Please cite this Article as : ,Employees : Indian Streams Research Journal (Aug. ; 2012)

Rakesh.R Organizational Role Stress In Relationship With Social Support Of Industrial

Volume 2, Issue. 7, Aug 2012Indian Streams Research Journal

The data were analysed using standard statistical package called SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science). Correlation was applied to test the hypothesis. Result shows that there is a positive and significant correlation between organizational role stress and social support.

KEYWORDS :

Organizational role stress and social support.

INTRODUCTION

Stress is defined as an adaptive response, to an external situation that results in physical, psychological and behavioural deviations (Luthans 1995). Stress is not simply anxiety but usually accompanied by anxiety. Stress is not always dangerous. Sometimes, mild stress stimulates performance. Since there are individual differences in adaptation, a mild stress to one, may be major stress to another major stress to other. As a result, "stress" has individual, organizational, social and environmental dimensions.

Stress has also been viewed as a dynamic condition in which 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 (Scheuler 1980). Stress has become an indispensable phenomenon for an individual both in the organisational and personal life.

One of the major areas of research appears to be organisational stress in general and stresses in particular. Researchers have focused their attention on causal factors of stress, stress manifestations, moderator, coping strategies and the relaxation techniques adopted by organisational participants.

Each individual has a stress threshold, beyond which the mind and body cannot cope effectively with the pressures and anxieties of work. The situation is even worse, than what is to be expected, in the case of type 'A' behaviour (Aggressive involvement in a chronic, incessant struggle to achieve more and more about less and less time and, if necessary against the opposing efforts and effects of other things or

Abstract:The present study aims to know the organizational role stress in relationship with social support of industrial employees. In the present investigation a sample of 100 employees were selected randomly from these Neyveli Lignite Corporation, Neyveli, Tamil Nadu. To measure organizational role stress Udai Pareek (1993) scale was used and social support scale Kompier M, Levi L. Stress at Work (1994) was used. The researcher framed some objective and hypothesis. After framing the objectives, using standard questionnaire, data were collected from the respondents. Primary data were collected by conducting direct structured interview using questionnaire. All the respondents were asked the same questions in the same fashion and they were informed the purpose of study. After collecting the data, they were coded using Microsoft excel.

ISSN:-2230-7850

Organizational Role Stress In Relationship With Social Support Of Industrial Employees

Rakesh.R

Assistant Professor, Department of Management & Managing Editor, Global Journal of Management and Research

GKMCMT, University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala State.Email : rakeshdr68@yahoo.in

Available online at www.isrj.net

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

other people) employees who have the greater likelihood of coronary heart disease, cerebro-vascular diseases, respiratory problems and digestive disorders.

Business executives are subject to conditions and situations that are likely to bring about high level of continuous stress. The environment in which they are working is becoming more than more complex. The size and complexity of business has expanded and the demands on the executives have become greater and greater than they were a few years ago. They are forced to resort to flight-or fight response, which represents the reaction of body and mind to a situation perceived as threatening.

The problem of Role Stress is getting complex due to a variety of social norms and role relationships in an organisation. It has to be studied effectively and exhaustively. Different types of Role stresses identified by Udai Pareek (1993) have been given emphasis and the same will be discussed later on.Organisation role stress From the time of birth till death, an individual is constantly playing various roles. Shakespeare aptly remarked, "All the world is a stage and all the men and women merely players". A person plays relational role (daughter, son, father, mother, employees etc); Sex roles (behaviour thought appropriate for men is traditionally different from that appropriate for women); age roles (infant, small child, adolescent, young adult, middle age, aged, sexagenarian, septo-genertion, octogenarian etc) It is clear that a person does not play one single role at a time. An individual simultaneously a wife, a mother, a daughter and an employee. Such multiple role playing is not confined to separate parts of the day.

There are conjoint demands on one's time; energy and resources. For example, there may be an important meeting. But one had promised to be home early to go out with one's spouse. What is our area of command? How far can you intrude into that of another? Are we sure about what is expected from you? These and many other questions may be constantly plaguing us. If they are, then we are experiencing Role Stress.

As we have discussed well enough about the stress and its definitions, let us pass over to the concept of Role Stress. First of all, the Role is the position one occupies in a social system, as defined by the functions one performs in response to the expectations of the significant members of a social system, and one's own expectations from the position or office and Role though two sides of the same coin, are however, two separate concepts. According to Katz and Kahn, "Office is essentially a relational concept, defining each position in terms of its relationships to others and to the system as a whole Katz and Kahn 1993.

While office is a relational and power related concept, role is an "obligation" concept. Office is concerned with the hierarchical position and privileges, while a role is a concerned with the obligations of position. While office is a point in the social structure defining an office holder's power, role is the integrated set of behaviours expected from a person occupying that office.

SOCIAL SUPPORT

In spite of these widely accepted definitions of social support, there is no consensus in the literature about the definition and consequently the operationalisation of the concept. There is a need for further research, especially about what kind of support is most important for health.

Social support is closely related to the concept of a social network, or the ties to family, friends, neighbours, colleagues, and others of significance to the person. However, when the social network is described in structural terms, like size, range, density, proximity and homogeneity, social support normally refers to the qualitative aspects of the social network Within this context, social support is the potential of the network to provide help in situations when needed. However, the social network may also be the cause of psychological problems. Halle and Wellman present the interplay between social support, the social network, and psychological health in a model.

VARIOUS TYPES OF SOCIAL SUPPORT POSSIBLE

Types and sources of social support may vary. House described four main categories of social support: emotional, appraisal, informational and instrumental.

Emotional support generally comes from family and close friends and is the most commonly recognized form of social support. It includes empathy, concern, caring, love, and trust.Appraisal support involves transmission of information in the form of affirmation, feedback and social comparison. This information is often evaluative and can come from family, friends, co-workers, or community sources.Informational support includes advice, suggestions, or directives that assist the person to respond to personal or situational demands.

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Instrumental support is the most concrete direct form of social support, encompassing help in the form of money, time, in-kind assistance, and other explicit interventions on the person's behalf.

Social support is important to many people interested in physical (e.g., mortality) and mental health (e.g., depression). As a result, there have been over 45,000 articles, chapters, and books published on social support across a wide range of disciplines including psychology, medicine, sociology, nursing, public health, and social work. There are three distinct sub-types of social support, and each has different links to health: A support recipient's perception of social support, the specific supportive actions received, and the extent to which a person is integrated within a social network. In addition, there are three main types of causes of social support: the personality of the support recipient, the objectively supportive aspects of support providers, as well as the relationships between specific support recipients and providers. A variety of theories of social support have been proposed. For example, one theory describes how social support helps people cope with stressful events. Another theory describes how social support maintains well being in the absence of stress. A third theory describes how social support becomes part of an adaptive personality profile throughout a person's life.

Seeking to explain divergent empirical findings regarding the direct effect of social support on well-being, the authors posit that the pattern of supportive exchange (i.e., reciprocal, under-, or over-reciprocating) determines the impact of receiving support on well-being. Findings generated on the basis of longitudinal data collected from a sample of older blue-collar workers support the authors' predictions, indicating that receiving emotional support is associated with enhanced well-being when the pattern of supportive exchange is perceived by an individual as being reciprocal (support received equals support given), with this association being weaker when the exchange of support is perceived as being under-reciprocating (support given exceeds support received). Moreover, receiving support was found to adversely affect well-being when the pattern of exchange was perceived as being over-reciprocating (support received exceeds support given). Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Jimmieson, Nerina L.; McKimmie, B. M.; Hannam, Rachel L.; Gallagher, Jenifer (2010), An investigation of the stress-buffering effects of social support in the occupational stress process as a function of team identification, This study explored how the social context influences the stress-buffering effects of social support on employee adjustment. It was anticipated that the positive relationship between support from colleagues and employee adjustment would be more marked for those strongly identifying with their work team. Furthermore, as part of a three-way interactive effect, it was predicted that high identification would increase the efficacy of coworker support as a buffer of two role stressors (role overload and role ambiguity). One hundred and 55 employees recruited from first-year psychology courses enrolled at two Australian universities were surveyed. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that the negative main effect of role ambiguity on job satisfaction was significant for those employees with low levels of team identification, whereas high team identifiers were buffered from the deleterious effect of role ambiguity on job satisfaction. There also was a significant interaction between coworker support and team identification. The positive effect of coworker support on job satisfaction was significant for high team identifiers, whereas coworker support was not a source of satisfaction for those employees with low levels of team identification. A three-way interaction emerged among the focal variables in the prediction of psychological well-being, suggesting that the combined benefits of coworker support and team identification under conditions of high demand may be limited and are more likely to be observed when demands are low. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)

Jeyakumaran. M (2004) has made a study on occupational stress among the Managers of Cement Industries, This study was carried over by using various tools like Occupational Stress Index developed by Srivastava and Singh (1981), Type-A Type-B Personality scale by Friedman and Resenman's (1974) job satisfaction Scale developed by Radindra N. Kanungo (1982) etc., The data were collected from 400 managers of top, middle, and junior levels. From this study, he pointed out that female managers have more stress than male managers.Chockalingam Viswesvaran, Juan I. Sanchez and Jeffrey Fisher (2002) “The Role of Social Support in the Process of Work Stress: A Meta-Analysis”, After summarizing the literature on the various models for the role of social support in the process of work stress, two studies are reported. In the first study, correlations between (1) social support and workplace stressors and (2) between social support and strains as well as (3) incrementalR2s across 68 studies, when the interaction term of stressors and support was added to the regression of strain on stressors and support, were meta-analytically cumulated. Potential moderators of

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these relationships were weak, suggesting the presence of three general constructs of stressors, strains, and social support. In the second study, the various models for the role of social support in the process of workplace stress were tested for the general constructs identified in the first study. Results indicated that social support had a threefold effect on work stressor–strain relations. Social support reduced the strains experienced, social support mitigated perceived stressors, and social support moderated the stressor–strain relationship. Evidence for mediational and suppressor effects of social support on the process of work stress was weak. In addition, the argument that social support is mobilized when stressors are encountered was not consistent with the available empirical evidence. A similar lack of support was found for the arguments that support is mobilized when strains are encountered and that support is provided when individuals are afflicted with strains.

Neelakandan R. (2002), 'A study on Occupational stress, Job satisfaction, Achievement motivation and Organizational climate of Industrial Employees', Annamalai University. This study was carried over a sample of 320 employees. The researcher used psychological tools like occupational stress (Srivastava & Singh), Job satisfaction (Muthayya Job Satisfaction scale, Achievement motivation (Shah Beena motivation scale), organizational climate (Likert organizational climate). The study pointed out that the occupational stress of an employee is influenced by variables like marital status, education, work trade and years of experience.

Bhan (1983), contrarily, did research on a group consisting of 293 male engineering and 254 male non-engineering students and compared their social support characteristics. The results reveal that the engineering students were found to possess superior social support than the non-engineering students.

Sinha and Bhan (1983) carried out a research study of social support with a view of assessing their social support and to determine the characteristics of psycho-social dynamics.

OBJECTIVE

To find out the relationship between organizational role stress and social support of industrial employees.

HYPOTHESIS

Based on the objective the hypothesis is formulated

There is a positive and significant correlation between organizational role stress and social support of industrial employees.

METHODOLOGY

Methodology is an important aspect in any kind of research work. Every research study has its own objectives. The procedure adopted by the Research works for the realization of these objectives is known as Methodology. "Methodology is the science of methods or principles of procedure" (Good, 1945, p.259). The methodology adopted enables the investigator to look at the amorphous data in a meaningful way. There are variety of methods and procedures employed by which the research workers gather facts for their study.

SAMPLING TECHNIQUE

Simple random sampling technique has been used in the selection of the industrial employees in Neyveli Lignite Corporation, Neyveli. In the present investigation a sample of 100 industrial employees was selected randomly from these Neyveli Lignite Corporation, Neyveli.

TOOL USED FOR THE STUDY

Organisational Role Stress Scale (ORS)

ORS scale was developed by Udai Pareek (1993). The ORS scale contains five items for each Role Stress (a total of 50 statements); it uses a 5 point scale.

1-If you never feel this way.2-If you occasionally feel this way.3-If you sometimes feel this way.

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4-If you frequently feel this way.5-If you always feel this way.

The instruction for this scale are as follows

“People have different feelings about their roles. Statements describing some such feelings are given below. Please read each statement and indicate how often you have the feeling expressed in the statement in relation to your role in your organization by putting a circle (O) mark.

The total score of ORS ranges between 0 to 200, and on each Role Stress ranges from 0 to 20. A simple summation of the scores of the subject on each Role Stress would indicate the scores on that dimension. Pareek (1993) has identified the following ten stresses based on organization roles:Inter- Role Distance (IRD)

IRD refers to the conflict between the organization role and other roles. When an individual occupies more than one role there are bound to be conflicts between the different roles that he occupies. (Item Nos. 1, 11, 21, 31, and 41).

Role Stagnation (RS)

RS takes place when an individual feels that there are few opportunities for learning and growth in the role. In organizations which are fast expanding, and which do not have any systematic strategy of manpower development, managers are likely to experience this stress. (Item Nos., 2,12,22,32 and 42)

Role Expectation Conflict (REC)

REC means conflicting demands made on the role by different persons in the organization. One may receive conflicting expectations from the boss, subordinates, peers, or clients. (Item Nos. 3, 13, 23, 33 and 43).

Role Erosion (RE)

RE is a feeling that some important functions a role occupant would like to perform, are being performed by some other person. This happens when organization are redefining their structure, wherein it may lead to elimination of some roles and creation of new ones. This may prompt managers to feel that the new role is less important than the previous role. (Item Nos. 4, 14, 24, 34 and 44).

Role Overload (RO)

Role overload is the result of large variations between the expected output and the actual output. When role overload is high, neither the delegation process nor assistance, is useful towards role performance (Item Nos. 5, 15, 25, 35 and 45).

Role Isolation (RI)

Role Isolation emanates due to lack of linkages between one's role with other roles in the organization. In a role set, a role occupant feels that certain roles are psychologically closer to him due to frequency and ease of interaction. When linkages are strong, the role isolation will be low and in the absence of it role isolation is felt high. Therefore role isolation can be measured in terms of the existing and the desired linkages. (Item Nos. 6, 16, 26, 36 and 46).

Personal Inadequacy (PIN)

When a role occupant feels that he is not prepared to undertake the role effectively. He may experience this stress. The role occupant may feel that has not had enough time to prepare for the assigned role. Persons who are assigned new roles without enough preparation or orientation are likely to experience this type of stress. (Item Nos. 7, 17, 27,37 and 47).

Self-Role Distance: (SRD)

This stress arises out of the conflict between the self-concept and the expectations of the role, as perceived

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by the role occupant. For example, an introvert who is fond of studying and writing may develop a self-role distance if he accepts the role of a statement in an organization. (Item Nos. 8, 18, 28, 38, and 48).

Role Ambiguity (RA)

When an individual is not clear about the various expectations that people have from his role, he experiences this types of conflict. It may be due to lack of information of feedback to the role occupant. Role ambiguity may be in relation to the activities, responsibilities, priorities, norms or general expectations. Sometimes role ambiguity may emanate out of occupying roles which are newly created in an organization. (Item nos. 9, 19, 29, 39, and 49).

Resources Inadequacy (RIN)

This stress is experienced due to non-availability of resources needed for effective role performance. These may be information, people, material, finance or facilities (Item Nos, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50).

Response sheet for organisational role stress scale

SOCIAL SUPPORT SCALE

Kompier M, Levi L. Stress at Work (1994) developed the Social Support Scale and this measures the extent of social support experienced by industrial employees. The scale consists of 10 items each having two alternatives such as yes and no. The reliability index ascertained by the authors, using split half (odd-even items) method and Cronbach's alpha co-efficient for the scale were found to be 0.984 and 0.924 respectively. The scale was also found to be highly valid.The 10 item scale consists of yes and no items. Each item, irrespective of its keyed position, have two alternate responses. The minimum score is 0 and the maximum is 10. The lowest score indicates lower the social support and the highest indicates higher the social support.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Table 1Showing correlation between students organizational role stress and social support of industrial

employees

Hypothesis : There is a positive and significant correlation between organizational role stress and social support on industrial employees.

The above table shows significant correlation between organizational role stress and social support on industrial employees. Result shows that there is a positive and significant correlation between organizational role stress and social support. Hence the stated hypothesis is accepted So it is concluded that. There is a positive and significant correlation between organizational role stress and social support on

6

1. 11. 21. 31. 41. IRD 1 2. 12. 22. 32. 42. RS 2 3. 13. 23. 33. 43. REC 3 4. 14. 24. 34. 44. RE 4 5. 15. 25. 35. 45. RO 5 6. 16. 26. 36. 46. RI 6 7. 17. 27. 37. 47. PI 7 8. 18. 28. 38. 48. SRD 8 9. 19. 29 39. 49. RA 9 10. 20. 30. 40. 50. Rin 10

Variable Social support Organizational role

stress 0.346**

** Significant at the 0.01 level

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industrial employees.

CONCLUSION

The study aimed to know the organizational role stress and social support of industrial employees. The researcher framed objectives and hypothesis on the basis of the above context. 100 samples have based randomly. Standardized questionnaire was used to collect the relevant data given questionnaire. After collecting the data they were analyzed using correlation analysis. Result shows that there is a positive and significant correlation between organizational role stress and social support of industrial employees surveyed Social support help to the employees relations and performance well in their job.

REFERENCES

1.Barreti Fuches and Meadow (1976) “Survey of Social support of Students”. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 32, 1 22-30.2.Bhan (1983) “Engineering and non-engineering students and compared their social support characteristics”, Dissertation Obstruct International,- A 56/10.p.4149.3.Chockalingam Viswesvaran, Juan I. Sanchez and Jeffrey Fisher (2002) “The Role of Social Support in the Process of Work Stress: A Meta-Analysis”, , , April 1999, Pages 314-3344.Dutt (1966) “Social support In University Students”. Third survey of Research in Education, New Delhi: NCERT – 424-425.5.Jeyakumaran M (2004), A study on occupational stress among the managers in Cement Industries, Annamalai University.6.Jimmieson, Nerina L.; McKimmie, B. M.; Hannam, Rachel L.; Gallagher, Jenifer (2010), An investigation of the stress-buffering effects of social support in the occupational stress process as a function of team identification, Research, and Practice, Vol 14(4), Dec 2010, 350-367. doi: 7.Luthans 1995,'The Prettiest addiction you might have', personnel Today, Vol. XXIV, No.2.8.Marie Jahada (1958) “Various dimensions of social support while discussing the importance of positive social support”. Fourth Survey of Research in Education.9.Mathew (1975) “A Study on relation between the factors such as anxiety and the multipled roles of the working women”. Fourth Survey of Research in Education.10.Neelakandan R. (2002), 'A study on Occupational stress, Job satisfaction, Achievement motivation and Organizational climate of Industrial Employees', Unpublished PhD dissertation, Annamalai University.11.Peter Backer (1989), Trier Personality Inventory (TPI) Standardized scale, To assessing social support of different types of people. 12.Scheuler 1980, Stress makes you sick', The Hindu, Apr. 25, Pg.6.13.Sinha and Bhan (1983). “Social support with a view of assessing their social support”, Experiments in Education, Vol.XXIII No:5 (83-87). 14.Stevenson at al., (1999). Journal of Adolescent Research, Vol. 14 No.2 April.15.Sutherland at al., (1953) “Survey of Social support of Foreign Students”. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 32, 1 22-30.16.Udai Pareek (1993) Organisational Role Stress Scale (ORS), Standardize Scale, Agra Psychology Cell, Agra.

Journal of Vocational Behavior Volume 54, Issue 2

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