Abstract:
Although a number of studies of stress in occupational settings have been conducted
over the past decades, there are relatively few studies relating to stress of
construction project management. The present study examines to identify the critical
stressors causing stress, to assess the level of stress and to explore the impact of
stress on performance of construction project managers (CPMs). Primary data was
collected through use of a written questionnaire distributed by postal mailing and
hand delivered to 155 samples of CPMs who work in a variety of construction
entities (sector wise) using stratified simple random sampling.115 questionnaires
were returned in a usable form giving an overall response rate of 74%.
An analysis of the data collection for this study was determined in three ways. As a
first step Relative Important Indices and mean score were generated to identify the
sources of stress. Besides, factor analysis has been conducted including reliability
analysis to confirm the sources of stress. Next, Descriptive statistics of scoring mean
and standard deviation were generated for required variables to assess the level of
stress and then correlation calculation was generated to assess the impact of stress on
performance of CPMs. Finally Chi Square tests were conducted to test the
significance of these correlations.
Four kinds of stressors (Task stressors, organizational stressors, physical stressors
and personal stressors) and seven sources of stresses including work overload, poor
role congruence, poor organizational structure, career development environment,
poor work environment, work group cooperation and type A behavior of personality
were identified among CPMs. Four types of stress were identified in this research:
objective stress, subjective stress, burn out and physiological stress. From the
analysis, low level of objective stress, moderate level of subjective stress, high level
of burnout and moderate level of physiological stress were found among the CPMs.
This study confirms the impacts of four types of stress on performance (task,
interpersonal & organizational) of CPMs. Limitation and implication of these
research findings were also discussed in this study. Finally it is recommended to hold
stress management workshops for the CPMs to relax their stresses and employers are
recommended to keep reviewing and monitoring the abilities of the CPMs and
allocate the responsibilities and work load accordingly. Direction for further studies
is also suggested.
