Journal Press India^®

Author Details ( * ) denotes Corresponding author

After decades of economic stagnation, the private sector has assumed critical significance as a generator of employment and as a contributor to the economy of a country. It is a known fact that employees working in the private sector are encompassing stress-related problems and many have imbibed coping techniques. The empirical study, based on a sample size of 450 executives in the three regions of Kerala spread across insurance, IT and  banking sectors, aims to assess the causes of stress and its effects among executives in the private insurance, IT and banking sectors in Kerala (India). The study observed that though the causes of stress are different in these three sectors, work-related causes viz. working under pressure, monotonous and meaningless task, and long and unsocial hours are the major causes of stress among executives. The study also found a positive effect of stress on the psychological, physical and occupational levels of executives.

Keywords

Occupational effect; Occupational stress; Physical effect; Psychological effect; Kerala

1. Balogun, J., Jarzabkowski, P., & Seidl, D. (2007). Strategizing activity and practice. In V. Ambrosini & M. Jenkins (eds.) Advanced Strategic Management (Chapter 12, pp. 196-214). Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave.
2. Band, D., & Tustin, C. (2011). Strategic downsizing.  Management Decision, 33(8), 36-45.
3. Floyd, S.W. & Wooldridge, B. (2012). Middle management’s strategic influence and organizational performance. Journal of Management Studies. 34(3), 465–485.
4. Fontana, D. (1996). Managing Stress. New Delhi: Excel Publishers.
5. Greenberg, J., & Baron, A. R. (2012). Behaviour in organizations: Understanding and managing the human side of work. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc.
6. Henkoff, R.  (2009). Cost cutting: How to do it right. Fortune. 119, 40-49.
7. Hildebrandt, A. (2010). Empirical evidence on shareholder value effects of corporate restructuring. Verlag: GRIN .
8. Jones Lang Lasalle (2011). Trends in the Banking and Finance Sector: Global Corporate Real Estate Survey.
9. Lewin, J. E & Johnston, W. J. (2010). The impact of downsizing and restructuring on organizational competitiveness. Competiveness Review. 10(1), 45-55.
10. Mansor, N. A., Che-Ahmad, A., Ahmad Zaluki, N. A. &  Osman, A.H. (2013). Corporate governance and earnings management: A study on the Malaysian family and non-family owned PLCs. Procedia Economics and Finance, 7, 221-229.  
11. Marimuthu, M. (2009). Corporate restructuring, firm characteristics and implications of capital structure: An academic view. International Journal of Business Management. 4(1), 123.
12. Mayer, M., Smith, A. & Whittington, R. (2012). Organising for success in the 21st century, CEOs’ and HR managers’ perceptions. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
13. Muirhead, S. (2013). Crisis Banking in the East: The History of the Chartered Mercantile Bank of India, London and China, 1853-93. Aldershot: Scolar Press.
14. Nanda, M. (2006). Dynamic Life Management: Stress-free Living. New Delhi: India Log Publishers.
15. Noer, D.M. (2011).  Healing the Wounds: Overcoming the Trauma of Layoffs and Revitalizing Downsized Organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-bass Publishers, Inc.
16. Palliam, R. & Shalhoub, K. Z. (2014). Rationalizing corporate downsizing with long-term profitability – an empirical focus. Management Decision. 40(5), 436 – 447.
17. Proctor, T. (2010). Corporate restructuring: The pitfalls of changing industry structure. Management Decision, 39(3), 197- 204.
18. Schilling, M.A & Steensma, H.K (2010). The use of modular organizational forms: An industry-level analysis. Academy of Management, 44(6), 1149–1168.
19. Shah, P. P. (2011). Network destruction: The structural implications of downsizing. Academy of Management Journal, 43(1), 101-112.
20. Teriyama, S. J., Agburu, J. I. & Timothy, A. (2012). The management of downsizing in business organization: A survey of Skye Bank Plc. in Benue State and Nasarawa State. Global Advanced Research Journal of Management and Business Studies, 1(4), 103-114.
21. Whittington, R., Molloy, E., Mayer, M., & Smith, A. (2012). Practices of strategising/organising: Broadening strategy work and skills. Long Range Planning, 39(6), 615–29.
22. Yammarino, F.J., & Dubinsky, A.J. (1987).  On job satisfaction:  It's the relationships that count! Journal of Risk and Insurance, 54, 804-809.