stress mgmt project(hr)

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CHAPTER-1EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Throughout the eighties and into the nineties, work stress has

continued to rise dramatically in organizations. The eighties

saw employees stressing out from working in a rapidly growing

economy. During the nineties, beginning from the recession of

1992 till present day, employees are stressed by their own job

insecurities in the face of massive downsizing and restructuring

of organizations in order to be competitive on the global stage.

Thus, when the stress levels among the employees begin to rise

as they deal with more and more clients, they would put up an

even greater resistance to their own emotions. Over time, the

professional may not be able to relax that emotional resistance.

All their emotions would be masked and retained within

themselves, resulting ult imately in mental and emotional

disorders. In stressful times, employees are often displeased or

angry at something. However, there are usually l imited

channels in which employees can express their views. Since

opinions, views, and feelings cannot always be expressed to

anyone to change the current situation, there would be an

accumulation of anger and frustration within the individual. Up

to a certain point, the anger would be released, usually at the

wrong person or time, such as colleagues, clients, or family

members. This symptom has a tremendous impact on society

because there is a potential that it may hurt other people.

Stress is a condition or feeling experienced when a

person perceives that demands exceed the personal and

social resources the individual is able to mobilize.

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A certain amount of stress is good for us as it can encourage

change and activity. But if we are under too much stress our

ability to function effectively suffers.

When working in a team environment our stress is relayed to

the rest of the team resulting in a decline of team performance

making team building an imperative goal . For some a

potential stressful situation leads to the effect of "riding on the

crest of a wave" because it generates a certain chemical

reaction in the body that gives exhilaration. For others, the

same circumstances lead to different chemical reactions, which

result in loss of performance.

What is needed is environmental and self-regulation. Thereforestress management is a partnership between the employee

and the employer.

Isolation is a common side effect of working under tremendous

stress. For many service practitioners, the clients that they

serve do not always readily welcome them. A prime example

would be policemen who are shunned often by the public. Over

time, a feeling of isolation and rejection would envelop theperson. The natural thing to do would be to withdraw from

others who do not understand their plight, resulting in profound

human loneliness. There are much other short term,

psychological effects of stress that can be readily seen or felt.

Stress at workplace

Feeling stress in the work place is a very common issue in

many organizations, both large and small. For workers, the

result of such stress is reduced job satisfaction. In extreme

cases this can degenerate further into physical and

psychological symptoms such as muscular aches and pains,

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weakened immunity, irritability and depression to name a few.

This ultimately leads to feeling burnt out. For the organisation,

there is also an impact. Firstly a worker that is suffering from

stress and burn out will typically be quite unproductive because

of absenteeism and/or less than satisfactory job performance.

The impact on the organisation will also vary depending on the

type of role the worker engages in. For example a stressed out

salesman who develops a detachment towards clients can

potentially affect the public perception of the organisation.

Similarly a stressed out worker involved in producing goods will

not produce anywhere near his/her optimal output. There can

also be an indirect impact on other fellow co-workers due to

lower morale.

Before one can look at how to deal with work place stress, it is

important to look at the various sources of such stress. Stress

will be either due to personal reasons or because of workplace

issues. Personal stress can include anything unrelated to the

actual workplace such as relationship issues, family conflicts,

financial concerns etc. Workplace stresses will be based on

either the nature of the job itsel f or the nature of the

organization or both. The job itself may be too much of a load

for the one person due to either lack of resources (people and

equipment) or time. There may be some form of ambiguity as

to what exactly the actual role of the job is. From an

organizational perspective, there may be simply low morale due

to downsizing and cost cutting. The management of the

organization may also be perceived as not treating their

workers fairly. Or perhaps the actual conditions of the

workplace are below an acceptable standard. As workplace

stress can be either personal or organizational, addressing and

managing this stress will require a proactive approach from two

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angles. Personally, there is a lot one can do to ensure that

he/she is feeling content and happy including getting regular

rest, exercising, eating well and even seeking professional help

if necessary. If the stress is due to the nature of the role or

organisation, then the worker must speak to the relevant

authority, i.e. the manager or other individual, to discuss the

concerns. If discussing this does not solve the issue, perhaps

this the time to move on-there may be simply be not a good fit

between the individual and the job, or the individual and the

company.

We work with teams to help them understand the causes ofstress and how team-building initiatives can help them cope

with it.

Stress related time off work costs organizations bill ions of

pounds. To this can be added the effects of individual reduction

of productivity, impaired judgment, poor decisions, lost

opportuni ty, and the impact that can all have on the

organizations culture and customers, etc.

Managements Role in Reducing Work Stress

Employee stress can have an enormous impact on an

organization in terms of cost. As many studies have shown,

there is a high correlation between stress and job performance.

At moderate levels, stress is beneficial in that it can cause

individuals to perform their jobs better and attain higher job

performance. However, at high levels, stress1 can decrease

productivity instead. This is the case often seen in employees

at many organizations. Furthermore, as ide from costs

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associated with lost productivi ty, there are costs with respect to

stress-related absenteeism and organizational medical

expenses. Specifically, these include costs of lost company

time, increase in work-related, disrupting production, increase

in health care costs and health insurance premiums, and most

importantly, decrease in productivity. There are numerous

methods that organizations could adopt to reduce undue stress

in their employees. However, measures taken to counter this

problem are usually tailored specifically for the particular

organization. Therefore, this report has chosen two separate

actions which are fundamental to most organizations that

management can take Reduction of Employee Stress as an

Organizational Policy. The first step any organization should

take to help its employees reduce and cope with stress is to

incorporate into the company policies a positive and specific

intent on reducing undue stress. This would indicate that top

management is committed to such a stress reduction program.

Furthermore, the amendment to the policies should also include

recognition that this initiative will benefit the achievement of

other organizational goals by enhancing the productivity of

employees through lowered stress levels. After the inclusion of

the broad mission goal of reducing employee stress,

management should draft out plans which specifically lay out

the provisions to accomplish that goal. As earlier mentioned,

there are many approaches to stress reduction, thus the

provisions should detail only the methods specific to the

organisation. For example, they could specify that employees

measures for the individual. In any case, the most important

beginning step is a total re-examination and revis ion of

company policies, plans, and procedures to enhance employees

own methods of coping with stress, and simultaneously,

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promote an organizational climate which actively assists

employees to minimize their stress.

Fundamental Techniques to Employee Stress

Reduction

One method management can employ to alleviate employee

stress is to make them f itter to deal with the everyday

pressures of work. There are three basic management

techniques that would accomplish this goal. Managers should be

clear about their expectations of employees and clearly convey

these expectations to each person. Secondly, management

should devise a performance-evaluation-feedback system such

that each employee would be aware of his / her performance

level based on the feedback received. Lastly, employees should

be fully capable of performing their job tasks. Stress arises

when employees do not possess the necessary skills to carry on

with the work assigned to them. Therefore, job-training

programs are essential to reducing anxiety and stress

associated when employees feel that they do not possess

sufficient skills or knowledge to perform the job that they were

hired for. Undergo periodic physical and psychological

examinations and personnel surveys to ascertain current stress

levels. Another alternative would be to provide personal

counseling to employees to identify undue stress levels and

then to advise any corrective measures.

Work stress places a very high toll on both employees and

employers. An employee subjected to high levels of stress could

experience both physical and mental side effects. Physical side

effects such as hypertension, coronary disease, infections,

ulcers could greatly decrease the lifespan of the person. The

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psychological effects such as repressed emotions, anger, and

isolation have a direct negative impact on organizational

productivity. Thus, organisations have a great responsibility in

reducing the stress of their employees, and in general are

concerned about their well being. There are numerous methods

to counter the stress problem. The report has cited only the

basics which are applicable to most organisations. The first step

for management is to set out the intention to reduce employee

stress as an organisational goal. Provisions detailing the

organisations planned approach should be drafted. Informing

employees of managements expectations is one method to

reduce a large portion of the anxiety employees may have

about their jobs. Secondly, management must provide

subordinates feedback on their performance. Management

should also provide job training for all employees to enable

them to better perform their jobs and reduce the stress

associated with the feeling of inadequacy to perform ones

duties.

Stress is one of the principal causes of lost productivity, social

breakdown and ill-health. Adverse pressures at work or in

social situations can cause it.

Stress is increasingly recognized as a health and safety at

work issue. Employers can now face claims in the civil courts

for damages for the breakdown of an employee's mental health.

There could also be additional employment related effects with

victims seeking compensation in the industrial tribunal courts

for unfair dismissal, for a detriment because of a stress-related

deterioration in their health or for having complained about

stress at work. The organizations main obligations are: to

ensure, under the Health and Safety at Work Act etc, as far

as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety at work of

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its employees, by ensuring that employees have a safe place of

work, safe equipment and appliances with which to work and

also a safe system of work to comply with health and safety

legislation appropriate to its workplace to carry out r isk

assessments (and this could increasingly be taken to include

stress audits) and put in place appropriate protective and

preventive measures as part of the risk assessment, it must

ensure that its employees receive proper instruction, training

and supervision and are kept fully informed of health and

safety issues which may affect them and the steps which they

should take to guard against health risks not to dismiss unfairly

employees with two or more years service, whether on health

grounds or otherwise not to dismiss or subject to a detriment,

employees, regardless of length of service, on specified health

and safety grounds.

In addition to the legal case, the business arguments for taking

care of an employee's mental health, of which unhealthy stress

is only one manifestation, include ethical considerations such as

respecting and valuing the individual, allowing for his or her

unique personality differences and allowing for balance between

corporate and private life so as to ensure continued health,

commitment and motivation.

Now a days new stress management course has also been

introduced. It aims at raising awareness of stress, its causes,

affects and techniques for managing it. Participants will identify

their own stressors and stressors in the organization prior to

forming a personal action plan to f irst cope with and then

reduce their stress levels.

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Participants will review the many potential daily stressors,

coming not only from physical events but also social situations,

our work, general l iv ing, our feel ings, our thoughts and

perceptions. Mostly these stressors are perceived to be in

balance. The response we generate can be both positive and

negative and is characterized by the scale of the perceived

importance. In order to survive, be energized and be creative.

It is when the balance is wrong, however, that difficu lties arise.

Everyone's response to stress will be different because each

individual is unique. So, a person who is a high achiever may

find it easier to cope with the pressures of an executive role

than someone whose expectations are in another direction, and

vice versa. Some people thrive in situations that others find

totally overwhelming. It is the degree of adoption that people

have to make to a situation, which determines whether they

react positively or negatively and find they either go forward or

fail to cope.

All pressure is not harmful. A certain amount of pressure can

enhance performance. But excessive, unrelenting negative

pressure results in individuals experiencing stress.

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Work stress is a very extensive topic ranging from research on

the sources of stress, the effects of stress, to ways on

managing and reducing stress.

This report will focus first on the effects of stress at work,

both mentally and physically. It will explain why management

should be concerned with rising employee stress and wil l

describe some actions management can take to alleviate work

stress. It will also focus on the different techniques of reducing

stress.

Objectives: -

This study will focus on Stress in an organization, fundamental

techniques of reducing stress, the cause of stress for

employees and managements role in reduction of stress in an

organization. It wil l also include the different models to

measure ones stress level.

Methodology:

Conceptual Base: To refer various management books

(Managing stress), HR Journals (HR Focus, Harvard Business

Review, and Human Capital)

Secondary Data:Management books, Internet, Consultants,

Academicians, Business Reviews

Primary Data: The project is basically a sample survey

conducted in NTPC. The motive of selecting this public sector

unit is due to its rapidly changing environment. The emphasis

was given on the quality of the questionnaire; the questionnaire

consisted of questions related to stress at various levels of

management, i ts optimum level, and degree of stress.

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Questionnaire consisted of sector specific questions on how to

deal with stress & its effect on productivity and job satisfaction.

CHAPTER-2

ABOUT THE ORGANISATION

NTPC - AN OVERVIEW

INTRODUCTION:National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd., (NTPC)

constitutes a mega national capabil ity in terms of power

generating utility in India and has also earned commendable

international recognition. The organization is owned by the

Government of India and has been accorded the 'NAVARATNA'

status by the Government of India. 'Navratna' means 'Nine

Gems'. Government of India gives this status to nine best

performing public sector units. This number has increased to

eleven. Amongst the eleven, the other ten are -

Indian Oil Corporation.(IOC)

Steel Authority of India Ltd.(SAIL)

Gas Authority of India Ltd.(GAIL)

Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd.(VSNL)

Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd.(BHEL)

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Oil & Natural Gas Corporation.(ONGC)

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd.(MTNL)

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd.(BPCL)

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd.(HPCL)

Indian Petrochemical Corporation Ltd.(IPCL)

NTPC is the only Navratna with 100% equity holding by the

government.

NTPC's ranking world-wide is as under :

1st in Power Generation Capacity in India.

3rd in Efficiency among Navaratnas in India.

7th in Capacity in Asia-Pacific.

9th in Thermal Power Generation in the world.

15 th in Power Generation in the World.

SOURCE: Seminar on 'Global Electricity Utility Benchmarking

1997' conducted by Market Line International Ltd.,U.K.

NTPC was established and authenticated in 1975, to

accelerate power development in India. Since then it has been

performing unscrupulously wel l, be it the fulfi llment of

corporate responsibil ity of not harming the society even

unintentionally by adding to pollution of the environment

through its by-products or consistent generation of reliable and

quality power.

The areas of operation of this premier enterprise may

broadly be outlined as engineering, procurement, construction,

project management, erection, commissioning, operation &

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maintenance. The company also executes transmission lines

and sub-station packages in India and abroad and has secured

several contracts from within the country and the international

market.

Over the past two and half years decades, NTPC has becomeIndia's prime power house. It has contributed 18,440 MW

electricity to the India's total generating capacity of 94,055 MW

power through 15 coal-based power plants and 7 gas-based

power plants. Another 3200 MW or more is under various

stages of construction. Thus, NTPC's capacity is 20% of the

total capacity of India. Its contribution to the total power

generation of India i.e.,4,48,406 MW is 1,13,840 MW which ismore than 25% of the total generation of India. NTPC

generates more than 1/4th of the total power generation of

India. That is why it is said that every fourth bulb is lighted by

NTPC.

NTPC added a capacity of 940 MW during the year 1998-

99. This addition is through Vindhyachal-II (500MW),

Kayamkulam (230MW) & Unchahar-II(210MW).

With this, the installed capacity of the corporation has

risen to 17,735MW plus 705MW of Badarpur Power Project ,

which makes the total installed capacity equal to 18,440MW.A

generating capacity of 1115MW is to be added during the year

1999-2000.

In India, electricity is produced through various resources

such as coal, gas, diesel, water, windmill, nuclear energy etc.

Out of which coal and gas contributes nearly 70%, water

contributes nearly 26% and other resources 4%. In this, NTPC

contributes only through coal and gas as much as 25.4% of the

total coal and gas power generating capacity of India. The first

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power station of NTPC was commissioned at Singrauli,

Sonebhadra district of U.P. with an installed capacity of 200MW,

in 1982.(Details of sector-wise contribution to India's total

power is given in Annexure-I and details of all the existing

projects and projects under construction of NTPC is given in

Annexure-II).

HIERARCHICAL STRUCTURE

The Registered Office of the Company also known as NTPC

Bhavan is located at Scope Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi.

The company is headed by Chairman & Managing Director

(CMD) with Functional Directors including Director (Technical),

Director (Personnel), Director (Finance), Director (Operation),

Director (Commercial) and Director (Projects). The CMD is also

assisted by General Manager (Planning) and Executive Director

(Vigilance) at the corporate level.

The company has 3-Tier Management Systems

namely:

1. Corporate Level Management

2. Regional Level Management

3. Different Site Level Management

At Corporate Level, the CMD heads its team of Directors and

is assisted by General Manager (Planning) and Executive

Director (Vigilance).

At Regional Level, the regions are headed by Executive

Directors, who intern report to CMD. There are in all 5 regions -

Eastern Region (ER), Western Region (WR), Northern Region

(NR), Southern Region (SR) and National Capital Region (NCR).

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At Site Level , the sites are under the direct control of General

Managers or Additional General Managers, who in turn report to

respective Executive Directors.

CORPORATE MISSION

NTPC's mission is to make available reliable and quality

power in increasingly large quantity. The company wil l

spearhead the process of accelerated development of the power

sector by planning and expeditiously implementing power

projects and operating stations economically and efficiently.

The company will augment its power generation through tie-ups

with other organizations in areas of conventional energy

sources as well as non-conventional energy sources. NTPC will

contribute to all-round sector improvement by sharing its

experience and expertise with other organizat ions. The

company will participate in the execution of power projects

abroad, i f necessary in col laboration with other reputed

organizations.

CORPORATE OBJECTIVES

To add generating capacity, within the prescribed time and

cost.

To operate and maintain power stations at high availability

ensuring minimum cost of generation.

To maintain the financial soundness of the company by

managing the financial operations in accordance with good

commercial utility practices.

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To develop appropriate commercial pol icy leading to

remunerative tariffs and minimum receivable.

To function as a responsible Corporate Citizen and discharge

responsibil ity in respect of environment protection and

rehabilitation.

To adopt appropriate Human Resources Development policy

leading to creation of a team of motivated and competent

power professionals.

To attain self-sufficiency in technology and disseminate

knowledge essentially as a contribution to other constituents

of the power sector in the country.

To develop Research and Development for achieving

improved plant reliability.

To expand the consultancy operations and to participate in

ventures abroad.

To participate in social justice and removing the social

inequality.

CORPORATE VISION

NTPC, a front runner in the Indian power sector; to be one

of the largest and best power utilities of the world; and thereby

contribute to India's emergence as one of the world's leading

economies.

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

The R & D center at Noida continues to play an important

role in economic power generation. The center has entered into

a MOU with Bhabha Atomic Research Center; Australian

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Government for a study on coal characteristics; Trireme

Institute for Industrial Research, Delhi; Central Mechanical

Engineering Research Institute (CMER), Durgapur and a number

of other organisation.

NTPC & THE GOVERNMENT

NTPC signed the Memorandum of Understanding with the

Government of India in 1987 for the first t ime. NTPC has

entered into a MOU with the government with commitment for

efficient performance and ensuring fair return to the

investment. The organisation has been rated "excellent" for

eleven consecutive years ever since the inception of MOU

system in the country.

QUALITY POWER

The Engineering Divis ion of the company has been

awarded ISO-9001 certification by the internationally reputed

certification body M/S Lloyd's Regatta Quality Assurance

Ltd.(LRQA),U.K. All stations of NTPC in the Western Region

located at Vindhyachal, Kawas, Jhanor-Gandhar, Korba and

Balco Captive Power Plant has also been awarded ISO-9002

certification by the Bureau of Indian Standards.

GREEN POWER

NTPC has taken a number of initiatives to improve the

performance of its stations in line with its environmental policy.

These include institutional strengthening, environmental

monitoring, environmental audit reviews, renovation and

retrofitting, ecological impact monitoring and afforestation. One

of the examples of this is ash utilization by changing it into fly

ash bricks.

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SOCIAL POWER

NTPC, as a responsible citizen, is making constant efforts

to improve the socio-economic status of Project Affected

Persons (PAPs).The PAPs are sensitized to the change in the

social matrix of the area through a greater consultation processby formation of Village Development Advisory Committees and

better transparency through establishment of Public

Information Center (PI). PAPs are encouraged to participate in

planning and implementation of Rehabilitation and Resettlement

(R & R) activit ies. For improving R & R activit ies, training

workshops are organized regular

POWER OF SKILL

NTPC's apex training organisation, the Power Management

Institute (PMI) at Noida, was set up to provide vital

management development support to meet the challenges in

the Indian power sector. It imparts high-end training through

its management development programs, research and

consultancy. PMI and the Training Centers at various projects

organized about 189 training programs covering nearly 4,170

participants during the year 1998-99. PMI has tied up with IIT,

Delhi for an accredited course in M.Tech in Power Generation

Technology and has plans for such tie-ups with other

universities for MBA in power management. Arrangements have

also been made to impart Power Engineering Graduation in

association with BITS, Pilani, for employees having Diploma in

Engineering.

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EMPLOYEE RELATIONSHIP

Employer-employee relations in NTPC continue to be

cordial and harmonious throughout the life of the organisation.

Bel ieving in the phi losophy of participate management,

employees at all level interact with the management throughstructured as well as informal meetings. MOU has been signed

with employee associations or unions for introduction or the

self-contributing Superannuation Benefit (Pension) Scheme.

The total human strength of the corporation stands at

23674 as on 31st March 1999, as against 23585 as on 1998 in

various power plants and establishment located in various parts

of the country. The overall Manpower-MW ratio for the year

1998-99 was 1:1.18. The turnover rate of the executives during

the year was as low as 0.81% compared to 1.28% during the

previous year.

FUTURE PLANS

The corporation has drawn up an ambitious plan for the new

millennium to become a 30,000 MW company by 2007 A.D. and

40,000 MW by 2012. NTPC has at present 16 projects in hand

to achieve this target.

THE OBJECTIVES

The study undertaken regarding the Organizational role stress

was to know about the major dimensions of stress which the

executives experience while performing their roles in the

organization. The primary objectives of the study thus

conducted with the help of National Thermal Power Corporation

are as under:

To identify and measure the ten dimensions of Role

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Stress as given below in NTPC:

1. Inter Role Distance (IRD)

2. Role Stagnation (RS)

3. Role Expectation Conflict (REC)

4. Role Erosion (RE)

5. Role Overload (RO)

6. Role Isolation (RI)

7. Personal Inadequacy (PI)

8. Self-Role Distance (SRD)

9. Role Ambiguity (RA)

10. Resource Inadequacy (RIn)

And further to identify the Role Stress, which is mostly

experienced by the executives in NTPC.

To study the variation of Role Stress in accordance with the

level of responsibility of executives in NTPC.

To study the variation of Role Stress in accordance with the

age of executives in NTPC.

Through this study an effort has been made to identify the

most prominent role stress among the executives in NTPC. Also

an assessment of the relationship of role stress with age and

level of responsibility has been made. This will help the HRD

department to deal with the prevalent situation.

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TO ENABLE OUR PEOPLE, TO BE AFAMILY OF COMMITTED WORLDCLASS PROFESSIONALS, MAKING

NTPC A LEARNING ORGANIZATION.

Performance Leadership

To continuously improve on project execution time andcost in order to sustain long run competitiveness in

generation.

To operate & maintain NTPC stations at par with the best-run uti lities in the world with respect to availabil ity,

reliability, efficiency, productivity and costs.

To effectively leverage Information Technology to drive

process efficiencies.

To aim for performance excellence in the diversification

businesses.

To embed quality in all systems and processes.

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Human Resource Development:

To enhance organizational performance by

institutionalizing an objective and open performance

management system.

To align individual and organizational needs and develop

business leaders by implementing a career developmentsystem.

To enhance commitment of employees by recognizing and

rewarding high performance.

To build and sustain a learning organization of competent

world-class professionals.

To institutionalize core values and create a culture ofteam building, empowerment, equity, innovation and

openness which would motivate employees and enableachievement of strategic objectives.

Financial Soundness:

To maintain and improve the financial of NTPC by prudentmanagement of the financial resources.

To continuously str ive to reduce the cost of capitalthrough prudent management of deployed funds,

leveraging opportunities in domestic and international

financial markets.

To develop appropriate commercial policies and processes

which would ensure.

Remunerative tariffs and minimize receivables. To continuously strive for reduction in cost of power

generation by improving operating practices.

Sustainable Power Development:

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To contribute to sustainable power development bydischarging corporate social responsibilities.

To lead the sector in the areas of resettlement andrehabil itation and environment protection including

effective ash-utilization, peripheral development and

energy conservation practices.

To lead developmental efforts in the Indian power sector

through efforts at policy advocacy, assisting customers inreform, disseminating best practices in the operation and

management of power plants etc.

CORPORATE OBJECTIVES

To realize the vision and mission, eight key corporate objectives

have been identified. These objectives would provide the link

between the defined mission and the functional strategies.

Business Portfolio growth:

To further consolidate NTPCs position as the leadingpower generation company in India and establ ish a

presence hydropower segment.

To broad base the generation mix by evaluation

conventional and non-conventional sources of energy to

ensure long run competitiveness and mitigate fuel risks.

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To diversify across the power value chain in India byconsidering backward and forward integration into areas

such as power trading, transmission, distribution, coal

mining, coal beneficiation, etc.

To develop a portfolio of generation assets in international

markets.

To establish a strong services brand in the domestic and

international markets.

Customer Focus:

To foster a collaborative style of working with customers,growing to be a preferred brand for supply of quality

power.

To expand the relationship with existing customers byoffering a bouquet of services in addition to supply of

power e.g. trading, energy consult ing, distr ibut ionconsulting, management practices.

To expand the future customer portfolio through profitablediversification into downstream businesses, inter alia

retail distribution and direct supply.

To ensure rapid commercial decis ion making, using

customer specific information, with adequate concern forthe interests of the customer.

Agile Corporation:

To ensure effectiveness in business decis ions andresponsiveness to changes in the business environment

by:

Adopting a portfolio approach to new business

development.

Continuous and coordinate assessment of the business

environment to identify and respond to opportunities andthreats.

To develop a learning co-organization having knowledge-based competitive edge in current and future businesses.

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To effectively leverage Information Technology to ensure

speedy decision-making across the organization.

EMPLOYEE BENEFIT

1. LEAVE TRAVEL CONCESSION

All employees & their family member employed in the regular

establ ishment including a probationer, a l ien holder, a

deputationist, and a person appointed on contract for a periodof two years or more, with one years continuous service.

ENTITLEMENT:

Entitle Class means the class and mode of travel applicable as

per traveling allowance rules of the company subject to thecondition that the travel by air or 1st class AC by rail

permissible to employees in the grade of E6 and above.

2. MEDICAL ATTENDENCE & TREATMENT RULES:

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Applicability

All regular employees, trainees and apprentices (other than Actapprentices) and their family members.

TREATMENT AT PLACES WHERE FULL FLEDGEDCOMPANY HOSPITALS/DISPENSARIES EXIST.

All employees and their family members are entitled to free

medical attendance and treatment in NTPChospitals/Dispensaries

3. ENCASHMENT OF EARNED LEAVE

Admissible to all regular employees

75% of total EL is treated as encashable.

4. HALF PAY LEAVE

Executive, supervisor & workmen are entitled to HPL @ 20 daysper calendar year

HPL is not admissible to Trainees/ apprentices and employee on

contact

Half pay for this purpose means half of the basic day. All other

allowance are paid in full.

5. Admissible Benefits/Facilities

The sponsored employee is normally expected to stay in the

accommodation available with institution where study is

undertaken. However if any accommodation is not provided by

the institute, some assistance towards HRA as prescribed underthe riled in lieu may be sanctioned.

Examination fee

Traveling allowance

All of pocket allowance

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6. REIMBURSMENT OF MEMBERSHIP FEES FORPROFESSIONAL BODIES/ INSTITUTES

Reimbursement of membership fees for professional

bodies/Institutes is admissible to executives in respect of

professional bodies/ Institutes duly registered in India or setupunder and act/statue in India and which is relevant to the

concerned executive profession/ field of work and allied field.The scheme provides for reimbursement of

membership/admission fee and annual/periodic institutes for

which the reimbursement may be allowed is limited to two incase of executives in the rank of managers and above and one

for executive in the ranks of deputy manager and below.

7. INTERNET CONNECTION IN LIEU OFMEMBERSHIP OF PROFESSIONALBODIES/INSTITUTES:

To assist executives and employees in selection grade in theirprofessional development and to make NTPC a learning

organization, it has been decided to reimburse charges forinternet connection at residence on production of proof ofpayment subject to a maximum of Rs 2000/- per annum, in lieu

of one membership of professional body/ Institutes

8) EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT SCHEMES

The company provides opportunities and facilities to employees

to obtain the following qualification:

Qualification equivalent to class 8th

Qualification equivalent to Matric

Qualification equivalent to Graduation.

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9) Workers Education Scheme

The scheme operated in collaboration with the central board ofworkers education, covers all employees in the workman

category irrespective of their educational qualification.

Books and stationary are provided free of cost to all the

participants in the program. Thirty minutes times off per day isgiven for attending classes. On the successful completion of the

course the participants are awarded certificates to that effect.The participants adjusted first second and third best trainees

are given cash awards from Rs 51/- to 201/-

EMPLOYEE SERVICES

HR DEPARTMENT act as employer of the organization on the

behalf of the management. The functions dealt by hr rangesfrom recruitment to provide training to regularizing various

entitlements of employees to provide training to regularizing

various entitlements of employees, marinating good employeerelation, welfare practices, implementation of various HR

initiatives of the company, furniture and sitting space toemployees, providing residential accommodation to employees

company school, guest house, ladies club, Liason with RWA andpartic ipate in various activ ities concerned with social

responsibility of the company.

1. HR Employees Benefits

2. HR Employees Services3. HR Employees Relation and Welfare

4. HR Industrial Engineering and Employee Development5. Public Relations

6. Law Section

7. Raj- Bhasha8. Corporate Social Responsibility

9. HR Employee Development Centre

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VARIOUS HR SECTION AT BTPS

An employee services is an important section of HRdepartment which provides the employees at BTPS a variety ofservices in order to them perform their duties to their level

best. We did our training in HR department and tried to analyze

the services environment over there. The various servicesprovided by this section are as follows:

House Allotment

Lease

Tele Communication

Dispatch

BTPS Canteen

Stationary and Furniture

Meeting and function arrangements

Rent payment for employees houses

HOUSE ALLOTMENT

House allotment facil ity is one of the employees servicesprovided to the employees at BTPS by the HR department. This

facility can be availed by every according to hid entitlement.

This is one interest of the employees that whether they want toavail the facility or not.

LEASE

House accommodation facil ity at BTPS is provided to both

Exercise as well as non-executives.

In case, if the employees have their own house or wants to live

outside the premises of the company then

The executives can take lease instead of the

accommodation provided to them by the company

And the non-executives are g iven HRA(house rentallowance) in place of house accommodation facility.

WHAT IS LEASE

Lease is the contract of house or accommodation for a given

period of time.

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TELECOMMUNICATION

BTPS provides its employees with the communication facility

that varies for different level of employees.

The basic communication facility provided by BTPS is to all level

employee, offices, departments, townships, CISF security andall the other areas within its premises is the intercom facility,

communication becomes so easy and the time factor is saved toa great extent.

Videoconferencing and fax are also included in the services

provided by HR-ES at BTPS to i ts enti tled employees.

Videoconferencing at BTPS has been made possible though BRIlines.

A part from intercom facility all the executives and above arealso provided with the landline and mobile facility according to

the entitlements. Lower level executive are provided with thecell phone and landline fac ili ties whi le the upper level

executives can procure both mobile phones as well as landlinefacility.

DISPATCH

Dispatch is one of the major services provided by the HRES.

This is an important medium, which facilitates communicationboth externally as well as internally to it and in the station. The

important mails are delivered to departments and concerned

people through messengers specially employed for the purpose.

Various types of documents are received as well as dispatched.The documents includes

Postal

Official Non-official

Registry

Speed Post

Parcel

Courier

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EMPLOYEE RELATION AND WELFARE

This department handle; the relation of industrial relation andwelfare of employees and workers. Employee relations may be

defined as those policies and practices, which are concerned

with the management and regulation of relations between theorganization, the individual, staff member and group of staff

within the working environment. So employee relations is allabout maintaining harmonious relationships between employers

and employees and employees. Employee relation strategy in

the company is aimed at foster ing a maintaining a goodrelationship based on concern for productivity, employee

growth and development and welfare consistent with thegrowth of the company. In conducting industrial relations the

management lay emphasis in participative style involving the

union/association for sharing of information and participation indecision making. Suitable forums are created for various

interest groups to interact on matters on mutual concern andthus develop a sense of participation and belongings to the

organization in the day to day working. Every employees is

given importance and a status in order to gives feeling of beingimportant and a status in order to gives feeling of being

important to the organization in achieving the organizationalgoals and objectives:

Sound employees relation are based on:

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Effective mechanism for communication and participation.

A safe effective work environment.

Commitment and motivation of all staff.

Objectives of this department

To safeguard the interest of labor and management byfostering highest level of misunderstanding and good will

among different section of the plant.

To avoid industrial conf lict or strife and developharmonious relations which are essential for productivity

of workers.

To lessen the tendency of high turn over and frequentabsenteeism.

Participants of employee relations are:

Workers and their organization

Manders and their association

Government

This department also handles misconduct of employees,

which includes loss, waste of companys property,

misbehaving with peers, superiors or subordinates when

an employee disrupts the office with aggressiveness and

abusive behavior affecting the morale and performance

of others, an employee has a leave abusive problem or

other time and attendance problem. Theft, violence and

conviction of a criminal offence during the course of

employment and willful disobedience to reasonable

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employer requests have been kind of conduct, which gas

traditionally been viewed as serious conduct

Minor conducts are handled by giving warnings and memos.If the misconduct is of medium nature, is a charge sheet is

prepared against the person and an enquiry committee is set

up for investigation, after the completion of which thepunishment is decided. If the misconduct is of serious

nature, the person is suspended and then a charge sheet isprepared against the person and an enquiry committee is

set-up for investigation, after the completion of which may

be dismissed.

CHAPTER-4

ABOUT STRESS

"Stress is very much a part of a manager's job. He must learn

not only to cope with it, but use it to help him work better".

Modern life is full of stress. As an organisation becomes more

complex, the potential for stress increases. Urbanization,

industrialization, and increase in scale of operations are some

of the reasons for r is ing stress. Stress is an inevitable

consequence of socio-economic complexity and to some extent

it is a stimulant as well. People experience stress, as they can

no longer have complete control over what happens in their

lives. Theyre being no escape from stress in modern life; we

need to find ways of using stress productively, and reducing

dysfunctional stress. Even as stress is inevitable in today's

complex life, so is it necessary for human progress. It is like a

musical instrument, where an optimum stress is needed to

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produce good music, loose wires ( less stress) would not

produce the notes and too much tautness (too much stress)

might result in screeching.

A distinction has been made between productive or functional

stress (stress for creative work, entrepreneurial activities etc.)and dysfunctional stress (stress of boredom, unmanageable

conflicts, over worker etc. the former has been called estruses

and the latter distress.

Rapid industrialization and mechanization have changed the

way of life of humans at home and at work. The corporate rat

race is made to order to rattle people. More and more

executives are suffering from stress and stress-induced

problems like hypertension, increased turnover, absenteeism,

decreased productivity etc. this has created a lot of panic. It is

thus necessary to understand executive stress. A manger's role

is essentially to get resources from owners, work from the

worker and convert the resources and work into results. This

role looks very simple. But in practice it is very complicated

because neither the resources nor the work is given - it has to

be extracted. Thus, i t is said, 'if you are going to be a

manager, you will have to face tension. If you do not want

tension, be a consultant". Tension or stress is thus inevitable

for a manager.

An organization, two individuals may be identical regarding

their position, but may differ in terms of the abilities, motives,

moods and above all the personality as a whole. These persona

differences interact with organizational factors and create

predisposing conditions for stress experiences that may

influence the overall performance of the individual.

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ROLE STRESS

Interest in organizational stress has increased a great deal in

recent years. There has been a spate of writings on managerial

and executive stress.

Researchers came with the definition of role as the position

occupied by a person as def ined by the expectations of

significant persons, including the role occupant, indicates that

there are inherent problems in the performance of a role, and

therefore stress is inevitable.

Since the concept of role is inextricably linked with expectations, the organizational factors and context assume

importance due to their influence on the moulding of

prescriptions and proscriptions associated with a particular,

position. These could be looked upon as structural components

organizational processes. Authoritative organizational structure

and control systems area potent source of stress as they are

seen to breed dependency, afford little scope for initiative ancreativity in role enactment and channelize behaviors along

narrowly defined paths.

In the concept of role proposed above, several variables are

involved he self, the other roles, the expectations held by the

other roles, the situations in which there is no conflict among

the variables. The very nature of role has built in potential for

conflict these variables. The very nature of role has built in

potential for confl ict or stress. Thus conflict is a natural

variable in role performance. Kann an Quinn ( 1970) have

proposed a response inferred definition of stress and an

experiments or noxious stimulus with general results in

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psychological change, behavioral change, perceptual cognitive

change, affective change an in both overt and intrapsychic

coping efforts. Role conflict has been defined in terms, of

conflicting expectations. The main characteristic of conflict is

the incompatibility of some variables relating to the role of an

individual which many have some consequences for the

individuals role performance. The word strain has been used

in the literature to denote the effect of stress on the individual.

The word pressure has also been used. Buck

(1972) defines job pressure as the resultant psychological

state of the individual when the perceives that (1) conflicting

forces and incompatibility commitments are being made uponhim in connection with his work, (2) at least one of the forces

of demands is an induced one, and (3) the forces and recurrent

or stable over time. Several studies have shown that role stress

or pressure is very bad for mental and physical health.

Although conflict, role and stain have been given different

connotations, we do not f ind any use in making such finer

distinctions, and shall use them interchangeably.

Role conflict or stress need not necessarily be negative. As

Klausner (1968) has suggested, success in business, sports,

and politics depends on stress-seeking tendency. Kiretz and

Moos (1974) have proposed three factors in the effect of

stress: kind of adjustment required, perception of control over

stress-source, and valence (loss-for example in death, vs. gain

for example, in marriage or business). Bernard (21968)

proposed two types of stress: dystress (unpleasant stress)

and estruses (pleasant stress). Stress is a necessary factor in

the success of people in organizations. However, if the stress

experienced goes beyond a particular level, it may adversely

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affect the individuals performance and psychological and

physical health.

Several systems of classification have been used to discuss role

conflict and stress. Kahn and Quinn (1970) have classified role

stress under tree main headings: expectation generated stressin which they inc lude role ambiguity and role confl ict:

expectations resource discrepancies, in which they include role

overload, responsibility-authority dilemma and inadequate

technical information; and role and personality. We find it more

functional to use the two main role constellations as areas of

conflict and stress.

Marshall and Cooper (1979) have suggested seven sources and

therefore classification of managerial stress: (1) job (working

conditions, overload) (2) Organisational role (role ambiguity,

role conflict, responsibility, etc.), (3) relationships at work

(relationships with superiors, relationships with colleagues (4)

career development (lack of job security, status incongruity),

(5) Organizational structure and climate (7) the individual

(psychometric characteristics, behavior patterns, self-help

literature).

In view of the two proposed concepts of role systems (role

space and role set), we shall discuss role conflicts or stress

under these two categories. Five main role stresses or conflicts

in the role space of an individual have been identified.

1.

Self-role distance:This is the conflict between the self-

concept and the expectations from the role as perceived by

the role occupant. If a person occupies a role, which he may

subsequently find conflicting with his self-concept, he feels

the stress. For example, a usually introvert person, who is

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fond of studying and writing, may have self-role distance if

he accepts the role of a salesman in an organization and

come to realize that the expectations from the roles would

include his meeting people and being social. Such conflicts

are fairly common, although these may not be so severe.

2. Intra-role conflict: Since the individual learns to

develop expectations as a result of his socialization and

identification with significant others, it is quite likely that he

sees some incompatibility between the two expectations from

his own role. For example, a professor may see

incompatibi li ty between the expectations of teaching

students and that of doing research. These inherently maynot be conflicting but the individual may perceive these as

incompatible. .

3. Role Stagnation: As the individual grows physically, he

also grows in the role he occupies in an organisation. With

the advancement of the individual, his role changes and with

this change in role, the need for his taking his new role

becomes crucial. This is the problem of role growth. This

becomes an acute problem especially when an individual has

occupied a role for a long time, and he enters another role in

which he may feel less secure. However, the demand of the

new role is for the individual to out-grow his previous role

and occupy the new role effectively. This produces some

stress in the individual.

Role stagnation also includes stress related to career

progression. Marshall and Cooper (1979) have commented on

this type of stress in the American context. A lot of this is true

of India, as Marshall and Cooper (1979) have commented,

career progression is perhaps a problem by its nature. At

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middle age, and usually middle-management levels, career

becomes more problematic and most executives find their

progress slowed, if not actually stopped. Job opportunities

become fewer, those jobs that are available take longer to

master, past (mistaken?) decisions cannot be revoked, old

knowledge and methods become obsolete, energies may be

flagging or demanded for family activities and there is the

press of fresh young recruits to face in competition.

The fear of demotion or obsolescence can be strong for those

who know they have reached their career coiling and most

will inevitably suffer some erosion of status before they finally

retire.

From the company perspective, on the other hand, McMurray

(1973) puts the case for not promoting to a higher position if

there is doubt that the employee can fill it. In a syndrome he

labels the executive neurosis, he describes the over-promoted

manager as grossly over working to keep down a top job, and

at the same time hide his insecuri ty, and points to the

consequences of this for his work performance and the

company. Age is no longer revered as it was it is becoming a

young mans world. The rapidity with which society is

developing technologically economically and socially) is likely to

mean that individuals will now need to change career during

their working life (as companies and products are having to

do). Such trends breed uncertainty and research suggests that

older workers look for stability. Unless managers adapt their

expectations to suit new circumstances career development

stress, especially in later life, is likely to become an

increasingly common experience.

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4. Inter-role Distance: An individual occupies more than

one role. There may be confl icts between two roles he

occupies. For example, an executive often faces the conflicts

between his organizational role as an executive and his

family role as the husband and the father. The demands

from his wife and chi ldren to share h is time may be

incompatible with the organizational demands on him for

spending a lot of time on Organisational problems. Such

inter-role conflicts are quite frequent in modern society when

the individual is increasingly occupying multiple roles in

various organisations and groups.

Marshall and Cooper (1979) have mentioned two problemsregarding managers relationships with his family and wife:

time and spillover of stress from one to the other. Rappel and

Paul (1971) found that the majority of wives in their middle-

class sample saw their role in relation to their husbands job as

a cooperative, domestic one; all said that they derived their

sense of security from their husbands (only two men said the

same of their wives). Barber (1976) interviewing five directorswives finds similar attitudes. Gowler and Legge (1975) have

dubbed this bond the hidden contract in which the wife agrees

to act as a supportive team so that her husband can fill the

demanding job to which he aspires. Handy (1975) supports the

idea that this is typical, and that it is the path to career

success for the manager concerned.

5. Role Boundness: If an individual feels highly obligated

to the expectations of significant role senders, and sacrifices

his own interests, preferences, values, comforts etc., he may

be said to be role bounded. He may experience the conflict

between his tendency to live as a person, and live as a role. For

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example, in the traditional Indian homes, the boys experienced

the conflict between their son role and their living as persons

giving preferences to their son role. Indian culture promoted

such role bounded ness. .

Role Set Conflicts

An individual occupying a particular role may have some

expectations from his role. Interacting with him (role senders)

may have quite d ifferent expectations from him. Such

incompatible expectations and other problems arising in the

role set are called role set stress or conflicts. Some of these

discussed below.

As Marshal and Cooper (1979) have pointed out, role ambiguity

exists when an individual has inadequate information about his

work role, i.e. where there is lack of clarity about the work

objectives associated with the role, about work colleagues'

expectation of the work role and about the scope and

responsibilities of the job. Kahn, Wolfe, Quinn, Snoek and

Rosenthal (1964) found in their study that men who suffered

from role ambiguity experienced lower job satisfaction, high

job-related tension, greater futility and lower self-confidence.

French and Caplan (1973) found, at one of NASA's bases, in a

sample of 205 volunteer engineers, scientists and

administrators, that role ambiguity was significantly related to

low job satisfaction and to feelings of job-related threat to

one's mental and physical well-being. This also related to

indicators of physiological strain such as increased blood

pressure and pulse rate. Margolis, Kroes and Quinn (1974) also

found a number of significant relationships between symptoms

or indicators of physical and mental i ll health with role

ambiguity in their representative national sample (n-1496). The

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stress indicators related to role ambiguity were depressed

mood, lowered self-esteem life dissatisfaction, job

dissatisfaction, low motivation to work and intention to leave

the job. Whilst these were not very strong statistical

relationships they were significant and do indicate that lack of

role clarity may be one among many potential stresss at work.

Kahn (1973) feels that it is now time to separate out distinctive

elements of role ambiguity for individual treatment (just as he

and his research team have done for 'overload' and

'responsibil ity'). He suggests that two components are

involved; those of present, and future-prospects ambiguity

(much of the material he assigns to the latter is here includedunder 'role stagnation').

2. Role overload: When the role occupant feels that there

are too many expectations from the significant roles in his role

set, he experiences 'role overload'. They measured this stress

by asking questions about the feeling of people whether they

could possibly finish work given to them during the modified

work day and whether they felt that amount of work they did

might interfere with how well it was done. Most of the

executive role occupants experience role overload. Kahn and

Quinn (1970) have suggested some conditions under which role

overload is likely to occur. According to them, role overload is

l ikely to occur more in the absence of mechanism of role

integration, in the absence of power of role occupants, in the

large variations in the expected output and when delegation or

assistance cannot procure more time.

Marshall and Cooper (1979) have summarised the recent work

on quantitative and qualitative overload. Quantitative refers to

having 'too much to do' while qualitative means work that is

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'too difficult'. (The complementary phenomena of quantitative

and qualitative underload are also hypothesized as potential

source of stress but with l ittle or no supportive research

evidence). Miller (1969) has theorized that 'overload' in most

systems leads to breakdown, whether we are dealing with

single biological cells or individuals in organizations. In an early

study French and Chaplain (1970) found that objective

quantitative overload was strongly linked to cigarette smoking

(a sign of tension and risk factor in CHD). Persons with more

phone calls, office visits and meetings per given unit of work

time were found to smoke significantly more cigarettes than

persons with fewer such engagements. In a study of 100 young

coronary patients Russek and Zohman (1958) found that 25%

had been working at two jobs and an addit ional 45% had

worked at jobs which required (due to work overload) 60 or

more hours per week. They add that although prolonged

emotional strain proceeded the attack in 91% of the cases

similar stress was only observed in 20% of the controls.

Breslow and Buell (1960) have also reported findings which

support a relationship between hours of work and death from

coronary diseases. In an investigation of mortality rates of men

in California they observed that workers in light industry under

the age of 45 who are in the job more than 48 hours a week

have twice the risk of death from CHD compared with similar

workers working 40 or under hours a week. Another substantial

investigation on quantitative workload was carried out by

Margolis, Kroes and Quinn (1974) on a representative national

sample of 1496 employed persons aged 16 or older. They fond

that overload was s igni ficantly related to a number of

symptoms or indictors of stress; escapist drinking, absenteeism

from work, low motivation to work, lowered self-esteem and an

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viewed in isolation but as relative to the individual's capacities

and personality.

4. Role Isolation: In role stress, the role occupant may feel

that certain roles are psychologically near to him, while

some other roles are at a distance. The main criterion ofrole-role distance of frequency and ease interaction. When

linkages are strong, the role-role distance will be low. In the

absence of strong linkage, the role-role distance can

therefore, be measured in terms of existing and desired

linkages. The gap between the desired and the existing

linkages will indicate the amount of distance between the

two roles.

Marshall and Cooper (1979) have suggested one main source of

managerial stress connected with relationships at work. French

and Caplan (1973) define poor relations as those which include

low trust, low supportiveness and low interest in listening to

and trying to deal with problems that confront the

organizational member. The most notable studies in this area

are by Kahn, et al. (1964), French and Caplan (1970) and Buck

(1972). Both the Kahn, et al. and French and Caplan studies

came to roughly the same conclusion that mistrust of persons

one worked with was positively related to high role ambiguity

which led to inadequate communications between people and to

psychological strain in the form of low job satisfaction and to

feel ing of job-related threat to one's wel l being. It was

interesting to note, however, in the Kahn, et al. study that poor

relations with one's subordinates was significantly related to

feelings of threat with colleagues and superiors but not in

relationship to threat with subordinates.

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Buck (1972) focused on the attitude and relationship of workers

and managers to their immediate boss using Fleishman's

leadership questionnaire on consideration and initiating

structure. The consideration factor was associated with

behaviors indicative of friendship. He found that those workers

who felt that their boss was low on 'consideration' reported

feeling more job pressure. Workers who were under pressure

reported that their boss did not give them criticism in helpful

way, played favorites with subordinates and 'pulled rank' and

took advantage of them whenever they got a chance. Buck

concludes that the 'lack of considerate behaviour of supervisors

appears to have contributed significantly to feelings of job

pressure.

4. Role Erosion: A role occupant may feel that some

functions which he would like to perform are being performed

by some other role. The stress felt may be called 'role erosion'.

Role erosion is the subjective feeling of an individual that some

important role expectations he has from his role do not match

with the expectations other roles have for him. Role erosion islikely to be experienced in an organisation which is redefining

its role an creating new roles. In several organisations which

were redefining their structure, the stress of role erosion was

inevitably felt. In one organization, one role was abolished and

two roles were created to cater to the executives and planning

needs. This led to a great stress in the role occupants of both

roles who experienced role erosion.

5. Role inadequacy: Role inadequacy refers to two types of

feelings; a) that the role occupant does not have adequate

resources to perform the role effectively, and (b) that he is not

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fully equipped (lacks internal resources) for ef fective

performance of the role.

ROLE STRESS

It is an attempt to compared the organizational role stress

among executives of the Personnel and Administration

department of the Corporate Office of three Public Sector

Organisations, namely Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL),

Engineers India Limited (EIL), and Indian Oil Corporation

Limited (IOC). An attempt was also made to the respondents

were classified according to their designation categories -

senior managers, middle managers and junior managers of the

middle management - as specific to the hierarchical positions in

their respective organisations. Such a classif ication was

basically made to find out whether it was the position of the

respondents in the organizat ional hierarchy which was

contributing to the stress to the individuals.

According to Srivastava , and Sen. (1995), stress results from

a combination of various individual characteristics (such as age,

achievement need, type of personality) and organizational

stresses (role conflict, role ambiguity). Stress may also result

from a variety of organizational, supervisory, individual, and

work factors. Kahn, Wolfe, Quinn, Snock, and Rosenthal(1964)

identified two primary factors of organizational stress, nearly

role ambiguity and role conflict. Selye (1956), the father of

modern stress, defined stress as the non-specific response of

the body to any demand made upon it. McMichael (1978)

defined it in terms of the product of a dynamic mismatch

between an individual and his or her physical, social, and

psychological environment. Stress, in general, is the

psychological or physiological reaction that occurs when people

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perceive an imbalance between the demands placed upon them

and their capacity to met those demands, and stress, specific

to work environments, is the reaction of individuals to new or

threatening factors in their work environment. The personality

characteristics of the individual, the environmental

characteristics, i.e., the stimulus of the external force active on

the organism, and the person environment interaction, i.e., the

overall prevail ing ethos of interpersonal behaviors - it is

contended that stress can originate from an o these factors or

in combinations thereof. In other words, it originates from

organizational demands, which are experiences by a individual.

Recent reviews of literature have examined variousorganizational variables and their effects on work stress. These

include factors intrinsic to the job (e.g. boredom, information

overload, time pressures, etc.) role in the regularization (e.g.

under promotion, over-promotion, lack of security, etc.) and

organizational climate (lack of participation, pressures towards

conformity, etc). the person-environment paradigm emphasizes

the view that having too l ittle to do is as stressful for theindividual as being overloaded with work. As an individual

phenomenon, stress is a personal response to a certain

variation in the environment.

Singh and Singh (1992), say that in an organization, two

individuals may be identical regarding their position, but may

differ in terms of the abilities, motives, moods and above all

the personality as a whole. These personal differences interact

with organizational factors and create predisposing conditions

for stress experiences that may influence the overall

performance of the individual. Another important dimension of

the organization is its psychological atmosphere i.e., its

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climate. organizational climate has been studied in terms of

those characteristics that distinguish the organization from

other organizations and that influence the behaviour of people

in the origination. Each organization differs from the other not

only in structure but also in the attitudes and behaviour it

elicits in people. Litwin and Stringer (1968) stated that

organizational climate refers to a set of measurable properties

of the work environment, perceived directly or indirectly by the

people who live and work in its environment and assume to

influence motivation and behaviour of the employee. They

identif ied nine dimensions of organizational climate viz.

structure, responsibil ity, reward, r isk, warmth, support,

conflict, identity and standards.

According to study by Ahmed and Jha (1989), human beings

prefer jobs that possess characteristics like variety, autonomy,

and task significance. Increased participation in decision

making have a significant negative effect on role conflict and

role ambiguity. Social support also plays a moderating role in

reducing individual stress. In other words, persons with highsocial support are assumed to express a lower stress-strain

relationship. Their study also revealed that the employees

lower in the organizational hierarchy experience more stress

and strain but less supervisory support than the employees

higher in to hierarchy. The employees who had risen from lower

ranks (those of workers, for example) have little experience of

manpower -management, need to drive hard to achieve targetsset by management, and are also influenced by the workers

unions. The employees in the higher grades, however, do not

have to face such situations.

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The stress an individual expresses as a result of the fact that

there are too many expectations, regarding his or her role,

from the significant others in his role set.

Bharti, Nagarathnamma, and Reddy (1991) and Ahmad and

Khanna (1992) found that occupational stress was significantlyrelated to job satisfaction: greater stress accompanied with

lower satisfaction. However, the latter study also found that

occupational stress was negatively related with job

involvement. According to Venna (1993) the factors, which can

affect the development of tension in Public Sector Units

employees, may either be personal and /or environmental.

Personal factors are those factors which are related to theindividual e.g. age, sex, intelligence, physical ability, et.

Environmental factors are those factors, which are related to

the surroundings of the individual e.g. family, culture, job

environment, etc.

Stress is the most frequently used word in the workplace today,

raising tempers, lowering productivity, and having an insidious

impact on both morale and bottomlines. According to

Chakraborty, Director of Management Centre for Human Values

at the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, values in

corporations have collapsed, and stress is a repercussion of

that. In other words, if the values are put back into corporate

life, the stress will disappear Bose 1996). According to Selye,

top stressors at work include, overload, deadline pressures,

demanding bosses, non-performing juniors, competitive pairs,

excessive touring, domestic disharmony. Most of all, it is the

increasing uncertainty in today's corporate world that is leading

to so much executive stress. Another factor that can badly

stress employees whether they feel useful n a organization or

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peripheral. To really bring about long-term stress relief, it will

mean acknowledging that stress will be constant companion

demanding constant attention (Bose 1996).

A 1993 study by Northwestern National Life Insurance Company

concluded that job stress generally is a consequence of two keyingredients: a high level of job demands and little control over

one's work. An atmosphere where employees are empowered,

where they have more control over how they perform their

work, reduces the risk of burnout and stress considerably

(Froiland 1993), Bharti, Nagarathnamma, and Reddy (1991)

found that occupational stress was significantly related to job

stupefaction: Greater stress accompanied with lowersatisfaction. Organizational stress originates from

organizational demands, which are experienced by an

individual.

Srivastava, Hagtavet and Sen (1994) fond that middle

managers suffer maximally in organizational role stress and

anxiety, followed by workers and top managers. The liability or

difficulty in meeting the various expectations caused stress.

The study also revealed that the same stressful event can be

perceived quite differently by top mangers, middle managers,

and even by workers, this perception may depend on what the

situation means to individuals at their own level. An evaluation

of the situation by each of them in relation to themselves

determines the degree of stress they face. Stress-in terms of

adverse effect, its cost to human resources, material, and

progress- is tremendous. Management within an organization

should function so as to maximize the coordination of human

resources and work system and to minimize conflict.

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care skills (eating well, staying physically fit, not smoking and

maintaining a desirable weight) that are at the core of most

stress-management programs, actually have a negligible effect

on people's ability to cope with work pressures and rapid

change. According to the findings of Essi Systems inc. (ESI) in

San Francisco, a stress-research consulting firm, the only factor

with any significant impact on a person's ability to withstand

work pressures is what Esther Orioli President (ESI) calls

"Personal Power" - having control over your time, resources,

important information, work load and so on. According o him

it's not the volume of work or work demand that makes people

sick, it is the extent to which they feel they (lack) control over

their work and their workplace. As the pace and intensity of

work increases, so does the need for control.

In order to tackle the organizational aspects effectively,

researchers recommend the use of stress audits like:

Redesign the task

Analyze the work roles and establish goals

Include the employee in career development.

It is, therefore, not surprising that faced with the complex

nature of stress and how to deal it, it is difficult to answer the

questions about the effectiveness of stress management.

Furthermore, adding this complex organizational picture to the

already complex make-up of the individual, the question

becomes even harder to answer. There is, however, enough

evidence to work on the premise that well carried out stress

management interventions by appropriately quali fied

practitioners are beneficial for the individual and organization.

Employees need to be made more aware of the issues to make

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informed decisions about investment in stress management. For

them, the effective stress management is one that will reduce

or minimize role ambiguity and role expectation conflict, thus

minimizing absenteeism and premature retirement, and will

maximize employee productivity and leading to increased

company profits.

Personality Characteristics

Play an important role n the development of stress. Jenkins

(1971) arrived at a coronary prone Behavioural pattern.Individuals who are subject to this syndrome are characterized

by extreme competitiveness, an urge to achieve, aggression,

haste, impatience, restlessness, hyperlaterness, tension and

time pressure.

Roserman and Friedman called this mental and behavioral

pattern, the type A behavior. Some psychologists feel that this

type of behavioral is an extreme variant of what is socially

highly recommended and positively rewarded. Other think that

Type-A behavior is dysfunctional and tat the better jobs are

only for the quiet, detached, contemplative Type -B (Mathews,

1982).

Glass (1977) has theorized that A -types demonstrate hyper-

responsiveness with regard to challenging situations, meaning

that they always expose themselves to fight situations. If they

fail to succeed, they will, much more so than B-types, start to

achieve less and experience learned helplessness. Luzarus

found that the way in which a person interprets a situation is of

great importance for the occurrence or non-occurrence of stress

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problems. The interpretation of a situation is related to an

individuals personality structure. A very competitive person will

regard a situation in which he had the worst of it as more

threatening than someone who is not competitive.

Other personality characteristics which are of significance instress research are rigidity, conformism, suppression of

aggression, dogmatism, authoritarianism, internal versus

external control etc. (Winnubst, 1984).

Role Overload

It is described as a condition in which the individual is faced

with a set of obligations which require him to do more than he

is able to in the time available (ales, 1969). In the case of too

many activities, we speak of quantitative overload, when an

individual has perform tasks that are too difficult for him, we

speak of qualitative overload (French and Caplan, 1972).

The bearer may be bombarded by expectations; a force which

he eventually cannot cope with. A sensible tactic then is to

organize 'role negotiation' or 'role bargaining' (Harrison, 1973)where by the threatened individual tries to organize hi

obligations with or without outside help.

In research on middle management (Van Vucht Tijssen et al,

1978), role overload was shown to be related to physical

complaints and even more clearly to greater obesity, higher

blood pressure and more smoking.

Thus role overload is an element to be rejected with in

organizations, especially because of the higher risk of illness

and exhaustion. However, it is stil l not clear whether self-

inflicted overload and overload inflicted by other make a

significant difference.

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Role Conflict

It is the s

stress mgmt project(hr)

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