CHAPTER
ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background
to the study
In today‟s
technological and moving business world, significant and growing percentage of
the population work in formal organizations (Heller and Hindle, 1988). People
work under a broad array of conditions. While many of these people work indoors,
others work outside. Some of these jobs require exposure to intense heat, cold
and/ or noise. Hence, while some of these jobs involve high risk injury or
illness, others carry low risks. The average working time in the civil service,
public and/or private sector encompasses a major part of the individual‟s life
span and occupies a period when physical and mental capacities are fully
utilized. Organizations are constantly evolving and the nature of the services
provided necessitates differential work schedules.
Here
in Nigeria, not all the employees in different organizations do perform the
usual 8am to 4pm – five days – a week. Police officers, military personnel,
fire fighters, prison warder, nurses, telephone operators among others, do
provide 24-hours – a - day service. Muchinsky (1997), posits that in industrial
manufacturing companies, some technologies/machine require constant monitoring
and operation. Hence, it becomes rational and practical to run these machines
continually by having different shift work systems round the clock. He notes
further that there are no uniform shift hours, as various companies adopt
different shifts.
Usually
for nurses, a 24-hour-a-day is broken into three 8-hour- work shifts as
follows:
i.
7am to 2pm (day shift):
ii.
2pm to 10pm (swing or afternoon shift)‟ and
iii.
10pm to 7am (night shift).
Muchinsky finally observes that some
companies have employees run only one shift, more so, as workers generally do
not like the afternoon and night shift. Consequently, many firms and
organizations do rotate the shift on weekly basis so as to carry all the
workers along. Psychologists in industrial settings (Muchinsky, 1988), did and
still do investigate the degree to which workers‟ job satisfactions are
affected by the shift work, and their abilities to cope with these changes in
work schedules.
Since it is the functions of the
Nigeria Police Force to maintain internal security here in Nigeria, enforce the
laws and orders of the law abiding citizens, arrest, investigate and charge/or
prosecute all the offenders in law courts; the police had since adopted three
shift work schedules covering from Sunday to
Saturday
of every week. In order to cover all these duties and police the country
effectively, Udonsy 91976), outlines the shift work schedules in this
organization as follows:
(a)
Morning shift, from 0600 hrs to 1400 hours;
(b)
Afternoon shift, 1400 to 2200 hours; and
(c)
Night shift. 2200 hours to 0600 hours.
It should be noted at this juncture
that the first workers to be initiated to this routine were not policemen, or
even firemen, but bakers. Industrialization and global warfare brought shift
work into the mainstream (Aveni, 1999). In other words, estimates are that more
than 25% of all workers in the U.S. and Europe are now shift workers.
This proposal tends to investigate
whether the police personnel actually do have job satisfactions on their job;
and/or experience stress in their day to day hassles while working these
shifts. Aschoff (1978), in his work posits that shift workers experience many
problems ranging from physiological to social adjustments; stressing that most
physiological problems are associated with interruptions of the circadian
rhythm or internal biological clock; that is to say, our bodies are
“programmed” for a certain time cycle. Hence, shift works have been observed to
interrupt the cycles of eating, sleeping and working hours; and workers on
these shift therefore, tend to experience physiological problems.
In actual fact, the police personnel
on these shift works are mostly those on the lower ranks in this force. These
are the Inspectors of police, and the Rank and files (made up of Sergeants,
corporals and constables); who constitute the life wire of this force. These
rank brackets are those mostly running the shift work systems; and are equally
seen on the field from time to time. These are the same group of police
officers seen by the general public either in their course of being arrested,
investigated, and/or probably, while being charged to or prosecuted in law
courts. In the course of their enforcing all these laws of the Federation,
states and local councils, these officers tend to engage the riotous and
unlawfully assembled members of public in physical combat. Not only these, the
officers equally do engage the armed robbers in gun battles during their tour
of duties. This study therefore, tends to investigate whether these police
officers while enforcing all these laws and more, will actually experience
stress.
Although, researchers have come to
agree that stress is found in every organization, industries and in every day’s
live of all human existence; many factors have been advanced by theorists to
affect individual‟s job satisfaction. Paramount amongst them is occupational
stress. Organizational changes coupled with economic melt down and depression
have produced its casualties at both organizational and individual level
resulting in stress and conflict. According to cooper (2005), high incidence of
stress throughout organizations irrespective of job satisfaction and
involvement stress is individually analyzed and every employee has a range of
satisfaction which they can feel steady and safe.
For MCkenna (1999), stress entails any
situation that is seen as burdensome, threatening ambiguous or boring and is
likely to affect free flow of performance and satisfaction. A satisfied
employee who is committed and involved in his or her job should not encounter
stressful circumstances, but Mullins (1999) argued that one potential source of
work stress arises from role incongruence and positional role conflict that are
not compatible with individual training and experience. Mbieli (2007), noted
that occupational stress could act to activate people into action with possible
positive behavioural consequences, stressing that the physiological impact upon
the person could come in inform of headache, Muscular tensions, fatigue and
hypertension. As a complex psychological concept, occupational stress is
intrinsically tied into an individual employee‟s perceptual system and as such
is seen as subjective phenomenon which influence job satisfaction (Mullins,
1999).
In
organization and service delivery as posited by Berkowitz, Cochran and Fraser
(1998), employee‟s job satisfaction is the attainment of value outcome that
function to promote involvement and the simplest level people would respond
fairly and positively to occupational stress in work environment that is
pleasant. Job stress phenomenon involves complicated interactions between
person and environment. There are two central features of stress at work (1)
dimension or characteristics of the person and (2) the potential sources of
stress at work environment.
The interactions of these two features
of stress at work, determine either coping or maladaptive behaviour and stress
related diseases (Copper and Marshal, 1996). Job stress represents a complex
assemblage of variables cognitions (beliefs or knowledge), emotions (feelings
and sentiments, or evolutions) and behavoural tendencies, i.e absenteeism
tardiness, tension, fatigue and withdrawal since occupational stress is an
unseen, unobservable variable which can only be inferred from behavioural
responses it affects individual job involvement resulting in job
dissatisfaction. Research works have co me to show that potential stressors
these officers are likely to encounter include: the occupation or job itself,
environmental or organizational stressors, as well as stressors external to the
job that may influence their effectiveness at work.
Muchinsky (1998) notes that exposure
to conditions of intense heat, cold and noise affect humans in various ways
leading to stress. In industrial setting, Beehr and Newman (1998) posit that
there are wide individual differences associated with perception of stress.
In life generally, a worker may feel
stressed by a hectic work schedule, while another may accept this as a
challenge. Hence, any stimulus (e.g work pace, noise, role pressure) that
elicits a stress response is a stressor. Stress occurs when the magnitude of
the stressor exceeds the individual’s capacity to resist. For instance,
workload is stressor or something that caused a person to feel stressed when he
thinks that he is unable to cope with the large workload. Six sources of stress
or occupational stressors, were categorized in the occupational stress
indicator (OSI) thus: factors intrinsic to the job, management role,
relationships with others, career and achievement, organizational structure and
climate, and home/work interface. Cooper and Cartwright (1996) reiterated that
these are main sources of stress at work, arguing that they are applicable to
different occupations.
Warr (1987) categorized those concepts
such as job satisfaction, organizational commitment, job – related tension, job
related depression, job related burnout, and morale as job-related well –
being. The variables measuring well-being in the present study include job
satisfaction, physical and mental well – being. Some studies using the OSI have
demonstrated that stressors at work are negatively related to workers‟ job
satisfaction and well-being in western and Chinese societies
(Fotinatos-Ventouratos and Cooper 1998; Lu, Shiau, & Cooper, 1997; Bogg
& Cooper, 1995; Robertson, Cooper & Williams, 1990, Siu, Cooper &
Donald, 1997; Yu, Sparks & Cooper, 1998). Doe instance,
Fotinatos-Ventouratos and cooper (1998) demonstrated that “organizational
structure and climate” was a significant predictor of job satisfaction among
workers of different social classes. For
people working in group and shifts like the police, stressors need not exist in
isolation. If they exist jointly, a worker must contend with their additive or
interactive effects. For police work that involves constant exposure to heat,
cold, danger and working at difficult terrain, the employer in this millennium
2006, should see the urgent need to provide adequate and special protective
equipment like rain coats, sweaters, bullet proof vests; to curb the potential hazards
associated with the work. Hence, police and other paramilitary organizations
most often, are exposed to situations that tasked their psychological
well-being and persistence daily work experience (Heady & Wearing, 1992).
Work conditions that required constant exposure to dangers, according to Borg
(1990) are stressful. Thus, it is generally believed that policing is
inherently stressful because of the dangerous and unsavory tasks that are part
of everyday police work (Singler & Wilson, 1998) Thus, dealing with such incidents as road transma, violent
offenders, armed robbers, vehicle snatchers, mobile set snatchers,
uncompromising public, poor public image, poor working conditions and
distressed victims might be stressful to police officers (Hart, 1994). Hart,
Wearing and Conn (1995) showed that the organizational context in which the
police operate is more distressing than the actual job itself. This adverse
work experiences result in psychological distress and thus an absence of
well-being; a view that is typically adopted in the occupational literature
(Quick, Murphy and Hurrell, 1992).
Again, the idea that psychological
distress and well- being lie on the same continuum which in the words of Hart
(1994) does not account for the fact that a person‟s psychological response to
his work environment has affected positively (morale) and negatively
(depression, anxiety and psychosomatic systems) dimensions. Most reports and researches into police
stress relied heavily on single response and are not linked to other factors.
This researcher finds it necessary to integrate shift work and stress, ad their
impact on job performance amongst police officers. More especially as most
police shift workers develop „sleep debt‟. Hence, studies in the United State
of America and Europe for instance, indicate that shift workers get seven hours
or less sleep per week than their day-working counterparts.
Further studies also show that those
working rotating shifts average only 5.5. hours of sleep when work night hours.
The aggregate loss is sometimes, particularly recouped only on off-days. Thus,
until this compensation occurs, if it does at all, the mood and performance of
the shift workers is routinely affected.
Hence,
Aveni (1999) states that sleep deprivation amongst police shift workers must be
considered a serious component of another potential killer-job stress‟. The
cumulative effect of sleep deprivation upon the shift-working policeman appears
to aggravate job stress, and/or, his ability to cope with it. Thus, even more
troubling is the prospect that the synergy of job stress and chronic sleep
indebtedness contribute mightily to a diminished life expectancy of 73 years.
While policemen on the other hand, are said to have a life expectancy of 53-66
years, depending on which research one decides to embrace.
According to National institute of
Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in America, from studies of 22,000
workers across over 100 occupational groups; labourers, secretaries, lab,
technicians, first-line managers, waiters/waitresses and machine operators
belong to the most stressful occupations. In support of this claim, Dipboye,
smith and Howell (1994), posit that the helping professions are also considered
to be stressful, especially the job of police officers, nurses and social
workers. Hence, in a study of more 2000 worker across 23 occupations French,
Caplan, and Harrison (1982), found occupational differences not only in the
amount of stress, but also in the type of stress experienced by workers.
In Nigerian environment however, most
workers (police officers inclusive) are observed to experience one from of
stressor or the other, in their places of work. Hence, stress is seen here, as
a sign of active life which is absent, makes life become a passive journey to
boredom. Thus without stress, the accompanying motivation and striving to
accomplish life ambition and conquer the environment become illusive (Nweze,
1995). Furthermore, there is mental and emotional homoeostasis attained through
the process of adaptation which the individual applies to the external
environment including such contexts as … work, friendship through the
manipulation of the environment or the use of ego defense mechanisms (Ezeilo,
1995). Hence, the conditions of stress that we experience often depend on the
outcome of the appraisals we make in our transactions with the environment.
Stress is however, a normal component of life, which if in mild or moderate
degrees; may be helpful as a constructive force, which mobilizes our resources
to achieve effectiveness and well-being. According to Ifeagwazi (1995), stress
appears a prevalent clinical problem and a concomitant of all clinical
pathologies. Hence, chronic emotional stress can lead to such
psycho-physiological illnesses as ulcer, asthma, cancer, hypertension (the
forerunner of stroke) and heart diseases. Consequently, the cost of stress in
terms of human suffering social and occupational impairment and illness are
enormous.
Statement
of the Problem
Great number of variables may interact
to affect workers‟ job satisfaction in Nigeria Police Force. Bohle and Tilley‟s
(1998) found that shift workers‟ attitudes were significant predicator,
affecting satisfaction; because of rigidity of sleeping habits and vigour – as
the ability to overcome drowsiness. Negative attitudes to shift work have also
been linked to elevated physical and psychological symptoms. Certain factors
therefore, cause organizations and industries to adopts shift work schedules
for their personnel. Reasons mostly adduced in such circumstances, are mainly
to cover the operational costs, which should result from shutting down the
machines in these industries. This is usually estimated to cost millions, if
not billions of naira before these engines are started once again. In the same
vein, the cost of running only one shift work in Nigeria Police Force shall be
enormous, considering the fact that the police station houses all the detained
suspects at any given time, the police arms and ammunitions, all the vital
exhibits in connection with cases under investigations, and all other vital
documents/property belonging to the government. Based on this, the welfare and
job satisfaction of the police may be affected by this unusual work schedule.
Thus,
these research problems will address in this study:
1.
Does shift work affect the job satisfaction of police officers?
2.
Does stress associated with the work affect the job satisfaction of police
officers?
Purpose
of study
It is a common knowledge that here in
Nigerian Civil/Public service, workers tend to be dissatisfied with all
variables contributing to job satisfaction. The purpose of this study is
therefore, to:
1.
Examine the influence of shit work on job satisfaction of police.
2.
Examine the influence of on job satisfaction among police.
Operational
definition of terms
Shift
Work: Means the rotatory deployment of officers on weekly
basis to:
a.
morning duty – from 0600 hours to 1400 hours;
b.
afternoon duty – from 1400 hours to 2200 hours: and
c.
night shift – from 2200 hours to 0600 hours – from Sunday through Saturday.
Stress:
Means
pressure from an adverse environment that imposes unusual demands on officers
while on shift work.
Job
satisfaction: Refers to officers attitudes or
orientations toward their job. Job dissatisfaction on the other hand, is the
negative attitudes of officers towards their jobs.
Police
officers: Here means the Inspectors, and rank and file members
of Nigeria Police Force.
Inspectors,
Rank and File Members of the Force: are the non-commissioned
officers in this force.
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