CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Work-related stress is an increasing concern across the globe, affecting not just individuals' health and well-being, but also organizational productivity. Most work positions have factors that might induce stress in the individual. Stress not only affects us as individuals, but it also has an influence on our relationships with family, friends, and coworkers. It also has an influence on several aspects of society, such as socialization, and even the economy, due to how stress affects productivity. Workloads that are too heavy, with unreasonable deadlines, cause individuals to feel hurried, under pressure, and overwhelmed. Inadequate workloads, giving individuals the impression that their capabilities are underutilized. Control over job operations is lacking. Creating a balance between work and life may be difficult, since both need your attention and energy. When you correctly balance your professional and personal life, you become healthier, both emotionally and physically, and enjoy a better quality of life. With a work-life balance, you will be able to better manage your time, which will have a good influence on many parts of your life (Maxwell C. 2018).

Stress management refers to a broad range of approaches and psychotherapies aimed at reducing a person's level of stress, particularly chronic stress, with the goal of enhancing daily functioning. Stress causes a variety of physical and mental symptoms that vary depending on the circumstances of each person. These may include deterioration in physical health as well as depression. One of the cornerstones to living a happy and successful life in contemporary society is stress management. Although life has several pressures that might be difficult to manage, stress management offers a variety of methods for managing anxiety and maintaining general well-being.

Stress may be defined as a "imbalance between expectations and resources" or as "pressure that surpasses one's perceived capacity to manage." Stress management was established and is based on the theory that stress is not a direct reaction to a stressor, but rather that one's resources and capacity to deal regulate the stress response and are changeable, enabling stress to be regulated and maintaining a good work-life balance (Deepthi A, Vinay B, & Gowramma Y 2019).

Work-life balance is one of the most pressing concerns confronting today's companies and managers. Employees at all levels are no longer prepared to sacrifice their quality of life for a fair standard of living. Managers can no longer afford to disregard the expenses that a long-hours culture puts on their company. Overwork leads to stress-related absenteeism, low retention, poor inventiveness, bad customer service, and unethical employee behavior. When you consider the dangers of being sued by a stressed employee or a parent who needed to work flexibly, then need for reviewing job description by employers and employees looking for coping strategies to manage work stress comes to play. Therefore it is upon the above premise that this study bis set to examine the role of stress management on maintaining work balance.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Work-related stress is now more challenging (or unpleasant) than anybody could have imagined. Stress creates sickness and has an impact on our ability to work well. Recent studies have shown that maintaining a strong work-life balance may greatly assist to lower workplace stress and cardiac stress. Work-life balance entails building and sustaining supportive and healthy work environments that allow workers to balance work and personal duties, hence strengthening employee loyalty and productivity.Work stress, on the other hand, has become a widespread issue that workers experience in many firms today, regardless of the sector in which they work.

Some working women find it difficult to handle both job stress and returning home to execute their wifely tasks, and they end up causing marital strife. The same is true for guys. This emphasizes the need of controlling job stress while also keeping balance in other parts of life. Work-life balance and stress are inextricably linked. What seems to important in this respect is the significance employees have on maintaining a sense of balance in their life, as well as the efficacy of workplace rules and practices in assisting them to attain this aim. As a result, the purpose of this research is to investigate the function of stress management in preserving work-life balance.

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The main focus of this study is to examine the the role stress management on maintaining work balance. Specifically it is set

1. To examine the factors in work place that can lead to employee stress

2. To investigate the  effect of work stress on employee mental health

3. To determine stress management techniques/strategies  employees can adopt to enable them maintain balance

4. To investigate the importance of stress management techniques on maintaining work-life balance

1.4 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

H0: Work stress does not affect employee’s social and family life

H0: Stress management techniques does not help employee in maintaining work-life balance.

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The study will be significant to employee, owners of business organization and general public especially those in the workforce or entrepreneur. To business owners it will enlighten them on the need to review their employee description and probably draw up career plan for them. To employee  and entrepreneurs, the study will expose them to stress management techniques that will enable them to maintain work-life balance. More so, this study will contribute to existing literature, serving as a reference material to both students and academia in related studies and creating opportunity for further studies in related field.

1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This research helps to identify and resolve the various aspects of stress factors relatedto the work-life balance of employees. Identifying the poor psychological health effect of stress on employee. It reveals stress reduction strategies that could be helpful to individuals in the workforce. It reveals how work interfere in personal life, family life interference in work life and convergence and divergence of work life balance. Effective strategies to balance the stress is presented. Howbeit, the study is Limited to employee in selected business organizationas in Ikoyi area in Lagos State

1.7 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The following factors pose a limitation during the course of this research.

Financial constraint– Insufficient funds tend to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).

Time constraint– The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted to research work.

1.8 DEFINITION OF TERMS

Stress: Stress is a feeling of emotional or physical tension. It can come from any event or thought that makes you feel frustrated, angry, or nervous.

Work Stress: Job stress can be defined as the harmful physical and emotional responses that occur when the requirements of the job do not match the capabilities, resources, or needs of the worker. Job stress can lead to poor health and even injury.

Stress management: Stress management is a wide spectrum of techniques and psychotherapies aimed at controlling a person's level of stress, especially chronic stress, usually for the purpose of and for the motive of improving everyday functioning.

Work-life balance: work-life balance is the state of equilibrium where a person equally prioritizes the demands of one's career and the demands of one's personal life. Some of the common reasons that lead to a poor work-life balance include: Increased responsibilities at work and Working longer hours.

REFERENCE

Deepthi A, Vinay  B, & Gowramma Y (2019) 'Effective Strategies for Stress Management in Work Life Balance among Women Teaching Profession (With special reference to Technical Teachers);' retrived from International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering (IJRTE) ISSN: 2277-3878, Volume-8 Issue-1S2, May 2019

Maxwell International s.r.o.(2018) Work life balance and Stress Management retrieved from https://www.maxwell.cz/training-solutions/personal-effectiveness/work-life-balance-and-stress-management/

Rahul Signal, Parvash(2015), “Work bLife Balance of Women Employees with Reference to Teaching Faculties”, International Journal of Research in Management, Science & Technology, 3(3), 53-56

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