A framework to mitigate the occupational stress faced by the construction project managers in public sector organizations in Sri Lanka

Abstract

The construction industry is a dynamic and a complicated business. The most of construction experts suffer from stress in order to cope with the time, cost and quality expectations of both internal and external stakeholders. Project executives, in particular, are frequently the victims of this excessive stress. Extensive research has shown that it is possible to classify stressors into distinct levels. The aim of this research was to a framework to mitigate the occupational stress faced by the Construction Project Managers in public sector organizations in Sri Lanka. The study's requirements were achieved using a mixed research approach that includes quantitative data gathering through a questionnaire survey and qualitative data collection through semi-structured interviews with construction management experts. The SPSS program was used to analyse data collected through a questionnaire survey in order to determine the relationship between stress factors and their impact on Construction Project Managers' performance. The outcomes of this study have revealed that the mitigation of the occupational stress amongst the Construction Project Managers of public sector organizations in Sri Lanka can conduct to get more enhanced performance by verifying all the Construction Project Managers are employing the solutions that have been suggested by the experts of the semi- structured interviews. "Discuss with management" and "Try to avoid and adjust" were two key occupational stress mitigation strategies. Despite that, findings have also revealed, that there is a negative relation among the workload and work place related stress causes and organisation related stress causes with the organizational performance of the Construction Project Managers. However, the relationship that lies with the working time related stress causes and organizational performance of the Construction Project Managers is positive. Moreover, the solutions that have obtained through the semi- structured interviews have also provided the base for the developed frame work.