Special Articles

Occupational Stress and

Job Satisfaction Among Managers
K. CHANDRAIAH** S.C. AGRAWAL*, P. MARIMUTHU* AND N. MANOHARAN*

ABSTRACT
Age can be explained in the terms, that the individuals matured personality disposition related to the attainment of
developmental tasks specific to each developmental tasks specific to each developmental phase and its influence on
individuals perception of the situations as stressful or otherwise. The present study was planned to investigate the
effect of Age on Occupational stress and job satisfaction among managers of different age groups. A sample of 105
industrial managers working in different large-scale organizations was selected randomly for the present study. The
Occupational Stress Index (OSI) developed by Srivastava and Singh (1983) and Job Descriptive Index (JDI) by
Smith Kendal (1963) were used to assess the level of job stress and job satisfaction of the sample. The findings of the
study reveals higher levels of job stress and less job satisfaction among managers of 25-35 years age than their
counterparts in the middle age (36-45 years) and the old age groups(46-55years). The study also found that the age
found to be negatively correlated with occupational stress and positively with job satisfaction.
Key words: Managers – job stress – job satisfaction – Age.

INTRODUCTION meeting it, under conditions where he or she expects

Sources of managerial stress have been well
documented since the late 1970s. Ivancevich and
Matteson (1980) identified four categories of work
stressors: physical environment, individual level (a
mixer of role and career development variables),
group level (primarily relationship-based) and
organizational level (a mixture of climate, structure,
job design and task characteristic) Schuler (1982)
also identifies seven categories of work stressors in
organizations: job qualities, relationships,
organizational structure, physical qualities, career
development, change and role in the organization.
Quick and Quick (1984) proposed four categories of
stressors: task demands, physical demands and
interpersonal demands.
Stress is involved in an environmental situation that
perceived as presenting demand which threatens to
exceed the person’s capabilities and resources for
** Departments of Occupational Health &
* Departments of Statistics. All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health
Kolkata, India
a substantial differential in the rewards and costs from
meeting the demand versus not meeting it (Mc Grath,
1976). From the documented evidence, it is clear that
as far as work life is concerned extreme stress is so
aversive to employees that they will try to avoid it by
withdrawing either psychologically (through
disinterest or lack of involvement in the job etc.)
Physically (frequent late coming, absenteeism,
lethargy etc.) or by leaving the job entirely (Beehr and
Newman, 1978). It predisposes the individual to
develop several psychosomatic illness, in contrast,
the absence of extreme stress would result in more
satisfied, happy, healthy and effective employees.
However, the stress one experiences in the job vary
from mild to severe depending one’s physiological,
psychological and social make up (French and
Caplan, 1970, Margolis et al., 1974., Miller 1960 and
Wardwell et al., 1964).
Stressors at the individual level have been studied
more than any other category. Role conflicts, role
ambiguity, role overload and under load, is widely

6 OCCUPATIONAL STRESS AND JOB SATISFACTION AMONG MANAGERS

examined individual stressors (Mc Grath 1976;
Newton and Keenan, 1987). It is also reported by
many researchers that the low job satisfaction was
associated with high stress (Hollingworth et al., Abdul
Halim, 1981; Keller et al., 1975; Leigh et al, 1988).
Age can be explained in the terms, that the individuals
matured personality disposition related to the
attainment of developmental tasks specific to each
developmental tasks specific to; each developmental
phase and its influence on individuals perception of
the situations as stressful or otherwise. Several
researchers reported that in industrial setting job
satisfaction and job involvement increases with age
and as a result occupational stress would decreases
(Cherrington, 1979) in view of dearth of conclusive
studies about whether the same this is true with the
teachers at different age levels in India, the present
study was conducted.
METHODOLOGY
Participants: The sample for this study consisted of
105 managers, drawn on the basis of random
sampling from 6 large scale industries situated in and
around Calcutta City, India. An individual’s function
within the company included information technology,
sales and marketing system development,
production, research and development, medical,
finance, supply and distribution, quality assurance,
design, commercial affairs and human resources.
All the subjects were educationally well qualified,
82 (71%) had degree and remaining 23 (29%) had
post graduate degree. Of the total of 105 subjects 35
were identified as young adults (25-35 years, mean
age 29.19), 35 as early middle age (36-45 years,
mean age 41.29) and 35 as late middle age (46-55
years, mean 52.72) All the subjects completed
Occupational Stress Index (Srivastava and Singh,
1981) and job Descriptive Index (JDI) Smith, Kendal
and Hullin, 1969).
Procedure: Data for this investigation were collected
in two steps, starting with seeking permission from the
authorities concerned to involve Managers in their in
Industry in the study. Almost all the authorities agreed
to co-operate in the study.
Prior appointment were obtained from the managers
who were given the bio-data sheet, the Occupational
Stress Index, the job Descriptive Index and requested
to complete the schedules at their own time and
leisure. Those who had free time in the office
(industry) filled in the questionnaire on the spot and
others chose some other time.
7 INDIAN JOURNAL OF OCCUPATIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL MEDICINE VOL. 7, NO. 2, MAY-AUGUST 2003
Questionnaire were administered to a random sample
of 272 managers at all there levels among the six
industries. A total of 123 subjects were responded of
which 114 were males and 9 were females. Of this
total (123 respondents) 17 were not usable (9 males
and 8 females) One female sample was deliberately
dropped from the analysis. Therefore, only male
(N=105) subjects were involved in this study.
Occupational Stress: A well developed and widely
used Occupational Stress Index (OSI) in the Indian
context (Srivastava and Singh, 1981) was chosen to
assess the occupational stress of the sample. The
questionnaire is consisted of 48 statements with five
alternative responses e.g., 5 for strongly agree, 4 for
mildly agree 3 agree, 2 for disagree and 1 for strongly
disagree. Total score on this scale is considered for
the assessment of occupational stress. More the
score on this scale indicates more stress.
Job Descriptive Index (Smith and Kendal, 1966)
developed and widely used in Indian and
Internationally used questionnaire was used to assess
the job satisfaction of the sample. The job descriptive
index contains a series of statements for each of
these five area and individuals are asked to mark yes
(Y) or no (N) or doubtful (?) as related to the job.
Positive statements gets a score of 2 for yes, doubtful
gets 1 and 0 for no. Negative statements get a 2 for
no, 1 for doubtful and 0 for yes. Only the total score
obtained for the five areas was considered as a
measure of job satisfaction. High score indicate high
job satisfaction.
RESULTS
Occupational stress: The results obtained above
show significant decreases in the mean stress score
could be seen from young adult group to late middle
age. The ‘t’ values obtained in the table 1 show
significant difference between young adults
(25-35 yrs.) and those in early middle age (36-45 yrs.)
and late middle age (46-60 yrs.). Young adults were
Table 1 : Means, SDs and ‘t’ values for
Occupational stress scores
Age group Mean SD ‘t’ Values
A 25-35 yrs 127.50 10.23 AB 4.21 P < 0.01
(n = 35)
B 36-45 yrs 122.01 9.05 AC 10.23 p < 0.01
(n = 35)
C 46-60 yrs 112.66 9.87 BC 4.54 P < 0.01
(46- 60)
Higher the score greater the stress
A = Young adult B = Middle age C = Late middle age
 Table 2 : Means, SDs and ‘t’ values for 12 Sub factors of Occupational stress scores

SOURCE (A)25-35 Yrs (B) 36-45 Yrs (C) 46-60 Yrs ‘t’ Values
(n = 35) (n = 35) (n = 35)
Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD AB AC BC
Role overload 17. 19 4.04 16.44 3.64 11.39 2.34 1.64@ 14.68** 13.77**
Role ambiguity 11.29 3.64 11.65 2.78 9.69 2.61 0.92@ 4.25** 6.10**
Role conflict 10.11 3.40 9.23 2.81 9.23 2.61 0.67@ 2.42* 1.94@
Unreasonable Group and Political Pressures 11.89 2.45 10.98 2.33 12.15 2.51 3.17** 0.89@ 4.04**
Responsibility for person 8.56 2.72 8.66 2.11 8.79 2.37 0.31@ 0.74@ 0.50@
Under participation 12.21 2.28 12.19 3.74 12.17 2.56 0.05@ 0.14@ 0.05@
Powerlessness 10.96 2.51 9.54 2.31 9.36 3.41 4.94** 4.46** 0.36@
Poor peer Relation 10.82 2.72 10.48 2.06 10.35 1.94 1.17@ 1.64@ 0.66@
Intrinsic Impoverishment 10.94 3.16 9.86 2.65 9.54 3.04 3.07** 3.77** 0.96@
Low status 8.79 3.16 7.77 2.4 7.03 2.00 2.95** 5.45** 2.78**
Strenuous Working Conditions 8.93 3.32 8.84 2.20 7.51 2.72 0.25@ 3.90** 4.59**
Un profitability 5.78 2.54 5.76 2.37 5.47 1.95 0.05@ 1.31@ 1.32@
** P < 0.01 * P < 0.05 @ Not Significant

found to have experienced more occupational stress found to be experiencing less stress than the younger
than the middle aged. and early middle aged. It is also reported that the
young adults (25-35 yrs) experiencing significantly
The scores of the subjects were further analyzed age
higher stress on low status than the middle aged.
wise and factor wise (OSI) using ‘t’ tests.
Job satisfaction: The ‘t’ values obtained in table 3
The results obtained in Table 2 show that the young
show that the late middle aged reported significantly
adults and the early middle aged were experiencing
Table 3 : Means, SDs and ‘t’ Values for
more stress due to role overload, role ambiguity and
Job Satisfaction Scores
strenuous working conditions compared to late
middle aged. Regarding role conflict, the two middle Age group Mean SD ‘t’ Values
age groups were similar to each other while the A 25-35 yrs 105.26 10.43 AB 1.05 NS
young adults were found to experience significantly ( n = 35)
more stress. On factor 4, that is unreasonable group B 36-45 yrs 106.57 10.18 AC 6.61 p < 0.01
and political pressures the young adults and those ( n = 35 )
late middle age were found to undergo more stress C 46-60 yrs 113.40 10.19 BC 5.65 p < 0.01
than the early middle aged. The stress regarding ( n = 35 )
powerlessness and intrinsic Impoverishment was Higher the score greater the Job satisfaction
found to be experiencing higher among the younger A = Young adults B = Middle age C = Late middle age
adults than the other two groups. As per the low
status was concerned the late middle aged were
THE MEAN SCORES ON JOB SATISFACTION (FACTOR WISE)
OCCUPATIONAL STRESS AND JOB SATISFACTION
140 AMONG MANAGERS 35
Mean Values Stress and

30
120
Job Satisfaction

Mean Values

25
100
20 YOUNGER AGE
YOUNGER AGE
Occupational Stress
O ccupational stress
80 MIDDLE
MIDDLE AGE
AGE
satis faction
Job Satisfaction
15 OLD AGE
OLD AGE
60
10
40
5

20
0
Work Supervision Co-Workers Pay Promotion
0
25-35 yrs. 36-45 yrs. 46-55 yrs.
Age Groups Factors

8 OCCUPATIONAL STRESS AND JOB SATISFACTION AMONG MANAGERS

 Table 4 : Means, SDs and ‘t’ Values for Scores on between Age and job satisfaction and between
sub-factors of Job satisfaction (N= 105) Age and occupational stress). However, a significant
Source Age group Mean SD ‘t’ Values (r = 0.67) positive correlation was observed between
Work A 25-35 yrs 31.81 4. 59 A B 1.54 @ job satisfaction and age.
B 36-45 yrs 31.01 4.19 A C 1.98 *
DISCUSSION
C 46-60 yrs 32.84 4.02 B C 3.73 **
The subjects in the young adult group must have put
Supervision A 25-35 yrs 27.30 7.40 A B 3.59 **
in 1 to10 years of service in their job which is relatively
B 36-45 yrs 30.96 4.32 A C 2.35 ** a short period. They may be getting adjusted to their
C 46-60 yrs 30.01 5.13 B C 1.56 @ jobs as well as to the demands and adjustments of
Co-workers A 25-35 yrs 29.37 6.81 A B 0.54 @ young married life. Perhaps the reduced job
B 36-45 yrs 28.95 6.20 A C 3.44 ** satisfaction in young adults might have resulted from
C 46-60 yrs 31.64 3.78 B C 4.38 ** their occupying lower status positions in organization
Pay A 25-35 yrs 12.76 3.96 A B 0.54 @ as a result of which they have minimal organizational
power and little control over work demands. Under
B 36-45 yrs 10.92 4.01 A C 1.42 @
such circumstances it may be expected that,
C 46-60 yrs 13.40 3.56 B C 3.42 **
compared to the middle aged who are more or less
Promotion A 25-35 yrs 4.04 3.21 A B 1.69 @ settled in their personal as well as work life’s, young
B 36-45 yrs 4.71 3.69 A C 3.75 ** adults found their jobs much more stressful. Subjects’
C 46-60 yrs 5.50 3.43 B C 1.86 @ age, as a main variable, was for lower occupational
** Significant (P < 0. 01) * Significant (P < 0.05) level employees the effects of role conflict are
@ Not Significant (p > 0.05) more important than role ambiguity which might
“Higher the score greater the Job satisfaction”
have resulted in their high score on intrinsic
impoverishment, powerlessness and low status.
The high mean scored of member of the young adult
more job satisfaction than the younger groups. group on unreasonable group and political pressures
Further analysis of scores obtained on each factor of shows their intolerance of pressures which might
JDI by the three age groups using ‘t’ test reveals create role ambiguity and role conflict in their work.
(table 4), that the managers in late middle age were Since they are in a state of adjusting to both their
more satisfied with their work and co-workers work and personal lives’. They perceive involvement
compared to the younger groups. The middle aged of such pressures in work as the rigidity, as many
and he late middle aged were appeared to be more gerontological studies state, (Jamuna and Sujata
satisfied on supervision than younger adults on the Ramamurthi, 1984) grows with age or long tenure of
factor pay, and middle aged were less satisfied than the job perhaps makes the individuals (by them in
the other two age groups. their late middle age) resist and result the directions
The partial correlation of occupational stress with of unreasonable group and political pressures that
both age and job satisfaction of the managers were might be involved in several aspects of their job
negatively related (P< 0.01). However, a significant starting from supervision of their subordinates to their
(P<0.01) positive correlation was observed between products, this might have caused them to feel more
job satisfaction and age scores obtained on each stressful on this factor. New entrants, typically have
factor of the JDI by the three age groups using ‘t’ test high expectations as young executives, and coming
reveals (table 4), that the managers in late middle age from their training institutions they may find a
were more satisfied with their work and co-workers industrial environment as too ill-designed and without
compared to the younger groups. The middle aged much scope for applying their knowledge. They may
and the late middle aged were appeared to be more feel to have few or now chances to realize their
satisfied on supervision than younger adults on the abilities.
factor pay, the middle aged were less satisfied than
From the results in tables 1,2,3, and 4 it may be said
the other two age groups.
that young adults experience of high stress might
From the table 5, the partial correlation of have resulted in their significantly low job satisfaction
occupational stress with both age and job satisfaction of similarly low occupational stress experienced by
of the managers were negatively related (r = -0.48 late middle aged might be related to their relatively
between occupational stress and job satisfaction higher job satisfaction scores than the younger group.

9 INDIAN JOURNAL OF OCCUPATIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL MEDICINE VOL. 7, NO. 2, MAY-AUGUST 2003
 OCCUPATIONAL STRESS (FACTOR WISE)

18
M 16
E 14
A
N 12
10 YOUNGER
YOUNGER AGEAGE
V
A 8 MIDDLE AGE
MIDDLE AGE
L 6 OLD AGE
OLD AGE
U
E 4
S 2
0 OV AM CO GR RE UN PO RE IN LO ST UN
ER BI NF OU SP DE W LA TE W RA PR
LO GU LIC P ON R E RL T I RNS S N
TA IO OF
AD ITY T PR
ES S I B I
PA ES ONS IC TU US ITA
L R T S IM S W
SU
RE T Y
I IC
IP
N ES PO OR BILI
AT S VE KI T
S IO RI NG Y
N SH CO
ME ND
NT ITI
ON
S

FACTORS

As far as co-workers are concerned the late middle
aged are more satisfied than the other two younger
groups. Regarding pay, the early middle aged seems
to be less satisfied than the remaining two groups.
The late middle age group seem to be more satisfied
with promotions also, when compared to the other
groups.
The findings from the table 4, the presence of
predominantly more job satisfaction among late
middle aged on all five facets of the job. Perhaps, in
their long job tenure, they learned how to master the
intricacies of work and thereby feel work as relatively
less strenuous than younger managers. Findings of
the study are in line with those of many others. Lawler
(1971), Khan (1972), Paul (1978) and Rao (1980)
all reported that as individuals get older, there would
be changes in the values and needs at the mid life
point. Findings of Wernimount (1966) also support
dependence of job satisfaction on need satisfaction.
Perhaps, by the time people are in later middle age
most of their intrinsic needs mighty have been met or
they altered their needs to expect less hence, the
resulting low occupational stress and high job
satisfaction in the late middle age group, compared
with younger men.
CONCLUSION
Individuals under excessive stress tend to find their
jobs less satisfying. Some of their intrinsic or extrinsic
needs may be thwarted or not met sufficiently.
Corroborating many studies in the literature
(Hollingworth et. al. 1988; Keller, 1975), the findings
of the present study also reveal the same. The
subjects with lower job satisfaction were found
to experience more stress in the form of overload,
role ambiguity, role conflict, under participation,
powerlessness and low status compared to those with
higher job satisfaction.
Age, therefore, was found to be of importance in
these study findings. The results of the study reiterate

10 OCCUPATIONAL STRESS AND JOB SATISFACTION AMONG MANAGERS

the significance of demands at each career
development level as pointed out by Hallingworth.
And the individuals encounter crisis at each
developmental stage as hypothesized by Erickson.
Significantly decreasing stress and increasing job
satisfaction with increasing age was found among the
managers and these confirm the importance of the
developmental process.
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