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CHAPTER-1EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Throughout the eighties and into the nineties, work stress has
continued to rise dramatically in organizations. The eighties
saw employees stressing out from working in a rapidly growing
economy. During the nineties, beginning from the recession of
1992 till present day, employees are stressed by their own job
insecurities in the face of massive downsizing and restructuring
of organizations in order to be competitive on the global stage.
Thus, when the stress levels among the employees begin to rise
as they deal with more and more clients, they would put up an
even greater resistance to their own emotions. Over time, the
professional may not be able to relax that emotional resistance.
All their emotions would be masked and retained within
themselves, resulting ult imately in mental and emotional
disorders. In stressful times, employees are often displeased or
angry at something. However, there are usually l imited
channels in which employees can express their views. Since
opinions, views, and feelings cannot always be expressed to
anyone to change the current situation, there would be an
accumulation of anger and frustration within the individual. Up
to a certain point, the anger would be released, usually at the
wrong person or time, such as colleagues, clients, or family
members. This symptom has a tremendous impact on society
because there is a potential that it may hurt other people.
Stress is a condition or feeling experienced when a
person perceives that demands exceed the personal and
social resources the individual is able to mobilize.
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A certain amount of stress is good for us as it can encourage
change and activity. But if we are under too much stress our
ability to function effectively suffers.
When working in a team environment our stress is relayed to
the rest of the team resulting in a decline of team performance
making team building an imperative goal . For some a
potential stressful situation leads to the effect of "riding on the
crest of a wave" because it generates a certain chemical
reaction in the body that gives exhilaration. For others, the
same circumstances lead to different chemical reactions, which
result in loss of performance.
What is needed is environmental and self-regulation. Thereforestress management is a partnership between the employee
and the employer.
Isolation is a common side effect of working under tremendous
stress. For many service practitioners, the clients that they
serve do not always readily welcome them. A prime example
would be policemen who are shunned often by the public. Over
time, a feeling of isolation and rejection would envelop theperson. The natural thing to do would be to withdraw from
others who do not understand their plight, resulting in profound
human loneliness. There are much other short term,
psychological effects of stress that can be readily seen or felt.
Stress at workplace
Feeling stress in the work place is a very common issue in
many organizations, both large and small. For workers, the
result of such stress is reduced job satisfaction. In extreme
cases this can degenerate further into physical and
psychological symptoms such as muscular aches and pains,
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weakened immunity, irritability and depression to name a few.
This ultimately leads to feeling burnt out. For the organisation,
there is also an impact. Firstly a worker that is suffering from
stress and burn out will typically be quite unproductive because
of absenteeism and/or less than satisfactory job performance.
The impact on the organisation will also vary depending on the
type of role the worker engages in. For example a stressed out
salesman who develops a detachment towards clients can
potentially affect the public perception of the organisation.
Similarly a stressed out worker involved in producing goods will
not produce anywhere near his/her optimal output. There can
also be an indirect impact on other fellow co-workers due to
lower morale.
Before one can look at how to deal with work place stress, it is
important to look at the various sources of such stress. Stress
will be either due to personal reasons or because of workplace
issues. Personal stress can include anything unrelated to the
actual workplace such as relationship issues, family conflicts,
financial concerns etc. Workplace stresses will be based on
either the nature of the job itsel f or the nature of the
organization or both. The job itself may be too much of a load
for the one person due to either lack of resources (people and
equipment) or time. There may be some form of ambiguity as
to what exactly the actual role of the job is. From an
organizational perspective, there may be simply low morale due
to downsizing and cost cutting. The management of the
organization may also be perceived as not treating their
workers fairly. Or perhaps the actual conditions of the
workplace are below an acceptable standard. As workplace
stress can be either personal or organizational, addressing and
managing this stress will require a proactive approach from two
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angles. Personally, there is a lot one can do to ensure that
he/she is feeling content and happy including getting regular
rest, exercising, eating well and even seeking professional help
if necessary. If the stress is due to the nature of the role or
organisation, then the worker must speak to the relevant
authority, i.e. the manager or other individual, to discuss the
concerns. If discussing this does not solve the issue, perhaps
this the time to move on-there may be simply be not a good fit
between the individual and the job, or the individual and the
company.
We work with teams to help them understand the causes ofstress and how team-building initiatives can help them cope
with it.
Stress related time off work costs organizations bill ions of
pounds. To this can be added the effects of individual reduction
of productivity, impaired judgment, poor decisions, lost
opportuni ty, and the impact that can all have on the
organizations culture and customers, etc.
Managements Role in Reducing Work Stress
Employee stress can have an enormous impact on an
organization in terms of cost. As many studies have shown,
there is a high correlation between stress and job performance.
At moderate levels, stress is beneficial in that it can cause
individuals to perform their jobs better and attain higher job
performance. However, at high levels, stress1 can decrease
productivity instead. This is the case often seen in employees
at many organizations. Furthermore, as ide from costs
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associated with lost productivi ty, there are costs with respect to
stress-related absenteeism and organizational medical
expenses. Specifically, these include costs of lost company
time, increase in work-related, disrupting production, increase
in health care costs and health insurance premiums, and most
importantly, decrease in productivity. There are numerous
methods that organizations could adopt to reduce undue stress
in their employees. However, measures taken to counter this
problem are usually tailored specifically for the particular
organization. Therefore, this report has chosen two separate
actions which are fundamental to most organizations that
management can take Reduction of Employee Stress as an
Organizational Policy. The first step any organization should
take to help its employees reduce and cope with stress is to
incorporate into the company policies a positive and specific
intent on reducing undue stress. This would indicate that top
management is committed to such a stress reduction program.
Furthermore, the amendment to the policies should also include
recognition that this initiative will benefit the achievement of
other organizational goals by enhancing the productivity of
employees through lowered stress levels. After the inclusion of
the broad mission goal of reducing employee stress,
management should draft out plans which specifically lay out
the provisions to accomplish that goal. As earlier mentioned,
there are many approaches to stress reduction, thus the
provisions should detail only the methods specific to the
organisation. For example, they could specify that employees
measures for the individual. In any case, the most important
beginning step is a total re-examination and revis ion of
company policies, plans, and procedures to enhance employees
own methods of coping with stress, and simultaneously,
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promote an organizational climate which actively assists
employees to minimize their stress.
Fundamental Techniques to Employee Stress
Reduction
One method management can employ to alleviate employee
stress is to make them f itter to deal with the everyday
pressures of work. There are three basic management
techniques that would accomplish this goal. Managers should be
clear about their expectations of employees and clearly convey
these expectations to each person. Secondly, management
should devise a performance-evaluation-feedback system such
that each employee would be aware of his / her performance
level based on the feedback received. Lastly, employees should
be fully capable of performing their job tasks. Stress arises
when employees do not possess the necessary skills to carry on
with the work assigned to them. Therefore, job-training
programs are essential to reducing anxiety and stress
associated when employees feel that they do not possess
sufficient skills or knowledge to perform the job that they were
hired for. Undergo periodic physical and psychological
examinations and personnel surveys to ascertain current stress
levels. Another alternative would be to provide personal
counseling to employees to identify undue stress levels and
then to advise any corrective measures.
Work stress places a very high toll on both employees and
employers. An employee subjected to high levels of stress could
experience both physical and mental side effects. Physical side
effects such as hypertension, coronary disease, infections,
ulcers could greatly decrease the lifespan of the person. The
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psychological effects such as repressed emotions, anger, and
isolation have a direct negative impact on organizational
productivity. Thus, organisations have a great responsibility in
reducing the stress of their employees, and in general are
concerned about their well being. There are numerous methods
to counter the stress problem. The report has cited only the
basics which are applicable to most organisations. The first step
for management is to set out the intention to reduce employee
stress as an organisational goal. Provisions detailing the
organisations planned approach should be drafted. Informing
employees of managements expectations is one method to
reduce a large portion of the anxiety employees may have
about their jobs. Secondly, management must provide
subordinates feedback on their performance. Management
should also provide job training for all employees to enable
them to better perform their jobs and reduce the stress
associated with the feeling of inadequacy to perform ones
duties.
Stress is one of the principal causes of lost productivity, social
breakdown and ill-health. Adverse pressures at work or in
social situations can cause it.
Stress is increasingly recognized as a health and safety at
work issue. Employers can now face claims in the civil courts
for damages for the breakdown of an employee's mental health.
There could also be additional employment related effects with
victims seeking compensation in the industrial tribunal courts
for unfair dismissal, for a detriment because of a stress-related
deterioration in their health or for having complained about
stress at work. The organizations main obligations are: to
ensure, under the Health and Safety at Work Act etc, as far
as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety at work of
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its employees, by ensuring that employees have a safe place of
work, safe equipment and appliances with which to work and
also a safe system of work to comply with health and safety
legislation appropriate to its workplace to carry out r isk
assessments (and this could increasingly be taken to include
stress audits) and put in place appropriate protective and
preventive measures as part of the risk assessment, it must
ensure that its employees receive proper instruction, training
and supervision and are kept fully informed of health and
safety issues which may affect them and the steps which they
should take to guard against health risks not to dismiss unfairly
employees with two or more years service, whether on health
grounds or otherwise not to dismiss or subject to a detriment,
employees, regardless of length of service, on specified health
and safety grounds.
In addition to the legal case, the business arguments for taking
care of an employee's mental health, of which unhealthy stress
is only one manifestation, include ethical considerations such as
respecting and valuing the individual, allowing for his or her
unique personality differences and allowing for balance between
corporate and private life so as to ensure continued health,
commitment and motivation.
Now a days new stress management course has also been
introduced. It aims at raising awareness of stress, its causes,
affects and techniques for managing it. Participants will identify
their own stressors and stressors in the organization prior to
forming a personal action plan to f irst cope with and then
reduce their stress levels.
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Participants will review the many potential daily stressors,
coming not only from physical events but also social situations,
our work, general l iv ing, our feel ings, our thoughts and
perceptions. Mostly these stressors are perceived to be in
balance. The response we generate can be both positive and
negative and is characterized by the scale of the perceived
importance. In order to survive, be energized and be creative.
It is when the balance is wrong, however, that difficu lties arise.
Everyone's response to stress will be different because each
individual is unique. So, a person who is a high achiever may
find it easier to cope with the pressures of an executive role
than someone whose expectations are in another direction, and
vice versa. Some people thrive in situations that others find
totally overwhelming. It is the degree of adoption that people
have to make to a situation, which determines whether they
react positively or negatively and find they either go forward or
fail to cope.
All pressure is not harmful. A certain amount of pressure can
enhance performance. But excessive, unrelenting negative
pressure results in individuals experiencing stress.
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Work stress is a very extensive topic ranging from research on
the sources of stress, the effects of stress, to ways on
managing and reducing stress.
This report will focus first on the effects of stress at work,
both mentally and physically. It will explain why management
should be concerned with rising employee stress and wil l
describe some actions management can take to alleviate work
stress. It will also focus on the different techniques of reducing
stress.
Objectives: -
This study will focus on Stress in an organization, fundamental
techniques of reducing stress, the cause of stress for
employees and managements role in reduction of stress in an
organization. It wil l also include the different models to
measure ones stress level.
Methodology:
Conceptual Base: To refer various management books
(Managing stress), HR Journals (HR Focus, Harvard Business
Review, and Human Capital)
Secondary Data:Management books, Internet, Consultants,
Academicians, Business Reviews
Primary Data: The project is basically a sample survey
conducted in NTPC. The motive of selecting this public sector
unit is due to its rapidly changing environment. The emphasis
was given on the quality of the questionnaire; the questionnaire
consisted of questions related to stress at various levels of
management, i ts optimum level, and degree of stress.
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Questionnaire consisted of sector specific questions on how to
deal with stress & its effect on productivity and job satisfaction.
CHAPTER-2
ABOUT THE ORGANISATION
NTPC - AN OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION:National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd., (NTPC)
constitutes a mega national capabil ity in terms of power
generating utility in India and has also earned commendable
international recognition. The organization is owned by the
Government of India and has been accorded the 'NAVARATNA'
status by the Government of India. 'Navratna' means 'Nine
Gems'. Government of India gives this status to nine best
performing public sector units. This number has increased to
eleven. Amongst the eleven, the other ten are -
Indian Oil Corporation.(IOC)
Steel Authority of India Ltd.(SAIL)
Gas Authority of India Ltd.(GAIL)
Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd.(VSNL)
Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd.(BHEL)
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Oil & Natural Gas Corporation.(ONGC)
Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd.(MTNL)
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd.(BPCL)
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd.(HPCL)
Indian Petrochemical Corporation Ltd.(IPCL)
NTPC is the only Navratna with 100% equity holding by the
government.
NTPC's ranking world-wide is as under :
1st in Power Generation Capacity in India.
3rd in Efficiency among Navaratnas in India.
7th in Capacity in Asia-Pacific.
9th in Thermal Power Generation in the world.
15 th in Power Generation in the World.
SOURCE: Seminar on 'Global Electricity Utility Benchmarking
1997' conducted by Market Line International Ltd.,U.K.
NTPC was established and authenticated in 1975, to
accelerate power development in India. Since then it has been
performing unscrupulously wel l, be it the fulfi llment of
corporate responsibil ity of not harming the society even
unintentionally by adding to pollution of the environment
through its by-products or consistent generation of reliable and
quality power.
The areas of operation of this premier enterprise may
broadly be outlined as engineering, procurement, construction,
project management, erection, commissioning, operation &
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maintenance. The company also executes transmission lines
and sub-station packages in India and abroad and has secured
several contracts from within the country and the international
market.
Over the past two and half years decades, NTPC has becomeIndia's prime power house. It has contributed 18,440 MW
electricity to the India's total generating capacity of 94,055 MW
power through 15 coal-based power plants and 7 gas-based
power plants. Another 3200 MW or more is under various
stages of construction. Thus, NTPC's capacity is 20% of the
total capacity of India. Its contribution to the total power
generation of India i.e.,4,48,406 MW is 1,13,840 MW which ismore than 25% of the total generation of India. NTPC
generates more than 1/4th of the total power generation of
India. That is why it is said that every fourth bulb is lighted by
NTPC.
NTPC added a capacity of 940 MW during the year 1998-
99. This addition is through Vindhyachal-II (500MW),
Kayamkulam (230MW) & Unchahar-II(210MW).
With this, the installed capacity of the corporation has
risen to 17,735MW plus 705MW of Badarpur Power Project ,
which makes the total installed capacity equal to 18,440MW.A
generating capacity of 1115MW is to be added during the year
1999-2000.
In India, electricity is produced through various resources
such as coal, gas, diesel, water, windmill, nuclear energy etc.
Out of which coal and gas contributes nearly 70%, water
contributes nearly 26% and other resources 4%. In this, NTPC
contributes only through coal and gas as much as 25.4% of the
total coal and gas power generating capacity of India. The first
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power station of NTPC was commissioned at Singrauli,
Sonebhadra district of U.P. with an installed capacity of 200MW,
in 1982.(Details of sector-wise contribution to India's total
power is given in Annexure-I and details of all the existing
projects and projects under construction of NTPC is given in
Annexure-II).
HIERARCHICAL STRUCTURE
The Registered Office of the Company also known as NTPC
Bhavan is located at Scope Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi.
The company is headed by Chairman & Managing Director
(CMD) with Functional Directors including Director (Technical),
Director (Personnel), Director (Finance), Director (Operation),
Director (Commercial) and Director (Projects). The CMD is also
assisted by General Manager (Planning) and Executive Director
(Vigilance) at the corporate level.
The company has 3-Tier Management Systems
namely:
1. Corporate Level Management
2. Regional Level Management
3. Different Site Level Management
At Corporate Level, the CMD heads its team of Directors and
is assisted by General Manager (Planning) and Executive
Director (Vigilance).
At Regional Level, the regions are headed by Executive
Directors, who intern report to CMD. There are in all 5 regions -
Eastern Region (ER), Western Region (WR), Northern Region
(NR), Southern Region (SR) and National Capital Region (NCR).
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At Site Level , the sites are under the direct control of General
Managers or Additional General Managers, who in turn report to
respective Executive Directors.
CORPORATE MISSION
NTPC's mission is to make available reliable and quality
power in increasingly large quantity. The company wil l
spearhead the process of accelerated development of the power
sector by planning and expeditiously implementing power
projects and operating stations economically and efficiently.
The company will augment its power generation through tie-ups
with other organizations in areas of conventional energy
sources as well as non-conventional energy sources. NTPC will
contribute to all-round sector improvement by sharing its
experience and expertise with other organizat ions. The
company will participate in the execution of power projects
abroad, i f necessary in col laboration with other reputed
organizations.
CORPORATE OBJECTIVES
To add generating capacity, within the prescribed time and
cost.
To operate and maintain power stations at high availability
ensuring minimum cost of generation.
To maintain the financial soundness of the company by
managing the financial operations in accordance with good
commercial utility practices.
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To develop appropriate commercial pol icy leading to
remunerative tariffs and minimum receivable.
To function as a responsible Corporate Citizen and discharge
responsibil ity in respect of environment protection and
rehabilitation.
To adopt appropriate Human Resources Development policy
leading to creation of a team of motivated and competent
power professionals.
To attain self-sufficiency in technology and disseminate
knowledge essentially as a contribution to other constituents
of the power sector in the country.
To develop Research and Development for achieving
improved plant reliability.
To expand the consultancy operations and to participate in
ventures abroad.
To participate in social justice and removing the social
inequality.
CORPORATE VISION
NTPC, a front runner in the Indian power sector; to be one
of the largest and best power utilities of the world; and thereby
contribute to India's emergence as one of the world's leading
economies.
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
The R & D center at Noida continues to play an important
role in economic power generation. The center has entered into
a MOU with Bhabha Atomic Research Center; Australian
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Government for a study on coal characteristics; Trireme
Institute for Industrial Research, Delhi; Central Mechanical
Engineering Research Institute (CMER), Durgapur and a number
of other organisation.
NTPC & THE GOVERNMENT
NTPC signed the Memorandum of Understanding with the
Government of India in 1987 for the first t ime. NTPC has
entered into a MOU with the government with commitment for
efficient performance and ensuring fair return to the
investment. The organisation has been rated "excellent" for
eleven consecutive years ever since the inception of MOU
system in the country.
QUALITY POWER
The Engineering Divis ion of the company has been
awarded ISO-9001 certification by the internationally reputed
certification body M/S Lloyd's Regatta Quality Assurance
Ltd.(LRQA),U.K. All stations of NTPC in the Western Region
located at Vindhyachal, Kawas, Jhanor-Gandhar, Korba and
Balco Captive Power Plant has also been awarded ISO-9002
certification by the Bureau of Indian Standards.
GREEN POWER
NTPC has taken a number of initiatives to improve the
performance of its stations in line with its environmental policy.
These include institutional strengthening, environmental
monitoring, environmental audit reviews, renovation and
retrofitting, ecological impact monitoring and afforestation. One
of the examples of this is ash utilization by changing it into fly
ash bricks.
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SOCIAL POWER
NTPC, as a responsible citizen, is making constant efforts
to improve the socio-economic status of Project Affected
Persons (PAPs).The PAPs are sensitized to the change in the
social matrix of the area through a greater consultation processby formation of Village Development Advisory Committees and
better transparency through establishment of Public
Information Center (PI). PAPs are encouraged to participate in
planning and implementation of Rehabilitation and Resettlement
(R & R) activit ies. For improving R & R activit ies, training
workshops are organized regular
POWER OF SKILL
NTPC's apex training organisation, the Power Management
Institute (PMI) at Noida, was set up to provide vital
management development support to meet the challenges in
the Indian power sector. It imparts high-end training through
its management development programs, research and
consultancy. PMI and the Training Centers at various projects
organized about 189 training programs covering nearly 4,170
participants during the year 1998-99. PMI has tied up with IIT,
Delhi for an accredited course in M.Tech in Power Generation
Technology and has plans for such tie-ups with other
universities for MBA in power management. Arrangements have
also been made to impart Power Engineering Graduation in
association with BITS, Pilani, for employees having Diploma in
Engineering.
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EMPLOYEE RELATIONSHIP
Employer-employee relations in NTPC continue to be
cordial and harmonious throughout the life of the organisation.
Bel ieving in the phi losophy of participate management,
employees at all level interact with the management throughstructured as well as informal meetings. MOU has been signed
with employee associations or unions for introduction or the
self-contributing Superannuation Benefit (Pension) Scheme.
The total human strength of the corporation stands at
23674 as on 31st March 1999, as against 23585 as on 1998 in
various power plants and establishment located in various parts
of the country. The overall Manpower-MW ratio for the year
1998-99 was 1:1.18. The turnover rate of the executives during
the year was as low as 0.81% compared to 1.28% during the
previous year.
FUTURE PLANS
The corporation has drawn up an ambitious plan for the new
millennium to become a 30,000 MW company by 2007 A.D. and
40,000 MW by 2012. NTPC has at present 16 projects in hand
to achieve this target.
THE OBJECTIVES
The study undertaken regarding the Organizational role stress
was to know about the major dimensions of stress which the
executives experience while performing their roles in the
organization. The primary objectives of the study thus
conducted with the help of National Thermal Power Corporation
are as under:
To identify and measure the ten dimensions of Role
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Stress as given below in NTPC:
1. Inter Role Distance (IRD)
2. Role Stagnation (RS)
3. Role Expectation Conflict (REC)
4. Role Erosion (RE)
5. Role Overload (RO)
6. Role Isolation (RI)
7. Personal Inadequacy (PI)
8. Self-Role Distance (SRD)
9. Role Ambiguity (RA)
10. Resource Inadequacy (RIn)
And further to identify the Role Stress, which is mostly
experienced by the executives in NTPC.
To study the variation of Role Stress in accordance with the
level of responsibility of executives in NTPC.
To study the variation of Role Stress in accordance with the
age of executives in NTPC.
Through this study an effort has been made to identify the
most prominent role stress among the executives in NTPC. Also
an assessment of the relationship of role stress with age and
level of responsibility has been made. This will help the HRD
department to deal with the prevalent situation.
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TO ENABLE OUR PEOPLE, TO BE AFAMILY OF COMMITTED WORLDCLASS PROFESSIONALS, MAKING
NTPC A LEARNING ORGANIZATION.
Performance Leadership
To continuously improve on project execution time andcost in order to sustain long run competitiveness in
generation.
To operate & maintain NTPC stations at par with the best-run uti lities in the world with respect to availabil ity,
reliability, efficiency, productivity and costs.
To effectively leverage Information Technology to drive
process efficiencies.
To aim for performance excellence in the diversification
businesses.
To embed quality in all systems and processes.
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Human Resource Development:
To enhance organizational performance by
institutionalizing an objective and open performance
management system.
To align individual and organizational needs and develop
business leaders by implementing a career developmentsystem.
To enhance commitment of employees by recognizing and
rewarding high performance.
To build and sustain a learning organization of competent
world-class professionals.
To institutionalize core values and create a culture ofteam building, empowerment, equity, innovation and
openness which would motivate employees and enableachievement of strategic objectives.
Financial Soundness:
To maintain and improve the financial of NTPC by prudentmanagement of the financial resources.
To continuously str ive to reduce the cost of capitalthrough prudent management of deployed funds,
leveraging opportunities in domestic and international
financial markets.
To develop appropriate commercial policies and processes
which would ensure.
Remunerative tariffs and minimize receivables. To continuously strive for reduction in cost of power
generation by improving operating practices.
Sustainable Power Development:
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To contribute to sustainable power development bydischarging corporate social responsibilities.
To lead the sector in the areas of resettlement andrehabil itation and environment protection including
effective ash-utilization, peripheral development and
energy conservation practices.
To lead developmental efforts in the Indian power sector
through efforts at policy advocacy, assisting customers inreform, disseminating best practices in the operation and
management of power plants etc.
CORPORATE OBJECTIVES
To realize the vision and mission, eight key corporate objectives
have been identified. These objectives would provide the link
between the defined mission and the functional strategies.
Business Portfolio growth:
To further consolidate NTPCs position as the leadingpower generation company in India and establ ish a
presence hydropower segment.
To broad base the generation mix by evaluation
conventional and non-conventional sources of energy to
ensure long run competitiveness and mitigate fuel risks.
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To diversify across the power value chain in India byconsidering backward and forward integration into areas
such as power trading, transmission, distribution, coal
mining, coal beneficiation, etc.
To develop a portfolio of generation assets in international
markets.
To establish a strong services brand in the domestic and
international markets.
Customer Focus:
To foster a collaborative style of working with customers,growing to be a preferred brand for supply of quality
power.
To expand the relationship with existing customers byoffering a bouquet of services in addition to supply of
power e.g. trading, energy consult ing, distr ibut ionconsulting, management practices.
To expand the future customer portfolio through profitablediversification into downstream businesses, inter alia
retail distribution and direct supply.
To ensure rapid commercial decis ion making, using
customer specific information, with adequate concern forthe interests of the customer.
Agile Corporation:
To ensure effectiveness in business decis ions andresponsiveness to changes in the business environment
by:
Adopting a portfolio approach to new business
development.
Continuous and coordinate assessment of the business
environment to identify and respond to opportunities andthreats.
To develop a learning co-organization having knowledge-based competitive edge in current and future businesses.
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To effectively leverage Information Technology to ensure
speedy decision-making across the organization.
EMPLOYEE BENEFIT
1. LEAVE TRAVEL CONCESSION
All employees & their family member employed in the regular
establ ishment including a probationer, a l ien holder, a
deputationist, and a person appointed on contract for a periodof two years or more, with one years continuous service.
ENTITLEMENT:
Entitle Class means the class and mode of travel applicable as
per traveling allowance rules of the company subject to thecondition that the travel by air or 1st class AC by rail
permissible to employees in the grade of E6 and above.
2. MEDICAL ATTENDENCE & TREATMENT RULES:
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Applicability
All regular employees, trainees and apprentices (other than Actapprentices) and their family members.
TREATMENT AT PLACES WHERE FULL FLEDGEDCOMPANY HOSPITALS/DISPENSARIES EXIST.
All employees and their family members are entitled to free
medical attendance and treatment in NTPChospitals/Dispensaries
3. ENCASHMENT OF EARNED LEAVE
Admissible to all regular employees
75% of total EL is treated as encashable.
4. HALF PAY LEAVE
Executive, supervisor & workmen are entitled to HPL @ 20 daysper calendar year
HPL is not admissible to Trainees/ apprentices and employee on
contact
Half pay for this purpose means half of the basic day. All other
allowance are paid in full.
5. Admissible Benefits/Facilities
The sponsored employee is normally expected to stay in the
accommodation available with institution where study is
undertaken. However if any accommodation is not provided by
the institute, some assistance towards HRA as prescribed underthe riled in lieu may be sanctioned.
Examination fee
Traveling allowance
All of pocket allowance
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6. REIMBURSMENT OF MEMBERSHIP FEES FORPROFESSIONAL BODIES/ INSTITUTES
Reimbursement of membership fees for professional
bodies/Institutes is admissible to executives in respect of
professional bodies/ Institutes duly registered in India or setupunder and act/statue in India and which is relevant to the
concerned executive profession/ field of work and allied field.The scheme provides for reimbursement of
membership/admission fee and annual/periodic institutes for
which the reimbursement may be allowed is limited to two incase of executives in the rank of managers and above and one
for executive in the ranks of deputy manager and below.
7. INTERNET CONNECTION IN LIEU OFMEMBERSHIP OF PROFESSIONALBODIES/INSTITUTES:
To assist executives and employees in selection grade in theirprofessional development and to make NTPC a learning
organization, it has been decided to reimburse charges forinternet connection at residence on production of proof ofpayment subject to a maximum of Rs 2000/- per annum, in lieu
of one membership of professional body/ Institutes
8) EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT SCHEMES
The company provides opportunities and facilities to employees
to obtain the following qualification:
Qualification equivalent to class 8th
Qualification equivalent to Matric
Qualification equivalent to Graduation.
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9) Workers Education Scheme
The scheme operated in collaboration with the central board ofworkers education, covers all employees in the workman
category irrespective of their educational qualification.
Books and stationary are provided free of cost to all the
participants in the program. Thirty minutes times off per day isgiven for attending classes. On the successful completion of the
course the participants are awarded certificates to that effect.The participants adjusted first second and third best trainees
are given cash awards from Rs 51/- to 201/-
EMPLOYEE SERVICES
HR DEPARTMENT act as employer of the organization on the
behalf of the management. The functions dealt by hr rangesfrom recruitment to provide training to regularizing various
entitlements of employees to provide training to regularizing
various entitlements of employees, marinating good employeerelation, welfare practices, implementation of various HR
initiatives of the company, furniture and sitting space toemployees, providing residential accommodation to employees
company school, guest house, ladies club, Liason with RWA andpartic ipate in various activ ities concerned with social
responsibility of the company.
1. HR Employees Benefits
2. HR Employees Services3. HR Employees Relation and Welfare
4. HR Industrial Engineering and Employee Development5. Public Relations
6. Law Section
7. Raj- Bhasha8. Corporate Social Responsibility
9. HR Employee Development Centre
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VARIOUS HR SECTION AT BTPS
An employee services is an important section of HRdepartment which provides the employees at BTPS a variety ofservices in order to them perform their duties to their level
best. We did our training in HR department and tried to analyze
the services environment over there. The various servicesprovided by this section are as follows:
House Allotment
Lease
Tele Communication
Dispatch
BTPS Canteen
Stationary and Furniture
Meeting and function arrangements
Rent payment for employees houses
HOUSE ALLOTMENT
House allotment facil ity is one of the employees servicesprovided to the employees at BTPS by the HR department. This
facility can be availed by every according to hid entitlement.
This is one interest of the employees that whether they want toavail the facility or not.
LEASE
House accommodation facil ity at BTPS is provided to both
Exercise as well as non-executives.
In case, if the employees have their own house or wants to live
outside the premises of the company then
The executives can take lease instead of the
accommodation provided to them by the company
And the non-executives are g iven HRA(house rentallowance) in place of house accommodation facility.
WHAT IS LEASE
Lease is the contract of house or accommodation for a given
period of time.
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TELECOMMUNICATION
BTPS provides its employees with the communication facility
that varies for different level of employees.
The basic communication facility provided by BTPS is to all level
employee, offices, departments, townships, CISF security andall the other areas within its premises is the intercom facility,
communication becomes so easy and the time factor is saved toa great extent.
Videoconferencing and fax are also included in the services
provided by HR-ES at BTPS to i ts enti tled employees.
Videoconferencing at BTPS has been made possible though BRIlines.
A part from intercom facility all the executives and above arealso provided with the landline and mobile facility according to
the entitlements. Lower level executive are provided with thecell phone and landline fac ili ties whi le the upper level
executives can procure both mobile phones as well as landlinefacility.
DISPATCH
Dispatch is one of the major services provided by the HRES.
This is an important medium, which facilitates communicationboth externally as well as internally to it and in the station. The
important mails are delivered to departments and concerned
people through messengers specially employed for the purpose.
Various types of documents are received as well as dispatched.The documents includes
Postal
Official Non-official
Registry
Speed Post
Parcel
Courier
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EMPLOYEE RELATION AND WELFARE
This department handle; the relation of industrial relation andwelfare of employees and workers. Employee relations may be
defined as those policies and practices, which are concerned
with the management and regulation of relations between theorganization, the individual, staff member and group of staff
within the working environment. So employee relations is allabout maintaining harmonious relationships between employers
and employees and employees. Employee relation strategy in
the company is aimed at foster ing a maintaining a goodrelationship based on concern for productivity, employee
growth and development and welfare consistent with thegrowth of the company. In conducting industrial relations the
management lay emphasis in participative style involving the
union/association for sharing of information and participation indecision making. Suitable forums are created for various
interest groups to interact on matters on mutual concern andthus develop a sense of participation and belongings to the
organization in the day to day working. Every employees is
given importance and a status in order to gives feeling of beingimportant and a status in order to gives feeling of being
important to the organization in achieving the organizationalgoals and objectives:
Sound employees relation are based on:
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Effective mechanism for communication and participation.
A safe effective work environment.
Commitment and motivation of all staff.
Objectives of this department
To safeguard the interest of labor and management byfostering highest level of misunderstanding and good will
among different section of the plant.
To avoid industrial conf lict or strife and developharmonious relations which are essential for productivity
of workers.
To lessen the tendency of high turn over and frequentabsenteeism.
Participants of employee relations are:
Workers and their organization
Manders and their association
Government
This department also handles misconduct of employees,
which includes loss, waste of companys property,
misbehaving with peers, superiors or subordinates when
an employee disrupts the office with aggressiveness and
abusive behavior affecting the morale and performance
of others, an employee has a leave abusive problem or
other time and attendance problem. Theft, violence and
conviction of a criminal offence during the course of
employment and willful disobedience to reasonable
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employer requests have been kind of conduct, which gas
traditionally been viewed as serious conduct
Minor conducts are handled by giving warnings and memos.If the misconduct is of medium nature, is a charge sheet is
prepared against the person and an enquiry committee is set
up for investigation, after the completion of which thepunishment is decided. If the misconduct is of serious
nature, the person is suspended and then a charge sheet isprepared against the person and an enquiry committee is
set-up for investigation, after the completion of which may
be dismissed.
CHAPTER-4
ABOUT STRESS
"Stress is very much a part of a manager's job. He must learn
not only to cope with it, but use it to help him work better".
Modern life is full of stress. As an organisation becomes more
complex, the potential for stress increases. Urbanization,
industrialization, and increase in scale of operations are some
of the reasons for r is ing stress. Stress is an inevitable
consequence of socio-economic complexity and to some extent
it is a stimulant as well. People experience stress, as they can
no longer have complete control over what happens in their
lives. Theyre being no escape from stress in modern life; we
need to find ways of using stress productively, and reducing
dysfunctional stress. Even as stress is inevitable in today's
complex life, so is it necessary for human progress. It is like a
musical instrument, where an optimum stress is needed to
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produce good music, loose wires ( less stress) would not
produce the notes and too much tautness (too much stress)
might result in screeching.
A distinction has been made between productive or functional
stress (stress for creative work, entrepreneurial activities etc.)and dysfunctional stress (stress of boredom, unmanageable
conflicts, over worker etc. the former has been called estruses
and the latter distress.
Rapid industrialization and mechanization have changed the
way of life of humans at home and at work. The corporate rat
race is made to order to rattle people. More and more
executives are suffering from stress and stress-induced
problems like hypertension, increased turnover, absenteeism,
decreased productivity etc. this has created a lot of panic. It is
thus necessary to understand executive stress. A manger's role
is essentially to get resources from owners, work from the
worker and convert the resources and work into results. This
role looks very simple. But in practice it is very complicated
because neither the resources nor the work is given - it has to
be extracted. Thus, i t is said, 'if you are going to be a
manager, you will have to face tension. If you do not want
tension, be a consultant". Tension or stress is thus inevitable
for a manager.
An organization, two individuals may be identical regarding
their position, but may differ in terms of the abilities, motives,
moods and above all the personality as a whole. These persona
differences interact with organizational factors and create
predisposing conditions for stress experiences that may
influence the overall performance of the individual.
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ROLE STRESS
Interest in organizational stress has increased a great deal in
recent years. There has been a spate of writings on managerial
and executive stress.
Researchers came with the definition of role as the position
occupied by a person as def ined by the expectations of
significant persons, including the role occupant, indicates that
there are inherent problems in the performance of a role, and
therefore stress is inevitable.
Since the concept of role is inextricably linked with expectations, the organizational factors and context assume
importance due to their influence on the moulding of
prescriptions and proscriptions associated with a particular,
position. These could be looked upon as structural components
organizational processes. Authoritative organizational structure
and control systems area potent source of stress as they are
seen to breed dependency, afford little scope for initiative ancreativity in role enactment and channelize behaviors along
narrowly defined paths.
In the concept of role proposed above, several variables are
involved he self, the other roles, the expectations held by the
other roles, the situations in which there is no conflict among
the variables. The very nature of role has built in potential for
conflict these variables. The very nature of role has built in
potential for confl ict or stress. Thus conflict is a natural
variable in role performance. Kann an Quinn ( 1970) have
proposed a response inferred definition of stress and an
experiments or noxious stimulus with general results in
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psychological change, behavioral change, perceptual cognitive
change, affective change an in both overt and intrapsychic
coping efforts. Role conflict has been defined in terms, of
conflicting expectations. The main characteristic of conflict is
the incompatibility of some variables relating to the role of an
individual which many have some consequences for the
individuals role performance. The word strain has been used
in the literature to denote the effect of stress on the individual.
The word pressure has also been used. Buck
(1972) defines job pressure as the resultant psychological
state of the individual when the perceives that (1) conflicting
forces and incompatibility commitments are being made uponhim in connection with his work, (2) at least one of the forces
of demands is an induced one, and (3) the forces and recurrent
or stable over time. Several studies have shown that role stress
or pressure is very bad for mental and physical health.
Although conflict, role and stain have been given different
connotations, we do not f ind any use in making such finer
distinctions, and shall use them interchangeably.
Role conflict or stress need not necessarily be negative. As
Klausner (1968) has suggested, success in business, sports,
and politics depends on stress-seeking tendency. Kiretz and
Moos (1974) have proposed three factors in the effect of
stress: kind of adjustment required, perception of control over
stress-source, and valence (loss-for example in death, vs. gain
for example, in marriage or business). Bernard (21968)
proposed two types of stress: dystress (unpleasant stress)
and estruses (pleasant stress). Stress is a necessary factor in
the success of people in organizations. However, if the stress
experienced goes beyond a particular level, it may adversely
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affect the individuals performance and psychological and
physical health.
Several systems of classification have been used to discuss role
conflict and stress. Kahn and Quinn (1970) have classified role
stress under tree main headings: expectation generated stressin which they inc lude role ambiguity and role confl ict:
expectations resource discrepancies, in which they include role
overload, responsibility-authority dilemma and inadequate
technical information; and role and personality. We find it more
functional to use the two main role constellations as areas of
conflict and stress.
Marshall and Cooper (1979) have suggested seven sources and
therefore classification of managerial stress: (1) job (working
conditions, overload) (2) Organisational role (role ambiguity,
role conflict, responsibility, etc.), (3) relationships at work
(relationships with superiors, relationships with colleagues (4)
career development (lack of job security, status incongruity),
(5) Organizational structure and climate (7) the individual
(psychometric characteristics, behavior patterns, self-help
literature).
In view of the two proposed concepts of role systems (role
space and role set), we shall discuss role conflicts or stress
under these two categories. Five main role stresses or conflicts
in the role space of an individual have been identified.
1.
Self-role distance:This is the conflict between the self-
concept and the expectations from the role as perceived by
the role occupant. If a person occupies a role, which he may
subsequently find conflicting with his self-concept, he feels
the stress. For example, a usually introvert person, who is
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fond of studying and writing, may have self-role distance if
he accepts the role of a salesman in an organization and
come to realize that the expectations from the roles would
include his meeting people and being social. Such conflicts
are fairly common, although these may not be so severe.
2. Intra-role conflict: Since the individual learns to
develop expectations as a result of his socialization and
identification with significant others, it is quite likely that he
sees some incompatibility between the two expectations from
his own role. For example, a professor may see
incompatibi li ty between the expectations of teaching
students and that of doing research. These inherently maynot be conflicting but the individual may perceive these as
incompatible. .
3. Role Stagnation: As the individual grows physically, he
also grows in the role he occupies in an organisation. With
the advancement of the individual, his role changes and with
this change in role, the need for his taking his new role
becomes crucial. This is the problem of role growth. This
becomes an acute problem especially when an individual has
occupied a role for a long time, and he enters another role in
which he may feel less secure. However, the demand of the
new role is for the individual to out-grow his previous role
and occupy the new role effectively. This produces some
stress in the individual.
Role stagnation also includes stress related to career
progression. Marshall and Cooper (1979) have commented on
this type of stress in the American context. A lot of this is true
of India, as Marshall and Cooper (1979) have commented,
career progression is perhaps a problem by its nature. At
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middle age, and usually middle-management levels, career
becomes more problematic and most executives find their
progress slowed, if not actually stopped. Job opportunities
become fewer, those jobs that are available take longer to
master, past (mistaken?) decisions cannot be revoked, old
knowledge and methods become obsolete, energies may be
flagging or demanded for family activities and there is the
press of fresh young recruits to face in competition.
The fear of demotion or obsolescence can be strong for those
who know they have reached their career coiling and most
will inevitably suffer some erosion of status before they finally
retire.
From the company perspective, on the other hand, McMurray
(1973) puts the case for not promoting to a higher position if
there is doubt that the employee can fill it. In a syndrome he
labels the executive neurosis, he describes the over-promoted
manager as grossly over working to keep down a top job, and
at the same time hide his insecuri ty, and points to the
consequences of this for his work performance and the
company. Age is no longer revered as it was it is becoming a
young mans world. The rapidity with which society is
developing technologically economically and socially) is likely to
mean that individuals will now need to change career during
their working life (as companies and products are having to
do). Such trends breed uncertainty and research suggests that
older workers look for stability. Unless managers adapt their
expectations to suit new circumstances career development
stress, especially in later life, is likely to become an
increasingly common experience.
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4. Inter-role Distance: An individual occupies more than
one role. There may be confl icts between two roles he
occupies. For example, an executive often faces the conflicts
between his organizational role as an executive and his
family role as the husband and the father. The demands
from his wife and chi ldren to share h is time may be
incompatible with the organizational demands on him for
spending a lot of time on Organisational problems. Such
inter-role conflicts are quite frequent in modern society when
the individual is increasingly occupying multiple roles in
various organisations and groups.
Marshall and Cooper (1979) have mentioned two problemsregarding managers relationships with his family and wife:
time and spillover of stress from one to the other. Rappel and
Paul (1971) found that the majority of wives in their middle-
class sample saw their role in relation to their husbands job as
a cooperative, domestic one; all said that they derived their
sense of security from their husbands (only two men said the
same of their wives). Barber (1976) interviewing five directorswives finds similar attitudes. Gowler and Legge (1975) have
dubbed this bond the hidden contract in which the wife agrees
to act as a supportive team so that her husband can fill the
demanding job to which he aspires. Handy (1975) supports the
idea that this is typical, and that it is the path to career
success for the manager concerned.
5. Role Boundness: If an individual feels highly obligated
to the expectations of significant role senders, and sacrifices
his own interests, preferences, values, comforts etc., he may
be said to be role bounded. He may experience the conflict
between his tendency to live as a person, and live as a role. For
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example, in the traditional Indian homes, the boys experienced
the conflict between their son role and their living as persons
giving preferences to their son role. Indian culture promoted
such role bounded ness. .
Role Set Conflicts
An individual occupying a particular role may have some
expectations from his role. Interacting with him (role senders)
may have quite d ifferent expectations from him. Such
incompatible expectations and other problems arising in the
role set are called role set stress or conflicts. Some of these
discussed below.
As Marshal and Cooper (1979) have pointed out, role ambiguity
exists when an individual has inadequate information about his
work role, i.e. where there is lack of clarity about the work
objectives associated with the role, about work colleagues'
expectation of the work role and about the scope and
responsibilities of the job. Kahn, Wolfe, Quinn, Snoek and
Rosenthal (1964) found in their study that men who suffered
from role ambiguity experienced lower job satisfaction, high
job-related tension, greater futility and lower self-confidence.
French and Caplan (1973) found, at one of NASA's bases, in a
sample of 205 volunteer engineers, scientists and
administrators, that role ambiguity was significantly related to
low job satisfaction and to feelings of job-related threat to
one's mental and physical well-being. This also related to
indicators of physiological strain such as increased blood
pressure and pulse rate. Margolis, Kroes and Quinn (1974) also
found a number of significant relationships between symptoms
or indicators of physical and mental i ll health with role
ambiguity in their representative national sample (n-1496). The
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stress indicators related to role ambiguity were depressed
mood, lowered self-esteem life dissatisfaction, job
dissatisfaction, low motivation to work and intention to leave
the job. Whilst these were not very strong statistical
relationships they were significant and do indicate that lack of
role clarity may be one among many potential stresss at work.
Kahn (1973) feels that it is now time to separate out distinctive
elements of role ambiguity for individual treatment (just as he
and his research team have done for 'overload' and
'responsibil ity'). He suggests that two components are
involved; those of present, and future-prospects ambiguity
(much of the material he assigns to the latter is here includedunder 'role stagnation').
2. Role overload: When the role occupant feels that there
are too many expectations from the significant roles in his role
set, he experiences 'role overload'. They measured this stress
by asking questions about the feeling of people whether they
could possibly finish work given to them during the modified
work day and whether they felt that amount of work they did
might interfere with how well it was done. Most of the
executive role occupants experience role overload. Kahn and
Quinn (1970) have suggested some conditions under which role
overload is likely to occur. According to them, role overload is
l ikely to occur more in the absence of mechanism of role
integration, in the absence of power of role occupants, in the
large variations in the expected output and when delegation or
assistance cannot procure more time.
Marshall and Cooper (1979) have summarised the recent work
on quantitative and qualitative overload. Quantitative refers to
having 'too much to do' while qualitative means work that is
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'too difficult'. (The complementary phenomena of quantitative
and qualitative underload are also hypothesized as potential
source of stress but with l ittle or no supportive research
evidence). Miller (1969) has theorized that 'overload' in most
systems leads to breakdown, whether we are dealing with
single biological cells or individuals in organizations. In an early
study French and Chaplain (1970) found that objective
quantitative overload was strongly linked to cigarette smoking
(a sign of tension and risk factor in CHD). Persons with more
phone calls, office visits and meetings per given unit of work
time were found to smoke significantly more cigarettes than
persons with fewer such engagements. In a study of 100 young
coronary patients Russek and Zohman (1958) found that 25%
had been working at two jobs and an addit ional 45% had
worked at jobs which required (due to work overload) 60 or
more hours per week. They add that although prolonged
emotional strain proceeded the attack in 91% of the cases
similar stress was only observed in 20% of the controls.
Breslow and Buell (1960) have also reported findings which
support a relationship between hours of work and death from
coronary diseases. In an investigation of mortality rates of men
in California they observed that workers in light industry under
the age of 45 who are in the job more than 48 hours a week
have twice the risk of death from CHD compared with similar
workers working 40 or under hours a week. Another substantial
investigation on quantitative workload was carried out by
Margolis, Kroes and Quinn (1974) on a representative national
sample of 1496 employed persons aged 16 or older. They fond
that overload was s igni ficantly related to a number of
symptoms or indictors of stress; escapist drinking, absenteeism
from work, low motivation to work, lowered self-esteem and an
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viewed in isolation but as relative to the individual's capacities
and personality.
4. Role Isolation: In role stress, the role occupant may feel
that certain roles are psychologically near to him, while
some other roles are at a distance. The main criterion ofrole-role distance of frequency and ease interaction. When
linkages are strong, the role-role distance will be low. In the
absence of strong linkage, the role-role distance can
therefore, be measured in terms of existing and desired
linkages. The gap between the desired and the existing
linkages will indicate the amount of distance between the
two roles.
Marshall and Cooper (1979) have suggested one main source of
managerial stress connected with relationships at work. French
and Caplan (1973) define poor relations as those which include
low trust, low supportiveness and low interest in listening to
and trying to deal with problems that confront the
organizational member. The most notable studies in this area
are by Kahn, et al. (1964), French and Caplan (1970) and Buck
(1972). Both the Kahn, et al. and French and Caplan studies
came to roughly the same conclusion that mistrust of persons
one worked with was positively related to high role ambiguity
which led to inadequate communications between people and to
psychological strain in the form of low job satisfaction and to
feel ing of job-related threat to one's wel l being. It was
interesting to note, however, in the Kahn, et al. study that poor
relations with one's subordinates was significantly related to
feelings of threat with colleagues and superiors but not in
relationship to threat with subordinates.
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Buck (1972) focused on the attitude and relationship of workers
and managers to their immediate boss using Fleishman's
leadership questionnaire on consideration and initiating
structure. The consideration factor was associated with
behaviors indicative of friendship. He found that those workers
who felt that their boss was low on 'consideration' reported
feeling more job pressure. Workers who were under pressure
reported that their boss did not give them criticism in helpful
way, played favorites with subordinates and 'pulled rank' and
took advantage of them whenever they got a chance. Buck
concludes that the 'lack of considerate behaviour of supervisors
appears to have contributed significantly to feelings of job
pressure.
4. Role Erosion: A role occupant may feel that some
functions which he would like to perform are being performed
by some other role. The stress felt may be called 'role erosion'.
Role erosion is the subjective feeling of an individual that some
important role expectations he has from his role do not match
with the expectations other roles have for him. Role erosion islikely to be experienced in an organisation which is redefining
its role an creating new roles. In several organisations which
were redefining their structure, the stress of role erosion was
inevitably felt. In one organization, one role was abolished and
two roles were created to cater to the executives and planning
needs. This led to a great stress in the role occupants of both
roles who experienced role erosion.
5. Role inadequacy: Role inadequacy refers to two types of
feelings; a) that the role occupant does not have adequate
resources to perform the role effectively, and (b) that he is not
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fully equipped (lacks internal resources) for ef fective
performance of the role.
ROLE STRESS
It is an attempt to compared the organizational role stress
among executives of the Personnel and Administration
department of the Corporate Office of three Public Sector
Organisations, namely Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL),
Engineers India Limited (EIL), and Indian Oil Corporation
Limited (IOC). An attempt was also made to the respondents
were classified according to their designation categories -
senior managers, middle managers and junior managers of the
middle management - as specific to the hierarchical positions in
their respective organisations. Such a classif ication was
basically made to find out whether it was the position of the
respondents in the organizat ional hierarchy which was
contributing to the stress to the individuals.
According to Srivastava , and Sen. (1995), stress results from
a combination of various individual characteristics (such as age,
achievement need, type of personality) and organizational
stresses (role conflict, role ambiguity). Stress may also result
from a variety of organizational, supervisory, individual, and
work factors. Kahn, Wolfe, Quinn, Snock, and Rosenthal(1964)
identified two primary factors of organizational stress, nearly
role ambiguity and role conflict. Selye (1956), the father of
modern stress, defined stress as the non-specific response of
the body to any demand made upon it. McMichael (1978)
defined it in terms of the product of a dynamic mismatch
between an individual and his or her physical, social, and
psychological environment. Stress, in general, is the
psychological or physiological reaction that occurs when people
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perceive an imbalance between the demands placed upon them
and their capacity to met those demands, and stress, specific
to work environments, is the reaction of individuals to new or
threatening factors in their work environment. The personality
characteristics of the individual, the environmental
characteristics, i.e., the stimulus of the external force active on
the organism, and the person environment interaction, i.e., the
overall prevail ing ethos of interpersonal behaviors - it is
contended that stress can originate from an o these factors or
in combinations thereof. In other words, it originates from
organizational demands, which are experiences by a individual.
Recent reviews of literature have examined variousorganizational variables and their effects on work stress. These
include factors intrinsic to the job (e.g. boredom, information
overload, time pressures, etc.) role in the regularization (e.g.
under promotion, over-promotion, lack of security, etc.) and
organizational climate (lack of participation, pressures towards
conformity, etc). the person-environment paradigm emphasizes
the view that having too l ittle to do is as stressful for theindividual as being overloaded with work. As an individual
phenomenon, stress is a personal response to a certain
variation in the environment.
Singh and Singh (1992), say that in an organization, two
individuals may be identical regarding their position, but may
differ in terms of the abilities, motives, moods and above all
the personality as a whole. These personal differences interact
with organizational factors and create predisposing conditions
for stress experiences that may influence the overall
performance of the individual. Another important dimension of
the organization is its psychological atmosphere i.e., its
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climate. organizational climate has been studied in terms of
those characteristics that distinguish the organization from
other organizations and that influence the behaviour of people
in the origination. Each organization differs from the other not
only in structure but also in the attitudes and behaviour it
elicits in people. Litwin and Stringer (1968) stated that
organizational climate refers to a set of measurable properties
of the work environment, perceived directly or indirectly by the
people who live and work in its environment and assume to
influence motivation and behaviour of the employee. They
identif ied nine dimensions of organizational climate viz.
structure, responsibil ity, reward, r isk, warmth, support,
conflict, identity and standards.
According to study by Ahmed and Jha (1989), human beings
prefer jobs that possess characteristics like variety, autonomy,
and task significance. Increased participation in decision
making have a significant negative effect on role conflict and
role ambiguity. Social support also plays a moderating role in
reducing individual stress. In other words, persons with highsocial support are assumed to express a lower stress-strain
relationship. Their study also revealed that the employees
lower in the organizational hierarchy experience more stress
and strain but less supervisory support than the employees
higher in to hierarchy. The employees who had risen from lower
ranks (those of workers, for example) have little experience of
manpower -management, need to drive hard to achieve targetsset by management, and are also influenced by the workers
unions. The employees in the higher grades, however, do not
have to face such situations.
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The stress an individual expresses as a result of the fact that
there are too many expectations, regarding his or her role,
from the significant others in his role set.
Bharti, Nagarathnamma, and Reddy (1991) and Ahmad and
Khanna (1992) found that occupational stress was significantlyrelated to job satisfaction: greater stress accompanied with
lower satisfaction. However, the latter study also found that
occupational stress was negatively related with job
involvement. According to Venna (1993) the factors, which can
affect the development of tension in Public Sector Units
employees, may either be personal and /or environmental.
Personal factors are those factors which are related to theindividual e.g. age, sex, intelligence, physical ability, et.
Environmental factors are those factors, which are related to
the surroundings of the individual e.g. family, culture, job
environment, etc.
Stress is the most frequently used word in the workplace today,
raising tempers, lowering productivity, and having an insidious
impact on both morale and bottomlines. According to
Chakraborty, Director of Management Centre for Human Values
at the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, values in
corporations have collapsed, and stress is a repercussion of
that. In other words, if the values are put back into corporate
life, the stress will disappear Bose 1996). According to Selye,
top stressors at work include, overload, deadline pressures,
demanding bosses, non-performing juniors, competitive pairs,
excessive touring, domestic disharmony. Most of all, it is the
increasing uncertainty in today's corporate world that is leading
to so much executive stress. Another factor that can badly
stress employees whether they feel useful n a organization or
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peripheral. To really bring about long-term stress relief, it will
mean acknowledging that stress will be constant companion
demanding constant attention (Bose 1996).
A 1993 study by Northwestern National Life Insurance Company
concluded that job stress generally is a consequence of two keyingredients: a high level of job demands and little control over
one's work. An atmosphere where employees are empowered,
where they have more control over how they perform their
work, reduces the risk of burnout and stress considerably
(Froiland 1993), Bharti, Nagarathnamma, and Reddy (1991)
found that occupational stress was significantly related to job
stupefaction: Greater stress accompanied with lowersatisfaction. Organizational stress originates from
organizational demands, which are experienced by an
individual.
Srivastava, Hagtavet and Sen (1994) fond that middle
managers suffer maximally in organizational role stress and
anxiety, followed by workers and top managers. The liability or
difficulty in meeting the various expectations caused stress.
The study also revealed that the same stressful event can be
perceived quite differently by top mangers, middle managers,
and even by workers, this perception may depend on what the
situation means to individuals at their own level. An evaluation
of the situation by each of them in relation to themselves
determines the degree of stress they face. Stress-in terms of
adverse effect, its cost to human resources, material, and
progress- is tremendous. Management within an organization
should function so as to maximize the coordination of human
resources and work system and to minimize conflict.
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care skills (eating well, staying physically fit, not smoking and
maintaining a desirable weight) that are at the core of most
stress-management programs, actually have a negligible effect
on people's ability to cope with work pressures and rapid
change. According to the findings of Essi Systems inc. (ESI) in
San Francisco, a stress-research consulting firm, the only factor
with any significant impact on a person's ability to withstand
work pressures is what Esther Orioli President (ESI) calls
"Personal Power" - having control over your time, resources,
important information, work load and so on. According o him
it's not the volume of work or work demand that makes people
sick, it is the extent to which they feel they (lack) control over
their work and their workplace. As the pace and intensity of
work increases, so does the need for control.
In order to tackle the organizational aspects effectively,
researchers recommend the use of stress audits like:
Redesign the task
Analyze the work roles and establish goals
Include the employee in career development.
It is, therefore, not surprising that faced with the complex
nature of stress and how to deal it, it is difficult to answer the
questions about the effectiveness of stress management.
Furthermore, adding this complex organizational picture to the
already complex make-up of the individual, the question
becomes even harder to answer. There is, however, enough
evidence to work on the premise that well carried out stress
management interventions by appropriately quali fied
practitioners are beneficial for the individual and organization.
Employees need to be made more aware of the issues to make
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informed decisions about investment in stress management. For
them, the effective stress management is one that will reduce
or minimize role ambiguity and role expectation conflict, thus
minimizing absenteeism and premature retirement, and will
maximize employee productivity and leading to increased
company profits.
Personality Characteristics
Play an important role n the development of stress. Jenkins
(1971) arrived at a coronary prone Behavioural pattern.Individuals who are subject to this syndrome are characterized
by extreme competitiveness, an urge to achieve, aggression,
haste, impatience, restlessness, hyperlaterness, tension and
time pressure.
Roserman and Friedman called this mental and behavioral
pattern, the type A behavior. Some psychologists feel that this
type of behavioral is an extreme variant of what is socially
highly recommended and positively rewarded. Other think that
Type-A behavior is dysfunctional and tat the better jobs are
only for the quiet, detached, contemplative Type -B (Mathews,
1982).
Glass (1977) has theorized that A -types demonstrate hyper-
responsiveness with regard to challenging situations, meaning
that they always expose themselves to fight situations. If they
fail to succeed, they will, much more so than B-types, start to
achieve less and experience learned helplessness. Luzarus
found that the way in which a person interprets a situation is of
great importance for the occurrence or non-occurrence of stress
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problems. The interpretation of a situation is related to an
individuals personality structure. A very competitive person will
regard a situation in which he had the worst of it as more
threatening than someone who is not competitive.
Other personality characteristics which are of significance instress research are rigidity, conformism, suppression of
aggression, dogmatism, authoritarianism, internal versus
external control etc. (Winnubst, 1984).
Role Overload
It is described as a condition in which the individual is faced
with a set of obligations which require him to do more than he
is able to in the time available (ales, 1969). In the case of too
many activities, we speak of quantitative overload, when an
individual has perform tasks that are too difficult for him, we
speak of qualitative overload (French and Caplan, 1972).
The bearer may be bombarded by expectations; a force which
he eventually cannot cope with. A sensible tactic then is to
organize 'role negotiation' or 'role bargaining' (Harrison, 1973)where by the threatened individual tries to organize hi
obligations with or without outside help.
In research on middle management (Van Vucht Tijssen et al,
1978), role overload was shown to be related to physical
complaints and even more clearly to greater obesity, higher
blood pressure and more smoking.
Thus role overload is an element to be rejected with in
organizations, especially because of the higher risk of illness
and exhaustion. However, it is stil l not clear whether self-
inflicted overload and overload inflicted by other make a
significant difference.
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Role Conflict
It is the s