CHAPTER-1

INTRODUCTION, CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK AND REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Stress is nothing more than a socially acceptable form of mental illness, was once observed by Richard Carlson. This distinctly brings to light the understated appalling truth flowing as an undercurrent all through the economic circuits. Men ostensibly for making a living have actually forgotten how to live. Each human today seems to be living in an abysmally ignorant state, striding blindly towards making it big in life. Every effort, every penny, every miniscule second of time is seen in terms of investment and is very unsurprisingly weighed against the returns it is likely to yield before all else. Any minute wasted is corroborated with money lost. An individuals personal life, relations, leisure pursuits and all the like seem to have taken a backseat while the mad rush towards a bigger brighter future is in the fore. All this has resulted in money rich-time poor individuals. This in the long run is a penny wise pound foolish situation, because the riches and the accolades actually come at the cost of the individuals physical and psychological well-being, as is, ironically, also vouched by the common phrase there are no free lunches in the corporate world.
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Today, corporate world is no more a nine to five scene. It has registered radical transformations over the past years accredited to globalization, liberalization, greater freedom to private sector,

technological revolution especially extensive use of computers and enormous gadgetization in general. Product of the aforesaid is increased and erratic work hours, heightened expectations from workforce, rigid deadlines and work targets, pressing work environments, constant demands so on and so forth. This, in turn, takes a toll on the executives and as a result This job is killing me has become a common phrase at workplace. Sadly so, this is not just an expression, citing data from the World Health Organization; heart disease is projected to account for 35% of deaths among Indias working age population between 2000 and 2030 as compared to about 12% in the United States, 22% in China and 25% in Russia. A growing body of evidence also suggests that job stress is associated with a wide variety of physical ailments, including cardiovascular disease, musculoskeletal disorders and psychological illness. We live longer than our forefathers; but we suffer more from a thousand artificial anxieties and cares. They fatigued only the muscles, we exhaust the finer strength of the nerves, wise saying by Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, every bit of which is true to the core.

Job stress, undoubtedly, is a key driver of health care costs but, the true price tag is far greater. Employee productivity and well-being is compromised by stress in numerous ways: absenteeism; litigation in workers compensation system and employer-employee relations; grievances; accidents due to narrowing of attention and preoccupation; errors of judgment and action due to concern about troublesome issues; conflict and interpersonal problems arising from diverse work-force and increased use of teams in our increasingly service-based economy; violence caused by interpersonal challenges and conflicts, combined with the fact that many people are operating just below their boiling point creates a potentially volatile situation; resistance to change as humans are intrinsically hardwired to revert to familiar routines and behaviour patterns when stressed; loss of intellectual capital, i.e., lack of appreciation of combined knowledge, know-how, proprietary expertise, and wisdom of a work-force due to executives merely trying to survive in stressful situations and not caring about excellence and innovation; and categorically customer service problems. Having stressed-out and depleted employees, serve the public, virtually guarantees alienated customers. This can have very serious implications in the service industry, especially in an essentially customer-oriented field such as banking.

Competitive edge in the 21st century economy can be attained essentially depending upon the human capital in an organization. Corporate survival in the present knowledge and information age is failsafe largely if there is periodic measurement of real value and assessment of total performance of human capital, followed by bona fide efforts to retain and maintain quality human capital. Work-force needs to be qualified, seasoned, sound mentally and physically, should take initiative, bear a team spirit, etc. But, most importantly it is the attitude and the enthusiasm that counts, i.e., employee morale takes the center stage. Executives high on morale will continue to work with an ardent zeal towards organizational goal attainment, will infuse a positive vibe into the organization, will be co-operative and willing to work in teams, will positively contribute to the organizations competence and knowledge pool and would be bliss for the customers. Roots go deeper still; the level of morale borne by an employee will further depend upon various tangible and intangible factors associated with ones job. Therefore, it assumes utmost importance that definite tickers for executives motivation and morale are known with certainty. This would facilitate reaching a pragmatic equation between employer and employee ensuring win-win situation for both wherein organizations get to possess competent work-force and employees too feel well provided for and cherished, bear a high morale, have a sense of belongingness and involvement.
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Job involvement, indeed, has earned colossal worth thanks to its associated by-products such as improved performance levels, elevated productivity levels, greater profitability, advanced customer-focus, safety, lower absenteeism, higher retention levels and overall furtherance of organization's interests, to name a few. The extent to which an executive is involved or alienated from ones job has serious consequences not just for the individual himself but for the whole organization in entirety. Unquestionably, the aforementioned highlights the relevance of job involvement especially in the consumer centered domain such as banking. This, consequently, evokes the interest of organizations, executives and behavioural scientists alike. In a customer sovereign economy such as ours, organizations have begun to realize that the stakes being high an effective way to affect the firm's stock price is by making use of leverage of intellectual assets especially human resource. Job stress among executives has virtually achieved the status of epidemic and has begun to be viewed as an antecedent for all bad that happens in the organization. It more often than not has an influence on employees morale and other psychological aspects, job involvement being one. All the three variables, viz. job stress, employee morale and job involvement have been discussed further one after another.

JOB STRESS Job stress is the strain, anxiety or the pressures that an individual faces at workplace while coping with the incessant and numerous demands or expectations put before him. Situation worsens when the capabilities fall short of the expectations or demands. Job stress is the product of mismatch between potential of an individual and the job demands made upon him; it is manifested in the form of harmful physical and mental reaction. It could also be a result of poor match between resources and requirements of an individual at work. Job stress results from the interaction of the worker and the conditions of work. Each employee will react differently to a given job condition depending upon ones personality and coping skills. Although the importance of individual differences cannot be ignored but certain working conditions are stressful to most people, viz. increase in work intensity, working at high speeds, working against tight deadlines, working very long hours, layoffs, harassment, a person's status in the workplace and finally greater competition and higher expectations from employees emanating from the productivity boon attributable to computer and communications revolutions. Job stress is widely prevalent, omnipresent and a costly issue. Every third executive at workplace reports a high level of stress and every fourth employee views his job as the principal cause of stress in his life.
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Job stress is also a costly problem in today's workplace as evidence suggests that stress is the major cause of turnover in organizations. Job stress is omnipresent because it is very much a reality for those who have very little influence to those who make major decisions for the organization. Job stress-associated disorders cover an extensive range of conditions, ranging from psychological disorders; depression, anxiety, etc. emotional strain; dissatisfaction, fatigue, tension, etc. maladaptive behaviours; aggression, substance abuse, etc. and cognitive impairment; concentration and memory problems. In turn, these conditions may bring about poor work performance, injury and various biological reactions that may lead ultimately to compromised health or in extreme cases death. However, primary prevention strategy would include focusing on workers and job redesign. Good Stress Vs. Bad Stress Stress has time and again been misconstrued to be just negative, while rarely so its positive significance and utility comes to the fore. Given that total avoidance of stress is practically impossible, telling apart good from bad stress gets all the more important if one wishes to shun the bad (together with all its associated physical and psychological issues) and capitalize on the good (for the better it does).
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Stress can actually be of four types, viz. eustress, distress, hyperstress and hypostress. These have been discussed as follows: (i) Eustress This is a positive form of stress, which gets an employee ready mentally and physically to deal with the forthcoming challenges and gives the employee an opportunity for attaining inspiration and courage. (ii) Distress This is a negative form of stress. This occurs when an employee fails, mentally and physically, to deal with a change and normally occurs when things do not go as planned. This may be acute, i.e., intense but short lived or chronic, i.e., persisting over a longer time span. (iii) Hyperstress This is another negative form of stress. This happens due to an employees inability to deal with workload. Example: An employee finding it difficult to handle long duration of work hours. This type of stress suffered by an employee usually projects itself by way of sudden emotional outbreaks over trivial issues. (iv) Hypostress This is also a negative form of stress. This arises when a person finds nothing worthwhile of doing and constantly feels bored and

uninterested. Like other two negative forms of stress hypostress should also be discouraged to avoid productivity and alertness losses, instead job rotation and other innovative methods should be deployed for making mundane jobs interesting. EMPLOYEE MORALE Employee morale is the degree of willingness or enthusiasm with which an individual is ready to strive towards attainment of the organizational goals. Employee morale is a measure of an individuals attitude towards his work, the organization and the work fraternity. Employee morale is representative of an individuals zeal towards organizational goal attainment. Morale is a state of mind, it is a depiction of an employees resolution, courage and hope. It is also the confidence and loyalty with which an employee works and contributes in an organization. Positive or high employee morale is a connotation of prevalence of decent human resource policies in an organization. Employee morale is also indicative of the degree of satisfaction an individual is drawing from ones job and the nature of the organizational image borne by an employee. The kind of equation an employee shares with others in the organization, especially the higher ups, is also projected in the employee morale. Employee morale is also a reflection of the expected career
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progression in the organization and the extent to which an employees psychological and material needs are validated. Employee morale is determined by a number of factors and job satisfaction is one with prime significance. Job satisfaction measures the contentment degree an employee attains from ones job. Some researchers are of the opinion that employee morale is the same as job satisfaction, while others feel that job satisfaction is a sub-set of employee morale. Latter approach has been used for the purpose of this study wherein job satisfaction is considered as a vital indicator of employee morale. JOB INVOLVEMENT Job involvement is the extent to which an individual identifies with ones job, i.e., the extent to which an employee thinks of ones job as an important part of ones self-concept. How significant the job is in defining who the employee is. How well a job projects ones self-image. The amount of time one is willing to consecrate towards ones job, towards its betterment and growth. It is the dedication with which one absorbs oneself in the job. Usually, there prevails a certain obscurity about the three terms: job involvement, job engagement and workaholism. However, these

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terms have been discussed here to have their clear understanding. Job involvement in point of fact is different and in many ways superior than job engagement and workaholism. While job engagement is merely concerned with execution of an assigned job, job involvement depicts the dedication and sincerity with which an assigned job will be done. Workaholism is an addiction or obsession for work where the executives feel an innate compulsion to do it, but despite logging in an extraordinary amount of hours and sacrificing their health and loved ones for their jobs, workaholics are normally ineffective on their jobs. On the other hand, a job involved person exhibits devotion and loyalty towards the job and a keenness for efficient job completion. A job involved person wilfully spends considerable time on the job but accompanied with perseverance for precision. Job involvement is discernible by improved performance, productivity and profitability. It is also marked by readiness to take up extra work and devote additional time to it. Other perquisites attributable to job involvement include superior customer attention, security, better attendance and presence, improved retention, and by and large betterment of organization's welfare.

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CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK Although it is difficult to define the three terms exactly, best effort has been made to draw some conclusions on the basis of views given by several credible authors. Various authors and dictionaries have given the meanings of these variables in their own way which have been discussed as follows.

Job Stress Broad-spectrum perceptible idea about job stress is the strain associated with ones work and workplace. Even so, our thorough understanding of the concept of job stress is of immense significance as it underlies all studies and theories regarding its behaviour. Different behavioural scientists have approached the problem of defining job stress in different ways. The word stress is defined by the Oxford Dictionary (www.oxforddictionaries.com, 2011) as a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or demanding circumstances. A condition or circumstance (not always adverse), which can disturb the normal physiological and psychological functioning of an individual. In medical parlance stress is defined as a perturbation of the body`s homeostasis. This demand on mind-body occurs when it tries to cope with incessant changes in life. A stress condition seems relative in
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nature. Extreme stress conditions, psychologists say, are detrimental to human health but in moderation stress is normal and, in many cases, proves useful. Stress, nonetheless, is synonymous with negative conditions. As was given by NIOSH (1999), Workplace stress is the harmful physical and emotional response that occurs when there is a poor match between job demands and the capabilities, resources, or needs of the worker.

Causes of Job Stress An approach was adopted by Caplan and Jones (1975) where identification was done of four different types of role conflict: 1. Intrasender role conflict; 2. Inter-sender role conflict; 3. Person-role conflict; and 4. Role overload. The use of role concepts suggests that job related stress is associated with individual, interpersonal, and structural variables. The presence of supportive peer groups and supportive relationships with supervisors are negatively correlated with role conflict. Beehr and Newman (1978) defined occupational stress as a condition arising from the interaction of people and their jobs and characterized by changes within people that force them to deviate from their normal functioning.

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It was reported by Sreelatha (1991) that qualitative changes in the job create adjustment problem among employees. The interpersonal relationships within the department and between the departments create qualitative difficulties within the organization to a great extent. According to Van Sell et al. (1976), Stress is often developed when an individual is assigned a major responsibility without proper authority and delegation of power. Interpersonal factors such as group cohesiveness, functional dependence, communication frequency, relative authority and organizational distance between the role sender and the focal persons are important topics in organizational behavior. While Beehr and Newman and Van Sell et al. underscore the importance of peoples interaction and interpersonal relationships in job stress, Pestonjee (1992) opined that the responsibility load creates severe stress among workers and managers. If the individual manager cannot cope with the increased responsibilities it may lead to several physical and psychological disorders among them. As was given by Caplan and Jones (1975), Lack of participation in the decision-making process, lack of effective consultation and communication, unjustified restrictions on behaviour, office politics and no sense of belonging are identified as potential sources of stressors. Lack of participation in work activity is associated with negative psychological

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mood and behavioral responses, including escapist drinking and heavy smoking. According to French and Caplan (1972), Pressure of both qualitative and quantitative overload can result in the need to work excessive hours, which is an additional source of stress. Having to work under time pressure in order to meet deadlines is an independent source of stress. Studies show that stress levels increase as difficult deadlines draw near. Another report said common causes of excessive workplace stress are: a) Fear of layoffs b) Increased demands for overtime due to staff cutbacks c) Pressure to perform to meet rising expectations but with no increase in job satisfaction d) Pressure to work at optimum levels all the time!

(www.helpguide.org, 2010). As per one report it was stated that job stress might be caused by a complex set of reasons. Some of the most visible causes of workplace stress are: a) Job insecurity b) Reorganizations, takeovers, mergers, downsizing and other changes have become major stressors for employees. c) High demand for performance
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d) Unrealistic expectations, especially in the time of corporate reorganizations, which, sometimes, puts unhealthy and

unreasonable pressures on the employee, can be a tremendous source of stress and suffering. e) The expansion of technologycomputers, pagers, cell phones, fax machines and the Internethas resulted in heightened expectations for productivity, speed and efficiency, increasing pressure on the individual worker to constantly operate at peak performance levels. f) Adjusting to the workplace culture, whether in a new company or not, can be intensely stressful. Stress develops when an individual feels he is not competent to undertake the role assigned to him effectively. The individual feels that he lacks knowledge, skill and training on performing the role. Personal or family problems are also stress augmenters. Employees going through personal or family problems tend to carry their worries and anxieties to the workplace. When one is in a depressed mood, his unfocused attention or lack of motivation affects his ability to carry out job responsibilities (www.lifepositive.com, 2005).

Symptoms of Job Stress The signs of job stress vary from person to person, depending on the particular situation, how long the individual has been subjected to the
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stressors, and the intensity of the stress itself. Typical symptoms of job stress can be: a) Insomnia b) Loss of mental concentration c) Anxiety, stress d) Absenteeism e) Depression, f) Substance abuse, g) Extreme anger and frustration, h) Family conflict i) Physical illnesses such as heart disease, migraine, headaches, stomach problems and back problems (www.lifepositive.com, 2005).

Implications of Job Stress According to Brief and Aldag (1976), There is evidence that role incumbents with high levels of role ambiguity also respond to their situation with anxiety, depression, physical symptoms, a sense of futility or lower self-esteem, lower levels of job involvement and organizational commitment, and perceptions of lower performance on the part of the organization, of supervisors, and of themselves.

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Ivancevich et al. (1982) stated, Occupational stress is an increasingly important occupational health problem and a significant cause of economic loss. Occupational stress may produce both overt psychological and physiologic disabilities. However, it may also cause subtle manifestation of morbidity that can affect personal well-being and productivity. According to Katz and Kahn (1978), A job stressed individual is likely to have greater job dissatisfaction, increased absenteeism, increased frequency of drinking and smoking, increase in negative psychological symptoms and reduced aspirations and self-esteem. The use of role concepts suggests that occupational stress is associated with individual, interpersonal and structural variables. Studies on burnout found that, it is related to exhaustion and work over load factors in various organizations, as was given by Chermiss (1980). Stress on the job is costly for employers, reflected in lower productivity, reduced motivation and job skills, and increased accidents.

Women and Job Stress Women may suffer from mental and physical harassment at workplaces, apart from the common job stress. Sexual harassment in workplace has been a major source of worry for women since long. Women may suffer from tremendous stress such as hostile work
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environment harassment, which is defined in legal terms as offensive or intimidating behaviour in the workplace. This can consist of unwelcome verbal or physical conduct. These can be a constant source of tension for women in job sectors. Also, subtle discriminations at workplaces, family pressure and societal demands add to these stress factors

(www.lifepositive.com, 2005). It is clear from the above that job stress is an individuals physical and mental reaction to demands made upon him which supersede his capacity to oblige. In a nutshell, the main elements of job stress are as follows: It is a state of affair involving demand on physical or mental energy, which can disturb the normal physiological and psychological functioning of an individual. It is associated with individual, interpersonal, and structural variables. It is also associated with authority-responsibility issues and personal and family issues. Lack of participation in the decision-making, lack of consultation and communication, unjustified restrictions are augmenters of job stress.

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 Quantitative and qualitative work overload, job insecurity, unrealistic expectations and pressures, unfavourable work culture and reorganization are all job stressors. It manifests itself normally in the form of depression, anxiety, absenteeism, lack of concentration, insomnia, substance abuse, family conflict, extreme anger, frustration and physical illnesses. Its implications include compromised performance and

productivity, increased accidents, lack of motivation and low organizational commitment. It also leads to employee burnout, i.e., total emotional, psychological or physical exhaustion of executives. It adds to the health costs and so is a significant cause of economic loss for both individual and the organization. Women bear the brunt of it in the form mental and physical harassment; sexual harassment, hostile work environment

harassment, offensive or intimidating behaviour in the workplace, unwelcome verbal or physical conduct, subtle discriminations, family pressure and societal demands.

Employee Morale Employee morale portrays an employees intrinsic enthusiasm about and drive to accomplish work. Each individual being unique
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responds distinctively to offered stimuli. Hence, boosting an employees morale would by and large entail permutation and combination of various factors; some universal ones include fulfilling the employee's needs and expectations from work and workplace. Deeper and broader

understanding of the concept of employee morale was facilitated by meanings of the variable given by various authors, which have been discussed in the following part of the study. Allport (1944), the famous psychologist, provided a basic understanding of morale. He recognized that morale like health and sanity has to do with the background condition in living. It is found on the fringe rather than in the focus of consciousness. It has to do with the individual effort in a group endeavor. Flippo (1961) described morale as a mental condition or attitude of individuals and groups which determines their willingness to cooperate. Good morale is evidenced by employer enthusiasm, voluntary conformance with regulations and orders, and a willingness to co-operate with others in the accomplishment of an organizations objectives. Poor morale is evidenced by surliness, insubordination, a feeling of discouragement and dislike of the job, company and associates. However, Dale (1972) considered morale as a feeling, somewhat related to esprit the corps, enthusiasm or zeal.

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In their article, examining the importance of employeemanagement relationship closeness, McKnight et al. (2001) defined morale in the context of workplace as the degree to which an employee feels good about his or her work and work environment. The authors say morale serves as a broad term that encompasses smaller concepts including intrinsic motivation, job satisfaction, experienced work meaningfulness, organizational commitment, and pride in ones work. Spriegel and Lansburgh (1957) said that morale is depressed by: a) A too fine division of authority and responsibility. b) Too many supervisors. c) An improper selection of personnel for new expanded duties. d) Too much reliance on organizational charts. Roach (1958) reaffirmed the concept of workers perception towards the satisfactory or unsatisfactory nature of existing factors. He listed twelve factors; general bias or halo factor, general attitude toward supervision, pride in company, intrinsic job satisfaction, and satisfaction with each of the following eight conditions setting up and enforcing job standards, supervisory consideration, work load and pressure, interest in and treatment of the individual, administration of salaries,

communications, development and progress, and co-workers, that influence the level of morale. The more favourable these were perceived the higher was the morale.
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Applewhite (1965) reduced the number of factors to five. He states that the components of morale are: the image of the company in the employees mind, the general quality of supervision received by the employee, the financial rewards or the material satisfaction granted to the workers and the friendliness of fellow employees and their ability to work together without friction; and the level of intrinsic job satisfaction. As per McFarland (1978), various factors can have a bearing on morale. Some of the important ones are: a) The attitudes of the executives and managers towards their subordinates; b) Working conditions, including pay, hours of work and safety rules; c) Effective leadership and an intelligent distribution of authority and responsibility on the organization; d) The design of the organizations structure which facilitates the flow of work; and e) The size of the organization. McFarland believed that high morale exists when employer attitudes are favourable to the total situation of a group and to the attainment of its objectives. Low morale exists when attitudes inhibit the willingness and ability of an organization to attain its objectives. In another report, it was emphasized that in order to improve employee productivity and morale, it is important for managers to allow
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employees to help set department or organizational goals. Employees will work harder to reach goals if they're involved in setting them (Library Personnel News, 1998). Tschohl (1999) insisted that employees need to seek out as much training as possible to be happy and successful in their work. In addition, he suggested employees improve their work environment by developing a sense of humour, setting goals, developing a healthy self-image and empowering themselves. In her article on reviving staff spirit, Scott (2001) referred to another type of management style that is usually thought of negatively by employees micro-managing. Scott argues that micro-managing is the surest way to kill staff spirit and commitment. Managers need to clarify the goals and ground rules, and then get out of their employee's way. A work environment should be given where management supports professional growth and makes employees feel that the company is committed to them. Scott claims that employees are less focused on the immediate paycheck if they feel they work in an organization that encourages growth and provides opportunities for training and education and skill improvement. The researcher urges managers not to follow the current trend of many companies drastically reducing their education budget and creating a workplace that produces overworked employees who have no time for learning and reflection.
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According to Messmer (2001), employees resent being left out of the loop, especially when changes are going on, which can cause them to be cynical about future endeavours, their supervisors, and the company. If kept uninformed, they may also assume the worst that their jobs are at risk. Managers need to stress both positive and negative aspects of change and be honest about the companys future. Open communication should especially be a priority when introducing any new initiatives. In his article on the effects of restructuring and downsizing on hospital staff, Burke (2002) stated this concept in a nutshell: The degree to which a facility supports its employees during transition directly affects staff satisfaction and well-being. Fuimano (2005) indicated that employee retention shows significant improvement when managers express value of their staff. When managers recognize an employees hard work and dedication, the job suddenly has a greater sense of meaning. Employees want an

opportunity to give their best and often when employees keep filtering through jobs to find better pay, the true driving force really lies in a lack of appreciation from management. To further promote excellent

employees, managers should focus upon good traits and spread them around to others. If others see an employee getting rewards, they will want to follow the lead and may feel more a part of the team. Fuimano

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adds that a lot of successful management coaching focuses on the individual employee rather than on his or her performance. For Lubans (2000), morale matters because low morale affects process. In libraries, the process usually involves clients and staff.

Because of the strong service tradition, with many points of service, librarians are especially vulnerable to the impact of low morale. McManus (2005) found that the best performing companies consider their internal customer survey a key tool for identifying improvement needs and a key indicator of performance challenges and opportunities. They believe that higher levels of employee satisfaction lead to higher levels of quality, customer service, and performance.

On the basis of views expressed above by various authors, it can be said that employee morale is an amalgamation of a whole matrix of factors that make an employee either enthusiastic or apathetic towards the job. The apparent characteristics of employee morale from above have been condensed as follows: It is an individuals willingness or enthusiasm to co-operate or contribute to a group effort towards organizational goal attainment. It is somewhat related to esprit de corps, i.e., team spirit.

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 It is reflective of an employees intrinsic motivation, job satisfaction, experienced work meaningfulness, organizational commitment, and pride in ones work and work environment. It is dampened by rigidity of rules and too fine a division of authority and responsibility and also by micro management and derogatory address of employees by higher ups. It is associated with general bias, relation with supervisors and fellow workers and also overall satisfaction with ones work and work environment. It is dependent on the material and psychological rewards such as appreciation granted to the employees, level of participation of employees allowed in decision-making, employees self-image and opportunity for learning and growth. It is boosted by open communication and support during transition. It when perceived positively leads to better retention, focus, process, quality, customer service and performance.

Job Involvement In a broad context, job involvement is the extent to which an employees job occupies his central life interest, i.e., the limit to which an employee is willing to dedicate oneself to ones job. Job involvement

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would also be defined by the significance attached to ones job by an employee, i.e., in his ideology how crucial is his job in meeting all his vital needs in life. Various authors have probed into this variable and have illuminated dimensions to it as discussed ahead. Gurin et al. (1960) described job involvement as the extent to which individuals seek some expression and actualization of the self in their work. Their concept of job involvement was further illustrated by Lodahl and Kejner (1965) who defined job involvement in terms of the degree to which people are identified psychologically with their work and the importance of work in the individual's self-image. Rabinowitz and Hall (1977) also concluded from their evaluation of research on job involvement that the data is consistent with this psychological identification with work definition of job involvement provided by Lodahl and Kejner. Mckelvey and Sekaran (1977) aptly defined job involvement as the merging of a person's ego identity with his or her job. It, thus, concerns the degree to which employees take their identity from their job. Mckelvey and Sekarans concept of job involvement has been the mainspring energizing the symbiotic relationship between job

involvement, performance, and the quality of working life, because individuals who have their ego development tied into the jobs have a

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higher stake in performing well and there is often a strong desire to satisfy the need for ego identity and development in their jobs. Elankumaran (2004) approached job involvement by saying that job involvement as an attitude is an important variable that helps in maximizing organizational effectiveness. The higher the degree of job involvement of the members of an organization, the greater its effectiveness. In order to improve the degree of job involvement, one must have a realistic view of what determines it. Among the various views on job involvement, the most realistic one would be that it is a function of personality and organizational climate. To identify the personality types, an inventory was developed based on the Indian theory of psychological forcesthe guna dynamics. Based on the analysis of the data collected, the concluding observation of the study was: the less tamasic a person, the more will he be involved in his job. Findings by Carmeli (2005) indicate that both situational and personal-related factors predict job involvement. It has been shown that the relationship between perceived external prestige and job involvement is mediated by affective commitment, and that the relationship between protestant work ethic and job involvement is mediated by normative commitment. According to Kanungo (1979), all behaviour, including behaviour in work situations, springs from need states of the individual and is
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directed towards obtaining outcomes for the satisfaction of salient needs. Thus, the degree of job involvement will depend upon the extent to which an individual perceives his salient needs as capable of being met on the job. The author, therefore, operationally defined job involvement as, a generalized cognitive state of psychological identification with work, in so far as work is perceived to be instrumental in satisfying one's salient needs and expectations. Brown (1996) suggested that job involvement is influenced by personality and situational variables and that it is strongly related to job and work attitudes but not to role perceptions, behavioural work outcomes, negative side effects or demographic variables. Importance of job involvement was supported by the findings of Parks et al. (2007) who stated that the employee involvement is used successfully by management and has enabled frontline staff to contribute their knowledge to their work.

It can be concluded from the above that job involvement is an effect of personal and situational variables and it leads to more positive attitude and behaviour such as increased organizational commitment. In totality, we arrive at the following conclusions regarding job involvement: It is the degree to which an employee seeks expression and actualization of oneself in his work.
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 It is also the extent of psychological identification with ones work and the importance of work in the employees self-image. It is also expressed in terms of merger of a person's ego identity with ones job, i.e., the extent to which an individual draws ones identity from ones job. It is a function of an employees personality and organizational climate, i.e., personal and situational factors predict job involvement. Its positivity ensures better organizational effectiveness and greater contribution of knowledge by an employee to his/her work. It is dependent upon an individuals perception about the likelihood of his salient needs being met. It is strongly related to job and work attitudes.

An employees attitude cannot be isolated from his physical and psychological state. This implies in the event of an employee experiencing high job stress level is most certain to have its bearing on his attitudinal exposition as well. Therefore, employees morale level and the extent of their job involvement come into the closest proximity of being influenced by adverse job stress endured by an employee. This study is an attempt to find a definite relationship between psychological

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variables such as job stress and attitudinal variables such as employee morale and job involvement which intuitively and empirically are known perpetrators of behavioural outcomes of employees such as productivity, proficiency, co-operation, contribution towards organizational goals, absenteeism, turnover intent, organizational commitment, organizational effectiveness, etc. Knowledge of a precise equation between the three variables; job stress, employee morale and job involvement, would go a long way in the growth and profitability of an organization.

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REVIEW OF LITERATURE The review of related available studies in variables job stress, employee morale and job involvement was done with a view to delve and obtain some guidelines for the present research work. A number of studies were available individually on the three variables taken up in this study, and a few studies were also available where only two variables have been taken up together. The purpose of this segment of the study is to have a peep into the former researches in the field, to analyze and critically examine them, and to connect the present knowledge with the earlier studies in order to decide about the general framework of this study. The literature on the variables in question has been reviewed below systematically.

Studies on Job Stress Job stress has more often than not been taken to be just negative, while rarely so its positive significance and utility comes to the fore. Having acknowledged the importance of positive job stress in the beginning of the chapter, for the purpose of this study job stress has been taken as negative. As per Cherrys (1978) study in a community cohort of 1415, twenty-six year old men in mixed occupations, nervous strain (a self-

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report single item) was predicted by occupational status but not by social class of origin. After accounting for occupational status, and neuroticism, five work tasks made a significant contribution to nervous strain. These were supervision, teaching, driving, skilled machine operation and people contact. It was also found that both neuroticism and specific work stressors separately contributed to a nervous strain variable. There was neither evidence of an interaction between these variables, nor was there evidence that stressful jobs were held particularly by anxiety-prone subjects. A study by Jackson and Maslach (1982), of 142 police couples is reported, illustrating the effects of job stress on family life. In a survey study, police officers and their wives described family interactions. Officers, who were experiencing stress, as measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory, were more likely to display anger, spend time off away from the family, be uninvolved in family matters, and to have unsatisfactory marriages. An examination of the coping patterns used to deal with the stress of police work highlights differences between coping strategies used by husbands versus wives. A model of job stress that focused on organizational and jobrelated stress was presented by Parker and DeCotiis (1983). Job stress was conceived of as a first-level outcome of the organization and job; it is a feeling of discomfort that is separate and distinct from second-level
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outcomes or consequences of job stress. The second-level outcomes may include varying levels of satisfaction, organizational commitment, motivation, and performance. A partial test of the model examines relationships between hypothesized stressors and experienced job stress. Survey data obtained from 367 managers of a large restaurant chain was used with the results generally supporting the model. Factor analysis supported the concept that job stress is multidimensional. Two distinct dimensions of job stress were identified: time stress and anxiety. Both job stress dimensions were significantly related to each of the model's five organizational stressor categories, but not all of the independent variables within the categories were significantly related to job stress. Moreover, the specific stressors associated with each dimension of job stress proved to be substantially different. Similarly, as per Brenner et al. (1985), Teaching stressful students early in the school year predicted poor mental health in the latter part of the year in another sample. A more detailed study by Jackson et al. (1986), of the relation of work stress variables to the burnout subscales (in another teacher sample), found role conflict alone predicted emotional exhaustion, only two support variables predicted poor accomplishment, while there were no predictors of depersonalization.

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In a combined study, done by Aro and Hasan (1987), of 900 blueand white-collar industrial workers studied over 5 and 10 years, stressors at work predicted mental stress symptoms, poor perceived health and absenteeism; mental stress symptoms in turn predicted smoking, drinking, and absenteeism. According to Taylor and Cooper (1989) variables such as personality are also crucial; their effects may be complex and are often poorly assessed. Personality firstly seems to be an independent risk factor for both depression and burnout, irrespective of exposure to work stressors. Another study by Kawakarmi et al. (1990) revealed that in factory and blue-collar workers studied over 3 years, in Japan (N = 468), lack of control overwork, unsuitable jobs and poor workplace relations predicted depression (Zung scale). Furthermore, the latter two work variables also predicted depressive disorder diagnosed clinically by a psychiatrist in a nested cohort of this sample; these relationships were significant even after controlling covariates and initial depressive symptoms. In a study by Phelan et al. (1991), the effect of stressors of different origins (those at work and those outside it) had also been assessed. Both work stress and domestic stress predicted depression both in married professionals even after controlling potential confounders.
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Glickman et al. (1991) stated that the pathways linking work stressors and depression may not be direct since in a study of blue-collar workers neither initial life events nor work strain (economic difficulties, work overload) directly predicted later depression: they did, however, predict subsequent life events and work strain, both of which correlated with depression at that time. This study also revealed a reciprocal relationship; initial depression also predicted subsequent life events and work strain. Revicki et al. (1993) stated that in relation to medical specialties for instance, work-related stress and specifically, low taskrole clarity predicted later depression in emergency medicine residents. A model to look at various job components that affect individual well-being and health was developed by Carayon (1993) drawing from the job design and job stress literature. Briefly stated, the model proposed job control to be a primary causal determinant of the stress outcomes. The effects of perceived demands, job content and career/future concerns were hypothesized to influence the stress outcomes only to the extent of their influence on job control. This was tested in a population of government office employees in various clerical, professional, and managerial jobs all of which involve the use of computers. Results indicated that job control was not a crucial determinant of the stress outcomes, that job demands and career/future concerns were consistent
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determinants of the stress outcomes, and that job content, demands, and career/future concerns did not influence the stress outcomes through job control as described by the proposed model. The differentiation of job control levels to define specific relationships with stress outcomes and other job elements were shown to be useful because different levels of job control were associated with different stress outcomes and job elements. Fenwick and Tausig (1994) tested a model that conceptually links research on macroeconomic causes of stress with research on job structure causes of stress among employed workers. Overall, results suggest that macroeconomic changes, such as recessions, can affect individual stress because they lead to changes in routine job structures that represent increased and continued exposure to stressful conditions. Noor (1995), in her study, revealed that in working women, while work overload predicted psychological disorder, surprisingly perhaps their family role stressors did not: high occupational status furthermore diminished the impact of work overload on psychological disorder. In more experienced teachers (Burke and Greenglass, 1995), burnout was predicted by both work setting and specific work stress. However, the effect of these variables was not direct, but operated by influencing both the work setting and work stress at the subsequent assessment. Specific work variables predicting burnout were poor social

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support outside the organization, personal characteristics, and red tape and disruptive students. In a 4-year Finnish study by Romanov et al. (1996) (N=15530), records linkage was used to access psychiatric morbidity data (suicides, hospitalization, prescription of psychotropic drugs). Interpersonal conflict at work predicted physician-diagnosed psychiatric morbidity (relative risk=2.18) even after controlling social class, prior health and prior mental instability/stress (i.e., neuroticism, hostility, life stress, low selfassurance). As per Rout et al. (1996), in General Practitioners routine work administration, job demands, interference with family and interruptions with work, predicted their negative mental well-being. In a well-designed albeit, cross-sectional study, by Prosser et al. (1997), of mental healthcare workers involving principal components analysis of work stress, some 28% of variance in depression and 42% in burnout were explained by work stress factors, in particular; poor staffing resources, work overload and career dissatisfaction were related to depression. According to Heinisch and Jex (1997) in managerial employees (N=442), two of the four work-related stressors that were assessed (work load and role ambiguity) predicted depressive symptoms. This association

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furthermore was potentiated by negative affectivity, but only in females. Briner (1997) and Cooper & Cartwright (1997), in their studies, reviewed stress interventions in the workplace and emphasized the need to distinguish primary interventions (organization/structural change), secondary interventions (stress management/coping strategies) and tertiary interventions (interventions targeted for those actually stressed). Secondary and tertiary interventions appear to have short-term effects only (in the order of 3 months), and indeed these interventions may be treating morbidity due to non-occupational stressors (Reynolds, 1997). Improvement may be seen in a range of psychological outcomes including psychological symptoms, self-esteem and perceptions of work stress. Primary intervention studies report inconsistent findings. While job satisfaction may improve with intervention, mental health may not and absenteeism or staff turnover can indeed increase (Gordery et al., 1991). As per the study by Mills and Huebner (1998), in school psychologists all burnout subscales were predicted by personality (neuroticism), but only emotional exhaustion and poor

accomplishment were predicted by self-reported work stressors. The relation between work stressors and burnout was furthermore found to be

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reciprocal, and when initial burnout was controlled, work stressors did not predict subsequent burnout. Watson (1998), in his annual survey of integrated disability management programmes, found that incidents of disability are increasingly related to slowly developing, chronic conditions and workinduced stress. In this survey, musculoskeletal problems such as carpal tunnel syndrome and repetitive motion complaints (50 per cent) exceeded injuries (44 per cent) as the most common condition triggering an occupational disability expense. The survey also found that mental health-related disabilities are on the rise. As many as 45 per cent and 58 per cent of employers respectively, expressed growing concern about mental illness as a source of occupational disabilities and nonoccupational disabilities. Moreover, one-third of survey respondents characterized the management of mental illness in the workplace as very difficult. Similarly, Taris (1999), in his study, demonstrated a reciprocal relation between job resources (autonomy, variety, skill utilization) and mental health. It is argued that multi-panel prospective studies with objective work stressor indices, preferably using structural equation approaches, can best address this issue (Zapf et al., 1996). In a five-year prospective study by Borg et al. (2000), of 5000 employees drawn from a Danish population register, changes in repetitive
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work, job insecurity, high demands and low support all predicted a single self-rated health item. In a study by Weinberg and Creed (2000), both work and non-work stressors, on being assessed using a life events interview, contributed to depression in medical personnel. Even when vulnerability factors and non-work stressors were controlled, work stress still contributed towards depression. According to a study by Schaufeli and Peeters (2000), it appeared that the most notable stressors for correctional officers are role problems, work overload, demanding social contacts (with prisoners, colleagues, and supervisors), and poor social status. It is concluded that particularly improving human resources management, professionalization of the CO's job, and improvement of the social work environment seem to be a promising avenue for reducing job stress and burnout in correctional institutions. A recent report from Health Canada (2002) suggested that employees who experience work stress (caused by interpersonal, job control and management problems) are six times more likely than others to be absent from work for six or more days. Another study by Larson (2004) used the Ivancevich and Matteson Stress Diagnostic Survey to gather data concerning job stress for a large national sample of internal auditors in the USA. Survey respondents
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indicated that the organizational job stressors in their work environment were more a source of stress than the so-called individual job factors. Specifically, respondents would like to be paid more and participate more in the decision-making processes relating to their jobs. Company politics and lack of training and development opportunities were other major sources of stress. Implications for the profession are clear. Internal audit managers should be aware of the job stress inherent in the nature of the work of an internal auditor and take appropriate steps to reduce organizational job stressors rather than face the risk of increased staff job turnover. Gyllensten and Palmer (2005) took up a review with the aim to evaluate research relating to the role of gender in the level of workplace stress. The stressors having particular relevance to working women were reviewed. These stressors included, multiple roles, lack of career progress and discrimination, and stereotyping. Major databases were searched in order to identify studies investigating gender and workplace stress. A range of research designs were included and no restrictions were made on the basis of occupations of the participants. Much of the research indicated that women reported higher levels of stress compared to men. However, several studies reported no difference between the genders. Furthermore, the evidence for the adverse effects of multiple roles, lack of career progress and discrimination, and stereotyping was inconsistent.
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The current review concluded that the evidence regarding the role of gender in workplace stress and stressors was inconsistent. Landsbergis and Vaughan (2006), in their study, evaluated the impact of an intervention which was based on organizational development, action research and Karasek's job strain model. Employee committees conducted problem diagnosis, action planning, and action taking in two departments in a public agency. Waiting list control departments and pre- post- and follow-up assessment were utilized. Results indicated a mixed impact of the intervention in one department, but a negligible or negative impact in the other. Obstacles to the effective implementation of the intervention strategy are discussed. These included a limited focus for the committees (department-wide rather than agencywide), the negative impact of major agency reorganization, and the lack of a more formal management and labour commitment to maintaining the stress reduction and organizational change process. Feilder et al. (2008) revealed that work-related stress is a major concern for employers, and the UK Health and Safety Executive has introduced Management Standards for employers to support them in managing stress in the workplace. Managers have a key role to play in minimizing stress-related risks for their staff. Management behaviour has a direct impact on staff well-being managers can prevent or cause stress in those they manage. Managers also act as gatekeepers to their
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employees' exposure to stressful working conditions and are vital to the identification and tackling of stress in the workplace. This means that managers need to understand what behaviours they should show in order to manage their employees in a way that minimizes work-related stress. The behaviours identified were grouped into themes to create a framework of 19 management competencies for preventing and reducing stress at work.

Studies on Employee Morale Employee morale is the result of various personal and organizational factors. It is determined by the individuals perception about various facets associated with ones job and the workplace. As mentioned earlier, job satisfaction is a sub-set of employee morale and is considered as its vital indicator, therefore, has also been included in this review. Quite a few studies have been noticed wherein employee morale has been studied individually or along with other factors. Mayo (1947) carried out Hawthorne experiments between 1927 to 1932 which consisted of introducing purposefully such psychological differences as rest pauses, snacks, reduction of hours of work and others on six girls engaged in assembling relays. Strict records were kept of their behaviour, conversation, health, social habits, etc. The girls were also

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consulted and informed about the changes to be introduced in accordance with the research plan. The atmosphere, thus, created was so free that the workers lost the apprehension of authority. Their behaviour was normal but their morale was high. Throughout these changes both positive and negative output went up constantly and finally in the last period of the experiment, all improvements were suppressed. Output was expected to be at its lowest, but it reached its highest. The study undertaken by Ansbacher (1950) showed that slave labour groups in World War-II displayed low personal happiness and high achievement levels. While some researchers were optimistic and felt that there is enough evidence to link morale as a factor in improving employee performance others like Brayfield and Crockett (1953) concluded that there is little, if any, relationship between employee morale and performance. Bose (1958) stated that more the subordinates participate in the planning of change in their work; greater is the production after the change is made. The workers in higher production units display greater skills in group interaction have greater group pride and loyalty, and more often use group decision to deal with work related problems.

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Studies by Ganguli (1961), Chatterjee (1961), Sinha & Nair (1965) and studies at SITRA are some of the works where a positive link between job satisfaction or morale and productivity has been found. In the Indian setting, Bose (1965) studied the relationship between morale and supervision. His study shows that a high pride and morale of the work group leads to greater productivity. Choudhry and Pal (1968) also attempted to study the effect of technology on morale. Two textile mills are compared; one which frequently alters the type of cloth produced and has a more elaborate system of management and the other with the same kind of production plan for a long period. The study provided that the worker satisfaction was higher in the second mill because it has a less elaborate organization and reporting structure. In India, some relevant studies have been carried out by the Central Labour Institute (1970). These studies have revealed that high worker morale may not lead to high productivity. An interesting socio-metric study called Social Relations and Morale in Small Groups was carried out by Gardner and Thompson (1972) from the Syraouse University. Scales which measure each individuals estimate of his associates potentialities for satisfying several social needs in groups of not more than eight were developed. It was found that groups high on this scale had a high morale level and also a
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high achievement level. However, this may not be true of groups which are not voluntary in nature. According to Harris (1976), one of the more evasive and controversial topics concerning worker behaviour is that of worker morale. There has been no universal position taken concerning the effects of morale on worker performance, nor has there been even a complete comprehensive definition of what it is. A helpful approach to the analysis of morale is to view it as the workers perception of the existing state of their well-being. Morale is said to be high when conditions or circumstances appear favourable and low when unfavourable. In a study by Rusbult and Farrell (1983), it was stated that greater job satisfaction resulted from high job rewards and low job costs; whereas strong job commitment was produced by high rewards, low costs, poor alternative quality, and large investment size. Impact of job rewards on satisfaction and commitment remained relatively constant. Iaffaldano and Muchinsky (1985), in their study on job satisfaction-job performance showed that (1) the best estimate of the true population correlation between satisfaction and performance was relatively low (.17); (2) much of the variability in results obtained in previously research was due to the use of small sample sizes, while unreliable measurement of the satisfaction and performance constructs has contributed relatively little to this observed variability in correlations;
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and (3) the nine variables coded (composite vs. one-dimensional criteria, longitudinal vs. cross-sectional measurement of performance relative to satisfaction, the nature of the performance measure, self-reports vs. other sources, use of specific performance measures, subjectivity or objectivity of measures, specific-facet satisfaction vs. global satisfaction, welldocumented vs. researcher-developed measurement, and white-collar vs. blue-collar) were only modestly related to the magnitude of the satisfaction-performance correlation. Agho (1993), in his study, found that the degree to which employees like their job is influenced by a combination of characteristics of the environment (opportunity), the job (routinization and distributive justice), and personality variables (positive affectivity and work motivation). In a study that explored the relationship between employee selfesteem and different types of management styles referred to here as supervisor powers Fedor et al. (2001) examined the uses of reverent power (power based upon the managers attractive characteristics), expert power (power based upon the managers expertise and knowledge), and coercive power (power based on the managers ability to inflict aversive outcomes or punishments). While the hypothesis of the study that the use of coercive power negatively affects employee morale proved inconclusive, the researchers were able to conclude that when supervisors
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exercised expert or referent power, both of which require effective communication to be successful, the impact on employee self-esteem was positive. In a study on employer/employee commitment, Bragg (2002) explored how commitment on the part of both employees and employers can contribute to a supportive work environment and high morale. Bragg described four types of commitment exhibited by both employees and employers: want to, have to, ought to, and uncommitted. The type of commitment that both sides should strive for is want to commitment, where the employees want to work for the company and give it their all, and the company values its employees and shows it by investing in their growth and training. In his study, the author reiterates the arguments found in much of the literature that managers can boost employee morale by encouraging employee involvement and communication, keeping employees informed of major business decisions, offering extensive training, and encouraging a balance between work and home life. Bragg also agrees that employees should be just as responsible for their own morale and shouldnt rely solely on management to provide the supportive work environment they seek. Finally, he insists that in order to provide a positive work

environment that maintains high morale, both employees and management must follow a common set of rules, including:
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a) Do what you say you will do b) Be consistent c) Maintain confidence d) Be a role model of the behaviour you want others to display. As per Linz et al. (2006) among the workers participating in their study, expectation of receiving a desired reward contributes to high morale, with expected monetary rewards having a higher influence that expected non-monetary rewards, but praise for a job well done and a feeling of accomplishment also contribute positively to employee morale. There was a significant correlation between positive attitudes toward work and morale, and a positive correlation between performance assessment and morale. Demographic characteristics (age and gender) have no discernible influence on morale when controls are included for work experience.

Studies on Job Involvement Job involvement, i.e. the importance associated by an employee to ones job and degree to which he/she is willing to put in ones time and energy to it, is crucial in improving quantity and quality of work and in enrichment of the organization and further bears implications for the employee as well. The studies on this aspect have mainly been in the foreign scene and only a few touching an Indian prospect.
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Rabinowitz et al. (1977), in their study, examined the relative importance of job scope and individual differences in explaining job involvement. The researchers further examined whether these variables have independent or interactive effects. Results indicate that job scope and the individual difference measures all have about equal importance in explaining the variance in job involvement. Results of a recent study of over 200 middle and senior level managers by Misra and Kalro (1981) supported the notion that the attitude of job involvement is a function of the level of satisfaction of one's salient needs, be they intrinsic or extrinsic. Job Involvement was higher for those whose salient needs were met as compared to those whose salient needs were not met. According to Pathaks (1983) findings, job involvement concerns the degree to which employees identify with their job. It may be influenced by the level of satisfaction of one's needs, be they intrinsic or extrinsic. Utilizing a sample of 150 bank officers from four major public sector banks in India, the present study investigated this stipulated relationship between job involvement and need satisfaction, but did not find any strong relationship. The important finding that emerged was that the bank officers, regardless of their job involvement, wanted more decision making authority, opportunity for personal growth and development, and recognition for good work done. One factor of
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importance for job involvement appeared to be satisfaction vis-a-vis recognition for good work done. Recommendations based on the findings include adequate feedback and incentives for good work, widening the area of responsibility, larger delegation of authority, and tangible as well as symbolic modes of recognition for raising need satisfaction and job involvement. A study by Ron and Graham (1987) of employee involvement in the management and ownership of NVC Australia Pty Ltd. indicated high levels of work satisfaction, job security, decision influence, productivity, communication, commitment and involvement. Although only one organization has been analyzed, it is clear that employee ownership and participation provide interesting alternatives for organizations to face the challenges of the present social and economic situations. Another study by Gomez-Mejia (1990) suggested that while gender differences in work values exist (as measured by task-oriented, contextual and job involvement scales), the magnitude and significance of the observed differences between men and women decrease as occupation and length of socialization are partialled out. The relationships among a cluster of attitudes toward work and job were investigated by Knoop (1995) using a sample of 171 nurses. The hypothesis was that involvement in work and job, commitment to the employing organization, and satisfaction with the job (over all, and with
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specific facets of the job) would be significantly correlated. The results showed that involvement was not related to overall satisfaction but only to two specific facets, satisfaction with work and promotion opportunities. In contrast, the degree of relationship between overall and various facets of satisfaction and commitment and between involvement and commitment was moderately high. In a study of hospital nurses (N=154), Jernigan et al. (2002) examined the influence of dimensions of work satisfaction on types of organizational commitment. Significant results were found for the two affective commitment types tested but not for the instrumental type evaluated. The results indicate that satisfaction with professional status was a significant predictor of moral commitment. Dissatisfaction with organizational policies, autonomy, and professional status were significant predictors of alienative commitment. None of the dimensions of work satisfaction were predictors of calculative commitment. The results of this study suggest that understanding how various factors impact the nature and the form of an individuals organizational commitment is worth the effort. If managers do not know what causes an attitude to take on a particular form, they cannot accurately predict what behaviour might follow. A study by Freund and Carmeli (2003) examined the relationships between five work commitments: protestant work ethic, career
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commitment, job involvement, continuance commitment and affective commitment. Based on Morrow's concept of five universal forms of commitment, their inter-relationships were tested in regard to a population of lawyers either employed by, or partners in law firms. The results presented a reconstructed model. The following findings were unique to this reconstructed model: job involvement and career commitment appeared as mediating variables, although, unlike previous models, job involvement was found to be directly related to affective commitment. In a U.S. invested enterprise in China, the receptivity of Chinese employees to a participative work environment was examined by Scott et al. (2003). Structural equation analysis indicated support for a model in which job satisfaction mediates the relationships between elements of a participative work environment (i.e., tasks performed, the relationships individuals had with their work groups and the nature of the decisionmaking processes) and employee willingness to co-operate with coworkers and intention to quit. Task interdependence also had a direct relationship with willingness to co-operate. The relationship between the big five of personality and work involvement was investigated by Bozionelos (2004) in a questionnaire study with a sample of 279 white-collar workers, who were employed on a full-time basis in clerical, administrative and managerial positions.
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Hypotheses were tested by means of hierarchical regressions that controlled for the effects of demographics and human capital. Overall, the findings suggest the existence of an, albeit not strong or extensive, relationship between the big five of personality and work involvement. A study by Mudrack (2004) was designed specifically to elaborate upon and to explore the proposal that workaholism may result from a combination of high job involvement with an obsessive-compulsive personality. Both obsessive-compulsive personality and workaholism, however, seem to be multidimensional rather than one-dimensional variables and their multidimensional nature needed clarification before the study could proceed. Obsessive-compulsive personality consisted of six distinct traits: obstinacy, orderliness, parsimony, perseverance, rigidity, and superego. Workaholism was operationalized as having two behavioural components: tendencies both to engage in non-required work activities, and to intrude actively on the work of others. This study predicted specifically that high job involvement coupled with high scores on the obstinacy, orderliness, rigidity, and superego traits would lead to high scores on tendencies to engage in non-required work. These four predictions received some support in data emerging from a sample of 278 employed persons, although support was strongest for the obstinacy and superego traits. These results add to understanding of the work attitude of job involvement given its associations with some obsessive-compulsive
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traits, suggest the relevance of obsessive-compulsive personality in nonclinical settings, and add to understanding of the phenomenon of workaholism as behavioural tendencies. Results of a study done by Cortis and Cassar (2005) indicated no differences between job involvement and work-based self-esteem of male and female managers. On the other hand, both male employees and students seem to hold more stereotypical attitudes towards women in management than their female counterparts. A study by Rotenberry and Moberg (2007) attempted to provide another test of job involvement's association with performance. Its findings state that the employees self-reported job involvement significantly predicted certain supervisor performance ratings above and beyond work centrality. The job involvement of customer contact personnel was significantly correlated with customer satisfaction, profit and productivity in Emery and Barker (2007) study. There was a significant difference between the team and non-team structures for job involvement, but not for the organizational commitment of customer contact personnel. The purpose of the paper by Boon et al. (2007) was to examine the perceptions of individual employees on the influence of eight elements of HRM/TQM (i.e., leadership, training and development, employee participation, reward and recognition, customer focus, empowerment,
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teamwork, and communication) on employees job involvement in six major Malaysian semiconductor contract manufacturing organizations. The results of the study revealed that teamwork, empowerment, customer focus, reward and recognition and communication are positively associated with employees job involvement. Where empowerment was found to be a dominant practice, strong associations with employees job involvement existed. Yet another paper (HRM International Digest, 2008) described the importance of work-life balance. The findings indicate that flexible working helps to keep the staff motivated. The policy has also enhanced the company's reputation with both clients and employees. Kuruuzum et al. (2009), in their paper, aimed to determine the structural relationships between job involvement, job satisfaction, and three dimensions of organizational commitment (i.e., affective

commitment, normative commitment, and continuance commitment) in the Turkish hospitality industry. The findings stated that the research model, which was structured by taking related literature as the base, was revised and a new path model was gathered as a result of this study. Results showed that job involvement, affective commitment, and normative commitment increase job satisfaction; and job involvement affects affective and normative commitment.

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Studies on Job Stress and Employee Morale While studying job stress its important to take into consideration its relationship with employee morale since an employees morale cannot be isolated from the stress the employee experiences in ones job. Review of literature shows that these two variables (job stress and employee morale) are of great interest in industrial psychology. A few authors have studied these two variables together. Ganster and Schaubroeck (1991) reviewed and summarized the literature on work stress with particular emphasis on those studies that examined the effects of work characteristics on employee health. Although there is not convincing evidence that job stressors cause health effects, the indirect evidence is strongly suggestive of a work stress effect. This evidence comes from occupational studies that show differences in health and mortality that are not easily explained by other factors and within-subject studies that demonstrate a causal effect of work experiences on physiological and emotional responses. According to Poulin and Walter (1993), in social workers, change in burnout over time was independently predicted by job stress, poor supervisor support, low satisfaction with clients and poor self-esteem; together however they accounted for only 28% of the variance.

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In middle-aged medical graduates, generally, the effects of psychological job demands, patient demands, physician resources and work control were studied by Johnson et al. (1995); high job demands were associated with both work dissatisfaction and psychological disorder (GHQ) in univariate analyses. Regression analysis showed that lack of control over work was independently associated with both dissatisfaction and psychological disorder. In a study by Schonfeld (1996), three self-reported work stress indices predicted post-employment depression (CESD scale) and job dissatisfaction, even when initial depression and personality were controlled. Relationships between work stressors and work climate, and job morale and functioning were examined by Schaefer and Moos (1996). Initial and 8-month follow-up data was obtained from 405 staff in 14 long-term care facilities. Relationship and workload stressors were related to less job satisfaction and intent to stay in the job, and more jobrelated distress, depression, and physical symptoms. Patient care task stressors were associated with better outcomes. More positive work climates were linked to higher job morale. Initial work stressors predicted poorer functioning, and coworker cohesion predicted more intent to stay in the job at follow-up.

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A paper by Chen and Miller (1997) summarized research on both organizational and individual characteristics positively correlated to teacher stress. Organizational characteristics are time constraints, workload, job demands, role conflict, role ambiguity, income, resources, class size, administrative bureaucracy, autonomy/participation in decision-making, collegiality, student discipline and interaction, reward and recognition, and career advancement. Individual characteristics are age, marital status, and gender. Teachers found stress increased by time factors, workloads, role conflict and ambiguity, inadequate income and resources, low autonomy, and issues related to the classroom environment. Individual characteristics contributing to stress included age, experience, gender, and marital status. Recommendations for administrators and teachers include: wider knowledge of the

organizational and individual characteristics to help school systems and administrators develop systemic interventions to alleviate teacher stress; and greater teacher awareness of stress factors, which will lead teachers to have greater compassion for themselves, resulting in enhanced coping effectiveness. Hotopf and Wessely (1997) revealed that the implications of workrelated stress include the effects on worker satisfaction and productivity, their mental and physical health, absenteeism and its economic cost, the wider impact on family function and finally, the potential for employer
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liability. While depression is the most likely adverse psychological outcome, the range of other possible psychological problems include burnout, alcohol abuse, unexplained physical symptoms,

absenteeism, chronic fatigue and accidents, sick building syndrome and repetitive strain injury. In a national survey of physicians done by Kaplan et al. (1999), comparison was made of physician morale, job stress, perceived time pressures, practice volume and sense of autonomy over practice, to the quality of physicians' communication with patients. It was found that the impact of current pressures on physicians to increase productivity may come at some cost to the morale of the physician workforce and may in turn have undesirable consequences for the quality of interpersonal care they provide. Other research has documented the relationship of quality of interpersonal care to patients' health outcomes. In another study, Bliese and Britt (2001) examined the degree to which individuals' reactions to stressors were influenced by the quality of their shared social environments. Based on social support theory, they proposed that individuals in positive social environments would show lower levels of strain when exposed to stressors than would individuals in negative social environments. The quality of the shared social environment was assessed by measuring the degree of consensus among group members about an issue of importance to the group, namely, about
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the group leadership. Social influence theory provides compelling reasons to believe that this measure of consensus should be a strong indicator of the quality of the social environment within the groups. In multilevel analyses using a sample of 1923 soldiers who were members of 52 Companies deployed in Haiti, they found that the quality of the social environment moderated relationships between (a) work stressors and morale; and (b) work stressors and depression. The findings by Redfern et al. (2002) revealed a staff group with a fairly high level of job dissatisfaction and stress, who were, nevertheless, very committed to the nursing home. The morale of the residents was good although the residents rated the home atmosphere lower than the staff did. Significant correlations emerged in the expected direction, between satisfaction, commitment, stress and quality of care perceived by staff. The correlations between home atmosphere perceived by residents, and their morale and mental health were low; further investigation is needed with a larger sample. According to Lewandowski (2003), inadequate communication and unrealistic expectations result in staff overload and feelings of isolation. When employees feel isolated and that they lack power, Employees may sink into a work depression.

frustration emerges.

Supervisors and managers need to connect with employees by inviting

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conversation and suggested improvements that could help reduce workplace frustration. A leading organizational psychologist argues poor organizational culture, workplace morale and leadership are much more likely to result in employee stress claims than specific stressful events or excessive workloads. Programmes that deal with organizational health and morale rather than ones that try to eliminate specific stressors - will consequently be far more effective in reducing an organizations stress claims said Cotton (2003). In yet another study by Dale (2004) it was found that when army leaders fail to control battlefield stress, they lose as many soldiers to combat stress as they do to enemy bullets. Even when they are well trained, these soldiers are more likely to collapse in the face of great stress. Units with high morale and esprit de corps, however, lose only 10% as many troops to stress. The training and preparation are important, but the high sense of teamwork makes all the difference. In their study, Calsyn and Roades (2006) tested the following hypotheses: (1) Stress has more of a negative impact on the life satisfaction of those under age 75 than those over age 75; (2) social support has more of a positive effect on life satisfaction in those under age 75 than those over age 75; and (3) the buffering effect of social

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support is stronger in the under age 75 group than the over age 75 group. None of the three hypotheses was supported, contrary to prior research.

Studies on Job Stress and Job Involvement It was observed that there was hardly any study that exhibited direct relationship between these two variables. However, directions for further research on the given variables were available in some of the studies. One element of the work-non-work interface is the conflict a person may experience between the work role and other life roles. Kahn et al. (1964) identified such interrole conflict as a significant source of strain for nearly one-third of the men in their national sample. The literature concerning dual-career family stress and coping was reviewed by Skinner (1980). Although acknowledging stressful aspects of dual-career living, it was found that most participants defined their lifestyle positively. Achieving a balance between the advantages and disadvantages of the life-style appears to be the overriding concern of most dual-career couples. An examination by Greenhaus and Beutell (1985) of the literature on conflict between work and family roles suggests that work-family conflict exists when: (a) time devoted to the requirements of one role

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makes it difficult to fulfil requirements of another; (b) strain from participation in one role makes it difficult to fulfil requirements of another; and (c) specific behaviours required by one role make it difficult to fulfil the requirements of another. This spillover effect of work stressors on mood at home was found to be greater than the spillover effect of stressors at home on mood at work in a study conducted by Leiter and Durup (1996).

Studies on Job Stress, Employee Morale and Job Involvement There has been hardly any study showing a direct relationship among these three variables. However, scope for future research in some of the works hinted at having such a study on the subject. Organizational and individual changes resulting from severe environmental stress in three research and development organizations were studied by Hall and Mansfield (1971) at the beginning and the end of a 20-month period. The changes were examined with both longitudinal and independent sample data. The greatest changes occurred in the way researchers perceived their jobs and their organizations rather than their self-perceptions or attitudes toward their work. Despite the greatly decreased satisfactions experienced by the researchers, their job involvement and aspiration levels did not change greatly, and their

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intrinsic motivation decreased in one of the two samples studied. It was concluded that this lack of expected individual coping behaviour must be associated with high levels of internal strain for the researchers, although some strain was probably reduced by becoming alienated from the organization. The results of a study by Billingsley and Cross (1992) suggested that work related variables, such as leadership support, role conflict, role ambiguity, and stress are better predictors of commitment and job satisfaction than are demographic variables. Generally, the findings were similar for general and special educators. In a community-based study by Frone et al. (1995), of 795 employed adults, work pressure, lack of autonomy and role ambiguity predicted subsequent depression but job involvement did not. Besides, there was only limited support for job involvement having any stress moderating influence on the relationships between role ambiguity and both physical health and alcohol use. There was no evidence for a moderating effect on depression. In two earlier studies, one in nurses (Firth and Britton, 1989) found some moderating effect, while another in supermarket managers (Batlis, 1980) did not. Results of a study by Babin and Boles (1996) suggested that employee perceptions of co-worker involvement and supervisory support can reduce stress and increase job satisfaction. Other results indicated a
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positive relationship between role conflict and job performance, a positive relationship between job performance and job satisfaction, and that job performance mediates effects of role stress on satisfaction. In a study by Shadur et al. (1999) data was collected using a survey of 269 employees of an information technology company. The authors argued that employee involvement is composed of three essential variables, namely, participation in decision-making, teamwork, and communications. Three hierarchical regression analyses were carried out with each of the employee perception of involvement variables as dependent variables. Employee demographic data, employee affective attitudes (job satisfaction, commitment, and stress), and three dimensions of organizational climate (bureaucracy, innovation, and support) were entered into the regression analyses. The results showed that supportive climates and commitment significantly predicted each of the employee involvement variables. In a study by Burke (2000) on workaholism, job involvement did not correlate with measures of psychological distress/well-being. In relation to employee factors and the impact on psychological health, that of the three components of workaholism studied (job involvement, personal drive and lack of enjoyment), only the latter two variables correlated with poor health indices in MBA graduates as per Burkes study.
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The study carried out by Chiu et al. (2005) provided the results that global job satisfaction influences turnover intentions, and organizational commitment is more for internals than externals. The individuals who believe they are in control are called internals, and people who believe external forces (luck, fate or powerful others) are in control are called externals. Organizational commitment influences turnover intentions similarly for both internals and externals. Furthermore, the influence of perceived job stress on job satisfaction and organizational commitment was stronger for externals than internals. Finally, leadership support influences job satisfaction more for internals than externals. The purpose of a study by Burke et al. (2006) was to examine potential consequences of workaholism among 98 women business graduates in early careers. The findings indicated that workaholism components generally had significant relationships with the validating job behaviours, work outcomes and indicators of psychological well-being but not with extra work satisfactions. Another research by Abdel-Halim (2007) examined the moderating or buffering effects of two social support variables - support from the work group and from the supervisor - on the relationships of role conflict and ambiguity to intrinsic job satisfaction, job involvement and job anxiety. Data was collected from a sample of 89 middle-lower managerial personnel in a large, heavy equipment manufacturing firm in the
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Midwest. The moderated regression technique was used in data analysis. Significant interactions were obtained between the role variables and both social support variables. The results were in the predicted direction for positive work outcomes (i.e., job satisfaction and involvement) and contrary to prediction for negative work outcome (i.e., job anxiety). From the aforementioned review of literature, it is clear that many authors have undertaken the three variables, viz. job stress, employee morale and job involvement in their studies separately, while certain studies have been conducted taking two variables together, and still some of the researchers have even studied all the three variables collectively. However, it is also evident that the banking sector has not been explored fully in this regard. Hence, there exists enough scope for more research in the field.

NEED FOR THE STUDY In the light of dearth of empirical literature, the present research work gains greater importance to fill the gap in the study of the three variables, viz. job stress, employee morale and job involvement especially in the Indian banking sector. The studies already conducted in this field provide only a partial understanding of the subject. In a highstress, disempowering environment quality of human resource is bound to devalue. The downward spiral of high stress, weakened performance, and negative consequences creates more stress. Consequently, it results in a
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gradual erosion of an organization's intellectual assets especially human resource. Employees bear the brunt of job stress, paying with their physiological and psychological health. This is then most commonly exhibited by way of low employee morale and is most likely to have its effect on other personality and situation governed variables such as job involvement. Investing in conditions that are conducive to fostering appropriate levels of job stress among employees can be an effective strategy to improve employee morale and job involvement. Employees working under apt pressure, positive employee morale and considerable job involvement are a sure formula for extracting greater contribution from employees, enhanced organizational effectiveness and therefore, growth and profitability of the organization. Majority of the former studies discussed the casual cause and effect of the three variables chiefly focusing on health aspects, productivity, efficiency, absenteeism and turnover concerns evading the psychological facet of the same. Most of our knowledge about the psychological side of these variables especially in relation to each other is derived from our day-to-day experiences and hearsay rather than a comparative, systematic scientific analysis. This study, therefore, attempts an objective view of job stress, employee morale and job involvement, and a comprehensive study of their relationship especially in perspective of the Indian banking sector.

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Banking sector in India is one of the key constituents of service sector which thrives on serving the customers well. For beating competition banks require high morale bearing employees to deal with customers positively, amicably and effectively. Also, for banks efficiency, dedicated and job involved employees would prove to be an asset bearing in mind the present scenario of rising costs, falling budgets and employee shortages. However, over a period the sector has had to deal with immense stress in coming to terms with the whirlwind of change associated to policy amendments, globalization and liberalization, ingress of private and MNC competitors, rapid technological advances especially computerization, changed work patterns, downsizing, rigid target completion schedules, enormous work overload, heightened performance expectations, etc. The mayhem of increased stress has resulted in serious repercussions on the social, economical and psychological domains of the bank employees and their relations, most probable ones including employee morale and job involvement issues. Somehow, this sector has not been tapped much in terms of job stress, employee morale and job involvement studies despite it providing an enormous scope for an explicit analysis of the kind of impact job stress has on employee morale and job involvement. It also provides the divergence for study across three sectors of banks along with aiding in a gender based comparison of bank executives on the basis of selected variables.
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Today, women are scaling new heights in all spheres of life; personal and professional. Feathers of pleasing adjectives are endlessly being added to their caps; multi-tasking, role juggling, multi-managing to name a few. But along comes a corresponding package of associated job stress and other personality and situation related issues like employee morale and job involvement. However, literature review suggests that women studies on these variables have been rather few, if not totally absent. This study therefore, also attempts to draw a gender based comparison in the banking sector on the basis of job stress, employee morale and job involvement so as to have a better insight into the prevalent position. In sum, India being the second largest human resource bank in the world needs to manage and eradicate stress and related issues so as to save the worst nightmare that the future can become for all sectors including banks. This study, thus, is beneficial for human resource in general and the banking sector employees in particular as benefits could be reaped from the studys findings to eradicate detrimental human resource policies and to further incorporate policies leading to optimum level of job stress, higher level of employee morale and appropriate level of job involvement leading to more productive and efficient workforce. Findings from this study could also act as secondary data for further research.

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