Is Stress a Bad Factor in Employee Work Performance (EWP) in Sri Lankan Public Sector?

Abstract

Stress experienced by employees has been identified by plenty of scholars as a horrible phenomenon that should be eliminated so that the employee work performance (EWP) could be enhanced. In other words, stress has mostly been noted as a negative phenomenon as far as the EWP is concerned. This notion of the idea was tested in the present enquiry by analyzing data obtained in Sri Lankan public sector organizations. The study was conducted in the months between July to December 2013 in association with Sri Lankan public sector organizations covering three provinces (Western, Southern, and North Central). The sample studied was composed of 661 employees belonged to three employee categories (managerial, clerical, and below clerical) working in three organizational categories (national, provincial, and district). The methodology of the study was the survey method in which a questionnaire was used as the key data gathering tool. Data analysis process was occurred by the use of computer-based SPSS package (version 20), and one-way ANOVA system was used to investigate co-relations among variables. The study clearly identified those who had experienced some level of stress reported over 30% work performance as compared to those who experienced no stress. According to the result of the hypothesis test, it was found that there is no significant difference in mean impact level due to stress among employees belonged to the diverse employee or organizational categories. These findings are a clear indication to suggest that stress caused by employees (irrespective of their employee and organizational categories) is no longer a horrible factor in taking EWP into account, and what is the truth is the opposite. Last but not the least, the findings of the study makes a counter-argument against the dominant ideology, to state that some level of stress experienced by employees is a positive factor that enhances EWP.