RESEARCH PROJECT ON A Study in gender difference in HDFC BANKS with comparison of SBI BANKS in terms of stress management

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement of Award of the Degree of MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION at

Vs.

UNDER THE GUIDENCE OF Ms.VANDANA NIGAM (Faculty)

SUBMITTED BY: Anupriya Singh M.B.A. 4th SEM. Roll No.1006170016

SUBMITTED TO

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(GAUTAM BUDDHA TECHNICAL UNIVRESITY) SHERWOOD COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT LUCKNOW

PREFACE

This report deals with the findings and recommendation regarding the gender difference in terms of stress management. This report is beneficial for not only the organization but also the searchers and business executive. Keeping the point of view simplicity and the motive of the making this report understandable to non-professional, data are taken by the employees. Hope the readers of this report will find it useful to enhance their knowledge and this report will be surely helping them in various ways. Due to importance has been given at various level of writing this report so that mistakes should be avoided, but even if some creeps in, that shall be regretted. All the suggestion is welcome.

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I believe that this report will be proving as a right weapon to destroy the common myth about the private sector industries among the people.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I have taken efforts in this research project A Study in gender difference in HDFC BANKS with comparison of SBI BANKS in terms of stress management. However, it would not have been possible without the kind support and help of many individuals and organizations. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all of them. I want to give special thanks to our Director Dr. Gaurav Singh who has contributed his precious time in completion of this project. My sincere gratitude to Ms. Vandana Nigamis the faculty of Sherwood College of Management & giving necessary direction on doing this project to the best of my abilities. SUBMITTED BY: A N U P R IYSINGH A MBA 4th SEM Roll no.1006170016

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Executive summary

This project gives us a detailed idea of what is stress and also the definition of stress is been defined. For more detailed study the types of the stress is also defined. By looking at the starting of the project you will find:

Introduction and Definition of stress Stress in biological terms What is stress? Coping with stress at work place. Stress management Workplace stress Gender difference and coping strategy Reducing of stress.

After the theoretical part I have included the research part. My research work includes two questionnaires.

Stress analysis Questionnaire

My research includes the research methodology which contains the information as follows:

Research objectives Sampling (types and methods of sampling) Research instrument Data analysis and interpretation Finding

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Table of Content

S.N 1. 2.

Content Executive summary CHAPTER- 1 Introduction of topic& Company Profile Comparative analysis

Page no.

3.

CHAPTER- 2 Literature Review Scope of study and objective

4.

CHAPTER -3 Research Methodology Types of Research Methodology Research designs

5.

CHAPTER- 4 Data analysis and Findings CHAPTER- 5 Recommendation & suggestion

6.

CHAPTER- 6 Conclusion Bibliography Annexure and secondary data

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INTRODUCTION
Today workplace stress is becoming a major issue and a matter of concern for the employees and the organizations. It has become a part of life for the employees, as life today has become so complex at home as well as outside that it is impossible to avoid stress. Selye [1936] defines stress as a dynamic activity wherein an individual is confronted with an opportunity, constraint or demand. Organizational stress arises due to lack of person- environment fit. When organizational stress is mismanaged, it affects the human potential in the organization. It further leads to

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reduced quality, productivity, health as well as wellbeing and morale. Thus, Stress is inevitable in our society. Researchers on stress make it clear that, to enter in to the complex area of stress, especially in to the area of occupational stress, is very difficult. Stress is an unavoidable consequence of modern living. With the growth of industries, pressure in the urban areas, quantitative growth in population and various problems in day-to-day life are some of the reasons for increase in stress. Stress is a condition of strain that has a direct bearing on emotions, thought process and physical conditions of a person. Steers [1981] indicate that, Occupational stress has become an important topic for study of organizational behavior for several reasons. 1. Stress has harmful psychological and physiological effects on employees, 2. Stress is a major cause of employee turn over and absenteeism, 3. Stress experienced by one employee can affect the safety of other employees, 4. By controlling dysfunctional stress, individual and organization can be managed more effectively. During the past decade, the banking sector had under gone rapid and striking changes like policy changes due to globalization and liberalization, increased competition due to the entrance of more private (corporate) sector banks, downsizing, introduction of new technologies, etc. Due to these changes, the employees in the banking sector are experiencing a high level of stress. The advent of technological revolution in all walks of life coupled with globalization, privatization policies has drastically changed conventional patterns in all sectors. The banking sector is of no exemption. The 1990s saw radical policy changes with regarding to fiscal deficit and structural changes in India to prepare her to cope with the new economic world order. Globalization and privatization led policies compelled the banking sector to reform and adjust to have a competitive edge to cope with multinationals led environment. The implications of the above said transformations have affected the social, economical and psychological domains of the bank employees and their relations. Evidence from existing literature states that more than 60% of the bank employees have one or other problem directly or indirectly related to these drastic changes. All

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the factors discussed above are prospective attributes to cause occupational stress and related disorders among the employees. Although many studies have been conducted on the psychosocial side of the new policy regime in many sectors, there are only few studies, as far as the banking sector is concerned, while the same sector has been drastically influenced by the new policies. In this juncture, the present study is undertaken to address specific problems of bank employees related to occupational stress. This throw light in to the pathogenesis of various problems related to occupational stress among bank employees.

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Gender and Work-Background

Women face different challenges and may require different skills to be successful in the work place than their male counterparts. The causes and impact of these differences vary depending upon the size of the organization, level of management, and requisite job duties. The proportion of women in the work place has increased 5% since 1980 whereas the number of women in management positions has increased 19% in the same period (Powell & Graves, 2003). Although these numbers are encouraging, research indicates that there is still a gap between women and men regarding compensation for producing similar work. Traditional gender roles, where

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masculine men dominate their more subservient feminine women, are tied back to early caveman days. Although we have moved beyond the hunter/gatherer versus nurturer roles, very little changed in corporate America until the 1950s. Research indicates that only 19% of women were in the workforce in 1900 compared to 80% of men (Powell & Graves, 2003). These percentages remained relatively unchanged until the 1950s. The number of women earning bachelors degrees doubled from 19502000. The postponement of marriage coupled with increases in employment and educational opportunities for women, led to more women taking on managerial roles in the workplace.

Perception of Gender Roles

The liberation movement of the 1960s-1970s helped change the public perception of traditional gender roles. The introduction of the Equal Employment Organization, Affirmative Action, and discrimination laws helped shape public awareness. Although economic roles between men and women have become more similar over time, sex differences are still prevalent and tensions still exist in the workplace. The most significant difference between men and women in the workforce is between Hispanic men and women. 76% of Hispanic men are in the workforce compared to only 56% of Hispanic women. The lowest difference is between Black men and women where there is only a 6% difference (Powell & Graves, 2003).

Gender Stereotypes
Gender stereotypes have been consistent over time although the study of sex differences is a modern discipline. Research has shown that while girls do have advantages in verbal abilities (grammar, spelling and writing) and boys do appear to be more advanced in their visual-spatial abilities than girls, no sex differences in math concepts have been supported (Bannon, 2004). This appears to affect career choices as there is a larger portion of men in jobs such as firefighters, doctors, and police officers and more women in nurturing type careers such as nurses and teachers. There are
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numerous theories on why sex differences exist but most can be categorized in supporting either a nature or nurture theory. Those that support biological factors argue that people behave as they do just because they are biologically male or female. Those that support the nurture approach view social-environmental factors as influencing behavior and believe that biological sex has very little to do with how people behave.

Stress Management
Stress management is the need of the hour. However hard we try to go beyond a stress situation, life seems to find new ways of stressing us out and plaguing us with anxiety attacks. Moreover, be it our anxiety, mind-body exhaustion or our erring attitudes, we tend to overlook causes of stress and the conditions triggered by those. In such unsettling moments, we often forget that stressors, if not escapable, are fairly manageable and treatable. Stress, either quick or constant, can induce risky bodymind disorders. Immediate disorders such as dizzy spells, anxiety attacks, tension, sleeplessness, nervousness and muscle cramps can all result in chronic health problems. They may also affect our immune, cardiovascular, nervous systems, and lead individuals to habitual addictions, which are inter-linked with stress. Like "stress reactions , relaxation responses and stress, management techniques are some of the body's important built-in response systems. As relaxation response, the body tries to get back balance in its homeostasis. Some hormones released during the 'fight or flight' situation prompt the body to replace the lost carbohydrates and fats, and restore the energy level. The knotted nerves, tightened muscles and an exhausted mind crave for looseness. Unfortunately, today, we do not get relaxing and soothing situations without asking. To be relaxed we have to strive to create such situations

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HDFC Bank Limited (BSE: 500180, NSE: HDFCBANK, NYSE: HDB) is an Indian financial services company that was incorporated in August 1994. HDFC Bank is the fourth largest bank in India by assets and the second largest bank by market capitalization as of February 24, 2012. The bank was promoted by the Housing
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Development Finance Corporation, a premier housing finance company (set up in 1977) of India. HDFC Bank has 1,986 branches and over 5,471 ATMs, in 996 cities in India, and all branches of the bank are linked on an online real-time basis. As of 30 September 2008 the bank had total assets of Rs.1006.82 billion.[3] For the fiscal year 2010-11, the bank has reported net profit of 3,926.30 crore (US$783.3 million), up 33.1% from the previous fiscal. Total annual earnings of the bank increased by 20.37% reaching at 24,263.4 crore (US$4.84 billion) in 2010-11.[4] HDFC Bank is one of the Big Four banks of India, along with: State Bank of India, ICICI Bank and Punjab National Bank.

History
Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited (HDFC), Indias largest housing finance company, incorporated HDFC Bank in 1994. It was among the first companies to receive an 'in principle' approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to set up a bank in the private sector. The Bank started operations as a scheduled commercial bank in January 1995 under the RBI's liberalization policies. Times Bank Limited (owned by Bennett, Coleman & Co. / Times Group) was merged with HDFC Bank Ltd., in 2000. This was the first merger of two private banks in India. Shareholders of Times Bank received 1 share of HDFC Bank for every 5.75 shares of Times Bank. In 2008 HDFC Bank acquired Centurion Bank of Punjab taking its total branches to more than 1,000. The amalgamated bank emerged with a base of about Rs. 1,22,000 crore and net advances of about Rs.89,000 crore. The balance sheet size of the combined entity is more than Rs. 1,63,000 crore

Business focus
HDFC Bank deals with three key business segments. - Wholesale Banking Services, Retail Banking Services, Treasury. It has entered the banking consortia of over 50 corporate for providing working capital finance, trade services, corporate finance,

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and merchant banking. It is also providing sophisticated product structures in areas of foreign exchange and derivatives, money markets and debt trading and equity research.

Wholesale banking services

Blue-chip manufacturing companies in the Indian corp to small & mid-sized corporate and agri-based businesses. For these customers, the Bank provides a wide range of commercial and transactional banking services, including working capital finance, trade services, transactional services, cash management, etc. The bank is also a leading provider of for its corporate customers, mutual funds, stock exchange members and banks.

Retail banking services

HDFC Bank was the first bank in India to launch an International Debit Card in association with VISA (VISA Electron) and issues the MasterCard Maestro debit card as well. The Bank launched its credit card business in late 2001. By March 2009, the bank had a total card base (debit and credit cards) of over 13 million. The Bank is also one of the leading players in the merchant acquiring business with over 70,000 Point-of-sale (POS) terminals for debit / credit cards acceptance at merchant establishments. The Bank is positioned in various net based B2C opportunities including a wide range of internet banking services for Fixed Deposits, Loans, Bill Payments, etc.With Finest of Technology and Best of Man power in Banking Industry HDFC BANK's retail services have become by and large the best in India and since the contribution to CASAi, e total number of current and savings account of more than 50% ,HDFC BANK has full potential to become Indias No.1 Private Sector Bank. HDFC Bank website including hdfcbank.com and hdfcsec.com are not available 24X7. This has become a habit of HDFCBank. Customers of the HDFC Bank are requested to check the website availability 24 X 7 and if available can do the transaction. If the website is not available they are asked to visit their home branch.

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Treasury
Within this business, the bank has three main product areas - Foreign Exchange and Derivatives, Local Currency Money Market & Debt Securities, and Equities. These services are provided through the bank's Treasury team. To comply with statutory reserve requirements, the bank is required to hold 25% of its deposits in government securities. The Treasury business is responsible for managing the returns and market risk on this investment portfolio.

Distribution network

An HDFC Bank Branch HDFC Bank is headquartered in Mumbai and has a nationwide network of 2201 branches spread in 1174 towns and cities across India. The Bank also has 7,110 networked ATMs.

BUSINESS STRETEGY
HDFC BANK mission is to be "a World Class Indian Bank, benchmarking themselves against international standards and best practices in terms of product offerings, technology, service levels, risk management and audit & compliance. The objective is to build sound customer franchises across distinct businesses so as to be a

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preferred provider of banking services for target retail and wholesale customer segments, and to achieve a healthy growth in profitability, consistent with the Bank's risk appetite. Bank is committed to do this while ensuring the highest levels of ethical standards, professional integrity, corporate governance and regulatory compliance. Continue to develop new product and technology is the main business strategy of the bank. Maintain good relation with the customers is the main and prime objective of the bank. HDFC BANK business strategy emphasizes the following :

Increase market share in Indias expanding banking and

financial services industry by following a disciplined growth strategy focusing on quality and not on quantity and delivering high quality customer service.

Leverage our technology platform and open scaleable systems

to deliver more products to more customers and to control operating costs.

Maintain current high standards for asset quality through Develop innovative products and services that attract the

disciplined credit risk management. targeted customers and address inefficiencies in the Indian financial sector.

Continue to develop products and services that reduce banks Focus on high earnings growth with low volatility.

cost of funds.

HUMAN RESOURCES
The Banks staffing needs continued to increase during the year particularly in the retail banking businesses in line with the business growth. Total number of employees increased from 14878 as ofMarch31, 2006 to 21477 as of March 31, 2007. The Bank continues to focus on training its employees on a continuing basis, both on the job and

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through training programs conducted by internal and external faculty. The Bank has consistently believed that broader employee ownership of its shares has a positive impact on its performance and employee motivation. The Banks employee stock option scheme so far covers around 9000 employees.

State Bank of India

State Bank of India (SBI) (NSE: SBIN, BSE: 500112, LSE: SBID) is the largest banking and financial services company in India by revenue, assets and market capitalization. Its a state-owned corporation with its headquarters in Mumbai, Maharashtra. As of March 2011, it had assets of US$ 370 billion with over 13,000 outlets including 150 overseas branches and agents globally. The bank traces its ancestry to British India, through the Imperial Bank of India, to the founding in 1806 of the Bank of Calcutta, making it the oldest commercial bank in the Indian Subcontinent. Bank of Madras merged into the other two presidency banks, Bank of Calcutta and Bank of Bombay to form Imperial Bank of India, which in turn became State Bank of India. The government of India nationalized the Imperial Bank of India in 1955, with the Reserve Bank of India taking a 60% stake, and renamed it the State Bank of India. In 2008, the government took over the stake held by the Reserve Bank of India. SBI is ranked #292 globally in Fortune Global 500 list in 2011.[2] SBI provides a range of banking products through its vast network of branches in India and overseas, including products aimed at non-resident Indians (NRIs). The State Bank Group, with over 16,000 branches, has the largest banking branch network in India. SBI has 14 Local Head Offices situated at Chandigarh, Delhi, Lucknow, Patna, Kolkata, Guwahati (North East Circle), Bhuwaneshwar,

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Hyderabad, Chennai, Trivandram, Banglore, Mumbai, Bhopal & Ahmedabad and 57 Zonal Offices that are located at important cities throughout the country. It also has around 130 branches overseas. SBI is a regional banking behemoth and is one of the largest financial institutions in the world. It has a market share among Indian commercial banks of about 20% in deposits and loans.[3] The State Bank of India is the 29th most reputed company in the world according to Forbes.[4] Also SBI is the only bank featured in the coveted "top 10 brands of India" list in an annual survey conducted by Brand Finance and The Economic Times in 2010. The State Bank of India is the largest of the Big Four banks of India, along with ICICI Bank, Punjab National Bank and HDFC Bankits main competitors.[6]

History

seal of Imperial Bank of India. The roots of the State Bank of India rest in the first decade of 19th century, when the Bank of Calcutta, later renamed the Bank of Bengal, was established on 2 June 1806. The Bank of Bengal was one of three Presidency banks, the other two being the Bank of Bombay (incorporated on 15 April 1840) and the Bank of Madras (incorporated on 1 July 1843). All three Presidency banks were incorporated as joint stock companies and were the result of the royal charters. These three banks received the exclusive

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right to issue paper currency in 1861 with the Paper Currency Act, a right they retained until the formation of the Reserve Bank of India. The Presidency banks amalgamated on 27 January 1921, and the reorganized banking entity took as its name : Imperial Bank of India. The Imperial Bank of India remained a joint stock company Pursuant to the provisions of the State Bank of India Act (1955), the Reserve Bank of India, which is India's central bank, acquired a controlling interest in the Imperial Bank of India. On 30 April 1955, the Imperial Bank of India became the State Bank of India. The government of India recently acquired the Reserve Bank of India's stake in SBI so as to remove any conflict of interest because the RBI is the country's banking regulatory authority. In 1959, the government passed the State Bank of India (Subsidiary Banks) Act, enabling the State Bank of India to take over eight former state-associated banks as its subsidiaries. On 13 September 2008, the State Bank of Saurashtra, one of its associate banks, merged with the State Bank of India. SBI has acquired local banks in rescues. For instance, in 1985, it acquired the Bank of Cochin in Kerala, which had 120 branches. SBI was the acquirer as its affiliate, the State Bank of Travancore, already had an extensive network in Kerala. International presence

The Israeli branch of the State Bank of India located in Ramat Gan.

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As of 31 December 2009, the bank had 157 overseas offices spread over 32 countries. It has branches of the parent in Colombo, Dhaka, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Tehran, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Male in the Maldives, Muscat, Dubai, New York, Osaka, Sydney, and Tokyo. It has offshore banking units in the Bahamas, Bahrain, and Singapore, and representative offices in Bhutan and Cape Town. It also has an ADB in Boston, USA. SBI operates several foreign subsidiaries or affiliates. In 1990, it established an offshore bank: State Bank of India (Mauritius). In 1982, the bank established a subsidiary, State Bank of India (California), which now has ten branches nine branches in the state of California and one in Washington, D.C. The 10th branch was opened in Fremont, California on 28 March 2011. The other eight branches in California are located in Los Angeles, Artesia, San Jose, Canoga Park, Fresno, San Diego, Tustin and Bakersfield. The Canadian subsidiary, State Bank of India (Canada) also dates to 1982. It has seven branches, four in the Toronto area and three in British Columbia. In Nigeria, SBI operates as INMB Bank. This bank began in 1981 as the IndoNigerian Merchant Bank and received permission in 2002 to commence retail banking. It now has five branches in Nigeria. In Nepal, SBI owns 55% of Nepal SBI Bank, which has branches throughout the country. In Moscow, SBI owns 60% of Commercial Bank of India, with Canara Bank owning the rest. In Indonesia, it owns 76% of PT Bank Indo Monex. The State Bank of India already has a branch in Shanghai and plans to open one in Tianjin.[7] In Kenya, State Bank of India owns 76% of Giro Commercial Bank, which it acquired for US$8 million in October 2005.[8]..

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The State Bank of India (with 74% of the total capital) along with the largest global Banking group-"BNP Paribas Cardiff",(with 26% of the remaining capital) Headquatered in Paris formed a Joint venture which established, Indias One of the most Reputed and trusted Life Insurance Company 's named "SBI Life Insurance company Ltd."in March-2001.

Associate banks

Main Branch of SBI in Mumbai. SBI has five associate banks; all use the same logo of a blue circle and all the associates use the "State Bank of" name, followed by the regional headquarters' name;

State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur State Bank of Hyderabad State Bank of Mysore State Bank of Patiala State Bank of Travancore

Earlier SBI had only seven associate banks that constituted the State Bank Group. Originally, the then seven banks that became the associate banks belonged to princely states until the government nationalised them between October 1959 and May 1960.

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In tune with the first Five Year Plan, emphasising the development of rural India, the government integrated these banks into the State Bank of India system to expand its rural outreach. There has been a proposal to merge all the associate banks into SBI to create a "mega bank" and streamline operations.[9] The first step towards unification occurred on 13 August 2008 when State Bank of Saurashtra merged with SBI, reducing the number of state banks from seven to six. Then on 19 June 2009 the SBI board approved the merger of its subsidiary, State Bank of Indore, with itself. SBI holds 98.3% in State Bank of Indore. (Individuals who held the shares prior to its takeover by the government hold the balance of 1.77%.) [10] The acquisition of State Bank of Indore added 470 branches to SBI's existing network of 12,448 and over 21,000 ATMs. Also, following the acquisition, SBI's total assets will inch very close to the Rs 10-lakh crore mark. Total assets of SBI and the State Bank of Indore stood at Rs 998,119 crore as on March 2009. The process of merging of State Bank of Indore was completed by April 2010, and the SBI Indore Branches started functioning as SBI branches on 26 August 2010.

State Bank of India Mumbai LHO. Non-banking subsidiaries

Apart from its five associate banks, SBI also has the following nonbanking subsidiaries:
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1.SBI Capital Markets Ltd 2. SBI Funds Management Pvt Ltd 3. SBI Factors & Commercial Services Pvt Ltd 4. SBI Cards & Payments Services Pvt. Ltd. (SBICPSL) 5. SBI DFHI Ltd 6. SBI Life Insurance Company Ltd. 7. SBI General Insurance

Current Board of Directors

After the end of O. P. Bhatt's reign as SBI Chairman on 31st March, 2011, the post was taken over by Pratip Chaudhuri, who is the former Deputy Managing Director of the International Division of SBI. As on 4th August, 2011, there are twelve members in the SBI Board of Directors, including Subir Gokarn, who is also one of the four Deputy Governors of the Reserve Bank of India. The complete list of the Board members are:
1. Pratip Chaudhuri (Chairman) 2. Hemant G. Contractor (Managing Director) 3. Diwakar Gupta (Managing Director) 4. A Krishna Kumar (Managing Director) 5. Dileep C Choksi (Director) 6. S. Venkatachalam (Director) 7. D. Sundaram (Director) 8. Parthasarathy Iyengar (Director) 9. G. D. Nadaf (Officer Employee Director) 10. Rashpal Malhotra (Director) 11. D. K. Mittal (Director)

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12. Subir V. Gokarn (Director)[12]

Branches of SBI

State Bank of India has 172 foreign offices in 37 countries across the globe. SBI has about 25,000 ATMs (25,000th ATM was inaugurated by the then Chairman of State Bank Shri O.P. Bhatt on 31 March 2011, the day of his retirement); and SBI group(including associate banks) has about 45,000 ATMs.

SBI has 21,500 branches, including branches that belong to its associate banks. SBI includes 99345 offices in India. India's number one ADB is in bellary i e State bank of India bellary ADB

Symbol and slogan

The symbol of the State Bank of India is a circle and not key hole and a small man at the centre of the circle. A circle depicts perfection and the common man being the centre of the bank's business.

Slogans : "Pure banking nothing else"also includes : "With you - all the way" and : "a bank of common man"

Loan to NTPC
On 8th July, 2011, SBI agreed to give a loan of Rs 10,000 crore to NTPC (National Thermal Power Corporation), making it the largest loan SBI had ever given to any single customer in its entire 200 year history. The loan had a "door-to-door" maturity period of 12 years, accompanied by a drawdown period of four years. An NTPC press release said at the time of the declaration of the loan that "The loan shall be utilized for financing the capital expenditure of ongoing and new projects." NTPC chairman at the time, Arup Roy Choudhury clarified that the loan amount would be used to add 128,000 MW capacity by the end of year 2032 (NTPC'c capacity at the time of the declaration of the loan was 34,584 MW).[13]

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This loan was offered amidst declining finance for power projects in India, which were a direct result of the lending constraints placed by the Reserve Bank of India and the increased risk awareness of power projects. It will also help minimize the shortfall of around Rs 4.51 Trillion that the Power Ministry of India expected to incur in achieving the objectives of the Eleventh Five Year Plan (This plan targeted an addition of 78,577 MW or power generation capacity which would require an investment of Rs 10.3 Trillion). Employees SBI has turned into the third-largest employer in India among listed companies after Coal India Limited(383,347) and Tata Consultancy Services(226,751).

Comparative analysis State Bank of India, and HDFC Bank

A Comparative analysis of Stress Management in State Bank of India, and HDFC Bank was done with an objective to study the stress experienced by employees of State Bank of India and HDFC to find out the level and source of stress and to know the factors that causes stress and to analyze the perception of employees towards the management in handling stress. Result shows that Employees share their problems with their colleagues and Supervisors. Management of Private Sector Banks is more effective in handling their stress situations as compared to Public Sector Banks. Most of the employees of HDFC Bank handle stressful situations optimistically as compared to Central Bank of India. A study has been undertaken with an aim to systematically investigate the factors causing role stress amongst bank professionals. A total of 530 frontline employees from various public and private sector banks were surveyed for their experience on role stress. The anonymous responses of the bank employees were taken through questionnaire during the period of August, 2009 to January, 2010.. Majority of the Employees (38 per cent) belonged to the age group of 21-30 years and
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maximum (34 per cent) were found to earn a salary between Rs. 21000 to Rs. 30000 per month. Organizational Role Stress (ORS) scale developed by Pareek (Pareek, 2005) has been used as the reference for development of the research instrument. Lack of adequate resources at work, which has been found to be a factor causing role stress, may end up in an experience of even greater workload as it may have direct negative effects and /or may interact with role excess dimension to produce negative effects (Chand& Sethi, 1997). Planning for making available the required resources is, therefore, imperative for reducing role stress at work. A research study was conducted aimed at determining the existence of stress in the Nigerian Banking Industry. A structured questionnaire was designed to collect information from both executives and none-executives of the Nigerian banking industry. At an X2 0.05 and one degree of freedom, the null hypothesis was found to be significant, significant existence of stressors in the Nigerian banking sub-sector. However, the stress level is higher among the executive than the none-executive. It was concluded that there exist high level of stress in the Nigerian Banking Industry, which affect personal health significantly thereby requiring management action in implementing stress-relieving measures. A study was conducted in Pakistan describes the occupational stress in public and private banks. A randomly selected sample of 100 employees from private and public banks shows that occupational stress is found higher among private bank employees compared to public bank employees. Among different occupational stress variables role over load, role authority, role conflict and lack of senior level support contribute more to the occupational stress. Bank employees cannot afford the time to relax and "wind down" when they are faced with work variety, discrimination, favoritism, delegation and conflicting tasks. 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

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manifestation of morbidity that can affect personal well-being and productivity. So attention should be paid to reduce the stress in their occupational field .

Literature Review
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INTRODUCTION TO STRESS
A lot of research has been conducted into stress over the last hundred years. Some of the theories behind it are now settled and accepted; others are still being researched and debated. During this time, there seems to have been something approaching open warfare between competing theories and definitions: Views have been passionately held and aggressively defended. What complicates this is that intuitively we all feel that we know what stress is, as it is something we have all experienced. A definition should therefore be obviousexcept that it is not.

Definition:
According to Selye (1956) stress is any external event or internal drive which threatens to upset the organismic equilibrium. Wolf and Goodell (1968) defined stress as a dynamic state with in an organism in response to a demand for adaptation. Cofer and Appley (1964) defined stress as a state of an organism where he perceives that his wellbeing is endangered and that he must direct all his energies to its protection. Lazarus (1966) referred stress a state of imbalance with in an organism that is elicitedby an actual/perceived disparity between environmental demands and the organisms capacity to cope with these demands; and is manifested through variety of physiological, emotional and behavioral responses. McGrath (1970) defined stress as a perceived imbalance between demand and response capacity under conditions where failure to meet demand has important consequences. Cox (1978) has described three classes of definitions. Stress can be variously thought of as a response, i.e. the stress response to an extreme stimulus; as a stimulus i.e. as the stressor itself as an intervening variable. Spielberger (1979) defined stress in two different ways. According to him, it is a dangerous potentiality, harmful/unpleasant external situation/conditions (stressors)

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that produce stress reaction; and secondly to the internal thought, judgment, emotional state and physiological process that are evoked by stressful stimuli. Ryhal and Singh (1996) stated that stress is the state of an organism it perceived that its well-being is endangered and that it must direct all its energies to its protection

The types of stress are as follows

Mechanical

Stress (physics), the average amount of force exerted per unit area. Yield stress, the stress at which a material begins to deform plastically. Compressive stress, the stress applied to materials resulting in their compaction.

Biological

Stress (biological), physiological or psychological stress; some types include: Chronic stress, persistent stress which can lead to illness and mental disorder Eustress, positive stress that can lead to improved long-term functioning Workplace stress, stress caused by employment

Music

Accent (music). Stress (band), an early '80s melodic rock band from San Diego. Stress (punk band), an early '80s punk rock band from Athens. Stress (Neo-Psychedelic band), from the late 1980's. Stress, a song by the French band Justice on their debut album

Other

Stress (game), card game Stress (linguistics), phonological use of prominence in language

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Chronic Stress:Chronic stress is stress that lasts a long time or occurs frequently. Chronic stress is potentially damaging. Symptoms of chronic stress can be: upset stomach Headache Backache Insomnia Anxiety Depression Anger In the most severe cases it can lead to panic attacks or a panic disorder. There are a variety of methods to control chronic stress, including exercise, healthy diet, stress management, relaxation techniques, adequate rest, and relaxing hobbies. Ensuring a healthy diet containing magnesium may help control or eliminate stress, in those individuals with lower levels of magnesium or those who have magnesium deficiency. Chronic stress can also lead to a magnesium deficiency, which can be a factor in continued chronic stress, and a whole host of other negative medical conditions caused by a magnesium deficiency.

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It has been discovered that there is a huge upsurge in the number of people who suffer from this condition. A very large number of these new cases suffer from insomnia. In a review of the scientific literature on the relationship between stress and disease, the authors found that stress plays a role in triggering or worsening depression and cardiovascular disease and in speeding the progression of HIV/AIDS.

Compressive stress:
Compressive stress is the stress applied to materials resulting in their compaction (decrease of volume). When a material is subjected to compressive stress, then this material is under compression. Usually, compressive stress applied to bars, columns, etc. leads to shortening. Loading a structural element or a specimen will increase the compressive stress until the reach of compressive strength. According to the properties of the material, failure will occur as yield for materials with ductile behavior (most metals, some soils and plastics) or as rupture for brittle behavior (geometries, cast iron, glass, etc). In long, slender structural elements -- such as columns or truss bars -- anincrease of compressive force F leads to structural failure due to buckling atlower stress than the compressive strength. Compressive stress has stress units (force per unit area), usually with negative values to indicate the compaction. However in geotechnical engineering, compressive stress is represented with positive values.

Stress in Biological terms:

Stress is a biological term which refers to the consequences of the failure of ahuman or animal body to respond appropriately to emotional or physical threats to the organism, whether actual or imagined. It includes a state of alarm and adrenaline
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production, short-term resistance as a coping mechanism, and exhaustion. It refers to the inability of a human or animal body to respond. Common stress symptoms include irritability, muscular tension, in ability to concentrate and a variety of physical reactions, such as headaches and accelerated heart rate. The term "stress" was first used by the endocrinologist Hans Selye in the 1930sto identify physiological responses in laboratory animals. He later broadened and popularized the concept to include the perceptions and responses of humans trying to adapt to the challenges of everyday life. In Selye's terminology, "stress" refers to the reaction of the organism, and "stressor" to the perceived threat. Stress in certain circumstances may be experienced positively. Eustress, for example, can be an adaptive response prompting the activation of internal resources to meet challenges and achieve goals. The term is commonly used by laypersons in a metaphorical rather than literal or biological sense, as a catch-all for any perceived difficulties in life. It also became a euphemism, a way of referring to problems and eliciting sympathy without being explicitly confessional, just "stressed out". It covers a huge range of phenomena from mild irritation to the kind of severe problems that might result in a real breakdown of health. In popular usage almost any event or situation between these extremes could be described as stressful.

What is Stress?
Stress refers to the strain from the conflict between our external environment and us, leading to emotional and physical pressure. In our fast paced world, it is impossible to live without stress, whether you are a student or a working adult. There is both
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positive and negative stress, depending on each individuals unique perception of the tension between the two forces. Not all stress is bad. For example, positive stress, also known as eustress, can help an individual to function at optimal effectiveness and efficiency. Hence, it is evident that some form of positive stress can add more color and vibrancy to our lives. The presence of a deadline, for example, can push us to make the most of our time and produce greater efficiency. It is important to keep this in mind, as stress management refers to using stress to our advantage, and not on eradicating the presence of stress in our lives. On the other hand, negative stress can result in mental and physical strain. The individual will experience symptoms such as tensions, headaches, irritability and in extreme cases, heart palpitations. Hence, whilst some stress may be seen as a motivating force, it is important to manage stress levels so that it does not have an adverse impact on your health and relationships. Part of managing your stress levels include learning about how stress can affect you emotionally and physically, as well as how to identify if you are performing at your optimal stress level (OSL) or if you are experiencing negative stress. This knowledge will help you to identify when you need to take a break, or perhaps seek professional help. It is also your first step towards developing techniques to managing your stress levels. Modern day stresses can take the form of monetary needs, or emotional frictions. Competition at work and an increased workload can also cause greater levels ofstress. How do you identify if you are suffering from excessive stress? Psychological symptoms commonly experienced include insomnia, headaches and an inability to focus. Physical symptoms take the form of heart palpitations, breathlessness, excessive sweating and stomachaches. What causes stress? There are many different causes of stress, and that which causes stress is also known as a stressor. Common lifestyle stressors include performance, threat, and bereavement stressors, to name a few. Performance stressors are triggered when an individual is placed in a situation where he feels a need to excel.

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This could be during performance appraisals, lunch with the boss, or giving a speech. Threat stressors are usually when the current situation poses a dangerous threat, such as an economic downturn, or from an accident. Lastly, bereavement stressors occur when there is a sense of loss such as the death of a loved one, or a prized possession. Thus, there are various stressors, and even more methods that are varied and techniques of dealing with stress and turning it to our advantages. In order to do so, we must learn to tell when we have crossed the line from positive to negatives tress.

Good stress v/s Bad stress:

Stress has often been misunderstood to be negative, with few people acknowledging the importance and usefulness of positive stress. In our everyday lives, stress is everywhere and definitely unavoidable; hence our emphasis should be on differentiating between what is good stress, and what is bad. This will help us to learn to cope with negative stress, and harness the power of positive stress to help us achieve more. There are 4 main categories of stress, namely eustress, distress, hyper stress and hypo stress. Negative stress can cause many physical and psychological problems, whilst positive stress can be very helpful for us. Heres how we differentiate between them. Eustress: This is a positive form of stress, which prepares your mind and body for the imminent challenges that it has perceived. Eustress is a natural physical reaction by your body which increases blood flow to your muscles, resulting in a higherheart rate. Athletes before a competition or perhaps a manager before a major presentation would do well with eustress, allowing them to derive the inspiration and strength that is needed.

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Distress
We are familiar with this word, and know that it is a negative form of stress. This occurs when the mind and body is unable to cope with changes, and usually occurs when there are deviations from the norm. They can be categorized into acute stress and chronic stress. Acute stress is intense, but does not last for long. On the other hand, chronic stress persists over a long period of time. Trigger events for distress can be a change in job scope or routine that the person is unable to handle or cope with.

Hyper stress
This is another form of negative stress that occurs when the individual is unable to cope with the workload. Examples include highly stressful jobs, which require longer working hours than the individual can handle. If you suspect that you are suffering from hyper stress, you are likely to have sudden emotional breakdowns over insignificant issues, the proverbial straws that broke the camels back. It is important for you to recognize that your body needs a break, or you may end up with severe and chronic physical and psychological reactions.

Hypo stress
Lastly, hypo stress occurs when a person has nothing to do with his time and feels constantly bored and unmotivated. This is due to an insufficient amount of stress; hence some stress is inevitable and helpful to us. Companies should avoid having workers who experience hypo stress as this will cause productivity and mindfulness to fall. If the job scope is boring and repetitive, it would be a good idea to implement some form of job rotation so that there is always something new to learn. The types of stress are named as eustress and distress. Distress is the most commonly referred to type of stress, having negative implications, whereas eustress is a positive

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form of stress, usually related to desirable events in persons life. Both can be equally taxing on the body, and are cumulative in nature, depending on a person's way of adapting to a change that has caused it.

Work stressors
The work factor is closely associated with the level of stress experienced by the employees in the organization. Tharakan (1992) studied on occupational stress and job satisfaction among working women. He observed that professional women experienced greater work related stress than on-professional women. The expectation of technocrats was much higher than the no technocrats. Fulcheri et al. (1995) also observed that size of work loads, the complexity of tasks and responsibility is the major sources of stress factors. The reasons for frustration are delay in career development and a slow erosion of status among the managers. Aminabhavi and Triveni (2000) revealed that nationalized bank employees have Significantly higher occupational stress than non nationalized bank employees, in the dimensions such as role conflict, unreasonable group/political pressure, intrinsic Impoverishment and strenuous working conditions. Bhattacharya and Guha (2006) conducted a study on stress and coping: A study on lady criminal lawyers of Kolkata city. A group of 34 lady criminal lawyers were selected for the study. The significant factors, which are generating stress, are busy schedule of work, oddity hours, poor interaction, leading tendency of superiors, and poor interpersonal relationship among the colleagues in the work environment. Latha and Panchanatham (2007) found out the job stressors and their implications on the job performance of 40 software professionals. Result showed that work load acts as major stressors for software professionals. Long work hours are indirectly associated with psychological distress.

Role stressors
The role factor is closely associated with the level of stress experienced by the employees in the organization
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Madhu et al. (1990) conducted a study on role stress: differential influences of some antecedently factors. 173 managerial personnel from steel organization and 76 from petroleum organization participated in the study. The present study attempted to compare the influence of the antecedental factors namely, personal, organizational, job, superior, leadership styles and communication factors on role conflict and role ambiguity. It was found that role conflict and role ambiguity experienced by the employees were most significant in the petroleum organization. Mishra and Dixit (1995) attempted to reveal the coping styles of 300 allopathic doctors. It was found that each of the four type of job stress namely role based stress, task based stress, boundary-spanning stress and conflict mediating stress influenced burn out among the doctors and role based stresses such as role conflict and role ambiguity are related with feeling of lack of personal accomplishment. Peterson (1995) explored role conflict, role ambiguity and role overload as reported by industrial workers and also found that managers are more stressed due to role overload from his study organizational issues for managers. Upadhyay and Singh (1999) compared the level of occupational stress experienced by the 20 college teachers and 20 executives. The executives showed significant higher levels of stress than college teachers on role over load, role ambiguity, role conflicts factor. Hasnain et al. (2001) on his study role stress and coping strategies in different occupational groups assessed the coping strategies in three different occupational groups (20 engineers, 20managers and 20 teachers). Role over load and role erosion were found to be major sources of role stress in all three groups. Pandey and Tripathy (2001) also found that teaching is a stressful occupation. Job stressors in this profession are role ambiguity and unreasonable group pressure.

Personal development stressors

The personal development factor is closely associated with the level of stress experienced by the employees in the organization.

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Fulcheri et al. (1995) also observed that delay in career development and a slow erosion of status is the main reasons for frustration among the managers. Upadhyay and Singh (1999) compared the occupational stress level experienced by the 20 college teachers and 20 executives. The teachers showed significant higher levels of stress than executives on intrinsic impoverishment and status factors. They experienced stress because their personal wishes and strong desire for better and prosperous career were felt to be blocked by others. Gaur and Dhawan (2000) examined that the relationship between work related stressors and adaptation pattern among women professionals. A sample of 120 women professionals (30 teachers, 30 doctors, 30 bank officers and 30 bureaucrats) participated in the study. It showed that teachers experienced more stress as far as opportunities and obstacles of career development are concerned. Tang et al. (2001) reported that teachers experience a great deal of stress in the course of their career. Burn out represents teachers negative response to the mismatch between job requirements and their perceived abilities, self-efficacy and proactive attitude.Triveni et al. (2006) concluded that the major sources of job stress perceived by 90veterinary assistant surgeons were numerous meeting, work load, lack of personal growth, lack facilities and monotonous nature of work. Latha and Panchanatham (2007) found out the job stressors and their implications on the job performance of 40 software professionals. More than 50% of the respondents do not feel stressed by the working conditions and promotional opportunities.

Interpersonal relationship stressors

The interpersonal relationship factor is closely associated with the level of stress experienced by the employees in the organization, As per the report by Madhu et al. (1990) the contribution of interpersonal relation factors to job stress were found significant among the employees in the steel industry. Upadhyay and Singh (1999) compared the level of occupational stress experienced by the 20 college teachers and 20 executives. The teachers showed significant higher levels of stress than executives on under participation and poor peer relation factors.

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Potter et al. (2002) concluded that the interpersonal stressors at work place have the influence on the employees. Interpersonal conflicts experienced in the work place also predict diseases and well being declines. Results proved that psychosocial environment of workplace have unique effects on employee. Osmany and Khan (2003) conducted a study on Organizational stress in working women by taking 30 married and 30 unmarried working women. He found that unmarried working women reported high stress at work place due to political pressure and for married women, it may be due to poor peer relation. Bhattacharya and Guha (2006) conducted a study on stress and coping: A study on lady criminal lawyers of Kolkata city. A group of 34 lady criminal lawyers were selected for the study. The significant factors that are generating stress are busy schedule of work, odd duty hours, poor interaction, leading tendency of superiors, and poor interpersonal relationship among the colleagues in the work environment.

Organizational climate stressors

The organizational climate factors are closely associated with the level of stress experienced by the employees in the organization. Madhu et al. (1990) conducted a study on role stress: differential influences of some antecedental factors. 173 managerial personnel from steel organization and 76 from petroleum organization participated in the study. It was found that the petroleum organization has acclimate which would assist the employees in stress reduction where as the steel organization may not have developed such a climate. Basha and Ushashree (1997) studied on job stress and coping as related to perceptions of organizational climate. Significant negative relationship was found between perception of organizational climate and the amount of stress experienced by the employees. Newstrome and Davis (1998) found that when job autonomy provided to managers is high, they enjoy their work and have freedom to do the task according to their own will so that they feel less stress. Vashishtha and Mishra (2000) found that appraisal support had a partially moderating effect on occupational stress in organizational commitment relationship.

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Das and Singhal (2003) explored the effect of job autonomy upon occupational stress among managers, 300male managers were selected for the study. The findings of the study revealed that the managers with high job autonomy show less stress as compared tomanagers with low job autonomy. Rastogi and Kashyap (2003) conducted a study on occupational stress and work adjustment among working women. Sample consisted of 150 nurses, clerks, and teachers. The results concluded that maximum occupational stress is found among nurses as compared to other two groups. Nurses work under the most severe occupational environment. Teachers perceive the minimum occupational stress because their working climate is best in comparison to the other two groups. Vashishtha and Mishra (2004) explored the relative contribution of social support and occupational stress to organizational commitment of supervisors (n=200) the result revealed that the social support and occupational stress significantly predict the degree oforganizational commitment of supervisors. Latha and Panchanatham (2007) found out the job stressors and their implications on the job performance of 40 software professionals. More than 50% of the respondents do not feel stressed by the working conditions and promotional opportunities. It can be inferred that IT industry is providing better working environment. It is quite obvious that occupational stress influences employees experiences in different aspects of their job, such as job performance and job satisfaction. A part from this, occupational stress in turn gets influenced by the factors like work, role, interpersonal relationship, personal development and organizational climate. Studies in this regard revealed the above facts.

LEVEL OF STRESS
Reddy and Ramamurthy (1990) reported that top-level managers experienced more occupational stress. Tharakan (1992) studied on occupational stress and job satisfaction among working

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women. He observed that professional women experienced greater work related stress than non-professional women. The expectation of technocrats was much higher than the no technocrats. Barnes (1992) conducted a study on stress in aviation personnel. A sample of 25 captains, 16 flight engineers, 11-cabin crewmembers from air India were considered for the study. The results revealed that the cabin crews have far more stressors than other aviation groups. This is followed by pilots.Srivastava et al. (1994) revealed tat in private sector organization middle level managers faced greater stress and anxiety as compared to top level managers.Sahu and Mishra (1995) explored the life stress and coping styles in teachers. The sample consisted of 120 male and 120 female teachers. The males experienced greater stress in the work and society areas, while females experienced more stress in family areas. Aminabhavi and Triveni (1998) found that the signal maintainers have higher occupational stress as compared to other employees in railways. It also showed that railway employees who expressed moderate level of job satisfaction and life satisfaction have significantly higher occupational stress than those who expressed higher life and job satisfaction. Boroun et al. (1998) studied the job stress and job performance among 150 self paced repetitive workers. He indicated that the low satisfied workers experienced more afterwork stress than the high-satisfied workers. Gaur and Dhawan (2000) examined that the relationship between work related stressors and adaptation pattern among women professionals. A sample of 120 women professionals (30 teachers, 30 doctors, 30 bank officers and 30 bureaucrats) participated in the study. It showed that the four professionals groups have shared almost similar level of stress except in the categories of career development and stressors specific to working women .Aminabhavi and Triveni (2000) revealed that nationalized bank employees havesignificantly higher occupational stress than non nationalized bank employees, in the dimensions such as role conflict, unreasonable group/political pressure, intrinsic

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impoverishment and strenuous working conditions. Non-nationalized bank employees have significantly higher stress due to low status. Pandey and Srivastava (2000) studied the work stress experienced by teachers, railway and bank employees. Maximum work stress was reported by the railway employees but the level of stress was lesser in bank personnel and least in teachers. Harshpinder and Aujla (2002) found in their study that working women were more stressed due to sociological factors where as non-working women were more stressed due to environmental factors. Bhatia and Kumar (2005) attempted to explore occupational stress and burn out among employees. A sample consisted of 100 employees belonging to supervisor and below supervisor level. Employees at supervisor rank experienced more occupational stress than below supervisor level due to more responsibility and accountability. Das and Singhal (2003) explored the effect of job autonomy upon occupational stress among managers, 300male managers were selected for the study. The findings of the study revealed that the managers with high job autonomy show less stress as compared tomanagers with low job autonomy. A study by Aujla et al. (2004) showed that working women were significantly more stressed due to psychological stressors than non-working women. Ojha and Rani (2004) examined the level of life stress and various dimensions of mental health among working (n=30) and non-working (n=30) Indian women. Working women were significantly scored higher on life stress in comparison to non working women .Bidlan (2005) conducted a study on job involvement, job frustration, and occupational stress among workers of small and large scale industrial units. He examined semi-skilled workers (n=200) from small and large-scale industrial units. Results showed that small scales industrial worker had significantly greater degree of job stress than the workers of large-scale industrial units. Srivastava (2005) on his study effects of cognitive appraisal on the relationship of job stress and job related health outcomes considered the sample size of 300. The results showed that the employees who are appraised the severity of and threats posed from

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stressful situation as to be high experienced markedly higher degree of job stress in comparison to those who appraised the severity and expected threats as to be low. Panchanatham et al. (2006) analyzed the stress pattern of coercive and nom coercive leaders. A group of 60 problem-solving executives who belong to implementer style were considered for the study. It proved that coercive leaders are more stressful than non-coercive leaders. S.R.L.M. and Sarada Devi (2006) assessed the probable ratio of satisfaction to stress of women in different occupations. The total sample comprised of 120 working women in which 30 lawyers, 30 engineers and 60 clerks. The findings of the study revealed that among all the three categories of women employees, the probable ratio of stress was more than satisfaction in their role performance. From all these studies it can be concluded that individuals do experience stress of different levels; only their sources of stress vary according to the type of institution, working conditions in which they have to work

COPING STRATEGIES
Mishra and Dixit (1995) attempted to reveal the coping styles of 300 allopathic doctors. It was found from the investigation that those who use effective coping (i.e. above average control style and below average escape style) are less burn out than those who use ineffective coping (i.e. above average escape style and below average control style). Upamanyu (1997) explored the stress management techniques used by the educated working women. The sleep & relaxation, exercise, time management, diet and yoga are the best way adopted to manage stress by educated working women Aminabhavi and Triveni (2000) in their study found that age, sex, coping strategies ofbank employees have not influenced their occupational stress. Pandey and Srivastava (2000) studied coping with work stress in career oriented females. It was found from the result that teachers expressed significantly better active coping than bank employees. Gaur and Dhawan (2000) examined that the relationship between work related stressors and adaptation pattern among women professionals. A sample of 120 women professionals (30 teachers, 30 doctors, 30 bank officers and 30 bureaucrats)

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participated in the study. They showed a configuration of adaptation pattern of active coping. The junior level job group or junior age group is significantly more active coping, greater painfulness and has more initiative as compared to middle and senior age group or level of employment status. Harshpinder and Aujla (2001) investigated the different physical stress management techniques utilized by women. Results showed that working women were making more use of writing dairy, standard furniture and high fiber diet as compared to nonworking women. The two groups did not differ significantly in the use of other techniques. Hasnain et al. (2001) on his study role stress and coping strategies in different occupational groups assessed the coping strategies in three different occupational groups (20 engineers, 20managers and 20 teachers). No significant difference was obtained among the coping strategies of the three groups. The two coping strategies used by these three groups were extra-persistive and inter-persistive (approach coping). In a nutshell it can be said that in all the three groups approach coping strategies were more frequently used than avoidance strategies. Aminabhavi and Kamble (2004) conducted a study on work motivation and stress coping behavior of technical personnel at a railway workshop. The sample comprised of 30technical personnel in the age range of 30-59 years. It was found that middle aged technical personnel had significantly higher stress coping behavior as compared to the older technical personnel. Aujla et al. (2004) investigated to analyze the different stress management techniques used by 75 working women and 75 non-working women of Ludhiana city. Results showed that majority of the respondents in both the categories were using various stress management techniques viz. relaxation, music, prayer, recreation with family, planning etc .Planning and relaxation were most preferred techniques among both the groups .Aditi and Kumari (2005) found that the stress buffering effects of friendship and social support systems seem to a significant contributor to high levels of stress.

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Randeep and Ravindran (2005) attempted to explore the relationship between copingstrategies and coping styles among 30 marketing executives in two private sector mobilephone companies. It was concluded that in the use of coping styles such as task strategies,logics, home and work relationship, time management and involvement, executives differ considerably with respect to their cognitive styles. Bhattacharya and Guha (2006) conducted a study on stress and coping: A study on lady criminal lawyers of Kolkata city. A group of 34 lady criminal lawyers were selected for the study. The significant coping mechanisms as preferred by them are reading books, traveling or outing, listening to music etc. Chand (2006) studied to examine the psychological factors in the development of work stress. The respondents are 150 junior management scale-1 officers in various banking institutions. The findings of the study revealed that job related strain is positively related with escape coping and negatively related with life event stress, control coping and symptom management coping. Sikthingnanavel (2006) explored the effect of select yogic practices on stress of working women of 15 normal female volunteers. The suitable parameters were used before and after 10 days training programmer. The results show that there is a greater improvement in the reduction of stress in the experimental group than the control group. All these studies have revealed that coping strategies of individuals has significant effect on mitigating of stress. The above studies explored different stress management techniques to reduce or minimize stress.

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN RELATION TO STRESS AND COPING STRATEGIES

As far as gender differences are concerned, the studies revealed the following facts Gender differences in relation to stress Beena and Poduval (1992) conducted a study on sample of 80 executives in different organizations (40 male and 40 female) with in the age range of 25-45 years, to know the gender difference in work stress. The result revealed that female executives experienced higher rate of stress. Mitra and Sen (1993) in their study found that male and female executives differed

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significantly on role ambiguity, role conflict, inter role distance, future prospects and human relation at work and femininity and masculinity dimensions. Male executives with masculine sex role orientation faced greater job stress and anxiety than females possessing an androgynous personality. Authors attributed this fact to a greater reluctance to self disclose among men and different socialization patterns laid down for both men and women in Indian society. Ushashree et al. (1995) on their study considered 80 male and 80 female high Schoolteachers in the age group of 25-40 year(adult) and 41-60 years(middle) age to know the effect of gender on teachers experience of job stress and job satisfaction. Analysis of data indicated significant effect of gender on job stress. Sahu and Mishra (1995) made an attempt to explore gender differences in relationship between stresses experienced in various areas of life. The sample for the study was 120 men and 120 women teachers. The result revealed the significant positive relationship between works related stress and society related stress in males. On the other hand, in females, a significant positive relationship was observed between family stress and society related stress. Bhagawan (1997) studied on job stress among 53 male and 47 female teachers from 20 schools in Orissa. It was found from the results that male teachers experienced more stress compared to female teachers. Barkat and Asma Praveen (1999) studied the effect of gender on organizational role stress. The sample consisted of 50 managers, 25 male and 25 female of SBI. The age range of the subject was between 36-55 years. Results indicated that females showed lower degree of role stress than their male counterparts. Aminabhavi and Triveni (2000) conducted a study on the nationalized and non nationalized bank employees. The sample consisted of 78 bank employees of which 39 nationalized and 39 non-nationalized banks. The result revealed that male and female bank employees do not differ significantly in their occupational stress. Pradhan and Khattri (2001) studied the effect of gender on stress and burn out in doctors. They have considered experience of work and family stress as intra-psychic

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variables. The sample consisted of 50 employed doctor couples. Mean age was 40 years for males and 38 years for females. The result indicated no gender difference in the experience of burn out, but female doctors experience significantly more stress. Triveni and Aminabhavi (2002) conducted a study to know the gender difference in occupational stress of professional and non- professionals. The sample consisted of 300professionals (doctors, lawyers and teachers) and 100 non professionals. The result revealed that women professionals experience significantly higher occupational stress than men due to under participation. All these studies have revealed controversial results but gender of individuals has significant effect on experience of stress. In some situations, women experience more stress than men and vice versa.

FACTORS INFLUENCING STRESS

Both the individual and organizational factors influence stress. Demographic factors and stress The relationship between demographic variables viz., age, gender, education, occupation, experience, type of family, and stress reviewed as bellow.
1. Age

Reddy and Ramamurthy (1991) analyzed the influence of age on stress experience of a person. The sample consisted of 200 executives. The results revealed that executives in the age group of 41-50 experienced more stress than the age group of 51-60. Moderating variables among executives experiencing stress include not only age but also the years of service in the employment. Beena and Poduval (1992) conducted a study on sample of 80 (40 male and 40 female) executives in different organizations. They found that when age increases, experienced stress also increased due to the increase in the responsibility of the executives. Female executives showed higher rate of stress because women experience greater amount of work change than men do. Mayes (1996) conducted a study on police officers, fire fighters, electrician and executives aged 18-63 years. Multiple regression revealed that age moderated the

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relationship among various stressors and physiological symptoms as well as psychological depression and life satisfaction. Aminabhavi and Triveni (2000) in their study found that age, sex, coping strategies of bank employees have not influenced their occupational stress. Virk et al. (2001) conducted a study on occupational stress and work motivation in relation to age, job level and type-A behavior. He reported that age and job level can havestrong influence on job stress. Rastogi and Kashyap (2003) conducted a study on occupational stress and work adjustment among working women. Sample consisted of 150 nurses, clerks, and teachers. The average age of the sample is quite matured and experienced, which help them to ignore the stress and maintain the smooth adjustment in the organization. Bhatia and Kumar (2005) studied on occupational stress and burn out in industrial employees. The sample consisted of 100 employees belonging to supervisor and below supervisor level. Their chronological age ranged from 22-32 years and 33-42 years. Among the industrial employees at supervisor rank and below supervisor rank belonging to higher age group experienced more occupational stress. Anitha Devi (2007) aimed at identifying the degree of life stress and role stress experienced by professional women. A total sample of 180 women professionals belonging to six occupations were chosen for the study. The results revealed that, the older person experience lower life stress and role stress. Younger people experience more stress as compared to older people. The greater the numbers of years of service the greater life and role stress. The lower the income, greater stress experienced i.e. stress decreases with increase in income. From the above studies, it can be concluded that younger age group is more susceptible to stress due to lack of experience and older age group experience stress due tithe increase in the responsibility.
2. Education

Education acts as mediator, either increases or reduces stress depending on

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perspective of the individuals. Ansari (1991) had studied the nature and extent of stress in agriculture university teachers. Sample consisted of 235 respondents comprising 30 professors, 74 associate professors and135 assistant professors. The result revealed that the correlation between the nature of stress and qualification of teachers in different cadres was found to be none significant. Chand and Monga (2007) examined the correlates of job stress and burn out among 100 faculty members from two universities. He found that, higher education could combat stress and burn out related problems among the faculty members.
3. Occupation and position

Ryhal and Singh (1996) studied the correlates of job stress among university faculty. A sample of 100 faculty members 30 professors, 31 associate and 39 assistant professors. Results revealed that assistant professors experienced higher job stress than associateprofessors and professors. Orpen (1996) examined the moderating effects of cognitive failure on the relationshipbetween work stress and personal strain. He compared the work stress among 136 nurses and 12 college lecturers. The results found that nurses experienced more stress than the lecturers. Ansari and Singh (1997) made an attempt to explore the contribution of demographicvariables to the nature of stress experienced by the teachers in an agriculture university. The study comprised sample of 235 faculty members (23 professors, 74 associate and 138assistant professors).The professors were either in moderate or in high stress categories ascompared to associate and assistant professors.Upadhayay and Singh (1999) studied the level of occupational stress experienced bythe 20 college teachers and 20 executives. The executives showed significant higher levels of stress than college teachers on role over load, role ambiguity, role conflicts factor. Gaur and Dhawan (2000) examined that the relationship between work related stressors and

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adaptation pattern among women professionals. A sample of 120 womenprofessionals (30 teachers, 30 doctors, 30 bank officers and 30 bureaucrats) participated in the study. It showed that the four professionals groups have shared almost similar level of stress except in the categories of career development and stressors specific to working women.Pandey and Srivastava (2000) had studied the female personnel working in railway,bank and teaching institutions. A sample of 96 females, 16 subjects in each professional area were taken. The study identified that respondents among all the three dimensions, clerks of bank and railway experienced more work stress as compared to teachers. Aminabhavi and Triveni (2000) revealed that managers experience significantly higher occupational stress than clerks. The fact is that managers have greater responsibility of his position than the clerks. Anitha Devi (2007) aimed at identifying the degree of life stress and role stress experienced by professional women. A total sample of 180 women professionals belonging to six occupations were chosen for the study. The result showed science and technology professionals and doctors experienced significantly greater life and role stress followed by administrators and self-employed. Teachers and bankers experienced comparatively lesser stress in both role as well as life. Chand and Monga (2007) examined the correlates of job stress and burn out among 100 faculty members from two universities. Respondents with internal locus of control, high social support and high job involvement experience less stress. Results also revealed that, professors and minimum by assistant professors report maximum stress. Kaur and Kaur (2007) attempted to make a study on occupational stress and burn out among women police. The sample comprised of 80 women police and age ranges between 25-45. The results concluded that police work is most stressful occupation and as the occupational stress increases the level of the burn out also increases. From all these studies, it can be concluded that as the

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position of the worker increases, the stress level also increases. Teachers experienced low stress as compared to other professionals.

4. Experience

Blix et al. (1994) conducted a study on occupational stress among university teachers and found that faculty having less than 10 years of experience had higher stress than faculty with more than 20 years of experience. Ryhal and Singh (1996) considered university faculty for their study comprised sample of 100 faculty members 30 professors, 31 associate and 39 assistant professors. Results revealed that those with 26-35 years experience had higher job stress than those with teaching experience of16-25 years and 5-15 years. Those with 16-25 years experience had higher job stress than those with teaching experience of 5-15 years. Ansari and Singh (1997) made an attempt to explore the contribution of demographic variables to the nature of stress experienced by the teachers in an agriculture university. The study comprised sample of 235 faculty members (23 professors, 74 associate and 138 assistant professors).The associate professors total service experience was positively related to stress. Bhagawan (1997) conducted a study on 100 teachers selected from 20 schools in Orissa. The sample consisted of 100 teachers (53 male and 47 female teachers).The study revealed that higher the teaching experience, lesser the perceived burn out. Bhatia and Kumar (2005) studied on occupational stress and burn out in industrial employees. A sample consisted of 100 employees belonging to supervisor and below supervisor level. Their experience/length of service varied from 2-6 and 7-12 years. Industrial employees at supervisor rank and below supervisor rank with more experience of service had more occupational stress due to more feeling of depersonalization and more exhaustion that is emotional.From the above studies, it can be concluded that the length of service has negative and positive relationship with stress. Even then more

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studies revealed that individual with lesser experience, experienced more stress as compared to the individual with more service years.
5. Type of family

Nuclear family creates more stress as compared to joint family. Joint family and support from the Joint family acts as buffer against stress. Abrol (1990) had examined the strains experienced and coping strategies used by 27 male and 27 female teachers. Results indicated that subjects reported interpersonal and psychological stress. They used social support to deal with stress. Vashishtha and Mishra (1998) observed that social support from the family, coworkers, supervisors and other people could minimize stress among the employees. Pandey and Srivastava (2000) had studied the female personnel working in railway,bank and teaching institutions. A sample of 96 females, 16 subjects in each professional area both from nuclear and joint family were taken. The study identified that respondents belonging to nuclear family had expressed more interpersonal work stress.
6. Organizational factors and stress

The organizational factors seem to have the most significant influence on an individual. The relationship between Organizational factors viz., work, and role, personal development, interpersonal relationship, organizational climate and stress of the individual reviewed as below.
7. MARITAL STATUS

Marital status has an important role in deciding the job satisfaction. Most of the studies have revealed that the married person finds dissatisfaction in his job than his unmarried counterpart. The reasons stated to be are that wages were insufficient due to increased cost of living, educations to children etc

REDUCING STRESS
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1. Job analysis: We have all experienced that appalling sense of having far too much work to do and too little time to do it in. We can choose to ignore this, and work unreasonably long hours to stay on top of our workload. The risks here are that we become exhausted, that we have so much to do that we do a poor quality job and that we neglect other areas of our life. Each of these can lead to intense stress. The alternative is to work more intelligently, by focusing on the things that are important for job success and reducing the time we spend on low priority tasks. Job Analysis is the first step in doing this. The first of the action-oriented skills that we look at is Job Analysis. Job Analysis is a key technique for managing job overload an important source of stress. To do an excellent job, you need to fully understand what is expected of you. While this may seem obvious, in the hurly-burly of a new, fast-moving, high-pressure role, it is oftentimes something that is easy to overlook. By understanding the priorities in your job, and what constitutes success within it, you can focus on these activities and minimize work on other tasks as much as possible. This helps you get the greatest return from the work you do, and keep your workload under control. Job Analysis is a useful technique for getting a firm grip on what really is important in your job so that you are able to perform excellently. It helps you to cut through clutter and distraction to get to the heart of what you need to do. 2. Rational & positive thinking: You are thinking negatively when you fear the future, put yourself down, criticize yourself for errors, doubt your abilities, or expect failure. Negative thinking damages confidence, harms performance and paralyzes mental skills.

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Unfortunately, negative thoughts tend to flit into our consciousness, do their damage and flit back out again, with their significance having barely been noticed. Since we barely realize that they were there, we do not challenge them properly, which means that they can be completely incorrect and wrong. Thought Awareness is the process by which you observe your thoughts and become aware of what is going through your head. One approach to it is to observe your "stream of consciousness" as you think about the thing youre trying to achieve which is stressful. Do not suppress any thoughts. Instead, just let them run their course while you watch them, and write them down on our free worksheet as they occur. Then let them go. Another more general approach to Thought Awareness comes with logging stress in your Stress Diary. When you analyze your diary at the end of the period, you should be able to seethe most common and the most damaging thoughts. Tackle these as a priority using the techniques below. Here are some typical negative thoughts you might experience when preparing to give a major presentation:

Fear about the quality of your performance or of problems that may interfere with it; Worry about how the audience (especially important people in it like your boss) or the press may react to you; Dwelling on the negative consequences of a poor performance; or Self-criticism over a less-than-perfect rehearsal. Thought awareness is the first step in the process of managing negative thoughts, as you cannot manage thoughts that you are unaware of.

Rational Thinking The next step in dealing with negative thinking is to challenge the negative thoughts that you identified using the Thought Awareness technique. Look at every thought you wrote down and challenge it rationally. Ask yourself whether the thought is reasonable. What evidence is there for and against the thought? Would your colleagues and mentors agree or disagree with it?

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Looking at the examples, the following challenges could be made to the negative thoughts we identified earlier:

Feelings of inadequacy: Have you trained yourself as well as you reasonably should have? Do you have the experience and resources you need to make the presentation? Have you planned, prepared and rehearsed enough? If you have done all of these,

youve done as much as you can to give a good performance.

Worries about performance during rehearsal: If some of your practice was less than perfect, then remind yourself that the purpose of the practice is to identify areas for improvement, so that these can be sorted out before the performance.

Problems with issues outside your control: Have you identified the risks of these things happening, and have you taken steps to reduce the likelihood of them happening or their impact if they do? What will you do if they occur? And what do you need others to do for you?

Worry about other people's reactions: If you have prepared well, and you do the best you can, then you should be satisfied. If you perform as well as you reasonably can, then fair people are likely to respond well. If people are not fair, the best thing to do is ignore their comments and rise above them.

When you challenge negative thoughts rationally, you should be able to see quickly whether the thoughts are wrong or whether they have some substance to them. Where there is some substance, take appropriate action. However, make sure that your negative thoughts are genuinely important to achieving your goals, and don't just reflect a lack of experience, which everyone has to go through at some stage.

Positive Thinking & Opportunity Seeking By now, you should already be feeling more positive. The final step is to prepare rational, positive thoughts and affirmations to counter any remaining negativity. It can also be useful to look at the situation and see if there are any useful opportunities

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that are offered by it. By basing your affirmations on the clear, rational assessments of facts that you made using Rational Thinking, you can use them to undo the damage that negative thinking may have done to your self-confidence. Continuing the examples above, positive affirmations might be:

Problems during practice: "I have learned from my rehearsals. This has put me in a position where I can deliver a great performance. I am going to perform well and enjoy the event."

Worries about performance: "I have prepared well and rehearsed thoroughly. I am well positioned to give an excellent performance." Problems issues outside your control: "I have thought through everything that might reasonably happen and have planned how I can handle all likely contingencies. I am very well placed to react flexibly to events."

Worry about other people's reaction: "Fair people will react well to a good performance. I will rise above any unfair criticism in a mature and professional way. Make sure that identifying these opportunities and focusing on them is part of your positive thinking.

3. LAUGHTER During stress, the adrenal gland releases corticosteroids, which are converted to cortical in the blood stream. These have an immunosuppressive effect. Dr. Lee Berk and fellow researcher Dr. Stanley Tan at Loma Linda University School of Medicine have produced carefully controlled studies showing that the experience of laughter lowers serum cortical levels, increases the amount and activity of T lymphocytes the natural killer cells. Laughter also increases the number of T cells that have suppresser receptors. What Laughter Can Do Against Stress And Its Effects?

Laughter lowers blood pressure and reduces hypertension.

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It provides good cardiac conditioning especially for those who are unable to perform physical exercise.

Reduces stress hormones (studies shows, laughter induces reduction of at least four of neuron endocrine hormonesepinephrine, cortical, dopac, and growth hormone, associated with stress response).

Laughter cleanses the lungs and body tissues of accumulated stale air as it empties more air than it takes in. It is beneficial for patients suffering from emphysema and other respiratory ailments.

It increases muscle flexion, relaxation and fluent blood circulation in body. Boosts immune function by raising levels of infection-fighting T-cells, disease fighting proteins called Gamma-interferon and disease-destroying antibodies called B-cells.

Laughter triggers the release of endorphinsbody's natural painkillers. Produces a general sense of well-bein

SCOPE & SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The world today is fast changing and every individual faces a lot of pressure and demand at work. These pressures at work lead to mental and physical disorders. Stress refers to an individuals response to a disturbing factor in the environment and the consequences of such a reaction. This study will help organizations know what causes stress and how to reduce the same in employees since it is a well-known fact that a healthy and sound employee is a productive employee.

Objectives:

To study the stress experienced by employees of HDFC and SBI. To find out the level and source of stress. To know the factors that causes stress. To analyze the perception of employees towards the management in handling stress.

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Research is defined as human activity based on intellectual application in the investigation of matter. The primary purpose for applied research is discovering, interpreting, and the development of methods and systems for the advancement of human knowledge on a wide variety of scientific matters of our world and the universe. Research can use the scientific method, but need not do so. Research methodology is a way to systematically solve the research problem. The research methodology in the present study deals with research design, data collection methods, sampling methods, survey, analysis and interpretations.

APPROACHES TO RESEARCH
Descriptive approach is one of the most popular approaches these days. In this approach, the researcher describes a problem by using questionnaire or schedule. This approach enables a researcher to explore new areas of investigation.

RESEARCH DESIGN

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A research design is the arrangement of conditions for collection and analysis of data in a manner that aims to combine relevance to the research purpose with economy in procedure. A well-structured questionnaire is framed. Data is collected from the employees in the. HDFC AND SBI Findings are made and necessary suggestions and recommendations are given.

DATA SOURCES
There are two types of data collection namely primary data collection and secondary data collection.

PRIMARY DATA
The primary data is defined as the data, which is collected for the first time and fresh in nature, and happen to be original in character through field survey.

SECONDARY DATA
The secondary data are those that have already been collected by someone else and have been passed through statistical process.

DATA COLLECTION METHOD

The data collection method used in this research is questionnaire method. Here the data are systematically recorded from the respondents.

RESEARCH TOOL
A structured questionnaire has been prepared to get the relevant information from the respondents. The questionnaire consists of a variety of questions presented to the respondents for their despondence.

SAMPLING
Sampling is that part of statistical practice concerned with the selection of individual observations intended to yield some knowledge about a population of concern,
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especially for the purposes of statistical inference. Each observation measures one or more properties (weight, location, etc.) of an observable entity enumerated to distinguish objects or individuals. Survey weights often need to be applied to the data to adjust for the sample design. Results from probability theory and statistical theory are employed to guide practice.

SAMPLE UNIT
The employees of the HDFC AND SBI are the sample unit in the survey.

SAMPLE SIZE
The sample size chosen for this study is 100 as instructed by the department since it is a MINIRESEARCH PROJECT.

SAMPLING METHOD
Sampling methods are classified as either probability or non-probability. In probability samples, each member of the population has a known non-zero probability of being selected. Probability methods include random sampling, systematic sampling, and stratified sampling. In non-probability sampling, members are selected from the population in some nonrandom manner. These include convenience sampling, judgment sampling, quota sampling, and snowball sampling. The advantage of probability sampling is that sampling error can be calculated. Sampling error is the degree to which a sample might differ from the population. When inferring to the population, results are reported plus or minus the sampling error. In non probability sampling, the degree to which the sample differs from the population remains unknown. In this research, the sampling methods used are Random sampling, Convenience sampling and Snowball sampling
Random sampling is the purest form of probability sampling. Each member of

the population has an equal and known chance of being selected. When there

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are very large populations, it is often difficult or impossible to identify every member of the population, so the pool of available subjects becomes biased.
Judgment sampling is a common non-probability method. The researcher

selects the sample based on judgment. This is usually an extension of convenience sampling. For example, a researcher may decide to draw the entire sample from one "representative" city, even though the population includes all cities. When using this method, the researcher must be confident that the chosen sample is truly representative of the entire population.
Snowball sampling is a special non-probability method used when the desired

sample characteristic is rare. It may be extremely difficult tor cost prohibitive to locate respondents in these situations. Snowball sampling relies on referrals from initial subjects to generate additional subjects. While this technique can dramatically lower search costs, it comes at the expense of introducing bias because the technique itself reduces the likelihood that the sample will represent a good cross section from the population.

STATISTICAL METHODS USED

Percentage analysis Pie diagram PERCENTAGE ANALYSIS: Percentage refers to a special kind of ratio. Percentages are used in making comparison between two or more series of data. Percentage is used to describe relative terms the distribution of two or more series of data.

No. of Respondents Percentage of Respondents = ------------------------ X 100 Total Respondents

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Demographic Profile Age: Table 1 Respondents 20-25 25-30 30-35 35-ABOVE TOTAL No. Respondent 25 25 30 20 100 percentage 25 25 30 20 100

Interpretation:

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From the above chart and table, it is evident that 30% of the respondents are 30-35 of age and 25% of the respondents are 20-25 and 25-30

Gender: Table 2

Respondents MALE FEMALE TOTAL

No. Respondent 50 50 100

percentage 50 50 100

Interpretation: From the above chart and table, it is evident that 50% of the respondents are male and 50% of the respondents are female

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Monthly Income: Table 3 Respondents Below Rest. 10,000 10,000- 20000 20,000-30000 Above 30,000 TOTAL No. Respondent 25 25 30 20 100 percentage 25 25 30 20 100

Interpretation: From the above chart and table it is clearly evident that 30% of the respondents are20000-30000of monthly and 25% of the respondents are 10000-20000

Education Qualification Table 4

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Respondents Under graduation Post graduation TOTAL

No. Respondent 55 45 100

percentage 55 45 100

Interpretation: From the above chart and table it is evident that 55% of the respondents are UG of education and 45% of the respondents are PG

Marital Status Table 5 Responses MARRIED UNMARRIED No. of Responses 65 35 percentage 65 35

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TOTAL

100

100

Interpretation: From the above chart and table, it is evident that 65% of the respondents are Married of age and 35% of the respondents are unmarried

Years of experience:
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Table 5 Responses Less than 1yr 1-2 yrs 2-3 yrs 3-4 yrs Above 4yrs TOTAL No. Responses 20 20 30 20 10 100

Interpretation: From the above chart and table, it is evident that 65% of the respondents are 2-3of years of experiences and 20% of the respondents are unmarried

1. Do you satisfied with your current job?

Responses Yes

No. of Responses 80

percentage 80

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No Total

20 100

20 100

No. of Respondents

Yes No

Interpretation: From the above chart and table, it is evident that 80% of the respondents are said YES, they satisfied their current job and 20% of the respondents are said no

2. Do you regularly spend time for entertainment?

Responses Yes No Total

No. of Respondents 68 32 100

percentage 68 32 100

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Interpretation: From the above chart and table, it is evident that 68% of the respondents are said YES, they entertainment regularly and 32% of the respondents are said no.

3. Do you balance your work and personal life?

Response Yes No Total

N o. of R esp onses percentage 55 45 100 55 45 100

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Interpretation: From the above chart and table, it is evident that 55% of the respondents are said YES, they balance their work and personal life and 45% of the respondents are said no

4. Do you respond with anger, when someone interrupts you?

Responses Yes No Total

No. of Respondents 32 78 100

percentage 32 78 100

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Interpretation: From the above chart and table, it is evident that 32% of the respondents are said YES, they respond with anger, when someone interrupts them and 78% of the respondents are said no

5. Do you discuss your problems with your colleagues or any other close to you?

Response Yes No Total

No. of Respondent 51 49 100

percentage 51 49 100

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Interpretation: From the above chart and table, it is evident that 51% of the respondents are said YES, they discuss their problems with their colleagues or any other close to them and 49% of the respondents are said no

6. Are you tensed at your non-achievement of your target?

Responses Yes No Total

No. of Respondents 85 15 100

percentage 85 15 100

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Interpretation: From the above chart and table, it is evident that 85% of the respondents are said YES, tensed at their non-achievement of their target and 15% of the respondents are said no

7. Do you find that you are prone to negative thinking about your job?

Responses Yes No Total

No. of Respondents 32 78 100

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percentage 32 78 100

Interpretation: From the above chart and table, it is evident that 32% of the respondents are said YES, they are prone to negative thinking about their job and 78% of the respondents are said no

8. Do you have trouble falling asleep?

Responses Yes No Total

No. of Respondents 58 42 100

percentage 58 42 100

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Interpretation: From the above chart and table, it is evident that 58% of the respondents are said YES, trouble falling asleep and 42% of the respondents are said no

9. Do you have problem of BP/Sugar/any other health problems?

Responses Yes No Total Interpretation:

No. of Respondents 85 15 100

percentage 85 15 100

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From the above chart and table, it is evident that 85% of the respondents are said YES, they have problem of BP/Sugar/any other health problems and 15% of the respondents are said no

10. Do you feel stress sometimes?

Responses Always Often Occasionally Rarely Never Total

No. of Respondents 40 42 10 08 00 100

percentage 40 42 10 08 00 100

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Interpretation: From the above chart and table, it is evident that 42% of the respondents are said often they have feel stress sometimes and 8% of the respondents are said rarely.

11. Reason of your stress is

Responses Work load Family problems Both Others Total

No. of Respondents 28 31 38 11 100

percentage 28 31 38 11 100

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Interpretation: From the above chart and table, it is evident that 38% of the respondents are said family problems Reason of your stress and 11% of the respondents are said rarely.

12. Yoga or Meditation will reduce your stress.

Responses Strongly agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly Disagree Total

No. of Respondents 22 29 41 8 0 100

percentage 22 29 41 8 0 100

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Interpretation: From the above chart and table, it is evident that 41% of the respondents are said undecided Yoga or Meditation will reduce your stress and 11% of the respondents are said rarely

13. Spending time with your family/friends reduces stress.

Responses Strongly agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly disagree Total

No. of Respondents 48 33 12 07 00 100

percentage 48 33 12 07 00 100

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Interpretation: From the above chart and table, it is evident that 48% of the respondents are strongly agree said and 7% of the respondents are disagree

14. Is your social life balanced?

Responses Yes No Total

No. of Respondents 48 52 100

percentage 48 52 100

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Interpretation: From the above chart and table, it is evident that 48% of the respondents are strongly agree said yes and 52% of the respondents are no

15. You have an important function at your home and your boss asks to give a 4

hour over time, what will be your response?

Responses Yes No Total

No. of Respondents 28 72 100

percentage 28 72 100

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Interpretation: From the above chart and table, it is evident that 28% of the respondents are said yes and 72% of the respondents are said no

FINDINGS
1. Most of the respondents have many years of long association with the organization 2. Most of the employees feel that they have no time for themselves and their personal lives because of work overload. 3. The respondents are sociable and have no problems interacting with their colleagues. 4. Employees are satisfied with the working conditions. 5. Role overload is the major cause of stress.

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6. The respondents face a moderate level of stress

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RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Organize a Stress Management Program that focuses on different leave

categories of employees at all hierarchical level.

2. Take adequate steps to redesign jobs, which are taxing to employees abilities

and capacities.
3. Adequate role clarification to be made whenever necessary to eliminate role

ambiguity.
4. Introduce more job oriented training programs, which improve employees

skill and their confidence to work effectively.

5. Encourage open channel of communication to deal work related stress. 6. Undertake stress audit at all levels in the organization to identify stress area

improving conditions of job and alleviating job stress.

7. Introduce Pranayam (Brain Stilling and control of Vital Force) as a holistic

managerial strategy to deal with occupational strategy.

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8. . Provide counseling on work related and personnel problems and support

from a team of welfare health and counseling staff.

9. Attractive system of reward and recognition of good work. 10. Companies must have the Stress Management Programmers like yoga. 11. Company must start Recreation center for employees where employees can

play and do yoga.

12. Top management must do proper arrangement to reduce the work stress of

employees.
13. The Banks must start Recreation Centers.

EMPLOYEES SUGGESTION TO REDUCE STRESS

This project consists of the information about the employees, working in the banking industry, who are undergoing stress. So considering this factor, the topic becomes one of the most important parts of the project as it consists of the opinion of the employees who work in the banks. The response of employees from major banks in the city was marvelous as they gave their valuable opinion about reducing stress because of the last question included in the questionnaire. The opinion of the employees was as follows:

Just smile away An employee- HDFC Bank Just believe in yourself and just do what your heart wants An employeeHDFC Bank Talking to family member - Watching TV or listening good music, Going for a walk or long drive An employee- HDFC Bank Working in environment welfares, lot of positive attitude. Positive attitude is only that reduces stress and achieves success. Most of the people frustrate due to lack of positively and stress level climbs up due to that. So get positive attitude about work, about life, and forget the stress An employee- SBI Bank

We should do such activities from which we get happiness and also make others happy. Pass your time with your close friends and
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relatives. An employee- SBI Bank

Play and watch cricket An employee- SBI Bank Listen music and spend time with family An employee- SBI Bank Get adjusted with others, Find and spend time for prayer, Study the scriptures, See oneness in all, All are manifested of the supreme GOD An employee- SBI Bank

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Conclusion
Stress is an inevitable consequence of socioeconomic complexity and, to some extent, its stimulant as well. People experience stress, as they can no longer have complete control over what happens in their lives.

Employees share their problems with their colleagues and Supervisors. Management of Private Sector Banks is more effective in handling their stress situations as compared to Public Sector Banks. Most of the employees of HDFC Bank handle stressful situations optimistically as compared to state of India.

Most of the employees are satisfied with the existing stress Management system LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY In spite of the precautions, vigilance and scrupulousness taken by the investigator to make the study objective, it cannot be denied that there are certain limitations.

The questionnaires were filled be 100 employees working in, HDFC bank and SBI bank. Therefore, the scope of sample findings was less.

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100 employees of different designations filled the questionnaire. Therefore, the point of view of employees differs as per their designations. The employees from whom the questionnaires are filled are in a heavy workload so some of the questionnaires filled by the employees who are in stress cannot be called reasonable.

As the study was done within a limited time, investigator could not select a sufficiently large sample for the study. The employees were reluctant to give correct information

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LIST OF REFERENCES Tatum Malcom, What is Occupational stress; Wisegeek publications; November: 23; 2011; http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-occupational-stress.htm Wikipedia, Occupationalstress; December2010; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupational_stress Townscend C Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing;5th edition; Jaypeepublications; Page no:3-8
1. Peace, The Concept of Stress;Friday;December22;2006

http://motivationcentre.blogspot.com/2006/12/concept-of-stress.html
2. Deepimano, Stress among bank employees; Future studies; posted on 2-11-

2011,http://www.oppapers.com/essays/Stress-Among-Bank-Employees/579423 Malik Nadeem A study on occupational stress experienced by private and public banks employees; African journal business management; Volume 5;Page no:3063-3070;18 April 2011. http://www.academicjournals.org/ajbm/pdf/pdf2011/18Apr/Malik.pdf
3. Scott Elizabeth, Effects of poorly managed anger; about.com; June27;2011.

http://stress.about.com/od/stresshealth/a/anger_proble

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DHHS, Stress at work; Centre for disease control and prevention; NIOSH PublicationsNo: 99101; 1999 http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/99-101/ Life positive foundation, Stress and work place; 2000-2011 http://www.lifepositive.com/mind/psychology/stress/stress-at- work. asp AIS, Job Stress-Stress at work; American Institute Of Stress http://www.stress.org/job.htm

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QUESTIONNAIRE
Name: Age: ... a) 20-25 b) 25-30 c) 30-35 d) 35 and above Gender:

a) Male b) female
Monthly Income: a) Below Rest. 10,000 b) 10,000- 20000 c) 20,000-30000d) Above 30,000 Education Qualification:

a) Under graduation b) Post graduation

Marital Status

a) Married b) Unmarried
Years of experience: a) Less than 1yr b) 1-2 yrs c) 2-3 yrs d) 3-4 yrs e) Above 4yrs b) 1. Do you satisfied with your current job?

a) Yes

b) No

2. Do you regularly spend time for entertainment?

a) Yes

b)) No

3. Do you balance your work and personal life?

a) Yes

b) No

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4. Do you respond with anger, when someone interrupted you?

a) Yes

b) No

5. Do you discuss your problems with your colleagues or any other close to you?

a) Yes

b) No

6. Are you get tensed at your non-achievement of your target?

a) Yes

b) No

7. Do you find that you are prone to negative thinking about your job

a) Yes

b) No

8. Do you have trouble falling asleep?

a) Yes

b) No

9. Do you have problem of BP/Sugar/any other health problems?

a) Yes b) No 10. Do you feel stress sometimes? a) Always c) Occasionally e) Never

11. Reason of your stress is

b) Often d) Rarely

a) Workload or work related problems b) Family problems c) Both d) Others

12. Yoga or Meditation will reduce your stress. a) Strongly b) Agree

c) Undecided

d) Disagree

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e) Strongly disagree 13. Spending time with your family/friends reduces stress. a) Strongly agree c) Undecided e) Strongly disagree b) Agree d) Disagree

14. . Is your social life balanced?

a) Yes

b) No

15. You have an important function at your home and your boss asks to give a 4 hour

over time, what will be your response? a) Yes b) No

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