Organizational and Industrial Psychology

It is noteworthy that every individual's work environment is not always ideal, and there are also certain obstacles faced by employees during their jobs. Any of these problems are due to the stress caused by individuals and to the relationship between the workforce, its competitiveness and job efficiency. Similarly, it is also recognized that home-based stress induces decreased employee productivity and therefore low results. The goal of this study is to identify the effects of stress in the industrial environment and how it affects work performance and satisfaction.

Background

Job satisfaction and job stress are among the factors which affect the productivity, efficiency, and performance of the workforce in any business setting. As such, employees who are stressed, based on either sickness, low salaries, long periods of working, natural calamities, political unrest, and other cases may hence lack job satisfaction. With the limited satisfaction in the workplace, the individuals deteriorate in performance, and the effect is noted in the overall organizational performance. According to Ratnawat, and Jha, (2014), it is essential that any institution engaging with employees have a psychological department responsible for dealing with the stress of the workers and ensure these workers are in a proper state of mind t continue working.

Literature Review

A study was undertaken by Hoboubi, Choobineh, Ghanavati, Keshavarzi, Hosseini, (2017) on the impact of job stress and the satisfaction of workers on their productivity revealed that there is a correlation between the job stress and job satisfaction. The study examined 125 random employees from an Iranian Petrochemical Company, where data were obtained through interviews and questionnaires. The findings of the research revealed that increased job stress results in less satisfaction of the workers on their jobs, which reduces the overall productivity of the employees in the given industry. The authors suggested that proper supervision and supporting of the workers helps to reduce the job-related stress and increase the satisfaction and performance of the workers.

Li, Hu, Zhou, He, Fan, Liu, and Sun, (2014) found similar results in a study aimed at examining the levels of motivation and work stress and their contribution to the overall job satisfaction. The study was taken on health workers in Heilongjiang Province in China, with a total of 930 community health workers participating. According to the scholars, the community health workers who were affected by low motivating and high levels of stress showed a low level of job satisfaction. The staff with high motivation and high level of stress also had low job satisfaction. However, the staff members with high motivation and low levels of stress were very competitive in their fields and were satisfied with their jobs. The authors concluded that stress levels in the job affect the level of satisfaction of the workers on their jobs.

Alkubaisi, (2015) engaged in a study on Qatari Banking Sector to examine the effect of stress on the performance of the workers. The author examined a total of 124 random workers from Qatari Banking Sector along with relevant literature to examine how stress demands affect the performance of the workers. The study provided that job-related stress is attributed to having detrimental effects on the performance of the workers. Similarly, the author found out that the level of the workers and their job title has an impact on their stress levels and hence affects their overall performance.

Riaz, Ahmad, Riaz, Murtaza, Khan, and Firdous, (2016) engaged in a study aimed at identifying the existing relationship between the job satisfaction levels and job-related stress cases. A total of 100 nurses from the Nursing Sector of DHQ Hospital of Okara were engaged in the study where data were collected using questionnaires and examined through SPSS. The findings of the authors, however, were different such that they found out that job stress has positive impacts on the performance of the workers. According to the scholars, job stress provides the workers with a challenge and hence ensuring that they are ready to undertake more laborious tasks. However, the authors argued that high levels of stress may have negative impacts on job satisfaction, hence suggesting the need to control stress in the workplace, but only to certain limits.

Khamisa, Oldenburg, Peltzer, and Ilic, (2015) engaged in a study to determine the existing relationship between burnout, work stress, the health of nurses and job satisfaction of nurses in the clinical setting. The study engaged a total of 1,200 nurses from various hospitals in a cross-sectional study. The authors utilized questionnaires and interviews in the study and found out that job satisfaction is attributed to both burnout and stress of the workers. Burnout and stress were noted to have a negative impact on the job satisfaction of the health workers, which indicates a direct relationship between levels of job satisfaction and job-related stress.

Discussion

The research has revealed that stress is directly related to the job performance of the workers and job satisfaction of the same. According to Karunanithy, and Ponnampalam, (2013), workers who face high job-related stress are deemed to have low levels of job satisfaction, which has an impact on their productivity. Ling and Bhatti, (2014) note that the if a high level of stress affects most of the workforce, then the organizational productivity and performance will be significantly reduced. The same will result in reduced quality of production as workers are not able to fully engage in their jobs. Another factor that was noted to have the same impact on the job performance and satisfaction is the level of motivation, which is also related to stress in the workplace.  

Recommendations

It is recommended that every institution provide the workers with access to psychological treatment and consultation. Job-related stress is not entirely solved with an increase in compensation levels or reduction of the workload on the employees. Some of the challenges the workers face may need psychological assistance. For instance, news anchors, at times, have to view dreadful images, which may affect their mindset and have negative impacts on their performance in the job industry. Psychological help, therefore, may be required to relieve the employee of the traumatic incidences they witness and alleviate the stress affecting them.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the work environment has challenges that the staff members in the same setting face on various occasions. These challenges may bring about stress to the workers, which has been shown to have a negative impact on the overall job performance and job satisfaction. However, with proper psychological intervention, motivation, support, and supervision of the workers, it is evident that the level of stress can be eliminated or reduced to levels enough for the workers to continue working and improve their satisfaction and performance.

References

Alkubaisi, M. M. (2015). How Can Stress Affect Your Work Performance? Quantitative Field Study on Qatari Banking Sector. Business and Management Research, 4(1), 99. From http://dx.doi.org/10.5430/bmr.v4n1p99

Hoboubi, N., Choobineh, A., Ghanavati, F. K., Keshavarzi, S., & Hosseini, A. A. (2017). The Impact of Job Stress and Job Satisfaction on Workforce Productivity in an Iranian Petrochemical Industry. Safety and health at work, 8(1), 67-71. From https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5355527/pdf/main.pdf

Karunanithy, K., & Ponnampalam, A. (2013). A study on the effect of Stress on the performance of employees in Commercial Bank of Ceylon in the Eastern Province. European Journal of Business and ManagementVol, 5, 87-95. From http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.734.8637&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Khamisa, N., Oldenburg, B., Peltzer, K., & Ilic, D. (2015). Work-related stress, burnout, job satisfaction and general health of nurses. International journal of environmental research and public health, 12(1), 652-666. From http://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph

Li, L., Hu, H., Zhou, H., He, C., Fan, L., Liu, X., ... & Sun, T. (2014). Work stress, work motivation and their effects on job satisfaction in community health workers: a cross-sectional survey in China. BMJ Open, 4(6), e004897. From http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/4/6/e004897

Ling, S. M., & Bhatti, M. A. (2014). Work Stress and Job Performance in Malaysia Academic Sector: Role of Social Support as Moderator. From http://repo.uum.edu.my/19110/1/BJEMT%204%2012%202014%201986-1998.pdf

Ratnawat, R. G., & Jha, P. C. (2014). Impact of Job-Related Stress on Employee Performance: A Review and Research Agenda. Journal of Business and Management, 16(11), 1-16. From http://www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-jbm/papers/Vol16-issue11/Version-5/A0161150106.pdf

Riaz, M., Ahmad, N., Riaz, M., Murtaza, G., Khan, T., & Firdous, H. (2016). Impact of Job Stress on Employee Job Satisfaction. International Review of Management and Business Research, 5(4), 1370. From http://www.irmbrjournal.com/papers/1480659842.pdf