literature review about job related stress in the workplace and how it affect productivity

Introduction:

First workplace stress occur when there are no matching between employee need, capability and resources with the organizational requirements. And it is defined as a hurtful physical and emotional responses of the employee (National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health 1999). Wherefore. Workplace stress could cause a serious problem for the organization and it may cause a delay in tasks. According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), it could be avoided when there are appropriate management and good practice among employees (Cooper, C. L., Dewe, P., & O’Driscoll, M. 2001).

Workplace stress is a new phenomenon that appeared in the current time to become as a lifestyle, this is due to the changes that occur in the work over the last century and it keeps changing very fast over the years. It takes place also in all the professions, from an artist to a surgeon clearly with changes stress appears automatically. It could affect the employee's health, productivity and the overall well-being of his body and mind. Not only the employee who will be affect also the organization will be affect as a whole. Whenever you hear workplace stress the results of that always leads to less productivity and that relatively will affect the health of the organization.

Work place stress could take place in different sources and affect people in different way it could come from managers, peers and colleagues (Dollard and Metzer 1999). also it could be from the organization itself or it could be job related stress. In addition, stress differ from person to another that is why it is important to address the stress differently. Also, handling stress is different from person to person the causes and the approach could different from one in another person.

The factors that affect the workplace stress there are three sources which is environmental factors, organizational factors and personal factors. Also, there are individual differences which are job experience, social support and perceptions. Therefore our research will focus on organizational factors causing productivity, absenteeism and turnover

Our research will focus on the workplace stress in order of environmental factor at the work. The method that will be used in the research is Diathesis Model, this model is related to job stress and this is the basis of our research

Diathesis model is concern with the workplace stress that occur in the environment of the work. And it’s concern with differentiation between stressful work condition and individual strains. And the strains that we will measure is Excessive Workload, Disagreeable Workplace Environments, Lack of Autonomy, Difficult Relationships with Co-workers, Lack of Career Growth, Low Chances of Personal Growth while Working and Harassment from Management.

Diathesis Model concern in knowing how genetic or biological factors relates to environmental stress which result disorder in the employee performance. This theory means that if the individual biological vulnerabilities, predisposition to a certain psychological disorder could be triggered by stressful life events. It would take a high level of stress to activate symptoms of the disorder, when the individual is flexible or has low biological vulnerabilities. On the other hand if the individual has high biological vulnerabilities to the disorder, it would take a low level of stress symptoms to be present.

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Importance:

The stress in the workplace affects the performance of the employees in the organization. The higher stress the lower performance. Lately stress was considered a good thing for employee to energetic them and enhance their performance, but this belief is not considered anymore because even if there is low stress it will affect the performance.

It’s important for employees to eliminate the stress in the workplace, also it’s important as an organization to know the causes of the stress among employees. The stress can affect as a group the performance of employee and the level of work, which will have greater impact on other institutions. Workplace stress can also cause physical, emotional and behavior problems, which in its term would affect the mentality, energy and the well-being of the employee.

Workplace stress is negatively related to employee’s performance by these independent factors:

Employees suffering from high stress levels have lower engagement, are less productive and have higher absenteeism levels than those not working under excessive stress, therefore it will affect the overall work of the organization and cause money problems for the company and health problems for the employees.

Workplace stress occur when the employee faces a stress from bosses, subordinates and the task itself. Also, when employee have unclear thoughts about the job description and the work that most do. Wherefore it’s important as a Human resource specialist to reduce this unpleasant situation or at least eliminate it.

Objectives of the research:

This study tackles the stress in workplace and how it affects employees' performance in SAMREF (Saudi Aramco and Mobil refinery) company. This study focuses on the below:

1-To find out the relationship between workplace stress and employee performance.

2-To determine factors that cause stress among employees in SAMREF.

3- To find out the strategies follow by SAMREF company to overcome their stress.

Scope of the research:

This research will only focus on SAMREF company in YANBU. This research will covers all department. The workforce consist includes middle level which are supervisor, super tended, and manger and lower level which are operator, technician, and analyst.

Company profile:

SAMREF Company is a joint oil refinery between Saudi Arabian (Aramco) Oil Company and Mobil Yanbu Refining Company Inc. the plant was established in 1981 but later on, under the royal decree, the Company was changed to Saudi Aramco Mobil Refinery Company Ltd. SAMREF. The Company emerged with Saudi Aramco expanding their petroleum refineries and distribution in the market. After its establishment in 1988 under Royal Decree, Saudi Aramco continues to enjoy dominance in exporting oil worldwide by becoming the largest oil exporting Company. SAMREF Company has almost 65000 worldwide. Since its amalgamation, the company has had different CEOs but currently, the Company is under the leadership of Amin H. Nasser as the President. The Company vision and mission are in concurrence and the recent performance of the plant has shown that indeed the Company has become one of the best refineries not only in Asia and Europe but it has stretched to other parts of the world. However, as much as the Firm focuses on oil exporting and production the Company has also merged with other plants in ensuring that the environment is kept clean by conducting environmental monitoring and assessment. Therefore, the firm is aware of the repercussion of emission of the poisonous gases in the atmosphere which is associated with an oil refinery. The Company has qualified engineers that ensure that the Company’s activities do not mess up with the atmosphere because of the vulnerability oil production puts in the process of an oil refinery.

Saudi Aramco is a global integrated oil and chemicals company. The firm history is dated 70 years back now the Company is state-owned. Over the years Saudi Aramco has become the world leader company in hydrocarbon exploration, production, refining and distribution. The Company establishes it's headquartered in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia and has its affiliates in various countries like in Egypt, China, and the Netherlands. And the company has more than 65,000 workers worldwide. And The factories and people managing Saudi Aramco make the company the world's largest crude exporter. The president and CEO of company is Amin H Nasser.

ExxonMobil is a global energy company with a history of more than 132 years. It has business in 140 continents in the world. And company is the world's largest oil and gas company uses technology and innovation to help the world's needs and It is one of the largest refineries in the world. It is a company that markets petroleum products and its factory of chemicals. Darren Woods he is Chairman of Board of Directors and CEO of the company. And Today we operate in most of the world's countries and are best known by our familiar brand names: Exxon, Esso and Mobil. We make the products that drive modern transportation, power cities, lubricate industry and provide petrochemical building blocks that lead to thousands of consumer goods.

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