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1. Introduction
Generally speaking, most workers feel some sense of purpose and accomplishment about their jobs, which can be very rewarding and self-satisfying. However, work can also be a trendmendous burden, with deadlines to meet, work overload and difficult bosses placing considerable pressure and strain on workers. Therefore, jobs and the work environment commonly produce stress, which if not properly handled, can result in negative and dysfunctional behaviour at work (Riggio, 2003). What is Job Stress? Researchers cannot agree on a single definition for stress due to its complex nature (Kahn and Boysiere, 1992). However, early stress researcher, Selye (1976), sees stress as a primarily physiological reaction to certain threatening environmental events. Hence, from Selyes perspective,
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job stress or worker stress would simply refer to the stress caused by events in the work environment. Beehr and Newman (1978) also define job stress as a condition arising from the interaction of people and their jobs and characterized by changes within the people that force them to deviate from their normal functioning. Some stress researchers (e.g. Golembiewski, Munzenrider and Stewenson, 1986; Sharahan and Mortimer, 1996), distinguish between negative stress, termed distress and positive stress, termed eustress. Eustress refers to the healthy, positive, constructive outcome of stressful events and the stress response. Eustress is the stress experience that activates and motivates people to achieve their goals and succeed in their lifes challenges. What this means is that people need some stress to survive and that is why Selye (1976) views stress as the spice of life, and the absence of stress, death. Negative stress i.e. distress is the one that adversely affects employees (including managers) mental and physical health and, in turn, their performance, and this aspect of stress was the focus of this paper. Objectives of the Study The main objective of this paper was to examine the impact of job stress of Nigerian managers performance. The specific objectives of the study were to: (i) describe the nature of job stress and its effect on performance (ii) examine the causes, types and effects of job stress on the individual, and the organization. (iii) Highlight workable stress management techniques in the workplace. Hypothesis of the Study H1: Job stress affects the health, efficiency and productivity of Nigerian managers.
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even suggest a linear positive relationship between stress and performance. For example, Meglino (1977) argues that at low levels of stress, challenge is absent and performance is poor. Optimal performance in his model comes at the highest level of stress. There have been some studies in support of this hypothesis, including Arsenault and Dolan (1983) and Hatton et al. (1995). Despite the empirical evidence supporting these alternative theories, the inverted-U hypothesis is still the most intuitively appealing and the most used explanation for how stress and performance are related (Muse, et al, 2003).
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Avoiding maladaptive reactions e.g. resorting to drugs or alcohol as a form of escape from stressful situations. Problems must not be allowed to fester once a stressful situation arises, it must be resolved. Exercise properly a healthy person is better able to cope physically and psychologically when distressful situations arise, hence the individual should engage in controlled exercise that fits his physique. Maintaining a proper diet this is essential to good health and helps to avoid many of the gastrointestinal problems associated with stress. Relaxing and decompressing the mind and body must have periodic rest to adjust to normally. Hence workers, especially managers should endeavour to use their break periods effectively. At the organizational level, Khanka (2000), Riggio (2003) and Cole (2002) outlined some proactive measures which management can adopt to manage stress as follows: i. Setting clear objectives this helps to minimize job and role ambiguity. ii. Conducting stress audit this is an effective proactive action to combat stress especially among executives. It involves an attempt by the organization to study, explore, and control various types of stress which the individual executives may experience in the course of performing their roles. iii. Improving person job fit by maximizing person job fit through careful screening, selection and placement of employees, organizations can alleviate a great deal of stress. iv. Eliminating punitive management by eliminating policies that are perceived to be threatening or punitive, a major source of stress will be removed. It is important that the organization develops a culture in which attitudes towards employees are positive where there is respect for employees skills, knowledge and contribution and where mistakes are seen as learning opportunities rather than grounds for criticisms. Providing a supportive, team oriented work environment. The more organizations can foster good interpersonal relationships among co-workers and an integrated highly functioning team, the more likely that workers will be able to provide support for one another in times of stress. Increasing employees sense of control through programmes such as job enrichment, participative decision making, and delegation of authority all help to increase employees sense of control over their jobs and the work environment. This goes a long way to reduce job stress. Improving communication proper organizational communication can prevent workers from job experiencing stress that can arise from job uncertainty and feelings of isolation from what is going on in the organization.
6. Methodology
Research Design The study adopted a descriptive survey research design in which questionnaire were administered to collect data from the respondents on the variables of the study. Sampling Procedure Random sampling technique was adopted in the sample selection. From a population of 1000 Executive MBA students of LAUTECH Ogbomoso, 135 students who were holding managerial positions in their organization that had at least 5 years working experience were selected. Instrumentation A structured questionnaire was used to collect data for the study. The instrument was divided into three main sections. Section A sought demographic characteristics of the respondents, Section B attempted to ascertain the attitude of respondents towards causes/sources and effects of job stress on managers
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while Section C elicited suggestions for managing stress. The response scale was presented on a fivepoint Likert type format ranging from Strong Agree (SA), Agree (A), Disagree (D), Strongly Disagree (SD), and Undecided (U). Data Analysis Techniques Data collected for the study was subjected to statistical analysis. Specifically, frequency counts and simple percentages were used in ranking the attitudinal responses to sources, effects, and management of job stress in Nigerian organizations. For the purpose of making inferences, Z-scores statistics was employed to test the hypothesis formulated for the study.
The demographic characteristics of the respondents are given in Table 7.1. The table shows that 82(60.7%) of them were males, while 53(39.3%) were females. As regards marital status 14(10.4%) were below 30 years, 68(50.4%) 30-40 years and 40(49.6%) were above 40years. In relation to educational qualifications, 125(92.6%) were degree/HND holders while the remaining 10(7.4%) possesses professional qualification (ICAN, ACIB etc).
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Table 7.2 presents the responses on source/causes of job stress in frequencies and percentages. From the table, it is revealed that the proportion of respondents that are in support of the outlined causes of job stress were the largest except in the case of unexpected promotion, where those in Disagreement 72(53.3%) were more than those in Agreement 63(46.7%). To a greater percentage of the respondents, job stress hinders organizational performance and should be managed.
Table 7.3: Effect of Job Stress on the Employee and Organization
Effects on Employee/Individual Lower Morale and Self Esteem Subjective effect (fear, anger, anxiety, nervousness, aggression etc) Cognitive effect (poor concentration, short attention span, mental blocks, poor decisions etc) Physiological effect (ill health, or sometimes death) Behavioural effect (proneness to accident, depression, withdrawal, bad lifestyle) Effect on Organization Low performance, productivity and efficiency Job dissatisfaction Destructive behaviour (sabotage) and other unethical dilemmas Loss of Customers Poor Quality Product Loss of future business Poor reputation/ Bad Corporate Image Declining Assets Loss of Profit High rate of Absenteeism and Turnover SA 55 64 58 47 49 % 40.7 47.4 4.3 34.8 36.3 A 73 66 71 82 71 % 54.1 48.9 52.6 60.7 52.6 D 5 5 4 10 % 3.7 3.7 3.0 7.4 SD 1 % 0.7 U 2 5 1 2 4 % 1.5 3.7 0.7 1.5 3.0
65 57 49 39 42 34 43 38 70 56
48.1 42.2 36.3 28.9 31.1 25.2 31.8 28.1 51.8 41.5
52 68 70 72 67 65 69 77 59 69
9 7 8 17 19 25 19 14 6 8
6.7 5.2 5.9 12.6 14.1 18.5 14.1 10.4 4.5 5.9
5 2 4 1 5 2 2 -
4 3 6 3 6 6 1 4 2
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Table 7.3 presents the responses on effects of job stress on managerial performance in Nigerian organizations. The table also indicates that majority of the respondents agreed that job stress affects the performance on individual basis and organizational wise. 7.1. Hypothesis Testing The hypothesis formulated is stated thus: H0: Job stress does not affect the health, efficiency and productivity of Nigerian managers. H1: Job stress affects the health, efficiency and productivity of Nigerian managers.
Table 7.4: Hypothesis Testing
Code(x) Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Undecided 5 4 3 2 1 Frequency (f) 66 51 9 5 4 fx 330 204 27 10 4 575 x- x 0.74 0.26 1.26 2.26 3.26 (x- x )2 0.55 0.07 1.6 5.11 10.63 f(x- x )2 36.3 3.57 11.34 25.55 42.52 119.28
f
fx f
= 135
f ( x x) f
= 0.081
= x 1.96 n 4.26 + 1.96(0.081) = 4.42 4.26 - 1.96(0.081) = 4.10 At 95% confidence level, the population means fall between the range of 4.42 and 4.10. Any of the two boundaries can be chosen. The first boundary 4.42 is chosen as the population means.
Z = SE Z = -1.975 Decision: Since the calculated Z-score of -1.975 falls outside range of +1.96, the null hypothesis (H0) is thus rejected and the alternative hypothesis (H1) is accepted which states that job stress affects the health, efficiency and productivity of Nigerian managers.
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Dialogue Drink coffee or eat frequently Leading a healthy life Exercise Seek job clarification Delegation of responsibilities and authority Withdraw from some forms of works Seek Divine help through prayers Drugs abuse, smoking, drinking Relaxation Setting ones own limits Resignation Leaving work environment Time management and proper planning Source: Authors survey, (2009)
Work consultation and meetings Job redesign Placement Career development Performance reviews Counseling Management training Motivation Open door policy Flexible working hours Informal discussions Promotion of friendly and sociable working environment Source: Authors survey, (2009)
Table 7.5 shows the various suggestions on individual stress coping strategies. Seeking divine help through prayers is considered the best coping strategy to stress as 120(88.9%) attested to this while 15(11.1%) says never. In terms of dialogue 90(66.7%) believed that it can help individual to cope while 44(33.3%) says never. This implies that, dialogue can definitely help an individual to cope with stress. As regards eating frequently or drinking of coffee, the study revealed that it cannot as 83(61%) attested to this fact while only 52(38.5%) says yes. Leading a healthy life is also a workable coping strategy in coping with stress as 88(65.2%) agreed with this fact while the remaining 47(34.8%) says never. The respondents agreed that doing the following underlisted things will never help an individual to cope with stress. Such things include resignation from work 128(94.8%), drug abuse, smoking, drinking, 85(63%) relaxation 66(48.9%), exercise 65(48.15%), withdrawal from some form of work 64(47.41%). The respondents strongly believed that they are coping with stress as they do the following things. Seek job clarification 102(75.56%), leading work environment 99(73.34%), time management and proper planning 88(65.2%) setting ones own limits 81(60%), delegation of responsibilities and authority 87(64.45%). Table 7.6 proffers respondents recommendations on organizations coping strategies. Work consultations and meetings, promotion of friendly and sociable working environment, management
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training, informal discussions and career development were ranked the best five while flexible working hours, placement, performance reviews, counseling, open door policy were ranked least as organizational coping strategies to stress.
8. Discussion
The results of this exploratory study are useful to organizational managers in maintaining the quality of their human resource. Although this study reports perceptions and not objective characteristics of jobs in Nigerian organizations, pooling subjective perception gives an indication of the main problem areas. As the questionnaires were not administered in the job context or shop floor, results are not likely to have been distorted by the desire of respondents to obtain some improvement in their working conditions. Caring organizational leaders may wish to take some measures to reduce the problem of work overload and excessive working hours, leading to exhaustion and burnout. In many companies, especially in banks and financial institutions, managers are under pressure to remain in the office long after normal closing hours, even if there is no urgent work to do. In any case, if the workload is great, firms should consider hiring more capable hands so that their staff may lead balanced lives.
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