THE EFFECT OF STRESS ON WORKERS PERFORMANCE

1.1 Introduction

Stress is a common element in any kind of job and persons have to face it in almost every aspect of life. Stress has been defined in different ways over the years. According to Robbins and Sanghi (2006) “A dynamic condition in which an individual is confronted with an opportunity, constraints, or demand related to what he or she desires and for which the outcome is perceived to be both uncertain and important.” Stress is an increasing problem in organizations and often causes adverse effects on performance. In today’s world, stress has become a worldwide phenomenon, which occurs in various forms in every workplace. In today’s work life, employees are generally working for longer hours, as the rising levels of responsibilities require them to exert themselves even more strenuously to meet rising expectations about work performance.

As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.

1.2 Background of Study

Life in modern societies is generally not without stress. Stressful experience has become part and parcel of living in contemporary society. In most human behaviour, human being will advertently go through some elements of stress. For example, when we subject ourselves to time, pressure or urgently engage in complex and difficult problem solving processes, we become exposed to high noisy environment or new of impending damage, we are most likely to go through movement of stress.

Stress occupies a prominent position in psychological and medical research, psychologist view stress as a disruption of human skilled performance. In clinical research, stress and anxiety as viewed as made of pathological adoptive responses in whether context with view stress its role in human resources management cannot be overlooked. Stress has an emotional experience, which can be monetary affairs. In such cases, the social antecedent of stress is short and we may possess the psychological resources to cope and go through the situation undue disruption of adaptive responses.

When this is the case stress posses and energizing effect workers motivation, this will act as a signal for us to get ready for action induced by longstanding condition of tension pains, situation, conflicts, and anxieties ever positive adoptive responses become over stretched and our reactions to it are negative in such cases, the negative effects of stress not only affect our health but diminish our productivity

In the same breadth, Dean (2002) viewed stress-related illnesses as the leading cause for low productivity levels in the workplace. Immense pressure at work has led to stress, which made it the number one factor causing illness. An employee spend almost one third of his life on work, and sometimes he has to face a lot of stress during his/her job. The nature of the job has gone through extreme changes over the last decade and it is still changing rapidly. Stress in a workplace has touched almost all professions, starting from executive levels to co-workers who are directly engaged in the production. The result of the job stress ultimately affects the physical as well as mental health.

Stress has been defined in different ways over the years. It is a condition in which any human is confronted with an opportunity or demand related to what they desire and for which the outcome is perceived to be both uncertain and important. There are number of studies and surveys have been conducted by the researchers throughout the world for suggesting improved techniques to manage stress. Some of the reasons of work stress may be: Interpersonal causes, role demand, task demand, structure of the organization, style of leadership, organizational work culture etc. Interpersonal causes are due to interpersonal relationship at work place, when employees found unsupportive environment or any personal remark from others at work place.

Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the effect of stress on workers performance.

1.3 Statement of Problems

Investigation revealed that the current turbulent environment in which some workers conduct their work requires that organizations examine their practices. Working at the tertiary level is an inherently stressful profession with long working hours, heavy workloads, difficult students and conflicting demands. The physical and psychology demands of workers at the tertiary level of education make them more vulnerable to high levels of stress. The effects of stress are evidenced as increased errors in memoranda, high medical bills, lateness to work, low productivity and increased sick leaves.

Despite the extremely negative effects of occupational stress on the human body and work performance has not put in any concrete measures to address these stress-related conditions that negatively affect productivity. Furthermore, there has not been a conscious establishment of a linkage between occupational stress and its negative effect on productivity. It is in the light of these problems that this research seeks to bring to the fore the implication of occupational stress on the overall performance of institutions.

1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study

The aim of the study is to investigate the effect of stress on workers performance. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:

1. To examine the impact of stress on workers performance
2. To educate workers on how to manage stress in rural areas
3. To help the management to know about the existence of stress in an organization
4. To identify different methods which can be used to reduce stress that affects workers

1.5 Research Questions

The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:

• Does management know about the existence of stress in an organization?
• How does a worker manage stress in rural areas?
• What is the impact of stress on workers performance?
• What are the different methods which can be used to reduce stress that affects workers?

1.6 Research Hypothesis

In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.

Hypothesis One

• H0: There is no impact of stress on workers performance.
• H1: There is a impact of stress on workers performance

Hypothesis Two

• H0: There are no different methods which can be used to reduce stress that affects workers.
• H1: There are different methods which can be used to reduce stress that affects workers

1.7 Significance of Study

This research work is important because it would assist the employees of labour, to manage stress and undergone by their workers. It would also serve as an avenue and foundation for future and further study.

Stress Management is important to healthy functioning of organizations as it seeks to increase productivity since one can clearly focus on tasks, better memory, improved immune system and better blood pressure.

This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.

1.8 Scope of Study

The scope of the research is focused on the effect of stress on workers performance. With particular reference to First Bank of Nigeria, Warri, Delta State as a case study. The study makes use of the questionnaire which are distributed to employees of the First Bank of Nigeria.

1.9 Limitations of the Study

During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:

1. Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
2. Establishment Policies: Establishment policies posed a serious limitation as most staffs are not ready to release information needed for this project work. There were lots of information needed from the staffs of this establishment to enhance the study which took them time to release or they did not release at all for security purposes, hence the scope was reduced.
3. Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
4. Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
5. Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

1.10 Definition of Terms

Stress: Stress is your body’s way of responding to any kind of demand or threat. When you sense danger whether it’s real or imagined the body’s defenses kick into high gear in a rapid, automatic process known as the “fight-or-flight” reaction or the “stress response”.

Workers Performance: The job related activities expected of a worker and how well those activities were executed. Many business personnel directors assess the employee performance of each staff member on an annual or quarterly basis in order to help them identify suggested areas for improvement.

1.11 Organization of the Study

This research work is organized in five chapters, for easy understanding, as follows

Chapter one is concern with the introduction, which consist of the (overview, of the study), historical background, statement of problem, objectives of the study, research hypotheses, significance of the study, scope and limitation of the study, definition of terms and historical background of the study.

Chapter two highlights theoretical framework on which the study is based, thus the review of related literature.

Chapter three deals on the research design and methodology adopted in the study.

Chapter four concentrate on the data collection and analysis and presentation of finding.

Chapter five gives summary, conclusion, and recommendations made of the study