Job Stress: A Growing Problem in Asia and Yemen - Essay Sample

Abstract

Job stress is a common challenge in most organizations and affects the productivity of employees; it is the reality of a modern-day workplace. The Asian countries have reported an increase in job stress as a psychosocial factor at work that has rapidly been growing (Deng et al., 2019). A significant target of the high-risk group is healthcare workers like nurses and physicians. Such occupations are stressful in both developed and developing countries such as Yemen. Some of the recent surveys reveal that there has been striking evidence of suicide attempts among ambulance personnel.

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A particular reason for job strain is because workers may be exposed to violence at work (Purnawati, 2013). The aim of the research is to examine the impact of job-related stress on the performance of employees and their job satisfaction. The study will be necessary to design interventions that will reduce job stressors, strain at work, and improve the mental health of workers. The paper will recommend on how employers should proactively minimize stress by providing adequate support for their employees.

Body of the Introduction

Job stress refers to the response of individuals towards the stimuli in their work environment. Job stress affects the individual's physiology, psychology, and behavior, which in this research will be job performance. High pressure at work makes individuals perform less effectively on tasks that need concentration and tolerance (Park et al., 2016). This way, the pressure subsequently results in lower productivity and quality of the job. Theories of work-related stress include:

Person-environment fit theory – suggests that work-related stress is from the lack of fit between the individual skills of the employee, resources, abilities and the demands of their environment at work

Job demand-control (JDC) theory- supposes that work-related stress stems from the interaction between psychological job demands and skill discretion.

Effort-reward imbalance theory- suggests that effort put at work is a part of the psychological contract based on social reciprocity, where such effort is reimbursed by the use of opportunities and rewards.

The Present Research

The current research posits that job stress has become international issues, and the effects on Asian countries such as HongKong, Japan, China, and South Korea have been detrimental, and companies need to be concerned about their employees (Wu, 2019). The main reasons for job stress are the increase in complexity as well as the competition of working conditions. The presence of unhealthy corporate culture, economic condition, and local cultures contribute significantly to the stressors of employees at work.

The research questions are:

• How has job stress affected employee performance in Asian countries, mainly as HongKong, Japan, China, and South Korea?
• What are the causes of job stress in HongKong, Japan, China, and South Korea?
• How can Asian countries deal with job stressors and increase productivity?
• Hypotheses: job stress has negative impacts on employee performance.

Conclusion

The human resource department in the organization is required to notice job stressors and provide support to employees they would like to retain in the future (Muraale et al., 2017). This research will focus on job stress and job performance. The study will also provide empirical evidence for methods to alleviate pressure on employees, improve their performance, and job satisfaction.

Chapter 2-Literature Review

Opening Paragraph

In the following chapter, a review of literature that concerns the impact of job stress on employee performance will be explored. There will be a discussion of incidences of job stress among employees and how that has affected their performance and productivity in the workplace. The discussion will only be focused on specific Asian countries, which are HongKong, Japan, China, and South Korea.

Body of Literature Review

Job satisfaction plays a significant role in the success of an organization. Employees turnover and absenteeism get determined by the satisfaction these employees get from their workplaces (Yi & Chan, 2017). The result of such behavior leads to employees leaving their jobs. The case of job stress leads to a lack of job satisfaction, and employees end up performing poorly. When employees get jobs in certain companies, they are issued with the expectations and objectives of the company; hence they work towards achieving these expectations (Yang et al., 2017). Appreciating and rewarding the employees once they accomplish these expectations help to make the employees much more satisfied since their efforts are recognized. Therefore, their attitude and behavior in the workplace change hence improving the growth of the organization.

Job stressors are divided into two dimensions: hindrance stress and challenge stress (Deng et al., 2019). Challenge stress is the kind of job stress that individuals feel they can overcome, and that ends up benefiting their career development. Such stressors include job responsibility, job load, and urgency of time. On the other hand, hindrance stress is the type of stress that employees feel that they are unable to overcome and prevent their career development. Such stressors include conflict of roles, insecurity at work, and organizational politics.

There are different theories that try to discuss work-related stress and its associations. The Person-environment fit theory suggests that work-related stress is from the lack of fit between the individual skills of the employee, resources, abilities, and the demands of their environment at work. It is such that stress could occur when there is no fit between the degree to which the attitudes and abilities of the employee meet the demands of the job. There could also be a stress if the job environment is not in line with the needs of the workers.

Another work-related stress theory is the Job demand-control (JDC) theory, which supposes that work-related stress stems from the interaction between psychological job demands and skill discretion (Duggirala et al., 2016). These demands relate to workloads such as emotional demands, interpersonal conflict, control of the job, and decision authority. The theory focuses on the prediction of outcomes on the psychological strain. It is such that workers having high demands and get paired with low control get to be at a high risk of experiencing work-related psychological distress and pressure.

Another theory is the Effort-reward imbalance theory that suggests that effort put at work is a part of the psychological contract, based on social reciprocity, where such effort is remunerated by use of opportunities and rewards. The imbalance of putting in a lot of effort without any rewards can result in stress and a lot of straining for the employee hence affecting their performance. Motivation includes giving employees challenging and meaningful work to deal with, good relationships with their superiors, and creating opportunities for learning and developing in their careers (Walpita & Arambepola, 2020). If they work too hard without their efforts getting appreciated, they are likely to be in distress.

Statement of the Problem

The hypothesis to be reviewed is "job stress has negative impacts on employee performance." Job stress affects the workers' mental health leading to incidences of increased anxiety, burnout, and also the depression that impacts employee performance by significantly reducing their productivity (Riaz et al., 2016). Workers who are stressed are more likely to get distracted and engage in other unhealthy behaviors like poor patterns of diet. There is a need to suggest workplace interventions that will reduce stress for Asian countries in particular.

Chapter 3-Method

Design Statement

The research will use questionnaires as their primary techniques and procedures of data collection. There will be the use of close-ended questionnaires. The questionnaire will be divided into two parts, including the profile part, which consists of the social and demographic characteristics related to the respondents, and the survey appropriately consisting of employees' opinions concerning job satisfaction in their workplace. The first part of the questionnaire will comprise of the participants' beliefs, reactions, and diverse roles as employees in their respective workplaces.

Participants

The methodology used to collect data, in this case, consisted of giving out questionnaires to various people depending on their age, gender, and type of work. 75 participants answered the self- completion questionnaires provided by the researchers. However, for excellent results and a competence conclusion, they incorporated the quantitative analysis approach.

Measures

During the collection of the data, all the principles of research ethics will be adhered to. The participants will be briefed on the objectives of the research and of any harm that would come to them, confidentiality will be upheld, no information will be revealed apart from the final results after the survey. Personal details of the participants will not appear on the primary research results.

Procedures

The method will involve measuring job stress according to whether the employee cases are a form of challenge stress or hindrance stress. The values will be recorded on a self-reported stress scale. High values will indicate greater job stress.

Data Analysis

The study will use SPSS for statistical analysis, which will be inclusive of descriptive analysis, correlation analysis, and path analysis. Data analysis will be used to determine if the standardized regression coefficients from the results of the values obtained were similar to the expectation or they differed.

References

Deng, J., Guo, Y., Ma, T., Yang, T., & Tian, X. (2019). How job stress influences job performance among Chinese healthcare workers: a cross-sectional study. Environmental health and preventive medicine, 24(1), 2.

Deng, J., Li, Y., Sun, Y., Lei, R., & Yang, T. (2019). Public service motivation as a mediator of the relationship between job stress and presenteeism: a cross-sectional study from Chinese public hospitals. BMC health services research, 19(1), 625.

Duggirala, M., Singh, M., Hayatnagarkar, H., Patel, S., & Balaraman, V. (2016, July). Understanding the impact of stress on workplace outcomes using an agent-based simulation. In Proceedings of the Summer Computer Simulation Conference (pp. 1-10).

Muraale, S., Basit, A., & Hassan, Z. (2017). Impact of job stress on employee performance. International Journal of Accounting and Business Management, 5(2), 13-33.

Park, S. K., Rhee, M. K., & Barak, M. M. (2016). Job stress and mental health among nonregular workers in Korea: What dimensions of job stress are associated with mental health?. Archives of environmental & occupational health, 71(2), 111-118.

Purnawati, S. (2013). Current Issues on Job Stress in Japan and Worksite Mental Health Application Among Japanese Company A Case Study Analysis. Bali Medical J (BMJ), 2, 81-88.

Riaz, M., Ahmad, N., Riaz, M., Murtaza, G., Khan, T., & Firdous, H. (2016). Impact of job stress on employee job satisfaction. International Review of Management and Business Research, 5(4), 1370.

Walpita, Y. N., & Arambepola, C. (2020). High resilience leads to better work performance in nurses: Evidence from South Asia. Journal of nursing management, 28(2), 342-350.

Wu, X. (2019). Influence of job stress on job satisfaction among younger bank employees in China. Chinese Management Studies.

Yang, T., Ma, M., Zhu, M., Liu, Y., Chen, Q., Zhang, S., & Deng...