CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

• BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Creating a high performance organization is a popular theme in the training and development field. To survive in these competitive times, organization cannot afford anything less. Creating a high performance organization requires understanding what factors influence performance one of the most significant factors is stress. We are all aware that we live in a dynamic works where the pressures of change abound in both the entire society and in out workplaces.  We are challenged and confronted with a lot of uncertainties in the environment we find ourselves everyday, be it in our homes, workplace, markets, churches, political meetings in driving on the streets (Ugwu, 2009). In work places, workers are always asked to adopt to the competitive pressures, organizational change, new hitches, and the quest for improved productivity and performance. All these pressures and more enhance the job stress of an employee.

According to Robiins & judge (2007), stress is a dynamic condition in which an employee or individual is confronted with an opportunity, demand, or resources related to what the individual desires and for which the outcome is perceived to be both uncertain and important. According to them, stress is associated with constrain is and demands constricts prevent you from doing what you desire, while demands refer to something desired. Historically, stress has been viewed as an inevitable consequences of work life; or at most, health care issue. Neither view begins to capture just how costly that job 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 (Davis 2008).

Increasingly, employers are paying greater attention than in the past to the effects of stress on their employees, especially on their key management personal.

What is stress? it can be describe in lay terms as the adverse psychological and physical reactions the occur in individual as a result of their being unable to cope with the demands being made on them, stress is triggered not by the external problems faced by employees but by the way they cope (or fail to cope) with those problems/Cole, 2004). Thus, most people can cope with a variety of pressures in their life, and many seem to thrive on “pressures, their especially at work. However, once individuals fail to deal adequately with pressure, then symptoms of stress appear in the short-term, these can be manifested in such condition as indigestion, nausea, headaches, back pain, loss of appetite, loss of sleep and increased irritability. In the longer-term, such symptoms can lead to coronary heart disease, stomach ulcers, depression and other serious conditions. Clearly the effects of the stress, whether triggered by work problems or domestic/social problems, will eventually lead to reduced employee performance at work. This will automatically affects the work performance of employee adversely. But for managers and benefits professional are to effectively address stress in the workplace, it is pertinent to understand how stress affects employee performance.

• STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

It is noted that stress is a complex and dynamic concepts in organization, stress is a source of tension and frustration, and arises through a number of interrelated influences on behaviour (Mullins, 2007).

The cost of job stress is huge. It is devastating to the individual and damaging to the business at a time when the need to control business costs and ensure an effect and healthy workforce is greater than ever.

Stress has been called   the “health epidemic of the 21st century” (Robbines & Judge 2007) and is estimated to cost business up to billion of naira a year. it is observed that employees  who are experiencing high level of stress developed high blood pressure,  ulcers, irritability, difficulty in making routine decisions, loss of appetite perhaps, the result of all these on employees are worrying. The result may be higher accident rates, sickness, absence from work, inefficiency, damaged relationships with clients and colleagues, high staff turnover, early retirement on medical grounds and even premature death. These and many more poised a serious problems to organization, because it has ask whether stress is necessarily to be avoided? Or what had been done by the organization to cope with stress?

Does stress lead to poor employees performance?

It is against this premise that researcher wants to proffer solution on stress related problems and First Bank Nigeria Plc, Uyo is used as a case study.

1.3    OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The study is aimed to;

• Examine whether job stress leads to poor performance of an employee in an organization.
• Ascertain whether stress affects men and women differently in work place environment.
• Determine the relationship between job stress and organization performance.
• Determine strategies that could be adopted to cope with job stress.
• Examine the relationship between stress and stress pressure.
• Identify the problems that can lead to job stress in organization.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTION

(1)   Dose job stress lead to poor performance of an employee in organization.

(2)  Do stress affects men and women differently in work place environment?

(3)  What are the strategies that could be adopted to cope with the job stress?

(4) Any relationship between job stress and organizational performance?

(5)   Any relationship between stress and pressure?

(6)   What are the problems that can lead to job stress in an organization?

1.5 RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

Ho:    Job stress dose not lead to poor performance of employee in organization

Ho2: There is no significant relationship between job stress   and organizational performance

Ho3: There is no strategies adopted by organization to cope with job stress.

1.6    SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The significance of the study rest on the fact that the findings might help to provide a practical and desirable approaches and cutting edge from manager and employees of first bank plc, to know the best strategies that could be adopted to ensure effective management of stress in work place. the findings in the study will help the employees to know how they could improve job related mental health without sacrificing performance/productivity. That is organization could reduce job stress by increasing employee control or decision certitude without reducing actual work load. It will also help the managers of an organization to fine-tune their administration structure in order to reduce employee stress and protect workers mental health-without cutting productivity. Perhaps, the study will help organization to give greater attention to training, support and counseling and to the work organization and job design.

Also, it will make organization to adopt management standards which will bring about the reductions in employee ill-health. This will provide a frame work that allows an assessment to be made about the degree of exposure to key work place stressors, and promote better working condition by identifying where action can be taken by management. The study will also help researchers/students who want to carryout studies on this topical issues. “Job stress and employee performance”.