Effect of Type A Pesonality on Stress-strain Relationship: A Study on Private Sector Managers

Stress has become an inevitable part of human life in recent times. It makes life more challenging and charming, however within a limit. When stress is beyond the coping ability of a person, it causes disturbances in his/her life. Stress has its roots in the demands of organizational and personal life. Any demand either of a physical or psychological nature, encountered in the course of living is known as stressor. Stress in the work place is increasingly a critical problem for workers, employers and society. Researchers who study stress have demonstrated the direct and indirect costs of stress.(Matteson & Ivancevich, 1987). There are many variables which have been related to organizational stress. Ivancevich and Matteson (1980) proposed a model of organizational stress research that outlined the major antecedents of work stress. They noted the importance of individual differences as moderators of stress and detailed possible outcomes of stress at work. The subject of stress at work has been thoroughly investigated in Public sector. Very little has been carried out in Private sector. Thus, it is probable that mangers and workers experience stress as much as their public sector counterparts. The present research study found that: Managers who experience greater occupational stress will also experience lower level of work satisfaction, higher levels of emotional exhaustion, feelings of depersonalization, feelings of personal accomplishment and anxiety and illness. Type A personality was chosen as moderator variable which had two dimensions viz., Achievement Striving and Impatience-Irritability. But, only one dimension, Achievement Striving showed moderating effects. Impatience-Irritability failed to moderate stress and stress strain relationships. Overall, this study demonstrates that stress at work does exist for sample of Private sector managers and the antecedents of this stress are role related.