sources of stress in project management

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Research on Humanities and Social Sciences www.iiste.org

ISSN 2222-1719 (Paper ISSN 2222-2!"# ($nline

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The Sources of Job Stress among Project Managers

Hadi )ina*and1+

)ohammad Re,a ara /a0ri,i1Shadia )ohamed Saleh a3utaan

2+

1.

International usiness School 4 5ni*ersit /echnolog )alasia (5/)& 6alan Semara& 81''& uala:umpur& )alasia

2. Perdana School o; S/I Polic 4 5ni*ersit /echnolog )alasia (5/)& 6alan Semara& 81''& uala

:umpur& )alasia

+ mina*and?mail.com 4 shadia?ic.utm.m

Abstract$rgani,ational stress and worplace health ha*e 0ecome an issue o; great concern o*er the last decade. @lthough

some worplace stress is normal& 0ut among proect manager is eAcessi*e. Proect managers are considered as

the e persons and one o; the most important elements o; an proect& and their per;ormance highl in;luences

on the o*erall success o; the proect. Bue to the nature o; their wor& the tended to ;ace a multitude o; stressors

that alwas inter;ere with their producti*it and impact their phsical and emotional health. Current stud

;ocuses on Do0 stressE as one o; the main ;actors a;;ecting proect managersF per;ormance. Githin this research&

preliminaril time pressure& worload& limited resources& limited authorit and con;lict were studied as the mainsources o; o0 stress among proect managers. urthermore& and a;ter conducting a pilot stud& some other

;actors were identi;ied and added to the initial ;i*e ;actors.


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some penalties are imposed on the contractor when deadlines are eAceeded. esides monetar penalties&companies ma incur huge losses in credi0ilit when the ;ail to complete their proect. In the maorit o; cases

the proect manager is directl recogni,ed as the responsi0le person ;or delas and penalties. @s a result& time

pressure emerges as a prominent source o; stress eAperienced 0 proect managers (arc,a and Gilemon& 2''#.

/ime pressure is uni3ue ;rom other inds o; stress and so& needs special attention (Barrel& 2''!. /he stresscaused 0 high le*els o; time pressure can lead to passi*it and a*oidance reactions (%an


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same time (ig. 1& and a;ter a while& the managers ma ;ind themsel*es in the middle o; a con;lict o*er tassand authorities.

$igure1% Matri& structure and dua' res(onsibi'ity of team members

Proect managers in this organi,ational structure ma ;ind it di;;icult to eAert in;luence o*er the team mem0ers

(6ac3ues& 2''7. In a matriA sstem& tass and authorities are distri0uted 0etween proect managers and;unctional managers without a clear 0order. /his characteristic causes am0iguit and con;lict o*er areas such as

resource management (:arson Mo0eli& 19!7& and personnel assignments (Mreiner Schein& 19!1. /his

am0iguit results in a power struggle 0ecause each part attempts to clari; and de;ine its responsi0ilit andaccounta0ilit (Posner& 19!".

). *once(tua' framewor+ased on the issues identi;ied in the literature re*iew as the sources o; stress in a proect en*ironment& the

conceptual ;ramewor o; the current stud is laid out according the ;ollowing model (ig.2.

$igure % Pre'iminary Mode' of Study@s re;lected in the model& ;i*e main stressors including time pressure& resource constraint& con;lict& limited

authorit and worload were selected to trace o0 stress in a proect manager. /his is the preliminar ;ramewor

o; this stud. It is e*ident that there are some other ;actors that ma produce o0 stress among proect managers.

Hence& we decided to consider enough ;leAi0ilit ;or the ;ramewor. In order to achie*e this purpose& the

suggested ;ramewor was applied to conduct a pilot stud and the results o; the stud were anal,ed to identi;

the other sources o; stress and 0uild a new ;ramewor ;or the main sur*e (section8.

,. "esearch methodo'ogy

/he a0o*e-mentioned conceptual ;ramewor was applied to conduct a pilot stud with participation o; 1' proect

managers. /he stud was 0ased on a 3uestionnaire containing some open-ended 3uestions.


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-. ata co''ection and ana'ysis@s descri0ed earlier& a preliminar model was applied to conduct a pilot test in order to *eri; and de*elop the

model. Buring the pilot stud& respondents introduced se*en additional ;actors and the 0asic model was

trans;ormed into the ;ollowing ;ramewor (;ig. #.

$igure) % e#e'o(ed $ramewor+ after Pi'ot "esearch

/he new model was applied to construct a new 3uestionnaire and conduct the main sur*e. /he summar o;

respondentsF answers is presented in the ;ollowing 0ar chart (;ig. . @ccording to the chart& the maorit o;

respondents 0elie*e that all suggested ;actors eAcept cultural gap can cause the stress;ul proect managementcondition.

$igure ,% Summary of res(ondent/s su((orts to the e'ements of the mode'

In addition to the open-ended 3uestions& respondents o; the stud were ased to tic on 12 :iert-scale 3uestions

to determine the relati*e signi;icance o; each ;actor. /he mean *alues o; respondentsF answers to the mentioned

3uestions are summari,ed in the ;ollowing ;igure (;ig. 8. /he 0ar chart pro*ided in the ;igure shows that the

cultural gap has the minimum signi;icance le*el among 12 suggested independent *aria0les.

$igure -% "e'ati#e Im(ortance of Mean #a'ues

/he a0o*e ;igure shows that ;rom the *iewpoint o; the respondents& time pressure is the most important source o;

stress ().#7& whereas cultural gap is the least important one ()2.#7. In order to chec whether the a0o*e

di;;erence 0etween ;actors is statisticall signi;icant& riedman test was applied in SPSS. /a0le 1 represents theresults o; riedman test. @ccording to the ta0le& with 99.9J con;idence it could 0e claimed that there is a

signi;icant di;;erence 0etween the a0o*e 12 ;actors (Chi-S3uare8". 19& Sig. '.'''

Tab'e 1% $riedman Test for the ifference between Mean "an+s

Sources o; o0 stress among proect

managers

N #'

Chi-S3uare 8".198

B; 11

@smp. Sig. .'''

In other words& the di;;erence 0etween ;actors is statisticall signi;icant and the ;indings could 0e generali,edwith enough degree o; con;idence.

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/ime Pressure

:imited @uthorit

Internal Con;lict

%ague Scope

Insecure Career

Gorload

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/ime Pressure

:imited @uthorit

Internal Con;lict

%ague Scope

Insecure Career

Gorload


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@;ter *eri;ing the relati*e importance o; ;actors& it is the time to decide on the ;inal model. igure shows thateAcept cultural gaps& the other ;actors are supported 0 the a0solute maorit o; respondents as the important

sources o; stress. )oreo*er& ;ig. 8 illustrates that the mean *alues o; respondentsF answers to :iert-scale

3uestions in all items eAcept cultural gaps are 0igger than #. /hese ;acts lead us toward reecting cultural gaps

and accepting the other 11 ;actors. Conse3uentl& the 0elow model (;ig. " is suggested as the ;inal model ;or themost important ;actors that cause o0 stress in a proect manager.

$igure 0% The fina' suggested mode'

0. iscussion

/he ;i*e sources o; stress initiall posited 0 this stud were strongl supported 0 the respondents. In addition&some more stressors were identi;ied within the pilot stud and supported within the main sur*e.

/ime pressure recei*ed the strongest support ;rom respondents and 9#J o; them con;irmed it as a main source

o; stress. $ne o; the respondents ;rom Portugal stated that Das a proect manager& I am normall under pressure

to complete the proect on schedule to a*oid dela penalt& and this issue eAposes me to high degrees o; o0

stressE. It is almost e*ident that high le*els o; time pressure can produce stress& 0ut its negati*e e;;ects can 0e

moderated 0 cooperation and social interaction (Nord3*ist& 2''.

Constraint o; resources was also strongl supported 0 9'J o; the respondents. @ South @;rican respondent

claimed that DI de;ine a proect as Oappling limited resources to implement speci;ic tass in limited timeE& and it

is e*ident that an limitation maes ri*alr to o0tain more& and ri*alr normall results in stressE. Stress is o;ten

caused 0 Dtring to do more with lessE (Camp0ell et al& 2''7. So& it is reasona0le to introduce resource

constraint as one o; the most important sources o; stress ;or a proect manager.@lthough the ;amil pro0lem was not initiall considered as a maor stressor& 0ut the results o; the pilot stud as

well as the main sur*e showed that this item is an important source o; o0 stress among proect managers.

@ccording to a )alasian proect manager& D/o me& it is the main source o; stress as a proect manager I ha*e to

tra*el se*eral times a month and sometimes I ha*e to sta ;or a long time at the proect sites& ;ar awa ;rom m

;amil. In such conditions& I normall get stressed 0ecause o; the pro0lems that ma 0e ;aced 0 m ;amilE.

/he e;;ect o; ;amil pro0lems on indi*idualsF stress at the worplace is pro*en 0 se*eral studies. @ccording to

the @merican Pschological @ssociation (2''9& Dmore than hal; o; adults report that ;amil responsi0ilities are

a signi;icant source o; stress and 88J o; emploees sa that o0 demands ha*e inter;ered with responsi0ilities at

home in the past three monthsE. It is clear that the speci;ic demands o; proect-0ased o0s (speci;icall proect

management positions can intensi; the inter;erence 0etween worplace and home responsi0ilities and increase

the indi*idualFs o0 stress.

:imited authorit was another stress ;actor that was supported 0 !#J o; the respondents. @n Iranian respondent

said that Ddealing with ;unctional departments is so hard. It loos lie that the authorit o; the proect manager isso limitedE. @ctuall& lac o; ;ull authorit o*er team mem0ers (as descri0ed in section 2-8& ;aces proect

managers with stress;ul conditions. Ha*ing ade3uate authorit can impro*e the possi0ilities o; gaining control in

stress;ul situations& there0 in;luencing the wor situation through rele*ant decisions (ia& 2''"

:iewise Klimited authoritF& Kwea organi,ational supportF was supported 0 !#J o; the respondents.

$rgani,ational support is de;ined as the eAtent to which an organi,ation *alues its emploeesF contri0utions& and

cares a0out them (@llen et al& 2''!. Patha (2'12 claims that Dorgani,ational support lessens the indi*idualsF

le*el o; stress and indirectl a;;ects their o0 satis;actionE. It seems that this ;actor has a critical e;;ect on proect

managersF o0 stress and e*en sometimes can eclipse the other important ;actors. @ /urish proect manager

claimed that DI; the compan supports me& I ;eel no stress e*en with limited time and 0udgetE.

/he sur*e also re*ealed that a0out !'J o; the respondents agree on Kinsecure careerF as an important source o;

stress. @n Indian proect manager stated that DGhen I ;eel that m woring situation is not secure& how can I

concentrate on m proectQ It is an a0solute source o; stress. I ne*er put maAimum e;;ort i; I am at ris to 0e

;ired and get laid o;;.E Coet,ee and Be %illiers (2'1' argue that Dthe perception o; increased o0 insecuritcould 0e a ;unction o; unemploment and temporar contractsE. /he mention o0 stress as a side-e;;ect o; o0


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arc,a& M.& Gilemon& B. (2''#. /eam mem0er eAperiences in new product de*elopment= *iews ;rom thetrenches. RB )anagement& ##(8& "#-79.

errie ).(2''! & Proect )anager Responsi0ilities& P) Hut.( http=44www.pmhut.com4proect-manager-

responsi0ilities

Camp0ell& ).& altes& 6. I.& )artin& @.& )eddings& . (2''7. /he Stress o; :eadership. Center ;or Creati*e:eadership. htt p=44www. ccl. org4leadership4pd;4research4Stresso;:eadership. pd;.

Chiocchio& .& eaulieu& M.& oudrias& 6. S.& Rousseau& %.& @u0T& C.& )orin&


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