CAUSES AND MANAGEMENT OF JOB RELATED STRESS AMONG STAFF OF POLYTECHNIC LIBRARIES IN SOUTHERN NIGERIA
Author: Gladys Ngozi Onyia
Abstract
The study surveyed the causes, effects and techniques for managing job related stress among staff of polytechnic libraries in Southern Nigeria. Nine research questions and nine hypotheses were formulated to guide the study and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The ex post facto design was adopted for the study. The population for the study was 452 library staff made up of 160 librarians, 59 library officers and 233 support staff (library attendants and assistants) of federal and state owned polytechnics in Southern Nigeria. The census sampling technique was employed hence the entire population was used for the study. The questionnaire entitled: “Library staff job stress questionnaire (LSJSQ)” was used as the instrument for data collection. The reliability of the instrument was established through split-half method and an index of reliability r = 0.70 was obtained. Consequently, a total of 452 total copies of questionnaire were administered to all library staff of the 43 federal and state owned polytechnics located in Southern Nigeria while 371 copies were successfully retrieved and used for analysis. Frequency counts, percentages, mean were used to analyse data for the research questions. While z-test was used to analyse hypotheses I, II, and III as they involve a dichotomous variable (gender). ANOVA was used for hypotheses IV, V, VI, VII, VIII and IX which involve three or more independent groups. All inferential statistics were performed at a 0.05 level of significance. The study revealed among others, that the introduction and use of new technology, insufficient funds and non-conducive work environment are the major causes of job related stress to all library staff irrespective of age, gender and rank. It further revealed that Job dissatisfaction, depression, moodiness, disillusionment, frustration as well as negative job attitude are the main effect of job related stress amongst library staff irrespective of age, gender and rank; that seeking more information in order to clarify ambiguous role expectations, job sharing, flexible work time, socializing , keeping friendship and setting realistic goals are the techniques employed by library Staff to manage job stress irrespective of gender, age and rank. Study revealed that there is no difference in the causes of job related stress among library staff in terms of gender, age and rank. Moreso, that there is a significant difference in the effect of job stress among library staff in terms of gender, age as well as in the management techniques adopted by male and female library staff. The study recommends that management of polytechnics should provide a conducive work environment in the library. Furthermore, it is suggested that workload be reduced for individual staff while training and retraining of staff should be encouraged for optimum performance. Promotion and upgrading of staff should remain the institutional culture to encourage staff. It was also suggested that prototype stress management package be adopted by all library workers while management tips such as talk shows, interactive sessions and seminars be organized at regular intervals for staff to checkmate job stress.
Prof. E.E. Adomi
