Stress Management and Employee Performance

Abstract

Purpose: This study investigated the extend at which stress has affected the performance of staff in organization setting. It addressed how performance can be improved upon for effective service delivery.   Improving the performance of employees working within an organization has received attention in different contexts. This occurs because for an organization to achieve high performance, the contributions of its employees matter a lot to achieve their goals. For any organization to achieve its essence, it must have acquired the right calibre of employees and managed them properly. Is at the instance of this that this study was carried out to address how improved performance can be recorded and how stress can be properly managed for effective service delivery.

Theoretical framework:  The aim of stress management is to ensure effective performance of staff in organization and to meet the aim of the organization and deliver services effectively. Several concepts, such as: stress, stressors, signs, symptoms and sources, stress management, stress management practice and employee performance were reviewed to align with the direction of the study. The focus is to see to how personnel in organization can perform effectively, be able to manage stress. Factors causing stress were studied and addressed.

Methodology/Design/Approach: This study which is descriptively adopted the survey research method. The study was carried out at a private university in southwest Nigeria.  The population of this study comprised all the non-academic staff in the university. Two hundred and eighty (280) non-academic staff of the University participated in the survey. The questionnaire was the instrument for data collection in this research. Inferential and descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data that had been obtained.

Findings: The study finding revealed that stress has a significant impact on employee performance. The outcome also showed a substantial correlation between employees' performance and personal stress management strategies. This suggests that personal stress management strategies should be encouraged because they are linked to workers' productivity. The findings suggest that its contribution to employee performance is minimal perhaps because individuals do not adopt these techniques of stress management.

Research, Practical & Social implications: The study concentrate on how stress can be well managed in organization because of the ill stress has caused in the performance of organization.  It has also been established that there are two techniques namely individual and organisational approaches to stress management.

Originality/value: The study added value to body of knowledge because its outcome showed that without effective stress management strategies, organization can not meet up with its optimization level in terms service delivery and achieving the goals of the organization.  The individual techniques of stress management were found to have a significant role to play in suppressing employee poor performance while the organizational stress management techniques provide organizational support for employees to improve their performance on the job. This study established that effective stress management among non-academics of Bowen University would improve their performance on the job. The study as recommends that Management should redefine the stress management policy of the University to address gaps in it and make it more robust.