ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

ABSTRACT

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1.5 HYPOTHESIS OF THE STUDY

1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

1.7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

1.8 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

1.9 DEFINITION OF TERMS

1.10 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

CHAPTER TWO

2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

2.2 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

2.3 EMPIRICAL FRAMEWORK

CHAPTER THREE

3.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN

3.2 POPULATION SIZE

3.3 SAMPLE SIZE

3.4 DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENT

3.5 METHOD OF DATA ANALYSIS

3.6 RELIABILITY OF THE STUDY

3.7 VALIDITY OF THE INSTRUMENT

3.8 RESEARCH INSTRUMENT

3.9 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

CHAPTER FOUR

4.0 DATA ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION OF RESULT

4.1 INTRODUCTION

4.2 PRESENTATION OF DATA

4.3 ANALYSIS OF RESPONSE

4.4 HYPOTHESIS TESTING

CHAPTER FIVE

5.0 SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 26

5.1 SUMMARY

5.2 CONCLUSION

5.3 RECOMMENDATION

QUESTIONNAIRE

REFERENCES

APPENDIX

ABSTRACT

The study investigated and evaluated job stress and its effect on employees performance at Unilever Nigeria Plc. The
study sought to find out how work related stress could affect the productivity of staff of Unilever Nigeria Plc. In
addition, it identified certain factors which contribute to job stress among Unilever Nigeria Plc. The systematic
sampling technique was used to select 80 participants for the study. The result of this study revealed that work load
was the major cause of job stress on employee performance in Unilever Nigeria Plc. It was further observed that
respondent in order to relieve stress often walk around and visit other colleagues in their office to discuss matters
irrelevant to work thereby affecting productivity at the Unilever Nigeria Plc.

Health-wise, some members of staff of Unilever Nigeria Plc had developed chronic back pain, an effect of long sitting
hours and standing hours at work. Management commitment to staff issues such as paying attention to work load
conflicts, supervisors recognition of outstanding output of staff and the introduction of proper stress management
training programmes were perceived as significant steps which if embraced were identified as major contributory
factors that could contribute to improve productivity of staff and boost output of staff.

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

In today’s world, stress has become a worldwide phenomenon, which occurs in various forms in every workplace. In
today’s work life, employees are generally working for longer hours, as the rising levels of responsibilities require
them to exert themselves even more strenuously to meet rising expectations about work performance. Omolara
(2008) described occupational stress as the adverse psychological and physical reactions that occur in an individual
as a result of their being unable to cope with the demands being made on them.

According to Topper (2007) Vermut and Stensma (2005), Ornels and Kleiner (2003) Verca (1999) in addition, job
stressed is caused by lack of resources and equipment, work schedules such as working late or overtime and
organizational climate are considered as contributors to staff stress.

Stress can therefore be described as the adverse psychological and physical reactions that occur in an individual as
a result of his or her inability to cope with the demands being made on him or her (Moorhead and Griffen, 1998).

Michac (1997) specified causes of stress as follows: poor time management, unclear job descriptions, feelings of
inadequacy and insecurity, inability to get things done, lack of communication, bad personal relationships, quality and
complexity of tasks. In the same breadth, Dean (2002) viewed stress-related illnesses as the leading cause for low
productivity levels in the workplace. Therefore, this is to find out the effect of job stress on staff performance and
management and staff to manage stress effectively at Unilever Nigeria Plc. To acquire a clearer understanding of
variable of job stress.

1.2 PROBLEM OF THE STUDY

The current turbulent environment in which some worker conduct their work require that organization examine their
practices working in the Unilever Nigeria Plc is an inherently stressful profession with long working hours, heavy
workloads, difficult customer and conflicting demand. The effects of stress are evidenced as increase errors in
lateness to work, low productivity and increased sick leaves. Despite the extremely negative effect of job stress on
human body and work performance.

It is in this view that this study is being conducted to identify the effect of stress has on the productivity of staffs of
Unilever Nigeria Plc. Furthermore, there has not been a conscious establishment of a linkage between job stress and
its negative effect on productivity.

1.3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The purpose of the study are to:

  Ascertain the causes of stress in an organization
 Find out whether stress has any effect on the productivity of staffs in an organization.
 Find out how Staffs in any organization handle stress.
 To examine the effect of job stress on staff productivity in the work place
 Support of those people who are suffering from stress.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The following questions guided the study

 What are the effects of stress of employee in an organization?

 What are the effect of stress on the productivity of the staffs in an organization?
 How do staffs in an organization handle stress?
 What stress management strategies have been employed by organization to help staff to manage stress?

1.5 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

Research hypothesis are in two forms:

H0: There is no significant relationship between job stresses and job productivity.

H1: There is a significant relationship between job stresses and job productivity.

H0: Organization do not adopt any stress management strategies to help staff manage stress.

H1: Organization adopt stress management strategies to help staff manage stress

1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The study focused on Unilever Nigeria Plc. as one of the major ports of entry in Nigeria so as to get an in depth and
comprehensive understanding of what is happening at Unilever Nigeria Plc and makes the research meaningful.

Drawbacks are an inevitable part of almost every venture individuals carry out and overcoming them prepares or
fortifies one for other tasks ahead. Even though these challenges to some extent hampered the progress of the study,
they also helped in putting researchers on their toes to work tirelessly around the clock in making the success of this
study a reality.

1.7 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The purpose of the study was to find out the effects of stress on staff productivity. The researcher ensures the
effective management of stress for their employees. The study will also add to existing store of knowledge. It will also
provide suggestions on how to reduce the effects of stress on output. Again, it will be a source for further research
and of relevance to stakeholders.

1.8 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

This study was necessarily limited in scope due to series of resource limitations as well as practical research
limitations and notable ones were: Time constraint, in the sense that time allocated for conducting this study was very
short to allow for adequate data collection and this short time had to be divided between the main academic work
which included preparation for face to face and examinations.
  The reluctance of respondents to answer the questionnaire during the data collection process which was
critical in providing the needed inputs for the research work. This has been the problem in Unilever, where
information flow could be tainted with excessive bureaucracy and suspicion and sometimes fears of
victimization by superior officers. Some respondents did not cooperate with the researcher during the data
collection period.
 Financial constraint was also a problem the researcher faced in undertaking the study. This is because the
case study area was in Western Region while the researcher was in Eastern Region.

1.9 DEFINITION OF TERMS

Definition of term will expatiate more on the following term:

 JOB STRESS: come in different forms and affects your mind and body in different ways, small things can
make you feel stressed. Such as a copy machine that never seems to work when you need it or phone that
wont quit ringing. Major stress comes from having too much or not enough work or doing work that doesn’t
satisfy you.
 JOB STRESS: it can be defined as any adductive demand on an individual caused by physical, emotional or
mental factors that requires coping behavior.
 JOB STRESS: it can be defined as the harmful physical and emotional responses that occur when the
requirement of the job do not match the capabilities, resources or needs of the worker. Stress also occurs
when the situation has high demands on the worker. Job stress can lead to poor health and injury.
 PRODUCTIVITY: this is another method that seeks to pay workers or compensate workers according to
their productivity level. Productivity gains are vital to the economy because they allow us to accomplish more
with less. Productivity is measured and tracked by many economists as a due for predicting future levels of
GDP growth. Productivity can be influenced by either increasing the value or decreasing the time and cost
that goes into creating the value.
 EFFECTIVENESS: this is doing the right thing or the ability of an organization to service or what are goals
achieved.
 PRODUCTIVITY: it measures how much each employee makes over a period of time. It is calculated by
dividing total output by the number of workers.
 PLANNING: it is the pre determine objectives or goals destination. It is a mental process of setting
objectives and determining the methods and requirement by which the objectives are achieved.
 EFFICIENCY AND PRODUCTIVITY: efficiency is about making the best use of resources.
 DECISION MAKING: This is the action or process of making important decisions. It is a process of selecting
a logical choice from the available options.
 PROCESS: It is a series of steps and decisions involved in the way work is completed