However, Miles (1976) did not support this hypothesis. Abdel-Halim (1978) suggested that further research to examine this issue. Schuler (1977) offers partial support for this hypothesis that personality also moderate the relationship between stressors and job satisfaction, so that the negative impact of role stressors is relatively less pronounced when ability is high.
Other potentially hazardous aspects of role have been identified including role insufficiency and responsibility for other people.
Role Insufficiency
Role insufficiency refers to a failure of the organisation to make full use of the individual’s abilities and training. Such insufficiency has been reported to lead to feelings of stress (Brook, 1973), and be associated with psychological strain, and low job satisfaction and organisation commitment.
Responsibility for People
Responsibility for people means being accountable for people in relation to their jobs, health, welfare, and career progress or development. It was identified that responsibility for people has a potential role-related source of stress associated with role issues. Wardell et al (1964) showed that responsibility for people was significantly more likely to lead to coronary heart disease, heavy smoking and elevated serum cholesterol levels than responsibility for things. There is also evidence from the study of mental health referrals, by occupation, that those occupations involving continual contact with and responsibility for people are high risk (Colligan et al, 1977)
Career Development
The lack of expected career development may be a source of stress, particularly in organisations, which emphasise the relationship between career development and competence or worth.
Marshall (1977), identified two major sources of stress: first, lack of job insecurity and obsolescence (fear of redundancy or forced early retirement); and second, status incongruity (under or over promotion). With status incongruity, Brook (1973) provided four very interesting case studies of individuals showing behavioural disorders as a result of being either over promoted (that is, not given the responsibility that commensurate with ability level) or under promoted. In each case, the progression of the status disorder was from minor psychological symptoms.
Job insecurity and fear of redundancy can be major sources of anxiety, stress and depression, particularly if organisations expect at the same time commitment from their employees. The sense of inequity may exacerbate the experience of stress.
Taylor (1969) suggested that this “career development” stress is rooted in Freudian theory, which suggests that work has value solely as a utility for individualistic motives of getting on in the world and the desires of fame and success. This was confirmed by Kleiner and Parker (1963), who proposed a general theory which linked frustrated work aspirations to mental disorder and their results, from a later and larger study with Negroes.
Decision Latitude and Control
Decision latitude and control are important issues in job design and work organisation. These are often reflected in the extent to which employees are allowed to participate in decision-making affecting their work.
Margolis et al (1974) found that non-participation at work among a national representative sample of over 1,400 employees, was the consistent and significant indicator of strain and work related stress. They found that non-participation was significantly related to the following health risk factors: overall poor physical health, escapist drinking, depression, low self esteem, low motivation to work, intention to leave the job and absenteeism from work. This research seems to indicate that greater participation leads to lower staff turnover, higher productivity, improved performance, (French and Caplan, 1972).
Warr (1992) have argued that employees should ideally, be empowered to plan their work, and control their workloads, make decisions about how that work should be completed and how problems should be tackled. However, it has been argued by Neufeld and Paterson, (1989) that control can also be a double-edged sword: the demands implied by the choices involved in controlling work situations can themselves be a source of stress.
Interpersonal Relationship at Work
Relationship with others is a critical part of organisational life and a potential source of stress. Good interpersonal relationships facilitate the achievement of many personal and organisational goals, and poor interpersonal relationships cause considerable stress and other unpleasant outcomes. Good relationship between members of a work group is a central factor in individual and organisational health.
French and Caplan (1972), define poor relations as those, which include low trust, low supportiveness, and low interest in listening to and trying to deal with problems that confront the organisational member. The most notable studies in this area are by Kahn et al (1964); French and Caplan (1972); and Buck (1972). They all came to the conclusion that mistrust of persons one worked with was related to high role ambiguity, which led to inadequate communications between employees and to psychological strain in the form of low job satisfaction and to feelings of job related threat to one’s well being.
Buck (1972) focused on the attitude and relationship of employees and managers to their immediate boss using Fleischmann’s leadership questionnaire on consideration and initiating structure. The consideration factor was associated with behaviour indicative of friendship, mutual trust, respect and certain warmth between the boss and subordinate. He found that those employees who felt that their boss was low on consideration reported feeling more job pressure. Employees who were under pressure reported that their manager did not give them criticism in a helpful way, played favourites with subordinates, pulled rank, and took advantage of them whenever there is a chance. Buck (1972) concluded that the considerate behaviour of supervisor appears to have contributed significantly to feelings of work pressure.
Home/Work Interface
This relates to domestic life, family, and other life outside work. Problems relating to the interface between work and the family either involve resolving conflicts of demand on time and commitment, or revolve around issues of support. The difficulties that might be faced is further enhanced when young children are involved; again this may be particularly so for women workers (Larwood and Wood, 1979). Also, spill over effects from work might account for possible wasting of constructive leisure time among some group of employees (Gardell, 1973; Cox, 1980) suggested that employees can adjust to non-challenging work by lowering their expectations, changing their need structure and making the most of social opportunities on and off the job.
Content Of Work
The following section describes those psychosocial hazards, which are related to the content of work, and are experienced as stressful.
Task Design
There are several aspects of the job content which are hazardous: these include low value of work, the low use of skills, lack of task variety and repetitiveness in work, uncertainty in work, lack of opportunity to learn, high attentional demands, conflicting demands and insufficient resources (Kasi, 1992). Exposure to all these could result in anxiety, depression, resentment and poor psychological health, especially in the case of uncertainty in work, in the form of lack of feedback on performance can be a source of stress, particularly if it extends across a long period of time. Such uncertainty can also be expressed in other ways other than lack of performance feedback, and may partly underpin the effects of other hazardous job characteristics; for example, uncertainty about desirable behaviours (role ambiguity) and uncertainty about the future (job insecurity and redundancy)
Workload and Work Pace
When a person’s workload in an organisation is clearly defined and understood, and when expectations placed on the individual are also clear and non-conflicting, stress can be kept to a minimum. But this is not always the case in organisations. Employees are often subjected to work overload and underload.
Work Overload
This is a burdensome workload. It can create stress for an individual in two ways. First, the person may accumulate fatigue and thus may be less able to tolerate annoyances and limitations. Secondly, a person subject to exorbitant work demands may feel perpetually behind schedule, which in itself creates an uncomfortable stressful feeling.
Work Underload
Work underload is having too little work to perform, the most general form of under utilisation takes place when an employee is given tasks to perform that he or she thinks could be performed by somebody of less education and training. Work underload creates stress because it frustrates one’s desire to make a contribution to the organisation.
Research into workload has been given substantial empirical attention. French and Caplan (1972) have differentiated workload in terms of quantitative and qualitative workload. Quantitative workload refers to the amount of work to be done, while qualitative workload refers to the difficulty of that work. The two dimensions are independent, and it is possible to have work, which involves quantitative overload and qualitative underload. Much short cycle repetitive assembly work is of this nature, and there is evidence that it offers a threat to both physical and psychological health.
Work Pace
Workload has to be considered in relation to work pace; that is, the speed at which work has to be completed and the nature and control of the pacing requirement – self paced, systems paced or machine paced. Within limits, control may be the decisive factor in determining health (Sauter, Hurrell and Cooper, 1989). There is strong evidence that machine and system paced work, particularly if of high rate, is detrimental to both psychological and physical health (Bradley, 1989; Cox, 1985a, 1985b; Smith, Hurrell and Murphy, 1981; Smith, 1985).
Work Schedule
There are two main issues, which relates to effects of work scheduling on health: shift working and long hours. Work often involves both these factors.
Shift Work
Harrington (1978) argued, “ whereas good evidence exists to show that shift work, particularly night work, causes disruption of circadian rhythms and sleep patterns, the evidence for there being any major effect on health is slim”. He did, however, also conclude that there might be a link between night work and digestive disorders, and between shift work and fatigue.
Long Work Hours
Long work hours, from extended workdays of 12 hours to sustained working over several days with sleep loss, has been shown to increase fatigue. Performance can be severely affected by accumulation of sleep debt (Stampi, 1989).
Control over work schedule is an important factor in job design and work organisation. Such control may be offered by flexitime arrangements (Landy, 1989). It is interesting to note that although the introduction of flexitime arrangement may be associated with little change in behaviour (Ronen, 1981), they nonetheless can have a positive effect on workers (Orpen, 1981). In this case, it is likely that it is the perceived control offered by such arrangement rather than the actual exercise of control that is important (Landy, 1992). Lack of control over work schedule may represent a source of stress to employees.
2.3 The Effects of Stress on Employees and Organisations
Part of the reason that stress has become such a big issue is because of its effect on the industry. According to an exclusive research by Personnel Today and the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) 2003, it has revealed the extent of UK’s stress overload – an estimated 1,554,256 working days lost to stress every year at an estimated cost of £1.24bn to the nation’s employers. A massive 83 per cent of HR professional says they believe stress is holding back UK’s efforts to close the productivity gap, with 60 per cent claim it is adding to staff retention problems, and 27 per cent citing that perceived levels of stress damage recruitment efforts.
The effects of work related stress both to individuals and organisations are extensive (Cooper and Cartwright, 1997; Lim and Teo, 1999). The experience of stress can alter the way individuals feel, think, and behave, and can also produce changes in their psychological function (Stainbrook and Green, 1983). Work related stress may affect the individuals physiologically, psychologically and behaviourally (Goodspeed and DeLucia, 1990) and outcomes include too much or frequent frustration at work, leading to a syndrome of physical and emotional exhaustion. This syndrome is called “burnout”.
Burnout is an adverse work related stress reaction with psychological, psycho-physiological and behavioural components. Burnout appears to be a major factor in low worker morale, high absenteeism, high turnover rates, distress, increased alcohol and drug use, marital and family conflict and various psychological problems. Other consequences of stress that have been documented include coronary heart disease, asthmatic conditions, chronic pulmonary, tuberculosis, sudden death and ulceric conditions. Data from Europe and North America show that between 50 – 80 percent of all diseases have their origins in stress (Jacobson, 1976).). According to a recent study (De Silva and Loun, 1978), it is estimated that about 25 percent of all deaths in the US have stress implications.
Felton and Cole (1963) estimate that all cardiovascular disease accounted for 12% of the time lost by the “working population” in the United states for a total economic loss of about four billion in a single year. A report (1969) by the Department of Health and Social Security in the UK shows, as Aldridge (1982) indicates that the sum of incapacity formal suffering from mental, psychoneurotic and personality disorders, nervousness, and migraine headache accounted for 22.8 million work lost in 1968 alone.
From the organisational aspect, stress has many consequences. Reductions in effectiveness, productivity, and communication are results that are not as easy to identify; however, such outcomes can be debilitating for both the organisation and for the individual. Other results may include accidents in the workplace, high job turnover, low morale, poor work relations, poor organisational climate, and absenteeism (Randolfi, 1996). “Absenteeism, for example, results in 4% of the work hours which are lost, and translates into millions of dollars annually” (Knotts, 1996). Absenteeism can have severe consequences on organisations, leading to spiralling effects on the rest of the workforce who may be burdened with the workload of absent colleagues.
The best advise is for organisations to look recognise that stress is dynamic, and look closely at their own ways of sustaining and developing employee health and well-being.
2.4 Managing Stress
A helpful way to think about what different stress management interventions are trying to achieve is given by Cox (1993). He identifies three broad aims of stress management interventions, and illustrates the way they can be characterised at individual and organisational levels.
Primary interventions, are concerned with the prevention of stress in the workplace, typically through risk assessment and hazard control.
Secondary interventions can be characterised by the timely reaction, often based on management and individuals being alert to or monitor for potential problems. This helps to improve the organisation’s ability to recognise and deal with problems as they arise.
Tertiary interventions are to do with rehabilitation, often involving offering support (including counselling) to help staff cope with and recover from the ill effects of stress.
All too often, stress management interventions are brought into an organisation in response to concerns about stress levels, without any analysis of specific problems and identification of appropriate strategies. The interventions can only be successful if they are aimed at resolving specific problems rather than if they are assumed to provide solution in a very general, non-specific way.
Just as occupational stress covers a whole multitude of work factors, so also stress management refers to different techniques and activities with different targets and objectives. It becomes essential for an organisation to have very clear understanding of the nature of the specific problem with which they are concerned if they hope to implement appropriate solutions, with clear targets and objectives.
Managers, employees and the organisation should be actively involved in making the reduction of stress in the workplace a reality. Measures should be aimed at enhancing the recognition of stress related sickness absence as a major threat to health and safety, productivity and service efficiency.
Sadly, good quality evaluations of stress management interventions are relatively sparse. In addition, stress management interventions are diverse, and as a result, research findings can be difficult to compare.
There are many approaches managers and supervisors can take to prevent work related stress. However, any attempt made by management to institute a stress prevention program would constitute the first step in the process: identifying the problem. The organisation should then provide all employees, supervisors, and managers with information on occupational stress. The information should include the nature; causes/sources; suggested measures/best practices for the reduction and elimination; information on regulations covering occupational stress and information on the services available to assist workers exposed to workplace stress, including information concerning assessment and referral, counselling, treatment and rehabilitation programmes.
There are also steps that can be taken to improve the work organisation. These are:
Selection and Placement
The most efficient way is for organisations to ensure that individuals are suitable in fulfilling job demands is at the selection stage. Researchers have also suggested that realistic job previews reduce uncertainty by encouraging reasonable expectations and provide support with the transition into new work environment (Schweiger and DeNisi, 1991).
Training
The organisation in cooperation should provide training to cope with occupational stress with employees, supervisors and managers. Training for employees should be tailored to individual’s needs and aimed at improving their ability to identify potentially stressful situations and improving their coping and problem solving skills. However, training programmes are not designed to reduce or eliminate sources of stress at work but only to teach workers more effective coping strategies. Individuals experiencing stress should be trained to build defence mechanisms and develop a coping style, such techniques as progressive relaxation, yoga, meditation, deep breathing, cognitive strategies should be emphasised in the reduction and prevention of negative effects of stress.
Training for supervisors and managers should enable them to explain and respond to questions about the organisation’s policy regarding stress; identify changes in employees behaviours and performance that may indicate a risk to stress; assess the work environment and identify conditions that could be changed or improved to prevent, reduce or eliminate workplace stress; provide support and advise to recovering employees; ensure confidentiality of any information on employees exposed or suffering from workplace stress and manage and create a stress-free work environment.
Job Design
Job design is an essential factor in limiting occupational stress. An effective job design should have its tasks clearly defined and meaningful, and the assignment of tasks should reflect the skills and experience of the staff. There should also be room for feedback on task performance and opportunities for the development of employees’ skills.
Managers should always ensure that the workload is in line with the employees’ capabilities and resources. They should also design jobs to provide meaning, stimulation, and opportunities for workers to use their skills. Along with these essential steps, the workers’ roles and responsibilities should always be clearly defined.
Communication
Improved communication can greatly reduce the risk of workplace stress. Communication between management and employees and among employees can be enhanced if communication channels are established on an ongoing basis for sharing information. Employees should be given the opportunity to be involved and participate in the planning and organisation of their own work. A consultation and involvement process should be put into place where staff can be informed of changes and also be given the opportunity to contribute their ideas. Regular meetings where people can get to meet to make suggestions, and also feedback information to their team members should be put into operation.
Individual Level Programmes
Two recent studies have demonstrated that counselling and psychotherapy is of substantial benefit to distressed employees. Allison et al (1989) evaluated the effects of a workplace counselling service for Post Office workers. It was set up in response to concern about objective evidence that mental health and psychological problems were the second largest cause of early retirement after muscular-skeletal illness. The result obtained from those who went for counselling indicated that mean levels of depression, anxiety and sickness absence level were significantly reduced after counselling.
Relaxation, that is, focusing on breathing and muscle calming activities to release tension. This practice enables participants to take charge over emotional behaviours (McGuigan, 1994)
Meditation, this has been reported to help reduce stress, anxiety, tension and insomnia. The most popular method of meditation is the Transcendental Meditation technique that enables participants to progressively develop a mental state of “pure consciousness” during which the mind is relaxed yet remain completely attentive (Alexander et al, 1993).
Exercise, routine exercise training protects individuals from harmful physical and mental health effects of stress by developing a process that grants continual resilience to stress. Improvements in vitality and mood have been measured where relatively mild or moderate exercise has been conducted (Salmon, 2001).
Improving the Work Environment
The physical features of the work environment are key factors in reducing occupational stress. Measures should be taken to provide and maintain appropriate temperature and ventilation in the workplace, reducing the level of noise and maintaining good lighting in all areas. The workspace provided should be comfortable and sufficient. Workstation design should conform to ergonomic criteria. Rest areas should be provided for staff, especially those in highly stressful jobs.
CHAPTER THREE
3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The objective of this research is to identify staff perceptions and experiences of stress, their definition of work related stress, identify the sources of stress experienced, identify the effects of stress on employees and the organisation, and identify the stress management interventions provided as support and coping strategies to them.
The task of the research will be to address these specific areas of concern, and to provide guidance and support to management and staff at International Alert in the management of stress in the workplace.
Based on these objectives, the project has used both the primary and secondary source of data collection for this research.
The Questionnaire
The questionnaire was designed, and used to survey a total of 56 employees of International Alert; this represents a 100% survey of the organisation. The questionnaire was designed to address the objective of the research by asking staff relevant questions like their views of stress and sources of stress (See Appendix 1 – the sample of the stress questionnaire).
The questionnaires were administered by the interviewer on a one to one basis wherein the interviewer was present where each person (respondents) is asked to respond to the same set of questions went through the questionnaire, this provided a great advantage because the writer was able to explain and make clear areas that the respondent needed clarification on. The interviewer on the basis of each respondent’s answers recorded responses to the interviewer-administered questionnaires.
Respondents were informed via e-mail of the date for the writer’s visit and purpose, a copy of the questionnaire was also sent, this gave the respondents advanced information on the topic of discussion.
Advantages of using a questionnaire
The questionnaire makes collection of data easier as each person is asked to respond to the same set of questions in a predetermined order. Because each respondent is asked to respond to the same questions, it provides an efficient way of collecting responses from a large sample prior to analysis.
Because the interviewer administered the questionnaire physically, it enabled the interviewer to ensure that the respondent is whom she wanted. This improved reliability of data collected. In addition, the interviewer can record the non-respondents, thereby avoiding unknown bias caused by refusals.
Disadvantages of using questionnaires
Questionnaires are not particularly good for exploratory or other research that requires large numbers of open-ended questions. They work best with standardised questions that can be interpreted the same way by all respondents (Robson, 2002)
Another disadvantage as argued by different authors (for example Bell, 1999; Oppenheim, 2000) is that it is far harder to produce a good questionnaire. There is that need to ensure that it will collect the precise data required to answer the research questions and achieve the objective of the research.
Structured Interview based on the Questionnaire
The questionnaire was complemented by a structured interview on a one to one basis to explore and also that precise information required is gotten and there is no chance of going back to respondents to collect additional data using another questionnaire. The interviewer physically met with respondents and asked the questions face to face. The interview was conducted with all International Alert employees; this included the senior staff. This is to address the research objectives e.g. staff definition of stress, sources of stress, the effects of stress and to identify the stress management interventions provided as support and coping strategies to them. The responses were recorded on a standardised schedule.
The structured interview allowed an exchange of feedback between the interviewer and the interviewee, and this is a central element of the communication process and an important source of information about staff’s perception on stress at the workplace. These differ from semi-structured and in-depth interviews, as there is a defined schedule of questions, from which the interviewer could not deviate.
The interview was carefully planned in order to achieve the aim of the objectives for both the interviewer and the interviewee. The objective was for the interviewer to identify staff perceptions and experiences of stress, their definition of work related stress, sources of stress experienced and the outcomes of stress to them. It is therefore important for respondents’ answers not being contaminated or distorted. Also, the questions were read out in the same tone of voice for everyone so that the interviewer does not indicate any bias.
Advantages of using a structured interview
The writer feels that the use of structured interview based on the questionnaire is preferred to questionnaires alone because the evaluative study involves the opinion from the participants. Interviewing gives the opportunity for the writer to evaluate the information based on the information that is personally opinionated and this would enable the writer to seek clarification for any unclear meaning instantly. This gives a clearer view of the problems and benefits of stress as perceived by both employees and their managers.
Unlike in-depth and semi-structured interviews, structured interviews’ questions need to be defined precisely prior to data collection. Whereas it is possible to prompt and explore issues further with in-depth and semi-structured interviews, this is not be possible for structured interviews. Respondents are asked the same questions.
Disadvantages of using a structured interview
The writer is fully aware that this method may result in what is termed as “interviewer bias” in which they might be perceived right or expected answer and also a matter of skill.
Nevertheless, the writer has taken a measure where the structure of the interview of the subject matter is carefully designed to minimise the scope for bias and inaccuracy. Interviewing skills taught in the earlier stage of this course also helped the writer a lot e.g. during the module skills of a manager and consultant, the writer learnt the necessary steps to conducting a bias-free interview. These are: preparing well ahead for the interviewing by gaining knowledge of the research objectives, structuring the questions i.e. phrasing questions clearly and in a neutral tone of voice, adopting a good open posture, avoid letting comments, tone or non-verbal behaviour of the interviewer create bias in the way the interviewee respond to the questions being asked, careful listening etc.
This method is time consuming and much detail might not be possible where time is a limiting factor as is the case of this research.
Pilot Testing
Prior to using the questionnaire to collect data, it was pilot tested. The purpose of the pilot test is to refine the questionnaire so that respondents will have no problems in answering the questions and there will be no problems in recording their answers. In addition, it gave an opportunity to obtain some assessment of the question’s validity and the likely reliability of the data collected. Preliminary analysis using pilot test data was undertaken to ensure that the data collected would enable investigative questions to be answered.
Initially, an expert in HR field, that is, the HR manager of International alert was asked to comment on the structure and suitability of the questions. This helped to establish the content validity and enabled necessary amendments to be made prior to pilot testing.
Due to the fact that the research questions was designed for a smaller scale organisation, time and money resources available, the number of people chosen for the pilot testing was 10. These were mainly students and family members. The respondents had no problems understanding or answering questions and they all followed instructions correctly. Respondents were asked additional questions at the end of the interview. Their responses provided an idea of the reliability and suitability of the questions.
Literature and Articles
The theoretical framework is important to see various views of writers on stress at the workplace. On the basis of what is known from literature and making comparison with the real life situation undertaken in the study, a number of issues have been identified and these are laid out in the presentation of results and recommendations.
Advantages of using literature reviews
Using secondary data is the enormous saving in resources particularly in time and cost (Ghauri and Gronhaugh, 2002).
Disadvantages of using literature reviews
CHAPTER FOUR
4. Presentation Of Results.
4.1 Analysis of questionnaire
Question 1: What do you believe stress is?
Employees of International Alert were asked to define the meaning of stress. The experience of stress is quite unique and individuals have different levels of tolerance to stress. Since stress is non-discriminatory and knows no boundaries, the question was posed in general terms and not with specific reference to the workplace. Individuals are viewed holistically; allowing definitions to include references to mind, body and spirit.
Staff described stress as-
- the feelings they experienced when they could not meet the demands placed on them, such as feeling overloaded and overwhelmed.
- a reaction to internal and external circumstances which affected one’s ability to function properly.
- such intense pressure one feels unable to function.
- feeling worried, irritable, frustrated, tired and anxious.
- feeling pressurised to perform.
- severe pressure affecting one’s ability to do their work.
- a feeling of under achievement and inability to perform.
- a general feeling of being unable to cope.
- various physical symptoms such as headaches, excessive sweating, palpitations etc.
Question 2: Do you think stress is good or bad?
Staff recognised the fact that stress could be positive or negative.
Surprisingly, 80% of staff felt that certain levels of stress were acceptable and only 20% percentage of staff felt that stress was solely negative. 91% of the white member of staff felt more strongly that a certain level of stress was accepted compared to 46% of their non- white colleagues who shared opinion. 100% of staff employed 2 years and under felt that certain level of stress is good, however only 65% of old member of staff felt the same. This supports what French and his colleagues said of common causes of stress, that where staff have worked for a certain number of years and have not had adequate time off work, they are prone to stress (French ad Caplan, 1970; French, Caplan and van Harrison (1982).
Question 3: Have you ever felt stress in your present job?
Staff were asked if they ever experienced stress in their present job and if they had, to describe it. Only three (5%) of those interviewed had never been stressed in their work.
In general, most employees (93 %) answered yes to having felt stress in their present job compared to only 5% of staff surveyed who answered no. A higher proportion of female staff answered yes to this question when compared to their male colleagues (97% compared to 85%). Equal proportion of white staff and their non-white colleagues answered yes to this question (93% compared to 92%). Only 57% of newly recruits (less than one year of service) answered yes compared to the other staff that have worked more than 1 year and above. Also, only newly recruits answered no to the question. Typically, this is very common as satisfaction is also highest among recently recruited employees, but this seems to wane after the first year of employment.
In describing how staff felt at the time of stress, the following were some of the things noted:
- conflicting demands and insufficient resources
- physical exhaustion, headaches
- time pressure and feeling overloaded
- unable to concentrate, unable to cope, wanted to leave the job
- uncertainty
- lack of sleep, weight loss, sickness, cannot focus, getting angry easily, lack of recognition
- little acknowledgement, little feedback on work, no support from senior management
- unnecessary workload, expectations too high (see appendix 2)
Looking at all the things that staff reported they felt when stressed goes on to confirm the findings of Cooper and Cartwight, 1997; Lim and Teo, 1999 as earlier stated in chapter 2 of this project work that exposure to all these several aspects of the job content which are hazardous could result in anxiety, depression, poor psychological health, especially in the case of uncertainty in work, in the form of lack of feedback on performance can be a source of stress (Kasi, 1992).
According to the work of Goodspeed and DeLucia (1990), work related stress may affect the individuals physiologically, psychologically and behaviourally and outcomes include tiredness, lack of sleep, weight loss, too much or frequent frustration at work, leading to a syndrome of physical and emotional exhaustion.
Question 4: What do you feel were the contributory factors to you becoming stressed?
These were the various factors contributing to stress at the workplace identified by staff. Factors contributing to stress as well as impacting environmental factors were highlighted.
I. The Job (53% of total staff surveyed)
- unrealistic workloads which may result in individuals not being able to keep up with the work, creating unmanageable workloads (18%)
- a lack of adequate resources and facilities in order for staff to perform their jobs properly (12%)
- demands that are greater than which the individual can accomplish (19%)
- continuously changing priorities and last minute demands (8%)
- lack of training (29%)
- work are not managed according to the ‘SMART’ objectives, meaning objectives must be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound (14%)
II. Colleagues and peers (23% of total staff surveyed)
- a culture of blame exists where responsibility for consequence and actions are passed on (13%)
- a refusal to accept ownership of certain projects or conflicts about sharing of ownership where a number of staff is involved (8%)
- lack of team spirit and co-operation (36%)
- lack of trust (8%)
- perception of hidden agendas and rivalry (15%)
- poor relationship with colleagues and peers (20%)
III. Management (55% of total staff surveyed)
- lack of acknowledgement and recognition (28%)
- difficult managers with unrealistic expectations (14%)
- perception that management does not have the welfare of staff at heart (33%)
- resources are poorly allocated and this results in teams working under unnecessary pressure (9%)
- lack of support from senior management (5%)
- lack of management skills and proper management practises (11%)
IV. Communication (88% of total staff surveyed)
- lack of communication and feedback (48%)
- messages are incorrectly received and passed on, thus communication channels are failing (23%)
- a lack of consultation (29%)
V. The nature of the work (5% of total staff surveyed)
- matters relating to the nature of the work itself, such as conflict resolution, travelling, entering political volatile areas often plagued by occurrences of violence and war, etc. (40%)
- having to work in mostly foreign geographical areas (33%)
- some staff feel that the security policy at International Alert is inadequate, hence they feel vulnerable when working overseas, although they recognised the fact that there are some security risks inherent to their work (27%)
VI. The Workplace (49% of total staff surveyed)
- lack of organisational support in terms of internal policies and practices (13%)
- inadequate induction programmes, training and ongoing support (23%)
- the perception that International Alert lacks vision (18%)
- conflict between the personal views of employees and the corporate views of the company (21%)
- lack of clarity of the organisation structure and hierarchy. Confusion exists as to the roles of different individuals within the company and how everyone fit together (25%)
VII. Other factors (23% of total staff surveyed)
- family life and personal problems (56%)
- inflexible working schedules and long working days up to 12 hours (18%)
- consideration to employees with children (26%)
As indicated from the views of staff of the contributing factors of stress, all the factors mentioned are known for their ability to create the potential for stress. These stressors indicated i.e. the job, colleagues and peers, management attitude, communication problems, the nature of the job, the working environment and other factors outside the working environment have all been mentioned in the literature review by different researchers like Dunham, (1976) and Baker, (1985) as the different characteristics of jobs, work environments and organisations, which are hazardous. When one or more of these factors are present, work related stress could occur.
Question 5: Is it only due to the working environment?
Apart form stress being caused by the working environment, some of the staff surveyed felt there are other non-work factors outside the workplace like bereavement, divorce, family life and personal problems etc. that can cause stress. As indicated from the above table, fifteen (15) staff said yes (27%). Another fifteen (15) said no (27%). The rest felt it was a combination of both (46%). More female staff felt it was a combination of both (61%) compared to male staff (20%). More white staff felt it was due to a combination of both
This confirms researchers views that apart from stress that can arise from the working environment, there are extra organisational-level stressors like family relations, financial problems, relocation problems, bereavement etc. which are hazardous and could cause employees stress (Dunham, 1976).
Question 6: Overall, how do you feel about the amount of work you do in a normal working week?
- I have too much work to do with little training
- I could do more work without too much effort with less training
Are you affected? Which?
Another area that affects job satisfaction is workload. Staff were asked to describe if they had too much to do with little training to perform the tasks (excessive workload) or if they had too little work to do i.e. if they could do more work without too much effort.
As indicated from the above table, a higher proportion of staff (82%) felt they have too much work to do with little training. Very few staff (18%) felt they are not challenged by their workload. More female staff agreed they had too much work to do with less training than their male colleagues (86% compared to 75%). A higher proportion of staff that have worked longer (above 2 years) felt they had too much work to do with less training when compared to newly recruits (less than a year). Typically, this is very common in most organisations as satisfaction is higher among recently recruited employees, but this seems to wane after the first year of employment. Typically, the most dissatisfied staff has always been those who have worked above 2 years. This group of staff may have reached a stage in their career where further progression in the same job is seen as unlikely. With having too little work to do can result in role insufficiency. This refers to the failure of the organisation to make full use of the individual’s abilities and training. Such insufficiency have been reported to lead to feeling of stress (Brook, 1973), and be associated with psychological strain, low job satisfaction and organisation commitment.
Question 7: In terms of responsibilities, stress can be caused by:
- confusion about how everyone fits in (i.e. people’s role – whether they understand what they are supposed to do, whether there are conflicting job demands)
- having responsibility for looking after others as part of the job
Are you affected by any of these? Which?
Staff were asked to describe their experience of stress in terms of their responsibilities pertaining to their work and role clarification.
Overall, 41% of total staff said they felt confusion about how everyone fitted. 39% were affected by having a responsibility for looking after others as part of their job; with more response from female staff (44%) when compared to only 30% of their male colleagues. 20% felt too many bosses affected them, lack of clarity on who is doing what in the organisation and lack of support to perform their job. Their responsibilities sometimes were unclear to them.
Researchers have confirmed that a person’s role at work can be a source of work related stress (Kahn et al; Kahn and French, 1970; Kahn, 1973; Jackson and Schuler, 1985). For instance when a person is faced with uncertainty concerning job duties and responsibilities, conflicting job demands or things he really does not think are part of his job expectation, it tends to result in what is termed role ambiguity and role conflict which can cause stress. The experience of ambiguity and conflict can negatively affect job satisfaction, job related attitudes and performance. Also, having responsibility for others has been identified as a potential role-related source of stress associated with role issues. Wardell et al (1964) showed that responsibility for people when compared to responsibility for things was likely to lead to greater risk of coronary heart disease. The literature on burn out (see Leiter, 1991) also suggests that responsibility for people is associated with emotional exhaustion. For example, both jobs with little influence and responsibility (French and Caplan, 1972) and jobs with too much responsibility (Cooper and Payne, 1988) have been found stressful.
Question 8: Now thinking about your job at International Alert, are you affected by any of these? Which?
- poor relationship with others
- tension
- bullying
- racial or sexual discrimination
Attention was also given to relationships at work. The qualities of relations were investigated as well as the prevalence of tension, bullying, racial and sexual harassment
27% of total staff surveyed suffered poor relationship with others. A little more (30%) suffered tension. 25% said they suffered bullying at work. Only 9% said they suffered racial/sexual harassment. Though very low, 4% of total staff surveyed raised concerns that they suffered indirectly by seeing their colleagues suffering, which in turn caused stress for them “picked it up from peers”. This was only among female staff. Non-white staff (31%) suffered more from racial/sexual discrimination when compared to white staff (25%). Overall, a higher number of staff that have worked longer than one year indicated they suffered more when compared to the newly recruit (less than a year).
When asked to explain more, these staff indicated that they feel employment equity needs to be addressed at International Alert and this was a source of stress to them. An occurrence of racism is not constructively addressed. Staff perceived discrimination in some area such as on the grounds of ethnicity, colour, race and gender. Senior managers recognise the fact that International Alert is a multicultural organisation with a diverse workforce, however International Alert is perceived to be a non-equality employer by its staff. This is a major source of stress for staff as well as senior managers.
A number of behavioural scientists (Argyris, 1964; Cooper, 1973) have suggested that good relationship between members of a work group is a central factor in individual and organisational health. French and Caplan (1972) define poor relations as those, which include low trust, low supportiveness, bullying, and low interest in listening to and trying to deal with problems that confront the organisational member. They all came to the conclusion that mistrust of persons one worked with was positively related to high role ambiguity, which led to inadequate communications between employees and to psychological strain in the form of low job satisfaction and to feelings of job related threat to one’s well being. Employees whose jobs make them feel tensed and anxious are certainly less satisfied with their jobs than those employed in more stress free environment.
Question 9: Now thinking about your job with International Alert, please tell me if you are affected by each of these.
a) job insecurity
b) reduced prospects of career progression
c) balancing work and home: are you affected by inflexible work schedules?
Less than half of staff surveyed (48%) suffered from job insecurity. Half of all the staff surveyed (50%) suffered from reduced career progression. A higher proportion of staff (70%) suffered from inflexible work schedules especially female staff (83%) when compared to male staff (45%).
These findings are consistent with research by Marshall (1977), that is, job insecurity and obsolescence (reduced career progression) are identified as the two major sources of stress, anxiety and depression.
Considering the number of staff who suffered from inflexible work schedules, more than half (57%) highlighted the need for the organisation to pay more attention to those with children, and felt they worked too many hours which affected both their working life and other life outside work. This confirms research by Larwood and Wood (1979) that there has to be a balance between work and family life as an imbalance could result to dissatisfaction at work, eventually leading to stress. This is often enhanced when young children are involved.
Question 10: Now thinking about your job with International Alert, are you affected by any of these working conditions? Which?
- physical danger (hazardous chemicals, risk of violence)
- poor physical working conditions (e.g. noise, vibration)
Working conditions such as the physical working environment and the presence of physical hazards were explored and staff were asked in which ways they were affected.
Less than half (32%) said they were affected by physical danger at work. A very low proportion (18%) suffered from poor working conditions. More staff suffered from both (39%) compared to only 11% (newly recruits) who were not affected by any. Half of the female population (50%) suffered from both, which is more when compared to only 20% of their male colleagues who suffered from both. Staff that have worked longer than a year suffered more than newly recruits.
Exposure to physical hazards may affect the psychological as well as physical health. The psychological effects of physical hazards reflect not only their direct action on the brain and their unpleasantness but also on the worker’s awareness, suspicion of fear that they are being exposed to harm. It is the latter, which give rise to the experience of stress. For example, exposure to organic solvents may have a psychological effect on the worker through their direct effect on the brain, through the unpleasantness of their smell and through the worker’s fear that such exposure might be harmful (Levi, 1981; Kasi, 1992).
There is also evidence to suggest that poor physical working conditions can affect both workers’ experience of stress and their psychological and physical health (Warr, 1992).
Question 11: Now thinking about your job with International Alert, are you affected by any of these management attitudes? Which?
- lack of control over work activities
- lack of communication and consultation
- negative culture i.e. a culture of blame when things go wrong, denial of potential problems
- lack of support for staff to develop their skills
In accordance with International Alert’s dedication to transparency in a non-threatening working environment, staff were asked about aspects of their work relating to management attitudes. Factors that were investigated included lack of support and training, lack of communication and consultation, and employees’ lack of control over their work activities. Staff were asked to explain in which ways these factors impacted on them.
Almost everyone was affected. 25% of staff surveyed suffered from lack of control over work activities, a higher proportion (36%) suffered from lack of communication and consultation and 27% suffered from negative culture in the workplace. A very low proportion when compared to others (13%) suffered from lack of support to develop skills.
Only staff that have worked up to one year and above suffered from lack of control over work activities. Most newly recruits staff (less than a year) suffered more from lack of communication and consultation (57%) when compared to staff who have worked longer. Also, a higher proportion of white staff (40%) suffered from lack of communication and consultation than the non-white (23%) staff.
According to researchers, the experience of low control at work or loss of control has been repeatedly associated with the experience of stress, anxiety, depression, apathy and exhaustion, low self-esteem and increased incidence of cardiovascular symptoms (Ganster and Fusilier, 1989; Sauter, Hurrell and Cooper, 1989). Lack of communication and consultation, negative culture of the organisation and lack of support to develop skills to perform duties have all been associated with the experience of stress.
Question 12: What do you feel the organisation can do to help to alleviate your stress?
Staff were asked which actions management had taken to deal with their stress. They were also asked in which ways International Alert could assist them with the alleviation of stress and their experiences of it.
As a way forward, staff presented a whole range of options, which for them could help to alleviate the problems associated with stress. Some of these were:
Communication: (as suggested by 88% of total staff surveyed)
- Employee involvement and Participation: Employees would like to be involved in decision making when a change is to be implemented. They would like a consultation and involvement process to be put into place where they can be informed of changes and also be given the opportunity to contribute their ideas (77%)
- Regular meetings where people can get to meet, make suggestions and also feedback information to their team members (33%)
Management: (as suggested by 55% of total staff surveyed)
- They suggested that leadership issues, misuse of power should be addressed (24%)
- They would like to see improvements in management style (62%)
- They suggested that the organisation should set up a coach scheme that will empower and develop managers to enable them become better managers (14%)
The Culture of the organisation: (as suggested by 53% of total staff surveyed)
- They would like a culture that looks out for people and encourage people to be supportive of one another (36%)
- They would like a culture that is in favour of equal opportunities and is not driven by an individual but a collective force; a culture that takes a more humane outlook at issues that affect s individuals (54%)
- They would like to eliminate cultural intolerance that causes stress from top to bottom (10%)
Policies and Procedures: (as suggested by only 5% of staff surveyed)
- They would like to see clearer and detailed procedures in place, that is, fairness at work (1%)
- They would like a detailed policy for employees working in conflict-affected countries or travelling abroad and going to war zones that might be exposed to risk to their personal security (4%).
Welfare and Benefits: (as suggested by only13% of staff surveyed)
They would like a free gym facility for all employees.
CHAPTER FIVE
5. CONCLUSION
The findings of this research have shown that indeed stress is a problem at International Alert. The effect of stress on workers has affected their work performance, there is increased error and wastage occurrence, and there has been a reduction in output and productivity. Employees’ attitude and behaviour have indicated a loss of motivation and longer hours with diminished returns. Relationships are plagued with tension and conflict between colleagues, which has lead to an increase in disciplinary problems within the organisation.
It is clear from the findings of the survey that stress in the workplace requires management. The main sources of stress at International Alert appears to be as follows:
- the lack of clarity in terms of organisational structure and the accompanying policies and procedures, vision and mission.
- unrealistic work volumes taken on by International Alert and placed on individuals.
- lack of team spirit, co-operation and integration.
- poor communication channels
- management: a number of issues were identified such as lack of support, trust and poor decision making.
CHAPTER SIX
6. RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on the findings from the research of the contributory factors to stress at International Alert identified by staff, the following are recommended on Stress Prevention and Management Interventions in the workplace. They are broken down into three broad groups:
Primary interventions, which should include an attempt to eliminate the sources of stress indicated by staff from the survey, by focusing on changing the physical or socio-political environment to match individual staff needs. For example:
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Improving the communication channels between staff and their managers. Allowing and encouraging employee involvement and participation in decision making when a change is to be implemented can achieve this. This would enable staff to contribute their ideas.
- Encouraging staff and managers to participate in regular meetings where people can get to meet, make suggestions and also feedback information to their team members. Employers and employee should all be involved in the development and implementation of the intervention and must be willing to communicate, analyse and revise their plans and to learn from interventions that do not produce expected results.
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Redesigning jobs. An effective job design should have its tasks clearly defined and meaningful, and the assignment of tasks should reflect the skills and experience of the staff. There should also be room for feedback on task performance and opportunities for the development of employees’ skills. Managers should always ensure that the workload is in line with the employees’ capabilities and resources.
- Integrated roles and responsibilities, based on the findings of this research, it is suggested that International Alert have a clear policies and practices, defined role and responsibilities, and effective communication between all groups involved will provide a win-win situation for all parties.
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Improving the Work Environment. From the research, staff indicated their working environment was a contributory factor to their stress. The physical features of the work environment are key factors in reducing occupational stress. Management should review the working conditions at their workplace. Management should strive to provide their employees with the necessary working equipments, for example, training, to enable them perform better on their job. Measures should then be taken to provide and maintain appropriate temperature and ventilation in the workplace, reducing the level of noise and maintaining good lighting in all areas. The workspace provided should be comfortable and sufficient. Workstation design should conform to ergonomic criteria. Rest areas should be provided for staff, especially those in highly stressful jobs. Work schedules that are compatible with demands and responsibilities outside the job should also be established.
- Providing a work life balance for staff. There should be a satisfactory balance between their paid work and the remainder of their lives, as individuals, carers and members of the community. A proper balance would help reduce stressful occurrences. This can be achieved by providing flexibility over work hours to help them balance home life.
Secondary interventions, this basically means helping staff to manage stress without trying to eliminate or modify the workplace stressors. For example:
- Central to this is the recognition that individual health and organisational health is interdependent, and the responsibility for stress prevention and management lies with every member in the organisation. By introducing a comprehensive stress awareness and prevention programmes for both staff and managers would help address stressful issues. This would assist employees in identifying stress symptoms and help them acquire coping skills. It would also help line managers to be able to spot and recognise stress related symptoms at the early stages, which is very critical. Examples are healthy lifestyle programmes, stress coaching, social support groups and training and education programmes.
- Providing support literature about stress, health and well being for every members of staff.
Tertiary interventions would be aimed to rehabilitate staff that have been unable to cope by offering them support like counselling, access to confidential advice, health and fitness promotion campaigns and initiatives. Individuals experiencing stress should be trained to build defence mechanisms and develop a coping style, such techniques as progressive relaxation, yoga, meditation, deep breathing, cognitive strategies should be emphasised in the reduction and prevention of negative effects of stress.
Two recent studies have demonstrated that counselling and psychotherapy is of substantial benefit to distressed employees. Allison et al (1989) evaluated the effects of a workplace counselling service for Post Office workers. The result obtained indicated that mean levels of depression and anxiety were significantly reduced after counselling.
Overall, three key actions that can be recommended. First, the formulation and publication of a policy on stress at work, which will both, legitimise concern and place it firmly within the domain of Health and Safety at work and which will outline good practice. Second, the continued support of research, especially regular and detailed organisational stress audits, sampling different jobs, departments and sections of the workforce (e.g. women versus men, ethnic minorities, new recruits, etc.) psychometric instruments (e.g. Occupational Stress- Indicators or OSI) which are now available to carry out this task and more will be available in the near future. The OSI (Cooper et al., 1988b) or other similar instruments provide an effective means whereby companies can regularly audit and monitor organisational health, and be proactive in stress reduction. In addition, such audits can be used to provide a baseline measure, whereby stress reduction techniques can be evaluated. The use of audits could be extended to ascertain employee attitudes and perceived needs for stress management training or counselling to provide valuable information regarding the likely ’take up’ rates of such programmes before any expenditure is incurred. Third, the education and training of key ‘agents’ for the promotion of legitimate concern and the application of good practice in meeting that concern as a health and safety issue.
In conclusion, building general awareness about workplace stress is the first step in prevention. Securing top management commitment and support for the program will only lend to more positive results. Reduction in workplace stress is a worthwhile time investment for managers and supervisors, as it will only stand to improve productivity, morale, and overall organisational climate.
