The Impact of Stress on Employees at Ramada Jarvis Hotel

Table of Contents
Chapter 1 : Introduction 1.0 Introduction 1.1 Introduction to Stress 1.2 Purpose of the research 1.3 Motivation 1.4 Aim of the Research 1.5 Objectives 1.6 Scope and research approach 1.7 Review of Chapters Chapter 2: Literature Review 2.1 Identifying actual reasons for stress at workplace 2.2 One the basis of employees style, division of hospitality sector 2.3 Models of Stress 2.4 Conclusion Chapter 3: Research Methodology 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Research designs overview 3.3 The process of Research 3.4 Data Collection 3.5 Sampling 3.6 Data Analysis 3.7 Pilot Study 3.8 Research study limitations 3.9 Ethical approach 3.10 Summary Chapter 4: Finding Analysis, Discussions and Critical appraisal of Literature Review 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Interviews results 4.3 Questionnaire questions Chapter 5: Conclusion 5.1 Introduction: 5.2 Objective 1 5.3 Objective 2 5.4 Objective 3 51 31 22 9 Page 4

5.5 Evaluation 5.6 Limitation of study 5.7 Recommendations Bibliography 59

Appendix 1 Appendix 2 Appendix 3 Appendix 4

Chapter One

1.0 Introduction: In this chapter a brief discussion is made about the stress management in the selected organisation. The background of research is highlighted along with the purpose and motivation behind this research investigation. Furthermore, this chapter provides details about the scope and relevance of this research study to MBA program. Later segment of this chapter contains the review about the following chapters included in dissertation. This chapter discuss the management of stress and how it affects the performances of employees at work settings. It explains the part of motivation that occurs due to the control of stress and how the overall satisfaction of internal customers is improved.

1.1 Introduction to Stress: The prominent research conducted by Selye (1936) indicates that stress is the blend of cause and effects, to further elaborate idea of Selye, one can say that it is both the responses of individuals and the stressors prevailing in the external environment that influences our behaviour. Generally people have a perception that stress is a negative phenomenon but stress can be both by nature constructive as well destructive. It is indeed a type of reaction that occurs due to threat, so it will not be wrong to say that its adaptive in nature. Being adaptive in nature, it works as a regulator which signals us or alarms us about the danger and urge us to be defensive about it. In other words, where there is a fear of some sort that certain things can pose a threat; individuals get a motivation to either deal with it or avoid that situation posing threats. Therefore, we can say that stress also motivates individuals to be more creative in approach. Stress sometime is useful as in less complex task, moderate level of stress improve the work efficiency but in highly complex task, high type of stress can demotivate as well effect the performance of employees in a negative manner. (Selye, 1936), suggest that there is similarity between stress and pressure.

(Marshall and Cooper, 1981), debates that stress is unlike pressure, it is further more than pressure. It has the tendency of breaking the performance of individuals. Furthermore, the earlier research piece of Marshall and Cooper (1978), suggested that stress is based on individuality and therefore, it must be elaborated and understood with situation that features

both, the individual and the environment of that individual because it is the result of the combination of both. According to (Tepas and Price, 2001), individuals ability to perform normally being affected by an event, any variable, situation or circumstance is regarded as stress. On the other hand, (Harris and Schaubroeck, 1990) has done a research and the observation occurred that precursors are also included with the stressors and outcomes. But Frew and Burning (1987), has stressed on the variables that exist at workplace, these environmental factors have a vital role in the stress and the outcome affecting the behaviour of employee. 1.2 Purpose of research: There are few purposes behind this research investigation such as it will create a general understanding about how stress affects the performance of individual, secondly the managements perspective behind this controlling and managing stress of employee will be identified, thirdly, this research will help me by providing a practical guidance and it will assist me in grooming myself towards practical approach. The last purpose behind this research is that it is a requirement for MBA program so it is an opportunity to develop skills and enhance my abilities more by carrying out a research investigation in practical manner. 1.3 Motivation: For everything that a person does, motivation is very essential because it brings the best out of person. It is basically the stimuli that act as a driving force for individuals. (Deci and Ryan, 1985) has defined two types of motivation, one is intrinsic that is internal one and the other is extrinsic which is external one. For this both types of motivations were involved. Being employee myself I experienced situations that have caused me stress and I always had that feeling that somewhere my performance has reduced, simultaneously at other time I have feel motivated when more pressure falls on me. One interesting event was when after Recession Company has new policies to implement and most of the employees were feeling that there are chances of downsizing, this was point where I felt that the employees productivity is decreasing due to fear, the amounting stress was asking the organisation to manage the stress so that learning outcomes are good. This idea motivated me to elect it for my research study. Research Questions:

Q1. Is the relationship between the strategies to cope up with stress currently operating in the Ramada Jarvis is significant or not? 1.4 Aim: There is a significant difference between the aims and objectives of research. Aim is for a longer term whereas the objectives are short term. Every research begins with aim and objectives help the researchers to accomplish their aim through setting objectives. The aim is to analyse the relationship between stress among employees and the Ramada Jarvis Hotel. 1.5 Objectives: The objectives of this research study are as following: Evaluate the key theories behind workplace stress To undertake the primary research of employees at Ramada Jarvis in order to analyse the effect of the stress on their resulting firm To conclude the effect of stress on the behaviour of employees at hotel

1.6 Research Approach: In every research, one of the key steps is to ensure the rational and practical approach towards the research study at hand. There are two distinct types of data if we categorize it by nature, one is quantitative and the other is qualitative. By nature qualitative cannot be expressed numerically as it is subject to quality but quantitative data can be classified and express in numeric. Data can be broadly classified in primary and secondary data by means of sources. Primary data is the one which a researcher himself gathers from the practical field, it is the prime as it is collected in a direct and first hand form whereas secondary data is usually gathered through indirect means. In this research I will use primary and secondary data to support my research investigation. For primary data collection I have designed my approach starting with interviews from manager followed my meetings with employees. Since I am working at selected organisation therefore I have an easy access to most of the information of company. I have interviewed my

manager about research questions and try to find out the details that are required. I have furthermore use the method of meetings and observation, in which l have collected details and gather their views about stress and performances. I have interviewed 10 employees, out of which 4 works in same shift with me. Furthermore I have circulated a questionnaire in the organisation to generate information. The questionnaire is close ended and degree based so that findings are easy to evaluate. For secondary data I have use case studies related to stress management and employees behaviour in organisational settings under stress. I have examined critically the journals of psychology, management and organisational behaviour to elucidate the current aspects of this research. I have also use internet to read articles about human performance and the management of stress. I have read books on related topic as these secondary sources have helped me in literature review. By the help of previous empirical researches I have explore furthermore new dimensions. 1.7 Review of chapters:

This section deals with the overview about the other chapters included in this dissertation. This is to provide the reader that what is the idea behind each chapter included in this research study.

1.7.1

Literature Review: It is the second chapter and the most important as it discuses theories and empirical researches conducted in past will be included to elaborate our understanding about stress, motivation and how it affects the performance of individuals. Literature review is the basic foundation on which this research will stand and develop into later stages.

1.7.2

Research Methodology: The third chapter of research contains the research problem, hypothesis, research design and the elected style to carry out research will be discussed in detail.

1.7.3

Research Finding and Discussions: In fourth chapter those data gathered through questionnaires and interviews will be represented. Graphs will be use to present the responses. Moreover, finding of present study will be evaluated with results of past findings.

1.7.4

Conclusion: The fifth and last chapter of research speaks about the results and findings in a concluding manner, followed by recommendations and limitations of research.

Literature review

2.1 Identifying the actual reason for existence of stress at workplace: 2.1.1 Introduction Often, stress is considered to be a part of daily routine life. Increasing workload and increase in the expectations from workers are reasons to contribute to the increase in stress are general notion but these are not only the factors because individuals personal problems and imbalance in emotions also constitute stress which leads to further problems. In recent times, notes are undertaken by the organisations about the increase in expectations from their employees which enhance the stress and anxiety in their respective workforce operating within the organisation. Despite the fact, that the imposed demands could be real one (rational) or unreal (irrational). (David a carol, 2009) has shown in his study that in recent time 44% more difficult life have shaped up than it was 30 years back, due to the rapid increase in the level of expectancy and competition in the dynamic market. He further expressed in his studies that to meet the level of expectancy and to outclass the competitors, individuals take immense stress which either cause physical or mental damages. 2.1.2 Contrasting views: Numerous researchers oppose the idea that stress affects the employees in a negative way. In fact it brings out the best of workers. Similar is being observed in the hospitality industry. This school of thought support their statement by suggesting that the perception of employee is vital factor to explain the positive or negative influence of stress on that particular employee. No matter, they view a stress as burdensome or unique challenge to polish their abilities more. These researchers also elaborated that various styles of operational activities are currently operating inside hotels and employees at present or in future may face situations of stress at present or in upcoming future. For instance, a new employee could easily adjust with the working environment of hotel and he may feel uncomfortable by too much involvement of seniors or close environment. In such situation performance of employee could be affected by stress. This school of thought indicates that the personal behaviour of newly appointed and senior employees along with their own personal style of working could lead to the creation of a stress. These factors are usually ignored.

The process of communication, personal experiences of working of employees, and technology in use are some of the key factors that add stress to employees at hotel. There are more than 100 factors that lead to stress but in a narrow perspective, the categorization is in six types: 1. Innate or the existing from the beginning (In this particular case, from senior

employees who have more experience over newly appointed employee the situation of stress pass to relatively new or inexperience staff) 2. A type personality (Workers have strong need for accomplishment, irrational goals

are set to be achieved by themselves, low tolerance and short tempered) 3. Destructive opinions (This is usually when employee view that in negative manner

everything is going around in the environment) 4. Unable to refute (Employees who have no tendency to refuse the call or orders,

usually cannot say no to orders and thrust with more than handle responsibilities. These types of employees are considered as victimized by emotional blackmail) 5. Cares too much (Employees who personality have trait of caring too much, they make

commitments beyond their reach and often fancy themselves with unrealistic responsibilities) 6. Behaviour of self defeat (Employees who run from reality and make an attempt to

accomplish standards next to impossible at work) The employees do not work in isolation at all, they need to communicate, help, assist and get in return help from other employees, relay on combine efforts, and decision processing also. This create a passage for situations of stress to entreat work premises due to the issues of attitude, clashes between egos and conflicts and disputes with other employees because of different mindsets. In such situations, the performance of employees decline and therefore stress is identified as the main obstacle to progress of business and also affect the mental and physical state of employees in a negative manner (Cooper and Marshall, 1976). This study mainly focus on steps initiated to ensure that over burden pressure in the hotel is reduced so that productivity increases, thus developing an environment in the restaurant which promotes employees to be able to respond to stressful situations in a positive way and also improve their skills of decision making.

2.1.3 Shifts in patterns of stress at work premises (Cooper and Dewe 2008, Occupational stress p225) have established the grounds to determine the way in which stress related to workplace has shaped in last couple or odd decades. 1980s era of globalization featured by enhanced competition and production process by lean. 1990s and 2000s were categorized by flexible workforce and trend.

The drastic changes has been witnessed at the end of 20th century, particularly in job segment at the hospitality sector relating to insecurity of job, immense work pressure, and prolong working hours are major problems. In hospitality sector, above mentioned factors leads to unevenness in psychological state of employees mind and stress too. The strain gets bigger on employees as the pressure emerges to finish the task on precise time without making errors. Not only subordinates are affected but employers also feel face a strain as the trust and commitment between employee and employer weakens. High absenteeism and employee turnover begin to get taller on managements concern list. The recent survey initiated by UKs Chartered Management Institute in order to measure the quality of work life preferred by managers, interviewed approximately 10000 managers at the hospitality sector ranging from front desk managers to top management and the Board (ibid). The findings of results were that short term employees are 57% of which outsourced employees were approximately 25% and 89% of those were working beyond their contracted hours per week (ibid). Nevertheless, check and balance should be proper one to monitor the working hours and overtime of workers should be in accordance with the hotels and restaurants working hours contract. The study investigation of Cooper and Marshall (1976), have revealed five main characteristics that generates stress. Nevertheless, at present working condition, it is not only these five factors that create a stress among employees. The follow are the five major factors:

Intrinsic factors-Stress could also be a subject to intrinsic factor which is highly noticeable in firms these days. Role of Organisation- if the role is ambiguous and conflicting, the stress is created because of it. Job insecurity-employee may feel a stress due to over or under promotion practices currently operating in few hotels. Unhealthy relation at workplace- despite the fact that now management is more aware about handling conflicts but still poor relationship with co-workers and employers exist in organisations. Structure and culture of an organisation- the working environment also contributes to stress. A detailed study is conducted on the quality of working life. Research on large scale has been conducted in the United Kingdom and the main focus of research was on psychological and physical stress (Worrall & Cooper, 2007, p. 20). The outcomes of the survey are as following: 2001-2006 is a duration in which high stress is noticed due to cutting of a cost, which leads to extra working hour per day, approximately two and a half hour extra. Due to reduction in cost in United Kingdom organisational changes has affected the highest number of percentage (approximately 59.5% in the UK) (Worreall et al., 2008, p. 20). Working hours It is witnessed that employees working in the senior management undergoes stress more than other employees as they spend more time (Based on findings by Smith and Carol, 2006); this is higher working hours from other verticals. Pay rates and salaries According to the report National Skill Task Force (1990), superiors ill-treatment and issues regarding pay are the most common reasons contributing stress. Nowadays, the situations have changed but in some places still these incidents are still prevailing.

Behaviour and violence at work As compared to other industries, the work force trade is quite low in the hotel and restaurant industries (Smith and Carol 2006). The findings of internal survey conducted by John and Menzel (1999) revealed that experienced employees undergo two types of stress, one is the physical stress and the other is psychological stress. Physical stress is the too much of movement and checking other employee, especially supervisors, chefs and in charge on round whereas psychological stress includes pressure of making decisions, setting standards, conflicts with the management, working and training fresh employees etc. Aggressive behaviour Leith (2002) revealed in his study stated that in the hospitality sector of United Kingdom has high turnover of employee due to the aggressive behaviour of employees and also due to the high pressure from workplace. Considering the case study of this research Ramada hotel, there is moderate grinding down rate of axing employees. As a matter of fact, the players of hospitality sector rely heavily on hiring agency or head-hunter to recruit workers. Ramada invests good money in hiring employees from external agencies. Nature of work In 1993, Maslach explained that emotional exhaustion, feeling of less believes in self actualization, and depersonalization occurs due to the occupational stress especially in the kitchen department. On the other hand, due to the proper training and providing education about handling stress to their staff, organisations in the hospitality sector have overcome pressure to some extent in last one or half decade. (Rowley and Purcell (2001) have analysed numerous types of occupational stress in the different type of organisations included in the hospitality sectors examined many of the occupational stress in many hospitality organizations for a Northern Ireland Skills Task Force (2002) and the outcome was that employees specially chefs are quite noticeable to experience more stress among other employees working in organisation. The consequences of stress were disturbed health and emotional imbalance (Buick1998 and Thomas 2001). (Simma Lieberman 2005) argued that individuals are in less stress that are in control of the stressful condition because these individuals have exact understanding about their job and issues related to it and are the behaviours of others do not affect them as per the report of the National Institute of Health.

Nevertheless, it is very difficult to handle the stress if employees have a little or no control over the stressful conditions. Different factors such as nature of work, mismanagement, bad supervision, or even the irrational expectations are affecting the performance of employees and exposing workers more to stress in the hospitality sector as compare to other sectors. (Barnett, Raudenbush, Brennan and Marschall, 1999) .Brymer.et.all,(1991) conducted an investigation on physical, behavioural and cognitive pressure encountered by workers in the hospitality industry. Vallen (1993) proposed a method to enhance the employees number in order to reduce the level of stress of senior workers. 2.1.4 Lack of control over demand Lazarus and Folkman (1984) described the most strong indicator of stress at work is the lacking the control over demand in the stress cognitive model. Though (Karasek and Theorells, 1990) argued that high demand for job and having less control on fulfilling those demands are the reasons contributing to stress under the model of demandcontrol-supportmode. But in the context of employees working in the chosen case study, it is observed that two things affect stress in an adverse way, such as the control perceived by employees at workplace and the support from co-workers, team mates and management. The deputy chief executive of the British Hospitality Association, Martin Couchman in the article of newspaper that in the hospitality sector most of the works are stressful but the position of chef is the most vulnerable to stress due to the prolong hours commitment as compare to other workers who have more flexibility. In this research the main focus is on the senior employees of Ramada hotel therefore chefs work will be monitored and the level of stress chef undergoes. 2.1.5 Religious issues making it stressful The other extraction of another article indicates the religion as a factor for a stress. For instance, in the article it was mentioned that Muslim employees have more stress when it is time to offer their religious duties while they cannot leave their duties on job. One ore is the religiously prohibited port for Muslims and beef for Hindus employees at hospitality sector is one of the factors that add stress to their working conditions. Hence, religious beliefs can urge the employees to develop emotional stress as the other factors are not creating a stress for employees like poor working conditions, lack of resources, or high employer expectations.

2.2 On the basis of various working styles of employees the division of the hospitality industry based on their varied working styles: The industry of hospitality can be sub-divided into cafes, pubs, restaurant, cafes, bars, clubs and hotels. According to the survey of Oxford business school (2010), the hospitality industry is of one of the industries that is expanding and growing at a rapid rate. There is cut-throat competition between players in order to meet the continuously growing demands of customers patrons and needs, as it is by nature the service providing industry. This leads to the extended working hours of employees associated with this industry. In such type of situation, the working atmosphere, salary package, performance appraisal and evaluation, and recognition create substantial efforts to reduce the stress-levels of workers. The situation of a hotel is similar one in which above mention factors can play a significant role in the reduction of stress level among employees. The large number of employees working in hotel varies in their nature and temperament therefore at times it is difficult for them to respond promptly to the stressful situation. At such situation, the combine efforts and teamwork become essential especially when a new worker joins the organisation, the senior employees should guide him or her properly along the line. Those employees who are overlooked by the seniours may make mistakes that wil hinder the progress of an organisation and may experience high level of stress due to the improper feedback and support from the management. This can affect the performance on employee in a negative way and create the stressful condition. Even the senior employees can also feel the heat if insufficient management happen and increase the physical or mental stress to higher level eventually leading to absenteeism and turnover of workers. The study of Marshall (1986) and Rose (1995, 1997) suggested that to reduce the stress-level of employees the increase in empowerment, control and autonomy towards assigned task, along with the inner motivation and participation is vital even if the employees demands are high one. (Boles and Balbin 1996) argued that flexibility in the working schedule and process along with the occasional weekend off will assist individuals to remain content and at same time the productivity can be increased as the satisfied workers are more productive one. Organisations are always seeking for the changes but employees working in the hotel sector are not very familiar with the sudden changes and changes in the daily work routine can contribute to stress. The stress highly depends on the perception of individuals. For instance, if the stress is undertaken in a constructive way than it proves to be energizer and a motivator

in attaining the set goals but on the other hand if stress is perceived in converse manner than it will contribute to create anxiety and depression in the workers. 2.2.1 Conversing notion Some employees intend to seek the opportunities of growth even if they are experiencing normal working conditions. Though, if the employees profile is short and subject to no scope for long term career development or fail to show the self development opportunities and improvement, it can frustrate employees and the stress will develop. Nevertheless, some organisations overlook this point when they have a motive to save their expenses so that financial gain is accomplished. 2.2.2 Causes of workplace stress: In book Science of occupational health it is stated that 40% of benefits of incapacity paid by the state in the United Kingdom is due to the prime reason of stress at workplace, it is approximately 5 billion out of the total 12 billion per annum budget factor (Cooper and Dewe, 2008, page 18). The results of research investigation also identified some of the causes of stress for employees. 2.2.3 Demand Demands of unrealistic nature at workplace arise due to various sources, including managers and co-workers. Immense workload is conceived by these demands that ultimately lead to further enhance the level of stress and affecting employees confidence in a negative manner. To ensure that the stress arising from such factors can be controlled and reduced too the better understanding of employees capacity should be understood by the managers and the workload should be divided accordingly to their capacities. 2.2.4 Support adequate support from superiors, managers and co-workers helps in mitigating stress. An adequate and appropriate support from the other individuals at workplace is very essential to reduce the stress especially in the busy time or peak hours. Managers should support the staff in times of urgency, for instance if employees are absent from work, the work should be handled in such a way that it may not affect the present employees in a negative way. The sharing of burden also reduces the stress of individuals.

Relationship The hospitality industries is major type of service industry and its employees have more interaction with the various type of people therefore the link between the workers with their co-workers, seniors, juniors and employers is of high significance. Sometime there are chances of anxiety, frustration, issues related to attitude and clashes of egos which affect the performance of individuals in a negative way. Role The job related stress can arise when worker do not have a sufficient information about his or her own job and can create stress due to the personal inability to meet the requirement of job. Change Stress can be resulted from the changes of unseen nature. For instance, changes in the technology, working hours, policies of organisation, rules and regulations and changes in the job pattern and style of management can also create a stress among employees. Career development To progress in career and reach excellence is aim of every employee. Every employee aims to excel at work and grow in their career. But if management fails to properly identify its employees potential than there is obvious low morals and high turnover of employees.

Work home interference The working performance of employee is affected by the personal life of employee as the home stress makes employee stressful and the behaviour at work is affected by working condition (Preventing stress in organisation, page 4) The reasons mentioned above are not only the only reasons but the hotel sector faced huge global changes and severe competition that has driven hotels towards minimization of cost vie strategies of cost cutting and simultaneously operating customer orientation programmes to improve the service quality (Bernhardt, Dresser, & Hatton, 2003; Korczynski, 2002; Peccei & Rosenthal, 2000). Terminating overtime, reduction in the tips and free wages has created huge difference in hospitality sector by creating more stress among workers in that industry

(Bernhardt et al., 2003: 7). According to (Wallace, 2003) identify that long working hours in the hotel sector, has created stress and high turnover of workers.

2.3 Models of stress Theoretical approach lay foundation for models and constantly tells about how researchers have felt according to his perception but it may not always be precise as situation of employees vary from person to person. There is a possibility of missing out on some important points or even personal prejudice. The notion here is not to prove the researchers are entirely wrong in their approach but there is a possibility of contradictory information to which some may oppose in view. The statement of Fineman (2000) is that researchers have ignored the emotions of employees while commencing their studies at work setting until recently. This to some extent narrows the gap between theories and the assumption made in the above paragraphs. Emotional behaviour of human is varying and fluctuating therefore it is unpredictable but most of the time it is being ignored by people linked with the professional line but it is linked with the hotel organisation on a strong base. Hotel organisation face the problem of emotional behaviour of workers and it is some time evident to be difficult one to handle. It affects the progress of the organisation as when employees have a feeling of content and happiness they are more relax and productive but if they are in the stressful condition then the working efficiency also decline and the progress of organisation is also reducing to some extent. Stress could cause the frustration and anxiety in the employees too. The information gathered from our surrounding can assist us to control the stress by making our own judgement which sometime work in our favour or even against us (Weiss and Cropanzano, 1996). It can be neglected that positive aspects at work were being failed in even the identification of these positive aspects (Barling and zachartos, 2002, p.715). the researchers further described that the proper understanding about the working it is time to find the positive aspects and feeling of employees too if the researchers want to explore their researches in more depth. Though, the researchers also need to understand the negative aspects through the experiences of employee so that the positive aspects are differentiated from the negative one (Fineman, 2006)

Fraken Haeuser (1986) and few other authors have identified the significant reasons to have a proper balance between the perceived demand about the work and the perceived resources to meet those demands conversely Karasek (1979) and Theorell (1990) have designed a model which is based on the linkage between the person perceived own resources to meet those demands. All most all hotels are keen to complete their routine tasks with less number of employees without compromising on the quality of services offered to a customer but in order to do so they need to assigned the workload according to the employees potential otherwise it will become overload and create a stress for employees. At particular times, small numbers of employees who have high motivation take workload without getting being affected in terms of productivity which required the inclusion of what is regarded as the third vital dimension generally known as social support (Johnson hall, 1988). Recent study is Effort reward- imbalance model of (Siegrist, 1996) CATS (Cognitive Activation theory of stress), is a theory which is experimented with both humans and animals for finding the outcomes and patterns of health and behaviour in positive and negative manners. These patterns are also beneficial in reducing the stress and search for the factors that was generating the frustration. Considering this model, the findings emerged that stress may even result from the underestimating and overestimating the real resources in relation to the actual demands. According to (Urban Skytt, 2002) overstimulation is when the employers demand is much higher than the required while the provision of resources to workers are quite low while under stimulation is when the scenario is opposite or in other words, the demand of employees is lower than the provision of resources to employees. Now we can say that stress can be reduced or increased by the help of factors like demand and available resources. Under stimulation have numerous other factors; some of them are discussed below: Low job is done by highly qualified worker (experience individual working in less required skill job) Hours of work are limited or unemployment (stress could even result when limited hour work is given to overseas student) Lack of proper planning and mismanagement in department can lead to the situation of stress for even senior staff members.

It looks inconsistent by means of logistics and rationality that if workers are without any demand of work are under the stressful condition but the empirical researches reveal that stress reduce and induce in the situation of overstimulation (Haeuser, 1971).

Demand control support model This model is alike the demand resource balance model (Theorell, 2008). Fast working and hard working is constituted of demand whereas the abilities, decisions, and attempt to accomplish something in a rapid manner are all included in physical demand. By combining the two unlike factors four different kinds of situation arises. More resources input and high intensity of demand in such categories individuals

like scientist, engineers, directors, chief executives are included. Less resources and intensity of demand is high- chef, sales person of supermarket, and

waiters are people lying in such category. More resources and low demand- some employees are in this category Demand and resources both are low- this is exceptional case but it does exist in some

settings. Over stimulation and under stimulation are situations developed through above mentioned conditions and often lead to disturbed health (Kivimaki et.al. 2006; Theorell, 2008). Effort reward imbalance is also known as ERI model designed by (Seigrist, 2008) that focus mainly on social reciprocity. The contract form of every worker is different from another and it is known by everyone in the firm. Every individual work in a firm to have a return in shape of following: Mode of payment (money) Recognition Future Carrier opportunity

High job security

To keep employee stress free at working environment these rewards work as motivators for organisation. Stress is a response of reward imbalance and emotions are negatively connected with these situations. These negativity can be reduced by the means of linking the proper social rewards and ERI model is remarkable successful in the prediction of rapidly changing environment and identifying stress (Siegrist, 2008). (Ursin and Eriksen 2004) have proposed a formal system of definition of concepts of stress on the basis of exceptions and failures. Workers who have the mindset that no matter whatever they do, the fate, chances, environmental situations and certain people have major role in their lives are more vulnerable to undergo stress and create depression and this term is known as low of control (Rotter 1969). Seyle (1956) suggested a three stage pattern in the response to workplace stress regarded as GENERAL ADAPTATION SYNDROME (GAS). In the preliminary stage the worker face minor level stress that arise from any person or work itself but recovered promptly. In the second stage if prompt recovery is not made then exhaustion is arising and in the final stage this exhaustion leads to burnout such as damage health etc. Another significant theory is Contemporary that described the realisation of emplee, their experience of facing a stress and responding to those stress according to their nature, personality and experiences. This will be beneficial in the differentiation of behaviour of human, their personality and experience at work place. 2.4 Conclusion: Above mentioned theories and models has helped us in understanding the various factors and situations that lead to create a stress for employees at workplace and how these stress has a negative impact on the performance of employee and organisation. This literature of management will be essential in the findings of this research report.

Chapter Three: Research Methodology

This chapter covers the sources from where information is gathered by the researcher along with the tools and techniques used in the process of data collection. The methods to find answers are in resemblance with the objectives of research.

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3.1 Research Philosophy: Research philosophy is vital for the researchers to base their research on, as numerous types of researchers choose different types of research philosophy depending on their research approach (Saunders et al., 2003). For this present investigation, research philosophy is

interpretive as our research approach is the combination of qualitative and quantitative approach but our prime approach is to find the qualitative aspect in the organisation therefore interpretive philosophy is most suitable one. In the business management this type of approach is more suitable as compare to quantitative approach so interpretive philosophy is ideal for research that requires qualitative aspects (Cepeda & Martin, 2006), Moreover, for a small size of sample set, more ideal is interpretive as it gives the researchers an opportunity to get closer to the respondents (Shaw, 1999). In addition to that, respondents are more in subjective manner answering the questions in this type of approach (Saunders, et al, 2007). The actions and intentions of the respondents are explored in subjective way through interpretive approach. 3.2 Research process: The study is carried out to explore the reasons creating stress for employees in the hotel sector and how these stressful situations are handled by hotels to ensure that the process run in swift and smooth manner. The process of research is divided into following steps: 3.3 Identification of problem: The problem is stress and the factors contributing to stress is not clear therefore in order to commence research, the proper identification of problem is vital. This study aim at finding the reasons that causes stress and how these stresses can be reduced. 3.4 Sample size: The sample size is small one as time constrain limited the number of interviews to only 6 out 30 people working at Ramada hotel. These individuals were chosen after considering their long experience in the organisation. The findings of these interviews will be limited to the current research as the sample side is small one. The 40 employees are taken as the targeted population for the survey questionnaire. These employees are selected through the sampling technique of convenience sampling as those employees who agreed to participate in the research were considered as respondents. 3.5 Pilot Study: To check the validity of the responses it is vital for the researchers to commence a pilot study. Through pilot study, the researcher ensure that the interview questions are understood properly and furthermore, the interviewees past experience and service tenure in the

organisation was taken in account in the pilot testing. Through this pilot study, this was ensured that respondents answer in correct sequence so that correct conclusion is made at the end of research. 3.6 Credibility: The demographic description of the respondents gave the researcher a significant idea about the credibility of responses. Since the sample size is small so semi structured interview designed is self administered by the researcher so that false information is not included in research. The educational background and the work experience were taken as check marks of credibility. 3.7 Research limitations To every research there are limitations and in present investigation there are limitations from which few are discussed in this part of chapter. One of the prime limitations was the small sample size that confines the outcome of research to only this study. There is only one particular hotel chosen as case study so it is not necessary that the same stress level will be in the other hotels employees. The qualitative approach used to gather data through interviews in current investigation but conclusion is based on the quantifying technique. The all employees of hotel were not being interviewed so it may be possible that certain departments are exerting more stress in particular department. The responses are based on the experiences of employees so it may be incorrect from the perspective of employer. The information gathered through numerous sources was very much more and it was difficult to deduce the data to remain specific to topic. 3.8 Research ethics: Ethical consideration is highly significant for the investigation so that study is considered to promote accuracy, facts and keep the errors away in the entire process of research. For instance, intentions are cleared that data is not being misrepresented, no false information is included. Ethical norms are maintained in research to promote social and moral values supported by public. In this investigation respondents were informed about the purpose of research and given assurance that the confidentiality will be maintained as the respondents will remain anonymous. While interviews and conduction survey questionnaire, it was cleared that the information, data, views and results will be only use for research purpose and without permission of respondents nothing will be included in research

3.9 Research design: The research designed is composed of the blend of qualitative approach and the quantitative approach respectively. The semi structured interviews carried out with the 6 people of the Ramada Hotel is basically the qualitative approach whereas the 20 employees selected for the questionnaire survey to provide a feedback about the issues related to stress will be quantified through the techniques of z-test. The questionnaire is close ended so that it is easy to remain stick to the topic and it qualitative approach. The sampling technique as mentioned before is the convenience sampling, the random sampling could have been used but sample size is small therefore convenience sampling is chosen. The credibility of responses was check through pilot testing and inclusion of self administered questionnaire.

3.10 Qualitative and Quantitative Research approach This approach is considered for this study as it serves the objective towards the provision of vital information about the topic. It is beneficial in clearing concepts about attitude and behaviours of employees and the policies and decision making standards of organisation. These mentioned variables could have been explored through various approaches but semi structured interview included in this study is only from 6 people therefore, this approach is most suitable one. The questions well be asked from respondents and the discussion will be made in depth. The qualitative approach is given an opportunity to observe the respondents more closely. The information is generated in detail through this approach about the employees experiencing stress in the hospitality sector. The two techniques included in this research are a) Delphi technique (Hugh P.Mc kenna and Felicity Hasson, 2000) b) Grounded theory (Glaser and Strauss, 2008) Alone qualitative approach is not enough as the quantification of data is also vital therefore quantitative approach is included through self administered close ended questionnaire. The survey questionnaire saved the time for the researcher and proved essential in the representation of the data in a statistical manner. 3.10.1 Sampling To generate data for the research purpose, sampling is essential requirement in the mixture approach (qualitative and quantitative approach). The main target was the employees working in the Ramada hotel therefore the sampling consist of employees from different department of the hotel. Brief interviews were arranged with the employees working at different levels in the organisation. The sampling includes experts also therefore in the secondary data the views of authors about the stress causing factors are included. 3.11 Data collection: Data collection for the present investigation is done through semi structured interviews and close ended questionnaire. The semi structured interview is beneficial for interviewers as they can ask questions in detail about certain situation (Sekaran, 2003) therefore we can say that it is two way communications. The new dimensions can be explored through the questions of interviews related to stressors affecting the work efficiency of employees. The questionnaire

is circulated to collect the feedback and views of respondents about the factors leading to stress. The outcomes gathered through questionnaire are essential for the purpose of representing data in the quantified way and react to the objectives set at the start of the research. 3.12 Data analysis: The all facts and findings that has been gathered through the interviews and questionnaire along with the primary research in shape of various scenarios added in the report is processed through the data sorting technique to reach to certain conclusion. Data analysis is process in which assembling of data shape up into purposeful and significant details (Jorgensen, 1989 pg 107).

Secondary data findings In last one year (mid 2009-mid 2010) the various types of incidents & self reported sickness caused due to work as presented below: Type of complaint Estimated incidence (thousands) central Musculoskeletal disorders mainly affecting the upper limbs or neck mainly affecting the back Breathing or lung problems Stress, depression or anxiety Other type of complaint Total 188 85 74 16 234 36 476 95% C.I. lower upper 165 212 70 99 59 88 9 23 210 259 27 46 459 493 Rate per 100 000 employed in last 12 central 630 280 250 54 780 120 1600 months 95% C.I. lower Upper 550 710 230 330 200 290 32 75 700 870 89 150 15040 1650

Source Health and safety executive summary /work related illness /stress On average the incidence related to stress are represented in the chart above that shows the comparison of stress leading to serious incidents in hotel sector and the other sectors are demonstrated as incident per 1000 workers. The labour force survey conducted in 2009 and 2010 has shown that stress problem has increased in the hotel secotr much more than it was in the 2000-2001 which means that hotel sector emploees have more health problems and stress in likfe.

Source Health and safety executive /stress related disorders / statistics / incidence data related to stress This reveals that there is a minor improvement in the situation of stress control in the hotels and restaurant sector.

Primary data findings This is to find the evidence of what is exactly causing the stress in the hospitality sector and therefore, interviews are conducted from different employees working at another hotel so that later on the cross checking of the findings are done to make sure that the real causes are find through interviews. Situation One: Being an employee on the hospitality sector researcher had an idea about few of the things therefore selected particular time to observe the stress of employees at work. Near mid day on the first week of November we visited the hotel and set for launch on table 13. After 45 minutes of observation slowly the flow of customers increased and waiters had to move on heal. A family sitting next to researchers table had asked twice to change the ordered meal and the frustration on the face of employee was very noticeable. After lunch the other employee who took our order was interviewed briefly about the situation that incurred at near table and the response what that employees do get frustrated if they are being asked again and again to re change their meal as the kitchen team take more stress. Situation Two: In the second visit to same hotel, a waiter who entertained us was asked question about stress and he answered that sometime it happen in the peak hours that too many orders get mixed and there is more pressure from the kitchen that orders are ready and take them while the new customers are entering so in pressure there are some common mistake of wrong orders being delivered to wrong table. A researcher asked that is it because of the pressure or the personal stress? The respondent said that obviously the stress of a personal life do make us commit a mistake.

Situation Three: This time the Ramada hotel was taken to find the stress situation and being a member of kitchen, it was easy for researcher to ask questions from the chef, the response of the interviewee is as following:

Most of the time stressful situation occurs when the proper working hour shift is not being explained in advance, if at the same day there is more rush and clients, it is overload. Sometime when kitchen members are not available then the unequal distribution of workload fall on few that really causes some serious health damage. If the ingredients or tools are missing at the peak our more frustration is caused. Sometime even too much interruption of different people in work really frustrates us and we had more stress in times of excessive workload. The more we look at watch, the more panic arise for us to complete the task quickly which add stress at work. Situation Four: The employee at the bar tender was interviewed who said that there is not much stress at work from work itself but the mismanagement creates frustration where the other shift person place things at wrong places and if couldnt be found at time of need. The job become stressful when things have to be served at quick pace and there are not much of workers to support. At times it is difficult to remain easy when tools are not working and the place is messy. The fast cleaning comes in place and that is very stressful at times if the tray and utensil keep adding and no one is there to clean them then we have to work on that part also which is frustrating and quite stressful. The questionnaire is designed with 15 questions related to stress so that behavioural and physical stress problems is measured to show the impact of stress on employees at work settings. The questionnaire was distributed among the employees working at different level having different type of stress and semi structured interviews from the selected employees revealed that stress I of various kind that rises from different situations and the previous empirical researches and models are not all together precise about the stress at workplace.

Findings, Analysis, Discussions and Critical Appraisal

4.1 Introduction: This part of the research study includes discussions on the interviews in context of the literature review and the questionnaire is analysed through critical appraisal of the literature review. The questionnaire is presented through pie-diagrams to show the percentages of the samples responses. These findings and analyses services grounds for answering the research problem and future recommendations. Through semi structured interview three distinct managers were interviewed and their responses are undertaken for the discussion about research problem. The original interview is attached as evidence in Appendix 3. The sample size of 40 employees are considered for this survey and questionnaire was circulated among them by the researcher himself 4.2: Interview Results: Q1- How do you identify stress at workplace? Manager 1: Concerns raised by employees and mistakes while working is frequent elements that are identified as stress at workplace. Manager 2: Busy shifts and changes in the work pattern in the employees usual routine. Manager 3: Decrease in the working efficiency of the workers. Discussions: The interview results shows that stress can be identified through various ways and in the context of literature review, Carol (2009) has argued that decline in the work efficiency of the employees are viewed by management as a result of stress, therefore we can say that stress does affect the working performance of employees. Cooper and Dewe (2008) suggest that more mistakes of employees is the indication that he or she is working under the stress. Q2- What are the main cause of stress of employees?

Manager 1: Not properly trained employees have more stress. Manager 2: Busy shits, attitude of guests and overworked at hotel are frequent causes of stress. The stressful environment is also causing employees to remain in stress. Manager 3: High turnover of staff, constantly training employees and still not able to give results make employees rely of other employees that eventually add stress. Discussions: The findings are similar to the previous research findings of Cooper and Marshall (1976) that suggest that particularly in the kitchen department inadequate training can create stress for employees, sometime the continuous and prolong shifts make it more difficult for the employees to control their stress. The findings of Cooper and Marshall (1976) suggest that the stress full environment also causes high stress which is also identified in our findings through participants. Q3- What is the reaction of employees under stress? Manager 1: Work quality reduces. Manager 2: Make more mistakes and fewer efforts towards task. Manager 3: sometime there is violent behaviour demonstrated by workers when they cannot bear the pressure and stress. Discussions: Referring back to literature review, Smith and Carol (2006) in their study identified that there could be an intense reaction from the workers and they may become aggressive at times under stress and may lead to violence etc. In the present investigation we have viewed that one of the main reaction under stress is to revolt and pick fights with the co workers. Furthermore the report of National Silk Task Force (1999) identified that there begins a compromise on the quality of services and products which is also viewed in this research as our participant suggested that work quality reduces. Q4- How Company manages to relief stress of employees? Manager 1: Through job charts the stress is reduced. Manager 2: Arranging rotas and providing friendlier environment to reduce stress.

Manger 3: By reviewing training program, company tries to reduce stress of its employees. Discussion: The feedback from the managers are alike the findings of Leith (2002) which suggest that provision of the friendly environment is essential and integral part of the companys policy so that employees are motivated to work and able to break the spell of stress. On the basis of past empirical research it can be concluded that bringing flexibility and creating friendly atmosphere enable the company to reduce stress at work. Q5- What is the strategy company use to reduce stress at workplace? Manager 1: Provide training program after reviewing overall work load. Manager 2: Changes in rotas and providing proper training. Manager 3: Incentives and inclusion of assistants to reduce the load of employees through combine efforts. Discussions: The empirical research of Leith (2002) strongly suggests that changes in the companys strategies and policies are essential as it helps the organisation to control and manage the stress of its workforce. Maslach (1993) on the other hand viewed incentives and appraisal programs as key strategies to reduce the stress in the organisations. It is clear by comparing the present results with the past researches that flexible strategies and incentives help organisation to cope up with stress. Q6- How do you motivate your employees to work in highly stressed environment? Manager 1: Staff would be nominated by the members of the other staff. These nominated people would be one who has impressed others with their high consistency. Manager 2: Polite and friendly environment helps the individuals along with the awarding policy. Manager 3: Incentives, constant praise when deserves and program of I AM AWARDS which boost the morale of employees in stressful environment to be more competitive and efficient one. Discussions:

In literature review we examined that Rowley and Purcell (2001) suggested that there should be a continuous appraisal in the organisation when there is high stress in the organisation because it will motivate the workforce to work more vigorously. Similarly we have identified in this study that incentives and rewards motivate employees in a positive manner to work in stressful environment. Q7- How do management ensure them self that the stress is reduced or over? Manager 1: Maintaining a good relationship with staff members and check back the staff is happy. Manager 2: Through feedback forms, for instance daily brief which ensure that stress is over. Manager 3: We make sure that stress is over by checking the quality of work; if there is a reduction it means the stress was a cause of problem and then monitoring the work properly. Discussions: Considering the past survey of Northern Ireland Skills Taskforce (2002) suggest that the proper evaluation is required by the organisation to monitor that what was causing stress and how is the performance of the individuals after finding solutions for it. Our participants also responded that there is need of check and balance to ensure that things are going as per plan of the management and therefore, there is daily brief for the feedback. Q8- Do you think that stress management workshops should be started to help employees? Manager 1: Do not think highly relevant but if this was presented to staff and they are interested in it than management would consider it. Manager 2: Yes, if it is helping the employees than sure Manager 3: If staff can reduce their stress by means of it, than yes it could be undertaken by the organisation. Discussions: Lieberman (2005) suggested that one way to reduce stress is to involve individuals in the workshops and our results are showing the sign from management

perspective that if such workshops can assist workers in reducing or controlling their stress than these workshops could be considered. Q9- Do you think that stress affect the business and personal performance of employees? Manager 1: Yes, if workers are overstressed than this come across to the guest and poor experience could be resulted by them. Manager 2: Sure, the performance will be affected as it would be demonstrated at workplace. Manager 3: It is very hard to keep two separate as sometime this would be reflected at workplace, unhappy employees will show it to their friends and family a concern and same worries will accompany him at work. Discussions: This is evident from the present research investigation that it is difficult to keep the personal life separate from your professional carrier for long. The stress of one will show its effects on the other one. The previous researches of Barnett, Raudenbush, Brennan and Marschall, (1999) also strongly argued that personal stressors affect the business functioning of the individuals and it is highly important to keep two separate from each other. Q10- How do you separate personal life stress of employee not to affect his work performance at organisation? Manager 1: By making sure that contracted hours are not gone over too much as otherwise staff would not have enough time to enjoy personal life. Manager 2: Keeping a strong eye on the contracted working hours Manager 3: Ensuring ourselves that overtime is not affecting the personal life of workers and making sure that he has a time for his family too. Discussions: Barnett, Raudenbush, Brennan and Marschall, (1999) research argues that there are many ways by which organisation can make sure how to keep the personal life not affect the business and one of those ways is management should look at working hours of the

employees that how much time he or she is spending at work and how much given to family. Therefore, we can say that our findings are matching to the work of earlier researchers. 4.3 Survey Questionnaire Analysis: 4.3.1 What is your current age group?

Analysis: Most of the employees working in the selected organisation lie in the age between 20 to 30 age criterions. It is similar to the findings of Northern Ireland Skills Taskforce (2009) that in survey revealed that majority of the workforce is young that works in hospitality sector. It could be one of the reasons that young workforce are more exposed to stress due to lack of proper training.

4.3.2

What is your current role in the organization?

Analysis Most of the respondents of our research are chef and waiters and what stress they are going through in routine work.

4.3.3

Employment status?

Analysis The third demographic description question was to find the employment status and the respondents are mostly part timers. But there are other status employment statuses that have participated in this survey.

4.3.4

Are you satisfied with the pay package?

Analysis The findings of our research is not similar to the findings of National Skill Task Force (1999) that suggested that stress is caused by pay scale but in our finding 57% employees are satisfied with their pay scale which means that stress is not always caused by pay scale.

4.3.5

Are the colleagues at workplace approachable and helpful?

Analysis Our findings show that 52% people find colleagues as a help and support in time of stress which is in sense is similar to what was identified by Cooper and Marshall (1976) that stress is caused by with the poor relationship between peers.

4.3.6

Is the communication with your bosses?

Analysis The findings of our research suggests that majority of the respondents view two way communication as vital and integral part of the organisation because two ways communication help in reducing stress as per findings of Worrall and Cooper (2007).

4.3.7

What is the main cause of stress?

Analysis The results show that time constrains is the most widely perceived reason to cause stress after the work load. The findings of the current research indicate that workload is causing the stress and previous researches of Cooper and Dewe (2008) suggested that immense workload causes more stress for employees. On the other hand time constrain is also the adding factor to stress as it was revealed by the research of John and Menzel (1999).

4.3.8

What is the reaction under stress?

Analysis Our findings suggest that most employees become frustrated and second most result is the depression in workforce under stressful situation, this is also being proposed by the work of Cooper and Marshall (1976), Smith and Carol (2006), John and Menzel (1999), Leith (2002), and Maslach (1993) though the research of Leith (2002) suggests that frustration and depression both are results of stress.

4.3.9

Is the work time constrained? Do u work overtime?

Analysis This question is linked with the earlier question as to explore that whether the time factor causes stress as employees might have to work overtime in order to complete task and 62% of employees have agreed that time is constrain therefore they work overtime. The findings of Cooper and Worrall (2007) argued that employees take more stress due to time constrain therefore they work for more hours than they are scheduled for.

4.3.10 Has your company offered anything to relief your stress?

Analysis The findings of the current investigation suggest that majority view that company is taking steps to ensure that stress is reduced and the survey of Lazarus and Folkmen (1984) also revealed that employees need a support from the management to overcome their stress.

4.3.11 To what extent u are given a feedback at work?

Analysis The results show that in the selected organisation management is trying to reduce stress by means of feedback that occurs at quarterly basis.

4.3.12 How often you have felt pressure at work?

Analysis Most of the respondents replied that stress is felt quite frequently at workplace and Cooper and Mashall (1976) along with the researches of Smith and Carol (2006), Lazarus and Folkmen (1984), John and Menzel (1999), Leith (2002), and Maslach (1993) suggested that stress is very frequently felt by the workforce in the organisation as the stress exists in the environment.

4.3.13 Help and support during heavy workload?

Analysis Though our findings show that 67% employees feel that there is support and help from the others but the research of Leith (2002) suggested that even though stress can automatically make employees feel that there is no support and help from the other people.

4.3.14 How often do you take breaks at work?

Analysis The present findings suggest that employees want to have twice a break in 9 hours shift so that they are more relax in their operations, the survey of Northern Ireland Skill Task Force (1999) also had similar findings that those employees have less stress who are provided two to three time break between their continuous work shifts.

4.3.15 Does your organization try any strategy when it comes to reducing stress?

Analysis 72% employees agreed that organisation uses a policy to ensure that stress is reduced and we noticed in the literature review that Smith and Carol (2006) strongly suggested that organisation must use more strategies to overcome stress problems of its workforce. Worrall and Cooper (2007) and Cooper and Dewe (2008) also recommended that organisations must have strategies to cope up with the stress problem of its workforce. 4.3.16 A brief answer by which we can improve our system? In reply of this question, respondents shared their view points but to sum up it can be said that checking system, incentives, appraisal, workshops and seminars related to stress management should be introduced and in the literature we have viewed that most of the researchers have suggested these things such as Cooper and Marshall (1976), Lazuras and Folkmen (1984) and Smith and Carol (2006).

Chapter Five: Conclusion

5.1 Introduction: The final chapter of this research study concludes the findings of the research and discus about the attainment of aim explained in the first chapter of the research and how three set objectives have been achieved to reach the conclusion of the research. All three objectives are elaborated in this chapter under separate headings. The evaluation of the research is to project the details about various things that have been tackled by the researcher while commencing research. It is in actual the reflection of the entire research process. This research investigation has its limitation which kept it from high generalizability and the findings are only limited to current investigation. The last part this chapter give future recommendations to the other researchers that could assist future researchers to carry out research in more depth. 5.2 Objective 1: Evaluate the key theories behind workplace stress There are various types of stresses that are prevailing in the environment as identified by Carol (2009) as the researcher suggested 44% of individuals life has become more complex due to stress in the environment as compare to stress percentage thirty years ago. Cooper and Marshall (1976) also identified as the theory suggests that stress exerts in the organisation due to productivity issues as in order to increase productivity, the workload increases which eventually increases the stress level of the individuals. On the other hand the work of Cooper and Dewe (2008, Occupational Stress, P. 225) that there has been different aspects that has developed in last two to three decades and these aspects serves as grounds for determining the workplace-stress. One of this workplace-stress is the increase in the competition in the era

of 80s. While in the duration of 90s and 2000s the trends became flexible one for the workforce but still the stress kept on increasing in the individuals. The five major types of factors that increases stress at workplace as identified by Cooper and Marshall (1976) are organisational role, career opportunities, poor relationship with peers and boss, organisational culture, and intrinsic stress of the individuals. The survey conducted by Worrall and Cooper (2007) shows that both psychological and physical stress are common in the hospitality industry. The work of Worrall et al., (2008) reveals that workplace stress do arise from long working hours, pay scales, violent behaviour, and aggressive behaviour at workplace. Furthermore, it has been evident that Smith and Carol (2006) firmly view the working hours as a stress at workplace because the theory suggest that more person take workload for long hours more he or she become vulnerable to stress. The theory of John and Menzel (1999) suggest that there are two types of stress at work; one is physical while the other one is psychological pressure. Both of the types result in affecting the working efficiency of the workers in negative manner. It is also identified by these researchers that aggressive behaviour of the individuals is linked with the psychological behaviour of the employees. In this regard, Leith (2002) work related stress due to aggressive behaviour can eventually lead to high turnover of employees. The theoretical framework of the Lazarus and Folkmen (1984) suggest that less of control over demand is one of the reasons to have high stress at workplace. The conceptual framework of Cooper and Dewe (2008) consider the unrealistic demand can create a stress for employees. The researcher has also viewed the role and relationship among the individuals as a vital role in increasing and decreasing stress at workplace. 5.3 Objective 2: To undertake the primary research of employees at Ramada Jarvis in order to analyse the effect of the stress on their resulting firm The findings attained through primary research investigation revealed that there is stress working in the organisation at different level in different departments. Employees go through stressful situation from time to time. The pay scale can create a stress for individuals according to the past research but in the present investigation 57% respondents are satisfied with the pay scale so in the selected

organisation pay scale is not the prime factor in causing stress. The study also shows that the findings of Cooper and Marshall (1976) that stress can be caused by the poor relationship between the management and the individuals is agreed by the participants of the interview section and furthermore, 52% of the respondents agreed that it is essential to have a help and assistance from the peers, colleagues, and boss. Our result findings show that stress is the component that is best tackled by means of developing correct strategy for it and one of the ways to ensure that stress is reduced is increasing the means of communication between workforce and the management. The findings revealed that two-way communication is beneficial in reducing stress which also matches to the suggestion of Worrall and Cooper (2007). Workload and time constrains are two vital stressors that create huge stress over the workforce was revealed in this primary research. The findings of the current investigation shows that combine together they form 50% which means most of the employees view that workload and time constrain bring stress. Workload was also identified by the past research of Cooper and Dewe (2008) and similarly our findings are alike John and Menzel (1999) that time constrains also have huge influence in the creation of stress at workplace. The majority of the respondents believe that frustration and depression are two common reactions of employees under stress. The primary research shows that most of the employees feel very frustrated about the workload stress and usually they feel immense depression in such situation which ultimately affects their working efficiency. The research also showed that majority of people believes that time constrains causes a problem for them in which they do take overtime and further stress comes their way. The interviews with the management revealed the strategies and steps to ensure that stress is reduced and proper check is maintained on the contracted hours system of individuals. The findings resembles to the previous empirical research of Worral and Cooper (2007). The prime investigation showed that daily brief is one the system in practice at the chosen organisation as it provide the feedback about the employees and at the same time it is ensured that that everything is going as per plan of the top management. The interviews also revealed that there are different ways through which stress is identified by the organisation and the major sign is the reduction in the work quality.

5.4 Objective 3: To conclude the effect of stress on the behaviour of employees at hotel In the present investigation the main focus of the research was to identify the relationship between the stress and the Ramada Jarvis hotel so that the impact of stress on the selected organisation can be elaborated in detail. The research findings gathered by means of primary research that is interviews with the management and feedback from the employees through survey questionnaire reveals that stress is most common factor prevailing in the micro and macro environment. It has its impact on the individuals in various ways such as the working efficiency reduces to certain level, the quality of work itself decline and the employees progress stop as they become static. But considering the other part of our aim to analyse the relationship between the stress and the selected organisation, it can be concluded that though stress is in the organisation but the management is taking every initiative to reduce that stress and help out its workforce to overcome those problems which are causing them stress. From the present investigation it can be concluded that stress is unavoidable but it is not impossible to cope up with. Changes in the rotas, reviewing and rotating job shifts through job charts, stress can be controlled to certain defined limits. Our research question was also that why it is essential for the organisations to develop a strategy for copping up with the stress of employees and on the basis of our findings it can be answered that employees are the key assets for the organisation. If they are not fully satisfied and relaxed at their job or task, they cannot be very productive in their routine tasks. In other words, the working efficiency reduces to certain level as stress take over the individuals which eventually leads to affect the work quality and organisation suffer great loss. If stress is not controlled well there are chances of high conflicts and disputes among the individuals as well disputes and disagreement with the management. These conflicts and disagreements are caused by the aggressive behaviour, depression, and frustration. There are chances of spoiling and damaging ones own health therefore, it is essential for every organisation to control the stress of its employees. Incentives and constant appraisal for the righteous work help the organisations in reducing the stress at workplace. 5.5 Evaluation:

With the time passage there has been a tremendous development in the tools, techniques and strategies to control the workforce and at the same time, it is become more visible for the organisations that employees are the key for success and therefore they need to keep their employees motivated and help them overcome their stress problems. Stress is one of the most frequent elements prevailing in almost every organisation and in macro as well micro environment therefore it is essential to develop strategies for responding to it. Stress cannot only affect the business operations but can also damage the personal health of the individuals. This shows that stress is common at workplace and it has a close link with the hospitality sector as the findings of Coral (2009) revealed that 44% stress has mounted more in the hospitality sector which is very high percentage to what it was in the same sector some 30 years ago. There were various types of issues linked with this present investigation that was encountered by the researcher. Being a mixture of the qualitative and quantitative research, it was difficult for interpretation of the qualitative answer into quantified manner. But at same time, stress is one of the issues that are more in focus these days and the present research is a step towards exploring new dimensions about stress at workplace. The study is vital for the academic purpose as it will be a step towards exploring the stress in workforce at hotel sector because the research mainly targeted the stress level in the hotel sector. Furthermore, the selected organisation will benefit from this research as it has revealed some of the areas which are weak and case study can work on it to ensure that employees remain stick with it. The study has also helped the researcher in expanding his knowledge about various types of stress and those factors which are causing stress at workplace. Moreover, the research offers the practical exposure towards carrying out research investigation in proper and adequate manner. 5.6 Limitation of study: This researchs scope is limited due to certain limitations; some of these limitations are discussed in this segment of the research investigation. Since only three managers were interviewed from the chosen case study therefore the results are subject to high generalizability. In other words, only 3 participants make our discussion section and semi structured interviews less generalized. Furthermore, the researcher wanted to interview the

entire workforce associated with Ramada Jarvis but due to some issues only forty employees were selected as sample size. This make our findings limited one as the results of this research cannot be generalized to entire group of Ramada hotels and hotels operating in the hospitality sector. The most essential factor for every research is to complete the investigation in the time frame and for this research time emerged as a limitation because due to time constrain research was not carried out in depth as the researcher would have liked. Furthermore, due to time schedules the idea of focus group interviews was dropped because it was not possible to make all participants agree on mutual time therefore one to one semi structured interviews were conducted. Even in one-to-one interviews time came as an obstacle to ask questions in depth. The research would have been much better if more time was available, especially in primary research execution. Since semi structured interviews were included in this research study therefore, the collected data was in shape of quality and it was a very difficult task to quantify the qualitative aspects and research findings. The huge amount of data was collected in the literature review as the approach was inductive one but not the whole data was included in this study, in fact only key aspects are highlighted now and then. These snapshots would have been better if it would have been explained in detail to have more dimensions of this research. Since the researcher was part of the chosen organisation, the interviews and questionnaire circulation was quite easy but at times researcher has to face the serious issue of delay as some of the individuals were giving the excuse of discussing things later in detail. Despite the fact the researcher was part of the organisation, the transportation was cost high as interviews were conducted on other days than job days. The financial resources were limited as most of the journals could not be viewed due to online payments etc. Data gathering and other expenses were high and researcher was funding for the research himself so due to lack of funding, most of the information that were available to buy were not considered by researcher. 5.7 Recommendations: There are recommendations for both the chosen organisation as well for the future researchers. Considering the case study, firstly recommendations are given to organisation while in the second part recommendations are given to the future researchers.

Ramada Jarvis should introduce a new program Employee of the Month in which employees should be given special rewards. This will help the organisation in reducing stress as well motivating employees to work more in order to maintain work quality. Ramada Jarvis have a good system of job charts but it need to introduce Job Rotation on the frequent basis in order to tackle the frustration of employees by changing their working climates. The organisation should consider the idea of Introduction of Volunteer in every department which will assist the employees who feel immense workload at job and they will feel unburden by this. Modification in the daily brief feedback by inclusion of Appraisal and recognition should be considered by Ramada Jarvis as this will motivate employees that they are being recognised by management for their positive attempts and operations. In the following part, there are recommendations for the future researchers. To have high generalizability of the research findings, future researchers should consider increasing the sample size of the participants in both interviews as well survey questionnaire. Due to large sample size, findings will be more easily generalized to other work settings in the hospitality sector. The researchers in future can also use the method of comparison between different hotels so that the stress related to work in hospitality sector is studied in depth. Though self administered questionnaire was circulated in this research but future researchers can also do one more step by opting for Monkey Survey internet based questionnaire circulation. This will help the researchers to do a fair comparison between the primary source findings with the internet sources. The technique of focus group interview should be considered by future researchers as there is more chance in focus group interviews to have strong discussion with the competent people and cross question the interviewees. There will be more chance for the researchers to explore the questions in more detailed manner.

In this study, we used close ended questionnaire for survey but future researchers should opt for open ended questionnaire so that true feelings of the respondents are demonstrated and gained by the researchers.

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Appendix 1:
Questionnaire for Interview from Manager of Ramada Hotel:

Part A: Demographic description: Age: 18-24 32-38 25-31 39-45 46 or above

Gender: Male Female

Experience: 01-03 years 07-09 years 04-06 years 10-12 years 13 or above

Part B: Interview questionnaire: Q1- How do you identify stress at workplace? Q2- What are the main cause of stress of employees? Q3- What is the reaction of employees under stress? Q4- How Company manages to relief stress of employees? Q5- What is the strategy company use to reduce stress at workplace? Q6- How do you motivate your employees to work in highly stressed environment? Q7- How do management ensure them self that the stress is reduced or over?

Q8- Do you think that stress management workshops should be started to help employees? Q9- Do you think that stress affects the business and personal performance of employees? Q10- How do you separate personal life stress of employee not to affect his work performance at organisation?

Appendix2:
Survey Questionnaire From employees: The questionnaire were as follows

What is your current age group? a. b. c. 20 30 30 40 40 and Above

What is your current role in the organization? a. b. c. d. Chef (designation ) Back of House Front office Waiter

Employment status a. b. c. Part time Full time Contract

No of employees in the organization with relevance to the work?

a. b. c.

12 2- 3 3 and More

Are you satisfied with the pay package? a. b. Yes No

c. Give a reason if possible

Are the colleagues at workplace approachable and helpful? a. b. c. Yes No Sometimes

Is the communication with your bosses? a. b. One way Two way

c. How does your boss communicate Meetings Group Discussions Appraisals

 What are the main cause of stress?management /work/ colleagues /bosses / time constrain (routine) conflict / environmental condition/work overload / ill equipped / a. b. c. d. e. f. g. h. i. j. Management Work Colleagues Bosses Time constrains (routine ) Conflicts Environmental conditions Work load Ill Equipped Others. Specify --------------------------------

What is the reaction under stress --a. b. c. d. Anger Depression Frustration Escape

Is the work time constrained? Do u work overtime? a. Yes if yes give reasons

b.

No if no give reasons

Has your company offered anything to relief your stress? a. b. Yes No

To what extent u are given a feedback at work? a. b. c. Monthly Quarterly Yearly

How often you have felt pressure at work? a. b. Frequently Rarely

Help and support during heavy workload? a. b. Yes No

c. If yes what kind of support

How often do you take breaks at work? a. Once in a 9 hour shift

b. c.

Twice in a 9 hour shift More

Does your organization try any strategy when it comes to reducing stress? a. b. Yes No

c. What particular strategy has been used

A brief answer by which we can improve our system ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------