RESEARCH DESIGN

Stress c a n occur in all occupations for any one a t any level.

The failure to achieve one's goals, the search for personal
fulfillment a n d meanlng in life, dissatisfaction and n+aise
worker

- are

of the

the sorts of global issues that have been included in

the concept of stress. Each person h a s a profile of needs that a r e

relevant to h ~ or
s her performance on the job. At the same time,
each job. often by ~ t svery nature a n d sometimes because of
organlsational structure has a l~kelihood of satlsfylng certaln
needs and not others. When the lob needs of the worker and the
need fulfilling properties of the job are closely related. stress is less
likely to occur. When they are different, stress is llkely to occur.
Thus, stress

1s

the result of a 'm~sfitbetween a person's skills and

a b i l ~ t ~ and
e s demands of the job and a misfit in terms of a person's
needs supplied by the job

environments

(French, Rogers & Cobb

19711.

In India, in most of the so-called bureaucratic organisations,

the problems mentioned a s stress causing a n red tape, paper

work a n d communication problems, because administrative power

m
i centraliucd. I t in only in one peraon's hand a n d he makes
20

decisions, while t h e focal person has to abide by these decisions. If

this results i n hindenng task achievement t h e focal person
expmrnces strcaa. Next, the administrative influence in a work
environment i s often transmitted via rules. regulations a n d policy
influences. All three when in excess produce stress. The more
seruelcsti the r u l e s and regulations and the morehrbitrary the

policy, the more t h e stress. Another important variable which gives

nw

to

stress

is

the

perceived

level

of

participation

in

organlsat~onal policy and d e c ~ s ~ o -n m a k ~ n g . Not having the

opportunity

to partlclpate In decls~onsthat affect one's work may

cause stress.

Work envlrunments arc heterogeneous and have d~fferent

strrssors

Most

organlsatlons

e ~ t h e r ~ m p l r c ~ t l \or

explicitly

enshnne thclr success crlterla In their goals a n d objectives Work

organlsatlons d o not operate In the r n e c h a n ~ s t ~manner
c
suggested
bv the smooth transformatlon of o r g a n ~ s a t ~ o n aOl ~
m a n a p a l actlon In practice. thls transformatlon
a number of factors

J C C ~ ~ Into
V ~ S

1s influenced

by

For example, the o r g a n ~ s a t ~ o n apolitlcs

l

engaged In by changing coal~tlonof managers, who often operate

mth m m n t a n d confictmg ideas about o r g a n ~ s a h o n a el n d s a n d

m a n s . Consequently many managers find themselves m a

stressful situation where both short a n d long-term objectives are

subject to constant revision and the means adopted to achieve
them a r e constantly modified or abandoned altogether.

From the above discussions, it is clear that stresses may

arlse because of structural factors of the organisation, job factors
a n d perceptions of the focal person of his role set members and of
hls own 'self. The stress also p v e s rise to organisational
consequences. The present study

1s not

only aimed a t investigating

the above variables In relatlon to organlsatlonal stress, but also, to

~dentlfythe slgnlficant coptng suategles adopted to manage the
stress effectively.

2.1

SAMPLE

Commercial Banks in lndia have been classified into Public

Sector Banks, R v a t e Sector Banks a n d Co-operative Sector

Banks.

Public sector banks are further subdivided into State

Banks of lndia and its Associates and other Nationalised Banks.

h v a t e sector banks have been classified into R v a t e sector banks
a n d foreign banks,

i n addition to this co-operative sector do

operate banks under the classification 'Co-operative Banks'.

Further for this study t h e researcher h a s taken THREE bank
group8 i.e. Nationalised Banks, State Banks of India and its
Associates, Indian Rivate Banks a n d the Co-operative Banks.

Data were collected from the sample bank groups adopting

convenience-aamplng method. It

IS

to be mentioned here that no

foreign b a n k s operate In the jurisdiction of Pondicherry town and

further

co-operative

sector b a n k s arc a few in number when

compared to other bank groups.

It

1s

also ident~fied that the

number of employees In each branch of the private sector banks

a r e also handful.

Based on the total number of banks sltuated In P o n d ~ c h e ~

under each catcgon., the total sample s u e of 216 respondents
compnslng of 120 respondents belong~ngto Natlonal~sedand SBI,
39 respondents from pnvate b a n k s and 57 respondents from co-

operatlvc banks were taken for the study (Table 2.1).

TABLE 2.1
SAMPLING PLAN

SECTOR

/
I

NATlONALlSED AND S B I
PRIVATE SECTOR BANKS

j
I

TOTAL NUMBER OF
EMPLOYEES

SAMPLE

1216

I20

392

39

CO-OPERATIVE SECTOR BAVKS

574

TOT.11

2181

57

216

'Tllc dcs~rtdsan\plc s t u 2 16 IS oblatned. whlch co~ls~st

of IO"O o f the rota1 population.

2.2

SOURCES OF DATA

Data on the vaned aspects of 'occupat~onal stress", its

effects a n d ~ t scoptng strategres were collected through a
structured, comprehens~ve questlonnalre, whrch was developed
after a n extensive renew of literature

l n ~ t ~ a l al yPllot Study among 50 bank employees from all the

three categories through the questlonnalre method a s well a s
personal dlscuss~on method was conducted for two obmous
objects In vlew
a ) To l~melight the uraknesses of the questlonnalre w t h
respect to the understandab~l~ty
of the statements.
bl To check on the time taken by the respondents to fill u p
the questronnalre.
Thus the loopholes In the questlonnaue were mit~gatedto
some extent and a modified questionnaire was then administered.

lnforrnat~on collected through the modified questionnaire

constituted the major SOURCE OF DATA for the study.

25

A questionnaire comprising THREE parts was framed viz.,

PART A, PART-B & PART-C. Under PART-A, Personal information
data covenng 20 variables were structured. They were grouped
Into 'FIVE FACTORS' for the purpose of the research work a s given
below:

Factor I

Person related vanables

(Age,

sex,

martial

status,

qualifications,

designations, length of semce]

Factor I I

income related vanable

(Salary and other incomes from bank)

Factor 111

Socio-cultural variable
(Religion, caste, place of ongin and traditional
family occupation)

Factor IV

Personality related variables

(Personality, religious attitudes, companionship,
consultations and sleep)

Factor V

Relaxation technique variables

(Meditation, exercise, diversions, drugs and
medicines, smoking, alcoholic)

PART-Bcontains 60 statements covering five areas of

1. The job

Job itself can be a source of stress, where it can impose

demands. which threaten to exceed the capabllitles of the
focal person in terms of difficulty, ambiguity and load.

From the members of one's role set, one is Likely to

experience contradictory expectations and pressures;
27

when a person is connected with a hierarchy of authority,

different types of role conflict are likely to occur that in

turn result in stress.

H i . B O . . - ~ i ~ t~ Ie o t i O m h @

Supervisory behaviour and attitudes of role

senders to

their subordinates, consideration, initiative structure,

participation and feedback have a n important influence
in causing stress.

iv. P.dnlon making

It

includes, quality of

openness of

supemsory communication,

communication

cl~mate,quality of one's self-

perceived communication behaviour and *he amount of

felt decision makrng autonomy.

Shessors present in

the non-working environment

involving life events like death, serious illness of family

28

members, marriage, separation, divorce, dependents,

commitments etc.

For this t h e Occupational Stress Index developed by

Srivataava a n d Singh (1981) and the instruments to measure ten
Role Snessors prepared by Udai Pareek (1984) was consulted and
wherever modification is required, the researcher h a s slightly
altered based o n the findings of the Rlot study

Consultat~onof coplng scales developed by Dewe a n d Guest

(1989) helped In f r a m ~ n gstatements under PART-C, whlch was
a~rncdat collect~nglnformatlon with respects to coptng strategies.
Totally u v e n coping technlques were brought under PART-C

They are the follouing

Relaxation Technique (RT) - Yoga. Med~tation.Aerob~c

Exerc~scs.Hobbles.

Btmtegie. for Preparation (SOP)- Take rest. go home

early or take a day off in order to be alert a t work.

- Consult spouse

Utilb.t&a of Homa Raaources

and fnmily members.

Distraction Techniques (DT)

Letting the feeling of

stress wear off; try not to worry or think,a b o u t the

problem.

Rational T u k Orlanted Bchaviour (RTOB)

Setting

prtontles; gathenng more tnformat~on.

Rube Attempt. (PA) - Ignore the problem, pving up.

dotng n o t h ~ n ga n d accepting what's happen~ng.

Emotional Rallaf (ER) - Loose temper; try to cool down

and r n a ~ n t a ~composure.
n

PART -C was mainly aimed a t collecting information with

respect

to coplng strategies

respondents.

followed or preferred

by

the

LIKERTS 5 points (FIVE)male has been u d to measure

the opinion of t h e respondents to explore the determinants of
occupational atresaors, the coping strategies adopted by the
awnple.

In a d d ~ t ~ oton IS, informal meet was also held m t h bank

employees In order to get a clear p~cturc. Further for the purpose
of collecting a e c o n d a q data, publ~shedbooks, articies, magazines
a n d journals, newspapers and so on were also referred to
strengthen the theoretical background of the study.

2.4

E WORK OF MALYSIS

The collected data have been analysed and interpreted uslng

stat~stical tools such as welghted average m e a n . Correlaclon
a n a l y s ~ s .Regress~onAnalvsis. ANOVA. C n t ~ c a lraho analysis a n d
Pcrcen t ages

Wetghted a w r a g c mean, median and s t a n d a r d deviation

have alw been employed to analyse the impact of the various
mdicea of atrarn and stress o n bank employees and also o n banks.

This tool is one of the most useful of all the statistical measures
for it provides a reliable bane for accurate interpretation.

Measures of relationship between 'Job satisfaction and

Stressors'; also, stressors and coping strategies have been
captured through correlation analysis.

Regression analysis was camed out to study t h e impact of

personal variables on stressors. Multiple regression analysis was
comported between each stressor and the various personal
vartables ~ndiv~dually
a s well a s collectively.

A unlvartate statlstlcal tool. ANOVA h a s been used to assess

the statrstlcal stgnlficance of difierences among t h e THREE bank

groups w t h regard to the stressors. coplng s t r a t e p e s and
demographic variables

The result of ANOVA h a s been then used

for cntical ratio analysis, whlch helps to compare many groups of

data simultaneously, a n d to plnpotnt where exactly criucal
dtfferenccs exlat by ~ d e n t i f y n gspecific paus of group.

Calculation of percentages helped to assess the intensity,

frequency and the nature of impact of stresaors a s perceived by
the sample respondents.

Thls chapter h a s outllned the sample and the tools through

u h ~ c hthe data werc collected. Results pertinent to the analysis
and inrerpretatlon arc presented In chapters V and VI. Meanwhile,
the subsequent chapters III and I V consol~datethe conceptual
framework and prowdc a review. of prevlous s t u d ~ e son the subject
stress resp.ctively

French, J . R . P . , Rodgers, W.L.& Cobb. S. Adjustment a s Person

environment fit. In G.V. Coelho, D.A. Hamburg and J.E.

Adams (Eds.).,Copylng and adaptation. New York : Basic

Books. 1974.