CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
It has been acknowledged that job stress plays a role in employee performance. This nation has its root in what is called attention theory. Simply put attention theory asserts that the experience of stress has the effect of reducing on individual ability to concentrate on multiple tasks. Anyone who has worked feverishly to meet a deadline understands this relationship intimately. It has been “standard fare” in basic management training to point out that there exist some optimal level of stress below which employees are unmotivated and above which they are over whelmed. Unfortunately managers who attempt to find an optimal stress level for their work group frequently find their effort inconsistent result or downright negative results.
Stress is a universal element and persons from nearly every work of life have to face stress. The universality of stress is such that it is experienced by employees all round the globe and has become a major problem facing employers, particularly in developing nation where the employers do not realize the impacts of stress on employee productivity.
The work place stress is indeed a costly epidemic, Rebecca Maxan in her article published by FDU magazines in 1999 noted that three out of every four American workers described their work as stressful and the problem is not limited to those shores, in fact occupational stress has been defined as a “global epidemic” by the united nations international labor organization.
Stress is a factor in every one’s life. Particularly during major events such as marriage divorced or buying a home. But according to the Holmes-Rachs life event scale, which rates the level of stress caused by such event, many of the most stressful events are related to the work place firing business re adjustments, change in financial status line of work, trouble with the boss, varieties in work hours or conditions retirement and vacations.
