Organizational Role Stress:A Comparison Between Professionals in IT and ITES Sectors

The increased globalization, privatization and favorable government policies, has facilitated the emergence of India as a leading offshore IT/ITES destination. The boom in this sector has posed new challenges and constrains on the workforce employed. This study presents a systematic study on the occupational stress in the IT sector and the ITES sector. Firstly, it compares the nature and intensity of ORS among professionals employed in IT and ITES sector. Second, it investigates the various coping strategies used. Primary data was obtained from leading IT/ITES destination in India through standardized instruments such as ORS and Role PICS (O). It was found that the professionals in IT scored a higher ORS score and the respective means of all the stressors was found to be higher in IT sector except for RS, IRD and RIn. For both IT and ITES top three stressors were Role Stagnation, Inter Role Distance and Role Erosion. The findings presented will deepen our understanding of organizational stress in IT/ITES industry. The paper will benefit the policy makers and the manager to understand the various role stressors faced by average employee in these organizations and will become the basis for initiating the stress management in IT/ITES organization.