CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background to the Study

In present time, 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. Dar et al (2011), defined job performance as an activity in which an individual is able to accomplish the task assigned to him/her successfully, subject to the normal constraints of reasonable utilization of the available resources. The main purpose of managing employees is ensuring employees and organizations achieve high levels of performance. However, Kumar (2013), observed that the performance of workers in different working conditions is less compared to their full potential in terms of skills, abilities and capacities. Manjula (2010), argued that the performance level generally is always below 50% of individual’s ability of performance. The performance of employee is influenced by work satisfaction and work stress the employee goes through. According to Choobineh et al. (2017), work related stress is a significant cause of low quality of workers.

Stress is a Common element in any kind of job and persons have to face it in almost every aspect of life. Spector et al. (2002), postulated that job stress is increasing globally in all countries, organizations, professions, and among employees, employers, families and society in general. Studies show that employees in the United States and other developed countries experienced job stress as a serious issue hence American businesses pay more than $150 billion annually for occupational stress which leads to the absenteeism of employees, loss productivity and low performance. Researchers cannot agree on a single definition for stress due to its complex nature (Salami et al., 2010).Stress has been defined in different ways over the years. Selye (1936) first introduced the idea of stress into the life science. He defined stress as the force, pressure, or tension subjected upon an individual who resists these forces and attempt to uphold its true state. Stress can therefore be defined 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 (Moorhead et al. 1998).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. According to Swanepoel et al. (1998), work related stress has been a topic that has received increasing attention, in the area of occupational health, over the last three decades. These authors were of the opinion that the world, especially the world of work and business, has become increasingly subjected to fast changing forces like increased competition, the pressure of quality, innovation and an increase in the pace 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. Employees spend almost one third of their lives on work and sometimes, they have to face a lot of stress during their jobs. The nature of job has gone through extreme changes over the last decade and it is still changing rapidly. Stress in a workplace has touched almost all professions, starting from executive levels to co-workers who are directly engaged in the production. The result of the job stress ultimately affects the physical as well as mental health.

Nowadays, many organizations, institutions and employees are experiencing the effects of stress on work performance. The effects and perception of stress vary from one person to another. What is perceived as positive stress by one person may be perceived as negative stress by another, since everyone perceives situations differently. According to Barden (2001), negative stress is becoming a major illness in the work environment, and it can debilitate employees and be costly to employers. Managers need to identify those suffering from negative stress and implement programs as a defense against stress. These programs may reduce the impact stress has on employees’ work performance. Job stress is a phenomenon that every employee or employer faces at job and handles it differently according to own way. It is basically a mismatch between the individual capabilities and Organizational demand (Pediwal, 2011; Jayashree, 2010). Work-related stress is a growing problem that results in substantial costs to individual employees and work organizations around the globe (Hart & Cooper, 2001). Nevertheless, work-related stress can also impact employee productivity through increased absenteeism; imposing a direct economic cost on employers (Australian Safety and Compensation Council, 2008).

1.2. Problem Statement

According to Dar et al (2011), job stress has been a frequent problem across occupations and often causes adverse effects on job performance. However this is a common phenomenon in many Organizations, industries and firms ranging from small to medium and large sizes. Daniel (2019) posit that most Organizations attain high performance by saddling employees with overload of work in order to meet deadline and this has psychological and physical effects on the employees which sometimes results to something contrary to what these Organizations want to achieve. Even though industries are paying more attention now to employees compared to the past, the consequences of the trauma their employees go through cannot be over emphasized because they still place extra-ordinary demands on them to deliver. 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 Cameroon, many employees are crumbling under this pressure. Cases of employee stress are therefore drastically ascending.

1.3. Research Questions

The research questions of this study are as follows:

1.3.1. Main Research Question

What are the effects of stress on employee’s performance within the transport and logistics industry in Cameroon?

1.3.2. Specific Research Questions

1. What are the types of stress common within the transport and logistics industry in Cameroon?
2. How do we cope with stress within the transport and logistics industry in Cameroon?

4.4. Objectives of the Study

1.4.1. Main Objective

The main objective of this research is to study the effects of stress on employee’s performance within the transport and logistics industry in Cameroon.

1.4.2. Specific Objectives

The specific objectives of this study are to:

1. Determine the types of stress common within the transport and logistics industry in Cameroon.
2. Determine the measures of coping with stress within the transport and logistics industry in Cameroon.