Impact of Work and Family Stress on Employee Performance

The aim of the research is to analyze the impact of work and family stress on the performance of the employees in Pyramid Industry LLC. Stress is a common and universal challenge for the business organizations and employee productivity but it is a bitter reality in the modern day workplace. As the employees are the key pillars of the business organizations, inadequate employee performance results in poor organizational performance, increased rate of error, poor quality of work leading to high employee turnover rate. Apart from work related stress, family related stress also hampers the performance of the employees. Family related stress is due to issues in managing personal and professional life appropriately.

Running head: DISSERTATION
Impact of Work and Family Stress on Employee Performance: A Case Study of Pyramid
Industry LLC
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

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Acknowledgment
Thank you to all of those who have helped listened and encouraged me throughout this study. I
am indebted to my supervisor ……………………. whose guidance, advice and patience have
been immeasurable. My sincere thanks to all members of the…………… [Mention your
university/college name], both staff and students, whose continuous support have made this
thesis possible.
I would like to thank all of the participants in the study: students, teachers and Local Education
Authorities, for the time and help given throughout. Without their participation, this research
would not have been possible. In this context, I am also thankful to them, whose research work
helped me to execute this paper well.
Finally, I thank my family, without whom this thesis would not have been started or completed!
Your encouragement and support have never faltered; thank you.

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Abstract
The aim of the research is to analyze the impact of work and family stress on the performance of
the employees in Pyramid Industry LLC. Stress is a common and universal challenge for the
business organizations and employee productivity but it is a bitter reality in the modern day
workplace. As the employees are the key pillars of the business organizations, inadequate
employee performance results in poor organizational performance, increased rate of error, poor
quality of work leading to high employee turnover rate. Apart from work related stress, family
related stress also hampers the performance of the employees. Family related stress is due to
issues in managing personal and professional life appropriately.
It is supposed that stress results in poor performance of the employees, as they show minimized
engagement towards their job roles and responsibilities and unable to fulfill both individual and
organizational goals and objectives. The research is significant, as this will help in understanding
the concept of stress and employee performance that affects the performance of the employees
negatively. The research will also help in examining the perception of the employees in terms of
the effect stress has on their performance followed by determining whether a certain
demographic group has significant impact on stress on them compared to other demographic
group.
Positivism philosophy, deductive approach, descriptive design and survey research strategy has
been selected. 40 employees have been selected as the sample size by using probability-sampling
technique. Primary data collection process and quantitative data analysis process has been
selected. Co-relation and regression technique with the help of SPSS software has been used for
analyzing the impact work and family stress on employee performance is analyzed.

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From the data analysis, it could be inferred that null hypothesis has been rejected as the p-value
is less than 0.05 thereby, indicating the both work and family stress affects the performance of
the employees in Pyramid Industry LLC. Positive co-relation is found between impact of stress
on performance and impact of stress on behavioral changes of the employees as the co-relation
value obtained from the analysis is 0.615. Therefore, it can be inferred that stress affects the
performance of the employees. As a result, Pyramid Industry LLC needs to develop suitable
recommendations for eradicating stress and improving employee performance.

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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction....................................................................................................................9
1.0 Overview...........................................................................................................................9
1.1 Problem statement...............................................................................................................10
1.2 Research aim........................................................................................................................10
1.3 Research objectives.............................................................................................................10
1.4 Research questions...............................................................................................................11
1.5 Research hypothesis.............................................................................................................11
1.6 Research rationale................................................................................................................12
1.7 Structure of the dissertation.................................................................................................12
1.8 Summary..............................................................................................................................13
Chapter 2: Literature review..........................................................................................................15
2.0 Overview..............................................................................................................................15
2.1 Conceptual framework.........................................................................................................15
2.2 Concept of stress..................................................................................................................16
2.3 Factors affecting stress........................................................................................................16
2.3.1 Financial issues.............................................................................................................16
2.3.2 Work issues...................................................................................................................17
2.3.3 Family issues................................................................................................................17

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2.3.4 Issues with co-workers.................................................................................................18
2.3.5 Health related issues.....................................................................................................18
2.3.6 Issues with supervisors.................................................................................................19
2.4 Social effect of stress on individuals...................................................................................19
2.5 Technique of coping with stress..........................................................................................20
2.6 Impact of stress on the human body....................................................................................21
2.6.1 Physiological.................................................................................................................21
2.6.2 Behavioral.....................................................................................................................21
2.6.3 Psychological................................................................................................................21
2.7 Concept of employee performance......................................................................................22
2.8 Factors affecting employee performance.............................................................................22
2.8.1 Morale and company culture........................................................................................23
2.8.2 Job security...................................................................................................................23
2.8.3 Stress.............................................................................................................................24
2.8.4 Working environment and relationship........................................................................24
2.9 Impact of stress on employee performance.........................................................................25
2.10 Summary............................................................................................................................25
Chapter 3: Research methodology.................................................................................................27
3.0 Overview..............................................................................................................................27
3.1 Research outline...................................................................................................................27

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3.2 Research philosophy............................................................................................................27
3.2.1 Explaining the selection of positivism philosophy.......................................................28
3.3 Research approach...............................................................................................................28
3.3.1 Explaining the selection of deductive approach...........................................................28
3.4 Research design...................................................................................................................28
3.4.1 Explaining the selection of descriptive design.............................................................29
3.5 Research strategy.................................................................................................................29
3.5.1 Explaining the selection of survey research strategy....................................................29
3.6 Sampling technique and sampling size................................................................................29
3.6.1 Explaining the selection of probability sampling technique.........................................29
3.7 Data collection process........................................................................................................30
3.7.1 Explaining the selection of primary data collection process........................................30
3.8 Data analysis technique.......................................................................................................30
3.8.1 Explaining the selection of quantitative data analysis technique.................................30
3.9 Ethical considerations..........................................................................................................31
3.10 Accessibility issues............................................................................................................31
3.11 Summary............................................................................................................................32
Chapter 4: Data analysis................................................................................................................33
4.0 Overview..............................................................................................................................33
4.1 Descriptive analysis.............................................................................................................34

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4.2 Inferential analysis...............................................................................................................38
4.2.1 Co-relation analysis......................................................................................................38
4.2.2 Regression analysis.......................................................................................................40
4.3 Summary..............................................................................................................................42
Chapter 5: Interpretation and discussion.......................................................................................43
5.0 Overview..............................................................................................................................43
5.1 Discussion............................................................................................................................43
5.2 Summary..............................................................................................................................46
Chapter 6: Conclusion and recommendations...............................................................................47
6.0 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................47
6.1 Linking with objectives.......................................................................................................47
6.2 Recommendations................................................................................................................49
6.3 Future scope of the study.....................................................................................................50
Reflective statement.......................................................................................................................51
References......................................................................................................................................54
Appendix 1.....................................................................................................................................62
Survey questionnaire.................................................................................................................62

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List of Figures
Figure 1: Conceptual framework...................................................................................................16
Figure 2: Demographic analysis....................................................................................................34
Figure 3: Employees details...........................................................................................................36
Figure 4: Stress and its impact.......................................................................................................37

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Chapter 1: Introduction
1.0 Overview
Stress is a common and universal challenge for the business organizations and employee
productivity but it is a bitter reality in the modern day workplace. However, stress is
misunderstood and misinterpreted several times that leads to unavoidable problems. Therefore, it
is necessary to understand stress before find ways of mitigating it. According to Reb et al.
(2018), employees working in different business sectors have to deal with stress that hampers the
performance of the employees. As the employees are the key pillars of the business
organizations, inadequate employee performance results in poor organizational performance,
increased rate of error, poor quality of work leading to high employee turnover rate. The inner
realization of being unable to fulfill their job roles and responsibilities leads to depression
thereby, diverting the employees from achieving organizational goals and objectives (Yao et al.,
2014).
Apart from work related stress, family related stress also hampers the performance of the
employees. Family related stress is due to issues in managing personal and professional life
appropriately. As a result, the mind of the employees is always disturbed that prevents them to
concentrate on their work, prioritize and plan work accordingly. As a result, the employees are
unable to meet their targets and miss deadlines that shatter their inner confidence and self-
esteem. Therefore, it is necessary for the business organizations to understand the reason of
stress for the employees and find ways to mitigate them, as employee performance results
improved organizational performance (Elder et al., 2014).

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Pyramid Industry LLC, is started in 1996 which was the first Mongolian Manufacturing
company. Since then, the company has been producing various types of pressured foams and fire
resistant foam board with high technology and quality also Pyramid Industry has been supplying
the needs of the local business.
1.1 Problem statement
Stress is an undeniable aspect in today’s workplace that affects the performance of the
employees. Stress has become a common issue among the employees due to increased
competition in the workplace. It is supposed that stress results in poor performance of the
employees, as they show minimized engagement towards their job roles and responsibilities and
unable to fulfill both individual and organizational goals and objectives (Riaz et al., 2016). In
this highly competitive world, stress is due to different reasons such as financial issues,
inadequate staff that puts extra work load on individual employees, issues in the family, co-
workers and supervisors. The workplace is a diversified place with employees with different
beliefs and attitudes and working together gives rise to conflicts thereby, giving rise to stress.
Lack of trust, disrespect and support for each other are other reasons of work life stress for the
employees that affect their performance negatively (Zafar et al., 2015).
1.2 Research aim
The aim of the research is to analyze the impact of work and family stress on the
performance of the employees in Pyramid Industry LLC.
1.3 Research objectives
The objectives of the research:
 To understand the concept of stress and employee performance

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 To critically examine the stress factors related to work
 To investigate the employee perceptions of effects of work related to employee
performance
 To determine if there are significant differences on the results when respondents are
grouped according to demographics
 To provide suitable recommendations for overcoming work and family stress for
improving employee performance
1.4 Research questions
The questions of the research are:
 What do you mean by stress and employee performance?
 What is the stress factors related to work?
 What is the employee perceptions of effects of work related to employee performance?
 What are the significant differences on the results when respondents are grouped
according to demographics?
 What are the suitable recommendations for overcoming work and family stress for
improving employee performance?
1.5 Research hypothesis
The hypotheses of the research are:
H0: Work and family stress has no impact on employee performance
H1: Work and family stress has an impact on employee performance

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1.6 Research rationale
Both work and family stress has been identified as the cause of deteriorated employee
performance and analyzing the impact of work and family stress will help in understanding the
extent it affects the performance of the employees within an organization. The research is
significant, as this will help in understanding the concept of stress and employee performance
that affects the performance of the employees negatively (Nart & Batur, 2014). In addition to, the
research is also significant because this will help in examining the factors those results in stress
at work. Identifying the reasons of family and work stress will help in assessing the relationship
between any kind stresses, work or family related with employee performance. As a result, it will
be easier to compare the performance of employees in the presence or absence of work or family
related stress (Awadh, Gichinga & Ahmed, 2015).
The research will also help in examining the perception of the employees in terms of the
effect stress has on their performance followed by determining whether a certain demographic
group has significant impact on stress on them compared to other demographic group.
Addressing the factors resulting in stress either from family or work will also help in suggesting
ways of mitigating stress for improving employee performance. Therefore, the research of
analyzing the impact of work and family stress on employee performance is significant (LePine
et al., 2016).
1.7 Structure of the dissertation
The entire structure of this dissertation is divided into six major chapters. The first
chapter is the introductory chapter that provides an overview of the selected research topic along
with identifying the problem that will be researched in the study. Based on it, the research aim,
objectives and hypothesis are developed that are studied throughout the study. This chapter is

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followed by the literature review chapter that deals with studying previously conducted
researches containing similar and relevant information and critically analyzing the data for
developing rich data-content study. Relevant theories are also provided in this chapter for
developing an in-depth knowledge.
Research methods is the third chapter that helps in understanding the different
methodological tools by defining them followed by selecting and justifying the selection in
respect to the research topic. This chapter also highlights the significant research ethics and the
issues encountered while proceeding with the research work. In the next chapter, relevant data
are collected by using the mentioned research methods for fulfilling the research aim and
objectives. The next chapter interprets and discusses the findings by relating the findings with
the information provided in the literature review chapter. The last chapter deduces an overall
conclusion by summarizing everything and providing suitable recommendations for overcoming
the identified gap.
1.8 Summary
Thus, in this chapter, it can be summarized that stress is becoming a common issues in
today’s workplace that is hampering the performance of the employees. Due to increased stress,
the employees are unable to concentrate on work, results in increased rate of error and poor
quality of work. Stress at work results in employee health issues such as emotional breakdown,
anxiety, depression and unable to maintain both personal and professional life. Due to such
issues, employees lose self-confidence and self-esteem that hampers their ability to perform their
job roles and responsibilities thereby, hampering the performance. Apart from stress at work,
family stress also hampers employee performance because the issues at family results in

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continuous disturbances for the employees thereby, diverting them from fulfilling their job roles
and responsibilities appropriately.

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Work and family stress
Financial issues
Work issues
Family issues
Issues with co-workers
Health-related issues
Issues with supervisors
Employee performance
Morale and organizational culture
Job security
Stress
Working environment and relationship
Chapter 2: Literature review
2.0 Overview
The literature review chapter identifies the independent and the dependent variable based
on which the entire layout of the chapter is structured. The chapter reviews past researches and
critically analyzes information in similar field thereby, gathering in-depth information. For this
research, the literature review emphasizes on stress and employee performance. Previous studies
in these topics are reviewed and critically evaluated by comparing and contrasting the viewpoints
and opinions of various authors. The information gathered helped in understanding the concepts
of stress and employee performance followed by analyzing the impact, techniques of coping up
with stress thereby, ensuring enhanced employee performance.
2.1 Conceptual framework

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Figure 1: Conceptual framework
(Source: Created by Author)
2.2 Concept of stress
Stress is often misinterpreted and misunderstood that result in avoidable challenges and is
becoming an undeniable fact and an increasing problem for business organizations. According to
Daniel (2015), stress is defined as the tension, force or pressure subjected upon an individual
who resists these forces thereby, upholding its true state. However, as argued by Freedy and
Hobfoll (2017), the concept of stress highlights the undesirable response that individual show
tremendous pressure or other types of demands put on them. Therefore, it can be inferred that
stress arises when individuals worry that cannot deal with the situation, pressure of force put on
them. Individuals encounter stress undesirable forces both at work and family and are becoming
an increasing concern for the business organizations.
2.3 Factors affecting stress
An individual comes across situations that are not desired by them thereby, giving rise to
stress for them. It can be because of both personal and professional life of the individuals. The
factors identified to affect stress are financial, health, work and family issues along with issues
with fellow colleagues and supervisors.
2.3.1 Financial issues
Having an adequate financial background ensures a standard life for the individuals.
However, maintaining an appropriate financial standard is often an issue that results in stress. As
mentioned by Jongman et al., (2014), lack of appropriate budgeting and money management
skills results in financial issues for the individuals. Once they succumb to the financial crisis, it is

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hard for them to revive and get off the financial issues. Therefore, lack of financial stability leads
to stress for individuals, as their standard of living is compromised largely. However, as argued
by Adams, Meyers and Beidas (2016), apart from inappropriate budgeting, decreased income or
low salary offered by the business organizations also leads to stress for the employees.
Inadequate income becomes a major concern for the employees due to which they have to look
for alternatives to overcome the financial issue thereby, hampering employee performance.
2.3.2 Work issues
Stress at work is becoming a major concern due to a variety of reasons. The business
environment has become highly competitive and the business organizations are working hard for
sustaining the competitive market. As mentioned by Armstrong, Atkin-Plunk and Wells (2015),
the business organizations have impractical and unfeasible expectations from the employees in
order to gain competitive advantage. This is often regarded as an undesirable force and pressure
on the employees that leads to stress because the employees are able to match up with the
expectation put on them. However, as argued by Ciby and Raya (2014), the unfeasible and
impractical expectation results in performance issues among the employees. The employees lack
planning, prioritizing and strategizing and often get flustered thereby, leading in poor work
quality and unable to deliver within time.
2.3.3 Family issues
A family is an integral part of the life of the employees and influences the performance
of the employees largely. According to Sundaresan (2014), unable to strike a balance between
the work and family life is the major reason that gives rise to issues within the family thereby,
resulting in stress. In order to fulfill and cope up with the impractical and unfeasible expectation
of the organizations, the employees are unable to balance their personal and professional life.

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The employees encounter anger, anxiety and sadness that give rise to stress and have a negative
impact on their performance. However, as criticized by Yadav and Yadav (2014), conflicts in the
family regarding personal issues also result in stress that is reflected in the performance of the
employees. They show less concentration and deliver poor quality work thereby, raising
questions about their performance.
2.3.4 Issues with co-workers
The workplace is a diversified environment with employees from a different background,
habit, nature and attitude. This makes conflict among the employees quiet evident and gives rise
to stress at work. According to Shukla and Srivastava (2016), conflicts with fellow colleagues
are noticed due to the difference in attitudes and nature of perceiving things. The employees lack
patience and flexibility of listening to co-workers and considering their thought. It has been seen
that employees have a tendency to voicing their opinion and demanding it to be accepted and
followed. However, as criticized by Greenbaum et al., (2014), lack of effective communication is
also an issue with co-workers due to which clear flow of information is noticed. Therefore, it can
be said that conflicts and ineffective communication are the main reason for issues with co-
workers that results in employee stress.
2.3.5 Health related issues
Health is the primary concern for individuals, as an individual can perform the best when
the individual is at the pink of their health. As commented by Zander et al., (2015), headaches
are a common health-related issue that results in stress for the employees. An individual can
encounter headache due to different reasons and it restricts them to offer complete concentration
at work. Discontinuous and interrupted concentration is noticed that gives rise to stress for the
employees. The stress keeps on building as the employees are unable to concentrate at work and

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are not satisfied due to their performance. However, as argued by Scott and Havercamp (2014),
depression and anxiety are other health issues that result in stress for the employees. Employees
feel depressed and anxiety due to various reasons that give rise to stress and affect their
performance negatively.
2.3.6 Issues with supervisors
At the workplace, the employees report to their immediate supervisors that often are the
major reason for stress for them. According to Gulvani and Shinde (2014), preference or
partiality is one of the major reasons that give rise to issues with supervisors. Under certain
circumstances, the supervisors tend to show preference towards particular employees and support
and favor them more compared to other employees. This gives rise to stress, as in spite of being
deserving the employees are not recognized or not given adequate opportunities. Additionally,
their career advancement is also questioned and compromised. However, as argued by Moreland
and Apker (2016), significantly different personalities also results in issues between supervisors
and the employees. As a result, both of them have issues in understanding each other and
working together thereby, giving rise to stress and hampering employee performance.
2.4 Social effect of stress on individuals
Stress makes an individual or an employee highly unpredictable and imposes negative
impact of the social nature of the employees that hamper their performance at work. As
mentioned by Khamisa et al., (2015), the employees going through stress face difficulty in
communicating at work. As a result, the clear flow of information at the workplace is
compromised due to which repetitive actions and delays in delivering work are noticed. It takes
longer than usual in completing tasks and achieving organizational goals and objectives.
However, as argued by Lescop and Lescop (2014), the employees become impatient and

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disrespect people in the surrounding when they undergo stress. Being impatient results in
increased mistakes and improper planning due to which the progress is questioned. Additionally,
disrespecting others give rise to conflicts, as self-respect and self-esteem are hurt.
On the other hand, employees face difficulty in listening when they are under stress. This
is because the employees are flustered and think about the cause of stress continuously
consciously or sub-consciously due to which they are unable to listen appropriately. As a result,
they fail to consider important and valuable information at work and employee performance is
questioned (Franklin, 2016).
2.5 Technique of coping with stress
It is necessary for the employees to cope up with stress with immediate effect so that it
does not affect their performance. However, depending on individual nature and attitude, the
employees find ways of coping up with stress. As mentioned by Mason et al., (2017), individuals
might eat, drink and sleep more in order to cope with stress. This is because eating, sleeping and
drinking make the employees feel happy and satisfied and these results in diverting their mind
from stress for some time. However, as argued by Moon et al., (2014), excessive eating, sleeping
and drinking result in disorders that give rise to health issues and complexities.
According to Drury et al., (2014), individuals can relieve stress by playing computer
games and using social media platforms. The employees engage them in these virtual platforms
and find an escape from the stress that they undergo. However, as criticized by Uchino, kent de
Grey and Cronan (2016), over involvement with the virtual platforms can lead to addiction that is
dangerous for the employees and the addiction hampers their performance at work. On a positive

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side, some employees also engage themselves in sports, exercise and spend time with family for
coping up with stress.
2.6 Impact of stress on the human body
Stress affects the human body in terms of behavior, psychology and physiology that gives
rise to unnatural and undesirable outcomes for the employees and their performances.
2.6.1 Physiological
Exposure of constant stress can result in long-term health problems such as heart issues
and blood pressure issues. Stress results in increased heart rate and stress hormones thereby,
facilitating high blood pressure, abnormal heart rhythms. As a result, heart diseases such as heart
attack and stroke occur and give rise to fatal outcomes. Additionally, consistently high blood
pressure results in kidney failure (Dangi et al., 2014).
2.6.2 Behavioral
The employees encounter behavioral issues such as moodiness, loneliness, general
unhappiness, irritability and anger due to continuous and consistent exposure to stress. As a
result, the employees undergoing stress does not feel like communicating isolate them from the
surrounding and develop irritation frequently. This hampers the relationship of the individual
with the surrounding people and they develop a bad image for the individual. The employees
slowly succumb to the behavioral issues due to stress and are unable to overcome it, as they lack
support due to behavioral issues (Sueoka et al., 2014).
2.6.3 Psychological
The psychological effects due to stress include a feeling of distress, mood swings and
anxiety. As a result, the employees are unable to concentrate on their work, plan and strategize

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accordingly due to which they deliver work within time and with quality. Decreased employee
performance also hampers the organizational performance because the employees are the key
pillars of the business organizations and their performance up lifts the overall organizational
performance (Beehr, 2014).
2.7 Concept of employee performance
Employees are the key aspects of the business organizations and their efficiency and
contribution help in up lifting the performance of the organizations. According to Shields et al.,
(2015), employee performance is defined as the job related activities expected from an employee
and is determined by accessing how well the employees have performed individual roles and
responsibilities. Business organizations access the performance of the employees annually or
quarterly and help them in identifying suggested areas that need improvement. However, as
argued by Chen et al., (2014), the efficiency and dedication shown by the employees towards
their job roles and responsibilities are known as employee performance. Business organizations
need to ensure effective and efficient employee performance for achieving organizational goals
and objectives and gaining competitive advantage.
2.8 Factors affecting employee performance
The performance of the employees is affected by factors such as organizational culture
and morale, job security, stress, working environment and relationship. The aforementioned
factors play a significant role in deriving the best out of the employees and ensuring that they
adhere to their individual roles and responsibilities effectively and efficiently.

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2.8.1 Morale and company culture
As known, organizational culture is defined as the set of values and behaviors that
contribute to the unique psychological environment of an organization. According to Hogan and
Coote (2014), the organizational culture facilitating positive and friendly working environment
provides an opportunity for the employees to flourish. The employees can work in a free mind
and conflict free environment showing support and guidance for each other due to which they are
able to perform their roles and responsibilities excellently. However, as argued by Naranjo-
Valencia, Jiménez-Jiménez and Sanz-Valle (2016), the organizational culture promoting high
morale also improves employee performance, as the employees feel motivated and confident in
performing the roles given to them.
2.8.2 Job security
Apart from job satisfaction, individuals look for employment for financial stability and
earning the livelihood. Thus, having a secured job makes the employees relaxed and concentrates
more in fulfilling the roles and responsibilities given to them. As mentioned by Dugguh and
Dennis (2014), having a secured job makes the employees feel relaxed about their position in the
company. As a result, they give the best and even more when required in order to make the
workplace happy. This approach enables business organizations to achieve goals and objectives
successfully. However, as criticized by Kiruja and Mukuru (2018), having a secured job
motivates the employees thereby, showing a greater level of engagement towards their roles and
responsibilities. Therefore, upon accessing it can be seen that the employees excel in their given
roles thereby, highlighting excellent employee performance.

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2.8.3 Stress
As discussed before, stress affects the performance of the employees largely. According
to Reb et al., (2018), due to stress, the employees become incapable of concentrating on their job
roles and responsibilities. As a result, when accessed, it can be seen that the employees are
failing to fulfill their job roles and responsibilities. Due to stress, the employees are unable to
plan and strategize their work and fails in ensuring quality and delivering work on time.
However, as argued by Ratnawat and Jha (2014), stress results in health issues such as fatigue,
headache, irritability, high blood pressure and cardiac issues. Due to health problems, the
employees are unable to work and fulfill the roles and responsibilities given to them and the
employee performance is affected negatively.
2.8.4 Working environment and relationship
Employees spend eight hours or more at work thereby, spending a huge amount of time at
the workplace. Thus, the working environment and the relationship with the co-workers have a
huge impact on the performance of the employees. According to Tims, Bakker and Derks (2014),
positive working environment and relationship with the co-workers provide an opportunity for
the employees to work in free mind and flourish. As a result, the employees are able to show a
higher level of dedication and commitment while performing their job roles and responsibilities.
A positive relationship with co-workers ensures support and guidance from fellow colleagues
that help in overcoming challenges at work and using individual strengths for performing job
roles thereby, ensuring improved employee performance (Dane & Brummel, 2014). Therefore,
when accessed, it is seen that the employees are delivering work within time and with quality.

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2.9 Impact of stress on employee performance
As per the discussion in the above sections, it can be said that stress only has a negative
impact on employee performance. There is no positive impact of stress on employee
performance because stress makes the employees excel at their job roles and responsibilities.
According to Fu and Deshpande (2014), stress results in behavioral changes such as anger and
irritability in the employees due to which they might behave disrespectfully with surrounding
people. People fail to recognize that individuals are undergoing stress and misinterpret negative
behavior as individual habit and nature. As a result, employees lack support and help and they
succumb to stress and are faltering in performing their roles and responsibilities. Thus, when
accessed, it can be seen that the employees have not been doing well thereby, questioning the
employee performance.
However, as argued by Zhang et al., (2014), stress results in chronic health issues in
individuals that lead to the development of severe health issues. Prolonged exposure to stress
results in heart and blood pressure issues among the employees that make them weak due to
which they are unable to give their best towards the roles assigned to them. For instance, the
employees rely on medicines and the inner thought of being ill hampers the mental peace that is
highlighted in their capability of fulfilling their roles and responsibilities. The employees become
cranky, impatient and disrespectful that affects the employee performance. Therefore, it is
suggested that stress at work and family should be mitigated in order to ensure improved
employee performance.
2.10 Summary
Thus, in this chapter, it can be summarized that stress is becoming in today’s workplace
and is having an adverse impact on the performance of the employees. The increased pressure of

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work, the impractical and unfeasible expectations leads to undesirable outcomes that affect the
performance of the employees. Due to prolonged exposure to stress at work, the employees
develop irritability and anger that affects their relationship with co-workers, supervisors and
family members. As a result, the employees are misunderstood about having behavioral issues
due to which people become hesitant in offering help to them. The employees get diverted from
their goal, lack attention and concentration due to stress and are unable to ensure quality, fails in
delivering work on time, encounters repetition and mistakes that affect the performance of the
employees negatively.

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Chapter 3: Research methodology
3.0 Overview
This chapter provides an overview of the existing research methods that are used while
proceeding with research work. The chapter states and defines each of the research methods by
mentioning their significant characteristics followed by justifying the selection of specific
research methods for the selected topic. Apart from mentioning and justifying the selection, the
chapter also sheds light on the research ethics that are mandatory to follow for ensuring
completion of the investigation successfully followed by highlighting the accessibility issues that
were encountered as well.
3.1 Research outline
As the topic selected is to investigate the impact of work and family stress on employee
stress, positivism philosophy, deductive approach, descriptive design and survey research
strategy has been selected. In accordance with the aforementioned research methods, 40
employees have been selected as the sample size by using probability-sampling technique.
Keeping in mind the research methods, primary data collection process and quantitative data
analysis process has been selected. The primary data collected in then analyzed by using co-
relation and regression technique with the help of SPSS software. As a result, the impact of work
and family stress on employee performance is analyzed.
3.2 Research philosophy
The three research philosophies practiced while conducting research work are positivism,
interpretivism and pragmatism philosophy. The research philosophies are selected in accordance
with the research topic (Kumar, 2019).

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3.2.1 Explaining the selection of positivism philosophy
According to the topic, positivism philosophy is the most appropriate. The selection of
positivism philosophy is the most appropriate because this facilitated the use of factual
knowledge about work and family stress and make quantifiable observations logically.
Positivism philosophy allowed the use of scientific and statistical data thereby, ensuring data
validity, reliability and authenticity. Thus, the data obtained are scientifically proven that is
further supported by specific explanation and justification (Mackey & Gass, 2015).
3.3 Research approach
The two research approaches are inductive and deductive approach. The selection of the
particular research approach is based on the selected research philosophy and the nature of the
research topic (Silverman, 2016).
3.3.1 Explaining the selection of deductive approach
According to the topic, deductive approach is the most appropriate. This is because
deductive approach is the best suited when positivism philosophy has been opted. Additionally,
deductive approach allows deducing observations based on existing ideas, theories and models.
Thus, the use of deductive approach allowed emphasizing on concepts of stress and employee
performance thereby, determining the impact of stress on the performance of the employees
(Taylor, Bogdan & DeVault, 2015).
3.4 Research design
The three research designs are exploratory, explanatory and descriptive design. The
appropriate selection of research design is important because this facilitates the action plan for
undertaking the research (Flick, 2015).

29DISSERTATION
3.4.1 Explaining the selection of descriptive design
According to the topic, descriptive design is the most suited. The use of descriptive
design helps in both exploring and explaining the issues that are studied within the research. As a
result, work and family has been identified as a stress factor followed by understanding the
reason of being termed as stress factor that has an impact on the performance of the employees.
Once the reasons of stress have been identified due to descriptive design, suitable
recommendations are provided for overcoming stress and improving performance of the
employees (Neuman & Robson, 2014).
3.5 Research strategy
Survey, interview, action research and case study research are the four types of research
strategies that are used while proceeding undertaking a research work (Ledford & Gast, 2018).
3.5.1 Explaining the selection of survey research strategy
According to the topic, survey is the best suited because this provides an opportunity to
collect data and information from large employee population. The large population of employee
is able to share their opinions and viewpoints about why work and family can act as stress for
them and how that affects their performance at work (Bresler & Stake, 2017).
3.6 Sampling technique and sampling size
Probability and non-probability sampling technique are the two most widely used
sampling techniques when a research work is undertaken (Bauer, 2014).
3.6.1 Explaining the selection of probability sampling technique
According to the topic, probability sampling technique is the best suited. This is because
probability-sampling technique offers equal chances or probability of being selected in the data

30DISSERTATION
collection process thereby, ensuring that their opinion and viewpoint is considered in
investigating the research topic. The probability technique help in selecting 40 employees as the
sample size for determining the impact of work and family stress on the performance of the
employees (Choy, 2014).
3.7 Data collection process
Primary and secondary are the only two data collection processes that are used while
undertaking a research work (Quinlan et al., 2019).
3.7.1 Explaining the selection of primary data collection process
According to the topic, primary data collection process is the best suited because the
researcher would be the first one to collect data about the mentioned research topic. As a result,
the data collected from the employees about work and family stress are recent and relevant to the
present day situation thereby, determining employee performance accordingly (McCusker and
Gunaydin, 2015).
3.8 Data analysis technique
Qualitative and quantitative are only two types for analyzing data while undertaking a
research investigation (Walliman, 2017).
3.8.1 Explaining the selection of quantitative data analysis technique
According to the topic, quantitative data analysis technique is the best suited.
Quantitative data analysis technique focuses on the numbers that helps in determining the
number of employees whose performance is hampered or negatively affected due to work and
family stress. The SPSS tool is used for applying co-relation and regression analysis thereby,

31DISSERTATION
analysing whether stress and employee performance is related and have a significant impact on
one another (Humphries, 2017).
3.9 Ethical considerations
Abiding by the research ethics is significant in ensuring the completion of the research
successfully. Data confidentiality is one of the most significant research ethics that needs to be
followed. According to this ethics, the identity and the data shared by the participants should not
be disclosed without their consent. Data confidentiality needs to be ensured for mitigating
conflicts and biasness. Another significant research ethics is willing participation. The researcher
cannot force the individuals to be a part of the data collection process (Forrester & Sullivan,
2018). The researcher must share the research aim and objectives and convince the individuals to
share their opinions regarding it. Thus, signing the consent form is one of the suitable methods of
ensuring willing participation. Harming the surrounding environment, animals and humans is
strictly against the ethics of the research. The data and information used for developing the
research needs to be collected from authentic resources. The use of authentic data helps in
enriching the quality of the research work. Additionally, the use data manipulation is also strictly
prohibited according to the research ethics, as this supports the use of original data (Wolgemuth
et al., 2015).
3.10 Accessibility issues
The two accessibility issues encountered by the researcher while commencing with the
research work are budget and time. The researcher had limited time for completing the entire
research work. As a result, the researcher had to rush collecting data and information relevant to
the topic. Limited time restricted the researcher from conducting in-depth research about the
topic. On the other hand, limited time allowed few meetings with the research supervisor due to

32DISSERTATION
which the researcher was unable to unable to whether the work is proceeding in the right
direction or not. Secondly, budget has also been an issue for this research. Limited budget
prohibited the researcher from accessing highly relevant and important information about the
topic, as it required paying.
3.11 Summary
Thus, in this chapter, it can be summarized that the best suited and most appropriate
research methods has been selected for analyzing the impact of work and family stress on
employee performance. The use of selected methodologies helped in providing depth and quality
to the information and data gathered about how the performance of the employees are affected
due to the stress they encounter both at work and at family.

33DISSERTATION
Chapter 4: Data analysis
4.0 Overview
In this chapter, the collected data is analyzed by undertaking suitable data analysis
technique with the aim of generating desired results. The data collected is analyzed using
descriptive and inferential analysis in the quantitative data analysis technique that aim towards
determining the impact of work stress on the performance of the employees for Pyramid Industry
LLC. Both co-relation and regression analysis has been undertaken for determining whether the
null hypothesis is being accepted or rejected. The results obtained have adequate statistical
evidence that justifies the results obtained.

34DISSERTATION
4.1 Descriptive analysis
Figure 2: Demographic analysis

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The above figure highlights that the male employees those are married aged 31-40 years
with a monthly income of above 1000,000MNT are more vulnerable to stress at Pyramid
industry LLC. The reason of prone to stress for employees of this section in the company is due
to the years of being employed in the company and the average monthly salary of the employees.
With a work experience of 2-5 years in the company and such a high monthly salary, the
company has unfeasible and impractical expectations from the male employees. The company is
putting additional pressure and burden on the male employees for fulfilling the unfeasible
expectation they have from them that is a major cause of stress for the employees.
As a result of the increased work pressure and burden, the employees at Pyramid Industry
LLC are losing concentration and unable to manage and prioritize their work. Due to this, the
employees are unable to deliver within time thereby, piling up work. Pressure of clearing
previous work and newly assigned tasks and responsibilities is becoming a stress for the
employees in the company. Therefore, unable to prioritize and manage tasks is affecting the
performance of the employees, as they are failing to deliver tasks within time and even if
delivered; the quality of the work is not up to the standard.

36DISSERTATION
Figure 3: Employees details
The above figure indicates that the current position of the male employees those are
married aged 31-40 years with a monthly income of above 1000,000MNT are others such as the
technical staffs, executive level employees and departmental heads and have good relationship
with the co-workers. Therefore, it can be said that the current designation of the employees and
their relationship with the co-workers are not the reason of stress in the company. As a result, it
can be inferred that relationship with co-workers is not a factor that is resulting in stress for the
employees in Pyramid Industry LLC and affecting their performance negatively.
The communication, co-ordination, co-operation and support among the employees for
each other in the company are positive and healthy. But individual stress due to more tasks and
responsibilities, lack of authority and inability to handle it is affecting the performance of the
individual employees. Due to good relationship, the co-workers are helping each other but this is
having a negative impact on their individual tasks and responsibilities. As a result, they are
unable to fulfill the company is having from themselves thereby, causing additional pressure and
burden for them.

37DISSERTATION
Figure 4: Stress and its impact
The figure presented above indicates that the usual reason of stress for the employees
working in the company is due to both family and work issues. Due to the family and work
issues, the employees are encountering behavioral changes such as anger, irritability, difficulty in
communicating and inability to rest and relax. The employees are also facing social issues such
as being impatient and disrespectful towards others and communication difficulties.
As the stress at work is accumulating for the employees, they are unable to strike and
maintain a balance between work and family. Lack of adequate time for family is giving rise to
conflicts between the employees and their family due to which they are developing behavioral
changes such as irritation, anger, communication difficulties, disrespectful towards others and
impatience. As the employees are lacking peace of mind and clear head space while coming to

38DISSERTATION
work, behavioral changes and negative social results is becoming evident in their personal
characteristics. As a result of the behavioral changes, the employees are unable to manage and
prioritize work, lacking concentration and focus that is affecting their performance. Majority of
the employees feel that spending time with loved ones is the best stress buster alongside taking
adequate rest and sleep.
4.2 Inferential analysis
4.2.1 Co-relation analysis
The strength of association between the pairs is defined by co-relation analysis. The
correlation value from 0 to -1 highlights negative association between the variables whereas
correlation values from 0 to +1 highlights positive association between the variables. However, 0
value indicates that the variables are not associated with each other.

39DISSERTATION
Correlations
Do you
think work
stress is
influencing
in your
work
performance
in Pyramid
Industry?
Do you
think stress
can cause
behavioural
changes?
Do you think
stress can
affect your
performance?
Have you
ever been
stressed?
Do you think work
stress is influencing
in your work
performance in
Pyramid Industry?
Pearson
Correlation
1 .017 .250 .299
Sig. (2-tailed) .918 .119 .061
N 40 40 40 40
Do you think stress
can cause behavioral
changes?
Pearson
Correlation
.017 1 .615** .174
Sig. (2-tailed) .918 .000 .282
N 40 40 40 40
Do you think stress
can affect your
performance?
Pearson
Correlation
.250 .615** 1 .201
Sig. (2-tailed) .119 .000 .214
N 40 40 40 40
Have you ever been
stressed?
Pearson
Correlation
.299 .174 .201 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .061 .282 .214
N 40 40 40 40
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
The results obtained from the co-relation analysis indicate that the co-relation value is
0.615 between behavioral changes due to stress and its impact on their performance. This infers
positive association between two variables that is justified. As known the major behavioral
change due to stresses in the employees are anger, irritability and communication difficulties
followed by inability to relax and rest. The employees are unable to concentrate, focus, plan,
prioritize and strategize their work due to behavioral changes such as anger, irritability and

40DISSERTATION
communication difficulties. As a result, the employees are getting flustered at work and making
mistakes that is hampering the quality and standard of the tasks and responsibilities assigned to
them. Therefore, the co-relation analysis indicates that behavioral changes on the employees of
Pyramid Industry LLC due to stress are affecting their performance negatively.
4.2.2 Regression analysis
The null hypothesis in a statistical test infers that the variables lack significant difference.
Therefore, if the p-value of the regression analysis is less than 0.05, it can be said that the null
hypothesis is rejected and the alternate hypothesis is accepted. The value of the p– value is
determined by 95% confidence level.
Model Summary
Model R R Square
Adjusted R
Square
Std. Error of
the Estimate
1 .609a .371 .319 .597
a. Predictors: (Constant), How well do you handle stress?,
Your job has a lot of tasks and responsibilities, but you
don't have authority in your company (Pyramid Industry)?,
Do you think you can handle stress?

41DISSERTATION
Coefficientsa
Model
Unstandardized
Coefficients
Standardiz
ed
Coefficien
ts
t Sig.
95.0% Confidence
Interval for B
B
Std.
Error Beta
Lower
Bound
Upper
Bound
1 (Constant) -.005 .634 -.008 .994 -1.291 1.281
Your job has a
lot of tasks and
responsibilities,
but you don't
have authority in
your company
(Pyramid
Industry)?
.593 .151 .602 3.918 .000 .286 .901
Do you think
you can handle
stress?
.069 .154 .092 .449 .656 -.243 .382
How well do
you handle
stress?
.239 .146 .298 1.634 .111 -.058 .536
a. Dependent Variable: Is your job often interfering with your family and social obligations,
or personal needs?
ANOVAa
Model
Sum of
Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
1 Regression 7.578 3 2.526 7.092 .001b
Residual 12.822 36 .356
Total 20.400 39
a. Dependent Variable: Is your job often interfering with your family and social
obligations, or personal needs?
b. Predictors: (Constant), How well do you handle stress?, Your job has a lot of
tasks and responsibilities, but you don't have authority in your company (Pyramid
Industry)?, Do you think you can handle stress?

42DISSERTATION
The results obtained from the regression analysis indicate that the p– value between the
independent and dependent variables is less than 0.05. Therefore, it can be said that the null
hypothesis is rejected and there is a significant difference between the interference of job with
family and social obligations and the ability of the employees to handle stress and lack of
authority for the employees for the tasks and responsibilities assigned to them in the company.
This is because the employees say that increased work pressure and burden is a major cause of
stress from them due to which they are unable to maintain a balance between work and family
life. Additionally, the employees are unaware of their ability to handle stress that is affecting
their performance. Therefore, the alterative hypothesis is accepted thereby, signifying that stress
has a negative impact on the performance of the employees in Pyramid Industry LLC.
4.3 Summary
Thus, in this chapter, it can be summarized that the null hypothesis has been rejected as
the p-value is less than 0.05 thereby, indicating the both work and family stress affects the
performance of the employees in Pyramid Industry LLC. Furthermore, positive co-relation is
found between impact of stress on performance and impact of stress on behavioral changes of the
employees as the co-relation value obtained from the analysis is 0.615. As a result, the above-
mentioned results infers that stress results in lack of concentrate, unable to strategize, plan and
increased burden, unable maintain a balance between work and family life thereby, affecting the
performance of the employees.

43DISSERTATION
Chapter 5: Interpretation and discussion
5.0 Overview
This chapter discusses and interprets the findings from the previous chapter that has been
obtained by performing both inferential and descriptive analysis. Discussing and interpreting the
data from the above chapters offer the provision of explaining the reason of the results derived
by referring it to the information mentioned in the second chapter of the dissertation. As a result,
this chapter is commenced with the purpose of understanding the impact of both work and family
stress on the performance of the employees of Pyramid Industry LLC in Mongolia. Therefore,
the discussion can be considered for developing strategies in order to mitigate and overcome
both work and family stress for the employees in Pyramid Industry LLC and improving their
performance.
5.1 Discussion
Stress is a major concern in today’s workplace and has become inevitable due to
increased competition inside and outside the business organization. For this study, the impact of
work and family stress on employee performance is investigated by considering the company,
Pyramid Industry LLC in Mongolia. In the literature review section, Daniel (2015) and Freedy
and Hobfoll (2017) has presented different concept of stress. But it can be inferred from both the
definitions that stress has a negative impact on the individuals, as extended pressure and burden
compromises the capability and performance of the individuals. This information in the literature
review is supported by the results obtained data analysis section that indicates that the male
employees those are married aged 31-40 years with a monthly income of above 1000,000MNT
are more vulnerable to stress at Pyramid industry LLC. More work experience and the salary

44DISSERTATION
paid to the employees has increased the expectation of the company from the employees. The
company is putting additional pressure and burden on the male employees for fulfilling the
unfeasible expectation they have from them that is a major cause of stress for the employees.
Armstrong, Atkin-Plunk and Wells (2015), Ciby and Raya (2014), Sundaresan (2014)
and Yadav and Yadav (2014) in the literature review section mentions that impractical and
unfeasible expectation from the employees and unable to strike a balance between family and
work life gives rise to issues within the family that is a matter of stress. As a result, the
employees develop behavioral changes such as anger, irritation, communication difficulties and
impatience that compromise with their ability, concentration and focus while performing tasks
and responsibilities. The findings in the literature review is supported by the results obtained data
analysis section that infers that stress at work is accumulating for the employees due to which the
employees of Pyramid Industry LLC are unable to strike and maintain a balance between work
and family. Lack of adequate time for family is giving rise to conflicts between the employees
and their family due to which the employees are lacking peace of mind and clear head space
while coming to work. As a result of the behavioral changes, the employees are unable to
manage and prioritize work, lacking concentration and focus that is affecting their performance.
Apart from behavioral changes, the employees encounter negative social effects stress on
them as well. Khamisa et al., (2015), Lescop and Lescop (2014) and Franklin (2016) mentions in
the literature review section that negative social effects of stress include communication
difficulties, impatience that hampers their listening ability and starts disrespecting others. This
information in the literature review is supported by results obtained in the descriptive analysis
that states lack of respect towards others and patience is noticed as the negative social effects of
stress at work.

45DISSERTATION
Reb et al., (2018) and Ratnawat and Jha (2014) states that employees become incapable
of concentrating on their job roles and responsibilities as well as the employees are unable to
plan and strategize their work and fails in ensuring quality and delivering work on time. The co-
relation results obtained in the data analysis section also justifies the information in the literature
review, as it states that the employees get flustered at work and starts making mistakes in order
to deliver the work that hampers the quality and standard of the tasks and responsibilities
assigned to them. The employees are unaware of their ability to handle stress that is affecting
their performance.
Fu and Deshpande (2014) and Zhang et al., (2014) highlights that work stress results in
behavioral changes such as anger and irritability in the employees due to which they might
behave disrespectfully with surrounding people. The results obtained from the co-relation
analysis also supports the information in the literature review, as it states that the major
behavioral change due to stresses in the employees are anger, irritability and communication
difficulties followed by inability to relax and rest. Therefore, the employees are unable to
concentrate, focus, plan, prioritize and strategize their work that affects the employee
performance negatively.
The impact of stress is having a negative impact on the performance of the employees in
Pyramid Industry LLC. This is the problem that has been identified in the initial stage of the
research that is justified and analyzed in throughout the study. The identified issues of stress for
the employees of Pyramid Industry LLC need to be mitigated by developing suitable and
appropriate strategies. Mason et al., (2017), Drury et al., (2014) and Uchino, kent de Grey and
Cronan (2016) mentions that the different methods of coping up with stress are eating, drinking,
sleeping, playing computer games, using social media platforms, engaging themselves in sports

46DISSERTATION
and spending time with family. In the case of the employees of Pyramid Industry LLC, the
employees feel that spending time with loved ones acts as a stress buster and helps in improving
their performance.
5.2 Summary
Therefore, in this chapter, it can be inferred that the male employees of Pyramid Industry
LLC are under severe stress that is affecting their performance at work. This is the reason the
regression analysis in the previous chapter rejects the null hypothesis, as a significant difference
has been found between the variables. Stress is causing behavioral changes in the employees due
to which they are unable to concentrate on their work thereby, having a negative impact on their
performance. Their quality of tasks and responsibilities is below standard due to the stress the
encountered at work and due to family issues. This is because the employees say that increased
work pressure and burden is a major cause of stress from them due to which they are unable to
maintain a balance between work and family life.

47DISSERTATION
Chapter 6: Conclusion and recommendations
6.0 Conclusion
From the above chapters, it can be concluded that the employees of Pyramid Industry
LLC are prone to increased stress due to the nature of the work in the industry. From the
information, it can be implied that stress affects the performance of the employees largely in
Pyramid Industry LLC. Work related stress has become more evident due to issues within the
family, financial reasons, issues with co-workers and superior. The increased pressure leads to
health issues, behavioral changes and social issues in the employees thereby, affecting their
performance.
The results obtained from the data analysis indicate that null hypothesis is rejected, as the
p-value is less than 0.05. This infers that work and family stress has a negative impact on the
employee performance of Pyramid Industry LLC. Stress in the company is more because the
individual employees are assigned tasks and responsibilities more than their capacity and they
lack the adequate authority and the employees are unable to handle stress. As the employees do
not have the authority they have to rely on others in the company that results in pressure and
stress. Therefore, it is advisable for Pyramid Industry LLC to develop suitable strategies or take
necessary actions to relieve stress.
6.1 Linking with objectives
Objective 1: To understand the concept of stress and employee performance
Objective 1 is linked with literature review section 2.2 and 2.7. These sections in the
literature review are developed with the aim of understanding the different viewpoints of past

48DISSERTATION
researchers while defining and describing stress and employee performance. Therefore, these
sections help in developing a clear concept about the two variables that allows better quality and
understanding of the conducted research. On the other hand, the entire survey questionnaire is
developed with the aim of understanding stress and the ability of the individual employees in
Pyramid Industry LLC to handle work and family stress and its impact on their performance at
work.
Objective 2: To critically examine the stress factors related to work
Objective 2 is linked with literature review section 2.3 sheds light on the work related
stress factors. This section enlightens about the various work related stress that employees
generally encounter that affects their performance. Unfeasible expectations from the employees
add pressure on them that leads to stress thereby, affecting their performance. On the other hand,
survey questions 10, 9, 8, 12, 19 and 20 sheds light on the reasons of stress that employee’s
encounter in Pyramid Industry LLC and how it affects their performance. The data analysis
indicates that employees in the company are prone to work related stress due to which their
behavior and social aspect are affected negatively.
Objective 3: To investigate the employee perceptions of effects of work related to employee
performance
Objective 3 is linked with literature review section literature review section 2.6 and 2.10.
This section sheds light on the general thoughts that employees have about stress and its impact
on their performance. From the information presented, it can be inferred that the employees feel
that stress has an impact on their psychology, behavior and physiology thereby, restricting them
from performing well at work. On the other hand, the survey questions 12, 11, 13, 14 and 15

49DISSERTATION
highlights the opinions of the employees of Pyramid Industry LLC about stress and its impact on
their performance.
Objective 4: To determine if there are significant differences on the results when
respondents are grouped according to demographics
Objective 4 is linked only with the data analysis section because the analysis conducted
determines whether the impact of stress is more on a particular demographic group. It has been
seen that male employees of Pyramid Industry LLC those are married and aged 31-40 years with
an average income of above 1000,000 MNT and is employed for 2-3 years in the company are
more stressed due to the lots of tasks and responsibilities and the ability to handle stress.
Objective 5: To provide suitable recommendations for overcoming work and family stress
for improving employee performance
Objective 5 is linked with literature review section 2.5. This section highlights the
potential methods that individuals can use or take help for relieving their stress. On the other
hand, survey question 18 highlights the different methods that are used for stress relief for the
employees of the company. The data analysis results indicate that spending time with the loved
ones acts as a stress buster for the employees of Pyramid Industry LLC.
6.2 Recommendations
Based on the major work stress identified for the employees of Pyramid Industry LLC,
the suitable recommendations are listed below:
Going for short weekend vacations with families

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As most the male employees those are stressed is married, taking small weekend
gateways and short weekend vacations can act as stress busters for them. Spending time with
family will help in avoiding the stress in their head and return to work in fresh mind and perform
better.
Spending time with children
Spending with children like taking them to movies, taking them to school and bringing
them back and enjoying playing sessions with them will also act as a stress busters for the
employees of Pyramid Industry LLC.
Taking adequate rest
The employees must take at least 8 hours of sound sleep in order to ensure stress relief.
This will help the employees to wake up with a free mind and join work with a clear head space.
6.3 Future scope of the study
From the data analysis, t can be inferred that the current study is based on male
employees of Pyramid Industry LLC those are married and aged 31-40 years with an average
income of above 1000,000 MNT and is employed for 2-3 years in the company. The highest
qualification of the population is Master’s degree and is working in positions other than
manager, rank and file, regular staff and human resource. Therefore, it can be said that in the
future study can be conducted focusing on the male employees only of a different company but
similar sector and different demographic attributes. This will provide an opportunity to know
whether the work and family stress has an impact on employees of different age group,
educational qualification, designation and years of employment, marital status, age and monthly
income.

51DISSERTATION
Reflective statement
I introduced my research topic to my selected mentor on the first meeting and also
justified for selecting it as a topic. I also highlighted to my mentor regarding the means, methods
and strategies that I will be using while undertaking the research and completing it successfully. I
was highly satisfied with the reasons, aim, objectives and justifications that I communicated with
my mentor that I intended to use for my research. Post communication with my mentor, in
noticed that my mentor was highly satisfied with the research topic selected by me as well as
with the strategies that I will be using for undertaking the research.
However, on the other hand, I asked my mentor to advice me on areas such as the
research methods as I lacked confidence. We had an engaging, sound and fruitful conversation
and it enlightened me to begin my research work. This helped me assure that the first meeting
with my mentor was highly successful as it helped to cement my ideas and showing me a clear
path that I can undertake for achieving my research aim and objectives. Additionally, I can
confirm that I am much more confident at the end of the first meeting than I was before, as I had
a much clear direction towards preparing the research that helped me to emphasize even more.
The second meeting with my mentor was after two and a half months. I reviewed my
research at every step before I went for the second meeting with my mentor. As a result, I was
able to make sure that the work presented to my mentor was free of grammatical and spelling
mistakes. I met my mentor and requested to review the progress of my work. I received feedback
on the partial work from my mentor due to whom I was able to rectify the mistakes and
incorporate the changes accordingly. Therefore, including the changes given by my mentor
allowed me to improve the standard of my work and get a distinction result upon completion of
the work successfully. Apart from reviewing the progress, I also presented my mentor with all

52DISSERTATION
the information that I have collected for completing the remaining research work. I also sought
advice from my mentor to confirm that I was progressing in the right path or not, so that I can
make changes before it was too late. My mentor also guided me to solve issues that I came
across while progressing with the research work. I was highly obliged with the co-operation my
mentor showed me and included the modifications that I was asked to do during my second
meeting.
I met my mentor for the third meeting nearly after a month from my second meeting.
During this time, I was highly confident about my progress so far and also prepared a
PowerPoint presentation for my mentor. I had a clear view and mind-set about what I have done
so far and the way I wanted to present it to my mentor. The initiative and effort taken by me for
completing the research successfully amazed and satisfied my mentor. Seeing this, my mentor
congratulated me for the effort I have put in so far.
I only had the chance of presenting a 15 minutes PowerPoint presentation, as it was
mentioned in the guideline. This helped me prepare my presentation accordingly and include all
the feedbacks that have been given by my mentor so far for making the work flawless. I handed
over hard copies of my research content before I started giving my presentation so that my
presentation can e followed appropriately. I started my presentation by introducing stress
followed by work and family stress and how it can affect the performance of the employees in
Pyramid Industry LLC in Mongolia and how mitigating stress for the employees can help
Pyramid Industry LLC in improving the performance of the employees. I presented a successful
PowerPoint presentation and it made me feel that the effort, dedication and hard work put in by
me paid off greatly. Upon completion of my presentation, my mentor acknowledged my effort by
patting my back pleasantly. I can say that my strength of having an in-depth and extensive

53DISSERTATION
understanding about the research topic, regular follow-up and effective communication helped
me get the appreciation from my mentor.

54DISSERTATION
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Appendix 1
Survey questionnaire
1. How old are you?
 21-30
 31-40
 41-50
 51-60
2. What is your marital status?
 Single
 Married
 Widowed
 Divorced
3. Gender
 Female
 Male
4. Average monthly income
 Less than 320,000MNT
 321,000-520,000MNT
 521,000-720,000MNT
 721,000-920,000MNT
 921,000-1000,000MNT
 Above 1000,000MNT
5. How long (years) have you been working in Pyramid Industry?
 Below 1 year
 2-3
 4-5
 6-7
 8-9
 10-11
 Above 12

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6. What is the highest degree or level of school you have completed?
 Less than a high school diploma
 High school degree or equivalent
 Bachelor's degree
 Master's degree
 Other
7. What is your current position in your company (Pyramid Industry)
 Manager
 Rank and File/ Regular Staff
 Human resource
 Other
8. How would you describe relationship with your Co-Workers?
 Very good
 Good
 Somewhat good
 Not good
 Not very good
9. Do you think work Stress is influencing in your work performance in Pyramid
industry?
 Strongly Agree
 Agree
 Somewhat Agree
 Disagree
 Strongly Disagree
10. What are the usual causes of stress in your life?
 Financial Reasons
 Work Issues
 Family Issues
 Issues with Co-worker
 Health Related Issues
 Issues with superior
11. Do you think stress can cause behavioral changes?
 Strongly Agree
 Agree

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 Somewhat Agree
 Disagree
 Strongly Disagree
12. Do you think stress can affect your performance?
 Strongly Agree
 Agree
 Somewhat Agree
 Disagree
 Strongly Disagree
13. Have you ever been stressed?
 Always
 Most of the time
 Sometimes
 Rarely
 Never
14. What are the Behavioral changes of stress you ‘noticed at yourself when stressed?
 Anger, irritability or difficulty communicating
 Changes in eating habits
 Inability to rest or relax
 Decrease activity performance
 Increasing use of alcohol, tobacco or caffeine
 Memory problems, forgetfulness
15. What are the social effects of stress at yourself?
 Difficult communicating
 Impatient with or disrespectful others
 Difficulty listening
16. Do you think you can handle stress?
 Yes
 No
17. How well do you handle stress?
 Very Good

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 Good
 Somewhat Good
 Not very well
 Not good
18. What are your personal methods to relieve stress?
 Sleeping
 Eating
 Drinking
 Computer games
 Sports/Exercise
 Spending time with loved ones
 Social Media
 None of the above
 Other
19. Is your job often interfering with your family and social obligations, or personal
needs?
 Strongly Agree
 Agree
 Somewhat Agree
 Disagree
 Strongly Disagree
20. Your job has a lot of tasks and responsibility, but you don't have authority in your
company (Pyramid Industry)
 Strongly Agree
 Agree
 Somewhat Agree
 Disagree
 Strongly Disagree