ABSTRACT

In today’s competitive global environment, employee performance is an essential element of a company’s success. Employee performance can be significantly hindered by high levels of stress experienced in the work environment. Stress is a universal element and persons from nearly every walk of life have to face stress. Employers today are critically analyzing the stress management issues that contribute to lower job performance of employees. The main aim of the study was to evaluate stress and its effect on employees’ performance.

The study was conducted at P&T Corporative Credit Union Buea Town. Descriptive survey was adopted as the research design. Purposive and simple random sampling techniques were used in selecting a sample size of 30 respondents. Questionnaires and interview was used as data collection instrument. From the results obtained, it was evident that there were many stress factors that the respondents endured, and the enquiry proved that stress had an effect on productivity. Majority of the respondents reported to work under pressure and that they feel uncared for by the organization. The fact that majority of respondents thought of leaving their job, and felt that the organization did not care about them was a reflection of huge dissatisfaction that undoubtedly lowered productivity.

It was recommended that Management must conduct an analysis of the organizational mood and climate by assessing the reasons why the employees think P&T does not care about its employees and what they can do to change it. It was also suggested that an Employee Assistance Programme be introduced for early identification and intervention on problems so that productivity levels do not decrease.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction:

This research study is organized in to five chapters. Chapter one introduce the study by providing the background information on the problem statement, research questions, research Objectives, scope of the research, Significances of the research and definition of terms. Chapter two deal with the review of important literature on the research problems and concepts with specific reference to how it can be applied in an organization. Chapter three discuss the research methodology adopted for the study and relevant justifications. Chapter four present the findings on the effects of stress management on employees’ performance at P &T Corporative Credit Union Buea Town. Chapter five will then present or shows the conclusions drawn from the research findings and recommendations to enhance organizational effectiveness through proper management of stress.  

1.2 Background to The Study

In today’s world, stress has become a worldwide phenomenon, which occurs in various forms in every workplace. In today’s work life, employees are generally working for longer hours, as the rising levels of responsibilities require them to exert themselves even more strenuously to meet rising expectations about work performance.^[1]  stress refers to the adverse psychological and physical reactions that occur in an individual as a result of them being unable to cope with the demands being made on them.^[2] According to Swanepoel work related stress has been a topic that has received increasing attention, in the area of occupational health, over the last three decades.^[3] These authors were of the opinion that the world, especially the world of work and business, has become increasingly subject to fast changing forces like increased competition, the pressure of quality, innovation and an increase in the space of doing business. The demands on employees grew equally dramatically and this created stress within employees. Apart from stress that arose from the work situation, other sources of stress could relate to personal factors such as relationships with others and use of free time. Stress can therefore be described as the adverse psychological and physical reactions that occur in an individual as a result of his or her inability to cope with the demands being made on him or her.^[4] That is tension from extra-ordinary demands on an individual. It is noted that, stress is not necessarily bad; it is an opportunity when it offers potential gain. But whatever its nature, it usually begins when individuals are placed in a work environment that is incompatible with their work style and or temperament. It becomes aggravated when individuals find out that they have or can exercise little control over it. “Many organizations in the world are witnessing an alarming increase of the negative effects of stress on employee’s productivity^[5].  Typical examples are organizations in America, P&T Corporative credit union Buea Town, the United Kingdom, East and Central Africa, West Africa and in other parts of the world. The American Academy of family Physicians reported that, about two thirds of the visits to family physicians are the results of stress-related symptoms  ^[6].  Michac  specified causes of stress as follows: poor time management, unclear job descriptions, feelings of inadequacy and insecurity, inability to get things done, lack of communication, bad personal relationships, quality and complexity of tasks. In the same breadth, Dean viewed stress-related illnesses as the leading cause for low productivity levels in the workplace. Immense pressure at work has led to stress, which made it the number one factor causing illness.  outlined reasons for low productivity as follows; poor training in the company, machine break downs, non-established performance standards, lack of planning and motivation, change, poor atmosphere and environment, inadequate communication at many levels, non-identification with company goals^[7].  In Ghana, several nationwide surveys have indicated that, about 58% of the workforce in organizations suffers from stress related problems ^[8]. This means that stress can be a killer of many organizations in Ghana and other parts of the world which P&T Corporative credit union Buea Town, is no exception. Stress is a trope in everyday life just like it is in work places which means that there is no way it can be avoided. However, Mount points out, some stresses have negative health outcomes while some level of stress is necessary to push individuals to deliver on their mandates and to realize their objectives to the best manner possible. As such, it is the stress that the negative health outcome that makes stress management in organizations a salient feature. On the other hand, there is employee performance and it is not in doubt that negative stress, especially that one that contributes to negative health outcome as Park et.al (2012), may affect employee performance no matter the indicators of performance. Therefore, stress management and employee performance are not only interlinked as Mount further points out, stress management is a factor to be considered in any organization whose agendum is to meet the objectives for which it is established. However, the link is not as obvious as any managers or researchers would imagine since there are no clear indicators about the level of stress that would lead to poor performance or good performance given that stress is both a good thing and a bad one^[9].

1.3 Statement of The Problem

Most organizations especially P&T Corporative credit union Buea Town with the aim of attaining higher productivity end up saddling employees with overload of work in order to meet deadline and this might have psychological and physical effects on the employees which may result in something contrary to what they want to achieve. Although the organization is paying more attention than in the past to the consequences of the trauma their employees go through when they place extraordinary demands on them, there is still more room for improvement. Again to generate enough revenue to be self-sustaining and to be able to fund the acquisition of modern equipment meant efficient service provision and optimal employment of resources. P&T Corporative credit union Buea Town has had numerous challenges that has out pressure on its operational Efficiency. For instance, there has been poor investment practices and decisions by Management that has led to losses of money. Higher interest rates on loans and poor customer service especially compared to other micro finance institutions has also contributed to customers looking for cheaper options and hence Reduced revenue generation capabilities.

For this reason there has been the need for a continuous change in management strategies and Administration, and the demands on employees to perform have been increasing. This has brought a lot of pressure on the employees, who are expected to deliver a world class service without the corresponding increase resources and training, yet those who fail to deliver are threatened with dismissal and other forms of punishment. With jobs very difficult to come by these days in Buea,  many employees are crumbling under this pressure. Cases of employee stress are therefore on the ascendancy. It is in this view that this study is being conducted to identify the effects stress has on the productivity of employees of P&T Corporative credit union Buea Town.

[1] mark A Dwamena, assessing the impact of stress on employees productivety,www.scribd.com

[2] Omolara  www.colinsdictionary.com

[3] Swanepoe et Al 1998 sa  journal of human resources management,vol12,No, sajhrm.co.za

[4] Moorhead and Griffen, 1998 organizational behavior www.scirp.org

[5] Mark A Dwamena  www.scibed.com

[6] Henry and Evans 2008 occupational stress in organization www.scirp.org

[7] Henry and Evans 2008 occupational stress in organization www.scirp.org

[8] The Weekly Mirror 2006 vol32,No 06 digitalcommons.fairfield.edu

[9] Beatrice Akinyi  Abonyo