Influence of Gender and Job Status on Employee Stress Among Nigeria Police Force
Chapter One
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
This study aims at investigating the influence of Gender and Job Status on employees stress among the Nigerian Police Force. In precise terms, it is planned to:
- Find out the reactions of policemen and policewomen to stress, in order words, the effect of gender on stress in the Nigerian Police Force.
- Find out how senior police officers and junior police officers respond to stress, that is the influence of job status or rank on stress in the Nigerian police force.
- Ascertain whether female police officers experience a higher significant level of job stress than their male counterparts.
- Ascertain whether there is gender discrimination in police force
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
INTRODUCTION
Stress is a critical factor in determining individual’s health and well-being. It is a phenomenon that has generated a lot of researches mostly as a result of its negative perception and its bio-medical effect on human behavioral manifestation. Stress has been described as a bio-chemical and behavior reaction associated with fight or flight response, characteristics of the primitive cavemen as evident in his life when confronted with life threatening events. Scientifically, it has been used as a psychological precursor of illness consequent of number of conditions or as a catchall for anxiety, discomfort, and the likes. Stress is defined as the individual’s response to circumstances and events called stressors which threatens them and tax their coping abilities (Locke & Taylor, 1990), the non-specific response of the body to any demand made on it (Sutton & Khan, 1984), lack of fit between the needs and abilities of individuals on one hand and the supplies or demands of the environment on the other (Watson & Penne baker, 1989), and an adaptive response in reaction to external events or situations that place extreme psychological and physical demands on the individual (Cooper & Marshall, 1976). Personality has been identified as one of the numerous factors in response to job stressors, and it is the most overly anxious people who are susceptible to their effect (Locke & Taylor, 1990). It appears however, that the single factor most likely to lead to job stress is a poor fit between the person and the job environment (Horowitz, 1979). Stress level varies between jobs. Studies have shown that substantial stress is obtainable from teaching as compared with what is obtainable by construction workers (Sutton & Khan, 1984). Organizational factors such as job security, shift work, long work hours, role conflict, physical hazard, exposure and interpersonal conflicts with co workers or supervisors contribute to increased stress levels. Reciprocally, elevated stress levels in an organization are associated with increased turnover, absenteeism, sickness, low productivity and low morale. Work stressors are related to depression, anxiety, general mental distress, heart disease, ulcer and chronic pain (Hayness & Fenilabib, 1980). Psychological stressors produce altered measurements of various bodily chemical hormones, blood pressure as well as altered level of anxiety (Cooper & Marshall, 1976), and childhood stresses and experiences has a degree of relevant of stress in adult roles set (Lazarus, 1991). Personality moderates the relationship between role stressor and satisfaction to the extent that negative impact of role stressor is relatively less pronounced when ability is high (Horowitz, 1979). Abdul-Halim (1978) found that stressors tend to be more averse for individuals in lowenriched jobs than in high-enriched jobs. In a review of studies in psychopathology, Levi (1989) reported that women had higher rates of nervousness while men had consistent high rate of personality disorder caused by stressors. In comparing men and women at similar occupational levels, Compos and Williams (1990) found that women reported more symptoms of stress than men (such as felling of depression, nightmares, and feeling of overwhelm).
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought influence of gender and job status on employee stress among Nigeria police force
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
(i)Primary source and
(ii)Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
Population of the study
Population of a study is a group of persons or aggregate items, things the researcher is interested in getting information influence of gender and job status on employee stress among Nigeria police force. 200 staff of police headquarters at Ikot Akpanabia, Uyo, Akwa Ibom state was selected randomly by the researcher as the population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain influence of gender and job status on employee stress among Nigeria police force. In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of gender and job status on employee stress among Nigeria police force
Summary
This study was on influence of gender and job status on employee stress among Nigeria police force. Four objectives were raised which include Find out the reactions of policemen and policewomen to stress, in order words, the effect of gender on stress in the Nigerian Police Force, find out how senior police officers and junior police officers respond to stress, that is the influence of job status or rank on stress in the Nigerian police force, ascertain whether female police officers experience a higher significant level of job stress than their male counterparts, ascertain whether there is gender discrimination in police force. In line with these objectives, two research hypotheses were formulated and two null hypotheses were posited. The total population for the study is 200 staff of police force at police headquarters ikot Akpanabia, Uyo Akwa ibom state. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made of police superintendents, police corporals, senior officers and junior officers were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
Result of this study indicated that female police officers experienced a significant higher job stress than their male counterparts. It was also found in this study that senior police officers does not experience more stress on the job than the junior officers.
Recommendation
It is suggested that a good strategy for increasing employees‟ job satisfaction is to permanently or temporarily remove employees from the stressor. Permanent withdrawal occurs when employees are transferred to jobs that better fit their competencies and values. Temporarily withdrawing from stressors involving distancing oneself for a short time (perhaps a few minutes or weeks) from the stressor. Control stress consequences – this involves improving employees physiological capability to withstand the effects of stress receive social support. This involves psychological and informational support from friends, co-workers, managers, and others. Remove the stressors removing the source of stress from the work environment or moving employee to jobs with a better fit. Reassign employees; maximize noise, unsafe conditions, harassment. Noise and safety risks are stressful. So improving these conditions would also go a long way to maximize stress in the work place. Managers, head of units or unit commanders must find ways to give their officers better work life balance, which involves maximizing conflict between work and non work demands.
REFERENCES
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- Aremu, A.O. and Adeyoju, C.A. (1998), “Improving police officers interpersonal relationships through social skills training”, Nigerian Journal of Clinical and Counselling Psychology, Vol. 4 No. 1, pp. 18-23.
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