Paper Received: 30th June, 2015 Paper Accepted: 05th July, 2015 Paper Published: 15th July, 2015 ạ Human Resource Reflection A STUDY ON EFFECT OF YOGA BASED PRACTICES ON JOB ANXIETY IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PROFESSIONALS ISSN(ONLINE):2348-7518 Human Resource Reflection 2(4) 01-09 July 2015 Impact factor 0.641 Avanseaza.in Pammi Sesha Srinivas SVYASA University, Bangalore Sony Kumari SVYASA University, Bangalore Abstract Information Technology sector is subjected to large number of job fluctuations as it needs to deal with global market trends and technology advancements. Due to increasingly adaptation of “short term contracting” by organisations, IT professionals are continuously subjected to regular displacements, layoffs and exceeding job demands. These uncertainties at workplace are introducing Job anxieties for the professionals. With prolonged periods of Job anxieties, IT professionals are becoming victims of work related stress and depression disorders. Yoga is the ancient Indian science, said to bring mind fluctuations under control. There is a need to study whether Yoga based practices can help IT professionals on reducing Job anxiety. Here a quantitative study is done on IT professionals from one of Multi National company office situated in Bangalore, India to check the impact of Yoga based cyclic meditation practice on Job anxiety levels. It was found in this empirical study that yoga based practices can help to bring down the Job Anxiety levels of IT Professionals. Though findings are done for Indian context, authors strongly feel that, these results may also be applicable to international IT professionals equally. Authors suggest IT professionals and IT organisations to make Cyclic Meditation as part of health routines which can potentially help reduce job anxiety levels and help increase on-job productivity. Keywords Job Anxiety, Yoga, stress, IT professionals, India. Corresponding author Pammi Sesha Srinivas, Research Scholar, SVYASA University, Bengaluru, Karnataka Email: srinu_ibm@yahoo.com 1 Background In the present ―age of anxiety‖ one‘s path to success has been rendered extremely difficult owing to both environmental variables and psychological characteristics of the individual ( AK Srivatsava, 1977). Researchers working in the field are in agreement that anxiety is a mental state primarily driven by apprehensions and vague fear. Anxiety can either be stimulus related, referred as state anxiety or general in nature referred as trait anxiety (B. Muschalla. et al, 2013). Grinker(1966) also pointed out that methods of producing anxiety also depends on the personality traits of the individual. For the woman/man of modern age, being in paid working positions is becoming increasingly important. People prefer to engage in some job where they generally end up spending more number hours in day. Anxiety which pertains to job life of an employee who gets unnecessarily fearful, apprehensive, pessimistic and emotional regarding components of his/her own work may be referred to as ‗job anxiety‘(H.N.Prasad,1994). Job anxiety could also be understood as general feeling of vague fear and apprehensive mind set of the employee regarding various job-components in relation to his /her frame of reference or his/her psychological make-up (AK Srivastava, 1977). Job anxiety is also a form of state anxiety, driven by job related stimulus. The relationship between characteristics of the workplace and health has been primary subject of research interest, and it is also observed that both work related stressors and non-work related stressors effect mental health of the individual independently (Clark C et al, 2102). Workplace effect on the individual can either be positive by helping to provide necessary social support, confidence and self-esteem, or be negative with its excessive demands which in turn can induce anxiety. Job anxiety of employees is influenced by the market trends, fit to organisation culture, supervisor management/leadership style, self-expectations from job and social support available at work/out-side work place. Job Anxiety may effect the individual work relations with supervisor and peers. In turn, job anxiety for employees may result in reduced productivity for organisations. Realizing this fact, Organizations with long term vision plan their management and leadership hierarchy in such a way that employees do get time of their managers/leaders at regular intervals, to know about company current status and future prospects. This helps employees to be aware of their company future plans. Review of Literature It is observed that job anxiety may influence perceived stress at workplace. There are few studies done about association of job anxiety with depression, perceived stress, work phobia and job satisfaction. It was also observed that personality characteristics of individuals influence anxiety traits in the individuals. Below is the literature survey done to understand existing studies performed related to Job Anxiety.  AK Srivastava (1977) did a detailed study on components influencing ‗Job-Anxiety‘ and came to an understanding that Job-Anxiety is influenced by both work life and personal life. He concluded that components like Security, Recognition, Human relations at work, Reward and Punishment, Self-Esteem, Future Prospects and capacity to work are essential ones to assess ‗Job-Anxiety‘.  During a study performed on pre-registration house officers, it was observed that stress, anxiety and depression scores were significantly correlated with neuroticism score in both men and women. It was also observed that personality characteristics of neuroticism were a predisposing factor for stress and anxiety in junior doctors (D Newbury-Birch et al., 2015).  A study performed on Library employees, revealed that degrees of job anxiety are related to job satisfaction in different ways. This study also further confirms the theory that interpersonal relations are major determinants of job anxiety ( H N Prasad, 1994).  A study done on self- perceived Job insecurity, based on representative data from 17 European countries, reveals that job insecurity is also driven by not only by social structural or institutional differences , but also by cultural characteristics (Marcel Erlinghagen, 2007).  It is also noticed that Job anxiety can also lead to work related phobia, which is 2 a STUDY ON EFFECT OF YOGA BASED PRACTICES ON JOB ANXIETY IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PROFESSIONALS panic when approaching or thinking about work. It was observed, from a study performed on primary care patients with chronic mental disorders, that work-related anxiety may play significant role on work related phobia (Beate Muschalla et al.,2014).  A study performed on Male Assembly Automotive workers in Malaysia revealed that depression, anxiety and stress are important mental outcomes in stressful working settings. It was further suggested that reduced psychological job-demand, Job – insecurity and hazards conditions factors may improve self-perceived depression, anxiety and stress (Bin Abdin EDIMANSYAH et al., 2007).  A study performed on employees from different professional settings of Germany, revealed that Job anxiety is different from trait anxiety and Job anxiety could lead to work avoidance and sickness absence (B. Muschalla, 2013). A quantitative study performed on automotive workers in Malaysia, revealed that depression, anxiety and stress due to work conditions has mediating role on perceived quality of life (Bin Nordin Rusli, 2008). Rational for this Study Today‘s world economy fluctuations have caused a lot of disturbances to organisations offering both services and products , resulting in downsizing the staff, displacement of production units to cheaper geographical places, mergers and in some cases filing bankruptcies. This is particularly applicable to organisations pertaining to Information technology based services/products. IT organisations are increasingly adopting ―short-term contracting‖ polices to reduce impact of exceeding employees expenses on their financial figures. This means regular displacement, facing possible lay off, necessity to accept exceeding job demands, are to be named a few for IT professionals of today‘s world. This is not coming free for IT professionals in their both professional life and personal lives. Though study done by Otago University may not have been done on IT professionals in particular, the university study has shown that 45 per cent of newly diagnosed cases of depression or generalised anxiety disorder were directly related to workplace stress. (Kumar et al., 2009). Job Anxiety of IT professionals is much required topic to be understood, where very little studies were performed. Sub components of Job anxiety described by A.K. Srivastava (1977) do help to understand current Job anxiety levels of IT professionals. As jobs for IT professionals, are bound to move around geographical locations, it would impact both personal and job security. Recognition at work is essential for these professionals as they deal with dynamic job and market conditions, failing which it would be difficult to be innovative in problem solving strategies. IT professionals on an average spend more numbers at work place/thinking of Job and hence human relations at work, play significant role for them. Any long term disturbances in human relations at work, may cause sleep disorders and may cause mental health illness. Rewards in terms of sizable monetary benefits are essential for IT professionals due to their uncertain job profiles. Any anxiety coming due to possible punishment by supervisor has far reaching consequences on mental health for the employees. Any delay in Future prospects at work in terms of promotion/ advancements also plays a role on Job anxiety of IT professionals. IT professionals as they put up more service need to continuously work for increasing their aptitude to solve bigger problems of organisations/market, failing which organisations do question the need to issue pay checks to these IT professionals. All in all, all the components of Job anxiety described A.K. Srivastava help to understand Job Anxiety of IT professionals. As it is increasingly visible in today‘s social media, Yoga based practices are gaining popularity for improvement of self both in professional life and personal life. Job anxiety is an important symptom that needs to be understood in IT professionals as it may also possibly end up in aiding work related stress and depression. Any Impact of Yoga based practices on Job anxiety measured through scientific study would help IT professional community to increase its awareness about yoga based practices. This is a unique scientific study performed to date, on measuring impact of Yoga based practices on job anxiety modification. 3 Pammi Sesha Srinivas & Sony kumari Details about Job Anxiety Scale (JAS) used:-Job Anxiety Scale (JAS) questionnaire developed by A.K.Srivatsava is used to measure the Job Anxiety in this study. It measures seven sub components of Job Anxiety as shown in Table1. It is an inventory of 80 items out of which 63 were True-keyed and the remaining 17 has been False-keyed with an a priori weight of one score each. The questionnaire items were designed in such a way that they could be used for measuring the extent of job anxiety of all the employees irrespective of the nature of their jobs, organizations, and machines or tools they used. The score on Sinha W-A Self Analysis Form (Anxiety Scale) was used as one of the validation criteria for the Job Anxiety Scale. The coefficient of correlation between the scores on the two tests was found to be 0.54 on a representative sample of 100 semi-skilled personnel. The obtained validity index indicates that the two tests measure the extent of anxiety, although the JAS basically measures the degree of anxiety manifested in a particular dimension of life of a specified social group. To ascertain the extent of consistency of the results obtained by the Job Anxiety Scale, the split-half reliability coefficient by odd-even methods, on a sample of 414 employees, and the test-retest reliability coefficient on the sample of 110 employees were computed. The obtained reliability coefficients indicate that the scale is free from internal defects and possesses a fair amount of accuracy in assessing the extent of Job Anxiety. All Validated and reliability tests were performed by AK Srivatsava before releasing to public for usage, and his works were published in Indian journal of Industrial Relations (IJIR). Based on validity and reliability of this scale, this scale was chosen as a measurement tool for measuring degrees of Job anxiety in IT professionals. Due permission was also obtained from editor of IJIR to use this scale for purpose of conducting this study. Table1 :- Components of Job Anxiety Scale S.No 1 2 3 4 5 Component Security concerns Recognition concerns Human relations at work concerns Reward and Punishment concerns Self-esteem concerns Component details Job security, personal security Fair evaluation, participation, praise, approval, freedom to show proficiency Interpersonal (intra-cadre and inter-cadre) relationship, cooperation, communication Financial gains, treatment of supervisors, unjust criticism, blame Self-image, self-respect, social status of the job 6 Future concerns Prospects Opportunities of promotion and advancement, opportunity to learn and increase efficiency 7 Capacity to concerns work Shoulder responsibilities, Self-confidence, aptitude and interest for the job-activities Details about Cyclic Meditation Cyclic meditation was developed by SVYASA (Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samstahana) University, Bangalore, India. Cyclic Meditation could be shortly referred as C.M here after. C.M is inspired by a verse 4 a STUDY ON EFFECT OF YOGA BASED PRACTICES ON JOB ANXIETY IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PROFESSIONALS from Mandukya Upanishad (Sanjib Patra, Shirley Tells.2009). C.M. is a set of stimulation and relaxation combine involving cycles of body postures followed by supine rest relax poses. Body postures are yoga based body postures like ardha kati chakrasana, Taadasana , Vajrasana and Ardha vustrasana. Supine rest relax posture followed is shavasana i.e dead corpse pose. Participants going through this intervention need to make their body movements very slow and continuous. Idea here is by controlling the speed of the body movements, participants can feel the energy impulses flowing throughout the body. While in supine rest position, participants are made aware of their body parts and asked to relax the tension if any. There is a conscious attempt about breath awareness and slowing down of the thought process in this practice. This is over all 35 minute practice. Details of Empirical study performed Sample chosen consists of ―96‖ IT professionals. All the IT professionals were selected from Bangalore office of a Multi-National Information Technology company named Infineon technology Pvt Ltd which has presence in India, Germany, Singapore, Austria, UK and U.S.A. Employees‘ position within organisation ranged from junior engineers, senior technical leads to people managers. All participants came voluntarily to participate in the study. Study was performed from 15th September 2014 to 28th November 2014. Total sample size was divided into two groups namely Yoga group and Control group. Yoga group has both men and women employees with an average age of 31.04 years and with standard deviation of 4.57 years. Control group has both men and women employees with an average age of 32.02 years with a standard deviation of 4.582 years. A, 35 minute ―Cyclic meditation‖ was administered as an intervention for Yoga group. Control group was administered with walking or equivalent physical exercise for 35 minute duration daily and maintaining dairy as intervention. The intervention was administered for 2 months for both the groups. Job Anxiety scale was administered before the intervention period and after the intervention period. Inclusion and Exclusion criteria: - Both Men and women employees, with normal health as declared by subjects were included in the study. Subjects volunteered for the study do not have any previous experience of any Yoga program as declared by subjects. Table 2 :- Age and Job Experience of Subjects Control Group Yoga Group Age I.T. Industry Experience Age I.T. Industry Experience Mean 32.021 8.208 S.D 4.307 4.307 31.041 7.395 4.547 4.281 Procedure JAS questionnaire were administered to all members participating in the study from both control and yoga groups. The intervention given to Yoga group is a 35 minute, cyclic meditation practice, whose details are mentioned earlier. Control group was administered with walking or equivalent exercise for 35 minutes and was told to write a dairy to observe changes taking place. This is a pre-post study. Participants from both groups filled up the questionnaires voluntarily before the beginning of the study period and at the end of study period. Results and Discussion Table3 shows Mean and S.D values of various components of Job anxiety scale in Yoga group 5 Table3 :- Yoga Group Pre JAS Component Mean S.D Job Security concerns 7.71 1.27 Self-Esteem concerns 7.52 1.32 Recognition concerns 7.73 1.26 Human Relations at work concerns 10.27 1.56 Rewards & Punishments concerns 10.58 1.44 Future Prospects concerns 7.56 1.21 Capacity to work concerns 7.46 1.25 Job Anxiety (overall) 58.85 3.798 Mean S.D 6.04 1.129 5.70 1.57 6.21 1.15 7.77 1.52 8.87 1.52 6.35 1.02 6.42 1.48 47.37 2.77 Post % change in Mean 21.61 24.11 19.68 24.34 16.13 15.98 13.96 19.51 p value (Wilcoxon signed rank test) .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 As shown in Table3, mean value of Job security concerns component decreased from 7.71 to 6.04 (21.61% decrease) between pre and post. Similarly, self-esteem concerns component mean value decreased from 7.52 to 132.4 (24.11% decrease), Human Relations at work concerns mean value decreased from 10.27 to 7.77 (24.34 % decrease). Overall job anxiety mean value decreased from 58.85 to 47.37 (19.51%) decrease. To see the significance of change, Wilcoxon signed rank test was used. It was observed that change is very significant in all components of Job Anxiety Scale (p < .001). Table4 shows Mean and S.D values of various components of Job anxiety scale in Control group. Table4 :- Control Group Pre JAS Component Mean Job Security concerns 7.79 Self – esteem concerns 7.39 Recognition concerns 7.81 Human Relations at work concerns 10.81 Rewards & Punishments concerns 10.79 Future Prospects concerns 7.47 Capacity to work concerns 7.85 S.D Mean 1.23 7.31 1.25 7.10 1.12 7.27 1.46 10.08 1.67 10.27 1.32 7.17 1.28 7.46 Post % change S.D in Mean 1.13 6.18 1.17 4 1.14 6.95 1.38 6.78 1.66 4.84 1.09 4.13 1.22 5.02 p value (Wilcoxon signed rank test) .001 .002 .000 .000 .000 .004 .000 Job Anxiety (overall) 59.94 3.41 As shown in Table4, mean value of Job security concerns component decreased from 7.79 to 7.31% (6.18% decrease) between 56.67 3.35 5.45 .000 pre and post. Similarly, self-esteem concerns component mean value decreased from 7.39 to 7.10 (4% decrease), Human Relations at work concerns mean value decreased from 6 a STUDY ON EFFECT OF YOGA BASED PRACTICES ON JOB ANXIETY IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PROFESSIONALS 10.81 to 10.08 (6.78 % decrease). Overall job anxiety mean value decreased from 59.94 to 56.67 (5.45%) decrease. To see the significance of change, Wilcoxon signed rank test was used. It was observed that change is very significant in all components of Job Anxiety Scale (p < .001). Between groups, to observe the difference between pre post changes, Mann Whitney test was used (Table 5). There is a significant change in all components of Job Anxiety ( p< .01). Table5 :- Between the Groups (Mann Whitney test) Job Security Recognition Human Relations at work Rewards and Punishment Self Esteem Future Prospects Capacity to work Job Anxiety Pre Post .749 .000 .912 .000 .076 .000 .418 .000 .546 .000 .847 .000 0.062 .000 0.184 .000 Conclusion Based on the empirical study performed, it could be observed that Yoga group has performed well in decreasing Job Anxiety compared to control group. With the study performed, authors came to conclusion that Yoga based practices can potentially modify/decrease degrees of Job Anxiety for I.T professionals. This would be interesting observation for both IT professionals and IT organisations as reduction in Job anxiety would directly help to increase productivity and innovation at work. I.T organisations can consider employing yoga based cyclic meditation as part of health programmes for the employees which may aid in reducing Job Anxiety levels. Limitations of the current study This study is done specific to one I.T organisation, but however extending this study to multiple organisations and to more number of participants would give more generalised results. It also needs to be observed that Job Anxiety for IT Professionals also depends on project schedule peak periods and performance review periods during the year. 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