to examine their programs and policies for coping
stress – to see where they stand compared to other companies. By
employing and implementing various management programs to relieve
stress, the organizations can cope with job stress among their employees.
The following strategies are important to remember while making stress
coping programs:
Proper work schedule should be there
Ensure high job security to the employee
There should some employee fitness programs and setting of
health clubs
2. The boss should show interest in the work of employee. There should
be friendly and supportive relation between the boss and the employees.
There should be an informal meeting between boss and employees in a
month so that they can discus about the work performance. The boss
should give positive motivations to employee for his/her good
performance.
3. There should proper timings of tea break and lunch break.
4. The rules of organization should not be bureaucratic so that the
employees feel pleasant working with the organization.
5. The organizations should conduct some seminars by professionals to
relieve the stress among the employees.
6. The organization should give the job rewards and recognition to the
employees and committed that their service would go a long way. This
may be higher compensation, performance bonus etc.
7. There should be training and development programs for the
employees so that the never feel stressed doing their job.
8. The organizations should adopt job enrichment and employee
counseling strategies.
9. Job rotation can also be practiced whereby employees are shifted
within different sites. Because there is greater variety and wider range of
interesting and challenging jobs. The people should select for job rotation
based on their core skills and leadership competencies. Job rotation
should be well planned and linked to career and succession plans.
10. It is the responsibility of management that there should be good
interpersonal relationships in the environment of organization.
CONCLUSION
From the analysis and interpretation the conclusion can be made:
All the employees feel high level of job stress.
The major cause of their stress is low job security, overload and un
proper working schedules.
The problems at home also interfere with their job performance
and are a cause of job stress.
There is high affect of job stress on the general health of
employees.
Some of them have to work in nights shifts.
There are no management programs in organizations for coping
stress. Most of the engineers believe that it is necessary that the
organization should provide some management programs to cope with
stress.
REFERENCES
Dr. Gupta, C B, Human resource Management, Sultan Chand &
Sons, New Delhi sixth edition.
Rao, VSP, Human Resource Management
www. Google. Com
QUESTIONNAIR: JOB STRESS
Name: Age : Gender: Male Female Education: Occupation:
Contact no :
1. Do you believe that your job is a stressful job?
Yes No 2. How much job stress you feel at home? High Low Moderate
3. Do your junior employees and colleague make your job stressful?
Yes No4. According to you, which things make your job stressful?
Workload Excessive rules of organization Interpersonal relationships Daily changes in work schedules
5. Do you feel that your boss shows lack of interest or focus in your work?
Yes No 6. Does your job interfere with other responsibilities?
Always Sometimes Often
7. Do you become upset when an emergency work arises in your job?
Strongly agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree
8. Do you frustrate when things don’t run smoothly or
according to you?
Always Never Seldom
9. Do you feel that problems at home interfere with your performance at work?
Always Never Sometimes 10. Do you feel sometimes that you are unpleasant with job
conditions?
Yes No
11. Do you think that your performance is affected by stress?
Always Never Sometimes
12. Are the bureaucratic rules of any organization work as source of stress for employees?
Strongly agree Agree Neutral
Disagree Strongly disagree 13. Do you think that low job security is also a cause of job
Stress?
Strongly agree Agree Neutral
Disagree Strongly disagree
14. How satisfied would you say you are with your J ob?
Very satisfied Some what satisfied Not too satisfied Not at all satisfied
![Stress Management [1] - The Well Project](https://img.pdfslide.net/doc/110x75/618d37958bc7a02c96491d9f/stress-management-1-the-well-project.jpg)
