How Does Culture Affect Stress

CHAPTER NO. 01

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

Culture is an all inclusive system of communications which incorporates the biological and technical behavior of human beings with their verbal and nonverbal systems of expressive behavior. Culture is the sum total of a way of life, including such things as expected behavior, beliefs, values, language, and living practices shared by members of a society; it is the pattern of values, traits, or behaviors shared by the people within a region. Some catalyst must exist that is capable of transforming private meanings into public meanings so they become understood by other members of the society; culture is that catalyst (Herbig & Dunphy, 1998).

Culture comprises an entire set of social norms and responses

However, when a specific standard no longer fully satisfies the members of a society, it is modified or replaced, so that the resulting standard is more in line with the current needs and desires of the society. Thus, culture gradually but continually evolves to meet the needs of society (Herbig & Dunphy, 1998).

Fundamentally, groups of individuals develop their own environment as an adaptation to the physical environment, and they pass down their customs, practices, and traditions from generation to generation (Harris and Moran, 1979).

The term “stress” originated in the field of physics and was transferred into psychology. Basically, the idea is that human beings tend to resist external forces acting upon them, just as do physical materials and bodies (Hobfull, 1989). Today the concept of stress is widespread but controversial, and is defined in several different ways (Keinan, 1997): Stress as stimulation, stress is an extremely powerful (and at times unusual) stimulation which combines characteristics of loss and threat; Stress as reaction, stress is a reaction to a particular event; Stress as relation, this definition combines both previous

RQ2: What is the relationship between organizational culture and employee performance?

1.5 Objectives of the Current Research

The objectives of the current research is as follows:

1. To measure the relationship between organizational culture and job stress.

2. To measure the relationship between organizational culture and employees performance.

1.6 Significance of the Current Research

Banking sector of Pakistan needs enriched cultural values of the organization, which reduces the job stress among the employee’s and enhances employee’s performance. This research is conducted on the current and latest issue, which is now a serious dilemma in the banking sector of Pakistan. This research contributes in the literature and benefits to increase the employee’s performance in the banking sector. A high cultural value increases the commitment of the employees and also leads to increase the profitability of the banks.

1.7 Scope of the Current