Approval of Thesis

OCCUPATIONAL STRESS IN ORGANIZATION & ITS EFFECT TO EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE

_______________( Nurul ‘Afiah binti Zulkifli )

APPROVED:

____________________________( Mr. Mohd Nur Ruzainy bin Alwi )

Thesis Supervisor

____________________________( Mr. Suhaimi Bin Sudin)Evaluation Committee’s Chair

____________________________( Mr. Zainal bin Munshid )

Chief Examiner

____________________________

(Mr. Mohd Yunus Bin Hj. Majid)Head Department of Management and Human Resource

College of Business Management and AccountingUniversiti Tenaga Nasional

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I wish to thank everybody with whom I have shared experiences during my studies.

From the people who first persuaded and got me interested into the study of business

and management, especially those who also played a significant role in my life, to

those which made my studies more enjoyable.

It is difficult to overstate my appreciation to the lecturers especially Mr. Suhaimi bin

Sudin as the core lecturer of this research who are responsible for the quality of the

education I have received during my studies and all my lecturers that responsible to

teach and give education while in this University. They have also been a cornerstone

in my professional development. I also want to give my appreciation to my advisor

and co advisor, Mr. Mohd Nur Ruzainy bin Alwi and Dr. Shahrul Nizam bin

Salahudin for their advice and knowledge that they share with me in order to finish

this research.

I am indebted to my classmates for providing a stimulating and fun environment to

learn and grow, especially my group member for the light jokes and fruitful

discussions.

I owe my loving thanks to my family: uncles, aunts, cousins, nephews, and nieces.

Without their encouragement and understanding it would have been impossible for

me to finish this work. Particular thank to Muhammad Hanif, my brother. Lastly and

most importantly, I wish to thank my beloved parents, Mr. Zulkifli bin Othman and

Mdm Normala binti Arshad. They have always supported and encouraged me to do

my best in all matters of life. I dedicate this research to them.

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Table of Contents PAGE

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION …………………………………………………………………………………………7 Purpose of the Study …………………………………………………………………………………………8Research Questions……………………………………………………………………………10Research Objectives…………………………………………………………………………….11Significance of the Study……………………………………………………………...............................12

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

Occupational Stress……………………………………………………………………16

Behavioral Stress………………………………………………………………18Cognitive Stress………………………………………………………………..18Somatic Stress………………………………………………………………….19

Employee performance………………………………………………………………...19Relationship between Occupational Stress and Employee Performance……21Summary (Framework)………………………………………………………22

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research Design……………………………………………………………………….23Sampling……………………………………………………………………24Data Collection Procedure………………………………………………….25Measurement of Variables………………………………………………….25

Dependent Variables……………………………………………… 25Employee performance………………………………………25

Independent Variables………………………………………………25Occupational Stress…………………………………………25

Behavioral Stress……………………………………25Cognitive Stress………………………………………25Somatic Stress…………………………………………25

Reliability and Validity………………………………………………………...25Data Analysis……………………………………………………………..…….25

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CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS

Descriptive Statistics…………………………………………………………………..…..26Reliability……………………………………………………………………...28Correlations……………………………………………………………………29Regression …………………………………………………………………….30Research Findings……………………………………………………………..32

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Discussion……………………………………………………………………………33Limitation…………………………………………………………………………….35Suggestions for Further Study……………………………………………………….37

Recommendation…………………………………………………………………….38

Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………....42

Bibliography………………………………………………………………………….43

Appendices………………………………………………………...………………....48

A. Occupational Stress SurveyB. Letter of PermissionC. Survey Cover Letter

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Abstract of the Thesis

OCCUPATIONAL STRESS IN ORGANIZATION AND ITS EFFECT ON EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE

Nurul ‘Afiah binti ZulkifliThe Department of Management and Human Resource,

Universiti Tenaga Nasional, 2011

Occupation or work stress is a chronic disease caused by conditions in the workplace

that negatively affect an individual`s performance and/or overall well-being of his

body and mind. These stress levels can be internal or external for the staff, from their

personal lives or professional lives (Khuwaja, Ali Khan et al, 2002). This study

explores the relationship of occupational stress and employee performance with three

types of stress which are behavioral stress, cognitive stress and somatic stress as a

theorical framework. Data collected from university in Malaysia were used to test

these relationships. By using a structural equation modeling, it was found that certain

type of stress may influence performance and specific dimensions of commitment.

The data obtained through questionnaire was analyzed using the statistical methods

including descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation and regressions. The analysis

showed support for the hypothesis that there is an inverse relationship between

occupational stress and employee performance indicating that there is occupational

stress among staffs, resulting in low job performance.

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INTRODUCTION

Organization is a social arrangement which pursues collective goals, controls

its own performance, and has a boundary separating it from its environment. The

word itself is derived from the Greek word organon, itself derived from the better-

known word ergon. Work in an organization is like exert a group of people to work

together by doing mental or physical work towards a goal, purpose or out of necessity

for the organization. In order to work in an organization education is the important

ticket to get trough an interview and get the knowledge to survive in the organization

and work environment that been create in a company, let along work experience.

Creating a high performance organization is a popular theme in the training and

development field. To survive in these competitive times, companies can't afford

anything less. Creating a high performance organization requires understanding what

factors influence performance. One of the most significant factors is occupation

stress. In my research, occupation stress in organization can affect the employees’

performance. Stress is present in any type of profession. If you are in the corporate

world, you will deal with executives, clients, and bosses. If you are working in the

medical industry, on the other hand, you will deal with doctors, chief nurses, and

patients. Stress affects a person in different ways. The way he deals with it depends

on the level of stress he faces. Stress can affect his performance too which is cover in

my research, especially if there are no programs in the organization that helps

employees deal with stress.

Occupation or work stress is a chronic disease caused by conditions in the

workplace that negatively affect an individual`s performance and/or overall well-

being of his body and mind. Therefore, in order to answer all of the indicated above,

this research is based on staffs that dedicated their services in organization. In this

research, all staff in every department including lecturers is also facing occupation or

work stress. This stress can be big and small according to the situation that they been

facing. Stress can affect staff’s performance in workplace. Individual with little stress

on them may not make enough effort to perform at their normal stage as their

performance, while those under too much stress often are unable to concentrate or

perform effectively and efficiently. The relationship between stress and performance

is very complex. Some of them maybe can overcome the stress and some of them do

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not. Hence, this is the things that I want to research because if someone is having a

work stress and can not overcome it, it will affect the performance of the person

positively or negatively.

RESEARCH PROBLEM

Historically, stress has been viewed as an inevitable consequence of work life,

or at most, a health care issue. Neither view begins to capture just how costly this

problem is to employers. Research shows that stress interferes with human

intellectual, emotional, and interpersonal functioning. In fact, nearly every popular

training and organizational development initiative is directly compromised by the

intellectual, emotional, and interpersonal consequences of stress. Initiatives like The

Learning Organization, Process Re-engineering, Diversity Training, Collaborative

Team Work, and The High Performance Organization are all impacted by the way

people are affected by stress. Workers in jobs with similar demands, but different

levels of control, exhibit very different psychological and physiological responses.

With the same demand level, workers in low control workplaces are significantly

more affected by their work.

Studies show that when people are under stress, their thought processes narrow. This

narrowing of attention, by definition, prevents divergent thinking, which is the

foundation of creativity. Divergent thinking is the ability to see connections between

very distantly related ideas and context. It is an important component of "thinking

outside the box." When people are stressed, they are able to perceive obvious

connections and associations between ideas. When people are in a positive emotional

state, their ability to make more distant, novel connections and associations is

increases. Thus, stress compromises, at the most fundamental neurological level, one

of the foundational skills of creativity and innovation. Research by Dr. James

Pennebaker of Southern Methodist University has demonstrated a very serious

consequence of uncontrollable stress on thought processes. In an experiment

performed by Dr. Pennebaker, subjects wrote about whatever was going on in their

mind - their "stream of consciousness."Ursin & Eriksen’s cognitive arousal theory of

stress states that a person’s feelings of hopelessness, helplessness and inability to cope

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in stressful situations can trigger lower emotional health, which can potentially lead to

feelings of frustration, deprivation or discontentment (Ursin & Eriksen, 2002). For

example, if a person feels that he/she is not able to cope with stressful conditions this

may invoke his/her feelings of dissatisfaction with job. Researchers and practitioners

in the developed, industrialized world have examined the relationship of a number of

work stressors and various work outcomes and indicators of psychological and

physical for several decades. As organizations and business becomes increasingly

global, efforts to examine these relationships in developing countries is beginning to

emerge. In addition, some countries are emerging as new economic powers (Brazil,

Russia, Indonesia, China). We then need to know more about their business practices.

Work stressors have included workload, work-family and family-work conflict,

increasing work intensity, leadership styles, workplace conflict, organizational

downsizing and restructuring, and organizational mergers; outcomes have typically

considered job satisfaction, commitment, psychological health, work-family balance,

and withdrawal behaviors. Doing business across cultures presents unique challenges;

managerial behavior, expectations and values across cultures are likely to be different

(Javidan and House, 2001). In addition, each is likely to have their own cultural and

societal values that determine appropriate workplace behaviors and the place of work

and family in the broader society.

So in this case, we need to explore how occupational stress in organization

affects the employees’ performance. It is because after we have overview and study of

this topic, we can conclude that occupational stress that affects the employee

performance becomes an important issue that will occur in the organization.

Furthermore, some of the researcher that put effort in researching this area is not

covering all of the research for example, the positive and negative effect of

occupation stress in organization towards employee performance.

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RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1) What is the relationship between overall occupational stress and employee

performance?

2) What is the relationship between behavioral stress and employee performance?

3) What is the relationship between cognitive stress and employee performance?

4) What is the relationship between somatic stress and employee performance?

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RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

1) To determine the relationship between overall occupational stress and

employee performance.

2) To examine the relationship between behavioral stress and employee

performance.

3) To identify the relationship between cognitive stress and employee

performance.

4) To identify the relationship between somatic stress and employee

performance.

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SIGNIFICANT OF THE STUDY

Our choice of the university in Malaysia as the research setting was based not only on

practicality but also on empirical findings that suggest this setting to be a stressful

working condition (Oleske et al., 2004; Lottridge, 2004; Kumlin et al., 2001; Hanse &

Forsman, 2001; Karasek et al., 1981). There are two rationale of this study:

1. Data on the prevalence of self-perceived depression, anxiety, stress and quality

of life and their association with occupational stress workers could be used to plan an

intervention program to reduce worker’s stress, anxiety, and depression and improve

quality of life.

2. From this research also we want to understand the typical personality makeup of

a stress in order to understand what motivate such people to minimize their stress,

why this stress happen and what strategies that we can use to prevent this problem.

This research might help people to get better understanding about occupational stress.

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LITERATURE REVIEW

Stress

A mainstream group of employees articulated that their organizations did not

care for its employees and sometimes employees do not like to work with their

organizations indicating high levels of stress among them and majority were between

the age brackets of 26-35 years. (Seley, 1980) is the first researcher to analyse stress

via scientific methods. Although he tried to conceptualise the definition of stress,

many later researchers held other views. (Ivancevich and Matteson, 1980)

summarised and sorted the definitions of stress into three categories: stimulus,

reaction and stimulus-reaction. According to Northwestern National Life One-fourth

of employees view their jobs as the number one stressor in their lives. Princeton

Survey Research Associates said that three-fourths of employees believe the worker

has more on-the-job stress than a generation ago. St. Paul Fire and Marine Innsuance

Co said problems at work are more strongly associated with health complaints than

are any other life stressor-more so than even financial problems or family

problems.        

Likewise, many researchers have had different perspectives on work stress,

most of them exploring it from the relationship between the work environment and

the worker. Stress refers to workers not being able to adapt to work. Stress refers to

the generalized, patterned, unconscious mobilization of the body’s natural ability.

Occupational stress defined as the harmful physical and emotional responses that

occur when the requirement of the job do not match the capabilities, resources or

needs of the worker. From that definition, Occupational stress is chronic conditions

caused by situation in the workplace that mat negatively affect an individual’s job

performance and their overall wellbeing. In the study setting, a role is the set of task

and behaviors that others expect a person to perform while doing a job. It is because

role conflict occurs when a focal person responds with behavior that serves as inputs

to the role senders’ process. The role conflict occurs when a person perceives that

some of the job requirements are incompatible, resulting in greater anxiety, tension

and ultimately, low job performance.

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In addition, role ambiguity is experienced when the message that evaluators

send are not clear or they give incomplete information. Employees who are not clear

with their job are easy to get stress because they don’t understand what they need to

do actually. This means that the role of individual in the workplace can affect their

performance.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. According to (Bashir and Asad, 2007) this

study discloses the impact of stress on employees’ performance regardless of any

discrimination of male and female employees, kind of organization, and department.

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. While based on

(Khuwaja, Ali Khan et al, 2002), these stress levels can be internal or external for the

staff, from their personal lives or professional lives.

According to (Pearson et al., 1999), the phenomenon of increasing

occupational stress was formally identified in 1989, when the Commonwealth

Commission for the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation of Commonwealth

Employees initiated several research projects. During, the same period the percentage

increase in claims for work-related psychological injury has been greater than any

other injury. Stress, is the body’s physical and psychological response to anything

that’s perceived as irresistible. When challenge flips over into stress, it creates an

imbalance that can trigger a whole variety of negative health effects.

Meanwhile, stress at work, United States National Institute of Occupational

Safety and Health, Cincinnati, in 1999 found that job stress can be defined as the

harmful physical and emotional responses that occur when the requirements of the job

do not match the capabilities, resources, or needs of the worker. Job stress can lead to

poor health and even injury.

According to (Thompson, 2006) 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

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management and supervision, better pay, benefits, and vacation times can reduce the

stress among employees. In other hand, (Bashir, 2007) said that 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. Stress results in high portion of absence and loss

of employment. According to (Treven, 2002), the ratios of stress affects in

organization are increasing on alarming rate which affects both the employee

performance and goal achievement. Therefore, involves some biological and

psychological reaction. The reason might come from the work environment or that the

work does fit the worker’s ability.

Employees usually have to face a lot hurdles and one the most evident factor

which originates and impacts directly their personal and professional lives is stress.

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, in case of certain situation. (Kazmi Rubina, 2007)

stated that the kind of stress towards which the employees 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. (De

Cenzo and Robbins, 1999) stated that stress could be manifested both in negative and

positive way. It is said to be positive if it could deliver a maximum performance. But

if the stress hampered the performance, it is said as negative.

In an organizational context, (Abu Al Rub, 2004) and (Larson, 2004) stated

that occupational stress is also known as job stress and/or work stress. These terms are

often used interchangeably in organizations, but its meaning refers to the same thing.

It has two major dimensions; physiological stress and psychological stress.

Meanwhile, (Antoniou et al., 1998; Beehr et al., 2001; Critchley et al.,2004; and

Mansor et al., 2003) stated that physiological stress is often viewed as a physiological

reaction of the body (headache, migraine, abdominal pain, lethargic, backache, chest

pain, fatigue, heart palpitation, sleep disturbance and muscle ache, as well as changes

in eating, drinking, sleeping and smoking habits) to various stressful triggers at the

workplace. For example, psychological stress is often seen as an emotional reaction

(anxiety and depression burnout, job alienation, hostility, depression, tension, anger,

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anxiety, nervousness, irritability and frustration) as a result of the stimuli at the

workplace that been sated by (Antoniou et al.,1998). Occupational stress inadvertently

consequences low organizational performance by (Elovainio et al. 2002). But there is

an argument from (Mimura e.t al. 2003) stated that job stress although has belittling

impact on any organization and individual’s performance but it can shape dire

consequences when related to health care.

(Meneze, 2005) stated that 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.

According to (Michie and Williams, 2003), personality factors have shown

inclination towards stress, anxiety, and other occupational health outcomes in

different areas of organization, and these factors may contribute to feelings of job

dissatisfaction and stress. (Beehr and Bhaget, 1985) stated that the literature on

occupational stress has revealed many different classes of job related stressors and

related them to such issues as job satisfaction and worker productivity. One of the

major sources of occupational stress is whether the person is satisfied with the job or

not. Many researchers such as (Dunnettee, 1976; Ghosh and Ghorpade, 1981;

Mohanty, 1986) found that job related stress factors are related to variables like role

ambiguity, role conflict, employee performance and satisfaction, work overload, need

for achievement and organizational effectiveness.

Occupational stress

In addition, (Ahmad & Ahmad, 1992; Beehr & Newman, 1978; Sharma &

Sharma, 1984) stated occupational stress is becoming increasingly globalized and

affects all countries, all professions and all categories of workers, as well as families

and society in general. The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety

(CCOHS) also adds that stress can worsen when there are high demands placed on a

worker in a particular job, but the worker has little control over those demands. Some

of the early warning signs of job stress include: short temper, headache, shortness of

breath, sleep disturbances, difficulty concentrating, upset stomach, apathy, and job

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dissatisfaction. Over the long run, constant workplace stress can also lead to several

types of chronic health problems. Evidence from a growing body of research suggests

that certain individuals, in a variety of occupations, are increasingly exposed to

unacceptable levels of job-related stress, according to (Schultz & Schultz, 2002).

Other than that, (Malta, 2004) stated that occupational stress is any discomfort

which is felt and perceived at a personal level and triggered by instances, events or

situations that are too intense and frequent in nature so as to exceed a person's coping

capabilities and resources to handle them adequately. Occupational stress can be

defined as the "harmful physical and emotional responses that occur when the

requirements of the job do not match the capabilities, resources or need of the worker"

(Sauter and Murphy. 1999).

Each individual is exposed to a range of stressors both at work and in their

personal lives which ultimately affect his or her performance. Pressure at work can be

positive leading to increased productivity. However, when this pressure becomes

excessive it has a negative impact. The individuals perceive themselves as being

unable to cope and not to possess the necessary skills to combat their stress.

The occupational stressors can be categorized into four major groups. Firstly,

the working conditions, including shift and week-end work, inadequate remuneration,

hours of work, discrimination and safety at the work environment. Secondly, the

relationships at work which is including the quality of relationships with peers,

subordinates and supervisors. Thirdly, the role conflict and ambiguity including ill-

defined role, functions, expectations, and duties. Fourthly, organization structure and

climate which includes communication policy and practice, major changes in the

workplace, culture of the organization, and lack of participation in decision-making.

Another cause is career development including under utilization of skills or

failing to reach full potential. Another contributing factor is the nature of the job

which might amount to an immense amount of physical and emotional exhaustion

adds by (Parikh & Taukari, 2004).

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Behavioral stress

According to (Mead, 2000) stress is acknowledged to be one of the main

causes of absence from work. Behavioral effects of stress showcases the way in which

a person acts and behaves when under the influence of stress. Continuous,

uncontrolled, stress can cause myriad behavioral effects on a person. Modern man has

a big disadvantage over our cave dwelling ancestors. They used to settle their scores

immediately whenever a problem arose; whether attack by a wild animal or by other

tribes. Thus the stress response reaction was immediately satiated and no further

damage was done. But modern man cannot slap his boss; the consequences would be

dire! Nor can he get out of the car and kick the hell out of the errant driver for

showing obscene gestures. Therefore, stress induced intense emotions remain pent up

inside without release. The continuous release of hormones and chemical mediators

keep the body in a highly tensed state for long. This leads to irritability, anger, worry

and anxiety. The resultant emotional conflict leads to altered behavioral responses to

people and events. A sense of resentment and hurt are the undercurrents of such

behavioral alterations. Behavioral effects of stress can be excessive smoking, nervous

tics, increased use of alcohol or drug(s), mannerisms like nail biting and hair puling,

increased or decreased eating, absent mindedness, accident-proneness and

aggressiveness on least provocation.

Cognitive stress

Cognition is the scientific term for "the process of thought". Usage of the term

varies in different disciplines; for example in psychology and cognitive science, it

usually refers to an information processing view of an individual's psychological

functions. Other interpretations of the meaning of cognition link it to the development

of concepts; individual minds, groups, and organizations. Actually, it's called

cognitive distortion, says Edward Trieber. Cognitive (psychological) stress has also

been related to ST segment depression, rate-pressure product changes, and changes in

cardiac contractility. Cognitive distortion can cause people under undue stress to

discount positive events, seeing only the negative. They also might lose their long-

term perspective, focusing exclusively on the immediate fires they're called upon to

douse, or perceive even minor events as major catastrophes. As of late, Trieber's

company has been helping businesses cope with the stress and economic uncertainty.

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According to the American Psychological Association, nearly half of Americans (47

percent) report that 2008 brought increased stress with money and the economy

topping worry lists while 30 percent say their stress is extreme.

Somatic stress

To support of this research (Ghaleb, Thuria, 2008) found that 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. Further researched that health sector has to face usually

large amount of stress. Meanwhile, the Encyclopedia of Occupational Safety and

Health Research say many studies show positive links between stress and these

conditions: cardiovascular diseases which is many related to lack of control in the

work process; musculoskeletal disorders which is particularly in the back and upper

limbs.

Performance

As for performance it is defined as the outcomes and accomplishments valued

by the organization or system that one works in. Campbell declaimed that job

performance can be easily defined as all behaviors in work. He further pointed out

that these behaviors should make some contribution to organizational goals.

Additionally, he divided performance into efficiency, production and effectiveness.

Efficiency can evaluate the outcome of an employee’s work behaviours.

Production is usually used to determine the cost of efficiency. Effectiveness stands for

the value of efficiency and production. Most researchers have not clearly defined the

relationship between stressor and job performance, usually making general

predictions. Before this, (Jex, 1998) proposed a basic model to present the process of

a stressor upon performance, which clearly defined their relationship. There are three

dimensions in this model which are stressor, antecedents of performance and

performance. (Jex, 1998) urged that most stressors could only negative, but also

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makes a difference because of different personal abilities, thinking styles,

personalities and value systems that indirectly affect job performance through

antecedents of performance, which are influenced mainly by inner personal

motivation. The result of a stressor working on performance is not (Schuler, 1980)

believed that work stress places some negative influence, no matter if it is on the

person or organization. It can decease production, lower quality and undermine

creativity. Yet, if stress could be managed, a worker’s potential would be aroused,

thereby increasing job performance. However, (Hendrix et al, 1987) found no direct

relationship between work stress and job performance.

Many researchers studying work stress have developed various models so far.

Although some differences exist in theories, but most of these theories based on the

process of real work stress reaction and its outcomes. Prominent models include as

below.

Firstly, process model of work stress. (McGrath, 1976) constructed

organizational stress through a four phased, closed-cycle process. The first phase is

just like the objective circumstance in the social environment model. When an

individual encounters something happening, he/she will sense its existence by the

process of cognitive appraisal and then choose an adequate reaction by a process of

decision making. Once a reaction is decided upon, it is expressed by the process of

performance. Through individual behaviour, he/she may change from the original

state. Negative behaviour implies that stress is being experienced.

Secondly, demand-control model. According to (Karasek, 1979), the demand-

control model can effectively anticipate job performance. He proposed that when

individuals are under high work-demand and low work-control, some biological and

psychological problems will occur. When individuals are under high work-demand

and high work-control, they display more positive job performance levels.

Thirdly, person-environment fit model. The person-environment fit model is

based on the concept of interactive viewpoint, and emphasises the interaction between

person and environment, focusing on their fitness. According to the model, (Kristof,

1996) found work stress came from different values between the employee and the

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organization. When one takes personal performance as he or she own value, and

group performance as the organizational value, it can evoke work stress

Occupation Stress relationship with employee performance

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

stated by (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 added by (Giga and Hoel, 2003).

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MODEL FRAMEWORK

Figure 1: Research Framework of Relationship between Occupational Stress and Employee Performance

Based on the framework that has been draw above, it clearly shows that there

are relationship between the occupational stress and employee performance. From the

framework above, we can build the hypothesis that:

H1: There is a relationship between the overall Occupational Stress and Employee performance.

H2: There is a relationship between behavioral stress and employee performance

H3: There is a relationship between cognitive stress and employee performance

H4: There is a relationship between somatic stress and employee performance

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Occupational stress

Behavioral stress Cognitive stress Somatic stress

Employee performance

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

i. Primary Data

To conduct this research, I have chosen questionnaires as my method to collect the

data from the staffs in the organization. It is because a questionnaire is a research

instrument consisting of a series of questions and other prompts for the purpose of

gathering information from respondents.

Other than that, questionnaires are an inexpensive way to gather data from a

potentially large number of respondents. Furthermore, they are the only feasible way

to reach a number of reviewers large enough to allow statistically analysis of the

results.

In the questionnaires, I would like to choose Likert scale module as the way to ask

the question to the respondent. When responding to a Likert questionnaire item, the

respondents have to specify their level of agreement to a statement.

On a survey or questionnaire, a typical Likert item usually takes the following format:

1. Strongly agree2. Agree3. Uncertain 4. Disagree5. Strongly disagree

It is important to note that the individual questions that take this format are

known as Likert items, while the Likert scale is the sum of several of these items.

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ii. Sampling

The non-probability sampling is the way that has be used to conduct this research.

In this research, I have chosen University 4 university or to be the sample of this

research.

Convinience sampling technique was applied for the selection of workers. In the

organization or industrial company, we can select few person for example 20 to 30

persons of employee or staff member to answer the questionnaires that will be given

and maybe give some of their opinion about the occupational stress and effects on

their performance in the organization. . 150 survey questionnaires were distributed

and 70 employees returned completed questionnaires with response rate of 46.7%.

The selection of the companies and respondents were based on convenience and

willingness to participate. Survey questionnaire consisted of the demographic

characteristics of the respondents and multiple-item (positively and negatively

worded) survey instruments.

I have chosen the educational organization to be the most suitable sample for this

research. This is because most of the organizations are established with the higher

employees and they also use the proper Human Resource practices in their

organizations.

24

iii. Data analysis

In this research , I have use the data analysis in order to test the hypothesis of data

in inspecting, cleaning, transforming, and modeling data with the goal of highlighting

useful information, suggesting conclusions, and supporting decision making. Most of

the statistics can be used either as a descriptive statistic, or in an inductive analysis.

Data analysis has been the multiple facets and approaches, encompassing diverse

techniques.

The data collection statistically analyze by SPSS (Statistical Package for Social

Sciences) for Windows software. The statistical methods included descriptive

statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation and multiple regression.If we perform a

formal hypothesis test on the scores, we are doing inductive rather than descriptive

analysis in rather than to supporting inferential statements about the population that

the data are thought to represent. Using with ANOVA, correlation and regression will

used to test the hypothesis in order to make a result. There are two scale for this

research which is Occupational Stress Scale (OSS) and Employee Performance Rating

Scale.

25

FINDINGS

(i) DISCRIPTIVE STATISTICS

The majority of the sample was UIAM (42.9%), followed by KIPSAS

(35.4%), and equal percentage by SHAHPUTRA and UMP which is (14.3). The

majority of the sample was middle management (51.4%), followed by non managerial

(30.0%), lower management employees (12.9%) and top management (5.7%). The

majority of respondents were male (51.4%). While the majority of respondents were

in the age group of 30 – 39 years old (57.1%), followed by age group of 20 – 29 years

old (20.0%), 40 – 49 years old (18.6%) and 50 years old and above (4.3%). An

overwhelming majority of the respondents belong to the group of 1 – 5 years of

working experience (57.1%). About 21.5% of the respondents had 6 – 10 years of

working experience and only (15.7%) of the respondents had 11-20 years of working

experience.

The distribution of respondents from 1 – 5 years length of service at current

job position is (70.0%), another (17.1%) for 6 – 10 years service at current job. Only

(1.4%) of respondents had served the current job for 11 – 20 years. Demographic data

were summarized in Table 1.

Table 1: Demographic Data

Items Frequency Percentage (%)

Position at the company: General Management Middle Management Lower Management Non managerial

436921

15.732.930.021.4

26

Nationality• Malaysian • Permanent residence of

Malaysia

691

98.61.4

Gender: Male Female

3634

51.448.6

Responsibility at the company: Overall management of the

company Human Resource

functions Other function not related to HR Research and development Engineering Marketing Finance or Accounting Others

3981231331

4.312.911.417.14.31.44.344.3

Race: Malay 70 100.0

Age Group: 50 years and above 40 – 49 years 30 – 39 years 20-29 years Less than 20 years

3144013-

4.320.057.118.6

-

Items Frequency Percentages (%)

27

Number of years experience: 10 years and above 5 – 9 years Less than 5 years

162430

22.834.442.9

Number of years present the job: 1 – 3 years 4 – 6 years 7 years and above

381319

54.318.627.2

(ii) RELIABILITY

Table 2: Cronbach’s Alpha, and Standard Deviation of all variables

In the table 2 below shows that the Cronbach Alpha for the variables is high with 0.8

and above as its value. The average value is 0.5 and above. Therefore we can

conclude that the variables are highly relevant with the topic that we research. For

behavioral stress is 0.878, cognitive stress is 0.829, somatic stress is 0.927 and for job

performance is 0.910. For standard deviation, behavioral stress is 8.189, cognitive

stress is 5.787, somatic stress is 6.315 and lastly, job performance with 7.103.

Variables  α SD

1 Behavioral Stress 0.878 8.189

2 Cognitive Stress 0.829 5.787

3 Somatic Stress 0.927 6.315

4 Job Performance 0.910 7.103

Table 2(iii) CORRELATION

Correlations analysis was conducted to test relationship between occupational

stress and job performance. Table 6 shows these relationships. It shows behavioral

28

stress, cognitive stress and somatic stress were significantly related with job

performance. It also shows that overall satisfaction is significantly correlated to all

stress variables (behavioral stress, cognitive stress and somatic stress). Their

correlation coefficient (r) values are -0.484, -0.342, and -0.313 respectively, and they

were significant at p = 0.01 level using two tailed test. From the output, it has been

showed that the correlation coefficient between occupational stress and job

performance have negative values.

Table 3: Correlations of all variables

OccupationalStress

Behavioral Stress

Cognitive Stress

Somatic Stress

Job Performance

Occupational Stress

Pearson Correlation

1 .950 .908 .952 -.399

Sig. (2-tailed)  

.000 .000 .000 .001

N 70 70 70 70 70

Behavioral Stress

Pearson Correlation

.950 1 .818 .859 -.484

Sig. (2-tailed)

.000 

.000 .000 .000

N 70 70 70 70 70

Cognitive Stress

Pearson Correlation

.908 .818 1 .777 -.342

Sig. (2-tailed)

.000 .000 

.000 .004

N 70 70 70 70 70

Somatic Stress

Pearson Correlation

.952 .859 .777 1 -.313

Sig. (2-tailed)

.000 .000 .000 

.008

N 70 70 70 70 70

Job Performance

Pearson Correlation

-.399 -.484 -.342 -.313 1

Sig. (2-tailed)

.001 .000 .004 .008 

N 70 70 70 70 70

Table 3(iv) REGRESSION

To further test hypotheses in this study, a stepwise regression analysis was conducted

as an additional purpose only. The purpose of stepwise regression is to select a small

29

subset of variables that account for most of the variation in the dependent or criterion

variable (Malhotra, 2010).

Table 4 shows the regression analysis result between occupational stress and

job performance. It was found that behavioral stress was significantly related with job

performance. Adjusted R2, the strength of association or the explanatory power of the

model in Model 1 is 0.244. The models are significant at 0.01 levels.

Table 4: Regression Analysis between Occupational Stress in Organization and

Its Effects to Employee Performance

Variables Entered/Removedb

Model Variables Entered

Variables Removed Method

1 Somatic Stress,

Cognitive

Stress,

Behavioral

Stressa

. Enter

Model Summary

Model

R R SquareAdjusted R

Square

Std. Error of the

Estimate

1 .526a .276 .244 .56159

30

ANOVAb

Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

1 Regression 7.954 3 2.651 8.407 .000a

Residual 20.815 66 .315

Total 28.769 69

a. Predictors: (Constant), Somatic Stress, Cognitive Stress, Behavioral Stress

b. Dependent Variable: Job Performance

Coefficientsa

ModelUnstandardized Coefficients

Standardized Coefficients

t Sig.B Std. Error Beta

1 (Constant) 3.686 .308 11.977 .000

Behavioral Stress -.684 .182 -.867 -3.746 .000

Cognitive Stress .070 .168 .078 .415 .679

Somatic Stress .228 .130 .372 1.756 .084

a. Dependent Variable: Job PerformanceResults of hypotheses testing are summarized in table 8.

31

Table 5: Summary of Hypotheses Testing

No Hypotheses Findings

H1There is a relationship between the overall Occupational Stress and Employee performance.

Accepted

H2There is a relationship between behavioral stress and employee performance

Accepted

H3There is a relationship between cognitive stress and employee performance

Accepted

H4There is a relationship between somatic stress and employee performance

Accepted

32

DISCUSSION

The main objective of this study is to explore the relationship between occupational

stress and job performance. Literature on occupational stress predicted that,

occupational stress is significantly related to employee performance. This study found

that specific occupational stress (i.e. behavioral, cognitive and somatic stress) is

significantly related to specific component of employee satisfaction. The results that

were use are from correlation. As mention above, the regression is only and additional

analysis included in this research. Nevertheless, the result of the findings is priority

based on the correlation.

Behavioral stress shows a negative relationship with employee performance.

According to Goodman and Penning an important criterion related to employee

absence is employee satisfaction that is employee with high level of job satisfaction is

less likely to be absent. Employee are easily to absent from work when they are not

satisfy with some factor. Indeed, some interest in job performance or satisfaction is

focused primarily on its impact on employee commitment, absenteeism, intention to

quit, and actual turnover. It shows that job performance give negative effect if the

employee has low job performance. A significant negative correlation between

behavioral stress at T1 and GHQ scores at T2 was observed. Practically, for example,

the UK Health and Safety Executive’s Management Standards for Work-related Stress

provide guidance broad job characteristics that organizations should assess, and if

necessary, change, to prevent stress in the workplace (MacKay, Cousins, Kelly, Lee,

& Mc Caig, 2004). This guidance is based on a review of the evidence on

relationships between health and the kind of broad job features as those included in

the DCSM and JCM (Rick, Thomson, Briner, O’Regan, & Daniels, 2002).

Cognitive stress shows a negative relationship with employee job

performance. If the cognitive stress is high then the employee performance is low.

Even though the relationship is weak but there is still a relationship between these two

variables based on the correlation. Previous studies have examined the organizational

33

and individual outcomes of cognitive stress in the workplace. Actually, it's called

cognitive distortion, says Edward Trieber, a clinical psychologist, an attorney and the

managing director of Harris, Rothcnberg International LLC, which provides

integrated solutions, executive coaching, web development and more. Cognitive

distortion can cause people under undue stress to discount positive events, seeing only

the negative. They also might lose their long-term perspective, focusing exclusively

on the immediate fires they're called upon to douse, or perceive even minor events as

major catastrophes. As of late, Trieber's company has been helping businesses cope

with the stress and economic uncertainty. According to the American Psychological

Association, nearly half of Americans (47 percent) report that 2008 brought increased

stress with money and the economy topping worry lists, while 30 percent say their

stress is extreme. As well as the stress associated with particular jobs, there are

occupational stressors that are unique to job locations. Maureen at the University of

South Australia has been researching strains faced by rural workers. She has found

that isolation presents particular difficulties for professionals in rural areas, including

a lack of access to professional training, development and support. Therefore, in

Pahang location the cognitive stress is weak than other location because some of the

employee still can cope with the cognitive stress even has effect on their performance.

Maybe their environment are not hectic than urban places. Other than that, Individual

differences also affect how people cope with work stress. Two people doing the same

job can react in opposite ways to a shared occupational stressor. Dr Peter Cotton, a

specialist in workplace mental health with Comcare, the Commonwealth workers'

compensation authority, says individual personality factors impact on psychological

injuries (a preferred term for stress claims).

Somatic stress shows a negative relationship with employee job performance.

If the somatic stress is high then their job performance will become low. Although the

relationship is weak but somatic stress still have effects towards employee

performance. Previous studies have examined the organizational and individual

outcomes of somatic stress in the workplace. Peter (1998) says that people who are

high on conscientiousness are over represented in musculoskeletal and occupational

injuries. They are inclined to exhibit somatic symptoms and, because they experience

increased peripheral muscle tension, they are prone to more wear and tear from

34

repetitive movements, Peter (1998) says. "That's often why, for example, you can

have ten people doing the same job, but only one will get the overuse syndrome”. As

you can see, even there are relationship between somatic stress and employee

performance; the correlation show the relationship is weak. Other than that, in this

area the probability of getting somatic stress are maybe low and still can overcome

with it, therefore the effect on job performance is weak. As you can see, people who

can not control or overcome their stress get high probability in low performance.

LIMITATION

Every study, no matter how well it is conducted, has some limitations. This is

why it does not seem reasonable to use the words "proved" and "disprove" with

respect to research findings.  It is always possible that future research may cast doubt

on the validity of any hypothesis or the conclusions from a study.  Based on this study

there are few limitation that we need to face when we conduct this research. First, a

cross-sectional research design was used to gather data at one point within the period

of study. This may not be able to capture the developmental issues and/or causal

connections between variables of interest. Second, this study did not specify the

relationship between specific indicators for the independent variable, and dependent

variable. Third, the outcomes of stepwise regression analysis focused on the level of

performance variation explained by the regression equations (Tabachnick & Fidell,

2001), however, a number of unexplained factors need to be incorporated to identify

the causal relationship among variables and their relative explanatory power. Fourth,

the survey questionnaires relied heavily on the respondents’ self-responses that were

selected based on convenient sampling technique. Finally, the samples were taken

from one organizational sector that allowed the researchers to gather data via survey

questionnaires. These limitations may decrease the ability of generalizing the results

to other organizational settings. Future studies should be expanded to all public

service agencies in Malaysia. On that same note, the study can also be replicated in

the private sector to see if the findings hold in different contexts. The conceptual and

methodological limitations should be considered when designing future research.

Firstly, several organizational (e.g., type, ownership and size) and personal (e.g., age,

education and type of pay) characteristics should be further explored, this may

provide meaningful perspectives of how individual similarities and differences affect

35

pay systems within an organization. Secondly, other research designs (e.g.,

longitudinal studies) should be used to collect data and describe the patterns of change

and the direction and magnitude of causal relationships between variables of interest.

Thirdly, to fully understand the effect of occupational stress on job satisfaction, few

organizations need to be used in future studies. Fourthly, other theoretical constructs

of occupational stress, such as role ambiguity, role conflict and role overload need to

be considered because they have widely been recognized as an important link between

occupational stress and many aspects of employee attitudes and behaviors, such as

performance, emotional intelligence and health (AbulAlRub, 2004; Antoniou et al.,

2003; Guleryuz et al., 2008; Sy et al., 2006). Fifthly, other individual attitudes and

behaviours such as satisfaction, performance, commitment, health and social support

should be considered because they are given more attention in the workplace stress

research literature (AbulALRub, 2004; Sy et al., 2006; Wetzel et al., 2006; Zhong et

al., 2006). The importance of these issues needs to be further elaborated in future

study.

Limits to geographic precision, the survey were designed to gather a

statistically valid sample from the population. When the number of responses for a

defined area, like an individual ZIP code, is small then the results may not reflect that

entire area. For this reason, performing any analysis on small geographic areas should

be approached with caution. Besides that, there are some difficulties to find the right

journal. Lacks of resources bring difficulty to conduct the research. Sometimes, some

of respondent refuse to answer or accepted the questionnaires that make research it

hard to conduct. Other than that, the respondent did not answer the question

according their situation and experiences that make the result not come out

beautifully.

36

SUGGESTION FOR FURTHER STUDY

Further development and agreement of the occupational stress construct is essential.

The following suggestions may help with this:

Continue to explore how research on other topics may usefully add to existing

knowledge on occupational stress.

Try and integrate the different frameworks that past research has used e.g.,

personality factors, organizational factors to help us more fully understand what

occupational stress are.

How much of a problem is occupational stress?

Explore how stress is experienced differently by different groups of employees.

Explore the impact of the organizational context on stress. For example, how do

organizational culture, size of business, and industry?

What are the effects of stress?

Explore how stress affects the victim’s family and friends.

Identify where in the stress process that the victim is most likely to experience ill

health.

37

RECOMMENDATIONS

Since existing research highlights the seriousness of occupational stress, action

needs to be taken by all parties concerned to ensure occupational stress is adequately

addressed in workplaces, policies and procedures, and by legislation. Until these

changes are made, occupational stress will continue to be a costly problem for

employers and employees. Research also shows it to be necessary to have stress

education in schools and universities as a proactive means of preventing occupational

stress.

Based on the major findings, the following recommendations are provided.

Since the stress from lack of communication and comfort with supervisor, job

description conflict and job related health concerns is highest for house officers,

hospital administration should pay attention to solve these issues. Lack of resources

includes inadequate staff, lack of equipment/machinery and medicines. So it must be

advocated by the head of the unit, not only for the benefit of house officers but their

patients as well.

Performance is hindered by job description conflict because with it the

individual faces either a lack of knowledge about the most effective behaviours to

engage in or an almost impossible situation for doing everything expected. Therefore,

increasing formal organizational communication with employees reduces the

uncertainty by lessening the role ambiguity and role conflict. Open Communication

has an advantage of resolving conflicts between supervisors and sub ordinates. Lack

of effective communication could cause unresolved conflicts that will increase the

stress level.

Support from the supervisor and colleagues are the major factor. The

supervisors need to recognize the good work and outstanding contributions of house

officers to keep them motivated to do their best. Promoting a culture of support will

38

set the example and it will make them realize that co-worker support is very

important.

Correct stress management should start from improved health and good

intrapersonal relationships. An individual needs to maintain good level of personal

health. The prevention and management of workplace stress requires organizational

level interventions, because it is the organization that creates the stress. A culture of

openness and understanding, rather than of criticism, is essential.

Conduct a staff survey, group discussions, confidential or anonymous

questionnaires, one to one discussion, follow up absenteeism, complaints and sick

leave (nb, Spurgeon (2003) notes that in terms of conducting a risk assessment on

bullying, quantitative data and methods may be most appropriate). Getting affected

members to work together with union representatives is the key in addressing

occupational stress. Documenting the problem is an important first step. This could

include worker surveys, hazard mapping, analyzing existing employer data such as

injury & illness logs or workers’ compensation data, or tracking staffing patterns.

Other than that, draw a formal policy. Include a definition of what stress is. This

should be drawn up with employees, and could include acceptable and unacceptable

behaviors, and/or a ‘code of ethics’ or code of conduct. Include a statement of

commitment and acknowledgement of the problem. This could include statements that

stress is not tolerated, that it may be treated as a disciplinary offence,

acknowledgment that stress can affects health and safety etc.

Outline duties of managers

Outline grievance and complaints procedure and disciplinary procedures

Investigation and support procedures and provisions

Monitoring of policy

39

Maintenance of confidentiality and fair

Include Provision of information and training. The policy should be disseminated to

all staff, awareness campaigns could be implemented and terms could be included in

work contracts. Publicity of the policy could include short posters, leaflets, intranet

and email communication and the staff handbook.

Where management cooperation is viable, the union and affected members can

engage in a joint process to identify occupational stressors and develop interventions

that will reduce stress. This can be done through health and safety and

labor/management committees and training and education programs. Strategies may

include involving workers in job and workplace design, having input on shift

schedules, and/or developing a workplace violence prevention policy or program.

All staff should receive basic training to include details of the policy and

related procedures, what stress is and what the effects are (possibly using previous

victims). A working paper for the European Parliament on occupational stress at work

suggests that ‘general educational advertising’ is the most proven method for

prevention of stress. They suggest informing employees and employers about stress

through the following mediums: leaflets and posters, articles in internal magazines,

intranet, videos, lectures and discussions and at meetings where the entire

organization is present. The report notes that it is particularly useful to target

management. Compulsory discussions of the entire working group may be useful, as

is informing those in the wider social context about stress.

Management could be trained in conflict resolution, the policy and related

procedures.

Management should lead by example and create norms of behavior.

40

Secondary prevention

Confidants, contact officers or bullying representatives should be appointed.

Involvement of trade union representation.

Other, less specific, examples of prevention from the literature include:

Where management is not cooperative, the union can conduct its own campaign

holding peer group meetings, filing mass grievances, or waging a public

awareness campaign.

Social skills and conflict management training,

work redesign,

improving the organizational culture,

Leadership training.

41

CONCLUSION

This study explores the relationship between occupational stress in

organization and its effect to employee performance. Overall, this study found that

occupational stress does affect employee performance. Those staffs that had high

level of occupational stress had low job performance. All the types affected male

staffs more than the female staffs.

In conclusion, this study has explored the literature detailing the relationship

between occupational stress in organization and its effect to employee performance. A

review of theoretical and empirical research appears to indicate that employee stress

can affect employee performance. Hence, an in depth understanding in the dynamic

relationship of occupational stress and job performance can give impact towards the

individuals and the organization itself to achieve their goals.

42

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