CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
Work is an essential need for everyone. It is estimated that over 75% of adult’s non-sleeping time is devoted to job activities and people find satisfaction and personal identity by means of their employment. Among life events the workplace stands out as a potentially important source of stress purely because of the amount of time spent in this setting (Scott, 2012). Employees are exposed to tension, frustration and anxiety as they go about the task assigned to them. The negative effect of work on an individual is referred to as occupational stress (OS).
Nakasis and Ouzoni (2008) defined occupational Stress (OS) as the harmful physical and emotional responses that occur when the requirements of the job do not match the resources, capabilities and needs of the worker. Occupational stress is also referred to as a pattern of emotional, cognitive, behavioral and physiological reactions to adverse and noxious aspects of work content, work organization and work environment (European Commission, 2008). Occupational stress is a condition arising from the interaction of people and their job and is characterized by changes within the people that force them to deviate from normal functioning. OS arises when the individual normal coping responses cannot be found (that is, the individual is unable to cope anymore) and as such not able to get along with his job resulting in propensity to leave the organization, absenteeism to mention a few. OS is also seen on a process in which a professional’s attitude and behavior change in negative ways in response to job stressors.
OS is a growing global concern as all countries, profession and all categories of workers, families and societies are affected by occupational stress. Over the past two decades there has been a growing belief that the experience of stress at work has undesirable effects, both on the health of the employee and the effectiveness of the organization. Stress is second in frequency health problem with regards to occupational environment (Moustaka, Antoniadon, Malliarrou, Zanthos, Kiriaki and Constatinidis, 2010). In the UK, occupational stress is estimated to be the largest occupational health problem (Edward & Barnard, 2008). World Health Organization (WHO) has viewed it as a world wide epidemic as it has recently been observed to be associated with 90% of visits to physicians.
Occupational stress has been associated with chronic health problems like cardiovascular diseases, musculoskeletal disorders, physical injuries and cancers (Alves, 2005). Significantly, it reduces brain functions such as memory, concentration and learning and also impairs the immune system, all of which are central to effective performance at work. Occupational stress adversely affects performance in the workplace due to factors such as absenteeism, lower productivity, employees’ turnover and industrial accidents. Figure given by the Health and Safety Executive (2001) in the UK suggests that stress related medical problems are responsible for the loss of 6.5 million working days each year which in turn cost organizations in UK around three hundred and seventy (370) million dollars (about five hundred and eighteen million US dollars) (Sutherland & Cooper, 2002). US business and industry lose about five hundred and fifty (550) million working days annually because of absenteeism and 54% of these cases are stress – related (Lin, 2007).
| Project details | Contents |
|---|---|
| Number of Pages | 116 pages |
| Chapter one | Introduction |
| Chapter two | Literature review |
| Chapter three | methodology |
| Chapter four | Data analysis |
| Chapter five | Summary,discussion & recommendations |
| Reference | Reference |
| Questionnaire | Questionnaire |
| Appendix | Appendix |
| Chapter summary | 1 to 5 chapters |
| Available document | PDF and MS-word format |
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