Impact Of Stress On Employee Productivity, Performance
And Turnover; An Important Managerial Issue
Subha Imtiaz* and Shakil Ahmad**
Stress is a universal element and persons from nearly every walk of life have to face
stress. Employers today are critically analyzing the stress management issues that
contribute to lower job performance of employee originating from dissatisfaction &high
turnover ultimately affecting organizational goals and objectives. How stress affects
employee performance, managerial responsibility, & consequences high stress are
basic aims of the study. The universe of the study is Rawalpindi/Islamabad; the target
population is employees (medical officers and house officers) in main health/medical
organizations of the universe. Field study was conducted with questionnaire as the
primary data collection instrument. Data was analyzed using statistical techniques with
SPSS Version 16. The factors affecting stress were identified; personal issues, lack of
administrator support, lack of acceptance for work done, low span over work
environment, unpredictability in work environment &inadequate monetary reward.
Analysis showed immense support for negative relationship between stress and job
performance; greatly affected career change over (-.323**) and job satisfaction (.285**), errors in treatment (-.332**), knowledge (-.787**). The results showed that with
every unit; increase in personal dilemmas, decrease in financial reward, decrease in
influence over work environment, decrease in supervisor support there would be 0.513,
0.079, 0.266, 0.117 decreases in job performance respectively. All these results are
statistically significant thus providing rigor and generalizability in research. Higher level
of stress existed with no managerial concern for solution consequently lowering the
employee performance; staking organizational reputation and loss of skilled
employees, these situations call for immediate concern from organization management
for employing effective stress management practices to increase employee satisfaction
and overall employee performance.
1.
Introduction
Stress is a universal element experienced by employees around the globe. Stress has
become major problem for employer particularly in developing nations where the
employer doesn’t realize the impact of stress on employee performance which oyee
Stress, Managerial Role, Stress Management, Job Performance
____________________
* Subha Imtiaz, Department of Management Sciences, Corresponding Author; COMSATS Institute of
Information Technology, Attock Campus, Pakistan /Email: onlyonesubha@hotmail.com;
onlyshakil@gmail.com
** Shakil Ahmad, Lecturer Management Sciences, MS Management Sciences, Department of
Management Sciences COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Attock Campus, Pakistan
ultimately results in critical managerial dilemmas. Giga and Hoel in 2003 concluded that
high rates of mergers, acquisitions, increasing economic interdependence among
countries due to globalization, technological development, and restructuring have
changed the organizational work over the last few decades have resulted in time
pressure, excessive work demand, role conflicts, ergonomic insufficiencies and
problematic customer relationship are causes of stress. In Pakistan every year nearly
10000 students graduate as medical professionals who strive for their career in the
health sector which is the one of the largest economic backbone of the country, but it is
observed that for past few years that there are serious changeovers in career
orientation, satisfaction and other such aspects in the employees in health sector
especially doctors, that is why the doctors are taken as target population which would
reflect the employers attitude towards the stress and its impacts on overall employee
performance and organizational goals. Stress can’t be eliminated as it serves as a
driving force if kept at a certain level, so stress needs to be managed in the sense that
the level of patient care job satisfaction and other factor that affect it are optimized or
minimized.
2.
Literature Review
A mainstream group of employees articulated that their organizations did not care for its
employees and sometimes employees don’t like to work with their organizations
indicating high levels of stress among them and majority were between the age
brackets of 26-35 years. Misfit with organization, no part in decision making, were
reported main causes of stress as well no control over work environment, personality
traits, lack of relaxation along with ambiguous rules affect employees performance
(Meneze 2005).better managed employees are more cooperative and serve as assets
for an organization and when their stress is ignored by the employer the results are
increased absenteeism, cost, low productivity, low motivation and usually legal financial
damages. (The Office of Radiation, Chemical and Biological Safety, 1999).
Employees in the following ratios reported that their job is source of large amount of
stress they experienced, 33%, and 77% articulated that they remain always or
sometimes in stress during last 12 months, 23% reported that rarely experienced stress
during their job. Many workers express that their job is prominent source of stress in
their life but reduced workload, improve management and supervision, better pay,
benefits, and vacation times can reduce the stress among employees (Thomson, 2006).
Stress is a universal experience in the life of each and every employee even executives
and managers. It is estimated that about 100 million workdays are being lost due to
stress and nearly 50% to 75% disease are related to stress (Bashir). Stress results in
high portion of absence and loss of employment. the ratio of stress affectees in
organization are increasing on alarming rate which effects both the employee
performance and goal achievement (Treven 2002).
Stress has many definitions it is a part of both social and concrete sciences. However,
Stress is a universal experience in the life of each and every employee, even executives
and managers. This study discloses the impact of stress on employees of organizations
regardless of any discrimination of male and female employees, kind of organization,
and department (Bashir, Asad 2007). Stress is basically is a mental strain from the
internal or external stimulus that refrains a person to respond towards its environment in
a normal manner. These stress levels can be internal or external fro the doctors, from
their personal lives or professional lives (Khuwaja, Ali Khan et al, 2002). Stress is a term
that refers to sum of physical mental emotional strains or tensions on a person or
feelings of stress which result from interactions between people and their environment
that are perceived as straining or exceeding their adaptive capacities and threatening
their well being, in addition stress has a wide psychological and physical effect as
cardiovascular, musculoskeletal systems, headache, gastrointestinal problems, sleep
disturbance and depression (Ghaleb, Thuria 2008). Further researched that health
sector has to face usually large amount of stress. Stress among doctors is high, the
medical profession is suffering from increased stress, but most of the attention has been
focused on junior doctors and their excessive hours of work (Caplan, R P, 1994).
Doctors in the field of medicine have to usually face a lot hurdles and one the most
evident factor which originates and impacts directly their personal and professional lives
is stress. Low job satisfaction correlated with contemplation of giving up work due to
stress, physicians and surgeons were more likely to have lower job satisfaction scores if
they felt unable to remain competent in their field of work (Dowell, Anthony 2001). There
is a negative correlation between job stress and job performance. Those subjects who
had high level of job stress had low job performance. All the factors affected males
more than females, incase of certain situation. The kind of stress towards which the
doctors are exposed to usually result in such negative factor that places at the life of the
innocents which they attend. And such stresses increases the chances of fatal errors
lowering job performance (Kazmi Rubina, 2007).
Occupational stress inadvertently consequences low organizational performance
(Elovainio et al. 2002), Job stress although has belittling impact on any organization and
individual’s performance but can shape dire consequences when related to health care.
(Mimura e.t al. 2003). Job stress is considered rising and has become challenge for the
employer and because high level stress is results in low productivity, increased
absenteeism and collection to other employee problems like alcoholism, drug abuse,
hypertension and host of cardiovascular problems (Meneze 2005). Personality factors
have shown inclination towards stress, anxiety, and other occupational health outcomes
in different areas of medicine, and these factors may contribute to feelings of job
dissatisfaction and stress (Michie and Williams 2003).
The importance of stress is highlighted nowadays by the employers to manage and
reduce stress through practical guidelines in public sector but not in private
organizations (Rolfe 2005). Positive correlation has been shown by the literature
between incentives and performance as both are related with satisfaction of employees,
however every time the case is not same non monetary incentives like career
advancement, prestige, and public recognition can also increase performance because
low morale, high turnover, and interdepartmental struggle were baselines of many
cases (Giga and Hoel, 2003).
3.
Methodology
Subjects; Twin Cities of Pakistan Rawalpindi/Islamabad is the universe of the study.
Due to high saturation in the employee ratio in the health industry/sector Medical
Officers, House officers are targeted as sample working in the hospitals of
Rawalpindi/Islamabad of both in public and private sector.
Instrument; Primary Data sources were themselves the medical officers & house
officers who are working in the hospitals of
Rawalpindi/Islamabad the data for the
checking the level of stress and its impact,
the main instrument for primary data
collection
would
be
questionnaire.
Secondary data would be collected through
the records in the hospitals; that are
conducting house jobs. The population
would be determined through secondary
data as well as the qualitative data is also
determined through observations, semi
structured interviews, articles and recent
research papers.
Procedure and Statistical Methods; 120 questionnaires were distributed among the
house officers out of whom 78 were responded appropriately giving a 65% response
which is acceptable to make this study rigorous and generalizable. The obtained data is
analyzed through Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16. The
statistical methods involved those of descriptive statistics (Mean, Standard Deviation)
for the predictors of Independent Variables of Stress and & inferential statistics
(Pearson Correlation & Multiple Regression) for the predictors of Dependent Variables
of Stress.
4.
Stress, Its
Impacts Analysis
Causes,
And
The medical officers and house officers
experienced significant stress due to
factors (stress variables) like lack of span of control over the work environment, low
acceptance for the work done, rigid organizational structure, and high unpredictability in
job pattern in job, departmental variation in administrator support, inadequate monetary
reward, & personal issues. All these factors contributed to stress levels in either positive
or negative way or the female doctors which constituted 47% of the total population
experienced less stress as compared to the male house officers which represented 53%
of the population (as shown in Figure 1.1 and their respective distribution with respect to
hospitals in Figure 1.2) and articulated more needs for financial reward which according
to the sample was stated that they were rewarded inadequately and even 78% subjects
responded that they contemplated quitting their profession which is an alarming point for
the employer. 45% doctors said that stress and its negative impacts have become a
part of their lives, but any constructive reform if genuinely implemented would be
welcomed. All doctors from different departments agreed that boss support varied from
and lower support contributed to lower job performance and satisfaction. Mixed
responses for acceptance for work were received with female doctors who articulated
that their work was accepted given that it did not affect their stress levels however the
male respondents in majority didn’t believe that they were given acceptance and such
factors contributed to their lower job performance. Majority of the doctors were not
satisfied with the current management system of their hospitals which was found to
quite rigid, inflexible, and centralized apart from those subjects who were employed in
private hospitals. Personal issues significantly affected job stress and contributed to
lower job satisfaction and performance and the hospital management didn’t encourage
the employees to deal with such matters, span of control of house officers was found to
be minimum that contributed low levels of influence on work environment, all these
factor contributed to high levels of stress resulting in lower job performances and job
satisfaction.
The major elements that predicted stress were lack of span of control over the work
environment, low acceptance for the work done, rigid organizational structure, high
unpredictability in job pattern in job, departmental variation in administrator support,
inadequate monetary reward, & personal issues. The subjects articulated that on
average 86.26, 88.77, 85.79, 77.95, 65.38, 70.87, & 56.56 times their personal issues,
administrator support, unpredictability in work environment, acceptance for work done,
span over work environment, & overall stress existed affected stress levels and
contribute to lowering their job performance as shown in Table 1.
Table 1 Descriptive Statistics on Independents Variables of Work Stress Variables
Descriptive Statistics
Mean
Std. Deviation
N
Personal Issues
86.26
9.805
78
Administrator Support
88.77
12.769
78
Monetary Reward
85.79
16.893
78
Unpredictability in Work
Nature
Acceptability of Work Done
77.95
16.770
78
65.38
21.964
78
70.87
27.295
78
56.56
16.267
78
Span Over Work
Environment
Overall Stress
Correlation between Stress & Independent Variables
The Table 1.1 depicts that the dependent job performance related measures from the
column like knowledge, errors in treatment, career changeover and skills are correlated
with the stress related independent variables of stress like financial reward, supervisor
support, personal dilemmas, uncertainity in job, recognition for work done, influence
over the work environment and over all stress. The measures contributing to overall
stress were significantly negatively correlated with job performance issues. Due to lack
of financial rewards job the stress cause highly correlated with job satisfaction (-.463**),
contemplated career changeover (-.554**), knowledge (-.022*), errors in treatment (.331*), & skills development (-.326**) with significance level of 0.05* and 0.01**
respectively using two-tailed test. Supervisor support related negatively with skills
acquirement (-.754**) which indicated that very low supervisor support is provided to the
house officers, low recognition for work greatly affected career change over (-.323**) and
job satisfaction (-.285**), inflexibility affected the errors in treatment (-.332**), very
minimum span among house officers resulted in career changeover (-.326**), personal
dilemmas highly correlated with nearly all factors of job performance with knowledge (.787**), errors in treatment (-.698**), job satisfaction (-.786**), career change over (.754**), skills (-.721**). These results substantiated our hypothesis that stress and the
factor identified as independent variables affected levels of stress with financial reward,
supervisor support, decentralization in organizational structure, influence over the work
environment negatively affecting stress, personal dilemmas & uncertainty in job
positively affecting stress, which caused overall stress in negative job performance,
overall dissatisfaction, and career changeover.
Table 1.1 Correlations Between Work Stress & Job Performance
Stress
Moneta
ry
Reward
Person
al
Issues
Correlations
Rigidity in
Administ
Organization
rator
al Structure
Support
Unpredic
tability in
Work
Nature
Accepta
bility of
Work
Done
Span
Over
Work
Environm
ent
Overall
Stress
Job
Performance
Knowledge
Errors in
Treatment
-.022
-.331
Job
Satisfaction
-.463
Career
Change
Over
-.554
Skills
-.326
78
*
*
**
**
**
-.787
-.698
-.786
-.754
-.721
78
**
**
**
**
**
-.531
-.458
**
**
-.434
-.418
-.597
78
-.256
-.332
*
**
**
-.496
**
-.0485
**
-.202
78
*
*
**
-.0122
**
-.036
-.369
-.296
**
**
-.355
78
*
*
-.216
**
-.063
-.285
-.323
**
**
-.125
78
*
*
-.207
-.332
-.421
-.326
*
*
**
-.467
78
*
*
-.558
-.631
-.639
-.545
-.781
*
**
**
**
**
78
N
*Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed)
**Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)
Major Predictors of Job Performance
The final regression results that lack of acceptance for work done negatively affected(1.578) job performance measures, similarly (-3.404), (-0.397), (-.036), (-.381), (-.456) for
lack of span over work environment, unpredictability in work environment, inadequate
monetary reward, & insufficient administrator support respectively affected job
performance elements in negative manner, significant decrease in job performance
variables (-4.557) with job stress elements (including organizational structure variable
rigid structure) with a significance level of (0.01). The coefficients of work stress in the
regression model are shown in Table 1.2 which indicates 0.174, 0.513, 0.079, 0.266,
0.117 decreases in job performance, with every unit; increase in unit increase in rigidity
in organizational structure, personal issues, decrease in monetary reward, decrease in
span over work environment, decrease in supervisor support respectively, assuming
that all variables are held constant.
Table 1.2 Significant Coefficients of Job Performance Dependent Variables
Coefficients
Model
1
.
(Constant)
Rigidity in
Organizational Structure
Personal Issues
Monetary Reward
Span Over Work
Environment
Administrator Support
Unstandardized Coefficients
Standardized
Coefficients
Beta
T
Sig.
B
35.884
Std. Error
18.026
1.991
.000
-.174
.089
.236
-1.959
.001
-.513
-.079
.073
.116
-.088
-.082
-.717
-.684
.001
.005
-.266
.164
-.209
-1.619
.001
-.117
.193
-.070
-.604
.0045
a. Dependent Variable: Job Performance
5.
Conclusion & Recommendations
On the basis of the survey results it is seen that lack of span of control over the work
environment, low acceptance for the work done, rigid organizational structure, high
unpredictability in job pattern in job, departmental variation in administrator support,
inadequate monetary reward, & personal issues are causes of rising stress levels in
doctors both medical and house officers alike which ultimately affected their job
performance negatively. And the significant view was that the employers; the entire
organizational management is not responding to these factor even the financial reforms
taken by the Punjab government are not implemented. Devastating long term results
can results can take place lowering the even deplorable state of the government
hospitals, however private organizations provided a better environment but the
employees articulated even more desperation due to lack of field exposure which risked
their career development; this area can further be researched.
These results depict the general behavior of managers, and administrator and a reason
for their cause of concern for low employee performance; high stress of employee.
Effective management needs to be practiced among the managers otherwise the
potential of efficient employees can be wasted causing high threat to the organizational
goals and lowering overall performance. Stress management issues like counseling are
unexplored options for organizational management in Pakistan which can be employed
along with monetary, non monetary and structural reforms by the management to
effectively manage the stress and retain high performance of employee by lowering
their turnover and dissatisfaction.
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