SYNOPSIS

On

“STUDY ON STRESS LEVEL OF EMPLOYEES WITH REFERENCE TO SUGAR

Submitted under the partial fulfilment for the award of the degree

of

BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

2019-2022

BY

Jagandeep Singh

(1910101043)

Semester - V

Under the guidance of

Mr. Tarun Gupta

(ASSISTANT PROFESSOR)

Department of Management

INVERTIS UNIVERSITY, BAREILLY (U.P.)

SESSION 2019-2022
 INTRODUCTION

The origin of the concept of stress predates antiquity. The term derived from the Latin word “Stringere” to
mean hardship, strain, adversity or affliction. The occupational stress has been of great concern to
employees and other Stakeholders of organizations. Stress is man‘s adaptive reaction to an outward situation
which would lead to physical, mental and behavioral changes. Stress is a feeling of emotional or physical
tension. It can come from any event or thought that makes you feel frustrated, angry, or nervous. Stress is
your body’s reaction to a challenge or demand. In short bursts, stress can be positive, such as when it helps
you avoid danger or meet a deadline.

According to Matthews (2001) stress can be experienced from four basic sources – the environment,
social stressors, physiological and thoughts.

Hans seyle in 1936 defined stress as, “a syndrome produced by diverse nocuous agents”. He described
stress as a non-specific response of the body to “noxious stimuli”.

According to Lazarus (1976), “Stress occurs when there are demands on the person, which taxes or
exceeds his adjustive resources.”

Richard Carlson defines stress as “Stress is nothing more than a socially acceptable form of mental
illness”.

Human resources symbolize the total of inborn talent, capability and acquired knowledge represented by the
ability and aptitude of the employees. In this age of globalization and liberalization, competition among
organization has increased and every employee spends most of his/her time on work. Employees have
utmost responsibility to take care of work related activities, dealing work pressures, maintaining personal
relationships, personal finance and changes. All these aspects of contemporary living can be extremely
stressful, which force high physical demands and emotional costs on the employees’ well-being. Du Brin
(1996) opined that there is no job without potential stressors for some people. It is essential for the
employees to keep stability among work and their personal survival so that both employees and the
employer benefit in the long term. To handle stress, first, the employees should learn to recognize it. The
stress symptoms usually vary from one person to another. Some people largely experience physical
symptoms while some persons experience mental symptoms. Stress management is required when an
individual is unable to cope with the demanding environment. Coping is an alleviating factor, which help
people to maintain physical and mental health during pressurized periods. It includes various intellectual
activities and efforts to reduce and or eliminate distress.
 LITERATURE REVIEW

Kabito and Wami (2020), report that work related stress among teachers is associated with
teaching experience, educational level, high job demand and poor relationships, in order to reduce
stress level, they recommend that action need to be taken to balance work demand and experience.
Good relationships also help to reduce the stress related to work.

Kaur and Kumar (2019), state that occupational stress is a major concern among urban school
teachers in India. They further suggest that by constantly evaluating the stress levels and proving
proper counseling, stress levels of teachers can be considerably reduced and their quality of life
can be improved.

Harmsen et. Al (2018), gives the opinion that teacher student relationships are very important for
teachers and hence any efforts in future to reduce the stress of teachers should be directed towards
improving the relationships between teachers and students.

Sing and katoch (2017), in their article, ”study of occupational stress of secondary school
teachers” report that school authorities should ensure a supportive and collaborative culture,
provide stress and time management training and also leisure facilities to faculties to prevent
occupational stress. They also opine that teachers’ involvement in decision making should be
encouraged.

Malarvizhi, V. R., & Jeyarathnam, M. (2016), in their study they stated the stress and coping
techniques among employees of sugar mills in Tamil Nadu.They mentioned that occupational
stress is a global issue with implications for employees, business and society. If stress is not
managed properly, it will cause ill effects to both employee and the organization. It is essential for
all the organizations to provide stress management facilities to their employees and it is important
for the employees to use a variety of coping strategies personally to manage stress. They
collected 330 employees in five sugar mills spread over Erode, Namakkal and Karur districts of
Tamil Nadu.

Prasad, K. D. V., Vaidya, R., & Anil Kumar, V. (2015), in their study stated the causes of
stress among the employees and its effect on the employee performance at the workplace in an
International Agricultural Research Institute, Hyderabad. The stated that the stress has significant
psychological, physiological and performance effects on human resources of an organization. The
contribution of the researchers on stress was significant due to the dynamic social factors and life
style changes. Survey of 200 employees of the institute carried out to assess the job related,
organization related, individual related and physiological reactions to stress and its effect on
employees’ performance.
Kaur (2014), acknowledged that mental health of teenagers get affected due to the academic
stress. Girls with academic stress were found to have poor mental health as compared to the boys.
This was accounted on the study that parents at times put pressure and strain on students that leads
to deteriorated mental health.

Radha. G. (2014), in her study entitled- “Occupational Stress among the bank workers in
Tivarurar District of Tamil Nadu”, expresses the extent of activity stress among public sector bank
employers. The results of the study reveal that the officers and clerical employee’s expertise high
level of stress and sub employees faces moderate activity stress. This study defines that activity
stress to be harmful physical and emotional responses that occur once the wants of the duty don’t
match the capabilities resources, or desires of the staff.

Zyl, Eeden & Rothmann (2013) investigated the emotional reactions and behavioral reactions to
job security of employees (N= 242) working in a private hospital in Gaiiteng, South Africa. The
study showed that job insecurity was connected with job stress. The study noted that affective job
insecurity was positively correlated with detachment from the organization, while cognitive job
insecurity was strongly related to low identification with the organization. The study concluded
that employees who experienced cognitive job insecurity showed only little interest in applying
coping strategies whereas employees who experienced affective job insecurity, job stress, and low
organizational commitment showed more interest in applying coping strategies.

Swami Nathan & Rajkumar (2013) examined the stress factors among 250 working
professionals from entrepreneurial ventures, companies, banks and educational institutions in
Chennai. They identified some stress factors such as extent of freedom in workplace, office
politics and environment of trust or mistrust. Their study found that office politics was a major
stress among the employees. It was understood that high stress levels were found among the
respondents having own businesses and respondents with experience of more than 20 years. While
considering the nature of work, the field job involved high stress due to meeting targets, frequent
travel, meeting all types of clients, working at irregular hours, day to day reporting and strict
control by top management. The study suggested that excellent rapport with co-workers shrinks
office politics and encourages understanding.

Rabe, Nubling & Giacomuzzi (2013) studied the mental stress among 309 work council
members in Germany and compared them to the average of all professions. The study indicated
that the work council members experienced increased mental stress when compared to the average
of all profession members. The study noted that stress level varies between full-time and volunteer
work councils. Likewise, perceived job demands change considerably among work council
members due to the profession. The study confirmed that high mental stress had augmented in
making crowd, leadership traits, lack of job security and support from colleagues. The study
recommended that preventive measures to be taken for the work council members to meet specific
demands and to reduce psychosocial stress and strain.
Hazrati, Karimi, Hasani, Dalvand & Soltani (2012) investigated the effectiveness of stress
management training on women nurses employed in Golestan, Razi, & Abuzar Hospital of Ahvaz
University of Medical Sciences. The training covered three dimensions such as distressing fatigue,
lack of individuality and private execution. The women nurses were grouped into control group
and experimental group. The first group did not attend the training sessions. The second group had
attended nine sessions of cognitive behavioral training. Finally, the study confirmed that the
training had been helpful for getting better from burnout and also for proving individuality and
mounting private execution among members of experimental group when compared to control
group.

Dar, Akmal, Naseem & Khan (2011) identified the factors affecting stress and also examined the
relationship between the occupational stress and work performance of 143 employees of different
multinational companies, universities and banks in Pakistan. The study revealed that job stress
brings some impacts such as under-estimation, workplace discrimination, lack of role clarity,
worry about job insecurity, upsetting events at organization and financial unsteadiness those
results in inattentiveness, mind upset and deprived decision- making abilities. The study explored
that male employees had more stress exposure than their female counterparts. The study
concluded that the work stress condensed the employees’ job performance and motivation level.

Malik (2011) examined the impact of occupational stress produced upon 200 employees from
private and public banks in Quetta City. The study noted that work stress was found in great
extent among private sector bank employees compared to public bank employees. The study also
noted that the tight workload and schedules were the stressors among employees in private banks.
The study indicated that in both sectors role burden, role authority, role conflict and poor support
from superiors were found to be the major stress factors among different occupational stress
variables. The study concluded that the bank employees could not find enough time to take rest
when they were carried out too much responsibility, work multiplicity, unfairness, partiality and
inconsistent tasks.

Wickramasinghe (2010) analyzed the importance of coping strategies and the association
between work dimensions and job stress among 385 employees working in different enterprises in
Sri Lanka. In the study, factor analysis identified important coping strategies such as positive
thinking, smooth working environment, social support and entertainment. It was found that both
positive thinking and smooth working environment produced the association between
‘relationships with others’ and ‘stress’. The study also revealed that there was no association
found between ‘stress’ and the other ‘work-related dimensions’.

Park, Min, Chang, Kim & Min (2009) examined the connection between depression and work
stress among Korean employees working in various firms in Incheon, South Korea. The study
identified that work stress contributed to a greater risk of depression and occupational climate and
showed a significant relationship in both genders. It was noticed that job insecurity had reflected
negative changes in their work conditions and occupational climate had caused trouble in job
opportunities, negative culture, thoughtless and conflicting job requirements and gender
favouritism. The study also revealed different effects like poor planning, lack of support from co-
workers and improper recognition that were associated with depressive symptoms for males
whereas organizational injustice was correlated with depressive symptoms for females. The study
concluded that more investigations are required to eliminate work stress and health probamong
Korean employees.

Dhanalakshmi (2008) intended to study the stressors as well as to measure the extent of stress
among conductors and drivers from the administrative office in the two branches of Tamil Nadu
State Transport Corporation in Coimbatore. It was identified that the employees experienced fair
amount of stress and the factors identified were health conditions, working conditions, monetary
benefits, timing of work and grievance redressal. The stress was influenced by the pressure
inherent in the job such as handling the public commuters and the condition of the bus. It had been
felt that the management of the Corporation, in order to stand the competition has gradually
started making the employees accountable for each commuting trip they operate. The pressures on
the employees’ made them feel insecure. The study suggested that the employees may become
more passenger-friendly to facilitate the good experience of the bus travel.

Mulki, Jaramillo & Locander (2008) tried to examine the consequence of ethical climate on job
outcomes. The research was conducted with 208 service employees in health department in South-
eastern United States. They stated that healthcare employees were operated under extremely
stressful circumstances resulting from heavy work demands, inadequate resources, and sensitive
interactions with customers. The study had analyzed that the association between ethical climate
and turnover intention was completely intervened by role stress, interpersonal conflict, emotional
exhaustion, trust in supervisor, and job satisfaction. It was found that ethical climate had
condensed role stress and inflated reliance in supervisor. Lower stress intensity had resulted in
lower emotional exhaustion, higher job satisfaction and lower turnover intention. They also stated
that supervisor trust had reduced interpersonal conflict and emotional exhaustion. The study
suggested that organizations can encourage their employees with certain ethnicity that builds
commitment and moral code of conduct.

Gupta & Adhikari (2008) explained about the stress associated among nurses in West Bengal.
The study had given importance to two factors: ‘role demand’ and ‘role performance’. According
to them, the imbalances between these two factors had produced stress for the individual in many
occasions. The study had showed that the set up in government hospitals in West Bengal depicted
a massive stress posted among nurses in their routine tasks. It was found that role expectation
conflict, inter- role distance and role overload were the highest contributing factors that caused
stress. The study noted that both physical and physiological impacts of stress were found to be in
greater extent. It was concluded that the nurses should essentially keep their health in a good
condition to tackle stress.

Carlan & Nored (2008) explored that counseling could reduce officer stress in police
departments. A sample (n=1,114) of police officers in Alabama were taken for the study. The
researchers pointed out that the officers had haunted with reasonable stress subjective to
demographic variables such as race and gender. The study showed that female police officers
faced more stress when compared to male police officers. Likewise white male officers faced
 extreme amount of stress than African-American male officers. Most of the police officers stated
that symptoms of stress were to be identified. It was also stated that good working environment
and counseling sessions had remarkably cut down stress. The study suggested that there should be
periodic counseling for police officers to cope with stress.

Noor (2008) analyzed the antecedents of turnover intentions among 248 employees working in
marketing field in Pakistan. The study had identified that people disliked changes in their ongoing
policies, timetables, daily schedules in their work due to the stimulation of increasing turnover
intentions. She had noted that lack of awareness and job dissatisfaction guide a person to have less
commitment towards work. The study strongly supported that the employees who experienced
even a little amount stress in their current position had intentions to give up their job. According
to her there was a positive correlation found between work life conflict and stress with higher
turnover intentions. She suggested that the employees required redesigning of their schedules
frequently.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

The study has the following objectives.

1) To find out the dominant stress symptoms experienced by the employees.

2) To examine the causes of stress among employees.

3) To study the impact of stress on health of the employees.

4) To understand the coping strategies adopted by employees.

IDENTIFICATION OF RESEARCH PROBLEM

Stress is the state marked by a specific condition that consists of all the non-specifically induced changes
within a biological system. Every employee needs to have an understanding of his/her own stress inducing
thoughts, feelings and behaviours.

Coping techniques are the psychological and social means by which people deal with stress.

For this these questions must be answered.

1. What are the impacts of stress on health of employees?

2. What are the coping strategies used by employees?

3. What are the causes of stress?

4. Is stress linked to anxiety and panic attacks?

Data used: Primary and Secondary in order to complete this study.

Universe of study: Pilibhit, UP, India

The respondents are the employees of sugar mill in Pilibhit.

For Secondary research, data is collected through literature review.

The research type is Empirical in nature because it shows cause & effect relationship. Here causes &
effect relationship is shown on the basis of stress, causes of stress and effect of stress on employees.

QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN

Questionnaire is in structured form for collecting data and Multiple Choice Questions is used in
questionnaire.

TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES

To attain the objectives of the study, various statistical tools will be adopted. They will be descriptive
analysis/percentage analysis, average score analysis.

MAJOR
INPUTS (INFRASTRUCTURE)

Easy accessibility to Internet.

PC for storage of collected information.

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Kaur and Kumar (2019),”Determinants of Occupational Stress among urban Indian School Teachers,”
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Prasad, K. D. V., Vaidya, R., & Anil Kumar, V. (2015). A study on causes of stress among the employees
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Malik, N. (2011). A study on occupational stress experienced by private and public banks employees in
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Park, S. G., Min, K. B., Chang, S. J., Kim, H. C., & Min, J. Y. (2009). Job stress and depressive symptoms
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Gupta, P. R. S., & Adhikari, A. (2008). Role stress among nurses. The ICFAI Journal of Organizational
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