An Empirical Investigation of Level of Job Stress and Potential Stressors among Operational Level Female Workers in Garment Factories in Sri Lankan Free Trade Zones

Abstract

I would like to take this opportunity to thanks all our lecturers who have encouraged and guided me during pass two years of participating in M.Sc. (Management) Degree Programme. I wish pay a special gratitude to Mrs. P.D.H.D. Gunathilake, senior lecturer .Departrnent of Business Administration, Faculty of management Studies and commerce, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, who despite her academic and administrative engagements ,patiently read through the draft and supervised my research work with necessary advice, guidance and support. My thanks also due to Mrs.Dissanayaka. head, Industrial Relations Division, BOL Biyagama, and her staff for their support in obtaining research materials for the study. A special thanks to all garment workers who extended their corporations by responding to questionnaires in the testing stage as well as in the final administration I also wish to thank Mr. A.G.M.M.N.S.P.Molligda and Dr. Anil Chandrakumara, senior lecturers, Department of Business Administration, Faculty of management studies and Commerce, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, for having given valuable and useful references text and advice all along. Last but not least I would like to thank my husband Amal and two sons Nidula & fhisanga for their patience and the encouragement given to me to complete my M.Sc. Degree Programme. lv AB STRACT Stress is one of the most pervasive phenomena of our time and it affected people of all walks of life. Individuals in recent decades have experienced increasing stress in their personal and work lives, because people have multiple roles in a society that has become more complex. Women in Sri Lanka were not part of the regu]ar workforce because of Sri Lankan culture, which viewed the role of women as being limited to household matters. However, after introducing open economy in 1977, more women sought employment in various fields including garments factories. Consequently, as working women, they become more vulnerable to stress in both the work place and home. This research is an attempt to find out the potent work related and non-work related stressors that are prevalent among operational level female workers in garment factories of Sri Lanka's Free Trade Zones and the study analyses individual differences such as civil status, educational level and age of the workers as moderators in the job stress process. This study empirically investigated nine independent variables, which could influence on the job stress of the operational level female workers in garment factories in free trade zones. These independent variables were the design of the job, work roles, interpersonat relationships, management styles, career concerns and environmental conditions as work related factors and homework interface, fulfillment of physical needs and living conditions as non-work related stress factors. The moderating variables were civil status, educational level and age of the workers. V The study was conducted using a sample of 450 operational level female workers in the garment factories in Free Trade...