STRESS MANAGEMENT

SCOPE OF THE STUDY:

The study of human resource management is one of the major criteria in the corporate
sector. Human resource is the heart of the organization. By this research project
we will be able to know to reduce the stress level of the employees working in the bank.
By this way the productivity of the employee increases. Now a day the corporate
sector is booming in a high speed that the people have to work for prolonged hours to
maintain the standard of living and achieve their basic needs. So is the condition inthe
hospitals, colleges, BPO’s and lots of other places. In spit of having the modern
technologies and facilities, people are feeling themselves to be work loaded and
stressed. Stress arises because of many reasons which are discussed in the following
project. The project report also contain techniques how to reduce the stress and
overcome such problems. To identify the level of stress among the people who work
I have tried to survey the people working in hospitals, BPO’s and other industries
as well as institutes. Stress arises because of unfulfilled wants, lack of job
satisfaction etc. before starting the topic of stress; let’s first understand the
importance of human resource.
Executive Summery

This project gives us a detailed idea of what is stress and also thedefinition of
stress is been defined. For more detailed study the types of thestress is also
defined. By looking at the starting of the project you will find:
o Introduction to Human resource
o Introduction and Definition of stress
o Stress in biological terms
o What is stress?
o Coping with stress at work place.
o Stress management
o Workplace stress
o Reducing of stress.After the theoretical part I have included the research part.
Myresearch work includes two questionnaires.
o Burn out test
o Stress analysis QuestionnaireMy research includes the research methodology
which contains theinformation as follows:
o Research objectives
o Sampling (types and methods of sampling)
o Research instrument
o Data analysis and interpretation
o Employee’s opinion to reduce stress.
oResearch flowchart
o Time consideration
o Limitation of survey
o Advantages and disadvantages of writtenquestionnaire
o Finding

1. C O N C E P T U A L F R A M E W O R K

INTRODUCTION TO HR:
Human Resource Management is an art of managing people at work in such
a manner that they give their best to the organization. In s i m pl e w o r d
h u m a n r es o ur c e m a na g e m en t r ef e r s t o t he q ua nt i t a ti v e aspects of
employees working in an organization.
Human Resource Management is also a management
with hiring, motivating, and maintains people in an organization. It
focuses on people in organization. Organizations are not mere bricks, mortar,
machineries or inventories. They are people. It is the who staff and manage
organizations. HRM involves the application of management functions and
principles. The functions
and principles are applied to acquisitioning, developing, maintain, and
remunerating employees in
organizations.D e c i s i o n s r e l a t i n g t o e m p l o y e e s m u s t b e i n t e g r a t
e d . D e c i s i o n o n d i f f er en t a s p e ct o f em pl o y e es mus t b e
c o ns i s te n t w i t h o th er h um a n
r es o ur ce decisions.D e c i s i o n m a d e m u s t i n f l u e n c e t h e e f f e c t i v e n
ess of organization.Effectiveness of an organization must r
e s u l t i n b e t t e r m e n t o f s e r v i c e s t o customers in the form of high-
quality product supplied at reasonable costs.HRM function s is not confined
to business establishment only. Theyare applicable to non-business
organizations, too such as education, health care,recreation etc.The scope of
HRM is indeed vast. All major activities in the working lifeo f hi s o r he r e nt r y
i n to a n o r g a n i z a ti o n u nti l h e o r s h e l ea v es - co m e u n d er
thep r e v i e w s o f H R M . s p e c i f i c a l l y , t h e a c t i v i t i e s i n c l u d e d a r e
H R p l a n n i n g , j o b a na l y s i s a n d be s i g n , r e cr ui t men t a n d s el ec ti o
n , o r i e n ta ti o n a nd p l a c em e nt , training and development,
performance appraisal and job evaluation, employeeand executive
remuneration, motivation and communication, welfare, safety andhealth,
industrial relations and the like.
HRM is a broad concept Personnel management and human
resourcedevelopment is a part of HRM.Before we define “Human Resource
Management”, it seems goodto first define heterogeneous in the sense
that they differ in personality,perception, emotions, values, attitudes, motive
s, and modes of thoughts.Human resource management plays an important
role in thedevelopment process of modern economy. In fact it is said
that all thedevelopment comes from the human
mind.“ H u ma n R e s o ur ce M a na g e men t i s a pr o ces s o f p r o du c i n g dev
elopment, maintaining and controlling human resources for effectiveachi
evement of organization goals.”
CONCEPT OF STRESS
NEED AND IMPORTANT OF STUDY:
A lot of research has been conducted into stress over the last hundredyears.
Some of the theories behind it are now settled and accepted; others arestill being
researched and debated. During this time, there seems to have beensomething
approaching open warfare between competing theories anddefinitions: Views
have been passionately held and aggressively defended.
What complicates this is that intuitively we all feel that we know whatstress is, as
it is something we have all experienced. A definition should thereforebe
obvious…except that it is not.
Definition:
Hans Selye was one of the founding fathers of stress research. Hisview in 1956
was that “stress is not necessarily something bad – it all dependson how you take
it. The stress of exhilarating, creative successful work isbeneficial, while that of
failure, humiliation or infection is detrimental.” Selyebelieved that the
biochemical effects of stress would be experienced irrespectiveof whether the
situation was positive or negative.Since then, a great deal of further research has
been conducted, andideas have moved on. Stress is now viewed as a "bad thing",
with a range of harmful biochemical and long-term effects. These effects have
rarely beenobserved in positive situations.The most commonly accepted
definition of stress (mainly attributed toRichard S Lazarus) is that
stress is a condition or feeling experienced whena person perceives that “demands exceed
the personal and socialresources the individual is able to mobilize.”
In short, it's what we feel whenwe think we've lost control of events.This is the
main definition used by this section of Mind Tools, althoughwe also recognize that
there is an intertwined instinctive stress response tounexpected events. The
stress response inside us is therefore part instinct andpart to do with the way we
think.The types of stress are as follows.

METHODS OF THE STUDY:

Mechanical
•Stress (physics), the average amount of force exerted per unit area.
•Yield stress, the stress at which a material begins to deform plastically.
•Compressive stress, the stress applied to materials resulting in their compaction.
Biological
•Stress (biological), physiological or psychological stress; some typesinclude:
oChronic stress, persistent stress which can lead to illness andmental disorder
oEustress, positive stress that can lead to improved long-termfunctioning
oWorkplace stress, stress caused by employment
Music
•Accent (music).
•Stress (band), an early '80s melodic rock band from San Diego.
•Stress (punk band), an early '80s punk rock band from Athens.
•Stress (Neo-Psychedelic band), from the late 1980's.
•Stress, a song by the French band Justice on their debut album
Other
•Stress (game), card game
•Stress (linguistics), phonological use of prominence in language
Stress (physics), the average amount of force exerted per unit area.

Stress
is a measure of the average amount of force exerted per unit area. Itis a measure
of the intensity of the total internal forces acting within a bodyacross imaginary
internal surfaces, as a reaction to external applied forces
and body forces. It was introduced into the theory of elasticity by Cauchyaround
1822. Stress is a concept that is based on the concept of continuum.In general,
stress is expressed asWhereIs the average stress, also called
engineering.
Chronic Stress:
Chronic stress
is stress that lasts a long time or occurs frequently. Chronicstress is potentially
damaging.Symptoms of chronic stress can be:
•upset stomach
•headache
•backache
•insomnia
•anxiety
•depression
•anger In the most severe cases it can lead to panic attacks or a
panic disorder.There are a variety of methods to control chronic stress, including
exercise,healthy diet, stress management, relaxation techniques, adequate rest,
andrelaxing hobbies.

Ensuring a healthy diet containing magnesium may help control or

eliminatestress, in those individuals with lower levels of magnesium or those who
have amagnesium deficiency. Chronic stress can also lead to a magnesium
deficiency,which can be a factor in continued chronic stress, and a whole host of
other negative medical conditions caused by a magnesium deficiency.It has been
discovered that there is a huge upsurge in the number of people whosuffer from
this condition. A very large number of these new cases suffer frominsomnia.In a
review of the scientific literature on the relationship between stress anddisease,
the authors found that stress plays a role in triggering or worseningdepression
and cardiovascular disease and in speeding the progression of HIV/AIDS.
Compressive stress:
Compressive stress
is the stress applied to materials resulting in their compaction (decrease of
volume). When a material is subjected to compressivestress, then this material is
under compression. Usually, compressive stressapplied to bars, columns, etc.
leads to shortening.Loading a structural element or a specimen will increase the
compressive stressuntil the reach of compressive strength. According to the
properties of thematerial, failure will occur as yield for materials with ductile
behavior (mostmetals, some soils and plastics) or as rupture for brittle behavior
(geometries,cast iron, glass, etc).In long, slender structural elements -- such as
columns or truss bars -- anincrease of compressive force
F
leads to structural failure due to buckling atlower stress than the compressive
strength.
Compressive stress has stress units (force per unit area), usually with
negativevalues to indicate the compaction. However in geotechnical
engineering,compressive stress is represented with positive values.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:

Stress in Biological terms:
Stress
is a biological term which refers to the consequences of the failure of ahuman or
animal body to respond appropriately to emotional or physical threatsto the
organism, whether actual or imagined. It includes a state of alarm andadrenaline
production, short-term resistance as a coping mechanism, andexhaustion. It
refers to the inability of a human or animal body to respond.Common stress
symptoms include irritability, muscular tension, inability to concentrate and a
variety of physical reactions, such as headaches andaccelerated heart rate.The
term "stress" was first used by the endocrinologist Hans Selye in the 1930sto
identify physiological responses in laboratory animals. He later broadened
andpopularized the concept to include the perceptions and responses of
humanstrying to adapt to the challenges of everyday life. In Selye's terminology,
"stress"refers to the reaction of the organism, and "stressor" to the perceived
threat.Stress in certain circumstances may be experienced positively. Eustress,
for example, can be an adaptive response prompting the activation of
internalresources to meet challenges and achieve goals.The term is commonly
used by laypersons in a metaphorical rather than literal or biological sense, as a
catch-all for any perceived difficulties in life. It also becamea euphemism, a way of
referring to problems and eliciting sympathy withoutbeing explicitly confessional,
just "stressed out". It covers a huge range of phenomena from mild irritation to
the kind of severe problems that might result ina real breakdown of health. In
popular usage almost any event or situationbetween these extremes could be
described as stressful
what is Stress?
Stress refers to the strain from the conflict between our external environment
andus, leading to emotional and physical pressure. In our fast paced world, it
isimpossible to live without stress, whether you are a student or a working
adult.There is both positive and negative stress, depending on each individual’s
uniqueperception of the tension between the two forces. Not all stress is bad. For
example, positive stress, also known as eustress, can help an individual
tofunction at optimal effectiveness and efficiency.Hence, it is evident that some
form of positive stress can add more color andvibrancy to our lives. The presence
of a deadline, for example, can push us tomake the most of our time and produce
greater efficiency. It is important to keepthis in mind, as stress management
refers to using stress to our advantage, andnot on eradicating the presence of
stress in our lives.On the other hand, negative stress can result in mental and
physical strain. Theindividual will experience symptoms such as tensions,
headaches, irritability andin extreme cases, heart palpitations. Hence, whilst some
stress may be seen asa motivating force, it is important to manage stress levels so
that it does not havean adverse impact on your health and relationships.Part of
managing your stress levels include learning about how stress can affectyou
emotionally and physically, as well as how to identify if you are performing atyour
optimal stress level (OSL) or if you are experiencing negative stress.
Thisknowledge will help you to identify when you need to take a break, or
perhapsseek professional help. It is also your first step towards developing
techniques tomanaging your stress levels.Modern day stresses can take the form
of monetary needs, or emotional frictions.Competition at work and an increased
workload can also cause greater levels of stress. How do you identify if you are
suffering from excessive stress?Psychological symptoms commonly experienced
include insomnia, headachesand an inability to focus. Physical symptoms take the
form of heart palpitations,breathlessness, excessive sweating and
stomachaches.What causes stress? There are many different causes of stress, and
that whichcauses stress is also known as a stressor. Common lifestyle stressors
includeperformance, threat, and bereavement stressors, to name a few.
Performancestressors are triggered when an individual is placed in a situation
where he feels a need to excel. This could be during performance appraisals,
lunch with theboss, or giving a speech. Threat stressors are usually when the
current situationposes a dangerous threat, such as an economic downturn, or
from an accident.Lastly, bereavement stressors occur when there is a sense of
loss such as thedeath of a loved one, or a prized possession.Thus, there are
various stressors, and even more varied methods andtechniques of dealing with
stress and turning it to our advantages. In order to doso, we must learn to tell
when we have crossed the line from positive to negativestress.
Good stress v/s Bad stress:
Stress has often been misunderstood to be negative, with few
peopleacknowledging the importance and usefulness of positive stress. In our
everydaylives, stress is everywhere and definitely unavoidable; hence our
emphasisshould be on differentiating between what is good stress, and what is
bad. Thiswill help us to learn to cope with negative stress, and harness the power
of positive stress to help us achieve more.There are 4 main categories of stress,
namely eustress, distress, hyper stressand hypo stress. Negative stress can cause
many physical and psychologicalproblems, whilst positive stress can be very
helpful for us. Here’s how wedifferentiate between them.
Eustress:
this is a positive form of stress, which prepares your mind and body for
theimminent challenges that it has perceived. Eustress is a natural physical
reactionby your body which increases blood flow to your muscles, resulting in a
higher heart rate. Athletes before a competition or perhaps a manager before a
major presentation would do well with eustress, allowing them to derive the
inspirationand strength that is needed.
Distress
We are familiar with this word, and know that it is a negative form of stress.
Thisoccurs when the mind and body is unable to cope with changes, and
usuallyoccurs when there are deviations from the norm. They can be categorized
intoacute stress and chronic stress. Acute stress is intense, but does not last
for long. On the other hand, chronic stress persists over a long period of
time.Trigger events for distress can be a change in job scope or routine that
theperson is unable to handle or cope with.
Hyper stress
This is another form of negative stress that occurs when the individual is unableto
cope with the workload. Examples include highly stressful jobs, which
requirelonger working hours than the individual can handle. If you suspect that
you aresuffering from hyper stress, you are likely to have sudden emotional
breakdownsover insignificant issues, the proverbial straws that broke the camel’s
back. It isimportant for you to recognize that your body needs a break, or you
may end upwith severe and chronic physical and psychological reactions.
Hypo stress
Lastly, hypo stress occurs when a person has nothing to do with his time andfeels
constantly bored and unmotivated. This is due to an insufficient amount of stress;
hence some stress is inevitable and helpful to us. Companies shouldavoid having
workers who experience hypo stress as this will cause productivityand
mindfulness to fall. If the job scope is boring and repetitive, it would be agood
idea to implement some form of job rotation so that there is alwayssomething
new to learn.
The types of stress are named as eustress and distress.
Distress
is themost commonly-referred to type of stress, having negative implications,
whereas
eustress
is a positive form of stress, usually related to desirable events inperson's life. Both
can be equally taxing on the body, and are cumulative innature, depending on a
person's way of adapting to a change that has caused it.
Coping with Stress at Work place
With the rapid advancement of technology, the stresses faced at work have
alsoincreased. Many people dread going to work, hence the term “Monday
Blues”.What is the reason for this? There is partly the fear from being retrenched
in badtimes, leading to greater job insecurity on the part of those who
remain.Undoubtedly, occupational stress is one of the most commonly cited
stressorsfaced by people all over the world.Stress refers to the pressure and
reactions to our environment which results inpsychological and physical
reactions. Whilst some stress is good for motivationand increasing efficiency, too
much stress can result in negative impacts such asreduced effectiveness and
efficiency. More and more people are feeling isolatedand disrespected at work,
and this has led to greater occupational stress. Manycompanies have taken to
consulting experts and professionals on ways toincrease connectedness and
motivation of their employees.Some companies organize parties and make their
employees feel valued atwork. These are measures to motivate employees and
help them to feel secureat their jobs, translating into greater productivity.
However, not all companieshave such measures in place, and some have not
gotten it quite right. Hence, itis up to you to make sure that you can cope with
stress at your workplace, anduse it to help you work better. Here are 3 simple
steps to help you with copingwith stress in the workplace.
Step 1: Raising Awareness
Help yourself to identify when you are facing rising levels of stress, tipping
thescales from positive to negative. This is important, as being able to identify
signsof being stressed can help you to take steps to ensure that your overall
quality of life does not drop. If left unacknowledged, the problem will only
snowball, leadingto disastrous consequences to your health and overall
wellbeing.You can identify if you are feeling stressed by checking if you have any
physicalor psychological reactions, such as excessive sweating or heart
palpitations, or the onset of headaches, irritability or the need to escape. If you
experience anyof these reactions, identify if you are feeling any overwhelming
negativeemotions, and if you are constantly worried.
Step 2: Identify the Cause
You need to be able to analyze the situation and identify what is causing the risein
stress. These stressors can be external and internal. External stressors refer
to things beyond your control, such as the environment or your colleagues
atwork. Internal stressors refer to your own thinking and attitude. Often, we
onlystart reacting to stress when a combination of stressors working
together exceeds our ability to cope.Keep a diary or a list of events that have
caused you to feel strong negativeemotions, or that are likely stressors. This will
help you to identify the causes of your stress. Whilst it is not always possible to
eradicate them, we can change theway that we cope with it.
Step 3: Coping with Stress
In order to deal with the situation that is causing you stress, you need to calmyour
mind and body so as to stave off the reactions and cope with it in a positiveway.
This can be through different methods, such as taking time off. If a situationis
triggering your stress and you are unable to calm down, remove yourself fromit.
Go outside and take a walk to calm down. Alternatively, you can tryimplementing
relaxation techniques such as deep breathing. If it is an internalstressor, stop your
thought process until you are able to deal with it logically.The key to making these
3 steps work for you is to practice them. These are notinstantaneous solutions,
and you need to condition your mind and practice themso that you can
implement it when you are feeling stressed.
(1.2.5) Stress Management
Stress management is the need of the hour. However hard we try to gobeyond a
stress situation, life seems to find new ways of stressing us out andplaguing us
with anxiety attacks. Moreover, be it our anxiety, mind-bodyexhaustion or our
erring attitudes, we tend to overlook causes of stress and theconditions triggered
by those. In such unsettling moments we often forget thatstressors, if not
escapable, are fairly manageable and treatable.Stress, either quick or constant,
can induce risky body-mind disorders.Immediate disorders such as dizzy spells,
anxiety attacks, tension,sleeplessness, nervousness and muscle cramps can all
result in chronic healthproblems. They may also affect our immune,
cardiovascular and nervoussystems and lead individuals to habitual addictions,
which are inter-linked withstress.Like "stress reactions", "relaxation responses"
and stress managementtechniques are some of the body's important built-in
response systems. As arelaxation response the body tries to get back balance in
its homeostasis. Somehormones released during the 'fight or flight' situation
prompt the body to replacethe lost carbohydrates and fats, and restore the
energy level. The knottednerves, tightened muscles and an exhausted mind crave
for looseness.Unfortunately, today, we don't get relaxing and soothing situations
withoutasking. To be relaxed we have to strive to create such situations.
Recognizing a stressor:
It is important to recognize whether you are under stress or out of it. Many
times,even if we are under the influence of a stressful condition and our body
reacts toit internally as well as externally, we fail to realize that we are reacting
under stress. This also happens when the causes of stress are there long enough
for us to get habituated to them. The body constantly tries to tell us
throughsymptoms such as rapid palpitation, dizzy spells, tight muscles or various
bodyaches that something is wrong. It is important to remain attentive
to suchsymptoms and to learn to cope with the situations. We cope better with
stressful situation, when we encounter them voluntarily. Incases of relocation,
promotion or layoff, adventurous sports or having a baby, wetend to respond
positively under stress. But, when we are compelled into suchsituations against
our will or knowledge, more often than not, we wilt at the faceof unknown and
imagined threats. For instance, stress may mount when one iscoerced into
undertaking some work against one's will.
Laughter :
Adopting a humorous view towards life's situations can take the edge
off everyday stressors. Not being too serious or in a constant alert mode
helpsmaintain the equanimity of mind and promote clear thinking. Being able to
laughstress

away is the smartest way to ward off its effects.A sense of humor also allows us to
perceive and appreciate the incongruities of life and provides moments of delight.
The emotions we experience directly affectour immune system. The positive
emotions can create neurochemical changesthat buffer the immunosuppressive
effects of stress.During stress, the adrenal gland releases corticosteroids, which
are converted tocortical in the blood stream. These have an immunosuppressive
effect. Dr. LeeBerk and fellow researcher Dr. Stanley Tan at Loma Linda University
School of Medicine have produced carefully controlled studies showing that the
experienceof laughter lowers serum cortical levels, increases the amount and
activity of Tlymphocytes—the natural killer cells. Laughter also increases the
number of Tcells that have suppresser receptors.
What Laughter Can Do Against Stress And Its Effects.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY:

• Laughter lowers blood pressure and reduces hypertension.
• It provides good cardiac conditioning especially for those who are unable
toperform physical exercise.
• Reduces stress hormones (studies shows, laughter induces reduction of atleast
four of neuroendocrine hormones—epinephrine, cortical, dopac, and growth
hormone, associated with stress response).
• Laughter cleanses the lungs and body tissues of accumulated stale air as
itempties more air than it takes in. It is beneficial for patients suffering
fromemphysema and other respiratory ailments.
• It increases muscle flexion, relaxation and fluent blood circulation in body.
• Boosts immune function by raising levels of infection-fighting T-cells, disease-
fighting proteins called Gamma-interferon and disease-destroying
antibodiescalled B-cells.
• Laughter triggers the release of endorphins—body's natural painkillers.
• Produces a general sense of well-being.
Workplace Stress:
Workplace stress
is the harmful physical and emotional response that occurswhen there is a poor
match between job demands and the capabilities,resources, or needs of the
worker. Stress-related disorders encompass a broadarray of conditions, including
psychological disorders (e.g., depression, anxiety,post-traumatic stress disorder)
and other types of emotional strain (e.g.,dissatisfaction, fatigue, tension, etc.),
maladaptive behaviors (e.g., aggression,substance abuse), and cognitive
impairment (e.g., concentration and memoryproblems). In turn, these conditions
may lead to poor work performance or eveninjury. Job stress is also associated
with various biological reactions that maylead ultimately to compromised health,
such as cardiovascular disease.Stress is a prevalent and costly problem in today's
workplace. About one-third of workers report high levels of stress. One-quarter of
employees view their jobs asthe number one stressor in their lives. Three-
quarters of employees believe theworker has more on-the-job stress than a
generation ago. Evidence alsosuggests that stress is the major cause of turnover
in organizations.
Health and Healthcare Utilization
Problems at work are more strongly associated with health complaints than
areany other life stressor-more so than even financial problems or family
problems.Many studies suggest that psychologically demanding jobs that allow
employeeslittle control over the work process increase the risk of cardiovascular
disease.On the basis of research by the National Institute for Occupational Safety
andHealth and many other organizations, it is widely believed that job
stressincreases the risk for development of back and upper-extremity
musculoskeletaldisorders. High levels of stress are associated with substantial
increases inhealth service utilization. Workers who report experiencing stress at
work alsoshow excessive health care utilization. In a 1998 study of 46,000
workers, healthcare costs were nearly 50% greater for workers reporting high
levels of stress incomparison to “low risk” workers. The increment rose to nearly
150%, anincrease of more than $1,700 per person annually, for workers reporting
highlevels of both stress and depression. Additionally, periods of disability due to
jobstress tend to be much longer than disability periods for other
occupationalinjuries and illnesses.
Causes of Workplace Stress
Job stress results from the interaction of the worker and the conditions of
work.Views differ on the importance of worker characteristics versus working
conditions as the primary cause of job stress. The differing viewpoints
suggestdifferent ways to prevent stress at work. According to one school of
thought,differences in individual characteristics such as personality and coping
skills aremost important in predicting whether certain job conditions will result in
stress-inother words, what is stressful for one person may not be a problem for
someoneelse. This viewpoint leads to prevention strategies that focus on workers
andways to help them cope with demanding job conditions. Although the
importanceof individual differences cannot be ignored, scientific evidence
suggests thatcertain working conditions are stressful to most people. Such
evidence argues for a greater emphasis on working conditions as the key source
of job stress, and for job redesign as a primary prevention strategy. Personal
interview surveys of working conditions, including conditions recognized as risk
factors for job stress,were conducted in Member States of the European Union in
1990, 1995, and2000. Results showed a trend across these periods suggestive of
increasingwork intensity. In 1990, the percentage of workers reporting that they
worked athigh speeds at least one-fourth of their working time was 48%,
increasing to 54%in 1995 and to 56% in 2000. Similarly, 50% of workers reported
they workagainst tight deadlines at least one-fourth of their working time in
1990,increasing to 56% in 1995 and 60 % in 2000. However, no change was noted
inthe period 1995–2000 (data not collected in 1990) in the percentage of
workersreporting sufficient time to complete tasks. A substantial percentage
of Americans work very long hours. By one estimate, more than 26% of men
andmore than 11% of women worked 50 hours per week or more in 2000.
Thesefigures represent a considerable increase over the previous three
decades,especially for women. According to the Department of Labor, there has
been anupward trend in hours worked among employed women, an increase in
extendedwork weeks (>40 hours) by men, and a considerable increase in
combinedworking hours among working couples, particularly couples with young
children.
Signs of Workplace Stress
Mood and sleep disturbances, upset stomach and headache, and
disturbedrelationships with family; friends and girlfriends or boyfriends are
examples of stress-related problems. The effects of job stress on chronic diseases
are moredifficult to see because chronic diseases take a long time to develop and
can beinfluenced by many factors other than stress. Nonetheless, evidence is
rapidlyaccumulating to suggest that stress plays an important role in several types
of chronic health problems-especially cardiovascular disease,
musculoskeletaldisorders, and psychological disorders.
Prevention
A combination of organizational change and stress management is often themost
useful approach for preventing stress at work.How to Change the Organization to
Prevent Job Stress
•Ensure that the workload is in line with workers' capabilities andresources.
•Design jobs to provide meaning, stimulation, and opportunities for workersto
use their skills.
•Clearly define workers' roles and responsibilities.
•Give workers opportunities to participate in decisions and actions affectingtheir
jobs.
•Improve communications-reduce uncertainty about career developmentand
future employment prospects.
•Provide opportunities for social interaction among workers.
•Establish work schedules that are compatible with demands andresponsibilities
outside the job.
•Discrimination inside the workplace. (e.g. nationality and language )St. Paul Fire
and Marine Insurance Company conducted several studies on theeffects of stress
prevention programs in hospital settings. Program activitiesincluded (1) employee
and management education on job stress, (2) changes in hospital policies and
procedures to reduce organizational sources of stress, and(3) establishment of
employee assistance programs. In one study, the frequencyof medication errors
declined by 50% after prevention activities was implementedin a 700-bed
hospital. In a second study, there was a 70% reduction inmalpractice claims in 22
hospitals that implemented stress prevention activities.In contrast, there was no
reduction in claims in a matched group of 22 hospitalsthat did not implement
stress prevention activities.
Reduce your stress
1.
Job analysis: -
We have all experienced that appalling sense of having far toomuch work to do
and too little time to do it in. We can choose to ignore this, andwork
unreasonably long hours to stay on top of our workload. The risks here arethat we
become exhausted, that we have so much to do that we do a poor quality job and
that we neglect other areas of our life. Each of these can lead to intensestress.
The alternative is to work more intelligently, by focusing on the things that
areimportant for job success and reducing the time we spend on low priority
tasks.Job Analysis is the first step in doing this.The first of the action-oriented
skills that we look at is Job Analysis. Job Analysisis a key technique for managing
job overload – an important source of stress.To do an excellent job, you need to
fully understand what is expected of you.While this may seem obvious, in the
hurly-burly of a new, fast-moving, high-pressure role, it is oftentimes something
that is easy to overlook.By understanding the priorities in your job, and what
constitutes success within it,you can focus on these activities and minimize work
on other tasks as much aspossible. This helps you get the greatest return from the
work you do, and keepyour workload under control.Job Analysis is a useful
technique for getting a firm grip on what really isimportant in your job so that you
are able to perform excellently. It helps you tocut through clutter and distraction
to get to the heart of what you need to do.2.
Rational & positive thinking: -
You are thinking negatively when you fear the future, put yourself down,
criticizeyourself for errors, doubt your abilities, or expect failure. Negative
thinkingdamages confidence, harms performance and paralyzes mental
skills.Unfortunately, negative thoughts tend to flit into our consciousness, do
their damage and flit back out again, with their significance having barely
beennoticed. Since we barely realize that they were there, we do not challenge
themproperly, which means that they can be completely incorrect and
wrong.Thought Awareness is the process by which you observe your thoughts
andbecome aware of what is going through your head.One approach to it is to
observe your "stream of consciousness" as you thinkabout the thing you're trying
to achieve which is stressful. Do not suppress anythoughts. Instead, just let them
run their course while you watch them, and writethem down on our free
worksheet as they occur. Then let them go.
Another more general approach to Thought Awareness comes with loggingstress
in your Stress Diary. When you analyze your diary at the end of the period,you
should be able to see the most common and the most damaging thoughts.Tackle
these as a priority using the techniques below.Here are some typical negative
thoughts you might experience when preparing togive a major presentation:
•Fear about the quality of your performance or of problems that mayinterfere
with it;
•Worry about how the audience (especially important people in it like your boss)
or the press may react to you;
•Dwelling on the negative consequences of a poor performance; or
•Self-criticism over a less-than-perfect rehearsal.Thought awareness is the first
step in the process of managing negativethoughts, as you cannot manage
thoughts that you are unaware of.
Rational Thinking
The next step in dealing with negative thinking is to challenge the
negativethoughts that you identified using the Thought Awareness technique.
Look atevery thought you wrote down and challenge it rationally. Ask yourself
whether the thought is reasonable. What evidence is there for and against the
thought?Would your colleagues and mentors agree or disagree with it?Looking at
the examples, the following challenges could be made to the negativethoughts
we identified earlier:
•Feelings of inadequacy:
Have you trained yourself as well as youreasonably should have? Do you have the
experience and resources youneed to make the presentation? Have you planned,
prepared andrehearsed enough? If you have done all of these, you've done as
much asyou can to give a good performance.
•Worries about performance during rehearsal:
If some of your practicewas less than perfect, then remind yourself that the
purpose of thepractice is to identify areas for improvement, so that these can be
sortedout before the performance.
•Problems with issues outside your control:
Have you identified therisks of these things happening, and have you taken steps
to reduce thelikelihood of them happening or their impact if they do? What will
you do if they occur? And what do you need others to do for you?
•Worry about other people's reactions:
If you have prepared well, andyou do the best you can, then you should be
satisfied. If you perform aswell as you reasonably can, then fair people are likely
to respond well. If people are not fair, the best thing to do is ignore their
comments and riseabove them.
Tip:
Don't make the mistake of generalizing a single incident. OK, you made amistake
at work, but that doesn't mean you're bad at your job.Similarly, make sure you
take the long view about incidents that you're findingstressful. Just because
you're finding th
ese
new responsibilities stressful now,doesn't mean that they will ALWAYS be so for
you in the future.
Tip:
If you find it difficult to look at your negative thoughts objectively, imagine
thatyou are your best friend or a respected coach or mentor. Look at the list of
negative thoughts and imagine the negative thoughts were written by
someoneyou were giving objective advice to. Then think how you would challenge
thesethoughts.When you challenge negative thoughts rationally, you should be
able to seequickly whether the thoughts are wrong or whether they have some
substance tothem. Where there is some substance, take appropriate action.
However, makesure that your negative thoughts are genuinely important to
achieving your goals,and don't just reflect a lack of experience, which everyone
has to go through atsome stage.

INDSUTRY AND COMPANY RPOFILE:

To carry out this research work I have got the help from myparents who have
given full support to carry out this research work.They are the one who
motivated and helped for the completion of thisproject report.F ur th er , I
w o ul d l i ke t o t ha n k M r . C h et a n T r i v e di
( B r a n c hM a n a g e r , H D F C B a n k ) a n d t h e i r e mp l o y ees w ho h a v e g i v e
n f ul l supported and co operated with me to carry out this research
work.Then I would like to thank Mr. M.N. Rathod (SBS Bank Sardarnagar Branch
Bhavnagar) who has supported me to fill the questionnaireand carry on
my research work. I am also thankful to the employeesof SBS bank who have
supported me. The Branch Manager of AXISbank and their employees who
have helped me for the project workby filling the questioneer.

REVIEW OF THE LITREATURE:

Positive Thinking & Opportunity Seeking

By now, you should already be feeling more positive. The final step is to
preparerational, positive thoughts and affirmations to counter any remaining
negativity. Itcan also be useful to look at the situation and see if there are any
usefulopportunities that are offered by it.By basing your affirmations on the clear,
rational assessments of facts that youmade using Rational Thinking, you can use
them to undo the damage thatnegative thinking may have done to your self-
confidence.
Tip:
Your affirmations will be strongest if they are specific, are expressed in thepresent
tense and have strong emotional content.Continuing the examples above,
positive affirmations might be:
•Problems during practice:
"I have learned from my rehearsals. This hasput me in a position where I can
deliver a great performance. I am going toperform well and enjoy the event."
•World about performance:
"I have prepared well and rehearsed thoroughly. I am well positioned to give an
excellent performance."
•Problems issues outside your control:
"I have thought througheverything that might reasonably happen and have
planned how I canhandle all likely contingencies. I am very well placed to react
flexibly toevents."
•Worry about other people's reaction:
"Fair people will react well to agood performance. I will rise above any unfair
criticism in a mature andprofessional way."If appropriate, write these affirmations
down on your worksheet so that you canuse them when you need them.As well
as allowing you to structure useful affirmations, part of Positive Thinkingis to look
at opportunities that the situation might offer to you. In the examplesabove,
successfully overcoming the situations causing the original negativethinking will
open up opportunities. You will acquire new skills, you will be seenas someone
who can handle difficult challenges, and you may open up newcareer
opportunities.Make sure that identifying these opportunities and focusing on
them is part of your positive thinking.

Data analysis and Interpretation

The project report shows the information of the level of stresswhich the employees are
facing as the period of recession is going theemployee cut-off and turnover ratios are found
to be high so the workloadfor the existing employees are high. So they are facing the
problem of workoverload and thus they get stressed.

FINDINGS:
It is analyzed from the questionnaire filled by the employees that theemployees
who have scored more than 20 marks in the burnout test are notsatisfied with the
performance which they give in the organization. Thus it isproved that the
employees who are desired to give better performance than their original
performance are found more stressful than the others. While at the sametime the
employ that have scored less than 20 marks in the burnout test aresatisfied with
the performance. From the sample of 35 bank employees who havebeen
surveyed, one is found to be a heart patient. This can be because of highlevel of
stress.Very rare of the employee are to be found suffering from depression.It is
proved from the survey that the employees who have scored more than 25marks
in the burnout test are concern about the opinion of their colleagues. Andthe
employees who got less than 25 marks do not mind about their
colleague’sopinion. Thus it is proved that the colleagues opinion also play a lead
role in theincrease and decrease of the stress level. Those who mind about
their colleague’s opinion are found to be more stressful.The employees who have
scored 28-29 marks in the burnout testdon’t believe in sharing their problems
with their spouse or friend or any closedone. Thus we can say that sharing your
problems with your spouse or closefriends is a better idea to reduce stress.In the
second questionnaire one of the question was “You have animportant function at
your home and your boss asks to give a 4 hour over timewhat will be your
response ‘Yes or No’?” the employees have given their opinionas per their
mood.While considering the point of view of entertainment it depends uponthe
mood of the employees. The entertainment is considered one of the most
ultimate solutions to reduce stress. Most of the employees do not spend
regular time in entertainment. This may be because they may not be getting time
for entertainment or they may not be interested in the same. One of the
questions was asked that were their social life balanced? It is observed that the
employees who have scored above 20 marks in the burnout test did not have
their social life balanced. Thus we can conclude that the employees who are
above 20 don’t have their social life balanced. Thus it isproved that stress may
affect our social life also. The employees were asked weather they plan their work
or not,moderate answers were given. The employees scoring more than 25 marks
werenot found their work planned. Thus the employees who plan their work
havescored below 25 marks in the burnout test except some cases as there
arealways some drawbacks in making plan. Failure of a plan may also lead a
person
to stress. Thus we can conclude that planning of the work may help to reduce
stress level. Most of the employees who have scored more than 20 marks
fear about their quality of work they give. This aspect is not dependent of the
burnout level. This aspect depends upon the dedication of work. So it is
meaningless to compare this question with the burnout test. A question was
asked that weather you get stressed at the non-achievement of their target? All
the employees have responded positively. But this is not concern with the
burnout score. From this we can conclude that all the employees are given
achievable target and naturally by the non-achievement of the target all the
employees may get stressed. One of the other possibilities is that the employees
have responded positively to show themselves to be good. The employees having
more than 10 marks in the burnout test sayS that they are under stress. Out of 35
employees of the sample 20 of the employees accepted that the reason for their
stress is workload. 10 employees are not stressed because of the workload but
because of their family problem. 5of the employees are not suffering from stress.
14 employees out of 30employees who are stressed feel stressful when their boss
scolds them while 16employees refused that they are not stressed because their
boss scolds them. Allthe 30 employees have accepted that they try to find the
solution of their stress.10 employees out of 30 employees practice yoga to reduce
their stress and theother 20 employees don’t practice yoga. The burnout scores of
the employeeswho practice yoga are either more than 25 or less than 20. Thus we
canconclude that the employees have reduced their stress by yoga therapy
andother employees have just started the yoga because of high level of burnout
The above analysis is done by the data received from the questionnaire. So the
accuracy of data depends upon the response of the employees.

SUGGESTIONS:
 The questionnaires were filled be 35 employees working in the three major
Banks of Bhavnagar i.e. Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and SBS Bank. So the scope of
sample findings was less.
 The questionnaire was filled by 35 employees of different designations. So
the point of view of employees differs as per their designations.
 The employees from whom the questionnaires are filled are in a heavy
workload so some of the questionnaires filled by the employees who are in
stress cannot be called reasonable.
 The responses of the employees cannot be accurate as the problem of
language and understanding arises. (These problems are not in all cases.)
 One of the other problems of questionnaire is the cost. Some times it may
be possible that even by spending so much the result may not be
reasonable.
  Many a times the employees may not be really conscious or may not be
bothered about the questionnaire. This may create a problem in the
research.

BIBILIOGRAPHY:

o www.mindtool.com
o Organizational Behavior “
Stephen P. Robbins
o Burn Out tool – Questionnaire
o Self analysis of questionnaire