CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
 SUMMARY

Problem statement

The problem statement that we have covered in this report is to find out various sources of
stress that are prevalent across different levels in an organization. After doing our primary
survey we have also reported various strategies that an individual, as well as an organization,
takes to cope with stress.

Method used:
The methodology used in this report covers a secondary survey which has been used as a
reference in the primary survey having 54 respondents’ answers covering various areas where
they have felt stress and what all measures have been taken by them and the organization to
reduce stress at the workplace.

Primary survey: The survey has covered responses from 54 respondents having work
experience across different industries ranging from defence, banking, education, IT etc.
Responses collected were under the following headers:-

1. What kind of job Description conflicts do you face?

2. Which type of Job Barrier Stress have you felt?
3. Do you feel stressed due to the following?
4. Work overload stress
5. Work underload/boredom-induced stress
6. The problem of Job security
7. How often do you undertake the following activities to overcome your stress?

 Engaging in physical exercise/sports

 Meditation/yoga
 Healthy diet
 Shopping
 Taking time off
 Music/tv
 Eat and sleep more than usual
 Smoking/ Drinking

8. How often do you undertake the following activities to overcome your stress?

Secondary survey: The report has references from various secondary sources whose link has
been given in the reference tab. Findings from these reports were used to formulate our
questionnaire for the primary survey.

Main findings:
 50% of respondents were stressed due to uncertainties about exact job responsibilities,
poor flow of information in order to carry out the job, faced discomfort with handling
unethical assignments
 For 85% of those surveyed, having the little possibility of advancement or a raise and
having their work go unappreciated are the main causes of stress.
 85% of them have trouble talking to their boss, unfriendly attitudes from co-workers, boss
being overly critical of their work and boss giving little feedback about work are some
reasons
 When we asked about how they deal with the stress most of them shared that they
undertake different activities. 13% of them engage in physical exercise or sports, 12%
seek out conversations with friends, focus on a healthier diet and there are 8% of people
just try to ignore it.

Consequence of stress

The physiological consequences of stress are blood pressure, headaches, increased heart rate
etc. whereas the physical consequences are chronic stress that causes absenteeism,
indecisiveness, nervousness etc. The behavioural consequences of stress are sleeping
disorders, increased drinking and smoking habits, annoyance and so on.

This might negatively increase absenteeism and turnover for the firms. It also creates a great
gap between the actual expectation and the outcomes because the firm becomes unable to
maintain a harmonious relationship between the employers and the employees, which leads to
reduced job satisfaction and also creates moral problems in recruitment.

Strategies to manage stress:

By Organizations
 Team Lunches/Dinners
 Flexible working hours & conditions
 Mandatory annual leaves, sports activities/festival celebrations, offsite events and team-
building events
 Wellness counselling sessions
 Charity Initiatives

By Individuals
 Create a daily "to-do" list
 Take regular pauses to unwind
 Engage in some physical activity
 Find a fun way to release stress, such as cracking jokes, playing tennis, golf, etc
 Do not remain preoccupied with yourself.

Conclusion:

We have seen various levels of stress prevalent at different levels in an organization.

Individuals take various steps to cope with this stress and organizations at their level have
also started adopting various policies to reduce the level of stress faced by an individual at the
workplace.
 INTRODUCTION

Stress has become an ever-increasing focal point in the world of business. Like motivation,
stress is a very individual experience. One person can feel extreme pressure and anxiety over
a task that is looming, and another might look at the same task and see it as an exciting
challenge.

Stress is a dynamic condition, and it exists when an individual is confronted with an

opportunity, constraint or demand related to what he or she desires, and for which the
outcome is perceived to be both uncertain and important.

Stress isn’t necessarily bad, even though it’s usually discussed in a negative context. There’s
opportunity in stress, and that’s a good thing because it offers potential gain. Athletes and
performers use stress positively in “clutch” situations, using it to push themselves to their
performance maximums. Even ordinary workers in an organization will use an increased
workload and responsibilities as a challenge that increases the quality and quantity of their
outputs.

Stress is negative when it’s associated with constraints and demands. Constraints are forces
that prevent a person from doing what he or she wants. Demands represent the loss of
something desired. They’re the two conditions that are necessary for potential stress to
become actual stress. Again, there must be uncertainty over the outcome and the outcome
must be important.

A student may feel stress when he is taking a test because he’s facing an opportunity (a
passing grade) that includes constraints and demands (in the form of a timed test that features
tricky questions). A full-time employee may feel stress when she is confronted with a project
because she’s facing an opportunity (a chance to achieve something, make extra money and
receive recognition) that includes constraints and demands (long hours, time away from
family, chance that his knowledge and skills aren’t enough to complete the project correctly).

Talking in particular about a typical corporate setting, where there will be different
hierarchical levels and jobs with different functionalities as well as responsibilities, there will
be a difference in the levels of stress a person might feel depending on the level of hierarchy
or the type of job whether for example it would be more physically demanding for mental in
addition there can be several other factors that can contribute a person’s stress level which
can be the job-specific or industry-specific as well.

Due to these varying factors and the inevitable stress that might come along with a specific
job, corporate firms try to introduce various activities and ways in which these stresses can be
either compensated for or tried to reduce them with engaging activities etc.
 STRESS AT DIFFERENT LEVELS OF ORGANIZATION

Employees experience and feel stressed for a variety of reasons, and thus reactions to stress at
work are not a separate aspect. Employees' stress levels rise as they advance through the
ranks, from subordinates to first-line managers, middle managers, and finally senior
leadership positions. Stress can arise as a result of changes in our personal lives. Internal
issues in the home, such as the loss of loved ones, financial problems, and divorce, are
examples of personal issues that contribute to stress. These could be classified as individual
causes of stress. On the other hand, there is stress caused by organizational factors. These
factors are those faced by the employees at the workplace. Issues such as role uncertainty (not
knowing exactly what we are supposed to do and what others expect from us) and having too
much work on hand with insufficient time to complete it can cause workplace stress. There
may also be a lack of information available to you in order for you to do your job, or you may
lack the necessary competency. Whereas lack of control, suddenness, and ambiguity are
factors that contribute to stress, role ambiguity is the leading cause of workplace stress. Other
job barriers that can contribute to job dissatisfaction and stress are limited opportunities for
advancement, being unsuitable for the job role, or work that you do not find personally
meaningful. In some cases, work goes unnoticed, or another employee takes credit for the
work you did, causing employee distress.

Work overload is one of the leading causes of stress among new managers, owing to the
responsibility of managing too many people and projects whereas work overload/boredom
caused stress among associate-level employees who aspired more and had too little
responsibility at work or performed mundane tasks and found themselves overqualified for
the job. They are not learning anything new and continuously looking for better
opportunities. Interactions between work and personal life were strongly associated with
stress in subordinates. Negative interactions between work and private life have been shown
to have a negative impact on well-being and health, whereas influence and autonomy over
work have been shown to mitigate these effects. Managers have more leeway in adjusting
their assignments to meet demands in their personal lives.

Subordinates have fewer opportunities like this. Managers typically face higher demands,
more workplace conflicts, and more conflicts between work and personal life than
subordinates. Managers also have more control, autonomy, influence, freedom at work, and
social support than their subordinates. They are generally healthier than their subordinates.
Thus, while managers have extremely demanding jobs, they also have more control,
influence, and information than their subordinates, which is thought to mitigate the impact of
their experienced demands.

Conflict with decision-making and people development, as well as a long list of task-related
and interpersonal workplace demands, contribute to psychological distress and leadership
stress in senior positions. Unfortunately, when senior executives experience leadership stress,
it is not due to an impending challenge. It's usually a sense of dread associated with
constantly trying to do more with less. In many cases, the process of rumination — thinking
about past experiences or imagining scenarios in the future and attaching negative emotions
to them — only serves to amplify the stress.
Types of personality and the degree of being affected by stress

Friedman and Rosenman (1974) conducted a study that identified two personality patterns
known as Type A and Type B personalities. Type A personalities are prone to stress because
of the pressure they place on themselves; these individuals are constantly attempting to
multitask, are aggressive, and are anxious. Type B personalities, on the other hand, are more
relaxed and calm. Type A personalities are more likely to be promoted and have power over
their jobs because of the hard work they put in, but they are also more likely to be reported as
having too much stress or suffering from health problems. Because of their anxiety and lack
of patience, people with such personalities are rarely promoted to the top of the
organizational
hierarchy. When comparing type A and type B personalities, type B personalities are far
superior and have the potential to become top executives. As a result, an individual's thoughts
are influenced by whether he or she perceives a situation to be stressful or not. It is primarily
determined by a person's personality, and the level of stress experienced is also influenced by
people's unique personalities. The degree of stress experienced depends on factors such as
recognition of demand which means that people must know that demand exists. When people
try to fulfil their demands, in case they don’t respond suitably, it could harm them. Second,
the threatening situation must have value to the person and finally, the outcome of the
demand must be uncertain.

Sources of stress at different levels- Findings

Level 1

20+ responses are from the age group of 18-25 years working in different sectors and most of
them have experience of only 0-1 years, they consist of analysts and entry-level members of
the organization. There are different causes of stress faced at the managerial level in the
initial year due to different reasons. For this age group some of them are:

 Stress due to Uncertainty of Job Description:

i. Uncertainties about exact job responsibility (based on responses from about 40%
of the workers in this range)
ii. Poor flow of information to you in order to carry the job (the same as above but
on a bit lower side of the curve)
 Job Barrier Stress:
i. Work has no personal meaning, Work goes unrecognized (The majority of the
respondents deemed these two to be the major issue under this category)
 Other reasons for stress:
i. These include, but are not limited to, based on the responses, the majority of the
respondents said Ideas differing from a supervisor, and trouble talking to bosses to
be major issues that they face usually in the organization.
ii. Along with these, a major chunk of the respondents said being responsible for too
many people/projects under them as part of their job is the major reason for the
work overload stress that they face regularly in the organization.
iii. As for the underload, the respondents said not learning anything new and
redundant work along with no ownership or too little responsibility was the reason
for them having underload and boring work.
Level 2

13+ responses are from the age group of 25-40 years working in different sectors and most of
them have experience of more than 5+ years and many of them are senior associates, first-line
managers or middle managers. There are different causes of stress faced at the managerial
level in the initial year due to different reasons. For this age group some of them are:

 Stress due to Uncertainty of Job Description

i. 55% of respondents were stressed due to uncertainties about exact job responsibilities,
the work they were doing are not similar to the job responsibilities, faced discomfort
with handling unethical assignments
 Job Barrier Stress
i. For 46% of those surveyed, having a little possibility of advancement or a raise and
having their work go unappreciated are the main causes of stress.
 Other reasons for stress
i. 38% of them have trouble with their boss being overly critical of the work, unfriendly
attitudes from co-workers, boss being overly critical of their work and boss giving
little feedback about work are reasons
ii. For 50% of them work overload stress like being responsible for too many
people/projects and co-workers being inefficient are some causes
iii. 75% of them feel that they are not learning anything new and feel repetitive or highly
specialized routine which causes them stress
iv. Due to the issues related to job security, 40% of them need "pull" to get ahead

Level 3

20+ responses are from the age group of 40-60 years working in different sectors and most of
them have experience of more than 10+ years and many of them are managers. As we
discussed earlier there are different causes of stress faced at the managerial level due to
different reasons. For this age group some of them are:

 Stress due to Uncertainty of Job Description

i. 50% of respondents were stressed due to uncertainties about exact job responsibilities,
poor flow of information in order to carry out the job, faced discomfort with handling
unethical assignments
 Job Barrier Stress
i. For 85% of those surveyed, having little possibility of advancement or a raise and
having their work go unappreciated are the main causes of stress.
 Other reasons for stress
i. 85% of them have trouble talking to their boss, unfriendly attitudes from co-workers,
boss being overly critical of their work and boss giving little feedback about work are
some reasons
ii. For 50% of them work overload stress like being responsible for too many
people/projects and co-workers being inefficient are some causes
iii. 75% of them feel that they are not learning anything new and feel repetitive or highly
specialized routine which causes them stress
iv. Due to the issues related to job security, 40% of them need "pull" to get ahead
 CONSEQUENCES OF STRESS ON EMPLOYEES

We have seen different types of stress, now we will see the consequences of some of these
stresses. Episodic stress is defined as “a pattern of high stress followed by intervals of relief”
whereas chronic stress is defined as the “stress caused by the continual confrontation of
stressors without relief.

The consequences of suffering from harmful chronic stress are divided into three categories;
these are physiological, psychological and behavioural consequences. Some of the signs of
physiological stress are blood pressure, elevated heart rate and headaches whereas the
psychological symptoms are nervousness, unhappiness and bad temperedness all these
emotions can lead to a lack of concentration, indecisiveness and absenteeism.

If individuals can’t find solutions to their stressors, they might end up feeling miserable, and
mad, and often refuse to believe in the fact that they are caught up in an imaginary life. The
behavioural consequences of persons exposed to chronic stress are greater alcohol
consumption, disrespectful behaviours and restlessness.

The other consequence of stress is that it can cause many diseases. There is an indication that
stress could be one of the causes of these diseases; Coronary heart disease, Hypertension and
cancer but the extent to which one person is affected by a stress-related disease also depends
profoundly on what type of personality that person has.
According to Friedman & Rosenman (1974) and Friedman & Ulmer (1984) type, A
personalities are persons who are competitive, punctual and perfectionists whereas Type B
individuals are hassle-free, sympathetic and pleased with their work. For example- if a person
has a type A personality, he gets easily irritated and a type B personality is less exposed to
stress. Therefore, a change in physiological, psychological and behavioural change could be
regarded as a consequence of stress.

Overall, the physiological consequences of stress are blood pressure, headaches, increased
heart rate etc. whereas the physical consequences are chronic stress that causes absenteeism,
indecisiveness, nervousness etc.

The behavioural consequences of stress are sleeping disorders, increased drinking and
smoking habits, annoyance and so on. Some of the responses to behavioural stressors are to
confront the situation. There are two terms in dealing with stress that is important to consider.
The first one is known as (fight) which is to tackle the issue or problem and find a solution
for it and the second one is called (flight) which is to walk away from the stressors.
 STEPS AND STRATEGIES TO COMBAT STRESS

Organizational strategies for managing stress

 Promoting more organizational communication with the workforce to prevent role

ambiguity or conflict. Additionally, good communication might alter workers'
perspectives. Better signals and symbols that are not misconstrued by employees can
be used by managers.
 Encourage them to take part in decision-making. Thus, role stress will be decreased.
 The employees should be given more freedom, insightful input, and responsibility.
 The organization's goals must be specific, motivating, and practical. Concrete
feedback on how well the employees are progressing toward these goals must be
given to them.
 Encourage decentralization, job enrichment and job rotation.
 Distribution of incentives and pay should be equitable and reasonable.
 Create a just and safe working environment and an effective hiring and orientation
procedure. Reward the staff appropriately for achieving and exceeding their goals.

Organizational strategies for managing stress- Findings

Some of the common measures that were taken by different organizations to help employees
deal with stress were -

 Team Lunches/Dinners - most common in the workplace, 27 out of 54 respondents

witnessed this in their organization.
 Flexible working hours & conditions - Since the dawn of COVID lockdowns this is
one of the most looked upon criteria by employees, to have the flexibility to work at
your own pace at your preferred location. 25 out of 54 respondents were offered this
by their employer.
 Mandatory annual leaves, sports activities/festival celebrations, offsite events and
team building events are some of the other measures taken by orgs to help the
employees foster a sense of connectivity, the lack of which is often a major reason for
 the dissatisfaction and stress among the employees. On average 16 to 20 employees
out of the 54 responses had one of these offered by their employer.
 Wellness counselling sessions - Corporate counselling is like a health care program
for employees. Gone are the days when mental/psychological health issues were
considered taboo in the workplace, now these issues are openly addressed by the
organizations and measures have been taken to help the employees tackle the stress
due to the same. 16 out of 54 respondents were offered such sessions in their
organization.
 Facility for daycare/creches - This is one of the facilities which was seen lacking in
most of the organizations and one which needs to be worked upon, especially at
places where the average workforce’s age is around 30 years. Only 4 respondents
were offered this in their company.
 Charity Initiatives - Often employees feel they aren’t contributing enough to society
and they should be giving more to the community, which causes stress. To deal with
this charity initiatives could be promoted more in organizations, only 4 respondents
claimed they had this at their workplace.

Individual strategies for managing stress

 Employees should create a daily "to-do" list, assign a priority to each item, and
schedule each task accordingly.
 Throughout the day, take regular pauses to unwind. By using good time management,
people can meet deadlines, deal with pressure at work, and minimize stress.
 Engage in some physical activity. It promotes healthy blood circulation, maintains
you in shape, and takes your mind off job demands.
 Maintain a fit lifestyle. Take frequent naps, drink lots of water, and practice healthy
eating. Encourage the use of relaxation practices including yoga, music listening, and
meditation. Employees should approach their work with positivity. They should have
self-awareness, self-confidence and self-control in the workplace.
 The employees should foster a sense of community. The staff will be able to cope
with stress thanks to this social network.
 Employee counselling is a highly effective tactic for reducing employee stress.
Employees may learn about their talents and how to enhance them, as well as their
deficiencies and how to eradicate them, through counselling. Employees are also
given career counselling which helps in reducing their ambiguities with regard to their
careers.
 Find a fun way to release stress, such as cracking jokes, playing tennis, golf, etc.

Individual strategies to overcome stress- Findings

Every person perceives stress in a different manner irrespective of the levels and organization
one works in and therefore there are a variety of activities/initiatives that a person might
adopt on an individual level in order to combat stress. In our analysis of different types of
activities undertaken to reduce stress, we considered some of the most commonly used
activities (physical exercise/sports, meditation/yoga, conversation with friends,
shopping/movie/dinner, time offs, internet/TV and eating/sleeping more) and studied their
frequency of usage by people across different levels. The following graph shows how
frequently people opt for a particular activity:-
Some of the observations are listed below:-
 People consider physical exercise/sports to be a good measure to overcome stress as a
very less number of them choose never for the same. Another quite commonly used
measure is the internet/TV, used by people constantly to combat stress.
 Yoga and meditation are not very frequently practised by people to overcome stress
which is in deep contrast with their actual benefits.
 People often share their feelings with friends and try to discuss things so to gain new
perspectives, which can be cited from the graph to be the most commonly used
method.

The following tables show the type of activity preferred to combat stress by different
particular levels. The green highlighted cells show a high inclination towards these specific
measures, on the other hand, the red highlighted cells show deep disapproval of using the
activity to manage stress. The bracket shows the total responses in that category.

Method to combat stress Level 1 Method to combat stress Level 2

(23) (13)
Practicing meditation & yoga 5 Physical exercise/sports 11
Conversation with friends 17 Meditation and yoga 10
Focusing on a healthier diet 6 Shopping/movie/dinner 4
Shopping/movie/dinner 14 Taking time off 9
Using internet/music/TV 17 Using internet/music/TV 5

Method to combat stress Level 3 (20)

Practicing meditation and yoga 11
Focusing on a healthier diet 10
Going out on shopping/movie/dinner 2
Taking time off 12
Using internet/music/TV 2

Some of the observations are listed below-

 People at level 1(which majorly constitutes youngsters) prefer hanging out with
friends and the internet to overcome stress whereas these are opted for by very less
people from level 3.
 As compared to level 1 people from level 3 focus more on a healthier diet and prefer
taking time off from their working life.
 People at level 2 prefer physical exercise and meditation and yoga to be the preferred
mode of stress management.
 Other activities are generally adopted by people from all levels in mixed proportions.
RECOMMENDATIONS
 CONCLUSION

Stress has become a source of many problems in almost all the organisations in the
present time. We saw how 85% people in any organisation feel stressed due to
uncertainty of responsibility of job or due to little possibility of raise in the
organisation.

And with respect to the number of people (85%) who feel stressed, on an average,
only 12% feel the need to deal with it by talking to friends, through physical activities
or by just ignoring it.

Stress management is an important part for an organization as employees may end up

feeling miserable. The consequences of stress are directed towards blood pressure,
headaches, increased heart rates, indecisiveness, nervousness.

Sleeping disorder, increased drinking, smoking habits, annoyance are the other
consequences caused by stress and this all can lead to employee’s productivity and
contribution in individual and group setting.

The behavioural consequences of stress are sleeping disorders, increased drinking and
smoking habits, annoyance and so on.

Many steps are taken by organizations and at individual level also to tackle stress at
different levels which are according to the surveys and studies of 3 types, level 1,
level 2, and level 3, such as team dinners/lunches, flexible working hours, annual
leaves, festival celebrations, team building events, creating to-do list, regular pauses,
engagement in physical activities and many more.
REFERENCES
APPENDIX