Suggest one key strategy that managers may use to combat workplace stress productively in today’s work environment based on research you conducted this week. Provide support for your st

Effect of Stress on the Productivity of Employees Working In IT Sector in Nagpur

Dr Dini Menon

Abstract

In today’s, growing Information technological scenario a large number of IT employees are facing the problem of stress in their working area. There are various reasons for that such as inadequate incentive system, long working hours, work culture, lack of job autonomy etc., and behind all these problems the main reason is negligence of employees by management. The result of this, the employees face various health related and personal family problems such as heart disease, diabetes, depression, office related stress in house, etc. The high demand of job gives less time for employees, to spend with their family members. The main purpose of this study is to explore the causes of stress and to determine the factors that can reduce the job stress at workplace.

Keywords: Information Technology, Stress, Employees Workplace

Environment.

Introduction

Jobs in IT sector are knowledge driven and stress is existent in reality. The

reason can be pressure from seniors, target oriented approach, relationship

Journal of Commerce & Management Thought

Vol. 5-4, 2014, pp 594-603

DOI : 10.5958/0976-478X.2014.00006.8

594

with co-workers, lack of personal time, spouse stress, children stress and the

list goes on. This stress can create many mental and health weaknesses which

would affect the performance and productivity of the employee. The personal

weaknesses of the employees due to stress may lead to lack of time

management, poor relationships, low assertiveness, deviation from the goals,

lack of confidence etc. Employees can face many chronic health diseases.

Employees are assets and are considered to be the human capital of the

organization. All the jobs are knowledge based and is managed by such human

capital, so organizations have to take care of the employees. In this fast and

globalization era, helping employees to be healthy and productive is necessary

for the organization to achieve their objectives. After the advent of

globalization, the service sector, retail sector and IT &ITES sectors are in

boom and employee is a very important factor in these organizations. Hence,

organizations also started considering the Human factor of human resources at

work. In IT sector employees are involved in less physical work and more of

the psychological work. There are many challenges employees face like

competition, target oriented jobs, 24/7 work culture, dual career, organization

politics etc.

Stress is a universal element experienced by employees around the globe.

Stress has become major problem for employer particularly in developing

nations where the employer doesn’t realize the impact of stress on employee

performance. In their research work Giga and Hoel (2003), concluded that

high rates of mergers, acquisitions, increasing economic interdependence among

countries due to globalization, technological development, and restructuring have

changed the organizational work over the last few decades have resulted in

time pressure, excessive work demand, role conflicts, ergonomic

insufficiencies and problematic customer relationship are the causes of stress.

Stress is a complex phenomenon. It has been defined in many ways, but if

stated in simple terms, it is the wear and tear of everyday life. In every day’s

life people are subjected to a wide range of pressures. Similarly there are also

a wide range of resources and strategies for coping with pressure. Sometimes

people cope well and will not feel that the pressure is having any adverse effect

upon them. At other times they will have difficulty in dealing with the situation

and that is when we may use the term "stress".

Effect of Stress on the Productivity… 595

Stress should not be very high or too low. It must be within the range and

limits of employee's capacity to tolerate and his performance level. A

controlled stress which is within limits is always beneficial and productive

than an uncontrolled one. Management of every organization must always

consider their employees as assets of their firm and not work slaves. Efforts

should be made regularly to monitor and study stress levels in working

environment. Necessary adjustments and arrangements should be made to

control stress and its causes. Co-operation, kindness, respect, good manners

and discipline among members of an organization always create a stress free,

healthy, friendly and productive environment in a workplace.

Review of Literature

The workplace of the 21st century is a fast-paced, dynamic, highly

stimulating environment which brings a large number of benefits and

opportunities to those who work within it. The ever-changing demands of the

working world can increase levels of stress, especially for those who are

consistently working under pressure. By virtue of their demands, some jobs are

highly stressful, such as Professional in the IT sectors. Long hours of work,

night shifts, high work targets and loss of identity are some of the concerns of

the IT sector.

Dayo Akintayo (2012), in his study found that working environment is

significantly related to workers morale and also working environment is

significantly correlated with perceived workers’productivity.

Journal of Commerce and Management Thought 5 – 4596

Dr. K. Chandrasekar (2011),in his study found that environmental factors

are conducive to work and he also found that factors that affect attitude of

employees to work are interpersonalrelationships control over environment,

shift, emotional actors, job assignment, overtime duty, extended work.

L.S. Kang and R.S. Sandhu (2011), in their article said that Stress is an

individual’s state of mind in an encounter of a demanding situation or any

constraint in the organization, which s/he feels harmful or threatening for

her/himself. Stress emerges from various energy seeping conditions in the

working environment.

According to N Kathirvel (2009), Stress is the reaction that people take

due to excessive pressure or other types of demand placed on them. It arises

when they worry that they cannot cope. Stress is a demand made upon the

adaptive capacities of the mind and body.

Kulkarni (2006), in an article Burnout said that rapid change of the

modern working life is associated with increasing demands of learning new

skills, need to adopt to new types of work, pressure of higher productivity and

quality of work, time pressure and hectic jobs are increasing stress among the

workforce.

In recent years, Nagpur has evolved itself and has undergone many

developmental changes to emerge as one of the fast developing cities in India.

This effort gives visibility to the developments, happenings & milestones

achieved in past few years in the IT industry at Nagpur. This development

invited big IT companies in the city. Large number of employees working in

various companies at different level, continuous growth is creating work

pressure on these employees, which is main cause of the stress.

Purpose of the study

The face of the workplace has drastically changed over the past decade.

An increasingly empowered and diverse workforce, technological

advancements, increased competition and globalization have created a new

workplace reality that is totally different from the past workplace. Helping

employees to take care of their health has become the moral and business need

Effect of Stress on the Productivity… 597

for the organization. The researcher herein having social responsibility towards

the society decided to take up this issue for the research. Thus the main purpose

of the research is to find out the causes of job stress in a workplace also find

out the effect of job stress on the performance of the employees. The study

further determines the effect of work activities on the work performance and

behavioral performance of employees of IT Sector.

Hypothesis

It is hypothesized that ‘stress in workplace has the negative effect on the

productivity of the employees’.

Methods

This research is based on the descriptive method. Both primary and

secondary methods of data collection have been used for the research work. In

respect of primary data collection, the employees of IT companies were

interviewed using schedule method. While the secondary data was collected

through comprehensive review of existing literature i.e. books, journals,

magazines, newspapers, reports and internet.

Sample design

The study investigated the relationship among work-induced stress, job

performance, psychological well-being and productivity of employees in IT

industry in Nagpur city. Total numbers of 100 respondents were selected from

IT companies. The major instrument used in the study was a questionnaire.

The method used for this research was a random sampling technique. The

samples were divided into following ways:

Journal of Commerce and Management Thought 5 – 4598

Limitations of the Study

The research tool had open-ended questions, which made the analysis of

the results lengthy and complicated. The delay in obtaining feedback was

attributed to the researcher’s lack of insight into the organizational dynamics,

which resulted in time wasted in bargaining for feedback.

Result and Discussion

Table 1: Distribution of respondents according to important causes of stress

It can be viewed from the data displayed in Table that more than 50%

respondents felt that work load was the highest cause of stress. 52 percent

respondents believed that change at work was moderately increasing the stress.

On the subject of shift work, 62 % respondents said that this factor sometime

causes the stress. In the next step 58.0 % respondents felt that sometimes lack

of supervision causes the stress. About 59.0 % respondents felt that inadequate

training was sometimes the cause for stress. With respect to working

environment, 68.0 % respondents alleged that working environment was the

cause of stress. Similar results were found by Mullins (2002) who found that

‘work load’, either under or over, was amongst one of the greatest cause of

stress and needed proper compensation or management to tackle this problem.

Table 2: Distribution of Respondents according to the Socio Economic

Factors and Stress

Effect of Stress on the Productivity… 599

The above table shows that 54.0 % respondents said that sometimes there

was link between age and stress, while only 6 % respondents said that there

was no link between age and stress. In the same way 90.0 % respondents said

that there was always or sometimes link between stress and qualification and

only 10.0 % respondents said that there was no link between stress and

qualification. About 73.0 % respondents said that sometime there was link

between gender and stress. Some 70.0 % respondents said that sometimes there

was link between marital status and stress and 22.0 % respondents said that

there was always link between marital status and stress and only 8.0 %

respondents said that there was no link between marital status and stress and

more importantly 53 % respondents said that sometimes there was link

between income and stress. In this index of socio-economic factors,

qualifications have been identified as a major linking force. The same has been

proved by previous study that qualifications make one over ambitious and

entice him to strive for more and more. Majority of the people felt stress in

their jobs and they were neither satisfied with their jobs nor able to fulfill their

needs and thus, these factors are creating stress. Stress is perhaps playing

positive role in accelerating their performance. Qualifications have been

identified as a major linking force. Work load’, either under or over, was

amongst the one of greatest causes of stress or needed proper compensation or

management to tackle this problem.

Table 3: Distribution of Respondents according to the Dissatisfaction in

their job

A majority of the respondents wish better job opportunities as shown in

the above table. This desire was quite obvious reason for stressed mind. It is

apparentthat the urge of getting better job opportunities puts one on continuous

stress. However, almost 44% of the respondents were also found in state of

Journal of Commerce and Management Thought 5 – 4600

stress either due to un-fulfillment of basic requirements or just not getting the

job according to their qualification. According to Frederick (1982) over

ambitiousness is a type of stress dual in nature i.e., either constructive or

destructive. The data also revealed that a majority (90.0 %) of the respondents

felt stress in their jobs while 10.0 % respondents did not feel stress in their

jobs.

Table 4: Distribution of Respondents according to the Workplace

Environment Factors

Above table shows that, the workplace environment factors plays a vital

role in the productivity of the respondents at work place. The relation of

employees with his superiors at workplace makes positive or negative impact

on the work. A supervisor support is crucial for employees to complete the

job. Furthermore, interpersonal role of the supervisor is important to encourage

positive relations and increase self-confidence of the employee. 86% of

respondents expressed that relation with superior always affect their

production. A common and thinking of to be treated fairly is important for all

employees at workplace. Fair treatment motivates all employees to do and

develop their tasks with full of interest. The above table shows that 84% of

respondents always feel that fair treatment plays a crucial role in motivation.

Communication plays an important role in the work place. Communication

promotes trust and loyalty among the employees. It encourages better team

work and relationship which shows communication system at the

workplace.90% of respondents says that the communication is very crucial

factor at the workplace.

Suggestions & Recommendations

The study on work stress has revealed that the respondents feel that they

want certain changes in the environment where they are working. The

Company can go for some relaxation activity program for the employees in

Effect of Stress on the Productivity… 601

order to reduce the tension of the employees. The company can also focus on

training the employees how to make decision in pathetic situation. Similarly

it should provide program for improving a person attitude and development

process. Counseling session can be held for the employees showing the

symptom of stress. Organization should offer wellness program. Deep

relaxation should be provided for the employees for 10 to 20 minutes. Physical

exercise increases heart capacity, provide a mental diversion for work pressure

and let off stream. Leisure time can be provided to the employees and may

feel relaxed and work. Organization can focus on creating awareness program

about the negative impact on the consuming alcohol and cigarette.

Organization can often go with the brain storming games that keep employee

active participants in each and every matter which help in increase in

concentration. Organization can have a focus on providing yoga to the

employees.

Scope for Further Studies

Area of present study can be increased from district level to state level,

national level, as well as international level; Sample size can be increased;

other demographic details can be added for the future research and various

other statistical tests can be used for comprehensive analysis & findings.

References

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The Author

Dr. Dini Menon is Assistant Professor in the Department of Commerce, Hislop

College, Nagpur.

Email: [email protected] • Received on: 10, Jul.2014

Effect of Stress on the Productivity… 603

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