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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Stress is a natural corollary of living. Indeed, envisaging life without some sort of stress is almost
impossible. Work or home, job or business, rearing children or looking after parents, no aspect of
living is free of stress. This study concerns one aspect of this phenomenon i.e. the stress caused
to people by virtue of their working for organizations. Some authors of stress envisages that the
pressure on the employees to perform beyond expectation, unsatisfactory work conditions,
feeling of insecurity and such other factors can exert a lot of strain on the employees in the
organsiation. The level of stress encountered by an individual, in recent years, has gone up
significantly. The reason attributed for this can be Sustained recession, privatization of public
sector, and information technology revolutions have laid groundwork for the most profound
changes in the workplace since the industrial revolution. Downsizing, flattened structures,
information overload and accelerating pace of work impinge seriously on the health and welfare
of the employee which is a possible reason for increase in the stress of the employees. But
persistent stress problems can impede the growth of the organizations.

Despite widespread acknowledgement of detrimental impact of stress on individuals and


organizations, the amount of attention given by the employers to understanding the causes of
work-related strain and to alleviating stressful work conditions is relatively small. The study on
organizational stress is important because of the following three reasons. Most organizations do
not realize the importance of altering work environment (primary intervention) to prevent the
occurrence of stressful environment. Another reason is lack of proper training (secondary
intervention) and the final reason is failure to handle the stress of the employees (tertiary
intervention). The modern developments, challenges and increasing pace of change only serve to
focus the spotlight on the role of stress management programs in an organization and how that
role impacts on organizational performance. The impact of stress management programs on how
employees are able or willing to perform in an organization is immense and that influence has to
be managed in the best interest of the organization. The inherent truth in the above statement is

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that the success or failure of an organisation is the difference between good and bad stress
management programs of the organization.

1.1 ABOUT STRESS

According to Seirgist (2006), stress is nothing but the pressures people in life. Also he asserts
that in any kind of job, stress factor would be attached to it. Due to job, work or any situation or
circumstance if pressure builds up, this will lead to strain in the emotions of the people, change
in the normal thinking process and also it will affect the physical condition of the person.
According to Seirgist (2006), adverse effects of stress can harm the job performance of an
employee. According to Newstrom (1999), stress occurs when a person, due to external factors
or because of internal forces, has some bio chemical reactions like anxiety, tension, depression,
emotional instability, which the state of mind cannot handle due to insufficient resources to
handle such bio chemical changes in the body. In the words of King and Pave (2005), stress is
not necessarily out of undesirable events , it can also be because of bio chemical or functional
changes in a human body when new situation arises and to cope up with this , the body is
demanded beyond it can be stretched because of an occurrence of new and unexpected activity .

Stress is a serious problem in today’s work place according to Christina and Leiter (2001), who
assert that stress is on the increase especially in the current market place because of changes in
the corporate structures and strategies which leads to increasing downsizing, restructuring and
outsourcing, which gives increasing amount job insecurity feeling to the employees, leaving the
employees misunderstood, undervalued and alienated. This has been a major cause for ever
increasing stress in the work place.

Medical researcher Selye (2006) first used to the term stress to describe the body’s biological
response mechanisms. He defined stress as ‘the nonspecific response of the body to any
demand’. It must be understood that in order for the stress to occur the response should be
nonspecific. All responses require utilization of energy. Any demand made on the body that is
for some specific activity which is natural expected and a part of daily routine does not
necessarily create stress. The stress crated by undesirable and unsuccessful effects is called
“eustress” and the stress created by undesirable outcomes is known as “distress”. The general
adaptation syndrome refers to a general development of response to stressful events in the form

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of psychological and behavioral responses believed to follow a fairly consistent pattern and
consists of three stages. The first stage is known as “alarm” stage and it occurs at the first sign of
stress. It results in psychological changes in the body as warning and preparation against stress.

According to Lazarus (2004), stress is used as a generic term that subsumes manifestations such
as loss of appetite, motivation, weight and strength. This approach has physiological bias and
tends to ignore psychological impacts. Stress is assumed to have only negative connotations. The
fact that a certain level of stress may be considered desirable for motivation, growth and
development is not taken into account. It is only on crossing manageable limits that it is
damaging and disruptive. In contrast, stimulus-based definitions focus on the other side of stress
process and have their roots in engineering. According to Davies (1999), the stress is viewed as
"some external force exerted on an individual", which if it exceeds his tolerance level, results in
temporary or permanent damage to him. The impetus to such approach was provided by rapid
industrialization. Identification of potential sources of stress in the work environment to provide
optimum working conditions to the workers was the central theme of such an approach. These
models were simplistic in nature. They fail to capture the essence of stress process and as also to
account for individual differences. The 'interactional approach' considers stress as a statistical
cause and effect relationship between the person and his environment. However, it was also
limited by its essentially static approach.

1.2 STRESS RESPONSE

Stress is generally classified into three categories: physiological, psychological and behavioral.
Surprisingly, it is only recently that the researchers have begun to study the physiological strain.
"It is not because the researchers considered it unimportant." Being psychologists, the
researchers have tended to concentrate on psychological strain such as job dissatisfaction and
anxiety. Behavioral responses are the least studied. "This is ironic", since from an organizational
point of view, these may be most important. Seyle (2006) indicates that following are some of
the stress responses, Physiological response, Psychological response and Behavioral response.

1.2.1 PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSES

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According to Seyle (2006), as soon as stress appears, the brain acts and immediate biochemical
changes take place in heart beat and heightening of practically all the senses. The long term
physiological effects are more disturbing. Serious health problems occur as body confronts stress
over a long period of time. The stress could lead to breakdowns in the body’s immune systems
and may result in serious health problems such as high blood pressure, ulcers and heart attack. In
general, according to Baron (2007), “Taking all events into account though, it seems reasonable
to conclude that high level of stress can result in physical changes that threaten our health and
well-being”.

1.2.2 PSYCHOLOGICAL RESPONSES

According to (White, 2009), there are some people who can handle stress better those others.
People who tend to be highly affected by stress tend to be depressed and lack of self confidence
and self esteem. They tend to believe that they are helpless and elicit sympathy from others.
They have greater fear of the unknown and as increased sense of futility, tension and neurotic
tendencies. They become irritated quickly, are impatient and tend to be blaming everybody else
for their own problems. They are more worried about their job security and their job commitment
is very low.

1.2.3 BEHAVIOURAL RESPONSES

In the opinion of Murphy (2004) , people with stress and people without the effect of stress can
be easily differentiated , because people with stress has an indifferent behavioral response in
comparison to people who are emotionally stable and normal people. This kind of behavioral
response can lead to interpersonal problems, causing strained relationships in work place because
of highly defensive or highly aggressive attitude by the people with stress towards an
emotionally stable person. According to Pearlin (2001), stress induces irritation and lack of
patience and these elements is exhibits in behavioral patterns. The person may become an
introvert may withdraw from social situations and may avoid communication with others
resulting in social isolation.

1.3 JOB STRESS

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According to Theorell (2000), job stress is nothing but an indifferent attitude is exhibited by the
employee like an instable and an abnormal emotional and physical responses, when faced with
jobs and requirements in a situation which does not match the capability , skill , knowledge ,
resource and the needs of the person . One of the ways to reduce the impact of stress on the
performance of the organization is that the organization has to point out the job which will be
highly stressful to employees and also employees who exhibit high amount stress responses in
the organization (Greenberg, 2000). So that the organization can change the nature of job,
leading to better interpersonal relationship so that the employees can cope up with the stressful
work conditions. Rightly, in this research, the researcher has surveyed on the causes of job stress,
responses that employees undergo due to the various kinds of stress like physiological stress,
psychological stress and behavioral stress.

1.3.1 CAUSES OF JOB STRESS

Quite simply, job stress results from the interaction of the worker and the conditions of the work
(Greenberg, 2008). Views differ on the importance of worker characteristics versus working
conditions as the primary cause of job stress. Some view differences in individual characteristics,
such as personality and coping style, are most important in predicting whether certain job
conditions will result in stress. What may be stressful for one person may not be a problem for
someone else. This viewpoint leads to prevention strategies that focus on workers and ways to
help them cope with demanding job conditions.

1.3.2 JOB RELATED STRESS

Following are some of the job related stress as propagated by French and Caplan ( 2005 ) , that
are Work overload , Time pressures , Poor quality of supervision , Insecure job climate , Lack of
personal control , Inadequate authority to match responsibilities , Role conflict and ambiguity ,
Difference between company and employee values , Change of any type when it is major or
unusual , Frustration , Technology without training or support , Stress and Job Performance .

1.3.3 STRESSORS INTRINSIC TO THE JOB

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According to King (2005), the stress of an employee can be linked and associated with the nature
of the job itself. Some jobs in an organization can be stressful than the other jobs in the
organization, leading to increasing stress responses form the employees. Jobs that have high time
pressure, jobs where employees have less or no control over its operations, jobs with less or no
supervision and so on can create high amount of stress to the employees. In the opinion of
Pettinger (2002), persons working under threatening working conditions such as temperature
extremes, pollution, uncomfortable lighting and ventilation and loud noise are also vulnerable to
high stress.

1.3.4 STRESS RELATING TO ROLE CLARITY IN JOB

A role is a set of activities associated with a certain position in the organization or in the society.
Role clarity is one of the major reasons attributed for various job related stress. And some of the
role clarity problems are discussed as follows:

1.3.4.1 ROLE AMBIGUITY

This role ambiguity is especially prevalent among companies that have merged or acquired other
companies while keeping or maintaining the existing set of employees. The consequence of role
ambiguity is that the employees become uncertain of what exactly they are supposed to do and
exactly whom they report to. According to Khan (2006), when any activity in an organization or
role in an organization is not properly defined then the worker carrying such work will behave
indifferently form the employees whose work and roe is clearly defined. This kind of role
ambiguity as defined by Khan (2006) causes job stress in the organization. French and Caplan
(2005) summarized their study finding as follows by presenting forward their opinion that stress
caused by role ambiguity leads to psychological stress among the employees who end up
dissatisfied with the job , and thereby the result of this is that the human resources available in
the organization is underutilized .

1.3.4.2 ROLE CONFLICT

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According to Pearlin (2001), role conflict occurs when two or more persons have different and
sometimes opposing expectations of a given individual. Thus there are two or more sets of
pressure on the individual so that it is not possible to satisfy all of them. In other words, role
conflict occurs when contradictory demands are simultaneously placed upon an employee.

1.3.4.3 ROLE OVERLOAD

According to Pearlin (2001), role overload occurs when the work requirements are so excessive
that employees feel that they do not have adequate time or ability to meet such requirements.
Working under time pressure is especially stressful whether it is meeting a deadline for a report
or studying near the exam period. The physiological symptoms of stress increase significantly
prior to deadline and decrease sharply after the deadline has passed. The role overload can occur
either when there is too much work to complete in a given time or when it is too difficult to
accomplish because of lack of skills and ability.

1.3.4.4 ROLE UNDER LOAD

In the words of Pearlin (2001), role under load occurs when a person’s ability is underutilized so
that either there is too little work is there is too variety in the work. If a salesman with high inter-
personal skills is given a job in a department store where there sure not too many customers then
he will feel that his ability is not being properly utilized. Similarly assembly line workers whose
jobs are routine and highly monotonous also experience role under load. Pave (2005) asserts that
role under load leads to excessive absenteeism and such workers show very little interest in the
organizational activities. It results in low self-esteem and low life satisfaction. This creates stress
with increased frequency of nervous complaints and symptoms and other health problems.

1.3.5 CONSEQUENCES OF JOB STRESS

According to Howard (2007), some of the serious consequences of stress are low performance of
the employees, less job commitment from the employees, interpersonal and relationship
problems among the employees within the organization, absenteeism, emotional instability of the
employees, depression, physical imbalances, low motivation and morale, low job satisfaction
level and so on. These are some starling truths as revealed in the study. And the causes of these
consequences of stress are work load, time pressure, less or no supervision in the organization,

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lack of proper training when new technology or system is introduced and so on. In this study
efforts have been taken by the researcher to find out ways and means to combat the various
consequences of stress. These ways and means are suggested by the employees themselves as a
part of survey.

1.4 PSYCHOLOGICAL REACTION TO STRESS


According to Stephanie and Friedman (2007), high degrees of stress are typically accompanied
by severe anxiety, frustration and depression. There is evidence that work stress is associated
with heart irregularities, high levels of blood pressure and high levels of cholesterol . Studies
conducted by Slote ( 2003) , regarding the effects of plant closing in Detroit showed an
“alarming rise in anxiety and illness” with at least 50% of employees suffering from ulcers,
arthritis, serious hypertension, alcoholism and depression. Palmore (1999) notes that there is
strong evidence that job stress contributes directly to life threatening disease and in fact shortens
ones life.

As noted by Monika Michael (2005), some of the psychological symptoms of stress, anxiety and
depression are

1.4.1 STRESS

Irritability, insomnia, alcohol and food abuse. Physical change including rapid breathing and
heart rate, tensed muscles. Prolonged stress can cause muscular twitches, skin problems,
baldness and sexual problems such as impotence.

1.4.2 ANXIETY

Excessive worry, irritability, anger, nervousness as well as inability to concentrate or sleep.


Physical changes include palpitations, chest pain and dizziness.

1.4.3 DEPRESSION

Feelings of sadness, hopelessness, guilt and worthlessness, loss of interest in activities, change in
appetite or weight, difficulty in concentrating and suicidal thoughts.

1.5 STRESS AND JOB PERFORMANCE

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One of the major concerns of management is the negative impact of stress has on job
performance. According to Lazarus (2004), people under high stress tend to withdrew from the
contact with the stressor in the form of turnover and absenteeism. Any factor that causes negative
effects on physical and psychological well-being is also expected to affect the work behavior of
the employees.

In the words of Bechr and Newman (2008), productivity of the employee is considered peak with
moderate level of stress. Performance is poor at high level of stress. When the stress of a person
is relatively high, the person may not be sufficiently energized and may not be whole heartedly
involved in his work, resulting in low productivity. If the stress continues to increase from this
level, the person becomes too agitated and frustrated, resulting in performance deterioration.

Both organizations and individuals are highly concerned about stress and its effects. In
attempting to manage stress the employees and the organization has three different options,
where the first option is to prevent or control the stress, the second option is to provide a way of
escape form stress and the third one is to adapt to the stress environment. Gary and Goodson
(2000) says that some employees can escape stress by requesting job transfers, finding
alternative employment, taking early retirement or acquiring assertiveness skills that allow them
to comfort the stressor . According to Murphy (2004), Organizations can seek to improve
managerial communication skills, empower employees through participation, redesign jobs to be
more fulfilling or implement organizations development programs. Following are of some of the
strategies the organization can follow for effective stress management as discussed by Murphy,
(2004), that are Health maintenance, Selection and placement, Job enrichment, Participation in
decision making and Building teamwork.

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CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

For this study it is important to understand what is stress, causes of stress especially job related
stress, relationship between stress and job performance and consequences of stress and this has
been discussed in brief in following few paragraphs.

2.1 CONCEPT AND THEORY

According to Seyle (2006), the theory of stress offers a psychobiological explanation for the
assumed relationships between health and external and internal events referred to as “stress”.

2.1.1 Expectancy

According to Maccorquodale (2003), what is stored in the brain may be referred to as


“expectancies”. When the brain has established that one event precedes another, the brain
“expects” the second event after the first event has been presented or the response has been
performed. Maccorquodale (2003) states that the one tradition emphasizes formal or “objective”
work conditions, and the other focuses more on the stress management potential of each
employee. In the demand–control model of Karasek & Theorell (2006) there is a strong
consensus that it is the combination of psychological demands, task control, and skill use at work
that predicts stress-related ill health and behavioral correlates of work. Jobs with high
psychological demands, but which lacks the organisational support and also has low level of
control is prone to high stress for the employees.

In later developments, Theorell (2006) places much more emphasis on individual stress
management, coping abilities, and subjective feelings of being in control or being able to cope.
This emphasis is very much in line with the theoretical and empirical background for and other
positions emphasizing the individual variance in responses to “stress”. In these later papers,
Theorell (2006) , has studied one important aspect of coping, locus of control, which relates to a
person’s attitude towards his or her own possibility to exert control over his or her environment.
The two understanding from the theory of Theorell (2006) is that in an external locus of control
the employees want the organization to take steps to reduce the level of stress of the employees,
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while internal locus of control corresponds to the attitude that employee takes personal steps to
reduce stress. Neither the extreme internal nor the extreme external locus is recommendable in
all situations. It seems to be a consensus that physical demands and psychological characteristics
that produce the stress response have nothing in common.

2.1.2 Work stress

Another theoretical model of work stress that has received much attention is the effort –reward
imbalance model developed by Theorell (2000), in which the focus is on reward and contractual
fairness in employment. This model builds on the notion of contractual reciprocity that lies at the
core of the work contract, with respect to which accomplished tasks are reciprocated by adequate
rewards (money, esteem, and career opportunities, including job security). The model claims that
lack of reciprocity occurs frequently under the following three conditions: (i) “dependency” (due
to a lack of alternative choice in the labor market); (ii) “strategic choice” (anticipatory
investments in order to increase future promotion prospects); (iii) “over commitment” (a
motivational pattern of excessive work-related performance and achievement that may be part of
a person’s psychological profile or result from a competitive work environment). The model
further suggests that failed reciprocity in terms of “high cost” and “low gain” elicits strong
negative emotions and sustained stress reactions from the part of employees as observed by
Toates (2005).

Theoretical background

Research on effort-reward imbalance and health is part of a larger scientific program that aims at
understanding the contribution of social and psychological factors to human health and disease.
More specifically, protective and damaging effects on health produced by peoples' behaviors,
cognitions and emotions through core social roles in adult life (work role, civic roles, family
roles etc.) are analyzed using a specific theoretical and methodological approach.

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This theoretical approach is focused on the notion of social reciprocity, a fundamental principle
of interpersonal behavior and an 'evolutionary old' grammar of social exchange. Social
reciprocity is characterized by mutual cooperative investments based on the norm of return
expectancy where efforts are equalized by respective rewards. Failed reciprocity resulting from a
violation of this norm elicits strong negative emotions and sustained stress responses because it
threatens this fundamental principle.

The model of effort-reward imbalance (ERI) claims that failed reciprocity in terms of high
efforts spent and low rewards received in turn is likely to elicit recurrent negative emotions and
sustained stress responses in exposed people. Conversely, positive emotions evoked by
appropriate social rewards promote well-being, health and survival.

A major specification of this theoretical perspective concerns the work role, and in particular its
contractual basis. So far, a majority of research evidence concerns ERI at work. More recently,
this perspective has been applied to additional social roles in adult life

According to the model, effort at work is spent as part of a social contract that reciprocates effort
by adequate reward. Rewards are distributed by three transmitter systems: money, esteem, and
career opportunities including job security. Each one of these components of work-related
rewards was shown to matter for health.

The model of ERI at work claims that an imbalance between (high) effort and (low) reward is
maintained under the following conditions: 1. Work contracts are poorly defined or employees
have little choice of alternative workplaces (e.g. due to low level of skill, lack of mobility,
precarious labor market); 2. Employees may accept this imbalance for strategic reasons (this
strategy is mainly chosen to improve future work prospects by anticipatory investments); 3. The
experience of 'high cost / low gain' at work is frequent in people who exhibit a specific cognitive
and motivational pattern of coping with demands characterized by excessive work-related
commitment ('overcommitment'). Overcommitted men and women suffer from inappropriate
perceptions of demands and of their own coping resources more often than their less involved
colleagues, because perceptual distortion prevents them from accurately assessing cost-gain
relations. A graphic representation of the model is given in the following figure.

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The following three hypotheses are derived from the ERI model:

1. An imbalance between high effort and low reward (non-reciprocity) increases the risk of
reduced health over and above the risk associated with each one of the components.
2. Overcommitted people are at increased risk of reduced health (whether or not this pattern of
coping is reinforced by work characteristics).
3. Relatively highest risks of reduced health are expected in people who are characterized by
conditions (1) and (2).

2.1.3 Transaction model

Bechr and Newman (2008), perceived stress as a dynamic transaction. It is embedded in an


ongoing relationship that involves individuals transacting with their environment, making

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appraisals of these encounters, and attempting to cope with the issues that arise." One of the most
significant implications of such an approach is that coping itself is treated as a key component of
stress process. The outcome of efforts, made by an individual to cope with the stress, has an
important bearing upon his future encounters with stressors. The application of Transaction
model is not free of controversies, though. The model argues that stress essentially occurs at the
individual level. This marks a shift in focus from stressful work conditions to the individual, who
is made to feel guilty for his 'inability to handle work pressures'. Though, it is possible to
generalize by identifying common stressful features, in practice, correcting this tacit shift in
burden of responsibility become an uphill task. This has made some researchers to argue that
they can better fulfill their social responsibility by focusing on 'stressful work conditions'
(stimulus model) rather than on 'intra-individual processes' (transaction model).

The debate about various stresses in this respect is far from settled. To conclude this chapter,
finally, most of the research has been done in individualistic western societies. This has left
many culture specific issues unexamined. In a collectivist society like India, people may desire a
higher level of social support and a lesser level of control over their jobs. Indeed, stress and its
level may have different meaning to people hailing from different cultures.

2.1.4 Health realization model

The health realization/innate health model of stress is also founded on the idea that stress does
not necessarily follow the presence of a potential stressor. Instead of focusing on the individual's
appraisal of so-called stressors in relation to his or her own coping skills (as the transactional
model does), the health realization model focuses on the nature of thought, stating that it is
ultimately a person's thought processes that determine the response to potentially stressful
external circumstances. In this model, stress results from appraising oneself and one's
circumstances through a mental filter of insecurity and negativity, whereas a feeling of well-
being results from approaching the world with a "quiet mind," "inner wisdom," and "common
sense".[4] [5]

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This model proposes that helping stressed individuals understand the nature of thought—
especially providing them with the ability to recognize when they are in the grip of insecure
thinking, disengage from it, and access natural positive feelings—will reduce their stress.

2.1.5 TECHNIQUES OF STRESS MANAGEMENT

High demand levels load the person with extra effort and work. It is then high time a new time
schedule is worked up. Until the higher-than-normal demand has completed, the normal
frequency and duration of the normal personal joys and normal interpersonal fulfillment, that
time usually allows to be diverted, must be politely curtailed or blocked.

But many techniques cope with the stresses life brings. Some of the following ways induce a
lower than usual stress level, temporarily, to compensate the biological tissues involved; others
face the stressor at a higher level of abstraction:

• Autogenic training
• Cognitive therapy
• Conflict resolution
• Exercise
• Getting a hobby
• Meditation
• Deep breathing
• Yoga Nidra
• Nootropics
• Reading novels
• Relaxation techniques
• Artistic Expression
• Fractional relaxation
• Progressive relaxation
• Spas
• Somatics training
• Spending time in nature

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• Stress balls
• Natural medicine
• Clinically validated alternative treatments
• Time management
• Listening to certain types of relaxing music, particularly:
o New Age music
o Classical music
o Psychedelic music
o Sleep Music

2.1.6 MEASURING STRESS

Levels of stress can be measured. One way is through the use of the Holmes and Rahe Stress
Scale to rate stressful life events. Changes in blood pressure and galvanic skin response can also
be measured to test stress levels, and changes in stress levels. A digital thermometer can be used
to evaluate changes in skin temperature, which can indicate activation of the fight-or-flight
response drawing blood away from the extremities.

Stress management has physiological and immune benefit effects.

EFFECTIVENESS OF STRESS MANAGEMENT

Positive outcomes are observed using a combination of non-drug interventions:

• treatment of anger or hostility,


• autogenic training
• talking therapy (around relationship or existential issues)
• biofeedback
• cognitive therapy for anxiety or clinical depression

Stress Management Techniques followed by company

Time management (to manage behavioral skills)

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• The organization conducts seminar in time management skills.
• Good time-management skills are critical for effective stress control. In particular,
learning to prioritize tasks and avoid over-commitment are critical measures to make sure
that you're not overscheduled. Always using a calendar or planner, and checking it
faithfully before committing to anything, is one way to develop time-management skills.
You can also learn to identify time-wasting tasks by keeping a diary for a few days and
noticing where you may be losing time.

Organizational skills (to manage physiological stress)

• If your physical surroundings (office, desk, kitchen, closet, and car) are well-organized,
you won't be faced with the stress of misplaced objects and clutter. Make it a habit to
periodically clean out and sort through the messes of paperwork and clutter that
accumulate over time.

Consider counseling (to manage psychological stress)

• Stress-management counseling is offered by various types of mental-health professionals.


Stress counseling and group-discussion therapy have proven benefits in reduction of
stress symptoms and improvement in overall health and attitude. Counseling doesn't have
to be a long-term commitment, but some people will benefit from a series of stress-
counseling sessions from a qualified therapist. He/she can help you identify the problem
areas in your life and work on strategies to control your most stressful moments or
situations. The very act of talking to an impartial and supportive observer can also be a
great way to unleash tension and worry.

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Improving communication structure (to manage psychological and behavioral stress)

• Sharing information with employees to reduce uncertainty about their jobs and futures.
• Clearly defining employees’ roles and responsibilities.
• Making communication friendly and efficient, not mean-spirited or petty.

Consult your employees (to manage psychological and behavioral stress)

• Giving workers opportunities to participate in decisions that affect their jobs.


• Consulting employees about scheduling and work rules.
• Setting the workload is suitable to employees’ abilities and resources; avoid unrealistic
deadlines.
• Showing that individual workers are valued.

Offers rewards and incentives (to manage psychological and behavioral stress)

• Praise good work performance verbally and institutionally.


• Provide opportunities for career development.
• Promote an “entrepreneurial” work climate that gives employees more control over their
work.

Cultivate a friendly social climate (to manage psychological stress)

• Providing opportunities for social interaction among employees.


• Establishing a zero-tolerance policy for harassment.
• Making management actions consistent with organizational values.

INDUSTRY PROFILE
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2.2 INDUSTRY PROFILE (ABOUT TYRE INDUSTRY IN INDIA)

The origin of the Indian Tyre Industry dates back to 1926 when Dunlop Rubber Limited set up
the first tyre company in West Bengal. MRF followed suit in 1946. Since then, the Indian tyre
industry has grown rapidly. Transportation industry and tyre industry go hand in hand as the two
are interdependent. Transportation industry has experienced 10% growth rate year after year with
an absolute level of 870 billion ton freight. With an extensive road network of 3.2 million km,
road accounts for over 85% of all freight movement in India.

2.2.1 MARKET CHARACTERISTICS

Demand
The demand for tyres can be classified in terms of:

▪ Type: Bus and Truck; Scooter; Motorcycle; Passenger Car; Tractor


▪ Market: OEM; Replacement; Export
Tyres by Type

The Indian tyre industry produces the complete range of tyres required by the Indian automotive
industry, except for aero tyres and some specialised tyres. Domestic manufacturers produce tyres
for trucks, buses, passenger cars, jeeps, light trucks, tractors (front, rear and trailer), animal
drawn vehicles, scooters, motorcycles, mopeds, bicycles and off-the-road vehicles and special
defence vehicles.

The scenario in India stands in sharp contrast to that in the world tyre market, where car tyres
(including light trucks) have the major share (88%) by volume followed by truck tyres (12%). In
India, however, passenger car tyres have a mere 17% share of the overall tyre market (as of
FY2003).

Truck and Bus Tyres

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The truck and bus tyre segment accounted for 19% of tyres produced in India in FY2003. Every
truck/bus manufactured generates a demand for seven tyres (six regular and one spare) as against
three in the case of two-wheelers and five for passenger cars. In addition, the price of a truck tyre
is significantly higher than that of a passenger car tyre (roughly 10 times) or a motorcycle tyre.
Thus the demand multiple emanating from the commercial vehicle segment is highest in value
terms.
Given the regular use and heavy wear and tear of truck and bus tyres, the demand from the
replacement market in this segment worked out to 68% of the total demand for truck and bus
tyres in FY2003; the OEM demand accounted for around 9% the same year. With the Indian
manufacturers of cross-ply tyres focusing on the export market, this segment accounts for around
22% of the demand for truck and bus tyres.

Passenger Car Tyres

The passenger car tyre segment accounted for 17% of all tyres produced in India in FY2003.
With passenger car production witnessing a growth of 12% in FY2003 over the previous year,
OEM demand accounted for about 33% of the total sales that year. The replacement market
accounted for around 63% of the total sales of passenger car tyres in FY2003. Exports accounted
for 4% of the total passenger car tyre demand in FY2003. With the stock of cars increasing,
replacement demand is likely to continue.

Motorcycle Tyres

Motorcycles accounted for 76% of two-wheelers sold in the domestic market in FY2003.
Motorcycle tyres constitute the largest segment of the domestic tyre industry (29% of total tyre
demand in FY2003). The replacement market accounted for around 49.8% of the total
motorcycle tyres sold in FY 2003, while OEM demand accounted for around 50%.

Scooter Tyres

Scooters were the dominant segment in the Indian two-wheeler industry till FY1998, accounting
for around 42% of domestic two-wheeler sales. However, the introduction of new motorcycle
models has seen the share of scooters declining to 19% of domestic two-wheeler sales in

24
FY2003. The OEM segment accounted for around 34% of the total sales in the scooter tyre
segment in FY2003, with the rest being accounted for by the replacement market.

Vehicle Manufacturers or OEMs

The demand from the OEM segment is a derived one and directly correlated to the level of
automotive production. The OEMs demand varies significantly across categories from between
8% for truck and bus tyres to over 50% for some other segments like, jeeps and mopeds.

2.2.2 Replacement Market

The replacement market, including State transport undertakings and Government buying,
accounted for around 59% of the total tyre demand in FY2003. The demand in the replacement
market depends on the vehicle population, the level of economic activity, life of the products
transported, kilometreage per vehicle, the price of the tyres and the quality of the existing road
infrastructure. Additionally, the replacement market, which offers better margins, is extremely
competitive. The replacement market is dominated by the truck and buses segment, which
accounted for 22% of all tyre sales in the replacement market in FY2003.The large size of the
replacement in turn is determined by the interplay of various factors as discussed below:

The replacement demand may be lower because of longer replacement intervals and lower
business mileage if the economic activity slows down. Replacement demand in India is higher
because of a low vehicle scrappage rate. Poor road conditions by lowering the life of tyres, have
a positive impact on replacement demand. Stricter enforcement of the MV Act, which seeks to
prevent overloading of vehicles, will result in an increase in the life of tyres and thus impact
replacement demand negatively. Applying a new tread or "re-treading" can extend the life of the
tyre at a significantly lower cost, thereby lowering replacement demand. In India, re-treading
finds greater acceptance in the commercial segment. Radialisation of tyres is likely to result in
lower replacement demand. While car radialisation in the country has reached a level of 65%,
truck and bus radialisation stands at just 2-10%. Poor road and support infrastructure as well as
traditional vehicle designs act as a barrier to radialisation in the commercial vehicle segment.
Radial technology for trucks and buses would help increase operating efficiencies by delivering
better mileage and minimising wear and tear. According to ATMA, even if only 25% of the truck
and bus segment is radialised, the savings in fuel costs would be around Rs. 7,500 million.
25
Introduction of tubeless tyres in the passenger car segment is also likely to affect replacement
demand adversely. Introduction of eco-friendly radial tyres such as hyper-bonding silica
technology in the passenger car segment may affect replacement demand adversely.

2.2.3 Exports
In the light of the prevailing domestic market situation, most of the tyre manufacturers have
taken to exports to reduce inventory build-ups. In FY2003, Indian tyre exports stood at Rs. 10.8
billion (10% of the total industry) in value terms and 3.1 million in unit terms (6.5% of total
production). Indian companies have currently entered into sourcing agreements (for tyres) with
neighbouring countries. For instance, Ceat and J K Tyres have sourcing agreements with tyre
producers in Sri Lanka and China. This is likely to have a positive impact on tyre exports from
India.
2.2.4 Market Players

Some of the major players in the Indian tyre industry are MRF, Ceat, JK Industries, Apollo
Tyres, Bridgestone India, Goodyear India, Falcon Tyres and TVS Srichakra. The tyre industry in
India is fairly concentrated, with the sample of eight companies (as in the text) accounting for
82% of production in FY2002. Besides, not all companies have a diversified product portfolio.

2.2.5 Key Issues

High tax usage

The high tax content on tyres can be gauged from the fact that the percentage of total tax to the
tax excluded price for various categories of tyres is - 44% for Truck Tyre; 41% for Passenger
Car Radial Tyre, 35% for Tractor Rear Tyre and 76% for Truck Tyre Tube.

Increase in raw material costs

Apart from being capital intensive, the tyre industry is highly raw material intensive. Any change
in the prices of raw materials affects the profitability of tyre companies. The raw materials used
in the manufacture of tyres are rubber and petroleum derivatives like nylon tyre cord, carbon
black, styrene butadiene rubber and poly butadiene rubber. The most important raw material is
rubber-natural and synthetic. Natural rubber (NR), with 29% weightage in the cost of raw
materials used by tyre industry, is the highest cost item. Annual consumption of NR by tyre
26
industry is 3.50 lakh tonnes, valued at Rs. 14 billion. Over 85% of NR consumed' by the industry
is procured domestically. 15% is imported. In the 2003-04 fiscal, as against the Minimum
Statutory Price of Rs. 32.0 per kg, the ruling domestic price of NR had been over Rs. 50 per kg.
This is higher than the world rubber prices. However, this does not entail the tyre industry
players to import as a number of restrictions are imposed on the import of NR. NR can be
imported only through two ports-Kolkata & Visakhapatnam. The customs duty on import of
natural rubber is 20%, with 10% under Bangkok Agreement. However, this is not relevant, as
NR is not cultivated in South Korea, Bangladesh & China (signatories under the Bangkok
Agreement). Hence, NR can be sourced only from Sri Lanka (under the Indo-Sri Lanka
Agreement), which is of bad quality. Thus, the options of rubber import are restricted and the
manufacturers have to rely on the domestic market for procuring rubber.

2.2.6 Import of tyres

During the FY2002, over 1,10,000 passenger car tyres were imported. Although this constitutes a
small percentage (1.5%) of total passenger car tyre production in the country, since total imports
are of radial passenger car tyres, the percentage is higher when compared against domestic
production of radial passenger car tyres. A large percentage of imports are from South Korea at a
concessional rate of customs duty (i.e. 15%) under the Bangkok Agreement - as against 20%
normal rate of customs duty. Even though the Government has imposed a restraint on the import
of used tyres into India, occasionally there are reports of import of such tyres in a clandestine
manner, sometimes as new tyre at low value, since there is no restriction on import of new tyres
or as tyres under the "others" category. Many countries such as Japan, Bangladesh, Pakistan,
Philippines, Thailand, Kenya, South Korea, etc. have either put a complete ban on import of used
tyres or have placed stringent conditions on such imports.
The product focus of tyre exports from India has been Traditional Truck Tyres. Globally this
segment of tyre export is shrinking due to greater acceptance of radial tyres. Over the years,
China has emerged as a major exporter in bias tyre category. Additionally, export of Indian tyres
to select countries is subjected to non-tariff barriers (NTBs) by way of standards, tests, etc.
Export of cheaper tyres from China to major tyre importing markets, like US, is adversely
affecting Indian tyre exports to these markets. India's share in exports to these countries

27
(especially USA) is progressively declining. If the trend is not reversed, Indian tyre industry will
find it extremely difficult to regain its erstwhile position in these markets. Low rate of interest,
cheaper electricity tariff, hidden subsidies by the Chinese Government, better infrastructure
facilities and lower transaction costs are factors favourable to Chinese tyre industry.

Currently, the size of the Indian tyre industry is estimated at Rs. 128 billion (0.5% of Indian
GDP), as of FY2003. The total installed capacity of the Indian tyre industry is around 60.5 mn
units, and the capacity utilisation is around 85%. The capacity utilisation improved in FY2003
following improved demand from the automotive segment (75% in FY2001). Additionally, in
FY2003, the price realisation of tyre manufacturers also registered an increase by 8%, as against
a 0.6% increase in FY2002.

2.2.7 Demand Supply Gap

The demand for tyres is either in the domestic market or in the export market. As far as domestic
demand is concerned, the OEM and the replacement segments are likely to witness strong
growth given the current performance of the automotive sector. Given the strong linkages of tyre
industry with automotives, its demand is likely to be strong over the short to medium term. As
for the export demand for tyres, the outlook is positive, even though some downsides remain.

As regards supply of tyres, currently, the major players are in the process of expanding their
capacities, in anticipation of uptrend in sales. For instance, Apollo Tyres has set up a joint
venture with Michelin for manufacture and sale of bus and truck radials. JK is expanding its
Mysore truck and bus radial facility along with eyeing acquisitions of smaller units. Ceat has
increased its offtake by 3 times from Pirelli. However, a characteristic of the Indian tyre industry
is that most of the tyre manufacturers in the past had increased capacities in anticipation of a
surge in demand, but when it did not materialise, they reduced their addition to capacities. Thus,
the demand-supply gap is likely to be an important issue for the Indian tyre industry over the
short to medium term.

2.2.8 Overall Performance

28
The operating margin of the representative sample of tyre companies improved during FY2003.
However, the net profit margin of the tyre companies even though improved, was still at 3%. The
tyre industry continues to be driven by good demand growth, propelled by sustained uptrend in
demand and sales of automobiles in general, and commercial vehicles and passenger cars in
particular. However, this does not get translated into improved margins for the industry, as it is
witnessing sustained rise in prices of raw materials like natural rubber. Additionally, the customs
duty on imports has been brought down from 25% to 20% and Special Additional Duty of 4%
has been dispensed with.

The level of economic activity, performance of domestic automotive industry, and the faring of
the transport sector directly influence the performance of the tyre industry in India. With the
replacement segment dominating the overall tyre demand in India, the industry remains
inherently vulnerable to economic cycles. While radialisation has become the norm in the
passenger car segment, in the bus and truck tyre segment, its acceptance is still limited. Bus and
truck radialisation could emerge in the long term as the quality of roads improves and the
restrictions on overloading are better enforced. The practice of re-treading, which is gaining
increasing acceptance, could pose a challenge to replacement demand in the medium term. The
ability of the re-treading sector to capture potential replacement demand would depend on the
awareness among customers (of the benefits of retreading) and also the quality of retreading
done. Given the low levels of penetration of two-wheelers and passenger cars in the country,
OEM demand is likely to increase, which in turn would push up replacement demand with a lag.
The prospects of tyre exports from India appear healthy, following efforts by Indian companies
to increasingly enter into outsourcing agreements with tyre producers in Southeast Asia, Eastern
Europe and Latin America. Overall, tyre manufacturers are likely to tap the export market in an
effort to boost sales. The increasing exports of bus and truck tyres (crossply variety) from India
to developing countries is because of the fact that developing countries are unable to source them
from developed countries as these are no more produced there. Tyre imports are unlikely to pose
a threat to the domestic industry, given that domestic prices are lower than international tyre
prices. In the domestic market, tyre manufacturers are expected to increasingly focus on
expanding their dealership networks & explore possibilities of tie-ups among themselves to
penetrate the growing customer base. They are also likely to pursue innovative measures (such as
"dial-a-tyre service and road shows) to improve customer awareness. The consolidation of the
29
Indian tyre industry is likely to continue in the coming years through mergers among existing
players. The industry is likely to expand through a combination of organic and inorganic growth.
While organic growth would come from raising efficiency levels, inorganic growth would be
achieved through alliances and M&As.

2.3 COMPANY PROFILE

On the road since 1998, Emrald Tyres has run up to be one of the best tyre manufacturers in the
business. Emrald Tyres not only make trailblazing tyres, but also market tubes and flaps. And
that's not all. Emrald Tyres are young and revving to go; with a maturity that comes with years of
market presence. More than 3000 Cr annual turnover, an impressive list of clients and OEMs,
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various awards and certificates are statistics that could speak for us. Emrald Tyres believe that
tyres are not just accessories; they are the force that moves your aspirations. A wide range of
tyres that suit the needs and vehicle type. (Not to mention, our radials are racers in the world
market) Strength is one of the most important attributes of our products; our commitment to
quality ensures that you have a safe ride, always. Emrald Tyres offer the widest range of tyres to
all user segments, and manufacture world-class radials for all Indian vehicles including: Heavy-
duty Trucks and Buses, Light Commercial Vehicles, Earthmovers, Forklifts, Tractors, Trailers.

Emrald Resilient Tyre Mfrs Private Limited (EMRALD) - an ISO 9001-2000 Certified company
having its custom-built state of the art plant at Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India - provides Total
Industrial Tyre Solutions through its wide range of products for various Material handling
applications. Emrald is accredited with ISO 9001-2000 by the DNV from its very First year of
operations. Emrald is the largest exporter of Industrial solid tires from India to more than 60
countries across the world. The eminent countries where Greckster Products are being used
include US, Canada, UK and also countries in Europe, Middle East and CIS. Emrald again is a
major exporter of Trailer Tires (higher end sized tires) for various National & International ports.
Also Emrald owns the prestigious Tag of largest supplier for GSE Tires for Airline Industry from
India.

Emrald has private label arrangement with some of the world leaders in solid tyre industry.
Emrald also holds the privilege of being the Single largest OEM (Original Equipment
Manufacturer) supplier in forklift segment in India with more that 90% market share. Emrald’s
strong R&D team constantly works on product innovation to keep pace with the technological up
gradation thus compete with the global leaders in offering world class solutions in Industrial tyre
segment. Emrald with its in-house mold shop in place can add any new design and size with
ease. Emrald Group is promoted by Mr.V.Thirupathi, Former Managing Director of ICICI Credit
Corporation Ltd-one of the premier financial institutions in India and guided by a team of
professionals who have rich experience in the Design & Manufacturing of Industrial tires.
EMRALD guarantees 'Happy Rolling and More Savings' through its range of products.

2.3.1 CUSTOMERS OF EMRALD TYRES LIMITED, CHENNAI

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Greckster products are widely accepted by Blue Chip Corporate & MNCs like Ingersoll Rand,
Volvo, Hyundai, Caterpillar, Pepsi, Coke, Saint Gobain, Visteon, Reliance, L&T, TATA, and
TVS etc. in Indian replacement market.

2.3.2 HIGHLIGHTS OF THE COMPANY

Emrald Resilient Tyre Manufacturers Pvt. Ltd., India. Enjoys unrivalled credentials in the
Industrial Tyre segment

• ISO 9001 – 2008 accredited Organization by DNV-Netherlands.


• Highest Grade level in 5 Star Certification in 5S
• Largest Manufacturer and exporter of Solid Tyres in India
• Single Largest Manufacturer / Supplier of Solid Tyres to OEMs in Forklift Segment in
India
• Largest Supplier of port trailer tyres in Solid tyre version from India
• Largest Exporter of GSE trolley tyres in Solid tyre version from India
• Widest range of Sizes in Solid tyres & allied Products
• Customized application oriented tyre solutions in Solid tyres include – Non markers,
Heat Resistant tyres Anti Static Tyres, Anti Skid tyres, Anti – Abrasive tyres etc.,
• Value added Solutions include supply of tyre fitted with Rim as total assembly with
required Mounting Hole profile
• Supply of Solid tyres in both Regular and Lip-Click-Easy Fit Version
• Industrial Pneumatic range includes Forklift tyres, Skid Steer tyres, Garden & Lawn
Mover tyres

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• Emrald Wheel Rim division provides allied products like Steel Bands for Press ons &
Bead wire for Solid Tyres besides the main product line of Split /Single Piece/ Multi
piece Rims covering all popular sizes in Industrial tyre segment.

2.3.3 EMRALD TYRES QUALITY POLICY

Emrald Tyres are customer-centric and consistently deliver excellent products and services at
competitive prices. It is our endeavour to continually improve all our business processes and
ensure conformance to the established quality systems. Emrald Tyres accomplish this through
constant upgrading of our employees’ skills. Emrald Tyres make sure our processes and products
are approved by the appropriate certifying agencies. Emrald Tyres have been the first tyre
company in India to get the ISO/TS 16949:2002 certification, which is a combination of ISO
9000 and QS 9000. Emrald Tyres are mighty kicked about this one! Because it's not just a
certification, it's a quality management system that promotes continual improvement. It allows us
to keep our supply chain trim by preventing defects and reducing waste. Not only that, it
measures the ultimate challenge for any manufacturer- customer satisfaction. ISO/TS
16949:2002 were prepared by the International Automotive Task Force (IATF) and Japan
Automobile Manufacturers Association, Inc. (JAMA) with support from ISO/TC 176, Quality
Management and Quality assurance. When Emrald Tyres give each other space to grow, to be
ourselves, and share joy; Emrald Tyres can perceive the beauty of openness, dignity, healing and
inclusion. While Emrald Tyres believe that quality speaks for itself, Emrald Tyres take special
measures to insure that Emrald Tyres deploy the best processes and practices. Our facilities are
equipped with resources that allow our R&D efforts to take the shape of perfection.

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2.4 PRODUCT PROFILE
SOLID RESILIENT TYRES

• Soft Resilio layers for increased driving comfort and reduced equipment maintenance.
• High durometer hard base compound for lower deflection and excellent stability.
• Resilients available in Friction and Creel bead base and also in CLICK/EF version.
• SPECIALITY Version includes Non Markers, Heat Resistant, Anti Static, Aqua Grip,
Cut Resistant, Anti Abrasive, Anti Skid Tyres.

PRESS ON TYRES

• Wear resistant Tread compound.

• Low rolling resistance design.

• Available in Non-Marker version.

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INDUSTRIAL PNEUMATIC TYRES

• Heavy Duty design for tough applications.

• Cold tread compound for cooler running and wear resistance.

• Wider tread profile for improved traction and stability.

• Reinforced sidewall for reduced deflection and improved protection.

POLYURETHANE WHEELS

• EMRALD is specialized in the manufacturing PU based products like press Ons, Direct
Bonding, Pallet and Castor Wheels.

• GRECKSTER brand PU based products offer exceptional dynamic properties and


available in Popular size range.

• Key Applications: Forklift , Trolley , Pallet Trucks, Stackers, Rotators

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INDUSTRIAL WHEEL RIMS

• Emrald Supplies Industrial Wheels of international Standards for Forklift Trucks, Port
Trailers, GSE Trolleys and Material Handling Applications.

• Emrald Wheels adhere to T&RA /ETRTO Standards and form part of our wide range of
Products for Industrial Applications.

• Emrald offers value added service to OEM & Replacement Market through the supply of
Tyre fitted with rim as tyre - wheel assembly.

INDUSTRIAL TYRE FITMENT PRESS

• Compatible to fit all popular range of sizes in both Solid Resilient and Press on tyres.

• Emrald Offers Industrial Fitment Press for Mounting and Demounting of Industrial Solid
Tyres from OD 16” to 53” and Press ons from OD 13” to 28”

• The press is supplied along with a complete set of Fitment tools like Base plate, Taper
cone, Pressure Cage Etc to ensure Easy, Safe & Secure Fitment of tyres on the Rims.

36
CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Business Research is an organized, database, systematic, critical, objective, scientific inquiry or


investigation into a specific problem under taken, with the purpose of finding answers or
solutions to it. The information provided could be the result of a careful analysis of data gathered
first hand or of data that are already available. The purpose of research is to discover answers to
questions through the application of scientific procedures. Research study plays a vital role in all
kinds of business activities.” Research is a systematized effort to gain new knowledge”.

37
3.1 NEED FOR THE STUDY

One of the biggest challenges facing business managers today is building and or maintaining a
competitive advantage in a shrinking economy in spite of the far big problems as enumerated
above because of the changes in the economy system in India. These challenges require strategic
investment decisions which ultimately lead to improved market standing, product differentiation,
cost containment and the efficient use of human capital resources. One such strategic decision
taken for review in this study is evaluation of stress management techniques of Emrald Tyres
Limited, Chennai.

One of the major HR (human resource) problems encountered by most of modern day
organsiation is the problem of the attrition rate. Although every organisation has various
employee retention techniques, this problem is persisting. One of the major reasons attributed by
the employee while leaving an organsiation is towards stress factor. Thereby the researcher has
decided to conduct a study in Emrald Tyres Limited, Chennai, to have an opinion on stress,
causes of stress, coping strategies adopted by individual and the organsiation to mitigate stress,
with an objective to suggest the management of the organisation with various stress management
strategies to help the organsiation to reduce the stress experienced by its employees.

38
3.2 OBJECTVES OF THE STUDY:

3.2.1 PRIMARY OBJECTIVE

The primary objective of the study is to study the stress management techniques adopted by the
employees of Emrald Tyres Limited, Chennai and also the stress management techniques
adopted by the organsiation for its employees.

3.2.2 SECONDARY OBJECTIVES

The primary is based on the achievement of the following objectives which would enough
support to attain the primary objective. The study is conducted

1. To find out opinion of the employees about the causes of stress in Emrald Tyres Limited,
Chennai.

2. To analyze the impact and the consequence of various kinds of stress on the employee.

3. To evaluate how stress of employees is being coped by the employee individually.


4. To assess how the organsiation helps to cope up with stress of the employee in Emrald
Tyres Limited, Chennai.
5. To suggest the management various stress coping strategies to make the current strategies
adopted by the employee and the organsiation more effective.

39
3.3 METHODS/TOOLS/TECHNIQUES

3.3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN

The research design is the plan, structure, and strategy of investigation conceived so as to obtain
answers to research questions and in variance with economy in procedure. It is the conceptual
structure within which research is conducted and it constitutes the blueprint for the collection,
measurement and analysis of data. As such, the design includes an outline of what the researcher
will do from developing the objectives and its operational implications to the final analysis of
data .The first step in the research process is to define the problem chosen for investigation. This
step is a very significant one since it is said, “A problem well defined is half solved”. A research
design is a arrangement of conditions for collection and analysis of data in a manner that aims to
combine relevance to the research purpose with economy in procedure. Fundamental to the
success of nay research project is the sound research design . A research design is purely and
simply the framework and plan for the study that guides the collection and analysis of data. It is a
blue print that is followed in completing a study.

Descriptive research design has been used in this study. A descriptive research design is the one
that describes something such as demographic characteristics of the respondents involved in the
study. The descriptive study is typically concerned with determining frequency with which
something occurs or how two variables vary. This study is typically guided by initial objectives.
Hence, in our study, the descriptive research design is followed by analyzing the response of the
employees from Emrald Tyres Limited, Chennai. It is designed to describe the demographic
profile of the respondents, the attitudes, opinions and expectations from the respondents. The
objective of a descriptive study is to answer the ‘who, what, where and how’ of the subject under
investigation. The descriptive research will facilitate the researcher to obtain accurate information
regarding a concept or a situation or a practice. To make specific predictions about the future
course of action and to determine whether certain variables are associated like attitudes, opinions
of the employees and the concept in the project.

40
3.3.2 DATA COLLECTION
Data collection is gathering of information or data for the purpose of achieving the objective.
The primary and secondary data source has been used for collection data for this project. There
are two types of data available, one is the primary data and the other one is the secondary data.

3.3.2.1 PRIMARY DATA:

Primary data are generated when a particular problem at hand is investigated by the researcher
employing mail questionnaire, telephone surveys, personal interviews, observation and
experiments. The primary data as collected from the respondent through the questionnaire
method.

QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN

Constructing and implementing questionnaires is one of the most interest and challenging tasks
of conducting the researcher. In order to elicit the required information with maximum accuracy,
we decided to ask direct questions only so that respondents find it easier to answer. There are
dichotomous questions in which the respondents are offered a choice between two alternatives
only which reduces the issue to its simplest terms. Besides that, there are multiple choice
questions also which provides several set of alternatives. These are the types of questions which
are asked in the questionnaire.

3.3.2.2 SECONDARY DATA


Secondary data are those which have already been collected by some other and which have
already been processed. Such data are collected and used for some other purpose with the
objective of understanding the past status of any problem. The secondary data have been
collected from the publication of company broachers, journals, text books and magazine and
through various other related website.

3.3.3 SAMPLING METHOD


This refers the type of sampling technique adopted by the researcher to collect the data, the
sample size, the sample unit the researcher has concentrated etc.

41
3.3.3.1 SAMPLING TECHNIQUE:

In the study non probability convenience sampling is used, where in this method a desired
number of sample unit is selected deliberately or purposely depending upon the object of the
enquiry, so that only the important items representing the true characteristics of the population
are included in the sample. Under this the researcher has selected convenience sampling. The
convenience sampling contains information, which is obtained in an easy way and researcher has
selected the sample that he thinks fit, who can provide the necessary information sampling
technique the respondent have been selected according to the convenience of the researcher.

3.3.3.2 SAMPLE UNIT


The sample unit taken for the study is the employees of Emrald Tyres Limited, Chennai.

3.3.3.3 SAMPLE SIZE


The sample size taken for the study is 160.

3.3.4 STATISTICAL TOOLS USED FOR THE PURPOSE OF ANALYSIS:

3.3.4.1 THE PERCENTAGE METHOD

This is the easiest and the best method to analyze a given data. The percentage wise distribution
of the data gives an idea of which factor is more and which is less. This method has been used
extensively in this project.

3.3.4.2 CHI-SQUARE METHOD


In this method we test if two attributes considered are dependent or not. It is the statistical
hypothesis test in which the test statistic has a chi-square distribution when the null hypothesis is
true, or any in which the probability distribution of the test statistic can be made to approximate a
chi-square distribution as closely as desired by making the sample size large enough.

3.3.4.3 KARL PEARSON’S CORRELATION:

The relationship between two variables during a period of time, especially one that shows a close
match between the variables' movements. It is very widely used in the social researches as a
measure of the strength of linear dependence between two variables.

42
3.3.4.3 WEIGHTED AVERAGE:

An average in which each quantity to be averaged is assigned a weight. These weightings


determine the relative importance of each quantity on the average. Weightings are the equivalent
of having that many like items with the same value involved in the average.

Formula:

Net Score = weighted for column * No. of respondents/Total weight

3.4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY


43
Employees are the driving force of any company. Moreover in recent past the attrition rate of the
modern organizations sector is very high. This evaluation of stress management techniques
organized in the Emrald Tyres Limited, Chennai will help to know the opinion of the employees
in the organsiation about the stress and its causes and effects. Some of the main areas covered
under this project in the area of studying the stress coping strategies is finding out various causes
for stress for the employees in Emrald Tyres Limited, Chennai, how they are coping with the
stress they encounter, finding consequences for various stress through these employees , also
finding out whether the organsiation is taking effort to help the employees to cope up with the
stress by providing practical suggestions to the organsiation through recommending various
stress coping strategies to make the current strategies adopted by the employee and the
organsiation more effective . This study is undertaken on the employees of Emrald Tyres
Limited, Chennai. By analyzing the opinion of the employees through this study the researcher
can formulate various stress coping strategies to meet what the organsiation should do to reduce
the stress of the employees in the organization.

3.5 LIMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCH

44
Every Survey has its own limitations. Hence it is inevitable to specify the limitations of the
study. As far as this project work is concerned the limitations are as follows.

 The study is limited to the organization Emrald Tyres Limited, Chennai, and hence the
findings of the study cannot be generalized for the organizations in the other sector.

 The Sample Size selected for the study is 160 because of the time constraint, so the
chance of Non-Sampling error is very high as the number of employees in the
organsiation is around 280.

 Data collected in this study on the basis for primary data; hence there is chance for biased
and misleading response.

CHAPTER IV
45
ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

This chapter will be focused on analysing and discussing the results obtained from the field
research undertaken in the organisation Emrald Tyres Limited, Chennai which is being
researched to create a module of stress management program for Emrald Tyres in Chennai.
Initially an overview of respondents in terms of their gender, age, experience in the organsiation
and level in the management and then it is followed by the results of the opinion of the
employees of Emrald Tyres Limited, Chennai on the nature of stress, the impact of stress, efforts
taken by the employees and the organsiation to reduce the stress, this is discussed below with the
help of tables and graphs.

TABLE NO. 1 TABLE SHOWING THE GENDER OF THE EMPLOYEES

46
Sl. No Gender Frequency of the Percentage of
respondents respondents

1 Male 93 58

2 Female 67 42

Total 160 100.0

Source: Primary data

Interpretation:

The above table indicates that majority of the respondents who had participated in this survey are
males who form about 58% while the remaining 42% of the respondents are females.

CHART NO. 1 CHART SHOWING THE GENDER OF THE EMPLOYEES

47
70

60 58

50
percentage of respondents

42

40

30

20

10

0
Male Female
Gender of the respondents

TABLE NO. 2 TABLE SHOWING THE AGE OF THE EMPLOYEES

Sl. No Age Frequency of the Percentage of


respondents respondents

48
1 Less than 25 years 51 32

2 26 years to 35 years 31 19

3 36 years to 45 years 31 19

4 46 years to 55 years 29 18

5 More than 55 years 18 12

Total 160 100.0

Source: Primary data

Interpretation:

The above table indicates that majority of the respondents who had participated in this survey are
in the age category of less than 25 years which forms about 32% , while 19% of the respondents
who had participated in this survey are in the age category of 26 years to 35 years and another
19% of the respondents who had participated in this survey are in the age category of 36 years to
45 years while 12 % of the respondents who had participated in this survey are in the age
category of more than 55 years.

CHART NO. 2 CHART SHOWING THE AGE OF THE EMPLOYEES

49
35

30

25
PERCENTAGE OF RESPONDENTS

20

32
15

10
19 19
18

12
5

0
Less than 25 26 years to 35 36 years to 45 46 years to 55 More than 55
years years years years years
AGE OF THE RESPONDENTS

TABLE NO. 3 TABLE SHOWING THE LEVEL OF EMPLOYEES FROM THE


MANAGEMENT

50
Sl. No Level in the management Frequency of the Percentage of
respondents respondents

1 Top 25 16

2 Middle 49 31

3 Bottom 86 53

Total 160 100.0

Source: Primary data

Interpretation:

The above table indicates that majority of the respondents who had participated in this survey are
in the bottom level of the management (trainees, line employees and so on) which forms about
53% while 31% of the respondents who had participated in this survey are in the middle level of
the management ( supervisor , operations manager and so on ) and another 16% of the
respondents who had participated in this survey are in the top level of the management ( process
managers , Divisional head and so on ).

51
CHART NO. 3 CHART SHOWING THE LEVEL OF EMPLOYEES FROM THE
MANAGEMENT

16%

53%

31%

Top Middle Bottom

52
TABLE NO. 4 TABLE SHOWING THE EXPERIENCE LEVEL OF EMPLOYEES

Sl. No Experience level Frequency of the Percentage of


respondents respondents

1 Less than 1 year 65 41

2 1 year to 2 years 25 16

3 2.1 years to 3 years 23 14

4 3.1 years to 4 years 30 19

5 More than 4 years 17 10

Total 160 100.0

Source: Primary data

Interpretation:

The above table indicates that majority of the respondents who had participated in this survey are
having an experience in their respective organisation for less than 1 year and this forms about
41% of the respondents while 19% of the respondents who had participated in this survey are
having an experience in their respective organisation for 3.1 years to 4 years , another 16% of the
respondents who had participated in this survey are having an experience in their respective
organisation for 1 year to 2 years , whereas 14% of the respondents who had participated in this
survey are having an experience in their respective organisation for 2.1 years to 3 years and a
few 10% of the respondents who had participated in this survey are having an experience in their
respective organisation for more than 4 years.

53
CHART NO. 4 CHART SHOWING THE EXPERIENCE LEVEL OF EMPLOYEES

45

41
40

35

30
percentage of respondents

25

20 19

16
15 14

10
10

0
Less than 1 year 1 year to 2 years 2.1 years to 3 3.1 years to 4 More than 4 years
years years
Experience in years

54
TABLE NO. 5 TABLE SHOWING THE NATURE OF STRESS OF EMPLOYEES

Sl. No Nature Frequency of the Percentage of


respondents respondents

1 Physiological 64 40

2 Psychological 53 33

3 Behavioural 27 17

4 All 16 10

Total 160 100.0

Source: Primary data

Interpretation:

The above table indicates that majority of the respondents who had participated in this survey are
undergoing physiological nature of stress and this forms about 40% of the respondents while
33% of the respondents who had participated in this survey are undergoing psychological nature
of stress , another 17% of the respondents undergoing behavioural nature of stress, and finally
10% of the respondents are undergoing all forms ( physiological , psychological and
behavioural) of nature of stress.

Behavioural responses are the least studied. "This is ironic", since from an organizational point
of view, these may be most important. Seyle (2006), indicates that following are some of the
stress responses, Physiological response, Psychological response and Behavioural response. The
outcome of this project also has proved this as only few employees undergo such stress.

55
CHART NO. 5 CHART SHOWING THE NATURE OF STRESS OF EMPLOYEES

10%

17%
40%

33%

Physiological Psychological Behavioural All

56
TABLE NO. 6 TABLE SHOWING EMPLOYEES OPINION ABOUT THE CAUSES OF
STRESS WITH REGARD TO WORK OVER LOAD

Sl. No Opinion Frequency of the Percentage of


respondents respondents

1 Strongly agree 43 27

2 Somewhat agree 40 25

3 No comments 7 4

4 Disagree 42 26

4 Strongly disagree 28 18

Total 160 100.0

Source: Primary data

Interpretation:

The above table indicates that majority of the respondents who had participated in this survey
that is about 27% of the respondents strongly agree to the fact that work load is the cause for the
stress while 25% of the respondents somewhat agree to the fact that work load is the cause for
the stress , whereas 27% of the respondents disagree to the fact that work load is the cause for the
stress and finally 18% of the respondents strongly disagree to the fact that work load is the cause
for the stress.

57
CHART NO. 6 CHART SHOWING EMPLOYEES OPINION ABOUT THE CAUSES OF
STRESS WITH REGARD TO WORK OVER LOAD

58
30

27
26
25
25

20
18
percentage of respondents

15

10

5 4

0
Stro ngly agree S omewhat agree No comments Disagree S tro ngly disagree
opinion of the respondents

59
TABLE NO. 7 TABLE SHOWING EMPLOYEES OPINION ABOUT THE CAUSES OF
STRESS WITH REGARD TO TIME PRESSURE

Sl. No Opinion Frequency of the Percentage of


respondents respondents

1 Strongly agree 43 27

2 Somewhat agree 46 29

3 No comments 14 9

4 Disagree 29 18

4 Strongly disagree 28 17

Total 160 100.0

Source: Primary data

Interpretation:

The above table indicates that most of the respondents who had participated in this survey that is
about 29% of the respondents somewhat agree to the fact that time pressure is the cause for the
stress while 27% of the respondents strongly agree to the fact that time pressure is the cause for
the stress , whereas 18% of the respondents disagree to the fact that time pressure is the cause for
the stress and finally 17% of the respondents strongly disagree to the fact that time pressure is
the cause for the stress.

Medical researcher Selye (2006) first used to the term stress to describe the body’s biological
response mechanisms. He defined stress as ‘the non-specific response of the body to any
demand’. The time demand is one of the most hazardous for employees as evident from the study
that almost 60% of the employees are falling prey to this.

CHART NO. 7 CHART SHOWING EMPLOYEES OPINION ABOUT THE CAUSES


OF STRESS WITH REGARD TO TIME PRESSURE

60
35

30 29

27

25
percentage of respondents

20
18
17

15

10 9

0
Stro ngly agree So mewhat agree No comments Disagree Strongly disagree
opinion of the respondents

61
TABLE NO. 8 TABLE SHOWING EMPLOYEES OPINION ABOUT THE CAUSES OF
STRESS WITH REGARD TO POOR QUALITY OF SUPERVISION

Sl. No Opinion Frequency of the Percentage of


respondents respondents

1 Strongly agree 41 26

2 Somewhat agree 49 31

3 No comments 23 14

4 Disagree 21 13

4 Strongly disagree 26 16

Total 160 100.0

Source: Primary data

Interpretation:

The above table indicates that most of the respondents who had participated in this survey that is
about 31% of the respondents somewhat agree to the fact that poor quality of supervision is the
cause for the stress while 26% of the respondents strongly agree to the fact that poor quality of
supervision is the cause for the stress , whereas 13% of the respondents disagree to the fact that
poor quality of supervision is the cause for the stress and finally 16% of the respondents strongly
disagree to the fact that poor quality of supervision is the cause for the stress.

62
CHART NO. 8 CHART SHOWING EMPLOYEES OPINION ABOUT THE CAUSES
OF STRESS WITH REGARD TO POOR QUALITY OF SUPERVISION

35

31

30

26

25
percentage of respondents

20

16

15 14
13

10

0
Strongly agree S omewhat agree No comments Disagree Strongly disagree
opinion of the respondents

63
TABLE NO. 9 TABLE SHOWING EMPLOYEES OPINION ABOUT THE CAUSES
OF STRESS WITH REGARD TO INSECURE JOB CLIMATE

Sl. No Opinion Frequency of the Percentage of


respondents respondents

1 Strongly agree 20 13

2 Somewhat agree 34 21

3 No comments 40 25

4 Disagree 47 29

4 Strongly disagree 19 12

Total 160 100.0

Source: Primary data

Interpretation:

The above table indicates that most of the respondents who had participated in this survey that is
about 29% of the respondents disagree to the fact that insecure job climate is the cause for the
stress while 12% of the respondents strongly disagree to the fact that insecure job climate is the
cause for the stress , whereas 21% of the respondents somewhat agree to the fact that insecure
job climate is the cause for the stress and finally 13% of the respondents strongly agree to the
fact that insecure job climate is the cause for the stress.

This has been clearly brought out by Christina and Leiter (2001), who say that stress is a serious
problem in today’s work place: Companies every where are downsizing, outsourcing, and
restructuring, leaving workers at all levels felling stressed, insecure, misunderstood, undervalued
and alienated. This problem is quiet evident in India, because the aftermath of recession has not
been erased form the minds of the employees.

64
CHART NO. 9 CHART SHOWING EMPLOYEES OPININO ABOUT THE CAUSES
OF STRESS WITH REGARD TO INSECURE JOB CLIMATE

35

30 29

25
25

21
percentage of respondents

20

15
13
12

10

0
Stro ngly agree So mewhat agree No co mments Disagree S tro ngly disagree
opinion of the respondents

65
TABLE NO. 10 TABLE SHOWING EMPLOYEES OPINION ABOUT THE CAUSES
OF STRESS WITH REGARD TO ROLE CONFLICT AND AMBIGUITY

Sl. No Opinion Frequency of the Percentage of


respondents respondents

1 Strongly agree 32 20

2 Somewhat agree 39 24

3 No comments 22 14

4 Disagree 37 23

4 Strongly disagree 30 19

Total 160 100.0

Source: Primary data

Interpretation:

The above table indicates that most of the respondents who had participated in this survey that is
about 24% of the respondents somewhat agree to the fact that role conflict and ambiguity is the
cause for the stress while 20% of the respondents strongly agree to the fact that role conflict and
ambiguity is the cause for the stress , whereas 23% of the respondents disagree to the fact that
role conflict and ambiguity is the cause for the stress and finally 19% of the respondents strongly
disagree to the fact that role conflict and ambiguity is the cause for the stress.

According to Khan (2006), if work activities are ill-defined, then the person who is carrying out
these work activities behaves as others expect him to because his role is not clearly defined.
French and Caplan (2005) summarized their study finding as follows. In summary role ambiguity
which appears to be widespread (1) produces psychological strain and dissatisfaction, (2)leads to
under utilization of human resources, and (3)leads to feeling of futility on how to cope with the
organizational environment.

CHART NO. 10 CHART SHOWING EMPLOYEES OPINION ABOUT THE CAUSES


OF STRESS WITH REGARD TO ROLE CONFLICT AND AMBIGUITY

66
30

25 24
23

20
20 19
percentage of respondents

15 14

10

0
Strongly agree Somewhat agree No comments Disagree Strongly disagree
opinion of the respondents

67
TABLE NO. 11 TABLE SHOWING EMPLOYEES OPINION ABOUT THE CAUSES OF
STRESS WITH REGARD TO INADEQUATE AUTHORITY TO MATCH
RESPONSIBILITIES

Sl. No Opinion Frequency of the Percentage of


respondents respondents

1 Strongly agree 41 26

2 Somewhat agree 27 17

3 No comments 23 14

4 Disagree 34 21

4 Strongly disagree 35 22

Total 160 100.0

Source: Primary data

Interpretation:

The above table indicates that most of the respondents who had participated in this survey that is
about 26% of the respondents strongly agree to the fact that inadequate authority to match
responsibility is the cause for the stress while 17% of the respondents somewhat agree to the fact
that inadequate authority to match responsibility is the cause for the stress , whereas 21% of the
respondents disagree to the fact that inadequate authority to match responsibility is the cause for
the stress and finally 22% of the respondents strongly disagree to the fact that inadequate
authority to match responsibility is the cause for the stress.

68
CHART NO. 11 CHART SHOWING EMPLOYEES OPINION ABOUT THE CAUSES
OF STRESS WITH REGARD TO INADEQUATE AUTHORITY TO MATCH
RESPONSIBILITIES

30

26

25

22
21

20
percentage of respondents

17

15 14

10

0
Strongly agree Somewhat agree No comments Disagree Strongly disagree
opinion of the respondents

69
TABLE NO. 12 TABLE SHOWING EMPLOYEES OPINION ABOUT THE CAUSES OF
STRESS WITH REGARD TO TECHNOLOGY WITHOUT TRAINING AND SUPPORT

Sl. No Opinion Frequency of the Percentage of


respondents respondents

1 Strongly agree 26 16

2 Somewhat agree 44 28

3 No comments 18 11

4 Disagree 40 25

4 Strongly disagree 32 20

Total 160 100.0

Source: Primary data

Interpretation:

The above table indicates that most of the respondents who had participated in this survey that is
about 28% of the respondents somewhat agree to the fact that technology without adequate
training and support is the cause for the stress while 16% of the respondents strongly agree to the
fact that technology without adequate training and support is the cause for the stress , whereas
25% of the respondents disagree to the fact that technology without adequate training and
support is the cause for the stress and finally 20% of the respondents strongly disagree to the fact
that technology without adequate training and support is the cause for the stress.

In later developments, Theorell (2006) places much more emphasis on individual stress
management, coping abilities, and subjective feelings of being in control or being able to cope.
This emphasis is very much in line with the theoretical and empirical background for and other
positions emphasizing the individual variance in responses to “stress”.

CHART NO. 12 CHART SHOWING EMPLOYEES OPINION ABOUT THE CAUSES


OF STRESS WITH REGARD TO TECHNOLOGY WITHOUT TRAINING AND
SUPPORT

70
30

25
PERCENTAGE OF RESPONDENTS

20

15
28

25

10 20

16

11
5

0
Strongly agree Somewhat agree No comments Disagree Strongly disagree
OPINION OF THE RESPONDENTS

71
TABLE NO. 13 TABLE SHOWING EMPLOYEES OPINION ABOUT THE CAUSES OF
STRESS WITH REGARD TO IMPROPER COMMUNICATION STRUCTURE

Sl. No Opinion Frequency of the Percentage of


respondents respondents

1 Strongly agree 39 24

2 Somewhat agree 53 33

3 No comments 25 16

4 Disagree 15 9

4 Strongly disagree 28 18

Total 160 100.0

Source: Primary data

Interpretation:

The above table indicates that most of the respondents who had participated in this survey that is
about 33% of the respondents somewhat agree to the fact that improper communication structure
is the cause for the stress while 24% of the respondents strongly agree to the fact that improper
communication structure is the cause for the stress , whereas 9% of the respondents disagree to
the fact that improper communication structure is the cause for the stress and finally 18% of the
respondents strongly disagree to the fact that improper communication structure is the cause for
the stress.

This proved from the study of Pearlin ( 2001) , that role conflict occurs when two or more
persons have different and sometimes opposing expectations of a given individual. Thus there
are two or more sets of pressure on the individual so that it is not possible to satisfy all of them.
In other words, role conflict occurs when contradictory demands are simultaneously placed upon
an employee. But this problem can be arrested if the organsiation has very good communication
structure, thus improper communication structure leads to role conflict and this ultimately leads
to stress as it is evident in the study, proved earlier and this analysis also shows that almost 57%
of the respondents agree to the fact that improper communication structure is the cause for the
stress.

72
CHART NO. 13 CHART SHOWING EMPLOYEES OPINION ABOUT THE CAUSES
OF STRESS WITH REGARD TO IMPROPER COMMUNICATION STRUCTURE

35
33

30

25 24
percentage of respondents

20
18

16

15

10 9

0
Strongly agree Somewhat agree No comments Disagree Strongly disagree
opinion of the respondents

TABLE NO. 14 TABLE SHOWING THE CONSEQUENCE OF PHYSIOLOGICAL


STRESS OF EMPLOYEES

Sl. No Consequence Frequency of the Percentage of


73
respondents respondents

1 Ulcer 30 38

2 Blood pressure 32 40

3 Heart attack 10 12

4 Disturbed sleep 8 10

Total 80 100.0

Source: Primary data

Interpretation:

The above table indicates that most of the respondents who had participated in this survey who
has physiological stress which forms about 40% of the respondents are having problem of blood
pressure as a consequence of physiological stress while around 38% of the respondents are
having problem of ulcer as a consequence of physiological stress, whereas almost 12% of the
respondents are having problem of heart attack as a consequence of physiological stress and
about 10% of the respondents are having problem of disturbed sleep as a consequence of
physiological stress .

This analysis has proved the study of Seyle (2006), As soon as stress appears; the brain acts and
immediate biochemical changes take place in heart beat and heightening of practically all the
senses. The stress could lead to breakdowns in the body’s immune systems and may result in
serious health problems such as high blood pressure, ulcers and heart attack. The above analysis
has clearly brought out this fact.

CHART NO. 14 CHART SHOWING THE CONSEQUENCE OF PHYSIOLOGICAL


STRESS OF EMPLOYEES

74
10%

12%

38%

40%

Ulcer Blood pressure Heart attack Disturbed sleep

75
TABLE NO. 15 TABLE SHOWING THE CONSEQUENCE OF PSYCOLOGICAL
STRESS OF EMPLOYEES

Sl. No Consequence Frequency of the Percentage of


respondents respondents

1 Emotional instability 5 9

2 Depression 29 55

3 Burnout 4 7

4 Moodiness 15 29

Total 53 100.0

Source: Primary data

Interpretation:

The above table indicates that most of the respondents who had participated in this survey who
has psychological stress which forms about 55% of the respondents are having problem of
depression as a consequence of psychological stress while around 29% of the respondents are
having problem of moodiness as a consequence of psychological stress, whereas almost 9% of
the respondents are having problem of emotional instability as a consequence of psychological
stress and about 7% of the respondents are having problem of burnout as a consequence of
psychological stress .

The above analysis has proved the theory of Newstrom (1999), according to Newstrom (1999),
Stress is state of mind which reflects certain biochemical reactions in the human body and is
projected by a sense of anxiety, tension and depression and is caused by such demands by the
environmental forces or internal forces that cannot be met by the resources available to the
person. Because almost 30% of the employees in the organsiation has experienced psychological
responses towards stress.

CHART NO. 15 CHART SHOWING THE CONSEQUENCE OF PSYCOLOGICAL


STRESS OF EMPLOYEES

76
9%

29%

7%

55%

Emotional instability Depression Burnout Moodiness

77
TABLE NO. 16 TABLE SHOWING THE CONSEQUENCE OF BEHAVIOURAL
STRESS OF EMPLOYEES

Sl. No Consequence Frequency of the Percentage of


respondents respondents

1 Absenteeism 6 22

2 Low performance 14 52

3 Less job commitment 6 22

4 Relationship problem with


1 4
colleagues and superior
Total 27 100.0

Source: Primary data

Interpretation:

The above table indicates that most of the respondents who had participated in this survey who
has behavioural stress which forms about 52% of the respondents are having problem of low
performance as a consequence of behavioural stress while around 22% of the respondents are
having problem of absenteeism as a consequence of behavioural stress, whereas almost 22% of
the respondents are having problem of less job commitment as a consequence of behavioural
stress and about 4% of the respondents are having relationship problem with colleagues or
supervisor as a consequence of behavioural stress . According to Murphy, 2004, stress can be
either helpful or harmful to job performance. Almost 52% of the respondents are having problem
of low performance as a consequence of behavioural stress

78
CHART NO. 16 CHART SHOWING THE CONSEQUENCE OF BEHAVIOURAL
STRESS OF EMPLOYEES

4%

22%

22%

52%

Absenteeism
Low performance
Less job commitment
Relationship problem with colleagues and superior

TABLE NO. 17 TABLE SHOWING EMPLOYEES OPINION ABOUT THE EXTENT OF


NEGATIVE IMPACT OF STRESS
79
Sl. No Extent of impact Frequency of the Percentage of
respondents respondents

1 To a great extent 60 38

2 To some extent 62 39

3 Not at all 38 23

Total 160 100.0

Source: Primary data

Interpretation:

The above table indicates that most of the respondents who had participated in this survey which
forms about 59% of the respondents are of the opinion that stress has some extent of negative
impact on the performance of the employees while 38% of the respondents are of the opinion
that stress has a great extent of negative impact on the performance of the employees and around
23% of the respondents are of the opinion that stress has no negative impact on the performance
of the employees.

According to Murphy, 2004, stress is harmful to job performance. Nearly 80% of the employees
in the top level of management are experiencing the negative impact of stress on the performance
while, 70% of the employees in the bottom level of management are experiencing the negative
impact of stress on the performance.

80
CHART NO. 17 CHART SHOWING EMPLOYEES OPINION ABOUT THE
EXTENT OF NEGATIVE IMPACT OF STRESS

23%

38%

39%

To a great extent To some extent Not at all


TABLE NO. 18 TABLE SHOWING EMPLOYEES RESPONSE REGARDING
COUNSELLING SESSION UNDERGONE IN THE ORGANISATION
81
Sl. No Response Frequency of the Percentage of
respondents respondents

1 Yes 92 58

2 No 68 42

Total 160 100.0

Source: Primary data

Interpretation:

The above table indicates that most of the respondents who had participated in this survey that is
around 58% of the respondents have undergone counselling session in their respective
organsiation while 42% of the respondents have not undergone counselling session in their
respective organization.

CHART NO. 18 CHART SHOWING THE EMPLOYEES RESPONSE REGARDING


COUNSELLING SESSION UNDERGONE IN THE ORGANISATION

82
42%

58%

Yes No

83
TABLE NO. 19 TABLE SHOWING THE TYPE OF COUNSELLING REQUIRED FOR
THE EMPLOYEES

Sl. No Response Frequency of the Percentage of


respondents respondents

1 Advise 32 20

2 Re assurance 28 18

3 Release of emotional tension 45 28

4 Clarified thinking 33 21

5 Re-orientation 22 13

Total 160 100.0

Source: Primary data

Interpretation:

The above table indicates that most of the respondents who had participated in this survey that is
around 28% of the respondents are of the opinion that during counselling session a talk on
release of emotional stress is required while 21% of the respondents are of the opinion that
during counselling session a talk on clarified thinking, whereas 20% of the respondents are of the
opinion that during counselling session advise is required another 18% of the respondents are of
the opinion that during counselling session a talk on re assurance is required and finally 13% of
the respondents are of the opinion that during counselling session a talk on reorientation of the
employees objectives and aims in life is required .

84
CHART NO. 19 CHART SHOWING THE TYPE OF COUNSELLING REQUIRED
FOR EMPLOYEES

30
28

25

21
20
20
18
percentage of respondents

15
13

10

0
Advise Re assurance Release of Clarified thinking Re-orientation
emotional tension
opinion of the respondents

85
TABLE NO. 20 TABLE SHOWING THE PERSONAL TECHNIQUE ADOPTED TO
REDUCE STRESS OF EMPLOYEES

Sl. No Technique Frequency of the Percentage of


respondents respondents

1 Avoid working long hours 33 21

2 Healthy diet 35 22

3 Regular exercise 24 16

4 Avoid procrastination 14 9

5 Family outing 27 16

6 Better communication skills 27 16

Total 160 100.0

Source: Primary data

Interpretation:

The above table indicates that most of the respondents who had participated in this survey that is
around 22% of the respondents are of the opinion for personal technique adopted to reduce stress
that they follow healthy diet to reduce stress while 21% of the respondents are of the opinion for
personal technique adopted to reduce stress that they avoid long working hours to reduce stress
whereas 16% of the respondents are of the opinion for personal technique adopted to reduce
stress that they follow regular exercise to reduce stress while an equal proportion 16% of the
respondents are of the opinion for personal technique adopted to reduce stress that they take
family for a outing to reduce stress and 9% of the respondents are of the opinion for personal
technique adopted to reduce stress that they would not procrastinate to reduce stress

CHART NO. 20 CHART SHOWING THE PERSONAL TECHNIQUE ADOPTED


TO REDUCE STRESS OF EMPLOYEES

86
25

20
PERCENTAGE OF RESPONDENTS

15

22
21
10

16 16 16

5
9

0
Avoid working long hours

Better communication
Family outing
Avoid procrastination
Healthy diet

Regular exercise

skills

TECHNIQUES

TABLE NO. 21 TABLE SHOWING THE EMPLOYEES SUGGESTIONS FOR


ORGANISATION TO REDUCE STRESS

Sl. No Suggestions Frequency of the Percentage of


respondents respondents

87
1 Training 27 17

2 Stress workshops 33 21

3 Counselling 20 13

4 Arrange entertainment
29 18
activities
5 Appropriate job position &
16 10
profile
6 Excellent work environment 14 9

7 Better communication
21 12
structure
Total 160 100.0

Source: Primary data

Interpretation:

The above table indicates that most of the respondents who had participated in this survey that is
around 21% of the respondents are of the opinion that organsiation should conduct stress
workshops to reduce stress of the employees while 18% of the respondents are of the opinion
that organsiation should conduct arrange entertainment activities to reduce stress of the
employees whereas 17% of the respondents are of the opinion that organsiation should conduct
proper training ( especially on using of technology to increase technical skills of the employees )
to reduce stress of the employees while 12% of the respondents are of the opinion that
organsiation should have better communication structure to reduce stress of the employees and
9% of the respondents are of the opinion that organsiation should have excellent work
environment to reduce stress of the employees.

CHART NO. 21 CHART SHOWING THE EMPLOYEES SUGGESTIONS FOR


ORGANISATION TO REDUCE STRESS

88
25

21
20
18
Percentage of respondents

17

15
13
12

10
10 9

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suggestions
TABLE NO. 22 TABLE SHOWING EMPLOYEES SATISFACTION LEVEL
REGARDING STRESS MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS/POLICIES OF THE
ORGANISATION

Sl. No Satisfaction level Frequency of the Percentage of


respondents respondents

1 Highly satisfied 28 18

2 Satisfied 25 16

3 No comments 18 11

4 Dissatisfied 48 30

89
5 Highly dissatisfied 41 25

Total 160 100.0

Source: Primary data

Interpretation:

The above table indicates that most of the respondents who had participated in this survey that is
around 30% of the respondents are dissatisfied with the stress management programs and
policies of the organisation while 25% of the respondents are highly dissatisfied with the stress
management programs and policies of the organisation whereas 18% of the respondents are
highly satisfied with the stress management programs and policies of the organisation and
another 16% of the respondents are satisfied with the stress management programs and policies
of the organisation

90
CHART NO. 22 CHART SHOWING EMPLOYEES SATISFACTION LEVEL
REGARDING STRESS MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS/POLICIES OF THE
ORGANISATION

35

30
30

25
25
percentage of respondents

20
18

16

15

11

10

0
Highly satisfied Satisfied No comments Dissatisfied Highly dissatisfied
Satisfeaction level of the respondents

91
CHI SQUARE ANALYSIS

Need for the analysis:

To test the relationship between the level in the management of the employees in the
organsiation and the nature of stress.

Null Hypothesis (H0):

There is no significant difference between the level in the management of the employees in the
organsiation and the nature of stress.

Alternative Hypothesis (H1):

There is significant difference between the level in the management of the employees in the
organsiation and the nature of stress.

TABLE NO 23: TABLE SHOWING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE LEVEL OF


EMPLOYEES IN THE ORGANSIATION AND THE NATURE OF STRESS
UNDERGONE

Nature of stress/ Physiological Psychological Behavioural All Total


Level in the
management
Top 6 11 6 5 25
Middle 24 15 6 4 49
Low 34 27 18 7 86
Total 64 53 27 16 160

92
TABLE No 24: TABLE SHOWING THE CALCULATION OF CHI-SQUARE VALUE

Observed frequency Expected frequency (O-E)2/E

6 10 1.6

11 8 1.1

6 4 0.3

5 3 1.3

24 20 0.8

15 16 0.1

6 8 0.5

4 5 0.2

34 35 0.0

27 28 0.0

18 15 0.6

7 9 0.4

Total 6.9

Calculated Chi-square value = Σ (O-E)2/E = 6.9

Table value of Chi square = Degree of freedom: (r-1) (c-1) = 6@ 5% significant level = 12.5

Inference

Since calculated value less than table value, the null hypothesis is rejected

Conclusion

There is no significant difference between the level in the management of the employees in the
organsiation and the nature of stress. Therefore there is relationship between the level in the
management of the employees in the organsiation and the nature of stress.

93
CORRELATION ANALYSIS

Need for the analysis

To test the relationship between the age of the employees in the organsiation and their
satisfaction level of stress management policies in the organization.

94
TABLE NO 25 TABLE SHOWING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AGE OF
THE EMPLOYEES IN THE ORGANSIATION AND THEIR SATISFACTION LEVEL
OF STRESS MANAGEMENT POLICIES IN THE ORGANIZATION

Sl. No Satisfaction level 26 years 36 years X2 Y2 XY


to 35 to 45
years (x) years (y)
1 Highly satisfied 8 9 64 81 72
2 Satisfied 5 12 25 144 60
3 No comments 6 4 36 16 24
4 Dissatisfied 7 4 49 16 28
5 Highly dissatisfied 5 2 25 4 10
31 31 199 261 194

= 0.08

Conclusion

Since the correlation is very less there is no relationship between the age of the employees in the
organsiation and their satisfaction level of stress management policies in the organization , hence
the HR departments should different stress management programs for different age groups.

WEIGHTED AVERAGE METHOD

TABLE 26: TO FIND THE WEIGHTED AVERAGE OF DIFFERENT CRITERIA’S OF


CAUSES OF STRESS:

Sl. Strongly Some what No Strongly


Causes Disagree
No agree agree comments disagree

1 Work over load 43 40 7 42 28

95
2 Time pressure 43 46 14 29 18

3 Poor quality of 41 49 23 21 26
supervision

4 Insecure job climate 20 34 40 47 19

5 Role conflict and 32 39 22 37 30


ambiguity

6 Inadequate authority 41 27 23 34 35
to match
responsibilities

7 Technology without 26 44 18 40 32
training and support

8 Improper 39 53 25 15 28
communication
structure

96
WEIGHTED AVERAGE METHOD:

Rank 1 2 3 4 5

Weight 5 4 3 2 1

TABLE NO 27 TABLE SHOWING THE CALCULAIION OF WEIGHTED


AVERAGE METHOD

97
Strong Some No TOTA AVG WEI
Sl. Strongly
Causes ly what comme Disagree L GHT
No disagree
agree agree nts

1 Work over 215 160 21 84 28 508 3.175 5


load

2 Time pressure 215 184 42 58 18 517 3.23 4

3 Poor quality 205 196 69 42 26 538 3.36 3


of supervision

4 Insecure job 100 136 120 94 19 469 2.93 8


climate

5 Role conflict 160 156 66 74 30 486 3.0375 6


and
ambiguity

6 Inadequate 205 108 69 68 35 485 3.0312 7


authority to
match
responsibilitis

7 Technology 234 176 54 80 32 576 3.6 1


without
training and
support

8 Improper 195 212 75 30 28 540 3.375 2


communicatio
n structure

Interpretation:

From the above table, it is inferred that the First reason for the causes of stress is the technology
without training and support, Second reason is improper communication structure, Third
98
preference goes to the poor quality of supervision.

CHAPTER V

FINDINGS, SUGGESTIONS AND CONCLUSION OF THE


STUDY

This project is done to with a view to create a module for stress management programs for the
organization Emrald Tyres in Chennai. This research is being conducted with a view to
understand how the stress is viewed by the employees with the following objectives in frame ,
like to find out the causes of stress for the employees , to assess the level of satisfaction of the
existing stress management programs of policies of organsiation undertaken for the employees to
reduce stress , to evaluate how stress of employees is being managed and taken care by the
organization , how it is managed by the employee individually , to find out the impact of the
stress and so on . Based on the outcome of the study, the researcher has provided valuable
suggestions to the management of Emrald Tyres in Chennai to conduct stress management
programs in such a way to reduce stress.

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5.1 FINDINGS OF THE STUDY

The study based on the above objectives was conducted on 160 employees of Emrald Tyres in
Chennai. The major findings of the study are as follows.

 Majority of the respondents are undergoing physiological nature of stress and this forms
about 40% of the respondents.

 Nearly 33% of the respondents are undergoing psychological nature of stress, another
17% of the respondents are undergoing behavioural nature of stress, and finally 10% of
the respondents are undergoing all forms (physiological, psychological and behavioural)
of nature of stress.

 About 27% of the respondents strongly agree to the fact that work load is the cause for
the stress while another 25% of the respondents somewhat agree to the fact that work
load is the cause for the stress.

 Nearly 30% of the respondents somewhat agree to the fact that poor quality of
supervision is the cause for the stress while 26% of the respondents strongly agree to the
fact that poor quality of supervision is the cause for the stress.

 About 21% of the respondents somewhat agree to the fact that insecure job climate is the
cause for the stress.

 About 24% of the respondents somewhat agree to the fact that role conflict and ambiguity
is the cause for the stress while 20% of the respondents strongly agree to the fact that role
conflict and ambiguity is the cause for the stress.

 Almost 26% of the respondents strongly agree to the fact that inadequate authority to
match responsibility is the cause for the stress while 17% of the respondents somewhat
agree to the fact that inadequate authority to match responsibility is the cause for the
stress.

 Majority of respondents about 28% somewhat agree to the fact that technology without
adequate training and support is the cause for the stress.

100
 Almost 33% of the respondents somewhat agree to the fact that improper communication
structure is the cause for the stress while 24% of the respondents strongly agree to the
fact that improper communication structure is the cause for the stress.

 Almost 60% of the respondents have undergone counseling session in their respective
organsiation while another 40% of the respondents have not undergone counseling
session in their respective organization.

 Around 28% of the respondents are of the opinion that during counseling session a talk
on release of emotional stress is required while 21% of the respondents are of the opinion
that during counseling session a talk on clarified thinking, whereas

 20% of the respondents are of the opinion that during counseling session advise is
required another 18% of the respondents are of the opinion that during counseling session
a talk on re assurance is required and finally 13% of the respondents are of the opinion
that during counseling session a talk on reorientation of the employees objectives and
aims in life is required .

 Nearly 30% of the respondents are dissatisfied with the stress management programs and
policies of the organization while 25% of the respondents are highly dissatisfied with the
stress management programs and policies of the organization. Based on this finding the
researcher has provided suggestions to the organizations in the latter part of the study.

 JOB INSECURITY

Nearly 34% of the employees are affected by this factor, that is insecure job climate in the
market has created stress among the employees.

 MISMATCH OF AUTHORITY AND RESPONSIBILITIES

About 26% of the respondents strongly agree to the fact that inadequate authority to match
responsibility is the cause for the stress while 17% of the respondents somewhat agree to the
fact that inadequate authority to match responsibility is the cause for the stress , whereas 21%
of the respondents disagree to the fact that inadequate authority to match responsibility is the

101
cause for the stress and finally 22% of the respondents strongly disagree to the fact that
inadequate authority to match responsibility is the cause for the stress.

 TIME PRESSURE

Medical researcher Selye (2006) first used to the term stress to describe the body’s biological
response mechanisms. He defined stress as ‘the non-specific response of the body to any
demand’. The time demand is one of the most hazardous for employees as evident from the
study that almost 56% of the employees are falling prey to this.

 ROLE AMBIGUITY

French and Caplan (2005) summarized their study finding as follows. In summary role
ambiguity which appears to be widespread (1) produces psychological strain and
dissatisfaction, (2)leads to under utilization of human resources, and (3)leads to feeling of
futility on how to cope with the organizational environment. This is what has been proved
aptly in this study where almost 45% of the employees agree to the fact that role conflict and
ambiguity is the cause for the stress.

 IMPROPER COMMUNICATION STRUCTURE

Almost 57% of the respondents agree to the fact that improper communication structure is
the cause for the stress.

 CONSEQUENCE OF PHYSIOLOGICAL STRESS

Most of the respondents who had participated in this survey who has physiological stress
which forms about 40% of the respondents are having problem of blood pressure as a
consequence of physiological stress while around 38% of the respondents are having problem
of ulcer as a consequence of physiological stress, whereas almost 12% of the respondents are
having problem of heart attack as a consequence of physiological stress and about 10% of the
respondents are having problem of disturbed sleep as a consequence of physiological stress .

 CONSEQUENCE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL STRESS

102
Nearly almost 30% of the employees in the organization have experienced psychological
responses towards stress.

 CONSEQUENCE OF BEHAVIOURAL STRESS

About 52% of the respondents are having problem of low performance as a consequence of
behavioural stress while around 22% of the respondents are having problem of absenteeism
as a consequence of behavioural stress, whereas almost 22% of the respondents are having
problem of less job commitment as a consequence of behavioural stress and about 4% of the
respondents are having relationship problem with colleagues or supervisor as a consequence
of behavioural stress.

 STRESS AND JOB PERFORMANCE

Nearly 80% of the employees in the top level of management are experiencing the negative
impact of stress on the performance while, 70% of the employees in the bottom level of
management are experiencing the negative impact of stress on the performance.

 SELF MANAGEMENT OF STRESS

Around 22% of the respondents are of the opinion for personal technique adopted to reduce
stress that they follow healthy diet to reduce stress while 21% of the respondents are of the
opinion for personal technique adopted to reduce stress that they avoid long working hours to
reduce stress whereas 16% of the respondents are of the opinion for personal technique
adopted to reduce stress that they follow regular exercise to reduce stress while an equal
proportion 16% of the respondents are of the opinion for personal technique adopted to
reduce stress that they take family for a outing to reduce stress and 9% of the respondents
are of the opinion for personal technique adopted to reduce stress that they would not
procrastinate to reduce stress .

 CHI SQUARE ANALYSIS

There is no significant difference between the level of employees in the management and the
nature of stress they undergo. Therefore there is relationship between the level in the
management of the employees in the organization and the nature of stress.
103
 CORRELATION ANALYSIS

Since the correlation is very less there is no relationship between the age of the employees in
the organization and their satisfaction level of stress management policies in the
organization, hence the HR departments should prefer different stress management programs
for different age groups.

 WEIGHTED AVERAGE METHOD

It is inferred that the employees opinion for the causes of stress is the technology without
training and support, Second reason is improper communication structure, Third reason for
the causes of stress is poor quality of supervision.

6.3 SUGGESTIONS OF THE STUDY

The study indicated that most of the respondents who had participated in this survey that is
around 21% of the respondents are of the opinion that organsiation should conduct stress
workshops to reduce stress of the employees while 18% of the respondents are of the opinion
that organsiation should conduct arrange entertainment activities to reduce stress of the
employees whereas 17% of the respondents are of the opinion that organsiation should conduct
proper training ( especially on using of technology to increase technical skills of the employees )
to reduce stress of the employees while 12% of the respondents are of the opinion that
organsiation should have better communication structure to reduce stress of the employees and
9% of the respondents are of the opinion that organsiation should have excellent work
environment to reduce stress of the employees. Based on this following suggestions are framed.

 Stress Management programs:

104
Stress management programs should be conducted at regular intervals to improve a worker's
ability to cope with difficult work situations. The company should have strategies to manage
the stress of the employees by conducting regular and planned counseling programs (nearly
13% of respondents demand this), counseling programs should identify the need of the
employees, should offer assistance to the employees through an Employee Assistance
Program by providing advice, reassurance, talks on release of emotional tension, clarified
thinking and re-orientation through well established counseling cell within the organization.

 Organizational Change

The company upon identifying stressful aspects of work should devise strategies by
improving work conditions to reduce or eliminate the identified stressors. Some of the
strategies for healthy organizational changes to reduce the stress of the employees should
include the following strategies:

 Nominal workload:
Almost 44% of the employee are of the opinion that work load is major cause for stress.
Therefore Emrald Tyres in Chennai should ensure that the workload of the employees is in
line with workers' capabilities and resources. Since attrition is a major problem in modern
day companies, sometimes the existing workers are pressurized to take up the extra burden. If
the organsiation has effective employee retention strategies the workload of each employee
can be fixed nominally to improve the performance of the employees which increases the
motivation and the morale of the employees.

 Appropriate training program :


Since 45% of the employees expressed that the technology used in the organsiation are
offered without appropriate training programs and support programs. And nearly 17% of the
respondents demand for good training programs. Therefore Emrald Tyres in Chennai should
design training and other support programs to provide the understanding and uses of the
technology offered stimulation to work on the technology, and opportunities for workers to

105
use their skills in the new technology. This will definitely alleviate or reduce the stress of the
employees.

 Clear definition of workers' roles and responsibilities:


Nearly 43% of the employees are of the opinion that there is no match between the authority
and responsibility in the organsiation and they sight this reason for increase in the stress of
the employees. Moreover nearly 10% of the respondents insist on appropriate job profile.
Therefore the management should ensure an appropriate career mapping is done in such a
way there is link between the roles of the employee to the employee’s authority and
ultimately this should have a matching effect with the responsibilities.

 Improving communications system in the organsiation :


Nearly 12% of the respondents suggest that the organsiation should improve its
communication structure and most of the respondents are of the opinion that one of the
causes for stress is improper communication structure. The unity of direction and unity of
command kind of communication structure can be created which will improve the
interpersonal relationships within the organsiation and reduce the stress of the employees

 Providing opportunities for social interaction among workers :


Almost 18% of the respondents suggested that organsiations should organize entertainment
activities so that it creates a better environment for the employees, because nearly 10% of the
employee demands a good environment to reduce the stress of the employees.

106
6.4 CONCLUSION OF THE STUDY

Having considered the changes in all walks of life stress management program remains the major
tool to heal the Human Resources to reinvent their potentiality. In light of this scenario, the
present study highlights the need for stress management program as mentioned above. The
significant findings of this study helped the researcher to formulate and impeccable strategy
which will bridge the gap between what they are and what they ought to be to reduce stress
thereby increasing the productivity of the worker. The survey was conducted in Emrald Tyres in
Chennai to find out what are the various causes of stress, what the consequences of stress are and
how the stress is the managed by the employee in the organization. These criteria have been
evaluated critically to find out possible suggestions, so that in future stress management
programme can be conducted with a purpose to remove or reduce this stress of the employees.
Some of the valuable suggestions were provided to management to bring out the best of the
stress management programme in the future. The researcher is very sure that this suggestion if
107
implemented will surely improve the productivity, efficiency of the employees in Emrald Tyres
in Chennai by bringing more commitment from the employees to complete the job, and labour
turnover rate would be brought down which is one of the major threat facing the HR in the
organisation .

108
BIBLIOGRAPHY

 Cooper, D, R. and Schindler,R (2006) Business Research Methods, 9th edn. New York,
McGraw-Hill.

 Downie. N.M. and Robert W. Heath (2003), Basic Statistical Methods, Harper & Row
Publishers : New York.

 Has Selye, The Stress of Life, rev. ed., New York : McGraw-Hill, 2006.
 John W. Newstrom, Keith Davis, “Stress and counseling”, organisatin behaviour, Human
behaviour network, 1999 , 11th edition, TATA McGraw-Hill.
 Murphy, L.R. “Occupational Stress Management: A Review and Appraisal”, Journal of
Occupational Psychology, Vol.57 (2004).
 www.emraldtyres.com
 www.mindtools.com
 www.stressfocus.com

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SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE

1. Name

2. Gender

Male [ ] Female [ ]

3. Age

Less than 25 years[ ] 26 years -35 years [ ] 36 years -45 years [ ]

46 years -55 years [ ] More than 55 years [ ]

4. Level in the management

Top [ ] Middle [ ] Low [ ]

5. Experience in the organization


Less than 1 year [ ] 1year – 2 Yrs [ ] 2 .1 years -3 Years [ ]

3.1 years to 4 years [ ] More than 4 Years [ ]

6. Income level of the employee :


Less than Rs. 5000 [ ] Rs. 5001 to Rs 10000 [ ] Rs. 10001 to Rs 15000 [ ]
110
Rs 150001 to Rs 20000 [ ] More than Rs 20000 [ ]

7. State the nature of stress you come across :

Physiological [ ] Psychological [ ] Behavioral [ ] All [ ]

8. In your opinion what are the various causes for stress?

Sl. Strongly Some what No Strongly


Causes Disagree
No agree agree comments disagree

1 Work over load

2 Time pressure

3 Poor quality of
supervision

4 Insecure job climate

5 Role conflict and


ambiguity

6 Inadequate authority
to match
responsibilities

7 Technology without
training and support

8 Improper
communication
structure

111
9. What are the consequences of physiological stress you have?

Ulcer [ ] Blood Pressure [ ] Heart Attack [ ]

Disturbed Sleep [ ] others [ ]

10. What are the consequences of psychological stress you have?

Emotional instability [ ] Depression [ ] Burnout [ ]

Moodiness [ ] Nervousness [ ] All [ ]

11. What are the consequences of behavioral stress you have?

Absenteeism [ ] Low performance [ ] Less job commitment [ ]

Relationship problem with colleagues and superior [ ] Others [ ]

12. To what extent stress affects your job performance ?

To a great extent [ ] To some extent [ ] Not at all [ ]

13. Have you undergone any counseling session in your organization?

Yes [ ] No [ ]

14. What type of counseling you require?


112
Advice [ ] Re-assurance [ ] Release of emotional tension [ ]

Clarified thinking [ ] Re-orientation [ ]

15. What kind of technique you personally adopt to reduce stress?

Avoid working long hours [ ] Healthy diet [ ] Regular exercise [ ]

Avoid procrastination [ ] Family outing [ ] Better communication skills [ ]

16. What kind of technique you suggest the management to reduce the stress of the
employees

Training [ ] Stress workshops [ ] Counselling [ ]

Arrange entertainment activities [ ] Appropriate job position & profile [ ]

Excellent work environment [ ] Better communication structure [ ]

17. What is your general satisfaction level regarding the stress management programs
/ policies followed currently in the organization?

Highly satisfied [ ] Satisfied [ ] No comments [ ]

Dissatisfied [ ] highly dissatisfied [ ]

18. Suggestion, if any to the management to reduce stress of the employees


113
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114
115

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