Analysis of Stress Management among Professionals in the Nigerian Construction Industry
Pages : 22-33Download PDF
Stress is a universal phenomenon that essentially manifests itself in human as a result of pressure emanating from several experiences or challenging situation. Due to the nature of the construction industry which embraces a wide range of loosely integrated activities, stress becomes an issue of concern. This research work focuses on identifying the sources of stress among construction professionals, assessing the impact of stress on the productivity of professionals and examining ways of effectively managing stress level among construction professionals. To achieve these objectives, 100 questionnaires were administered to professionals in the construction industry out which 70 were returned and suitable for analysis. Using descriptive statistical analysis tool on the data obtained shows that insufficient finance/resources, staff shortage, and conflicting roles ranked highest as the main sources of stress. Delay in job completion, deterioration of power of organization and planning, increase in error rate during manipulative and cognitive task, depression and feeling of helplessness and over sensitivity are the major impact of stress on the productivity of professionals. In order to minimize stress, delegating some work, share burden with colleagues, leave and time off work with family and love ones, as well as reducing work overtime ranked highest as strategies for stress management. Based on the findings, it was concluded that stress has a great impact on the professionals and thereby affects the level of productivity. It was therefore recommended that professionals should exhibit self-control and good self-esteem; engage in continuous professional development on skills for better organization, integration of work within specified project constraints and delegation of assignment, authority and breaking work into manageable parts so as to be able to cope with stress.
Keywords: Stress, professionals, construction industry, productivity.