Occupational Stress and Examination Via Scientific Processes Essay

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1. IntroductionThe modern 21st century has posed new challenges for the organizations to survive and grow (Smith et al. 2010). As they are operated and managed by human beings, the challenges are ultimately faced by the individuals who are responsible for making decisions and implementing them (Nieuwenhuizen, Weiss and Rossouw, 2009). As challenges are multifaceted, and human lives are divided into various aspects, it is difficult to excel in every field. The gap between desired and actual state of mind leads to stress and has a high impact on employee performance and productivity.The concept of supervision is not new in business settings. It may be rooted right in the main essence of organizational structure from where delegation of authority and chain of command were introduced. In lieu of human psychology to stay conscious when being observed and monitored, it is more likely that they are not in normal state of mind but in stress. As relaxation leads to slow motion of work and decreased productivity consequently, many organizations deliberately introduce supervision and monitoring systems (Robbins & Coulter, 2007) so that employees perform at their optimum level. It can be concluded that when employees are in occupational stress, they tend to perform better (Hartley, 2010).As there is a perceived relationship between occupational stress and need to supervise employee, there is strong need to explore the possibility of any such relationship. It is because; organizations can mould their supervisory techniques so that employees perform better. In the present challenging world of 21st century, organizations are concerned about performance improvement of their employees and want to leave no stone unturned for it.2. Research AimsThe rapid advancement of both science and technology creates a host of challenges to the survival and development of organizations. Therefore, corporations have no choice but to experiment with various solutions to these obstacles, which will empower them to better, compete in the 21st century (Landstrom, 2008).This project has two main aims. The first is to better understand work stress: this will be done by identifying the causes, scale and impact of work stress as well as the risk factors for its manifestation. There is also the possibility that at a specific level of work stress, employees happen to show higher levels of performance. There is also a possibility that when this level is surpassed, the stress becomes unproductive and general employee performance drops. Therefore, it is crucial to identify work stress levels, and differentiate between the ones that are productive for the workers and increase organizational performance, and the ones that damage performance.The second aim seeks to observe the effectiveness of practices in place to curb work stress, such as practices put in place by human resource management in collaboration with work safety and health professionals. This research will check the efficacy of these implemented methods by reviewing the available literature on them.This project has the objective to assess previous evidence available concerning work stress and the ways this can be scientifically monitored. Within this objective, it seeks to better understand work stress and its impact on the individual in order to create remedies for preventing and reducing it. This research will analyze studies focused on the causes of work stress; its influence and the way corporations can implement effective methods for monitoring and avoiding it. The main theme of this objective will be how effective supervision affects work stress.The last objective is to determine if there is a need for supervision and validation of the existence of work stress. It can be said that work stress is connected to a number of factors, which are basic in the external and internal features of corporations as well as the types of jobs carried out by their workers.Three major questions will be answered by this study. The first is the scale and origins of work stress. Second are the effects of work stress on family, employees and the corporation involved. Third is the study of how supervision affects work stress. Furthermore, the paper will analyze strategies applied by other corporations as regards the management of work stress. The final part will aid corporations in checking whether it is important to participate in stress reduction and management via thorough supervision of their workers.3. Research ObjectivesThe aim of this project is to achieve the study objectives, which includes;· To determine the reasons for work stress.· To discover the impact of work stress on employees, employee engagement, families of employees, and the corporation itself.· To determine the way effective supervision influences work stress.· To analyze the methods applied by other corporations towards achieving effective stress management.· To determine how employee engagement is impacted by work stress.The final two objectives will aid corporations in analyzing if it is important to finance stress reduction and management via effective monitoring of their workers.The results derived especially with the aid of volunteers will be important in carrying out a survey with the basic intent of discovering how stress affects employees and the ways it can be reduced.4. Research Questions and HypothesesThis research tries to answer these questions;· What causes work stress?This paper hypothesizes that workplace stress is caused in a variety of ways for each individual, as it is such a complex problem. Workplace stress can be caused by poor management and leadership, poor organizational skills of those in supervisory positions, poor or non-existent communication between supervisors and employees, and unarticulated expectations for employees. However, other times workplace stress is simple: it can be caused by overworking and overburdening employees with tasks or high-stakes scenarios.· How does work stress affect employees, their families and the corporation itself?This paper hypothesizes that workplace stress will have a lasting and negative impact on both employees and their families. Employees will demonstrate negative biophysical signs of stress, such as weight loss or gain, sleeping issues, fatigue, mental exhaustion, emotional exhaustion, outbursts, sadness, and shortness of temper, among other symptoms. Families will undeniably suffer as families are akin to a garden that need to be nurtured in order to grow and thrive in an adequate manner: workplace stress robs the employee of energy that can be given to the family.· In what way does effective supervision impact work stress?This paper hypothesizes that appropriate supervision has a positive impact on workplace. Enlightened supervision means that channels of communication remain clear and that all team members are on the same page, allowing them to work in harmony towards common goals. Nuanced supervision means that work is fairly divided and assigned to members of the team according to their strengths, so that members of the team receive tasks that they can excel at, and feel as though they are valuable members of the team, excelling at their jobs and making valuable contributions.· What methods are used by the other corporations in regards to stress management?This paper hypothesizes that other corporations engage in more preventative methods to thwart workplace stress before it happens. This is achieved by having open channels of communication and realistic expectations of employee capabilities. Furthermore, this paper further hypothesizes that creating a healthy workplace, stress levels will be lower innately as the environment will be conducive to positivity and general well being.5. Literature ReviewIt’s important to note that Framework for Study of Stress (Kahn and Byosiere, 1992) offer a major point of guidance for this study, even though it is not framework used. Kahn and Byosiere viewed stress as more likely to manifest as the result of four separate pillars of influence: stressors in organizational life (such as light or noise, or haziness regarding one’s job), properties of the situation as a stress increasers or moderators (such as the presence or absence of social support), strains (physical, psychological, behavioral), and personal characteristics (such as low self-esteem, low self-control, hardiness). While this framework isn’t the one harnessed by this thesis, it is relevant in that it offers a concise snapshot of the multi-faceted origins of stress and why stress in the workplace is such a complex problem. This framework also illuminates why some people deal with stress better than others, and that certain life factors can influence how much or how little stress one experiences, or how effectively one can confront stress.Defining occupational stress involves examining its two constituent words. Occupational means all workplace-related activities and elements whereas stress talks about a natural body response to emotional or mental strain in a person. Therefore occupational/work stress can be defined as any system by which the body tries to conform to its workplace environment. These systems include the normal body system for managing work stress, popularly called the “fight or flight” response as well as all other likely or unlikely responses. These responses include anxiety, eyestrain due to staring at a computer screen for a long period, depression, physical and emotional stress, reduced concentration, cognitive problems such as memory losses etc. All these responses could cause poor work performance, cardiovascular disease, higher employee turnover, injury, higher absenteeism and even mortality (Patterson et al., 2005). From this one can aptly conclude that occupational stress has an impact on employee engagement and enthusiasm.Occupational stress can equally be defined as an occupational safety and health recognized hazard, which could have an adverse effect on employee health and which employers have to identify, evaluate and manage in every way possible. It is also referred to as the result when a person is not able to handle the pressures of the workplace, often when interpersonal factors are at play (Teodorczuk & Billett, 2017). This is caused either because the person is not the right fit based on his/her strengths and the needs of that role or because the conditions of the workplace are not favorable.5.1 Types of StressAs suggested by Nordstrom et al. (2001), two major forms of stress which a person can experience exists and they are mental and physical stress. Physical stress talks about the physical reactions the body gives to a number of triggers. Physical stress causes emotional stress because the two are interlinked. Mental stress, however, talks about mental exhaustion. From Keegel et al. (2009), mental stress talks about mental strain caused by a harmful agent which could cause illness.These two different forms of stress do not have the same symptoms. Physical stress manifests when the sufferer’s heart rate increases and he/she starts breathing faster. In some cases, the person starts to sweat uncontrollably or experience cold hands, feet or skin. Another major sign is that the person’s mouth becomes dry and they could also experience tiredness and fatigue more easily. Muscle spasms or tightness, body tension or breath shortness are also common symptoms (Iavicoli et al., 2001). The other typical signs are a higher or lower than normal appetite or a constant nervous feeling. This is identified via signs like fiddling, grinding teeth, muscle twitching, restless pacing, nail biting, rapid or excessive talking and other abnormal habits. In some other extreme cases, the person could develop ailments or disorders like aches, pains, flu, stomach and skin disorders, migraines, asthma etc. Sometimes these physicals manifestations are a way to stimulate cognition, other times they are signs of inner anxiety or inflammation (Weijenberg & Lobbezoo, 2015). Mental stress, however, expresses itself majorly via sleeping problems which cause the sufferer to sleep less or more than normal, anxiety, constant worry, confusion and also regular mood changes like anger, irritability, frustration, irrationality, depression, overreaction, impatience, defensiveness or restlessness. Other regular symptoms are substance abuse including alcohol, drugs or cigarettes (Okechukwu et al., 2010).In some cases, the person could develop poor memory or decision-making skills. In extreme cases, he/she might develop baseless fears of everyday events such as experiencing sunlight, washing with running water etc. All of these symptoms are due to the mental facility of the person being negatively affected.5.2 Definition of SupervisionSupervision simply means the control or regulation of behavior via laid out guidelines and restrictions (Kadushin & Harkness, 2014). A large number of authors claim there are several supervision aspects that have to be analyzed before it can be defined. These aspects are application of practices and ideas which provides a suitable environment for the employees to follow the laid out restrictions, provision of support and advice, ensuring that employees have access to the proper equipment and resources necessary for succeeding in their job roles and organizing job functions in an orderly manner so as to ease decision-making processes.5.3 Categories of Supervisory ModelsSupervision models are classified into three, based on their typical features. These classes are the developmental models, psychotherapy-based models, social role models and the integrative models (Aten et al., 2008).5.4 The Stress ResponseCannon’s (1915) groundbreaking study on the physical effect of emotions such as fear and rage has formed the basic framework of the stress response. He discovered that emotion and perception causes the secretion of catecholamines by epinephrine and norepinephrine, both adrenal glands. The release of catecholamines has an immediate and vitalizing impact on the central nervous system (CNS) particularly, the reticular activating system (RAS), also known as reticular formation. Stimulation of the RAS causes the state of alertness, which is usually experienced when a person is under stress.

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Though fight or flight might seem to be the major physical reaction of both genders to stress, Taylor and her colleagues (2000) made a huge discovery concerning the female response to stress. Specifically, they discovered that female behaviour have more tendency to follow a pattern of “tend and befriend”. This invigorating response is possibly an element which explains why females are more productive under stress than males and therefore outlive them by around five or seven years. Apart from this gender disparity, Lundberg (2002) discovered that women typically carry out repetitive tasks and they are more liable to stress due to unpaid work, which could cause a higher frequency of work-related extremity problems (Quick & Henderson, 2016).6. Research Gaps· Gaps in studies on work-related stress, job satisfaction, burnout and the overall health of workers emerges with consistency (Khamisa et al., 2015).· Gaps in worker engagement in systematic empirical studies, so as to substantiate subsequent studies (Shuck & Wollard, 2010).· The initial gap, which talks about the confusion in concepts can be reduced via the development of an appropriate definition for employee engagement (Soieb et al., 2013).· The absence of theoretical reasoning and experiments on the effect the exaggeration of employee engagement has in both Cyprus and the global contexts have been marked as the next gap (Masvaure et al., 2014).· The reality that the association between employee engagement and personal character is not experimentally tested or theoretically debated both in Cyprus as well as the global contexts has been seen as the third gap (Sonnentag, 2003).· The absence of research in Cyprus on the way the high performance work practices (HPWPs) affect employee engagement is the fourth gap (Macky & Boxall, 2007).· The next identified gap is the inadequacy of experimental evidence as regards the connection existing between financial performance of the organization and employee engagement in Cyprus context (Schneider et al., 2007).· The sixth gap is the unavailability of experimental confirmation on job performance of workers taking the place of an interfering factor for financial performance of an organization and employee engagement (Schneider et al., 2007)· A similar unavailability is seen concerning empirical evidence on personal character, HPWPs, work-life balance, religiosity and leadership which has a considerable effect on employee engagement within a homological system in both Cyprus and global contexts and this forms the seventh gap (Nguyen, 2013).7. ResearchPositivism is selected for the purposes of this paper as it focuses on empirical data and scientific methods. This philosophy believes that world is made up of regularities, which can be pinpointed, and one can infer knowledge simply through observation. This method is superior to critical realism or interpretivist because positivism refocuses the researcher on general rules. Positivism can be viewed as a branch of epistemology, as epistemology is a sector of science that often encapsulates the range of approaches used to understand the mysteries of existence, and is by definition the science of knowledge and of elucidating the scientific path (Roots, 2007). Positivism can at times illuminate ontology, as ontology specifies entities and their relationships and the origins of conclusions of these relationships.7.1 PositivismThe research concept assumed was one of Positivism following a deductive method applying quantitative data derived via self-administered survey questionnaires within a cross-sectional time horizon (Joshy, 2014).The justification for every choice taken above can be made clear via the “research onion” which is applied in comparing the numerous levels of research systems (Saunders et al 2009, p 108). The research onion contains six levels…

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…slightly agree (4) neither agree or disagree, (5) slightly disagree, (6) disagree, (7) strongly disagree. By multiplying the reverse code of the questions, the level of supervision for each organization will be coded.Therefore organizations with 2 (agreement) and 3 (strongly agree) point should be considered strict supervision and have effective supervision, so the supervisor uses the right roles and skills. While anything above 4 (neither agree or disagree) will be very lenient and therefore regarded as low supervision, so the supervisor used the wrong roles and skills or not giving the correct dedication during supervision to solve a problem.12.9 Threats to internal and external validityThreats to validity are anticipated in the quantitative research design and will be addressed in various ways. In order to ensure validity of the data, a standardized questionnaire will be used to gather in order to ensure that all respondents answer to the same questions. This will also ensure that the questions are phrased in the same way to ensure higher validity of the study. All persons interviewed in this study will also be required to give voluntary informed consent. This will be required after they are assured of the confidentiality of the data collected which will help to generalize the findings in the study population. The interviewees will also be given clear instructions for the completion of the questionnaire to ensure they understand what is required of them. The questionnaire will also be pretested and peer-reviewed to help in ensuring questions are phrased in the best way possible and that the choices listed provide higher representation of the appropriate response choices. More questions will also be added as required to ensure there is higher representativeness in answering the research questions.The validity of the research will be connected back to construct validity, determining the length to which operationalizations of such practical tests created from a set theory actually offer snapshot of the construct, as described by the theory. Construct validity is most appropriate here because it connects to the extent that inferences can reasonably be created from the operationalizations created in this research study and to the theoretical concepts these exact operationalizations were based. Construct validity will open the door to making generalizations, something that offers the researcher greater ease, (much like the interpretations from simple random sampling). Construct validity will force the researcher to make generalizations founded in concepts. This more foundational approach will help to keep one geared towards the main concepts connected to the intricacies of occupational stress.12.10 Ensuring quality of findingsSince the study is designed to be quantitative, distributing questionnaires and collecting responses electronically through email will ensure the quality of findings. This will ensure that the employees are able to fill in the responses honestly and candidly as a result of confidentiality being upheld. The results will also be triangulated with results from other previous studies to find whether they concur or differ. This will enable the researcher to confirm the findings that emerge from this study.12.11 Ethical considerationsAll research projects require the highest levels of expertise, honesty, diligence, and integrity. The questionnaires will in no way be coded or marked with any identification that can be traced to the respondent. No personal identifiable information such as name, staff numbers, and email addresses, etc. will be collected. All people involved in the research will be emphasized to the importance of confidentiality in this study and will be needed to uphold the highest ethical standards to make sure confidentiality is kept. The respondents will be given the right to self-determination to agree or disagree to participate in the study, right to confidentiality, right to anonymity, and right to informed consent. Scientific honesty will also be ensured by making sure that all data is entered into the SPSS computer software as is in the filled questionnaire. The researcher will not manipulate the data in any way. An independent data entry assistant will be used to enter the data into the statistical program. The same data entry assistant will be used to produce the results of the study independently of the researcher to avoid subjective collaboration.13. AnalysisPower analysis sample size and power are two important concepts in the design of research studies. The power of the study can be defined as the probability of rejecting the null hypothesis when in fact it is false (Zhang and Wang, 2009). Power analysis is a judgment of the researcher about the required level of confidence. This study has an alpha level of 0.05 and the intention to ensure that the data integrity of the results reaches a confidence interval of 95%.In this study, definitions of morale, supervision levels, friendliness of supervisors, amount of extra effort needed to achieve company objectives, job satisfaction and the perceived development opportunities will be evaluated and these will be measured using a Likert scale.This study equally applies descriptive statistics in summarizing the acquired demographical information into a manageable format. The descriptive statistics aids in explaining the connection and dispersal among variables. This study equally applies the inferential statistics in suggesting the most probable of the statistical outcomes to the entire population (Freshwater, Sherwood, & Drury, 2006). This section gives the descriptive statistics in tables. This research gives the demographical data in tables showing the overall years of experience, gender, length of employment with current company and age.This chapter gives the data evaluation, which provides the process for transforming, inspecting and modeling data with the aim of improving data quality and aiding the provision of reliable and valid results. This study applies quantitative data evaluation using statistical methods in performing data analysis using the OLS (Ordinary Least Squares) regression technique. The multivariate OLS regression helps in ascertaining if the weekly work hours, organizational control, management involvement or supervisory control contributed most to stress.The section of occupational stress will provide the results of the occupation stress revealing causes of stress within a workplace. The results will assist in providing evidence that occupation stress occurs in a workplace. The results also will assist in answering the research questions and the research outcomes provide a greater understanding on the strategies to prevent occupation stress in a workplace. The study will assess the research results one after the other to reveal the cause, different type of occupational stress and the strategy to prevent and manage stress within a workplace.The results of the part scale of supervision will establish whether the scale of supervision has been the contributing factor leading to the workplace stress. This section will use Ordinary Least Squares regression analysis to determine whether the scale of supervision has been the contributing factor leading to an occupational stress.Data analysis will be conducted using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Separate analyses will be conducted assessing the effect of the independent variable on each of the dependent variables using an alpha level of .05.In addition, this chapter will present the results based on the analysis of the collected data. My goal is to collect 500 questionnaires. If all respondents answer the questionnaire, then my sampling will be 100% successful.14. Research Correlation with Aims and Objectives14.1 Theoretical FrameworkHypothesis: Workplace stress is a complex dynamic, rooted in poor leadership and management can manifest in a host of symptoms for employees.This theoretical framework is so useful for this focused research as it breaks down the complexities of occupational stress into separate causes and origins of stress. All occupational stress originates as a whole from poor management and leadership. The main causes of stress, such as poor communication, unfair or unreasonable workloads, hostility in the workplace, unclear objectives and expectations, and lack of encouragement all start and are enabled at the management level. As the gaps in previous research has demonstrated, there’s still a lack of understanding and evidence about how the individual factors and facets of occupational stress impact the employee, the productivity of the company, and the employee’s family.The WHO described work stress as “the reaction people could have whenever they are placed under work pressure and requirements which are not in line with their abilities and knowledge and which affects their coping capability. Stress takes place in several work situations though it is often worsened when the employees have the mindset that they are not receiving adequate support from coworkers and supervisors and/or when….....

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