Academic Stress for Management Students with special reference to Dharmapuri District, India

1. Author : R. Latha
Department of Management Studies,
Sapthagiri College of Engineering, Periyanahalli.

3. INTRODUCTION
 Students have to cross many obstacles to achieve their
optimal academic performance.
 The incidence of stress takes at the level of
management, faculty, students, environment, etc.
 Few instances of stress are admission process, fee
structure, climate in the campus, nature of faculty, the
behaviour of students, etc.

4.  MBA is one of the most common career choices
amongst the youth in India today.
 Stress in academic institutions can have both positive
and negative consequences if not well managed.
 Also Express India, on Jan 10 2010 reported that Crime
Records Bureau figures show India’s suicide rate has
risen 8 per cent a year for 10 years.
 WHO lists suicide among the top three causes of
death in the age group 15-35.

5. STRESS
 Stress can refer to experiencing events perceived as
endangering one’s physiological, physical or
psychological wellbeing or a combination of these and
when there is excessive pressure its intensity and
chronic nature can lead to mental and physical ill
health including depression, nervous breakdown and
heart disease (Quick, Nelson and Hurrel, 1997).

6. STRESS AMONG MANAGEMENT
STUDENTS

7. STRESS AMONG MANAGEMENT
STUDENTS
 The management education is an important medium that
facilitates improvement of leadership qualities and turns
out excellent future managers.
 Students entering into the professional education needs to
face many challenges to which they have never been
exposed earlier.
 The pressure to earn good grades and to earn a degree is
very high .
 The Stress caused by other factors such as Management,
Faculties, Students and Placement is also holding a
significant phase among the Management Students.

8. AIM & OBJECTIVES
 The main objective of this research is to understand
the “Impact of academic stress upon performance and
mental health of MBA students.”
 In this study it was attempt to identify the stressors
which affect the performance of students, to analyze
the impact due to Management, Faculties, Students
and Placement on the stress level of students.

9. METHODOLOGY
 Respondents were 100 students who are taken from the
District of Dharmapuri of Anna University, Chennai
affiliated MBA Colleges.
 In the following Research the procedure which is
adopted is quantitative approach.
 And with the help of literature review the various
hypotheses to examine the relation between
dependent and independent variable are also used.

10. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS INCLUDES
 Correlation
 Mean analysis
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS TOOLS
• Excel
• SPSS

11. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
 From the study it was found that there are
academic stressors as well as psychological
stressors which affect the performance of
students. Due to stress the students were
facing the problems like suffer from
headache, sleeplessness, nervousness and
moodiness

13. Management related issues
causing stress among MBA
students
 It was found from the research that out of total
respondents there are 68.7% of the students who were
of the opinion that they are always stressful because of
Management.

14. Faculty related issues causing
stress among MBA students
 It was found from the research that out of total
respondents there are 71.08% of the students who were
of the opinion that they are always stressful because of
Faculties.

15. Co-Students related issues causing
stress among MBA students
 It was found from the research that out of total
respondents there are 69.06% of the students who
were of the opinion that they are always stressful
because of Co - Students.

16. Placement related issues causing
stress among MBA students
 It was found from the research that out of total
respondents there are 74.52% of the students who were
of the opinion that they are always stressful because of
Placement.

17. TOP 10 CAUSES FOR STRESS
RANK INFERENCE
1.5 Fear about criticism by Family, Friends and Society causes Stress to
Students.
1.5 Lack of Guidance to Placement Process develops Stress to Students.
3 Showing Partiality among Students develops Stress to Students.
4 Non Co-operative Attitude of Faculties cause Stress to Students.
5 Competition in Placements develops Stress to Students.
6 Non Preparation for Placement develops Stress to Students.
7 Exam results develop Stress to Students.
8 Too many Examinations create Stress to Students.
9.5 Lack of Communication of information from Management to Students
may cause Stress to Students.
9.5 Immoral Activities (Drug/ Alcohol/ Cigarette Smoking) develop Stress to
Students.

18. RANKING OF STRESSORS
S. No. STRESSOR RANK
1 Placement I
2 Faculties II
3 Co - students III
4 Management IV

19. CORRELATION ANALYSIS
 Analysis of Karl Pearson’s Correlation of Co-
efficient Egoistic attitude of co - students develop
Stress to Students and Ragging gives Stress to
Students.
 Interpretation:
r = +0.77
Hence there exist Positive Correlation between
Egoistic attitudes of co - students develop Stress
to Students and Ragging gives Stress to Students.

21. TIPS TO MANAGE YOUR STRESS
Students can get run
down with so much going
on. These tips can help
you beat the stress.

22.  -Create a routine.
If you get yourself in the habit of studying, working out, and sleeping at
certain hours, it will be easier to fit in all the things you need to do in a
day without feeling too stressed out.
 -Put limits on work hours.
You can't work all the time-fun and relaxation have to be part of your
routine as well. Limit the times when you will work to give yourself
time to sleep and rest up so you won't get sick.
 -Give yourself a break.
If you've been working steadily for hours, give your eyes and mind a
chance for a rest by taking a break. You can come back feeling more
refreshed and ready to go.
 -Be realistic.
Sometimes there's just no way are you going to get done everything
you'd like to in one day. Be realistic about your goals and understand
that you can only do so much.
 -Understand you can't do everything.
While you might want to go to class, work, play a sport, and participate
in clubs and social activities, the reality is that sooner or later you're
going to get run down by trying to do so much. Focus on doing the
things you truly love and forget about the rest.

23.  -Get help.
Ask for help from professors and friends. They may be able to
give you more time or help you to complete projects and
studying more quickly.
 -Take advantage of campus meditation and yoga programs.
Many campuses are equipped with programs that can help
students get a release from their stresses through a relaxing
session of meditation.
 -Relax with hobbies.
Whether you like to paint or to destroy aliens with your friends
in video games, making time for the things you love is an
important part of keeping yourself from getting too stressed out.
 -Give yourself plenty of time.
It's easy to put off starting on a big project or studying for a test
until the last minute. You'll be much less stressed out, however,
and will likely do better if you give yourself more time to work on
it.

24.  -Don't let yourself get run down.
If you feel yourself getting stretched too thin, take a step back and
evaluate everything you've got going on to determine what's really
important.
 -Spend time with friends.
There are few things that can cheer you up like being around the
people you like most. Eat dinner with friends or just hang out and
watch TV or take a walk to get away from the stress of homework.
 -Learn time management skills.
Time management skills will make everything from getting
assignments done to managing work a lot easier. Read a book or check
out advice on the internet to help you better manages the hours of your
day.
 -Don’t self-medicate.
Some students drink, take drugs, smoke and use other unhealthy
behaviours to cope with stress, these behaviours can exacerbate stress
by negatively affecting your mood and health.

25. CONCLUSION
 Stress in academic institutions can have both positive
and negative consequences if not well managed.
 Academic institutions have different work settings
compared to non-academic and therefore one would
expect the difference in symptoms, causes, and
consequences of stress.
 By identifying the sub issues of each component of
academic stress among the MBA students of Anna
University affiliated colleges in Dharmapuri, the study
could provide better insights to the academic
administrators for initiating efforts to reduce the
intensity of academic stress.