Managing Occupational Stress: The Case of Medical Representatives
During the last one and a halt decades, as the companies try to compete at the global level the work environment in India has undergone significant changes. As we expect these changes to be more intense and ever rising in future, therefore, stress is going to have serious implications for the physical and mental health of employees. A sample of 140 medical representatives working in Amritsar, Punjab, was taken to discover the various stress management strategies being used by medical representatives. ‘Socialising and entertainment’, ‘mental disengagement’, ‘seeking counselling and use of sedatives’, ‘meditation and physical exercise’, ‘emotional release’, ‘extra sleep and worshipping’ and ‘smoking’ were the stress management strategies being employed by the medical representatives. ‘Emotional release’ is the only strategy which has been found linked with stress significantly. ‘Socialising and entertainment’ is the only strategy which has been found to have an ability to alleviate stress among medical representatives. ‘Mental disengagement’, ‘emotional release’ and ‘extra sleep and worshipping’ strategies have been found as maladaptive stress management strategies. ‘Seeking counselling and use of sedatives’, ‘meditation and physical exercise’ and ‘smoking’ have not been found influencing the level of stress either ways among medical representatives.