CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION:

Stress has always been the Achilles heel when it comes to productivity. The organization suffers
not because of less economic incentives but because of meager opportunities of releasing stress.
As Ratan TATA has rightfully coated, no one can be happy on the day of his promotion if that
day he has broken up with his better half. Since the dawn of the scientific age modern ideology
has been at logger heads with slavery. However, modern jobs have been repeatedly termed as a
very covert way of keeping slaves as workers. Morehead and griffin defined stress as the in
ability to cope with the demands of a job. This creates physiological as well as psychological
fatigue. Todays projects are nothing less than demanding, they require the highest level of
performance from there participants. This level of performance cannot be provided until and
unless sacrifice of personal as well as families time is given. As the world is witnessing an
alarming growth in population as well as modernization, employees productivity has become the
pinnacle in the contemporary corporate world. Dean (2002) viewed the issue of stress related
problems as the sole cause of diminished productivity in an organization. The attributes of stress
related issues include, lack of training, mal functioning of machines, absence of benchmarks, ill
planning and lack of motivation. In Ghana a series of survey have indicated that more than 58%
of the labor is high level of stress. This indicates that not only in developed countries but also the
developing countries, have a very high number of stress related problems. This stress can be
attributed into a verity of factors which are mainly related to the work. However, the central
reason for stress related issues is lack of time management on the employers part. It is the
responsibility of the administrator or the employer to look after the workforce not only in terms
of working environment but also the social needs a person necessitates if these numbers are
compare to the contemporary situation in Pakistan, the difference will not be surprising. This is
due to the fact that the institutions responsible for insuring the rights of employees do not
actively pursue their objectives. In Pakistan it is quite saddening to know that the majority of
workforce is uneducated as well as working for modest remuneration. The biggest example of
lack of a proper and safe environment is the incident in Karachi in which more than 200 workers
were burnt alive. Currently Pakistan is going to build the biggest project in the history of this
nation. This project is the China-Pak economic corridor. People are already maneuvering their
businesses to benefit from this project. Despite the proportions of this project its success depends
on the wellbeing of its workers. No project can reach its intended destination until its workers are
at relief, psychologically. The negative effects of stress have eroded a sizable portion of
workforce in Pakistan. Workers are not trained; moreover they are require to meet an every
demanding deadline or target.

The argument of including stress into the psychological study came from the field of physics it
was brought by Hans Selye. This started in 1920z when Selye gave arguments on the effects of
stress on health. When this happened not all scholars agreed to the physiological effects of stress.
However, after much debate on subject matter this has been extensively researched upon today a
rough estimate states that an average worker loses about 16 hours per year to stress related issues
when such a diminish performance is primarily cause by stress, it creates such a stir in the mind,
questioning how stress affects the productivity of whole organization. History is witness to
multiple projects which were primarily caused by human error. These projects include some
renowned names such as NASAS orbiter mission failure, Hindenburg disaster and Taybridge
disaster. The Colombia spaceship disaster also resulted due to faulty design of the insulator
coating of the shuttle. This was also a result of stringent deadlines which had to be met in
launching the space craft on its given date. These disasters speak to the ill effect of the stress on
projects.

In todays modern an enlightened time, stress is increasingly shattering the piece of life. The only
victim of stress is family life which suffers the most due to excessive workloads, an worker is
burdened with. This suffering of family life results in the gradual accumulation of stress which
has caused severe ailments in the workers such as heart disease psychological disorders, nervous
breakdown and malfunctioning of the organs. When this accumulated stress results in a nervous
breakdown some people do unimaginable things such as genocide. Such is the example of Chris
Benoit who killed his family and himself due to stress. So it is vitally important that stress
management should be thoroughly studied to insure not only the success of the project but the
wellbeing of the human being. . This study dwells upon the purpose of finding the best approach
in dealing with stress to ensure the success of any project.
1.1 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The conflict between the families demand and workload are deteriorating the mental as
well as physical health of employees. This study intends to find the best way of managing the
stress caused by towering workload, to ensure the success of any project.

1.2 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

This study intends to find the way stress management moderates the conflict between
social needs and work needs. Moreover, this study will analyze what effects stress has on a
projects success.

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The objectives of this study will be as follows:

Analysis of the work-family conflict.

Finding the effects of work-family conflict on a project.
Moderation of the work-family conflict by stress management techniques and
approaches.
How stress is mediated by stress management training.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Following are the questions put forth in this study:

What effects do stress related issues have on the productivity of a worker, as the
productivity of the worker is vital for any projects success?
When stress is moderated with stress management techniques, how is stress affected by
these techniques?
How can the projects success be ensured by stress management?

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

 This research is important as its signifies,

To what extend are stress management procedures successful.

How does mitigation of stress relate to a projects success.

Which course of action can futures organization adopts to ensure there project success.

Ho can employers manage their workforce more efficiently.

1.6 DELIMITATIONS

Delimitations of our study are,

Deduction of accurate information from the conduction of survey, as people intend to

magnify there miseries.

The employers are reluctant to dole out their weaknesses as employers weakness is a
prime cause of stress creation in an organization.

The envelop of this research is confined within the geographical boundaries of Pakistan.

CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE Review
2.0.1: Introduction
This part of the study is intended to provide detailed and in depth insight into the subject matter
of stress and effects it has on the productivity of an organization. Various points of view exist on
the subject matter, given by different scholars, which will be utilizing here to draw a clear picture
of the understanding of the nature and implications of stress. Moreover, the roots, repercussions
and the pros and cons of managing stress will be discussed in detail.
2.1: Definition of stress and its origins
The origin of this term stress is not something new as it was first used in the context of biology
by Hans Selye who was an endocrinologist in 1930z. Later on the same person, Hans Selye
furthered the concept of stress as an in appropriate response to the stimulus of towering
physiological pressures. He implied this term as a relation to the condition which is caused by a
stimulus which resulted in stress of the nervous system. However, this concept was widened to
the extent that even a mild irritation came under its garb while also including the dysfunction of
any organ resulting in a health breakdown (Wikipedia). Later on robins (2004) propagated that
stress was caused in a dynamic condition where the individual existed, faced by any uncertain
opportunity or threat, resulting in the creation of the constrain which stood at loggerheads with
desire and outcome. This concept was inclusive of uncertainty and high significance to the
individual. The definition elaborated above presses on the fact that stress needs not to be only
bad, there is a bright possibility that it does carry a positive value if control and kept within
bearable limits.
Moorhead and Griffen (1998) also pondered upon stress and they termed this a persons response
to a stimulus intended to adapted to that stimulus while creating new physiological and
psychological need. Likewise, Sherman, Bahlander and Snell (1996) gave their understanding of
the term stress, and termed it as a flexible demand created in an individual by responding to a
stimulus, physically, emotionally and mentally. They said this kind of response required a
behavior which could cope with the demand. Later on, Taylor Shelley (1995) gave their
cognizance on the subject matter and they termed stress as a counterproductive emotional
experience which could be foreseen and predicted by observing the psychological, physiological,
biochemical as well as behavioral disposition a person took. This disposition was a response
which was taken towards any particular event intended to accommodate the given change.
Moreover, Bennett suggested in 1994 that stress was not confined to a few responses; it included
a wide array of physiological and psychological signs which symphonize the experience of
something unpleasant or difficult, resulting in attempt to adapt to the demand of the environment.
This implied that the existence of any demand which threatened to overdue the capacity and
capability of a person in any environmental situation, represented stress. After taking a glance at
the above concepts and descriptions of stress, it can be deduced that any demand which becomes
excessive then what a person can physically and psychological, causes stress. Therefore, the
mounting pressure and looming danger over a person was perceived by him as a threat which
resulted in the mental and physical response, thus creating stress.

2.2: Essence and attribute of stress

It is a common notion and a complex one, that stress being intangible cannot be fully treated.
However, Bhowing and Harvey (2001) argued otherwise. They said that a person physical and
mental condition is affected and stress is produced when a person interacts with his environment
and comes at a conflict with it. So the primary reason which causes stress is a particular stimulus
or stressor which generates disequilibrium between the environment and the individual causing
stress. The scholar who opined above implied that the cost paid by any individual while
experiencing stress is very high, be it in society or an organization. Stress is a very common
occurrence and causes anxiety disorders and various illnesses attributed to it. A survey indicates
that on the average an employee looses approximately 16 working days in a year just because of
anxiety caused by stress. Ritchie and Martin (1999) stated that despite the fact that stress was
previous lily described as response to the external stimulus, the portion of physical forces acting
upon individual contribute more to this situation. With the passage of time this concept morphed
into the perception of stress as a physical, emotional and mental response to a stimulus while
straining the organs. This stimulus was very important in the determination of the reaction an
individual gave to that stimulus, considered stressful.
This debate contended upon a consensus which implied that the internal as well as external
factors were equally responsible for creating stress. Scholars later on viewed stress as the bodys
reaction to an external stimulus which resulted in internal processes that strained the body
physically as well as psychological beyond the capacity held by the body. Blumenthal (2003)
gave the idea that since time unknown when cavemen and cavewomen existed the environment
was very harsh and a regulars effort needed to survive when a caveman face danger, the
adrenaline rush prepared him to either fight or take flight. When such a scenario arose where a
daunting adversity stood in front of a man, the body prepared its muscles and its nerves to
suddenly responded at a moment notice, resulting in accelerated heart rate, increased blood
pressure, quickening of sugar infusion in the blood and strain. This response was termed as fight
or flight and its primary result was the state of a prompt action which was caused by potent
hormones epinephrine which was released by the strained adrenal glands, empowering the
person with high level of alertness, accumulation of strength and vigor. For thousands of years,
man has existed in comparatively same state, same physical condition, same psychological
capacity and same living style. However, the external world has changed drastically with the
generation of new stressors. Despite the passage of thousands of year, todays man faces an
equally challenging environment where the dangers might have changed from wild animals or
fear of a fruitless hunt to failing in the accomplishment of in a sign task. The contemporary urban
society in which we live is riddled with an equal amount of stressors which now also include
pollution deafening noise and increased valance. These stressors further stimulate the modern
mans cognizant response to these stressors, generating a flight or a fight response but its a rarity
that such a robust and vigorous response is required.
Blumenthal (2003) brought a very wide array of stimulus together which generated stress. He
termed anything which upset a persons serenity and challenged his ability to maintain critical
variables within himself such as physiological and psychological and biological indicators. When
these variables were disturbed and transcended the acceptable limits, stress occurred. When a
person experienced stress the demand for resources provided by his body drastically increase and
created a subjective feeling when this demand was not adequately met, called distresses. It is not
necessarily that an experience is unpleasant itself, any experience which is perceived as a
stressor is taken as one. Therefore, the psychological and the psychosocial disposition of a man
determine whether an experience was stressful or not. This psychosocial orientation included
things like cultural values, customs, beliefs, history and spirituality. Whenever a situation is
overwhelming a persons capability and threatens that person, it creates dissatisfaction or a
conflict which is perceived as stressful. Blumenthal (2003) segregated the various effects of
stress as,

Subjective effects

The subjective effects of stress are taken as the existence of depression, low self esteem, anxiety
and frustration.

Behavioral effects
The behavioral effects of stress are including a higher tendency towards accidents, addiction to
drugs, a compromised speech, impairment of memory and forgetfulness.

Cognitive effects of stress

Fear, reluctance in making decision, a decelerated thought process, forgetfulness, expedited

sensitivity, blockage of mental perception and difficulty in focusing the concentration on one
thing comprised of the cognitive effects of stress. When this is accompanied by a substance
abuse the effects are intensify.

Physiological responses

These responses commence from the brain and then scatter across the body affecting organs
throughout it. For example, in a stressful situation the blood pressure in kidneys is raised by the
release of catecholamine released from the adrenaline medulla. Likewise, the liver releases
excessive sugar into the blood stream raising the blood pressure even further. The pituitary
glands release hormones named corticosteroids which are primarily intended to release a resist
stress but they take a prolonged time period while they also squelch the immune system of the
body. The flight or fight response is generated by the release of the above mention hormones.
However, there is a rear occurrence which releases these hormones, in the urban work
environment. So the gradual and steady accumulation of tension and stress in the body gradually
diminishes the ability of the immune system while suppressing the protection against disease and
trauma.
Effects of stress on health
A protected exposure to a stressor has very damaging and crippling effect on the health of a
person amongst the wide array of intricacies; stress expedites other ailments such as heart
disease, asthma, headache, ulcer and blood pressure. Today, when aids is sticking fear in people
it is imperative that people should be enlightened about the suppressive effects of stress on the
immune system of the body.
2.3 Causes of stress at work
Repetti (1990), Mc Gronogle and Kessler (1990), Pervin (1992), Arnold, Robertson and Cooper
(1993) were the first scholars who conducted research on the root causes of stress. Arnold,
Robertson and Cooper were able to find the five primary causes of work related stress.
Intrinsic factor of a job
Organizational role in causing stress
Peer pressure
Career development
Structure of the organization and the prevalent climate
Intrinsic factor of a job
The factors intrinsic to the task at hand include poor environment conditions which include the
surrounding, high level of noise, dim light, polluted air, lack of ventilation, smell and every
stimulus which disturbs the senses and causes disturbance in to mood as well as the mental state.
when a worker is subjected to such a stress the workers effency and ease of doing a job
decreases. If the architect of an office gives a poor design the personal that will be working there
will be the sufferers of the consequences. In an environment where frequent and timely contact is
needed, if such is not provided and the design network of communication hinders this process
this will always create hurdles in the effiency and performance of workers.
When workers have to perform their duties in shift, the shift work requires long and tiring duty
hours which effects a worker health, including the metabolism, sugar level of the blood, dibeties,
ulcers and blood pressure. Long hours bring unnecessary and tiring burden upon a worker.
Today many jobs require such a practice but this takes its toll on the health and wellbeing of the
workers. High rates of stress are subjected to these workers which implies that many workers
have to sleep for lessor number of hours. When such a practice is common, the effiency,
performance and the quality of work suffers.
Risk and danger which is inherent in a job puts the employees under acute burden. The
awareness of the fact that an employee is working under constant threat of a dangerous situation
puts the employee in a state of alertness which can generate a very quick reaction such as rush,
heavy breathing and tention in the nervous and muscles which threatened the health of the
worker on a long term. New technology is some thing which is ever evolving and it is something
the workers need to adopt continuely. New systems, new equipment and new standard operating
procedures are needed to be learnt continuously. This puts a great amount of pressure on the
worker who has to keep up his performance level and learn new things. In a worst scenario if a
boss who is a custom to new working methods is put on a group of employees trained in old
ways, this may create unnecessary tension.
Work under-load is something which degrades the abilities and capabilities of worker. When
routines are repetitive, boring and do not challenge a workers skill, it also causes a situation
where the mind of workers stops working. Workers who face such a situation suffer indirectly
and in case of an uncertainty which challenges the workers abilities, they are prone to perform
under expectation. This is also due to a high level of stress. Work overload is on the contrary,
complete opposite of under load and it is characterized by such a crippling load of work which
accompanied with deadlines can cause even nervous breakdown.
Role in the organization is something which if not clearly defined puts the worker in a state of
peril and creates conflict in the organization. When expectations associated with a worker are not
met, the worker suffers emotionally as well as in job. However, it is not necessary that the same
situation exists in most of the organizations.
Arnold Robertson and Cooper (1993) explained how an organizational role if not clearly defined
creates doubts.
Role Ambiguity/confusion
When the performance evaluation standards do not clearly defined what expectation the
organization has with its worker, role ambiguity exists. When the organization can not tell its
worker where they are needed, what they are suppose to do and what there hierarchy is the
worker does not foresee if any rewards will be given to him on good performance. Johns (1996)
was the first person to identify the fact that role ambiguity generates stress. If the movement of
the organization is not in the right direction it can also cause stress specially for people who have
low tendency to bear stress.
Role conflict
If the higher management is at higher logger heads with each other, contraducting demands are
put infront of workers which creats a conflict in there Psychology, who to follow. That creates a
fear of being punish and results in frustration. It literally the tears the workers into groups, one
group which demands a certain type of behavior while the other group which demands certain
functions. Luthans (2002), gave three types of roles which existed in conflict.
The first conflict arises when the role and the person are at contradiction. For example the
production manager as well as the head of a workers union, both are appointed to lead the
 team of workers. When the two heads keep a distance between themselves, a distance
between the workers also generates. It will cause personalities to side with either of the
two heads. One will expect rewards from one supervisor while the other will do the same
in the others case.
Contradictor expeditions
Luthans (2002), gave the opinion that though the organization choose the best person for any
task, there can be a conflict between what the organization expect from the worker on the job and
off the job. This happens when to different set of expeditions are put in front of a workers role as
a worker and as a human being, separately. The behavior is therefore termed as the most
important factor to be looked at when an organizational role is to be met. different roles starting
from the top position in the hierarchy often have conflicts within themselves and resultantly the
middle and lower management suffers. So, the author states that in such a case cultural
differences also arise in organizations.
Responsibility in an organization
Any organization has to basic parts which together make the organization itself. These are the
responsibility to handle the intangible assets of a company such as finances, goodwill and
equipment. While the other responsibility is to manage the people of the organization. This
kind of responsibility is the prime duty of frontline managers and mid-tier management.
Being the sole supervisors people the lower management which comprises of the frontline
manager need to spend more time with the workers, listen to there concerns and meet there
demands so that conflicts are avoided at any unpleasant situation takes place. The
responsibility for other part of the organization that is the taniable and intangible assets does
not require such a tension.
Relationship at work
How employees feel when they have to confront to their boss, their subordinates and their peers
also effects their mental state. it is why people who need constant attention are most comfortable
while working in teams. If such a person is placed in a solemn role it may be to much to ask from
him. On the contrary workers who are best suited to work alone are put between a large number
of peers, it causes a considerable decline in their performance. They might not work as
efficiently as they are expected. Moreover, when they hierarchical conflicts arise between the
management and the manage, it puts the lower tier under high levels of stress. It is not necessary
that only conflicts can exist between people if the envorinment is not suitable enough to work in,
the working suffers, and creates adversity. If such a situation arises that a worker feels he is being
imposed with work he is not contended with, the worker tries to minimize intraction with his
peers as much as he can. This behavior can be taken as evasion from work and create a bad name
for that particular worker. There exists a lot which consider a working alone to be better then to
be working in a team as they prefer piece rather than politics. Such people strickly adhere to
formal work related routines and even donot discuss their outside life.
Career development
With the modernization in the organization structures, organizations have become more
horizantaly integrated which means that hirerichal differences are minimize. As difersity
increases splization also dose, but it has its own strength and weaknesses. Due to the increasing
competition in acquiring jobs workers are fiercely competing with each other therefore career
development becomes tougher. People who are enthusiastic about rising in their organizations
find it increasingly difficult to reach upto their desirers due to the prevalent situation. Any person
who is determine to do the same has to exert more effort. This also causes the opportunities to
become scarce and skills to become more versatile. This kind of a race leaves those far behind
who are not willing enough to give what it takes. Therefore a person who is contended with his
job needs to constantly keep up the effort while facing fear of being redundant, becoming
obsolete and falicious performance appraisal. This also exists that once such a person who is
higly enthusiastic reaches the crest of his career. He also becomes frustrated as there is no further
progress.
Organizational structure and climate
When the organization failed to create a sense of belonging in its workers not only do the
opportunities decline but also the participation of workers suffers. Being unimportant is the
prevalent feeling which becomes the root cause of stress and strain. Betts (1994), gave the
openion that causes of stress vary. But this is also attributable to the different backgrounds
workers come from. A person who is contended with something may be discontended if he is not
given the same. So there as psychological demands which vary greatly in determining what is
desired. Bets further stated that there are physical causes which are prefer more than
psychological ones in determining the statisfaction level of the worker. Such an example is of
work overload, poor working envornment, humaditity, noise or work underload which can cause
discontent. On the contarary, the physiological root cause such as fear of being punished, peer
pressure and lack of belonging ness adds to the discontent.

Robins causes of stress

Economic uncertainty
When a shriniage in the size on an economy occurs, people are laid from their jobs. This
situation is a very tensed in which anxiousness and desperation of loosing job leads to high level
of stress this is the first cause of job stress according to Robins.
Technological uncertainty
As machine replaces man innovation continuously imporves the performance of machine while
employees can not pass a limit. This causes loss of the value of the experience possessed by an
employee. Therefore gadgets such as robots computers and other electronic devices have taken
the jobs of thousands of workers. This is itself a big threat to an employees job and it also causes
fear and anxiety.
Organizational leadership
The most important componenet of management is the style of its management. The senior
exective need to have a very versatile approach when managening the organization. There are
many management styles which incorporate a culture of fear and anxiety. Such culture do not
bring the best in their employees and their productivity suffers. Any unreleastic pressure put on
an employee makes his performance suffer while excessive controls creates a fear of losing job.
Management which routlinely dismisses its employees creates dismissals itself.

2.4 Effects and symptom of stress on productivity

Blackwell in 1998 stated that there is not a single way in which stress menefist itself. It is known
that medical symptom arise in that person which faces stressful situation regularly. However
there is a specific way to categorize these symptons which are as under.
Psychological symptom
Behavioral symptom
Physiological symptom
Psychological symptom
Psychological symptom are the first symptom observe in a person subjected to stress. The mental
consequences come before physiological and behavioral symptoms. High level of stress result in
poor mental health. However, unlike the other two category of stress related symptom this type
of implication of stress particularly effects the performance of employee. Abrupt anger,
depression, irritability, aggressiveness and boredom are very apparent in employees with low
performance. This happens as the self esteem of the employee declines while inviting the
displeasure of his supervisor. The resultant stress handicaps the ability to concentrate, make
decisions and have job satisfaction. If these symptom prolong a burnout occurs. Burnout is a
situation in which the employee tends to remain far from any work which can degrade his self
esteem. Therefore he avoids any work.

Behavioral symptoms
Behavioral symptoms of stress are inclusive of practices such as eating in haphazard manner,
excessive smoking, alcholosim and drug addiction, imparement of speech and nervous
beakdown. When these symptom are apparent in a worker he is a custom to absentism. This also
deteriorates the performance of a worker.

Physiological symptoms
The first thing to suffer in physiology of a person is stress due to a rate of metabolism. Others
symptoms to follow this are increase heart rate with high blood pressure and others. This kind of
exhibition of symptoms is a sign of a drastic wear and tear of the body as the symptoms prolong.
These are not only problematic but with the passage of time they aggravate. Back pains,
insomnia, migraines, heart diseases and even cancer are some of it outcomes.

2.5 Impact of stress on Projects Success

Beginning with the fear of being not up to the mark, being in experienced, being unable to
handle the workload creates a very awkward situation in which the employee fears the resultant
of his superiors. This causes a twofold impact on the organization. On the first hand the person
who starts working at an organization loses his confidence, competency, support of their office
peers and the will to excel. According to Luthans (2002), it is not necessorary that an
organization has extrinsic factors which effects the performance of its employees, intrinsic factor
are also as important. Though organization constitutes of individuals there are many macro
dimensions which every organization is subjected to, there are many stressors within those
dimensions. DCS Gaumail (2003), putforth the opinion that act an organizational level,
organizations outcome is determine by the work related stress existing in that organization. When
the dissatisfaction with a job, decrease in the perfroamce, mitigation of motivation and the
absence of commitment exist in an organization not only absenteeism increases but turnover also
does the same. Dessler (2000), try to categorize the sources of job stress into two main catogeries
which are,
Environmental stressors
Personal stressors
Environmental stressors
The author implied that a wide array of external factors which generate stress. Tight work
schedules, poor working conditions, absence of job security, lack of basic facilities and nature of
clients also creates stress. A person who has a low tendency to bear stress can be affected by high
levels of noise, gossips with peers and even the ringing of telephones. It was noted by the author
that the reaction given by the individuals were different even if they were doing the same job
because personal aptitude determins what stresses that person. Another fact drown out by the
author was that it is not necessarily that stress has damaging effects causing disfunctionality,
there are some people which are more productive when put under mile stress. Dessler (2000),
profess that organizations bear the conquenses of stress in the manner of losing the quantity of
production, the quality of the product, rise in absintism and turnover. In such a scenario
employees grievances also increase as well as their health care costs do. It was survey among
46,000 employees that even mile stress cause them to seek medical attention for minor
physiological and physical symptoms such as sleeplessness while paving the way for more health
problems.
The same survey recorded that 46% higher health cost were incurred in stress workers then less
stress once. Levin-Epstin (2002), in his research pointed out that not only the profit but the other
assets of the organization such as dedication, time for work, productivitiy, moral, turnover and
expenses related to the wellbeing of workers also increased due to stress. According two mainly
scholars Andreson and Kyprianou (1994), found that in United States, Britin and West in general
half of the incurred demise on yearly basis from both genders were because of heart diseases. So
one of the primary causes of heart disease in tandem with cigarette smoking, high blood pressure
and blood sugar level is stress. Though the scholars have argue in their studies that psyhlogical
symptoms come after social and physiological facts its is contradicted that the social and
physiological roots of stress generate more risk then psyhlogical reasons. It is why research has
been commenced in this particular area that what is the reason of being susceptible to heart
related issues. The primary stressors associated with heart diseases were discontentment with
work and stress borne due to occupational problems. Andreson and Kyprianu (1994), conducted
further research on the subject manner while coating Lazarus, stress refers to a wide array of
problems which differentiate in their nature from non stress related problems as the stress
generated issues are results of a demand which creates pyshological pressure, social pressure and
physical pressure. The response to each type of pressure is different which accumulated makes
stress. When a person responded to a type of stressor it was not necessorary how he reacted
apparently but it is the covert reaction of his body which should have been interpreted as either
harmful, threatening or even as challenging event. These scholars have come to conclude that
stress was the result of an impass between the envoirnemnt and the individual. So it was brought
in the context of envoirnmental relation with an individual where stress came.
The same scholar futher elobrated that mile level of stress is not abnormal as there can hardly be
a person free from stress. So it is rather common that normal people develop abnormalities of
either physical or psychological character even while working in the same environment and
doing the same work. However this stress may not cause a decline in the productivity of a worker
until the stress exceed a certain level. When the stress is overwhelming, unproductive and
continous it is the prime cause of the aggravated psychological and physical ailment. Favreau
was quoted by lein-epstin (2002), as the problems which are the fruits of stress can be catogerize
into three levels.
Project Related Organizational
Social
Individual

Project Related Organizational Stress

Carol and Walton (1997), gave the idea which acknowledge stress in light of the previous
researchers conducted by the theorist such as Maslash (1976), Cooper (1988), Coks (1991). Coks
research as quoted by Karol and Walton (1997), conceptualized the idea of work related stress as
a state which is relevant to the perceptual and cognitive processes in a person responsible for
taking a situation as stressful. When such a perception is taken by a person it diminishes the will
to interact with people as well as the outside work environment while mitigating the attempt to
keep this stress under bearable limits and adapt to the environment. These scholars further
notified that a person capability to deal with stress is depended on his perception of his own
abilities. Therefore setting limits to his stress bearing ability it is necessary for a person to know
his ability to cope with stress in different aspects of life. When changes occur in the external
environment and the structure in which the individual worked, stress takes birth. Actions such as
postings, achieving new goal posts and getting new set of responsibilities cause stress. However
in particular there is always a single aspect of work which is the cause of stress. Carol and
Walton (1997), furthered the relation of stress with work in the context of psychology. There idea
depicts and in equilibrium in persons own perception of the demands made to him. When a
person has fear of what is been demanded from him he doubt his ability to meet those demand.
Bowing and Harvey (2001), tried to summarize all the factors which leaded to stress at work
place. These are as follows,
Lack of control over the work environment
Absence of participation in a decision making process
Haphazard changes in policy
Abrupt restructuring while unexpected changes made in work schedules
Contravention of superiors
Little or no feedback
Inadequate time given for the task at hand
Confusion in the determination of the duties
DSC Gaumail (2003), put forth the notion that when political unrest started in South Africa
organizations were expose to a very demanding situation of either adapting to their environment
or suffering due to lack of adaption. In such a situation an environment demands quite a long
from the organization and changes have to make to maintain competitiveness and survive. In the
case of South Africa, the South African business environment demanded its organizations to
develop highest possible levels of integrated teams, which minimize any conflict while keeping
high standards of quality, upholding competition, being able to whether group pressure as well as
time pressure. The South African organizations have to do all this while maintain a study growth.

2.6 The impact of stress on the productivity

Stressors Affecting Personnel

It is an almost universally accepted reality that stress has negative effects on the productivity of
the organizations. This happens as a result of an impasse between the organization, its
environment and the individual working in it. When the internal factors are in conflict with the
external environment and the individuals adapted capacity is overwhelm, stress occurs. However,
this is also a universal reality that no two people react in the same way when even doing the
same job. This is because of the personal factor which are also a root cause of stress. For
example, from the different types of personalities that type A personality are people who are
custom to work for long hours and have an urge to bear greater amount of stress in meeting
deadlines, being on time and keeping themselves upto the mark (Dessler, 2000). Later Bowin and
Harvey (2001), also found a similar eventuality and reiterated that people dispite being
associated with long intervals of work cannot keep their personal life and work separate. So,
different reactions come from people in managining the stress they have at work while making
this a complex issue. According to Blumenthal (2003), a U-shaped curve can very accurately
show the implications of stress on the performance of an employee. By this curve it can be
shown that as the stress increases on any access of the graph the performance increases only upto
limit and then if the stress continuous to increase a point is reached where the optimal production
of an employee breaks into a steep decline. So, mild levels of stress do turn out to be beneficial
but if those level of stress are not kept within acceptable limits acute discomfort takes place
which is not only harmful and counterproductive for the organization but also for the individual.
Blumenthal (2003), further gave the arguments that once the organizational productivity suffers
not only does the individual suffer exclusively but the whole group of organizational employees
suffer. Such a personal stress impacts the individuals capacity, capability and causes disfunction
along with disrubtion in his family life too. Decreased productivity is a fruit of disfunction.
Garrison and Bly (1997), opined that todays organization are clearly aware of the illefferts of the
stress has on the productivity. Not only does the organization suffer interms of cost and loss of
profit but they also lose the most vital asset of an organization which is the worker. When this
happens other workers capabilities also debilitate. Resulting in absenteeism, medical
compensation claims acute turnover and drastically diminishing productivity. Garrison and Bly
(1997), that workplace is valued by a person until that place is conducive for the person ownself.
To make an environment conducive for a person and achieve a peak of performance. It is vitally
important that stress should be effectively manage and its negative effects should be minimize.
The most prominent categories where stress at the workplace had long lasting and damaging
effects as identified by Garrison and Bly (1997), are as follows,

Overload
Overload has to states, one emphasizes the excessive amount of work put on an individual and
the second in which work put on an individual for which the person is not adequately prepared.
So, it can be interpreted in one way that in order to increase the productivity in an organization it
is important to understand the individual needs of that organization and the capability of the
organization to accomplish a task. For example when workers working on assembly line has a
single goal of incrising productivity, it usually means that their intend is to reduce the completion
time of that product. When this happens the speed of the production needs to be increase and the
personal attention been given to one product decreases. French, Caplan, Anderson and
Kypeianou (1994), categorize and differentiated the qulatitative and the quantitative work
overloads. In their suggestion, both the forms of workload overwhelm a production line and the
resultant symptom apparent in the workers of that production line, including the psychological as
well as physiological strains are as under.

Job dissatisfaction
Tension during job
Diminishing self esteem
Fear of being under stress
Humility and embarrassment
High level of cholesterol
Accelerated rate of heart beat
Skin conditions
More smoking
Garrison and Bly (1997) suggested that when an organization tends to increase the productivity
the time pressure on its employees for competing the product also increases. If in the case of
service industry the service delivery time is reduced. These scholars untidily state that customers
appreciate a speedy production and also demand it while keeping quality at its highest level. So,
the competitive organizations always try to deliver both. As the involvement of the employees
increases in such an endeavor, they prioritized their task and allocate time to it accordingly.

2.7 Approaches to managing stress

Personnel Centric Approach

Robins (2004), gave forth two approaches of stress management which were the individual and
the organizational approach. According to Robins the best approach to deal with stress is
exercise. Exercises like riding bicycle, swimming, walking and aerobics, jogging, practicing
yoga and playing squash balls effectively reduces body and mind stress psychological and
physiological stress. Once a person adapts a routine of exercising it becomes an addiction. It is
because of the fact that when a person is working out vigorously it is very hard for that person to
concentrate on the factors causing stress. The primary goal is to achieve relaxation and it is done
when the employees relaxes his response to any stressful stimulus. This response is store in the
memory of that person and when a stressful situation appears the same procedure can be adapted
again. Relaxation techniques such as hypnosis, mediation and biofeedback also help in this
regard. All of these approach of the same goal which is to deeply relax to the person physical
body and detach his mind from the immediate environment and physical sensations. When a
person heart rate decreases, So does his blood pressure and all the indicators of stress.
Another approach to reducing stress is by discussing the issue with someone and receiving a
healthy response. By continuously speaking about personal crises it is similar to transferring your
mental stress to others. Employees working in different organization may not find it easy to open
up and talk about their personal trauma with others, so in this case if an employee discloses his
pain to himself it can also gave a positive outlook of life. Moreover, if a person feels difficulty in
talking about his problems, writing down in a dairy may helps as much.
Project Centric Approach
Robins also explained an organizational approach in stress management which comprised of
training employees in this regard, insuring open communication in the organization, formulating
such policies, designing most appropriate jobs, improving the environmental conditions and
providing technical support to the employees. In a similar view Lucey (1994) also gave her
solution to the problem of managing stress in an organization. She stated that stress in
organization can be minimize by giving atonmy to employees, putting responsibility on their
shoulders, providing flexible work time, rotation of jobs and in conclusion providing better
working conditions. Claude and Cole (1992) gave their approach to management of stress in an
organization which is as follows,
Design work task which allow an employee to manage time for the same, according to his
will
Encourage and make obligatory participation in decision making
Set clear goals
Induce new blood through recruitments.
Provide training as needs as well as on continuous basis.
Give rewards on good performance.
Perform appraisals when gaps occur.
Encourage creativity
Design jobs in ways which reduce work pressures.
Promote team work and friendly environment
Promote fairness and secure personnel practices.
Make the work environment hazard free.
If the above approaches are employed as they are stated even high level of stress can be
moderated given the management approach extend over a long period of time.

Supporting Theories:
Spillover Between Work and Family

Research in Work and Family Interface Many researchers have attempted to study the
relationship or inter-linkages between the work and non-work domain. However, since the non-
work domain is very broad and its boundaries contested (Geurts & Demerouti, 2003), I have
limited my focus to family responsibilities and my dissertation project investigates the
connection between work and family domains. This chapter first presents the theoretical
foundations of this study and then reviews relevant literature addressing the variables
investigated in this study: work-family conflict (WFC) construct, stressors (general and
profession specific) that can cause work family, various sources of social support that reduce
work-family conflict, and the relationship between WFC and burnout. Research questions and
hypotheses of the study are also presented.

Theoretical Foundation of Spill Over Theory:

The connection between the work and family domains has been investigated using a variety of
types of theories including affective theories and boundary theories, discussed below. However,
in my research, I will focus mainly on role theory and conservation of resources theory (COR)
and how they fit into the work-family conflict model.

Affective theories

Affective theories address the affective, or feeling aspects of work life domains and include
spillover theory, segmentation theory, and compensation theory. First, spillover theory (Staines,
1980) assumes that there are both negative and positive effects of work and family linkages. For
example, too much involvement at work may affect the family; on the other hand, the skills,
experiences gained from one domain, e.g. family domain, may be instrumental at work. This is a
positive spillover. The spillover model has been used to study relationships between work and
job and life satisfaction. It assumes that there is a hierarchy in life domains. Life domains are job,
family, leisure, and community, which are organized in a hierarchical manner in peoples minds.
At the top of this hierarchy is the superordinate domain of overall life. The feelings of this
superordinate domain affect the quality of someones life and personal happiness (life
satisfaction).

This theory assumes vertical and horizontal spillover.

Horizontal spillover occurs if feelings of satisfaction or dissatisfaction in a horizontal domain

affect another horizontal domain. For instance, work dissatisfaction affects family satisfaction.
 A vertical spillover occurs when satisfaction in a lower domain affects a higher domain of
overall life satisfaction and vice versa. For example, an employees dissatisfaction at work may
spill over to the life domain, leading to life dissatisfaction (Sirgy et al., 2001; Staines, 1980).
More recently the focus has been on positive spillover.

Some scholars refer to it as positive family spillover (Almeida, McDonald & Grzywacz, 2002)
and others as workfamily enhancement (Voydanoff, 2002) or work-family facilitation (Hill
2005). Frone (2003) conceptualizes it as the extent to which participation at work or home is
made easier by virtue of the experiences, skills, and opportunities gained or developed at home
(or work) (p. 145). Hill (2005) used work-family facilitation and conflict to study the 23
interrelationships between working mothers and fathers, work-family stressors, and support. Hill
found that work-family facilitation was positively related to job satisfaction and life satisfaction,
but negatively related to stress. Second, and related to spillover theory, is segmentation theory
(Xu, 2009). It assumes an individual can segment the feelings from one domain not to affect
other domains. An individual unhappy and dissatisfied with his or her work may segment those
feelings so as not to affect his or her family life. Third, compensation theory (Zedeck, 1992) is
the opposite of segmentation theory. When an individual is dissatisfied with one domain, rather
than segmenting that domain, he/she may compensate in another domain. For instance, if
someone is dissatisfied with his/her marriage, he/she may compensate by spending many hours
in the work domain where there is more satisfaction (Sirgy, Efraty, Siegel & Lee, 2001; Staines,
1980). While Rhode (2004) has noted that spillover theory has more theoretical support than
compensation and segmentation theory, all these models have been criticized for ignoring the
effects of the macro environment and meso-environment in which the individual works or lives
(Golden, Kirby & Jorgen 2006; Xu, 2009). That is, scholars have pointed out that both work and
family environments are influenced by the culture of the larger society.

Boundary theories of Spill Over Theory:

Fourth, unlike spillover, segmentation, and compensation theories, which assume that the spheres
of family and work are independent or interdependent, the boundary theories attempt to integrate
the work and family domain. According to Clark (2000), spillover and segmentation can occur
simultaneously. The 24 work domain and family domain are not totally separate spheres, but
there is interaction between work and family domains. These interactions are human. Clark
developed family border theory as an attempt to understand how individuals create meaning of
these interactions within the complexity of work and family situations. Clark (2000) posits that
there are boundaries between work and family, and each sphere has different behavior and
expectations. These boundaries are in form of time, space, or psychological. Every day people
are border crossers in the domains of work and family, and they try to ensure that their goals and
interpersonal style enable them meet the demand of each sphere. Individuals attempt to shape the
nature of work and demands in both spheres to meet a desired balance. In this context, balance is
satisfaction and good functioning at work and at home, with minimum role conflict (p.751).
However, Clark also asserts that the boundaries are permeable and flexible and can be blended.
Blending occurs when there is an overlap between work and family, such as receiving telephone
calls at home while minding the baby or giving instructions to your childs day care supervisor
while at work. Permeability implies the boundaries can be altered, and flexibility indicates work
can take place at any location or the number of hours worked can be altered to suit the demands
of each sphere. However, individuals can identify themselves more with the values of one
domain than the other and seek to manage the borders of that domain. As a result, when these
individuals attempt to fill more than one role, they will face conflict. 25 A number of scholars
have used this theory. For example, Kossek, Lautsch and Eaton (2006) sought to find how
workers conceptualized psychological job control and the type of border management strategies
they employ in telecommuting. They found that if workers perceived greater psychological job
control, they were less likely to consider leaving the job (lower turnover intentions). In the same
vein, Cowan and Hoffman (2007) used family border theory to understand how workers
conceptualize flexibility and permeability. They found that workers sought four types of
flexibility: time, space, evaluation, and compensation. They found that flexibility was more of a
trend, indicating that the notions of work in contemporary society are changing. They proposed
the use of the theory to discover worker communicative strategies in negotiating the work-family
border.

However, it should be noted that this theory is criticized for being too general and its concepts
too difficult to operationalize. For example, the theory postulates that the researcher should
determine the degree of overlap of valued ends and means of attaining goals in each domain.
These two words are vague. In addition, the theory does not show how overload is incorporated
in the theory. For these reasons, the theory has generated few empirical studies (Geurts &
Demerouti, 2003).

In border theory, the creation of domains and border is done intersubjectively by border
crossers (employees), other domain members, and gatekeepers. Spouses and supervisors are
regarded as gatekeepers who can influence the boundaries. Work-family conflict occurs when
there is a disagreement on the boundaries, i.e. what the border is and how flexible it should be
(Clark 2000). 26 Role theory.

Role theory, unlike boundary theories, spillover, and compensation theory, assumes the spheres
of work and family are separate and mutually exclusive (Xu, 2009). Role theory assumes a
theatrical metaphor where the script determines which part an actor should perform. Just as in a
performance each actor is differentiated by the part of the script he/she assumes, in the social
world, each social actor knows his/her role, what they are expected to do in various societal
contexts (Xu, 2009). Thus, social actors get their identities from the behaviors of the role they are
expected to play (Biddle, 1986). Role theory has been applied in many contexts, and one of its
main concepts is role conflict, the concurrent appearance of two or more incompatible
expectations for the behavior of the person (Biddle, 1986, p. 82). After the industrial revolution,
there came the separation of the home and the work sphere (Williams, 1999) and roles for each
sphere were clearly delineated. The work sphere was for the breadwinners and the home sphere
for the caregiver (Xu (2009). Since it is often difficult to simultaneously meet the expectation of
different roles (breadwinner, housewife, etc.), this incompatibility often leads to role conflict
(Kahn, Wolfe, Quinn, Snoek & Rosenthal, 1964). Role theory has further been applied within
organizational contexts, especially with the work of Kahn and colleagues (1964).

Within an organization, individuals are influenced by the demands of the organization and the
expectations of the informal groups. Due to many sources for norms that govern the behavior of
people in an organization, workers will experience role conflict if they do not conform to the
expected 27 behaviors, causing strain. This strain has to be resolved if the individual is to be
happy within the organization (Biddle 1986; Khan et al 1964). Work-family conflict. The work-
family conflict construct was developed by Greenhaus and Beutell (1985) and assumes an
interrole conflict between family and work roles. This construct is rooted in role theory and
especially the work of Khan, Wolfe, Quinn, Snoek and Rosenthal (1964). Khan and colleagues
defined interrole conflict as a simultaneous occurrence of two or more sets of pressures such
that compliance with one would make it difficult to comply with the other (p .19). Work-family
conflict is also informed by scarcity hypothesis, which assumes individuals have finite resources
of time and energy; therefore, extra responsibilities only creates tension, a sense of overload, and
interrole conflict. Role overload occurs when an employee feels he/she has too much to do
within the available time and other resources available (Bolino & Turnley, 2005) and interrole
conflict occurs when there is incompatibility among the roles expected of an individual (Rizzo,
House & Lirtzman, 1970).

These stressors are based on role theory. In the same vein, the theoretical framework and most
of the work-family conflict literature are informed by role theory (Michel et al., 2009). A stressor
or stress is environmental, social, or internal demands that require an individual to readjust his or
her usual behavior patterns (Holmes & Rahe 1967). The study of work and non-work conflict
came as a result of more women working outside the home in 1960s and 1970s in the U. S. and
in other western contexts (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985). They experienced role conflict, as the
workplace norms 28 were often masculine-oriented and specifically tailored to the male worker;
organizational norms did not cater to the life and work concerns of the female worker. On the
other hand, at home, the women expected men to participate in housework--what Hochschild and
Machung (1989) calls the second shift-- but traditional norms had not prepared men for doing
house chores.

Over time, men who take more time from work to attend to family face a role conflict with
societal expectations. Similarly, today more Kenyan women are taking jobs in the formal sector
away from home. Work-family conflict has been associated with many negative psychological
consequences such as increased stress, abuse of alcohol and other substances, tendencies of
employees to report decreased work and life satisfaction (Eby, et al., 2005), and marital strife
(Hoschild & Machung, 1989). On the other hand, reduced work-family conflict has been
associated with high self-esteem (Marks & Dermid, 1996) increased marital satisfaction, reduced
absenteeism, less turnover, and healthy employees (Ezra & Deckman, 1996; Poelemans, Kalliath
& Brough, 2008).
Work-family conflict consists of two constructs: work-to-family conflict (WFC) and family-to-
work conflict (FWC). That is, work-family conflict can occur in two directions --work interfering
with family (WFC), and family interfering with work (FWC) (Frone, Yardley & Markel, 1997).
Research shows that work-to-family conflict is more prevalent than family-to-work conflict
(Gutek et al., 1991). In the same vein, the boundary between work and family is conceptualized
as permeable, and the relationship between these two spheres is portrayed as asymmetrical, with
work interfering with family more than vice versa (Pleck, 1997). 29 Similarly, many studies have
attempted to study the effects of these two workfamily conflict components. For instance, work-
family conflict has been associated with increased turnover. In their longitudinal study, Nohe and
Sonntag (2014) found that increase in WFC predicted increases in intentions to quit work, while
FWC did not. They also found reciprocal results where intentions to quit predicted an increase in
both WFC and FWC. Role theory is hailed for its simplicity, as it is easily understood and seems
heuristically sound (Biddle, 1986), and the concept of role conflict has been operationalized and
used to study work-family conflict. Since WFC is based on role theory, both have been criticized
for perpetuating the bifurcation between home and work spheres in the study of work life
conflict, which assume work and home are separate spheres. For example, Golden, Kirby and
Jorgen (2006) argue that the doctrine of separate spheres associates workplace with masculinity
and home with feminine tasks, and thus it fails to reflect the actual experiences of men and
women. Besides, masculinity disadvantages women at workplaces and fails to humanize the
workplace. In addition, there is a tendency to ignore the instrumentality that can take place at
home, so we should not privilege home based emotion and undermine home based
instrumentality (Golden Kirby & Jorgen, 2006). Xu (2009) also echoes the concerns of Golden,
Kirby & Jorgen and notes that role conflict theory fails to connect the work and home spheres.
Furthermore, Grandey and Cropanzano (1999) argue that role theory, when applied to work-
family studies, pays little attention to family roles, which are necessary to understand work-
family outcomes and instead proposes the use of 30 conservation of resources theory (COR) as
more appropriate for study of work-family conflict. Therefore, I will combine both these
theories.
COR theory rejects the bifurcation of work life experiences and allows us to
measure/understand the spillover effects of work roles on the family, as well as spillover effects
of the family roles on work. On the other hand, role theory has been used to derive the work-
family conflict construct and the conceptualization and measurement of stressors. Conservation
of resources was formulated by Hobfoll (1989) who combined several stress theories and posits
that in many contexts individuals are motivated to acquire and maintain resources. Hobfoll
defines stress as a reaction to the environment when there is a threat of loss of a resource, the
net loss of resource or a lack of resources gain following the investment of resources (p. 516).
Resources are objects, personal characteristics, conditions, and energies an individual uses to
acquire the other resources. Examples of resources are self-esteem, socioeconomic status, and
employment. Objects, such as a home, are valued because of their physical nature; conditions
include marriage, tenure, and seniority. Energies include time, money and knowledge. Similarly,
social relations are a resource as they help in preservation of valued resources, and social support
is handy in time of need. Grandey and Cropanzano (1999) propose the use of COR in the study
of work-family conflict because interrole conflict can lead to stress as individuals resources are
lost when workers juggle between work and family roles leading to anxiety, job dissatisfaction,
depression, or physical tension. The worker also has to come up with ways to replenish the lost
resources, such as leaving the work role; if this measure is not taken, he/she may experience
burnout. Applying COR to the Kenyan teachers situation, they would have to look for resources
such as extended family or house helps to help in house chores and childcare to conserve their
energy for other family commitments and work. In the same vein, Okonkwo (2014) proposes the
use of COR in exploring work-family conflict. COR assumes if an individual has enough
resources, he/she will not experience stress even if he/she is involved in multiple roles. From
this, it is apparent that the individual will experience less WFC if he/she has enough resources. In
a study of Nigerian women living in urban areas, Okonkwo found that despite having a large
number of children, the number of children was not a significant stressor due to use of house
helps and extended family. Another example of resource is personal characteristics. Based on
their traits and skills, individuals react differently to stressors. Hobfoll (1989) posits that
transitions can be stressful, and to minimize the effect of stress, individuals use resources.
However, employing resources to cope can be stressful as more resources are used up. If you use
more resources than you gain, it leads to a negative outcome. The COR model can be readily
used in studying work life conflict as it can be empirically tested. That means that quantitative
measures can be easily derived. According to COR, if a person juggles many roles, it does not
necessarily follow that there will be a direct relationship between the many roles and level of
stress (Geurts & 32 Demerouti, 2003) and, unlike role theory, it does not posit that the roles are
mutually exclusive or incompatible. Work-family conflict may arise when the individual has
used up more resources than he/she gets. This implies if a worker has enough resources, he/she
will not experience the negative consequences that come with stressors. However, if individuals
get support both in the family and at work, this can minimize these negative effects because there
are additional resources. So I will use COR to explain the role of both work and family support
that the teacher may use. Several scholars have attempted to link work-family conflict and
burnout. For instance, Noor and Zainuddin (2011) used COR to study emotional labor, burnout,
and work-family conflict among female teachers in Malaysia (Noor & Zainuddin, 2011). Noor
and Zainuddin found that work-family conflict mediated the relationship between emotional
labor and burnout. In addition, Cinamon, Rich and Westman (2007) assessed the relationship
between work-family conflict, burnout, and vigor. They found out that work-to-family conflict
and family-to-work conflict predicted burnout, but only familyto-work conflict predicted vigor.
Furthermore, many studies in Kenya attribute a causal relationship between burnout and working
conditions such as high workloads, student misbehavior, and job insecurity, among others. This
could imply that work-family conflict and burnout may share common stressors, such as work
overload. However, the Kenyan studies have not attempted to see if there is a relationship
between work-family conflict and burnout (Mugambi 2012; Mwenje, Kiarie & Sierra, 2012;
Nganga, 2012; Sagara, 2013; 33 Nyamwange, Nyaka & Ondima 2012; Sichambo, Maragia &
Simiyu, 2012). The COR theory will enable me to see, for example, what happens when a
teacher has no resources to reduce work-family conflict, such as spousal support, supervisor
support, and other forms of support.

Working conditions in projects: perceptions of stress and motivation among project team
members and project managers

Working Conditions in projects: Perceptions of Stress and Motivation among Project Team
Members and Project Managers
General findings on motivation and stress over project lifecycles perceive both motivation and
stress throughout the duration of the projects as relevant and significant for to the success of a
project. In accordance with the context, the level of motivation and stress varies over a projects
lifecycle. It has been found that at the start-up the project is usually comprised of really
enthusiastic and motivated participants. This is a challenge which is perceived really motivating
as the commencement of a project is accompanied by relevant resources. People really wanted to
join in which is another fact.

Experiment Conducted on a Projects Team and its Findings:

If the project has strategic value and is given priority on beforehand, the project mission is
perceived even more motivating and challenging. The project can bring about prestige.
According to one of the interviewed project managers: ... Some projects are morebeneficial
to have taken part in... But on the other hand, if the project is shut down halfway or after
closure evaluated as less successful or as a true failure, issues that were initially motivating,
challenging, and full of prestige become idle, pointless or even a burden. Although, changes
sometimes are brief and at other times rather extensive, situations as well as conditions and the
perception about them tend to change over the project lifecycle. Other organizational aspects that
the respondents commonly argue as endorsing feelings of motivation and stress are: The number
of projects simultaneously assigned to, the size of the projects, the possibilities to influence work
role and tasks and relate them to the project outcome, as well as the presence or absence of
managerial feedback.

Focusing on the connection between goals and perceptions of motivation and stress Focusing on
goals additionally brings forth motivation. This study indicates that individuals inspiration and
motivation increase when goals are clear and made explicit. Nevertheless, incidents that might
change set goals occur continuously within the project and its environment. In order to reach
formulated goals, the project is dependent on the participants commitment to work towards
these goals. However, this study suggests, when incidents induce changes to what one is
committed to and imply that individuals have to adjust, maybe rearrange order of priorities or
totally shift focus towards new goals, the situation seems to be quite stressful. So, even if the
focus on goals brings about motivation, changes on the descriptions of aims seem to provoke
stress.

Type of Incidents

The different types of incidents referred to vary in their relative scope of impact when including
both goals and perceptions of motivation and stress.

It is common that (1) valuable resources vanish, and the project does not get compensation; (2)
other organizational duties take more time or energy than expected. These could be for example
organizational projects, quality and union work, administrative issues and so on;(3) the project or
oneself is betrayed, e.g. when promised resources are not assigned;(4) design-loops go in circles,
meaning that people have to re-define tasks or goals, repeatedly;(5) project-owner changes
preferences;(6) others depend on ones help, if one possesses special knowledge on specific
issues;(7) other projects are prioritized, due to new strategies, policy etc.;(8) project is closed
down prematurely;(9) individuals become sick or have to take time off. Such incidents evidently
have impact on the individuals perceived stress. However, perceptions differ between the project
managers and team members. To demonstrate this, let us look at the incident of a valuable
project resource vanishing. When asking what an individual reaction such an incident would
cause, project managers referred to feelings of frustration and intense pressure, as they mean they
have to ensure the project outcome anyway. Project managers usually try to handle these feelings
by arguing for compensation for the impairment of the performance outcome. Team members
describe these situations feeling overloaded with somebody elses work tasks, as these have to be
performed somehow. Often, team members also blame project managers for not securing the
resources accounted for.
Coping with Incidents and Stress

Project managers often seem to have reasonable explanations and coping strategies of both, their
own and members reactions to incidents and situations. They also seem to be eager to share their
explanations with subordinates, and a couple of the project managers discuss experiences of
stress and frustration with peers regularly. At times they express their concern about team
members being unduly pressured to the steering committees. Occasionally, project managers
have requested steering committees to make necessary prioritizations, so they themselves could
reduce their own uncertainty and better guide the team members work. Two project managers
reported that they had neither shared issues of stress with peers nor involved superiors for help,
but, of course, had experiences of coping with stress. Their solution to the problem was to rely
on their own solid experience and prior outcomes.

The team members rely greatly on a project managers ability to analyze risks affecting the
project and its goals. One general assumption among the respondents was that incidents happen
all the time. Similarly, people said that much effort is put on cutting tops of work tasks necessary
to complete immediately. The term firefighting is used frequently, when the team members
talk about how they handle work tasks. The team members were keen on referring to experiences
of coworkers coping with stress, for which they had many examples. Several argue that they
cope rather well with the demands and uncertainties they face. The team members coping
strategies are multifaceted. Some examples are: pushing project manager to make prioritizations
or define goals, devote extra time to figure out possible solutions to suggest to the project
manager, ignorance of risks, comfort from colleagues or family, use time frame as solution,
imaging suggestive scenarios like new projects, or resources falling from the sky etc.

Research Gap:
The review of the above literature has focused upon the effective management of stress on
personal and organizational level while the lackluster of effectiveness of stress management
training has not been questioned. This has lead to the creation of a space where the current needs
of managing stress to ensure the success of a project are absent. Though much work has been
done in the context and paradigm of diminishing the negative effects of stress and mitigating it,
the core need to manage stress by the management of a project has not been scrutinized to date.
This has created an opportunity for a research to be conducted in this paradigm. The point of
convergence in the above research gap is the entirety of focus on the management of stress at a
personal level and then the control of that personal stress to increase the productivity of the
worker. However, in projects where the stress created by overwhelming demands and lack of
effectiveness on the managements part have not been tested as much. Resultantly the projects
success has been put upon the success of accomplishment of goals and objective which do not
take into consideration, the level of stress the projects team has borne. So, this research gap is
the most befitting and suitable area to venture into for the sake of finding answers to how does
work and family conflict create stress which affects the projects success and how it can be
mitigated to keep the success of the project ensured.

The research gap can be culminated into the following key points,

Lack of coherence on the subject matter of determination of the best technique to cope
with high stress
Inadequate work done on the determination of stress management training as a moderator
in stress-projects success
The intermediate role played by stress in the conflict between work and family, and the
success of a project is not analyzed in depth
The effectiveness of stress management techniques in mitigating stress levels is not
satisfactorily explained
Conflicts exist in the determination of the most suitable method of stress reduction
Absence of research in project related stress

The above mentioned reasons are the basis of the conduction of this research as it tends to find
the answers which have not been comprehensively addressed. So, this research gap will be the
primary focus of this study which will explain the effect of work-family conflict on the projects
success and stress acting as a mediator while stress management techniques acting as moderator.

Questionnaire

Work Family Conflict (Section 1):

The following statement about Work Family Conflict. For each item of the statements below,
please indicate the extent of your agreement & number.1= Strongly Disagree 2= Disagree 3=
Neither Agree/Nor Disagree 4= Agree 5= Strongly Agree

My work prevents me from spending sufficient quality 1 2 3 4 5

time with my family

2 There is no time left at the end of the day to do the things 1 2 3 4 5

I like to at home

3 I am often distracted by thoughts about work while 1 2 3 4 5

spending time with my family

4 I often complete work tasks outside of work hours 1 2 3 4 5

5 My family misses out because of my work commitments 1 2 3 4 5

6 My work performance suffer because of my personal 1 2 3 4 5

commitments

7 When work and family commitments clash I usually 1 2 3 4 5

fulfill work commitments first

8 At the end of the day I am too tired to enjoy spending 1 2 3 4 5

time with my family

9 If I didnt work I would be a better parent or a partner 1 2 3 4 5

10 Working often makes me irritable or short tempered 1 2 3 4 5

Stress (Section 2):

The following statement about stress. For each item of the statements below, please indicate the
extent of your agreement & number.1= strongly Disagree 2= Disagree 3= Neither Agree/Nor
Disagree 4= Agree 5= Strongly Agree
 I find everything getting on top of me 1 2 3 4 5

2 U feel nervous and stung up all the time 1 2 3 4 5

3 It has been taking longer over the things I do 1 2 3 4 5

4 I have been satisfied with the way I carry out my task 1 2 3 4 5

5 I feel capable of making good decisions about thing 1 2 3 4 5

6 I am able to enjoy my everyday activities 1 2 3 4 5

7 I feel life is entirely hopeless 1 2 3 4 5

8 I get a feeling of tidiness or pressure in my head 1 2 3 4 5

9 I feel constantly under strain 1 2 3 4 5

10 I get edgy and bad tempered 1 2 3 4 5

Stress Management Techniques (Section 3):

The following statement about stress management training (Viramax rotated factor matrix). For
each item of the statements below, please indicate the extent of your agreement & number.1=
Strongly Disagree 2= Disagree 3= Neither Agree/Nor Disagree 4= Agree 5= Strongly Agree

I take aspirin regularly 1 2 3 4 5

2 I drink coffee, coke and eat 1 2 3 4 5

3 I exercise to realize stress 1 2 3 4 5

4 I talk to someone I know 1 2 3 4 5

5 I leave my work area 1 2 3 4 5

6 I smoke 1 2 3 4 5
 7 I need to drink to relax 1 2 3 4 5

Project success Section 4:

The following statement about project success. For each item of the statements below, please
indicate the extent of your agreement & number.1= Strongly Disagree 2= Disagree 3= Neither
Agree/Nor Disagree 4= Agree 5= Strongly Agree

1 The project was completed on time. 1 2 3 4 5

2 The project was completed according to the budget 1 2 3 4 5

allocated

3 The outcomes of the project are used by its intended end 1 2 3 4 5

users

4 The outcomes of the project are likely to be sustained 1 2 3 4 5

5 The outcomes of the project have directly benefited the 1 2 3 4 5

intended end users ,either through increasing efficiency or
effectiveness.

6 Given the problem for which it was developed, the 1 2 3 4 5

project seems to do the best job of solving that problem

7 I was satisfied with the process by which the process was 1 2 3 4 5

implemented

8 Project team members were satisfied with the process by 1 2 3 4 5

which the project was implemented

9 The project had no minimal or startup problems because 1 2 3 4 5

it was readily accepted by end users

10 The project has directly led to improved performance for 1 2 3 4 5

the end user/target beneficiaries.

11 The project has made a visible positive impact on the 1 2 3 4 5

 target beneficiaries

12 Project specification were met by the time of handover to 1 2 3 4 5

the target beneficiaries

13 The target beneficiaries was satisfied with the outcome of 1 2 3 4 5

the project

14 Our principal donors were satisfied with the outcomes of 1 2 3 4 5

the project implementation

CHAPTER 3
METHODOLOGY

The methodology adopted in this research is, quantitative analysis of the collected data.
The collected data will be analyzed and interpreted quantitatively, methodically.

3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN

The study will use descriptive survey design in order to examine the effect of stress on
the participants from organizations in their day to day routine. Quantitative type of design will be
used in that it will aim at getting numerical information. A survey method of research will be
adopted.

3.2 POPULATION

Population, also referred to as target population is the total number of people, group or
workplaces which might benefit from the research findings and its implementation. The target
population of this study will be all entrepreneurs who want to improve the productivity level of
their organizations.

3.3 SAMPLE
 The study will be confined to the workforce of organizations in Rawalpindi and
Islamabad. For this purpose the organizations both from public and private sector will be chosen.
By using random sampling technique, 5 public and 5 private organizations will be selected. And
10 workers from each organization will be selected randomly as a sample.

3.4 DATA COLLECTION

Data collection will be carried out with the prior permission of the heads of organizations.
The workers will be given introduction about the study. They will also be informed that
confidentiality of the information will be maintained strictly. All the workers will be instructed
very clearly about the pattern of answering the questionnaire. They will be given enough time to
answer all the statements.

3.5 INSTRUMENT

Since the respondents will be educated, questionnaire will be considered to be the most
suitable instrument for the data collection. Questionnaires will include both open ended and
standardized questions in order to collect data. Among the reasons for choosing questionnaires
will be because questionnaires allow responses to be gathered in a standardized way and are
relatively fast in collecting data. It is easy to analyze data from a questionnaire using SPSS and
in addition questionnaires allow collection of information from a large portion of a group,
making them more suitable for the coverage of a large sample.

3.6 DATA ANALYSIS

For the purpose of this study and looking at the nature of the study, data from
questionnaires will be analyzed using SPSS. SPSS will be used to summarize observations or
data in a way that will provide answers to research questions. It will help in the generation of
tables and graphs of frequencies and percentages and hypotheses testing. After data will be
collected, it will then be edited, grouped according to related subjects coded and then will be
entered into SPSS data editor. The analyzed observations will be mostly presented in form of
tables and graphs indicating frequencies and percentages. Quantitative analysis will provide facts
and figures for easy verification and evidence.

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