A Study on factors affecting stress and its level of manageability among construction project managers in Northen and Eastern provinces

Abstract

Although a number of studies of stress in occupational settings have been conducted over the past decades, there are relatively few studies relating to stress of construction project management. The present study examines to identify the critical stressors causing stress, to assess the level of stress and to explore the impact of stress on performance of construction project managers (CPMs). Primary data was collected through use of a written questionnaire distributed by postal mailing and hand delivered to 155 samples of CPMs who work in a variety of construction entities (sector wise) using stratified simple random sampling.115 questionnaires were returned in a usable form giving an overall response rate of 74%. An analysis of the data collection for this study was determined in three ways. As a first step Relative Important Indices and mean score were generated to identify the sources of stress. Besides, factor analysis has been conducted including reliability analysis to confirm the sources of stress. Next, Descriptive statistics of scoring mean and standard deviation were generated for required variables to assess the level of stress and then correlation calculation was generated to assess the impact of stress on performance of CPMs. Finally Chi Square tests were conducted to test the significance of these correlations. Four kinds of stressors (Task stressors, organizational stressors, physical stressors and personal stressors) and seven sources of stresses including work overload, poor role congruence, poor organizational structure, career development environment, poor work environment, work group cooperation and type A behavior of personality were identified among CPMs. Four types of stress were identified in this research: objective stress, subjective stress, burn out and physiological stress. From the analysis, low level of objective stress, moderate level of subjective stress, high level of burnout and moderate level of physiological stress were found among the CPMs. This study confirms the impacts of four types of stress on performance (task, interpersonal & organizational) of CPMs. Limitation and implication of these research findings were also discussed in this study. Finally it is recommended to hold stress management workshops for the CPMs to relax their stresses and employers are recommended to keep reviewing and monitoring the abilities of the CPMs and allocate the responsibilities and work load accordingly. Direction for further studies is also suggested.