ACKNOWLEDGEMENT A formal statement of acknowledgement will hardly meet the ends of justice in the matter of expressing my deep sense of gratitude and obligation to all those who helped me in the completion of this project report. The past six weeks working on this project under the guidance of my Project Leader and Guide has greatly influenced my way of thinking towards facing the challenges during day-to-day development of this project. This will help me a lot in future as I move further ahead in my professional life in the days to come. It gives me immense pleasure to express my deepest gratitude towards Ms. Himmi Jain, Mr. Deepak Kumar & HPL employees who helped me a lot throughout this project. Pallavi Pandey 1
Transcript
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
A formal statement of acknowledgement will hardly meet the ends of justice in the matter
of expressing my deep sense of gratitude and obligation to all those who helped me in the
completion of this project report.
The past six weeks working on this project under the guidance of my Project Leader and
Guide has greatly influenced my way of thinking towards facing the challenges during
day-to-day development of this project. This will help me a lot in future as I move further
ahead in my professional life in the days to come.
It gives me immense pleasure to express my deepest gratitude towards Ms. Himmi Jain,
Mr. Deepak Kumar & HPL employees who helped me a lot throughout this project.
Pallavi Pandey
1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
S. NO. CONTENTS PAGE
NO.
1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4
1.1 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY 5
2. COMPANY PROFILE 6
3. INTRODUCTION TO STRESS MANAGEMENT 17
4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 60
5 QUESTIONNAIRE 63
6 DATA ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATION 65
7 CONCLUSION 77
8 RECOMMENDATION 78
9 BIBLIOGRAPHY 79
2
EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
“PEOPLE” is the most important and valuable resource every organization has in the
form of its employees. Dynamic people can make dynamic organizations. Effective
employees can contribute to the effectiveness of the organization Competent and
motivated people can make things happen and enable an organization to achieve its goals.
Organizations have now started realizing that the systematic attention to human resources
is the only way to increase organizational efficiency in terms productivity, quality, profits
and better customer orientation. HR can help deliver organizational excellence by
focusing on learning, quality, teamwork, and through various employee friendly
strategies.
My project has been accomplished in – HPL INDIA LTD. This is one of the best
company in manufacturing of Electrical goods headquartered at New Delhi.
This project has been accomplished in two parts:
The first priority was to understand the working of an HR department and hence
the first part of the project report is about the HR Processes, Policies and Systems
at HPL INDIA LTD. The various processes like recruitment & selection etc.
The second half of the project report is focused on stress assessment and its
management.
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OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The objective of this project was:
For PART I
To understand the functions, working, of HR Dept at HPL India Ltd.
For PART II
To study the causes and sources of stress among employees at HPL.
To analyse satisfaction level of employees.
To analyse the ways to reduce stress at workplace.
To study the importance of stress management.
SCOPE OF THE STUDY
This research provides me with an opportunity to explore in the field of Human Resources.
Apart from that it would provide me a great deal of exposure to interact with the high Profile managers of the company.
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COMPANY PROFILE
(HPL India Ltd.)
HPL, with its unwavering commitment to the creation of world-class quality
products, the HPL Group has created a niche for itself in the electrical industry. Today,
HPL is regarded as “The Technology Brand of India” and is one of the premium
manufacturers of reliable Electrical Protection Equipments, Switchgears, Energy Meters
and Energy Management Systems. Consistent and sound policies have helped the HPL
Group mark a strong presence nationally as well as globally. In its own special way, HPL
is committed to the growth and expansion of Brand India.
HPL, current year with a turnover of over Rs.800 crores, has a strong work force of over
4500, including Technocrats, Design and R&D Engineers and Marketing Professionals.
HPL believes in providing a range of quality products to the consumers. The latest JV
with Moeller will enable us to provide world-class product having latest technology.
HPL India Ltd, one of the leading manufacturers of Switchgears and Protection Devices,
Lighting, Wire &cable Electronic Energy Meters and Energy Management Systems in
India Superior technology, impressive product portfolio and a quality driven attitude have
given HPL an edge in the competitive market. This has also attracted major international
players to collaborate with HPL and work successfully together.
Moeller HPL India Pvt. Ltd: Announced its joint venture “Moeller-HPL India Pvt. Ltd”
with the European Giants The Moeller Group, Germany, one of the leading suppliers of
Power Distribution and Automation components worldwide. ‘Moeller-HPL India Pvt.
Ltd.’ the new joint venture Company will manufacture & market the latest world-class
Power Distribution and Protection Components in India.
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HPL Electric & Power Pvt. Ltd. : A joint venture between HPL Group and Europe's
leading switchgear company Socomec S.A. France, is a market leader in switches and
Electronic Energy Meters, Multifunction Energy Meters &energy Management System,
the energy management control and protection system. HPL Socomec is today the top of
mind brand in the market.
HPL LK: HPL and LK of Denmark alliance has resulted in the manufacture of compact
space saving technically advanced Switch Disconnector Fuse and Switch Disconnector of
international quality.
HPL Elektra: an alliance with Elektra Tailfingen of Germany, HPL Produces new age
Cam operated Rotary Switches.
At HPL, we firmly believe quality is not a program; it is an approach to business. It is a
collection of powerful tools and concepts that is proven to work. It is defined by the
customer through his or her satisfaction.
Total Quality Management:
Quality includes continuous improvement and breakthrough events. HPL aimed at
performance excellence, anything less is an improvement opportunity. Increases
customer satisfaction, reduces cycle time and costs, and eliminates errors and rework.
Certification
HPL'S is ISO 9002 certified, HPL Product range is successfully tested as per latest IS and
IEC standards, also conforming to BSEN & VDE, the European Standards and approved
by UL, CE, Lloyds Register of Shipping and TUV. The products are periodically tested
as per latest standards at all major testing laboratories in India.
HPL has its presence all over the country and overseas in Srilanka, Bangladesh,
Malaysia, UAE, Kuwait and other Southeast Asian & European Countries.
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Foreign Tie-ups
HPL has collaborations with equity participation with world renowned multi-national
companies in the electrical field such as Moeller in Austria & Germany and Socomec
S.A., in France.
Moeller is over a billion Euro company renowned for its low and high voltage electrical
equipments and circuit breakers. It is having equity participation with HPL in Moeller
HPL (P) Ltd.
Socomec of France which specializes in Switchgear & Energy Management Products in
Europe is having equity participation with HPL in HPL Socomec (P) Ltd and Socomec
HPL (P) Ltd.
The product manufactured by these joint ventures companies are the best in Technology,
Quality and Design that is available in Europe & now in India.
HPL manufactures a wide range of Products in Switchgears, Metering, Lighting,
protection equipments.
The company has 69 marketing offices spread throughout the country with 1200
authorized dealers and 15000 retailers stretched all across the country. Our team of over
4500 work force and more than 350 sales and service engineers are there for effective and
quick before-and-after sales service.
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MISSION AND VISION:
Mission
Our mission is to provide the latest and the best technology product in the field of
Switchgear, Electronic Meters, and Lighting.
Future Vision
In line with its global ambitions, HPL has been gearing up its operations by strengthening current business
practices and aligning them with the best global standards to create
new benchmarks of quality and customer satisfaction. HPL is committed to develop
empowering technology in the form of easy to use, dependable products that meet the
Customers’ needs. Exporting its products to Middle East, SAARC and European
Countries, HPL is increasingly focused on export-led growth through optimal utilization
of its comparative technical advantage vis-à-vis competitors.
Two key factors at HPL ensure a lasting competitive advantage: an innovative business
model, and complete market intelligence. Optimum implementation of these factors
enables HPL to create a more effective, sustainable operation, and more value for the
customers and it will continue to focus on consolidating its dominant position in India,
while expanding its reach globally.
MANAGEMENT TEAM
Mr. Lalit Seth
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Managing Director
A visionary entrepreneur endowed with inimitable dynamism and futuristic sagacity is a
keen observer of market trends all over the world. It was his distinctive idea of import
substantiation that resulted in growth of HPL, having experience of over 37 years in the
Industry.
Mr. Rishi Seth
Joint Managing Director
An MBA has been in business for the past 15 years looking after the Energy Meter
marketing, Production, Planning, General Administration of a few units.
Mr. Gautam Seth
Joint Managing Director
A Qualified Chartered Accountant has been in Business for 12 years and is handling
Finance, Accounts, taxation and other related activities.
Mr. C.P. Jain is an Electrical Engineer with 23 years of experience of manufacturing
electrical product. He has worked with leading companies. He has been working with
HPL Group for the past 11 years and is the Executive Director of Electronic Meter
Division besides being incharge of Research, Development and Quality Control.
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ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF HPL INDIA
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INFRASTRUCTURE
HPL is committed to constantly pushing new frontiers of knowledge in pursuit of new
horizons of technology. HPL has seven integrated state-of-the-art Manufacturing
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facilities having international quality certificate ISO-9001:2000. These production units
dedicated to deliver international quality standards are located at Okhla (Delhi), Noida
(U.P.), Gurgaon (Haryana), Jabli (Himachal Pradesh) and Sonipat (Haryana).
We have a well equipped:
R & D Centre for energy Meters
Electronic Meter Test Benches
CFL Manufacturing Plants
Moldings shop
Machine shop
Press Shop
Electroplating
Paint shop
All our products go through various intricate stages of testing and inspection that conform to national and international standards of quality. During 2005, large investments were directed towards enhancing the manufacturing strengths. In addition to expansion and modernization of the existing facilities, significant investments were
HPL is committed to have satisfied customers through supply of quality Energy Meters,
Energy Measurements Systems, Switchgears, Circuit Breakers, Distribution Systems,
Sheet Metal Enclosures and Lighting products by way of fulfilling the customers
requirements, timely delivery and services. made in building substantial capacities for
new products, targeted to drive growth in key geographies in the coming years.
QUALITY POLICY
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Our quality management policies ensure customer satisfaction, reduce cycle time and
costs, and also eliminate errors and rework. At HPL, We strongly believe that results
(performance and financial) are the natural consequence of effective quality management.
Products / Services
We are manufacturer and exporter of Reliable Electrical Protection Equipments,
Switchgears, Energy Meters and Energy Management Systems.
We manufactures a wide range of Products : Switchgear such as Switch Fuse Units, Fuse
Switch Units, Electronic Energy Meter - Single Phase & Three Phase, HRC fuse links
(BS & Din Type), Switch Fuse Disconnector, On Load Changeover Switches, Load
Break Switches, Latest technology Miniature Circuit Breakers with a Breaking capacity
of 10 KA - B & C Curves as per latest IS & IEC Specifications and suitable Distribution
Systems, Side Handle Change Over, Cam operated Rotary Switches, Energy
Stress symptoms: Effects on your body, feelings and behaviour
Stress symptoms may be affecting one’s health, even though he might not realize it. A
person may think illness is to blame for that nagging headache, or frequent forgetfulness
or decreased productivity at work. But sometimes stress is to blame. Indeed, stress
symptoms can affect your body, your thoughts and feelings, and your behavior. When a
person recognizes common stress symptoms, he can take steps to manage them.
SOME SIGNS OF STRESS
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PHYSICAL(BODY) MENTAL(MIND) EMOTIONAL(FEELINGS)
Headaches
Nervousness
Rashes
Stomachaches
Fast heartbeat
Perspiration
Dry mouth
Diarrhea
Cold hands and feet
Tense muscles
Lack of concentration
Forgetfulness
Drop in school performance
Unable to study
Carelessness
Bored
Anger outburst
Night mares
Sad/depressed
Withdrawn
Fighting
If you do have stress symptoms, taking steps to manage your stress can have numerous
health benefits. Stress management can include:
Physical activity
Relaxation techniques
Meditation
Yoga
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STRESS WARNING SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS
Cognitive Symptoms Emotional Symptoms
Memory problems
Inability to concentrate
Poor judgment
Seeing only the negative
Anxious or racing thoughts
Constant worrying
Moodiness
Irritability or short temper
Agitation, inability to relax
Feeling overwhelmed
Sense of loneliness and
isolation
Physical Symptoms Behavioral Symptoms
Aches and pains
Diarrhea or constipation
Nausea, dizziness
Chest pain, rapid heartbeat
Loss of sex drive
Frequent colds
Eating more or less
Sleeping too much or too little
Isolating yourself from others
Procrastinating or neglecting
responsibilities
Using alcohol, cigarettes, or
drugs to relax
Symptoms of stress can be classified as follows:
1) Short-term Physical Symptoms
2) Short-term Performance Effects
3) Long-term Physical Symptoms
4) Internal Symptoms
5) Behavioural Symptoms
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CONSEQUENCES OF STRESS
Stress is the spice of life. Complete freedom from stress comes only in death. Stress becomes distress when we begin to sense a loss of our feelings of security and adequacy. It may produce physical, behaviour and psychological consequences as discussed below:
FIGURE…CONSEQUENCES OF STRESS
a) PHYSICAL CONSEQUENCES
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The physical or medical consequences of stress affect a person’s physical well-being.
Heart disease and smoke, among other illness, have been linked to stress. Other common
medical problems resulting from too much stress include headaches, backaches, ulcers
and related stomach and intestinal disorders, and skin conditions such acne and hives.
b) BEHAVIOURAL CONSEQUENCES
The behavioural consequences of stress may harm the person under stress or others. One
such behaviour is smoking. Research has clearly documented that people who smoke
tend to smoke more when they experience stress. There is also evidence that alcohol and
drug abuse are linked to stress, although this relationship is less well documented. Other
possible behavioural consequences are accident proneness, violence and appetite
disorders.
c) PSYCHOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES
The psychological consequences of stress relate to a person’s mental health and well-
being. When people experience too much stress at work, they may become depressed or
find themselves sleeping too much or not enough. Stress may also lead to family
problems.
BURNOUT
Burnout is a general feeling of exhaustion that develops when an individual
simultaneously experiences too much pressure and has too few sources of satisfaction.
Burnout is the most severe stage of distress. Depression, frustration and a loss of
productivity are often symptoms of burnout. It can be due to a lack of personal fulfillment
in the job, or a lack of positive feedback. Thus, both supervisors and managers have a
crucial role to play in identifying jobs likely to result in employee distress or burnout.
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Consequences for the organization
The consequences of stress on individual may have both direct and indirect impact on the
organization. Specifically, the organization is affected in terms of the following
parameters:
Low performance and productivity- Too much stress might lead to decline in
performance of the individuals. Thus, overall productivity and quality will suffer
leading to reduced margin of profit.
High labor turnover- The individual under stress may withdraw from the scene.
There may be increased rates of absenteeism and labor turnover. An employee
may withdraw psychologically ceasing to care about the organization.
Job dissatisfaction among employees- Another direct organizational
consequence of employee stress relates to attitudes. Job satisfaction, morale and
organizational commitment can all suffer, along with motivation to perform at
high levels. As a result, people may become more prone to complain about
unimportant things, do only enough work to get by, and so forth.
Delays in decision making- Decision-making might be delayed or even poor
decision might be taken if the decision-makers are under excessive stress.
Poor communication in organization- If stress is common among the
employees, it will hamper communication and human relations in the
organization.
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SOME COMMON SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF EXCESS STRESS
Regularly walking, eating or working in a rushed way.
Regularly thinking and worrying about the past or future.
Frequent tension in the body (esp. neck, face, shoulders, back and chest, and
stomach) which often goes unnoticed until one slows down, breaths deep and
carefully surveys the body.
Feeling of the "weight of the world" on your shoulders.
Emotionally "on edge."
Regular tiredness during the day.
Significant need for outside stimulation to feel good (coffee, sweeteners, food,
TV, alcohol, money, accomplishments, etc.)
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STRESS AND JOB PERFORMANCE
Stress can either be helpful or harmful to job performance of an employee depending
upon the amount of stress on them.
The following graph can be used to study stress and performance relationship
FIGURE…. Performance-Stress Relationship Curve
PERFORMANCE-STRESS RELATIONSHIP CURVE
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Stress is considered as a friend when optimum amount of stress is present.
When there is no stress, job performance is very low as challenges are very
low in the job. As stress increases, it helps an employee to face and meet the
challenges that increases the performance level of the employee.
Optimum stress is the amount of stress that refers to a person’s best
performance.
Stress becomes foe if it increases beyond the level of optimum stress as there
is no improvement in the person’s performance after this level of stress.
And if stress becomes too heavy, performance declines sharply and if further
stress increases, it comes to a breaking point where the breakdown occurs
and performance comes down to zero finally.
FOR EXAMPLE: If an employee in an office has no stress and pressure to
complete the work assigned to him, then his performance will be very bad as
he has no challenges to face in the job. This makes an employee dull and
affects his performance further.
But if he faces optimum level of stress, his performance will be at the peak
according to the graph and he will prosper in life. In this case stress proves to be a
friend.
Whereas when stress grows badly and there is very large pressure on an employee
from his boss to complete a certain task in a certain time, his performance will
decline slowly as the pressure on his mind will lead to distress situation and finally a
situation will arise when the increasing stress will lead to zero performance
condition. In such a condition, the employee will not deliver anything beneficial to
the employer and the company and will be depressed. In such situations, where
stress exceeds beyond a limit, stress presents to a foe to a person.
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Stress pushes us to grow, to change, to fight, and to adapt. All life events, even positive
ones, cause a certain degree of stress. For example getting a new job is a positive change,
getting married, falling in love, getting a raise, winning a tennis match?
TWO IMPORTANT FACTORS IN STRESS AND PRODUCTIVITY PERFORMANCE ARE
1) KIND OF JOB
Various studies have proved that stress is more in such kind of jobs which have
major responsibility for financial and human resources. Managers fall in this
category. Stress is of little degree in jobs which are less responsible like maids,
domestic servants, etc.
2) PERSONALITY AND STRESS
Stress is what one feels when the personality of an individual has a set of beliefs that
adds rigidity to the personality structure. Such rigid personalities face lot of
problems and feel stressed. All is needed to release the stress is to bring flexibility
into the personality and recondition the old belief and have a broader outlook
regarding different issues and incorporate the charges taking place in the
envoronment.Research indicates that those who seem to effectively handle a high
level of stress, possess one or more of the favourable personality features of internal
focus of control, self esteem and high level of tolerance. They feel less stressed and
less pained in contrast to those persons who have less tolerance and who work in
uncertain environment. Those with positive attitude, high self-esteem can handle
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stress in an excellent way in bad and stressful conditions and they are more
confident, successful in life. By raising one’s capacity to handle stress we can feel
good.
JOB STRESSERS AT THE WORKPLACE
In the workplace, stress can be the result of any number of situations.
Some examples include:
Categories of Job
Stressors
Examples
FACTORS
UNIQUE TO
THE JOB
workload (overload and under load)
pace / variety / meaningfulness of work
autonomy (e.g., the ability to make your own decisions about our own job or
about specific tasks)
shift work / hours of work
physical environment (noise, air quality, etc)
isolation at the workplace (emotional or working alone)
ROLE IN THE
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ORGANISATION
role conflict (conflicting job demands, multiple supervisors/managers)
role ambiguity (lack of clarity about responsibilities, expectations, etc)
level of responsibility
STRESS AND ORGANIZATIONAL IMPACT
Stress, both work and non-work can have a profound effect on an organizational climate
and morale. For most people, a moderate amount of stress can be beneficial (positive
stress).but when pressure and stress reach a level where an individual struggles to cope,
both mental and physical changes can occur. There are numerous negative stressors
impacting today’s workforce. Things like job security fears, increased workloads and
extended work hours can all result in negative stress. Some of the outcomes of stress on
an organization can include employee job dissatisfaction, employee turnover,
absenteeism, reduced performance and lack of productivity and efficiency.
For most organizations, great attention is paid to employee morale and workforce
engagement levels. If the majority of employees are experiencing negative level of stress,
things like teamwork and effective communications suffer. Many companies conduct
yearly employee opinion surveys to measure engagement. There is usually significant
correlation between the current climate in an organization and survey scoring. During
times of uncertainty (business optimization initiatives resulting in lay-offs), not
surprisingly, scores in areas like motivation and company commitment are very low.
Conversely, during positive times (company reaches financial targets resulting in
incentive payments for staff); survey scores are considerably more favorable.
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Overall, manageable levels of stress in an organization will translate into higher
employee morale and job satisfaction. Regarding stress and employee absenteeism from a
disability management stand point, the duration of absences due to stress is often much
greater than absences from other causes. employees often return to work four weeks after
breaking a bone while employees on stress levels can be absent for months. Stress can
also manifest itself in suppressed immune function resulting in susceptibility to viral and
bacterial infections. The negative impacts resulting from worker absenteeism are far-
reaching. in the customer service industry their seems to be a vicious circle when it
comes to individual stress impacting team stress, which in turn impacts stress on the
customer. Employees working short staffed due to employee absenteeism are under
pressure. Being short staffed can cause employee irritability and conflict and increased
delays in customer service for customer. This in turn results in lower customer
satisfaction levels which ultimately negatively affect the company’s bottom line. Stress
can therefore significantly impact the profitability of an organization.
Management representatives routinely observe lowered individual performance due to
stress which subsequently negatively affects the overall team performance. Stress causes
memory impairment, less effective decision making and from a health and safety
standpoint, increased accidents in the workplace. Employee situations requiring
discipline to improve performance can cause stress resulting in the opposite effect. If an
employee is facing a suspension or termination due to repeated offences, you often see
even poorer performance as employees feel the impending discipline looming over their
head. Many companies have identified that as an organization, they need to focus on
coaching and positive reinforcement to give employees every opportunity to be
successful. Stress management is essential to improve overall organizational
performance.
Another impact of stress on an organization is reduced productivity and efficiency.
Although the effect of absenteeism is obvious, reduced productivity and efficiency can
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also result when a workforce is experiencing negative stress and pressure. Employees
under stress are much less inclined to channel energy into continuous improvement
initiatives or creative problem solving pursuits. While in self-preservation mode when
dealing with stress, individuals tend to spend their time and energy doing the bare
minimum to keep up. As well, an over-stressed team will have less energy to begin with
as studies have shown that stress depletes energy stores and a person’s physical and
mental capabilities. Often greater demands are placed on workers in today’s competitive
market place. For example, in the customer service and entertainment industry, there is
no shortage of options for people to spend their disposable income. And in today’s
economic climate, companies are expected to try to do more with less. Although
profitability is the focus, this pursuit can not be to the detriment of the workforce. Putting
too much pressure and stress on staff to perform will u8ltimately have the opposite effect
(i.e. burn out, conflict and incidents of workplace aggression?)
Stress and stress management is a reality in today’s organizations. Successful
organizations today realize the importance of not only monitoring workplace stress, but
implementing vehicles to reduce stress for all employees. Time and money can be spent
by a company creating programs and initiatives to address stress related issues or a
company can spend their money battling absenteeism, employee turnover and rising
benefit costs.
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MANAGEMENT OF STRESS
Stress is inevitable in human life. There is, therefore, no way out but to cope with stress
or fight it out. There are two strategies that can help the employees to cope with stress.
These are the coping strategies at the organizational level, at individual level and others.
COPING STRATEGIES AT THE ORGANIZATIONAL LEVEL
ORGANIZATIONAL ROLE CLARITY
People experience stress when they are not clear about what they are expected to do in
the organization. This may happen because either there is ambiguity in the role or there is
role conflict. Such a situation can be overcome by defining each role more clearly. Role
analysis technique helps to analyze what the job entails and what the expectations are.
Breaking down the job to its various components will clarify the role of job incumbent
for the entire system. This will help to eliminate imposing unrealistic expectations on the
individual leading to reduced stress.
JOB REDESIGN
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Job may be a source of stress to many individuals. Properly designed jobs and work
schedules can help ease stress in the individuals and the organization.
STRESS REDUCTION AND STRESS MANAGEMENT PROGRAMMES
Stress reduction programmers aims to identify relevant organizational stressors and thus
to reduce their effects by redesigning, reallocating workloads, improving supervisory
skills, providing more autonomy or job variety, etc. Stress management schemes usually
focus on training individual employees or their work groups, to manage their stress
symptoms in more effective ways.
SUPPORTIVE ORGANIZATION CLIMATE
Many organizational stressors emerge because of faulty organizational policies and
practice. To a great extent, these can be controlled by creating supportive organizational
climate. Supportive organizational climate depends upon managerial leadership rather
than the use of power and money to control behaviour. The focus is primarily on
participation and involvement of employees in decision-making process. Such a climate
develops belongingness among the employees which helps them reduce their stress.
COUNSELLING
Counseling is discussion of a problem by a counselor with an employee with a view to
help the employee cope with it better. Counseling seeks to improve employee’s mental
health by the release of emotional tension which is also known as emotional catharsis.
People get an emotional release from their frustrations and other problems whenever they
have an opportunity to tell someone about them.
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COPING STRATEGIES BY INDIVIDUALS
Individuals can use the following techniques to overcome stress:
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1. Relaxation: Coping with stress requires adaptation. Proper relaxation is an
effective way to adapt. Relaxation can take many forms. One way to relax is to
take regular vacations. It has been observed that people’s attitudes toward a
variety of workplace characteristics improve significantly following a vacation.
People can also relax while on the job..
2. Time management: Time management is often recommended for managing
stress. The idea is that many daily pressures can be eased if a person does a better
job of managing time. One popular approach to time management is to make a list
every morning of the things to be done that day. The things to be done may be
arranged in the list according to their importance. This strategy helps people get
more of the important things everyday. It also encourages delegation of less
important activities to others.
3. Role management: Under this, the individual works to avoid role overload,
role ambiguity and role conflict. For instance, if a worker does not know what is
expected of him, he should ask for clarification from his boss. A worker should
accept extra work if he feels that he would be able to do that.
4. Support group: It is a group of friends or family with whom a person can share
his feelings. Supportive family and friends can help people cope with routine
types of stress on an ongoing basis.
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THE BENEFITS OF STRESS MANAGEMENT
Stress is something that happens in our daily lives and is usually associated with a
particular event such as work, family or other responsibilities. There are many situations
that we can not control, but there are ways to control how we deal with certain situations.
Effective Stress management is something that our lives can go a little more
smoothly.
We have little control over family deaths, emergencies or accidents, but we can see some
of the circumstances under which our daily life. One of the biggest stress factors in our
lives is often work. Since most of us can not afford to quit, some stress management can
go a long way.
Stress management can help you control your emotions and the way you deal with the
stress can not be avoided. It can help you relax and reduce the fear occurs to you. It can
also help you stay healthy. Continued periods of extreme stress will eventually take its
Stress management programs are programs developed to help a person cope up with
stress and its short and long term effects. Each and every stress management program is
tailored to the needs of the individual.
Stress management programs are program packages developed to help a person cope up
with stress and its short and long term effects. Each and every stress management
program is tailored to the needs of the individual. The evaluation and the intervention
should be specific to the individual. Stress management program materials are available
online, in CDs, in textbooks. The program is also conducted in various institutes. They
are not only beneficial to the participants, but also to those who conduct them. They are
turning out to be lucrative businesses especially in the west. Moreover the US Public
Health Services had stress reduction by the end of 2005 as one of its health promotion
goals.
OBJECTIVES
To identify the person with stress
To assess his problems
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To assess his qualities including the vulnerability to stress
To provide all details about stress
To teach him stress reduction techniques suitable to him
The tool for staying calm and in focus despite uncertainty
Mastering the choice and change challenge
Reduced stress through improved organization
Avoiding the "As Soon As Trap"
STRESS MANAGEMENT TRAINING
BENEFITS TO THE ORGANIZATION
STRESS MANAGEMENT TRAININGBENEFITS TO THE INDIVIDUAL
Reduced negative organizational
stress
Increased individual productivity
and responsibility
Better team communications and
morale
Retention of valued employees
Improved customer satisfaction
Reduced personal stress
Improved decision making
Increased productivity
Connecting better to family & friends
More value, balance & happiness every day
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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research Design:
A research design is a logical & systematic plan prepared for directing a research study. It constitutes the blue print for the collection, measurement, analysis and interpretation of observations.
Descriptive Study:
Descriptive study will be carried out to know the actual stress level among the employees at HPL India Ltd. The knowledge of actual training and development process is needed to document the process and suggest improvements in the current system to make it more effective.
Sample Selection:
A sample of 100 employees was selected randomly consisting of employees of various departments like accounts, marketing, IT, global sales & marketing, order, dispatch etc.
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DATA SOURCES
In this stage, there is need to gather Primary as well as Secondary data.
PRIMARY DATA
Primary data is collected directly from the data source. It is the first hand Information gathered to solve the research need. It is collected using research instruments like mailers, questionnaires, telephonic interviews, observation etc.
In this study, the primary data is collected by surveying employees of various departments of the company randomly with the help of questionnaires.
SECONDARY DATA
Secondary data is collected from already available sources such as published papers, journals, magazines, reports, etc. Compared to primary data, collection of secondary data is cheaper and less time consuming.
However, reliability of secondary data is an aspect that should be considered while collecting secondary data.
Secondary data is collected from company’s external and internal sources. The internal sources include the company’s literature, annual reports, sales reports, etc.
The external sources cold be independent magazines, journals, survey reports etc.
How do you describe your professional life in general?
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How do you handle excessive workload?
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Do you have time for your family every week?
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Do you think you are not clear about the scope and responsibilities of your job?
Do you think you are not able to meet the demand of your seniors?
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Do you think you are not able to take care of your health due to work pressure?
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Do you think the amount of work you have to do interfere with the quality of work you want to maintain?
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Do you face conflicts at work?
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Do you get any benefit or extra pay for doing overtime?
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Do you think your expectations from your job are being satisfied?
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How are your relations with your peers and seniors?
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CONCLUSION
Stress has become a major concern of the modern times as it can cause harm to employees health and performance.
Stress is a natural and unavoidable feature of human life. However stress beyond a particular level can cause psychological and physiological problems which in turn would affect the individual’s performance in the organization.
Thus, management of stress has become a challenging job for modern organizations.
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An optimum amount of stress should always be present to motivate the employees to improve their performance.
At HPL, most of the employees are having either optimum amount of stress or less amount of stress.
But still there are certain loopholes which can be rectified by giving attention towards work place stress and its remedies.
During the survey, it was found that employees find their job interesting as well as challenging. This positively indicates that the employees are not over stressed.
It was also found that there are certain job stressors which are increasing employee dissatisfaction such as:
a) Work overloadb) Conflicts at workplace
c) Partial fulfillment of expectations from the job
RECOMMENDATIONS
Although stress is an inevitable phenomenon, but due to increasing complexities of jobs , its management has become a necessary activity in organizations.
Following are certain recommendations which are made after surveying the employees:
a) Proper stress management programs should be conducted at regular intervals to rejuvenate the employees and inculcate optimism in them. Family get togethers and recreational activities can be arranged occasionally which can make the employees feel that their personal wellness is important for the organization.
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b) Job rotation and job enrichment should be encouraged wherever possible so that the employees can develop versatile skills and their aspirations from their profession can be fulfilled .
Job enlargement can also be an effective tool. These terms are explained in detail as below:
Job enrichment : It implies increasing the contents of a job or the deliberate upgrading of responsibilities, scope and challenges in work.
It involves vertical loading of functions and responsibilities which require higher level of skills and competence. In order to enrich the job, management should take following measures:
i) Give sufficient freedom to employees in deciding about work methods, pace, sequence etc.
ii) Increase participation and responsibilities to the extent it is feasible.
iii) Provide feedback to the employees.iv) Make the personnel understand how tasks contribute to a
finished product of the enterprise.
Job enlargement : It implies horizontal loading of or expansion i.e., the addition of more tasks of the same nature. It attempts to make a job more varied by removing the dullness associated with performing repetitive operations.
For e.g. a clerk who is doing the typing work only may also be assigned the tasks of drafting letters, sorting of incoming mails and filing of letters. This will reduce his boredom and make him feel satisfied.
Job Rotation: It is a technique in which employees are moved between two or more jobs in a planned manner. The objective is to expose the employees to different experience and wider variety of skills to enhance job satisfaction and to cross train them.
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c)During the survey, it was found that there were certain employees who were not clear about the scope of their job. This can lead to lower job satisfaction and higher stress level. Such a situation can be overcome by defining each role more clearly. Role analysis techniques help to analyse what the job entails and what the expectations are.
Breaking up the job into its various components will clarify the role of the job holder. For this, job analysis can be done for various jobs. The two outcomes of job analysis are:
Job description: It clearly identifies the responsibilities of a specific job. It includes information about working conditions, relationships with other positions.
Job Specification: It is a statement of employee characteristics and employee qualifications required for satisfactory performance of defined tasks included in a specific job. It describes what skills an individual should have to perform the job.
Proper preparation of job description and job specification will lead to increased role clarity among the employees.
d) Participation of employees in decision-making should be encouraged wherever possible to foster a sense of belongingness to the organization which will help them to reduce stress and make them feel that they are important to the organization .
e) Yoga and meditation sessions can be held where employees can learn how to cope with work related stress and how to reduce health problems.
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f) Workplace conflicts should be seriously tackled as it hampers peace of mind of employees and can adversely affect their productivity.
