In this era of crisis and stern economic competition, managers, entrepreneurs and employees have to cope with new challenges every day, in such scenarios the environment of the organization gets extremely stressful. This stress related to workplaces is becoming a bigger concern everyday as it has implications on the economic aspects of the organizations as well. It is obvious that a little bit of stress is a part of human life but stress beyond a certain limit is severely damaging to the health of human beings. In this research work we are looking for the sources of stress, and how to deal with them. For this purpose, we have chosen the Bank Muscat; we will look for the sources, causes, and effects of stress and how to mitigate them in this report. It is a well-known fact that stress can suppress the capability and capacity of employees to work more efficiently. The stress at the workplace is common, and it can impact on the performance of employees in so many ways. So, to find out more about the issue of stress, how it affects the employees working in Bank Muscat, and what kind of stress issues they face on a regular basis. The other important thing in this regard is to find out the reasons behind those stress-related issues so that solutions can be found accordingly. So, this research will try to found out about stress-related issues, their reasons, and how stress management can prove effective to deal with those stress-related issues. The research will take a quantitative approach by collecting data from employees of the banks, and then data will be analyzed accordingly to come up with viable results, which will help Bank Muscat to understand how stress management can be effective in dealing stress of employees at the workplace.

2. Company Profile of Effectiveness of Stress Management Practices at Bank Muscat)

Bank Muscat is in the Sultanate of Oman, it is a financial service provider. Its services encompass the areas of retail banking, corporate banking, investment banking, treasury, private banking and asset management. It has the largest network of banks in Oman with around 150 branches across the country. It has branches in Riyadh, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia for international operations and the representative offices are in UAE, Dubai and Singapore.

3. Rationale of Effectiveness of Stress Management Practices at Bank Muscat)

The stress related to work is a common problem in the workplaces and it is growing day-by-day. It not only negatively impacts the well-being of employees, but also their health and work-ethic. When a person gets stressed, he can no longer use his capabilities to carry on the day to day activities related to the work place. There can be many sources of this stress, but the main reasons seem to be the demands of the jobs that are way too much, the culture of the organization, and lack of any support or motivation at the workplace, etc. our motive is to try and find out ways to mitigate these factors and ensure such environment in the organizations that will allow people to work in the best possible way for their organizations. It is vital to understand that stress is the real cause of trouble in this case, and this problem can lead to various other problems. It means that organizations should understand the importance of stress as it can reduce the level of productivity and performance of their employees. Bank Muscat will also get to know with this research, how stress is making a negative effect on its employees, and what the effectiveness of stress management practices is to deal with the issue of stress, sustained by employees on a daily basis. This study that is conducted in the Bank Muscat will help the bank to manage the work place stress of the employees and provide them a supportive environment to show their abilities and strengths. It is vital to mention here that research will not only help Bank Muscat, but it will also help other banks and organizations to understand how stress can be a negative element to decrease the effectiveness and performance of employees, and how stress management practices can be an effective tool to deal with the issue.

4. Research Questions of Effectiveness of Stress Management Practices at Bank Muscat)

Following are some of the important research questions, and an effort will be made to find answers for these research questions:

· How stress affects employees in terms of their performance and productivity?

· What impact is created by stress on overall performance and outlook of the bank?

· How Stress Management Practices can be implemented to effectively deal with stress related issue at the workplace?

· What the bank can achieve by decreasing stress after implementation of stress management practices?

5. Aim of this Research of Effectiveness of Stress Management Practices at Bank Muscat)

The aim of this research is to find out those policies and regulations to be implemented at the work place that will help in the management of stress.

6. Research Objectives of Effectiveness of Stress Management Practices at Bank Muscat)

· To examine the physiological responses of the human body to different types of stresses.

· To evaluate how to teach employees to handle stress

· To examine the autonomic responses to the workplace stressors

· To Suggest some of the best practices to manage stress at the workplace

II. Literature Review of Effectiveness of Stress Management Practices at Bank Muscat)

A. Conceptual Review of Effectiveness of Stress Management Practices at Bank Muscat)

What constitutes stress?

Stress can be defined as the reaction of the human body to anything for which time is required for adjustment and response. The reaction to those changes by the human body comes in different forms like, physical, mental and emotional. It is actually a part and parcel in human life. Stress can come from the environment, or a person’s own thoughts or even from the body. It doesn’t only come from stressful situations but can also come from delightful situations like a promotion, or a mortgage, or the birth of a child etc.

Stress at workplace of Effectiveness of Stress Management Practices at Bank Muscat)

In this modern world, almost every aspect of the human life constitutes stress in one way or the other. Similarly, the workplaces have also become stressful, this stress is harmful for not only the employee but for the organization as well. There is no doubt in the fact that it is a part of life and one should learn to tackle it but stress beyond a certain limit can be seriously damaging to human health and can lead to many physiological issues. The stress related to work arise due to the excessive demands of the work, when under pressure a person feels irritated and agitated, and in this situation any mindful and sensitive work cannot be expected of him (Ganster and Rosen, 2013)

What are the different types of stress at the workplace?

Stress is damaging to health but stress at work is a hard thing to avoid because challenges keep coming your way and you have no other way but to deal with them. At the Bank Muscat we asked employees about the different types of stress they face and surprisingly there are a lot of different types and they have different causes as well (Varvogli, 2011)

Burnout of Effectiveness of Stress Management Practices at Bank Muscat)

It is the kind of stress that arises when an employee is pushed by the employer to work harder, it makes an employee feel, physically and emotionally exhausted. Other sources of burnout include excessive criticism, from the manager about the performance thus makes an employee feel that his performance is not up to the par. Lack of appreciation and motivation also is a kind of stress because the employee is expected to perform well but is not given the motivation to do so (Varvogli, 2011)

Acute Stress of Effectiveness of Stress Management Practices at Bank Muscat)

This type of stress occurs from time to time. The employees of the bank told us that they feel stressed out and uncomfortable in changing environments, because sometimes they have to travel abroad for meetings and office work and that is often uncomfortable and upsetting. However not all of the employees felt that kind of stress but mostly the junior level employees complained about it (Ganster and Rosen, 2013)

Fear-based Stress of Effectiveness of Stress Management Practices at Bank Muscat)

Another type of stress that we came to know during our researches was a fear-based stress. This fear can arise from many sources. It was seen in situations like when a boss gives a warning to fire the employee if they didn’t perform well, or the fear of getting bullied by seniors (Vasconcelos, Vasconcelos and Crubellate, 2008)

Overwork of Effectiveness of Stress Management Practices at Bank Muscat)

Out of all the types of stresses this was the only kind of stress that could be self-imposed. This may arise out of an employee’s own desire to outperform everyone and to excel in his field. It could arise from a situation in which an employee do not work on time and the work gets piled up every day and in the end the employee has to complete it in a day or two and that is when an employee gets over worked due to his own faults.

New job stress of Effectiveness of Stress Management Practices at Bank Muscat)

This is a very common type of stress, from the employees of the bank we got to know that, almost every one of them has gone through this type of stress and it is almost inevitable. It is a human nature that he feels uncomfortable in new places. This type of stress gets mitigated with time (Bhui et al., 2016)

Work-place Conflict Stress of Effectiveness of Stress Management Practices at Bank Muscat)

The common type of work place conflicts arise from bullying and gossiping. In the bank we encountered that there were many conflicts on the lower level and that was the cause of stress among the employees (Barlow, 2007)

Time Stress of Effectiveness of Stress Management Practices at Bank Muscat)

Time is a stressor that is almost everywhere not only at the work place. Each one of us gets equal amount of time and we have to use it wisely. There is a famous quotation (the bad news is that time flies and the good news is that you are the pilot) (Nicole J, 2019)

Above were the different types of stresses that we encountered in the Bank Muscat.

Main work-related Stressors of Effectiveness of Stress Management Practices at Bank Muscat)

So, the main stress factor that we gathered in research at the Bank Muscat includes;

Ø The culture of the organization

Ø The management practices

Ø Over enthusiastic demands of the job

Ø Physical work environment

Ø Bullying at work place

Ø Lack of motivation or support

Ø Role conflict

B. Research Review of Effectiveness of Stress Management Practices at Bank Muscat)

Is there anything like stress management?

As there are many kinds of stresses at the work place we need to figure out ways to deal with it. The stress of any kind does not only affect our mood or mental states but our health as well. So, there must be a way to manage it, otherwise it will lead us to many problems. So, Stress Management is a way by which a person can learn to manage stress, and the ways to deal with it. It includes making changes to a person’s daily life, if a person is constantly in a stressful situation preventing the things that are actually causing that stress can help in managing it (Bunce, 1997)

However, it is also important to note that not all kinds of stresses are bad, sometimes stress makes us to give our best possible effort ad that leads us to success. But most often stress only cause mental strain.

Stress Management Techniques of Effectiveness of Stress Management Practices at Bank Muscat)

After learning the sources and causes of the stress at workplace we did a careful analysis and found out ways to tackle with stress at the workplace. These strategies if employees apply at the workplace in Bank Muscat will make the work environment delightful for the employees and they would be able to use their abilities efficiently at the work place (Alborzkouh et al., 2015)

§ Tracking the Stressors of Effectiveness of Stress Management Practices at Bank Muscat)

The first step in managing stress is to keep a track of what causes it. The cause of stress would be different for every individual and so the individual needs to keep a record of what has stressed him for some time.

§ Develop a healthy response to that stress

The next step after tracking the stress includes, generating a healthy response to it. One should not try to tackle the stress by drinking or consuming a lot of fast food to make oneself, feel good about it. These things might solve the problem for the time being but in the long run they will ruin you further. Try to tackle stress by yoga or by engaging yourself in healthy activities or by trying to calm down in the stressful situation and then thinking a way out of it with a calm mind (Varvogli, 2011)

§ Establishing Boundaries of Effectiveness of Stress Management Practices at Bank Muscat)

In today’s world a person can be in contact with all of his friends and family all the time no matter where they are in this world, but this constant contact is a cause of stress too. By keeping in touch with everyone, one has exposed himself too much to everything that now it is difficult to get yourself out of it. In case of workplace, they will always be checking on mails and messages from the boss or colleagues, and that creates stress, one need to take rest from all of this to stay sane (Chiesa, 2009)

§ Take time to recharge of Effectiveness of Stress Management Practices at Bank Muscat)

To keep oneself from burning out and chronic stress, the best thing to do would be to take some time out to replenish your energy. In workplace this can be done by management arranging healthy activities like a match or a charity work or an office trip, anything that would be other than office work. It would make a good change to the mental as well as physical health of employees (Sharma and Rush, 2014)

§ Consult with the supervisor of Effectiveness of Stress Management Practices at Bank Muscat)

The healthier an employee is the efficient he would be at workplace. So, if the employer creates an environment that would promote a cooperative and motivating workplace that would benefit him in the end. In a comfortable and supportive environment an employee would feel easy and then he would work with the best of his skills.

III. Research Methodology of Effectiveness of Stress Management Practices at Bank Muscat)

In the research work on the topic of “stress management” in the work place we have used a descriptive approach in most of the parts but in some parts an explanatory approach is also used and the data used in it was qualitative.

A. Data Design of Effectiveness of Stress Management Practices at Bank Muscat)

The main source of data was the personnel of the Bank Muscat. We did interviews of the some of the senior management officials and also from some of the junior staff. We collected data mainly from giving people questionnaires to fill and our study included around 350 employees of the Bank Muscat. We also observed the workplace and got valuable findings from that too.

B. Sample Design of Effectiveness of Stress Management Practices at Bank Muscat)

The sampling method that we followed in our research was “Simple Random Sampling”. In this type of sampling there is no specification as to which individual should be chosen, each individual has an equal chance of being chosen. The reason of selecting this method was to get raw statistics regarding workplace of the Bank Muscat.

C. Sample Size of Effectiveness of Stress Management Practices at Bank Muscat)

We took 350 employees of the Bank Muscat as our sample.

D. Target Sample of Effectiveness of Stress Management Practices at Bank Muscat)

The target sample was the employees of Bank Muscat. The total number of employees working in the Bank Muscat is 3,779 (Forbes, 2020)

E. Questionnaire Type of Effectiveness of Stress Management Practices at Bank Muscat)

Generally, there are two types of questionnaire the explanatory and the quantitative ones, in this research work the type of questionnaire used was of a quantitative type.

F. Questionnaire Design of Effectiveness of Stress Management Practices at Bank Muscat)

In designing the questionnaire, we first decided the kind of information that we needed from the employees. Then we defined the target respondents. The content of the questionnaire was decided and then the wording of the questions was structured in a way to get honest answers. Then we arranged the questions in a meaningful order, it was kept in mind to not make the questionnaire too lengthy that employees would just mark ticks randomly. Then we arranged a pre-test of the questionnaire and then the final survey from was developed.

G. Data Analysis:

Findings of Effectiveness of Stress Management Practices at Bank Muscat)

The data that we collected from the questionnaires and the interviews of the personnel at the Bank Muscat, suggested that the workplace environment of the Bank Muscat was that;

· The environment was fairly stressful

· The senior officials seemed relatively relaxed as compared to the junior staff.

· Most of the junior staff seemed stressed out and particularly fearful.

· There was a lack of motivation in employees

· According to our observation the junior staff had major conflicts among them.

· There was no reward or support system.

IV. Conclusions of Effectiveness of Stress Management Practices at Bank Muscat)

From our above findings we have come to the conclusion that;

· The stressful environment of the workplace of the bank might be due to the nature of the bank business. In banks hundreds of people visit daily and this crowded place seem to generate stress easily.

· Another reason of the stress was that the employees were over-worked, and there was no way out for them.

· The particular panic among the junior staff might be due to the fact that, most of them were newly recruited and were in their first or second weeks.

· However, apart from their newness to the work place, there was a lack of guidance for the new workers and they seemed stressed out due to that.

· The senior officials were reluctant to guide the new ones and they were often bullied and abused.

· Overall, in the organization, there was a lack of any reward system for the employees whether new or old, senior or junior.

· On our discussions with the employees we found out that there was nothing like a recreational activity like a sports match or any office party on festivals etc.

V. References of Effectiveness of Stress Management Practices at Bank Muscat)

Alborzkouh, , Nabati, , Zainali, , Abed, Y. and Ghahfarokhi, , (2015) 'A review of the effectiveness of stress management skills training on academic vitality and psychological well-being of college students', J Med Life, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 39–44.

Barlow, D.H. (2007) Principles and practice of stress management., Guilford Press.

Bhui, , Dinos, , Galant-Miecznikowska, , Jongh, , and Stansfeld, (2016) 'Perceptions of work stress causes and effective interventions in employees working in public, private and non-governmental organisations: a qualitative study', BJPsych Bull, vol. 40, no. 6, pp. 318–325.

Bunce, D. (1997) 'What factors are associated with the outcome of individual‐focused worksite stress management interventions?', Journal of occupational and organizational psychology, vol. 70, no. 1, pp. 1-17.

Chiesa, A.a.S.A. (2009) 'Mindfulness-based stress reduction for stress management in healthy people: a review and meta-analysis', The journal of alternative and complementary medicine, pp. 593-600.

Forbes (2020) Bank Muscat, [Online], Available: https://www.forbes.com/companies/bank-muscat/#4a35c39f7ca0 [30 April 2020].

Ganster, , and Rosen, , (2013) 'Work Stress and Employee Health: A Multidisciplinary Review', Journal of Management, vol. 39, no. 5, pp. 1085-1122.

Nicole J, L.M. (2019) How to handle stress at work, 17 April, [Online], Available: https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/how-to-handle-stress-at-work-2019041716436.

Sharma, and Rush, , (2014) 'Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction as a Stress Management Intervention for Healthy Individuals: A Systematic Review', Journal of Evidence-Based Integrative Medicine, vol. 19, no. 4.

Varvogli, L.a.D.C. (2011) 'Stress Management Techniques: evidence-based procedures that reduce stress and promote health', Health science journal, p. 74.

Vasconcelos, C.d., Vasconcelos, F.G.d. and Crubellate, J., (2008) 'Stress in organizations: between efficiency and the institutionalization of fear', BAR - Brazilian Administration Review, vol. 5, no. 1.

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