Occupational Stress Amongst Teachers: A Study Of The Professional Colleges Of Education In Jammu, Province Of J&K State

Occupational stress can be inadvertently linked to success or failure at one’s job. The general impression about occupational stress is the feeling of failure due to work overload. But if this is the case and so simple a problem than merely by reducing the amount of work, occupational stress could have been done away with. However the problem is not that easy to pinpoint. It is here that a comparative investigation of the reasons of stress in different occupations becomes important. Herein lays the most crucial significance of the study. To combat a problem the awareness of the conditions, which lead to it, are very important. Stress is a part of everyone’s daily life. It means that the person cannot cope with the demands put forward by his or her work, which is opposite to their expectations of rewards and success. It affects both the person concerned and the relationships he or she forms in the society be it with family or friends. Although the importance of individual differences cannot be ignored, scientific evidence suggests that certain working conditions are stressful to most people. The excessive workload demands and conflicting expectations and puts a greater emphasis on working conditions as the key source of job stress, and for job redesign as a primary prevention strategy. In jobs where work overload is the cause of the stress, the workers find that they have to take time off to deal with the stress, only to return to work to find that the already unmanageable workload has substantially increased in their absence, thereby increasing the source of the stress and fuelling a vicious cycle which may ultimately lead to a complete breakdown in health. At times the work stress becomes so extreme that the workers grow aversive of it and they try to avoid it by withdrawing either psychologically (through disinterest or lack of involvement in the job etc.) or physically through absenteeism, frequently reporting late for work and even while working an attitude of lethargy persists. In this present era of cutthroat competition the idea of being perfect becomes very necessary to strive and become successful. The worker has to be perfect in his job or else he will be replaced or at least lag behind in his work leading to stress. In India the problem of stress management is gaining more and more importance due to the new privatized nature of the economy. People are leaving behind the cosy atmosphere of government jobs and joining the private sector where there is no end to the amount of work that a person can undertake. In this environment coping with stress becomes very important. One has to be aware of the problem well in advance to be able to deal with it. The study becomes very important to be aware of the problems of the present, then build strategies for the future, and also consider the problems that may arise. Stress factor of males and females according to the age of the worker and the kind of work that he performs are key areas to identify the problems.