AN INVESTIGATION OF PREFERRED STRESS MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY THE ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF OF TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS IN FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITORY, ABUJA (A CASE STUDY OF BAZE UNIVERSITY).
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Stress is one of the most fundamental issues confronting humanity. According to Nweze (2005), for the past two and a half decades, the stress phenomenon has been a hot topic in management development, seminars, and workshops in Nigeria. He went on to say that the popularity of stress stems from a variety of obvious reasons. To begin with, no one is immune to stress. We may become involved in a situation that causes or induces stress in the individual. As a result, stress affects everyone, young and old, rich and poor, professionals and laymen alike. Second, because stress is viewed as a disease of growth and development, there is a modern-day search for the stress virtue. According to Nweze (2005), our traditional
The mechanisms for dealing with life’s stresses and strains are rapidly deteriorating. Rapid urbanization, increasing corporate regimentation of work life, breakdown of social supports, increased personal and group conflicts, and security threats to life and property are all contributing factors.
Stress has become an unavoidable part of life in human societies. The frustrations, disappointments, and pressures of everyday life are the source of stress. There are numerous ways to conceptualize stress. Sisk (1977) defined stress as a state of strain, tension, or pressure that results from the interaction of the individual and the environment. A strain is a high demand placed on something; tension is a mental or emotional strain that prevents natural relaxed behavior.
Pressure is a strong demand on someone’s time, attention, or energy. Beehr and Newman (1978) defined occupational stress as a condition in which job-related factors interact with workers, changing their psychological and physiological conditions to the point where the person’s mind and body are forced to deviate from normal functioning.
The similarity in the preceding definitions demonstrates that stress must occur as a result of an interaction between the environment and the individual. The interaction occurs when man attempts to deal with the problems caused by his environment. It could be his workplace or marriage that prevents him from relaxing his nervous system. Oboegbulem (1995) defined stress as a feeling that occurs when an event occurs. An individual’s working or living conditions or circumstances place demands on him that are physically or emotionally beyond his ability to handle. When a person is confronted with distressing situations, he usually exhibits a change in his normal behavior. Such a person may experience emotional, cognitive, and physiological disruption or malfunctioning, which can disorganize and impair his reasoning abilities. Stress, according to Halgin and Whitbourne (2003), is an unpleasant emotional reaction that a person has when he or she perceives an event to be threatening. They stated that this emotional reaction may include increased physiological arousal as a result of increased sympathetic nervous system reactivity. The event itself, also known as a stressful life event, is the stressor. Within the context of this project Stress is a bodily condition or situation that causes anxiety, depression, anger, hostility, inadequacy, and low frustration tolerance (Wai, 2003). According to Hobfoll (1988), anxiety is a state of feeling nervous or worried; depression is a state of feeling very sad and without hope; anger is a strong feeling you have when something has happened that you think is bad and unfair; hostility is an unfriendly or aggressive feeling or behavior; inadequacy is a state of not being able to deal with a situation; and frustration is a state that arises when something is preventing somebody from succeeding. Every health issue that does not have a permanent cure, such as stress, can be managed. Management can be defined in a variety of ways. In the opinion of According to Esiekpe (2003), management simply refers to the ability to deal with something or to be in complete control of a situation. According to Cohen and Lazarus (1979), stress management is a problem-solving effort made by an individual when confronted with demands that are highly relevant to his welfare but tax his adaptive resources. Adaptive resources are coping strategies that people use to become accustomed to stress. According to Okafor and Okafor (1998), stress management entails erecting roadblocks to prevent the progression to the illness or disease level. They came to the conclusion that if we could eliminate or prevent all potentially distressing life situations, the path to illness or disease would never begin. Greenberg and Dintiman (1992), on the other hand, believe that eliminating or It is not only impossible, but also undesirable, to avoid all potentially distressing life situations, because life would be extremely boring if there were no changes that required adaptation or adjustment. Cooper (1986) defines stress management strategies as actions taken to cope with difficult times in order to re-establish and maintain psychological and physiological equilibrium. The truth is that no single technique or strategy for stress management would be considered successful for all individuals in all situations. In this work, stress management is defined as the process of managing demands that are deemed to be tasking or exceeding the person’s resource (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). They also stated that stress management techniques are known as the We use methods to deal with stressful or upsetting situations. They classified these methods as either effective or ineffective. Ineffective strategies include overeating, drug abuse, and aggression, which may temporarily make us feel better, whereas effective strategies include thought substitution and relaxation. Other management strategies identified by Akubue (2000) include exercise, discussion, relaxation, meditation, and vacation. Individuals use coping strategies and resources to help them adapt to environmental demands as part of stress management. These strategies are critical in determining the nature and scope of the stress impact. Coping is defined as the process of managing external or internal demands that are deemed to be taxing or exceeding the person’s resources. Almost everyone has evaluated two types of strategies.
all coping strategies developed over the last few decades (Parker & Endler, 1996).
There are two types of coping strategies: problem-focused and emotion-focused. In problem-focused coping, the individual reduces stress by acting to change whatever is stressful about the situation. The individual may make alternate plans or discover a new and better way to deal with the situation. In contrast, in emotion-focused coping, no changes are made to the situation. One emotion-focused coping method people use to make themselves feel better under stressful conditions is to think positively. Another emotion-focused strategy is avoidance, which, according to Halgin and Whitbourne (2003), is similar to the defense mechanism of denial, in which the individual refuses to acknowledge the existence of a problem or difficulty. In the context of this research,
The terms “coping strategies” and “stress management strategies” are used interchangeably. In this work, stress management strategies are defined as any method we use to deal with stressful or upsetting situations.
Previous research has found that some variables can influence stress management strategies. Age and gender are two factors that may influence stress management strategies. Segal, Hook, and Crolidge (2001) compared the coping strategies of community-dwelling older adults to those of college undergraduates and discovered that younger adults scored higher on dysfunctional coping strategies such as focusing on venting emotions, mentally disengaging, and using alcohol and drugs. In contrast, older adults were more likely to use impulse control and turn to religion as coping strategies.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
One of the difficult administrative issues that continues to jeopardize the achievement of tertiary institution administrative staff objectives is stress. Stress has become a major topic of study in health and psychology, as well as management, development, seminars, and workshops in Nigeria and around the world. It’s becoming a popular front-page story.
Ofoegbu and Nwadiani (2006) discovered that stressful working conditions are common in Nigerian tertiary institutions. Those things, according to them, are life-threatening, damaging, and difficult conditions that are distressing to people’s existence and well-being, and administrative personnel are among them.
This is especially important because it is the leading cause of illness, and it can be reduced by implementing methods that aid in stress relief among tertiary institution administrative personnel. People
Attempt to manage their stress in a variety of ways that differ from person to person and situation to situation.
As a result, the purpose of this research is to look into the stress management techniques used by Baze University’s administrative staff.
1.3 THE STUDY’S OBJECTIVE
The primary goal of this research is to look into the stress management techniques used by Baze University’s administrative staff. As a result, the following goals;
1. To investigate the types of stress experienced by Baze University’s administrative staff.
2. To investigate the extent to which stress affects Baze University’s administrative staff.
3. To investigate the preferred stress management strategies used by Baze University’s administrative task.
1.4 QUESTIONS FOR RESEARCH
This research is guided by the following questions:
1. What kind of stress?
is encountered by Baze University’s administrative staff?
2. To what extent does stress affect Baze University’s administrative staff?
3. What are the preferred stress management strategies used by Baze University’s administrative task?
1.5 THE STUDY’S IMPORTANCE
This study will be significant because it will provide information on the manner of stress experienced by administrative staff in the execution of their duties at Baze University, which may be similar to the stress experienced by administrative staff at other tertiary institutions in Abuja and throughout Nigeria. The study will also generate data on the various preferred stress management strategies used by Baze University’s administrative staff, which may be used by other administrative staff.
of other universities.
1.6 STUDY OBJECTIVES
This study will only look at tertiary institutions in Abuja, with a particular emphasis on Baze University. It will investigate the types of stress experienced by Baze University’s administrative staff, as well as the extent to which the stress affects their day-to-day tasks and the various stress management strategies used by the administrative staff.
1.7 THE STUDY’S LIMITATIONS
The researcher encountered financial constraints during the course of this study, limiting the researcher’s access to critical information.
1.8 TERM DEFINITION
1. STRESS: A state of mental or emotional strain or tension caused by adverse or demanding circumstances.
2. STRESS MANAGEMENT: A broad range of techniques and psychotherapies aimed at reducing stress. person’s level of stress, especially chronic stress, usually for the purpose of and for the motive of improving everyday functioning.
Leave a Comment