THE IMPACT OF WORKPLACE STRESS ON EMPLOYEES' PERFORMANCE IN DE-UNITED FOOD INDUSTRIES

1.1 Introduction

Workplace 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. 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, Limitation of the study and Definition of terms.

1.2 Background of Study

Naturale (2007) states that stress is one situation when an individual reacts to or faces something different to a new opportunity, the restraints and the effort that needs to be put in according to the demand. This situation of stress can also be argued as a powerful condition where the apparent outcome and the preferred outcome both are equally important and unknown at same time. However, researchers have carefully observed stress, and have figured out that the condition of stress or the single term ‘stress' can either excite pressure or may create tension which in turn might be damaging. If the condition of stress is totally unpleasant, it may turn into negativity and may throw a negative crash on the person; this situation is commonly termed as distressed. When the stress is discussed especially with respect to production or manufacturing, it will directly affect the production of work directly resulting in low amount of output for the company.

In companies such as Reliance Fresh, the work force is quite large, and here the organization gives much concern to quality of work. In addition, the employees should take care and closely have a look at their absenteeism levels. If it is observed that absenteeism percent is too high, it implies that it is somewhere associated with stress condition. It is one of the important aspects for a company as the output and productivity levels play a vital role to check the stress level of employees, as these create non productivity and inefficiency. This will be a not-so-good situation for the company as well as the employees too.

According to a survey made by Smith, Segal and Jaffe (2007), the above statement is confirmed for the survey. When the stress, depression or anxiety is associated with work, then there will be 13.5 million loss of working days, this is according to a self-report survey by labour force in India. This finds a fact that it is necessary for a manager to manage the welfare of employees directly, and ensure that there is continuous workflow without any kind of sick leaves or absenteeism levels on chart.

In their observations, Tanova and Holtom (2008) found that in large number of meta-analysis which can determine the reasons of employee turnover and employee attritions, and found universal agreement could be reached about the determinants of the both as work stress. It has been discovered, though generally, that employee attitude and their job satisfaction alone cannot explain the reasons of employees stress. In their study two types of stress results have been referred to, one is physical stress and the other is mental.

Job satisfaction is the extent to which an employee is happy with his/her job. This can help to improve an employee's positive attitude towards work. Stone (2005:413) has stated that job satisfaction is the degree to which employees have positive attitudes towards their jobs. According to Locke (1976), cited in Fulford (2005:74), job satisfaction is a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one's job or job experiences. As aforementioned, employee turnover in the fast food industry is at a record high due to job dissatisfaction. Absenteeism has also multiplied owing to work related stress, as jobs in the industry are monotonous and not often rotated to develop their skills and performance, could bring about ultimate job satisfaction (Ukpere, 2007: 461).

Ivancevich (2007:12) interjected that there should be a feeling of the right job so that employees can be productive, since workers spend one-third of their day at work and, therefore, require a good working conditions, working environment and co-operative co-workers in order to be comfortable in the workplace (Charner & Fraser, 2003:48). To keep employees satisfied, there must be for good remuneration, medical aid and fringe benefits in order to deliver good quality services; workers satisfaction, almost amount to workers motivation. Employees tend to produce good quality work and good customer services when they are satisfied and motivated. Unsatisfied workers will result in high absenteeism, low quality outputs and high rate of employee turnover (Ivancevich, 2007:12).

Poor satisfaction of worker may be as a result of poor working conditions, less fringe benefits, autocratic management style, and etcetera. Such vices have adverse implications on employee performance in the workplace, particularly in the fast food industry. Thus, job satisfaction has been recognized as an important factor in the fast food industry to ameliorate the negative attitudes of employees towards their job or organization as far as absenteeism and turnover are concerned (Vallen, 1993, cited in Fulford, 2005: 74).

Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Impact of Workplace Stress on Employees’ Performance in De-United Food Industries.

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.

In the same breadth, Desseller (2000) concurred that the consequences of organizational stress are far-reaching leading to reduction in the quality and quantity of job performance. According to Frost (2003) hardworking and valuable employees who experience negative experiences in the workplace, have their hopes dashed, their goals derailed and or their confidence undermined.

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 examine the Impact of Workplace Stress on Employees’ Performance in De-United Food Industries, Ota. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:

1. To examine the mental and physical dangers and impact of stress on employees of De-united food industries;
2. To identify the impact of stress on employees’ performance at De-united food industries;
3. To investigate factors that leads to work stress among employees of De-united food industries;
4. To assess the overall impact of work stress on organizational productivity; and
5. To make recommendations about stress management to De-united food industries Ota for future considerations.

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:

• What is the mental and physical dangers and impact of stress on employees of De-united food industries, Ota?
• What is the overall impact of work stress on organizational productivity?
• What is the impact of stress on employees' performance at De-united food industries, Ota?
• What are the factors that lead to work stress among employees of De-united food industries, Ota?
• What are the recommendations about stress management to De-united food industries Ota for future considerations?

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 significant impact of stress on workers performance
• H1: There is a significant impact of stress on workers performance

Hypothesis Two

• H0: There are no significant factors that lead to work stress among employees of De-united food industries.
• H1: There are significant factors that lead to work stress among employees of De-united food industries

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 Impact of Workplace Stress on Employees’ Performance in De-United Food Industries, Ota, Ogun State.

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. 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).
3. Lack of Initial Cooperation from Respondents: A particular limitation of this work came as a result of the respondent refusal to offer their cooperation at the initial time they were contacted. This contributed in making the success of this research study difficult.

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.