A STUDY ON ROLE OF OCCUPATIONAL STRESS ON EMPLOYEES PRODUCTIVITY

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1 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT (IJM) International Journal of Management (IJM), ISSN (Print), ISSN (Online), ISSN (Print) ISSN (Online) Volume 6, Issue 1, January (2015), pp IAEME: Journal Impact Factor (2014): (Calculated by GISI) IJM I A E M E A STUDY ON ROLE OF OCCUPATIONAL STRESS ON EMPLOYEES PRODUCTIVITY G. Indhu mathi Student, Department of Management Studies, Sri Manakula Vinayagar College of Engineering and Technology Pudhucherrry. M. Thirumakkal Student, Department of Management Studies, Sri Manakula Vinayagar College of Engineering and Technology Pudhucherrry ABSTRACT The goal of the study was to investigate the impact of stress on productivity of employees at the Pothys boutique, a textile showroom. According to dean, stress related illness have been a leading cause for low productivity levels in the work place. Immense pressure at work has led to stress which makes it the number one factor that has lead to illness and dissatisfaction towards the organisation. For this study Descriptive study was utilized, as the main goal was to find the impact of stress on productivity in the organisation was concerned. Thus the study helped to elucidate descriptive information on the impact of stress on employees at the Pothys boutique, and gave specific details about the phenomena in question. Research was conducted within the frame work of the survey.the sampling used for this study is stratified random sampling. The respondents in this study were the 80 employees at the Pothys boutique who were employed during the period of the study. Questionnaires were designed and distributed to all the sections at the Pothys boutique. From the results obtained it was evident that there were many stress factors that the employees at Pothys boutique endured, and the enquiry proved that the impact of stress affected productivity negatively.the fact that the majority of the employees thought that the organisation did not care about them was a reflection of huge dissatisfaction that undoubtedly lowered productivity. Keywords: Occupational Stress, Productivity, Employee, Impact, Pothys, Boutique Productivity Levels. 560

2 INTRODUCTION Occupational stress is stress involving work. Occupational stress is a major hazard for many workers. Increased workloads, downsizing, overtime, hostile work environments, and shift work are just a few of the many causes of stressful working conditions. Occupational stress can affect your health when the stressors of the workplace exceed the employee s ability to have some control over their situation or to cope in other ways. "Stress" when we feel that everything seems to have become too much - we are overloaded and wonder whether we really can cope with the pressures placed upon us. When we are stressed the following happens: Blood pressure rises Effect on your body Breathing becomes more rapid A tendency to sweat Digestive system slows down Back pain Heart rate (pulse) rises Chest pain Immune system goes down Muscles become tense We do not sleep (heightened state of alertness) Effect on your behavior Eating too much Eating too little Food cravings Stress Factors 1. Lack of recognition & financial rewards 2. Inflexibility work hours 3. Personal issues 4. Work family conflicts 5. Low control over work environment 6. Livelihood facilities 7. Physical strain 8. Psychosocial risk factors 9. Career 10. Job burn out Productivity Factors 1. Work Performance 2. Behavioral changes 3. Work engagement 4. Loss of productivity 5. Labour turn over Objectives of the Study To study the stressful environment of employee in Pothys boutique To identify the impact of occupational stress on employee productivity To study the relationship between stress factors and employee s productivity To analyze the major factors influence stress To suggest ways to reduce stress among employees & increase productivity 561

3 RESEARCH PROBLEM This study is done to find out the occupational stress of the employees in the work place and how it affects the productivity of the employees in POTHYS BOUTIQUE. It has been noticed that the employees in textiles showroom has been undergoing the stress in higher rate and has certain impact on productivity.thus suggesting the organisation in which they have to concentrate more and improve the necessary areas for reducing stress among employees in organisation This study helps to know the importance of occupational stress in the textile showrooms. SCOPE OF THE STUDY Occupational stress factors are very important to be identified in an organisation and also the factors that relate to increasing the effects of stress in the workplace. In addition to that the occupational stress factors help us to identify the impact on productivity of employees, exploring health protection, physical illness and psychological factors in the work place. This study helps the organisation to know about the A. Stress of employees B. Impact of occupational stress over productivity. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Field Work and Collection of Data Primary Data The primary data are collected from the employees of POTHYS BOUTIQUE CHENNAI through a direct structured questionnaire. Secondary Data Company profiles, websites, magazines, articles, journals, etc were used widely as a support to primary data. Data Collection Tool The data required for this study were collected from primary data and secondary data. The primary data were collected mainly from the questionnaire. Questionnaire The questions were framed using the rating scale (Likert scale), Open ended questions, and Closed ended questions. The questionnaire is designed based on three Factors SECTION A: Personal Information Contains 11 Questions. SECTION B: Stress Factors Contains 10 Parts & 47 Questions. SECTION C: Productivity Factors Contains 5 Parts & 15 Questions. 562

4 The sampling technique used in this study is stratified random sampling, the strata are formed based on members' shared attributes or characteristics. A random sample from each stratum is taken in a number proportional to the stratum's size when compared to the population. These subsets of the strata are then pooled to form a random sample. Here strata are each sections or floors in Pothys boutique. Population The total population size is 800 (employees working in Pothys boutique approximation) Sample Size The item selected from population constitutes the sample size. In this study, the Sample size is 80 respondents (10 % of population). Data Analysis Table 1 :Demographic Profile of The Respondents S.No Demographic variables Particulars No.of.respondants Percentage 1. Gender Female Male Age above th - 10th standard Highest Level of Education 10th-12th standard Degree None of the above Thiruvanamalai Tirunelveli Home Town Tutucorin Thanjavur Chennai Others Single/never been married Marital Status Married Separated months Experience 1-5years More than 8 years Elder one No Yes Urban Native Sub urban Rural Source of Income No Yes

5 CALCULATION OF OVERALL TOTAL SCORE FOR OCCUPATIONAL STRESS Total Score The total score using SPSS software is calculated by declaring a variable called Occupational stress and all the 10 factors (47 Questions) are added using the symbol of addition. The five scale rating is divided in to three scales rating by means of a table. The total score obtained by adding all the 10 factors and averaging it, the average value lies in the three scale values which help in identifying the level of stress using the 5 scale rating table. Scale Rating Table Value Overall Total Score Table No: 2 VALUE Value (47*3) Value (47*4) Above (47*5) LEVEL Low Moderate High The total score thus obtained by means of following the above step for all the 10 factors is added and the average of all the total score is taken to find out the overall total score. Overall total score= Total score for factor 1+ Total score for factor 2...factor 10)/100 In order to find out the level of stress the values has been divided into three categories (Low, moderate, high). Here the overall total score thus obtained for rating scale calculation is which fall in between the value (47-141).From the above table value it is determined that the organisation lies in the level of low stress. Analysis on Factors of Occupational Stress versus Total Score of Productivity (Using Multiple Regressions) Table No: 4.3(A) Model Summary Model R R Square Adjusted R Square Std. Error of the Estimate a a. Predictors: (Constant), Job Burn Out, Work Hours, Career Enhancement, Livelihood Facilities, Lack Of Recognition & Financial Rewards, Personal Issues, Psychosocial Risk Factors, Work Family Conflicts, Physical Strain, Low Control Over Work Environment. The R column represents the value of R the multiple correlation co efficient, R can be considered to be one measure of the quality of the 564

6 prediction of dependent variable. In this study, the R value a indicates good level of prediction. The R 2 value is called co efficient of determination, which is the proportion of variance in the dependent variable that can be explained by the variable that can be explained by the independent variable. From the value of R 2 = the independent variable (factors of stress in organisation) explain 60.8% of the variability of dependent variables (productivity total score). 1 Table No: 4.3(B) ANOVA a Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. Regression b Residual Total a. Dependent Variable: Productivity of Employees b. Predictors: (Constant), Job Burn Out, Work Hours, Career Enhancement, Livelihood Facilities, Lack Of Recognition & Financial Rewards, Personal Issues, Psychosocial Risk Factors, Work Family Conflicts, Physical Strain, Low Control Over Work Environment. The F ratio in the ANOVA table tests whether the overall regression model is a good fit for the data. The table shows that independent variable statistically significant predict the dependent variable (total score of productivity), F (10, 69) =10.709, p<0.05. The regression model is good fit for the data. Table No: 4.3(C) Coefficients a Model Unstandardized Coefficients Standardized Coefficients t Sig. B Std. Error Beta (Constant) Lack Of Recognition & Financial Rewards Work Hours Personal Issues Work Family Conflicts Low Control Over Work Environment Livelihood Facilities Physical Strain Psychosocial Risk Factors Career Enhancement Job Burn Out a. Dependent Variable: Productivity of Employees 565

7 The general form of equation to predict the agreement rating total score is Productivity total score= (0.097*Lack of Recognition & Financial Rewards) - (0.222* Inflexibility Work Hours) + (0.004* Personal Issues) + (0.278* Work Family Conflicts) + (1.112* Low Control Over Work Environment) - (0.250*Livelihood Facilities) - (0.045*Physical Strain) + (0.718*Psychosocial Risk Factors) + ( *Career Enhancement) - (0.863*Job Burn Out) Table No: 4.3(D) FACTORS REGRESSION RANK Low Control Over Work Environment I Career Enhancement II Job Burn Out III Psychosocial Risk Factors IV Livelihood Facilities V Work Family Conflicts VI Inflexibility Work Hours VII Lack Of Recognition & Financial Rewards VIII Physical Strain IX Personal Issues X From the above table it is found that Low Control over Work Environment is the major factor influencing the dependent variable productivity of the employee. Analysis of Respondents Native versus Occupational Stress (Using One Way Anova) Hypothesis H0: There is no significant relationship between native and occupational stress Ha: There is a significant relationship between native and occupational stress TESTING OF HYPOTHESIS Table No: 4 ANOVA Occupational Stress Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. Between Groups Within Groups Total The p value which is greater than 0.05.Therefore Ho is accepted and Ha is rejected. There is no significant relationship between native and occupational stress Analysis of Respondents on Age, Education and Occupational Stress (Using Two Way Anova) 566

8 Hypothesis H0: There is no significant difference between age education and occupational stress Ha: There is significant difference between age education and occupational stress. Testing Hypothesis Age Highest level of education Table No: 5 Between-Subjects Factors Value Label N above 8 1 Less than 5 th standard 0 2 5th - 10th standard th-12th standard 36 4 Degree 11 5 None of the above 4 Tests of Between-Subjects Effects Dependent Variable: Occupational Stress Source Type III Sum of df Mean Square F Sig. Squares Corrected Model a Intercept age education age * education Error Total Corrected Total a. R Squared =.160 (Adjusted R Squared =.065) A two way between group analysis of variance was conducted to explore the impact of age and education on occupational stress. Participants were divided into three groups according to their age (GROUP 1:15-20 years, GROUP 2: years, GROUP 3: 30 above). The interaction affect between age and education was statistically significant F (2, 3) =1.44, P= There is no significant difference between age, education and occupational stress. There is no significant difference between intercept of age, education and occupational stress. The p value is greater than Thus H0 is accepted and Ha is rejected. Analysis of Respondents Elder One versus Total Score of Occupational Stress (Using Independent Samples Test) Hypothesis H0: There is no significant difference between elder one and occupational stress Ha: There is significant difference between elder one and occupational stress 567

9 Testing Hypothesis Occupational Stress Group Statistics Elder one N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean No Yes Occupational Stress Equal variances assumed Equal variances not assumed Levene's Test for Equality of Variances Table No: 6 Independent Samples Test F Sig. t df Sig. (2- tailed) t-test for Equality of Means Mean Std. Error 95% Confidence Interval of the Lower Upper The p value which is greater than 0.05.Therefore H0 is accepted and Ha is rejected. There is no significant difference between elder son/daughter and occupational stress. Analysis of Opinion of Respondents Regarding Gender versus Total Score of Occupational Stress (Using Independent Samples Test) Hypothesis H0: There is no significant difference between gender and occupational stress Ha: There is significant difference between gender and occupational stress Occupational Stress Group Statistics Gender N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean Female Male Testing Hypothesis Occupational Stress Equal variances assumed Equal variances not assumed Levene's Test for Equality of Variances F Sig. t df Table No: 7 Independent Samples Test Sig. (2- tailed) t-test for Equality of Means Mean Std. Error 95% Confidence Interval of the Lower Upper

10 The p value which is greater than 0.05.Therefore H0 is accepted and Ha is rejected. There is no significant difference between gender and occupational stress. Analysis of respondents regarding primary income to family versus total score of occupational stress (using independent samples test) Hypothesis H0: There is no significant difference between Primary income to family and occupational stress. Ha: There is significant difference between Primary income to family and occupational stress Testing Hypothesis Occupational Stress Group Statistics Primary income to family N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean No Yes Occupational Stress Levene's Test for Equality of Variances F Sig. t df Table No: 8 Independent Samples Test Sig. (2- tailed) t-test for Equality of Means Mean Std. Error 95% Confidence Interval of the Lower Upper Equal variances assumed Equal variances not assumed The p value 0.04 which is lesser than 0.05.Therefore H0 is rejected and Ha is accepted. There is significant difference between Primary income to family and occupational stress. Analysis of respondents relationship between total score of occupational stress versus total score of productivity (using correlation) Table No: 9 Correlations Occupational Stress Productivity of Employees Pearson Correlation ** Occupational Stress Sig. (2-tailed).000 N Pearson Correlation.644 ** 1 Productivity of Employees Sig. (2-tailed).000 N **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). 569

11 From the above table it is inferred that the correlation between the total score of occupational stress and total score of productivity were strongly positively correlated, the value is Analysis of Respondents Relationship between Occupational Stress Versus Productivity (Using Correlation) Table No: 10 Productivity / Stress factors Work performance Behavioral changes Work engagement Loss of productivity Labour turn over Lack of recognition Inflexibility in work hours Personal issues Work family Work environment Livelihood Physical strain Psychosocial Careers Job burnout From the above table it is inferred that a Pearson product moment correlation trend on individual finding are to occupational stressors and its impact. The relations between, Work environment and Work engagement are Strong Positively Correlated were r=0.590, Work family and Behavioral changes are Moderate Positively Correlated were r=0.301, Personal issues and Work Performance are Weak Positively Correlated were r=0.170, Lack of recognition and Behavioral changes are Strong Negatively Correlated were r= , Job burnout and Behavioral changes are Moderate Negatively Correlated were r= SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Occupational stress is the important factor in the organisation, it has the impact on productivity. Positive stress can improve the organizational effectiveness and efficiency. In view of the above findings and implications, the following suggestions can be made. Low control over work environment Superior has to maintain a coordinal relationship with employees, so that the job satisfaction and work environment can be changed. Control over work environment has a correlation (relationship) between each other, so necessary steps have to be taken Career Enhance Enhancement Employees looking for career enhancement and promotions 570

12 Job Burnout Employees are facing the job burnout in higher rate, so necessary steps have to be taken to change the attitude of employees. If the employees is the primary source of income to his family it makes occupational stress. Special care and attention should be taken for overcoming the stress for those employees. Personal Factors Work family conflict and behavioral changes are correlated with each other. Employees facing difficulty in balancing work life and personal life, necessary steps have to be taken to overcome those difficulties. First son / daughter among the employees are higher, special attention to be given to those in the basis of emergency leave and financial support. To maintain stability in following factors Financial reward system, working hours, and performance. Fun activities can be conducted in non seasonal times. Physical strains have to be avoided and job routine can be offered. CONCLUSION Occupational stress is one of the major health hazards of the modern workplace, it accounts for much of the physical illness, substance abuse, and family problems experienced by workers. Also, occupational stress and stressful working conditions have been linked to low productivity, absenteeism, and increased rates of accidents on and off the job. From this study it is concluded that the occupational stress in the organization is low. The existing method of having a control over environment by the supervisors is the influencing factor which affects the work engagement. The income level of an employee affects on occupational stress.special attention has to be given to the employee who is the first son/daughter of the family since they faces stress in higher rate compared to another employees. Standing for long hours makes the employee into stress, remedies has to be taken to make the job rotations. Employees are undergoing psychosocial issues innovative measures can eradicate the problems and can increase the productivity. REFERENCES [1] Chen-Chung Ma, Michael E. Samuels, W. Alexander (2003). Factors That Influence Nurse s Job Satisfaction, Journal of Nursing Administration, Vol. 33 No. 5, pp [2] Coomber B and Louise Barriball K (2007). Impact of job satisfaction components on intent to leave and turnover for hospital-based nurses: A review of the research literature, International Journal of Nursing Studies, Vol. 44, No. 2, pp [3] Ernst M.E, Franco M, Messmer P R and Gonzalez J L.(2004)" Nurses' Job Satisfaction, Stress, and Recognition in a Pediatric Setting" Pediatric Nursing; Vol. 30, No.3, pp [4] Fletcher, C. E. (2001). Hospital RN s job satisfactions and dissatisfactions. Journal of Nursing Administration, Vol.31 No.6, pp

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