The Impact of Occupational Stress on Job Satisfaction : A Study of Women Employed in Dissimilar Sectors

Abstract

The scenario of ever rising number of urban married women entering formal workforce; increasing amount of work stress both at home and workplace and its impact onfamily and home environment has been reported as the major source of stress. Ever since women have started entering into the workforce, balancing work "andfamily roles has become a key personal andfamily issue for them. A healthy job is likely to be one where the pressures on employees are appropriate in relation to their abilities and resources, to the amount of control they have over their work, and to the support they receive from people. Occupational stress is a major hazard for many workers. Increased workloads, downsizing, overtime, hostile work-environments, and shift-work are just a few of the many causes of stressful working conditions. The feeling of dissatisfaction with one's job occurs when the person experiences a mismatch between their expectations andjob performance outcomes. Thus, in continuation to the problem, the objective of the present research is TO examine the effect of Occupational Stress on Job Satisfaction for women concomitant with different sectors. A total sample of 60 women employed in dissimilar sectors was selected using purposive sampling technique. Occupational Stress Index (051) (Srivastava & Singh, 1981) and Job Satisfaction Inventory (Pestonjee, 1978) was administered on the subjects. The collected data was statistically analyzed using 2x2 ANOVA. The findings showed that for OSI, significant differences was observed among the women working in academic sector for the dimensions of powerlessness, unprofitability, low-status. role overload, responsibility for persons. For women working in corporate sector, significant differences were observed in role overload, strenuous work condition, poor peer-relations, role conflict, role ambiguity and responsibility for others. Among the four dimensions calculated for job satisfaction, significant differences were observed between job, management, social relations and personal adjustments.