Relationship Between Job Stress and Staff Performance in National Examination Council, Ilorin

This study investigated the relationship between job stress and staff performance in National Examination Council, Ilorin Kwara State. The data collected from the respondents were statically analyzed with both descriptive and inferential statistics. Frequency counts, tabulations, percentage, mean, standard deviation and Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) statistics were used to test the research hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Descriptive survey design was adopted, employing questionnaire as an instrument for data collection through survey monkey. The research was carried out in National Examination Council (NECO), Ilorin Kwara State. The population of the study was the 96 NECO staff in Ilorin office. This resulted to 96 staff were sampled across all the 24 units. The researcher designed structured questionnaires titled: “Job Stress Assessment Questionnaire” (JSAQ) and “Staff Job Performance Assessment Questionnaire” (SJPAQ) were used to elicit information from the 96 respondents. The reliability measurement of the instruments was carried out through test re-test method. The results of the analysis in the research hypotheses revealed that; there was a significant relationship between level of stress and staff job performance at the National Examinations Council, Ilorin. The finding on the hypothesis ( Ho 2 ) which was rejected and the findings shows that there was a significant relationship between strategies for managing stress and staff job performance at the National Examinations Council, Ilorin. Based on the hypothesis on significant relationship between consequential effects of stress and staff job performance at the National Examinations Council, Ilorin, it was discovered that a significant relationship existed between consequential effects of stress and staff job performance at the National Examinations Council, Ilorin. The following were therefore; the organization should develop stress coping strategies in order to enhance staff job performance. Workshop and seminars should be organized for staff of National Examinations Councils on stress management techniques. This will enable the staff to put in their best in the performance of their job. The organization should identify those factors that are responsible for stress and devise means of reducing them to the barest minimum in order to enhance high productivity among staff. Specialization should be given prominence in the distribution of works to staff so that tasks assigned to them can be easily completed thereby reducing stress that may arise from job performance.


Introduction
Job stress, within the context of workplace relates to a serious psychological condition that causes adverse, mental and psychological imbalance in the workplace. Akor (2014) asserted occupational stress as the experience of unpleasant negative emotion such as tension, anxiety, frustration, anger, and depression resulting from aspects of work, while NOISH (2004) occupational stress is any discomfort which is felt and perceived at a personal level and triggered by instances, events or situations that are too intense and frequent in nature so as to exceed a person's coping capabilities and resources to handle them adequately. The National Examination Council is an examination body in Nigeria that conducts December/January respectively. By its mandate, NECO was to take over the responsibilities of the National Board for Educational Measurement (NBEM) which was created, in 1992, by the Ibrahim Babangida administration, although its enabling decree was promulgated in 1993. To effectively pursed the goals of the council; a proficient and adapt human resource is vital. This is because human resources constitute a vital part of any organization, thus, acts as building blocks and backbones of any organization and determines the level of productivity in the organization. Robbins (2012) affirmed that all activities of any enterprise are initiated and determine by the persons that make up these institutions and every aspect of an organization's activity is determine by the competence are effectiveness of its human beings. Staff of National Examinations Council, as human resources is employees that work for the achievement of the Council objective. Also, they are academic and administrative staff, who are responsible to their Head of Departments (HOD's) for the performance of their duties. Their duties include generation of examination questions, moderating of exam questions, validating of examination questions, designing syllabus for different subjects, distribution of examination materials, administration of examination question/items, administrative duties and other delegated duties as prescribed. However, the discharge of the aforementioned duties or statutory function in the achievement of organizational goals and objective is what scholars like AbdulRaheem (2017), Jimoh (2016) Roghaiyeh and Praveena (2013) called job performance. Stress is a state of tension experienced by individuals facing extraordinary demands, constraints or opportunities. The pressures of modern life, coupled with the demands of a job, can lead to emotional imbalances that are collectively labeled 'Stress'. However, stress is not always unpleasant. Stress is the spice of life and the absence of stress makes life dull, monotonous and spiritless. Job stress relates to a serious physiological condition that causes adverse mental and physical reactions to the body as a result of excessive workplace obligations. Inevitably, stress is a normal and common experience to people's lives because it operates as an internal defense mechanism against external factors that demand attention, prioritization, and fulfillment. The workplace can be a major stressor for many people with commitments to assigned projects and tasks that require satisfactory execution in a timely and productive manner under threat of potential job loss. Consequently, job stress lowers the ability to perform under pressure and sustain a livelihood. Absenteeism and illness resulting from job stress raise employer costs and necessitate features like wellness and health promotion programs (World Health Organization, 2019). Job performance is an activity in which an individual is able to accomplish the task assigned to him/ her successfully, subject to the normal constraints of responsible utilization of the available resources (Laiba, Anum, Muhammed, Naseem, & Khan, 2011). Naqvi, Khan, Kant and Khan (2013) define job performance as the measurement of the result and resources to achieve the goals; achievement level of the define goal; efficiency and quality of an activity with a purpose. Ratnawat and Jha (2014) viewed job performance as the result of three factors working together: skill, effort and the nature of work conditions. Skills include knowledge, abilities and competencies of the employees; effort is the degree of motivation the employee puts forth towards completing the job; and the nature of work conditions is the degree of accommodation of these conditions in facilitating the employee's performance. Muhammed and Nabila (2015) viewed job performance as an activity in which an individual is able to accomplish the task assigned to him/her successfully, subject to the normal constraints of reasonable utilization of the available resources in another meaning, job performance according to Moaz, Syed, Moinuddin and Suhail (2016), is the ability of individuals to achieve their respective work aims, then meet their expectations, achieve benchmarks or accomplish their organizational goals. In the context of this study, job performance refers to the discharge of statutory duties of However, it suffices to note that ultimate success or failure of an organization is determined majorly by the performance of their employees (Achemu 2013). It is on the note, Zafar, Ali, Hameed, Ilyas, and Younas (2015) argued that job performance of employees is determined by some indicators which include quantity, quality timeliness, creativity etc. similarly, Oketunji (2014) highlighted creative and innovative ability, dependability and timeliness, leadership quality, relationship with co-workers, effectiveness and efficiency and team building as the indicators of job performance. Khalid and Amber (2016) added that performance is a complicated interrelation between certain performance indicators such as effectiveness, efficiency, quality, and quality of the working life, innovation and profitability. Going by reports of research findings, it has been noted that the job performance of staff in service organization are below expectation by Khalid and Amber (2016) and Usman and Muhammad (2016) revealed that the job performance of staff in service sector (health, banking, educational and telecom companies) in Pakistan was on a low level. In Nigeria, findings by fejoh and Faniran (2016) and Ezeani and Oladele ((2013) in Osun State and Onitsha equally found low level of job performance among staff in government establishments. However, this poor performance among staff in service organization is attributed to many ending list of factors but the factor dealing the worst deathblow is that of job stress. This is because employees' in service organization like NECO spend most of their time at work, travelling from one geographical location to another and work with too many deadlines; that's why they are directly targeted by stress. In fact, researchers (Yusoff, khan, & Azam, 20133;Usoro &Etuk, 2016) affirmed that stress is an important factor, which is rapidly increasing the absenteeism rate of employees and greatly decreasing their productivity at workplace.
According to Ashfaq and Muhammad (2013), stress is unwanted reaction people have to severe pressures or other types of demands placed upon them. Also, Naqvi, Khan, Kant &khan (2013) described stress as a condition of physical and psychological mental disorder which occurs in a situation of pressure, when resources are unable to fulfill the demand of individual. Beer and Newman (2013) saw it as a process in which environmental event s or forces threaten the wellbeing of the individuals in the society. Aasia, Hadia and Sabita (2014) defined stress as an individual's reaction to an environmental force that affects an individual performance. Petrovsky and Yoroshavsky (2015) described stress as an unavoidable characteristic of life and work. Thus, in relationship to occupation, it is the physical, mental and emotional wear and tear brought about by incongruence between the requirements of the job and capabilities. Resources and needs of the employee to cope with job demands according to (Peretomode, 2015). All the modern definitions that are put forward by scholars, practitioners and researchers above purport that can be defined as the personal experience of an individual that is caused by the increased pressure and excessive and inappropriate demands. In this study, stress is defined as any personal, organization and environmental factor that cause bodily or mental unrest (a feeling of emotional or physical tension) among staff/employees of National Examination Council. On the other hand, job stress can be defined as an employee's awareness or feeling of personal dysfunction as a result of perceived conditions or happenings in the workplace, and the employee's psychological and physiological reactions caused by these uncomfortable, undesirable, or threats in the employee's immediate workplace environment. It is on this note, Olaniyi (2013) argued that stress related to work occurs when the demands of the job (job duties and responsibilities) and the resources and capabilities of an individual worker (job specification) differ. In some cases, stress can be positive and affects workplace in a positive way by making employees to fully  (Awadh, Gichinga & Ahmed, 2015). If there is a certain level of stress, then it can add potential advantages in the efficiency of the organization. But, once the stress becomes excessive and its level rises then it became unsafe. According to Muhammad and Nabila (2015), workplace stress can be derived from many sources. It can be a demanding boss, annoying co-workers, rebellious students, angry customers, hazardous conditions, long commutes and a neverending workload. Your work performance is also affected by stressors such as family relationships, finances and a lack of lack of sleep stemming from fears and anxieties about the future. Karihe, Namusonge and Iravo (2015) suggested that occupational stress is caused by lack of resources and equipment; work schedules such as working late or overtime and organizational climate are contributors to employee's stress. In addition, Khalid and Amber (2016) and Mai and Vu (2016) provided some of the stressors that are considered as responsible for workplace stress among service among services sector employees. These contributing factors include: a) Immense pressure to perform a given task in a given time and demands and requirement related to a job that becomes overwhelming. b) Low wages that are paid to employees on a particular position. c) Work that is beyond the control of employees or work in which employees have little control. d) Stressful, unpleasant and hostile environment of the workplace. e) Long hours of duty especially those that require continuously standing on feet. f) Doing a job for which an employee is either under or over qualified. g) Busy and tight schedule. h) Feeling of lack of balance between work and personal life. i) Monotonous, boring and repetitive nature of job. j) Lack of communication and coordination among employees. Staff performance refers to how your workers behave in the workplace and how well they perform the job duties you've obligated to them. Your company typically sets performance targets for individual employees and the company as a whole in hopes that your business offers good value to customers, minimizes waste and operates efficiently. For an individual employee, performance may refer to work effectiveness, quality and efficiency at the task level. Your salesperson, for example, may be expected to complete a certain quota of calls to potential leads per hour with a specific portion of those resulting in closed sales. On the other hand, a production worker may have performance requirements for product quality and hourly output. Employee performance refers to how your workers behave in the workplace and how well they perform the job duties you've obligated to them. Your company typically sets performance targets for individual employees and the company as a whole in hopes that your business offers good value to customers, minimizes waste and operates efficiently. Employee performance refers to how your workers behave in the workplace and how well they perform the job duties you've obligated to them. Your company typically sets performance targets for individual employees and the company as a whole in hopes that your business offers good value to customers, minimizes waste and operates efficiently. Ashley (2019). For an individual employee, performance may refer to work effectiveness, quality and efficiency at the task level. Your salesperson, for example, may be expected to complete a certain quota of calls to potential leads per hour with a specific portion of those resulting in closed sales. On the other hand, a production worker may have performance requirements for product quality and hourly output. Bada and Fulana (2012) emphasized that everyone experiences stress but an overload of it is a different story. The authors explained further that stress overload is caused by overreaction or failure of the stress response to turn off and reset itself properly. Health and Safety Executive (HSE) (2001) maintained that stress affect us in different ways at different times and is often the result of a combination of factors in our personal and working lives, and that stress is not a weakness but if unnoticed it can lead progressively to a decrease in performance, Poor health and long-term absence from work. In extreme cases, longterm stress or traumatic events at work may lead to a psychological problem and be conductive to psychiatric disorders resulting in the workers from being able to work again.

Statement of the Problem
Management of educational institutions like the National Examinations Councils has over time been a controversial issue but more debatable however, has been the performance of staff or employees. Unfortunately, staff in service organization such as NECO and other public educational institutions do not perform to the expected standards and neither do they seem to address the needs of stakeholders (Awadh, Gichinga & Ahmed, 2015;Khalid & Muhammad, 2016). Their performance / productivity level is still less satisfactory than expected standards (Muwafaq, 2015;Khalid & Amber, 2016) and consequences have been predictable as there are rising concerns over issues of increased errors in their performance duties, lateness to work, poor quality of examinations administration, poor sitting arrangement of the students, leakages of examination questions, poor quality of examination monitoring, shortage of exam questions/items, poor job commitment and the much acclaimed falling standard of education. All the above are still the daily complaints of stakeholders in education. The problem of low staff performance among staff in service organizations such as NECO might be related to the staff domestic roles which they try to joggle with their work (Mutanga, Kaja & Moyo, 2015) role ambiguity lack of role clarity, lack of needed information to carry on one's job (Awadh, Giching & Ahmed, 2015 This study is geared towards assessing the influence of stress on staff job performance in National Examinations Council, Ilorin, Kwara State; given the fact that stress is inevitable among staff in service organizations considering different roles they assume both within and outside their workplace.

Purpose of the Study
The main purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of job stress on staff performance in National Examination Council, Ilorin. The study was specifically seek to: i. determine the relationship between job stress and staff performance in National Examination Council, Ilorin-Kwara State. ii. determine relationship between level of stress and staff job performance at the National Examinations Council, Ilorin. iii. examine the relationship between strategies for managing stress and staff job performance at the National Examinations Council, Ilorin. iv. determine the relationship between causes of stress among staff and staff job performance at the National Examinations Council, Ilorin. v. examine the relationship between consequential effects of stress and staff job performance at the National Examinations Council, Ilorin.

Research Hypotheses
The following null hypotheses were formulated to guide the conduct of the study: H0: There is no significant relationship between job stress and staff performance in National Examination Council, Ilorin-Kwara State. Ho1: There is no significant relationship between level of stress and staff job performance at the National Examinations Council, Ilorin. Ho2: There is no significant relationship between strategies for managing stress and staff job performance at the National Examinations Council, Ilorin. Ho3: There is no significant relationship between causes of stress among staff and staff job performance at the National Examinations Council, Ilorin. Ho4: There is no significant relationship between consequential effects of stress and staff job performance at the National Examinations Council, Ilorin.

Methodology
The descriptive survey design was adopted by the researcher. According to Atunde (2011), descriptive survey is a type of design that involves a systematic and comprehensive collection of information about the opinions, attitudes, feelings, belief and behaviours of people through observation, interview and administering of questionnaire to a relatively large representative sample of the population of interest. The author stated further that methods involved in descriptive survey range from the survey which describes the status question, correlation study which investigates the relationship between variables, to developmental studies which seek to determine changes over time. This research designed were adopted because the study was systematically and comprehensively collected information of two or more sets of data from different sources with an attempt to determine the impact of stress on staff job performance in National Examination Council, Ilorin, Kwara State. According to information obtained from National Examination Council (2019)  Data for the study were gathered through the use of questionnaire. Two researcher-design questionnaires are developed as instruments for obtaining data from the respondents. These are: a. Job Stress Assessment Questionnaire (JSAQ) b. Staff Job Performance Assessment Questionnaire (SJPAQ) The first questionnaire tagged "JSAQ" would be administered on all the respondents. The structured questionnaire is in five (5) sections. Section A was on the demographic data of the respondents. Section B is a close ended question containing 10 items to determine the causes of stress among staff. Section C consists of 10 items which was used to determine the level of stress among staff. Section D consists of 12 items used to explore the perception of the respondent of the consequential effects of stress on job performance. Section E consists of 10 items used to elicit information on the strategies for the management of stress in order to enhance job performance. Section B, C, D and E are close ended form of questionnaire based on a four (4)  The second instrument tagged "SJPAQ" was administered on the Directors, Deputy Directors and Head of Units/Divisions at the NECO office, Ilorin. The structured questionnaire was in two (2) sections. Section A is on demographic data of the respondents. Section B consists of 15-items in relation to job performance. This section being a closed ended form of questionnaire based on a four-point Likert scale, ranging from four options ranging from Poor = 1, Fair =2, Good =3, and Excellent = 4. The results obtained were subjected to Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Statistics (PPMC) at 0.05 level of significance. Reliability co-efficient of 0.84 and 0.81 were obtained for ''JSAQ'' and ''SJPAQ'' respectively This yielded 0.87 coefficient. This instrument was adjudged reliable. The hypotheses generated in the study were tested, using Pearson Product Moment Correlation Statistics at 0.05 level of significance.

Results
H0: There is no significant relationship between job stress and staff performance in National Examination Council, Ilorin-Kwara State.  Table 1 shows the calculated r-value of .398 while p-value (0.000) is less than the significance level (0.05) for 88 degrees of freedom. Therefore, the hypothesis which states that there is no significant relationship between job stress and staff performance in National Examination Council, Ilorin-Kwara State is rejected. The finding reveals that there was significant relationship between job stress and staff performance in National Examination Council, Ilorin-Kwara State. Ho1: There is no significant relationship between level of stress and staff job performance at the National Examinations Council, Ilorin.  Table 2 shows the calculated r-value of .365 while p-value (0.000) is less than the significance level (0.05) for 88 degrees of freedom. Therefore, the hypothesis which states that there is no significant relationship between level of stress and staff job performance at the National Examinations Council, Ilorin is rejected. The finding reveals that there was a significant relationship between level of stress and staff job performance at the National Examinations Council, Ilorin. Ho2: There is no significant relationship between strategies for managing stress and staff job performance at the National Examinations Council, Ilorin.  Table 3 shows the calculated r-value of .323 while p-value (0.002) is less than the significance level (0.05) for 88 degrees of freedom. Therefore, the hypothesis which states that there is no significant relationship between strategies for managing stress and staff job performance at the National Examinations Council, Ilorin is rejected. The finding reveals that there was a significant relationship between strategies for managing stress and staff job performance at the National Examinations Council, Ilorin.
Ho3: There is no significant relationship between causes of stress among staff and staff job performance at the National Examinations Council, Ilorin.  Table 4 shows the calculated r-value of .843 while p-value (0.000) is less than the significance level (0.05) for 88 degrees of freedom. Therefore, the hypothesis which states that there is no significant relationship between causes of stress among staff and staff job performance at the National Examinations Council, Ilorin. is rejected. The finding reveals that there was significant relationship between causes of stress among staff and staff job performance at the National Examinations Council, Ilorin.
Ho4: There is no significant relationship between consequential effects of stress and staff job performance at the National Examinations Council, Ilorin.  Table 5 shows the calculated r-value of .797 while p-value (0.005) is less than the significance level (0.05) for 88 degrees of freedom. Therefore, the hypothesis which states that there is no significant relationship between consequential effects of stress and staff job performance at the National Examinations Council, Ilorin is rejected. The finding reveals that there was significant relationship between consequential effects of stress and staff job performance at the National Examinations Council, Ilorin.

Discussion
This section gives detailed explanations on the various findings discovered from the research hypotheses tested. For instance, the findings on the hypothesis which states that there is no significant relationship between job stress and staff performance in National Examination Council, Ilorin-Kwara State was rejected which means that there was a significant relationship between the independent and dependent variables. This finding confirmed the finding that corroborates that of Robbins (2012) that stress represents a major determinant of staff job performance in an organization. It was further stated that the establishment office of an organization needs to pay much attention to the factors that are responsible for staff inefficiency. The finding on the hypothesis (Ho1) shows that there was a significant relationship between level of stress and staff job performance at the National Examinations Council, Ilorin. Uma (2009) asserted that the level of stress among workers in an organization has a great impact on their job performance. The finding on the hypothesis (Ho2) shows that there was a significant relationship between strategies for managing stress and staff job performance at the National Examinations Council, Ilorin. The study is similar to Ale (2010) opined that one of the responsibilities of an educational managers is ability to develop strategies that could help to manage stress among staff. There was a significant relationship between causes of stress among staff and staff job performance at the National Examinations Council, Ilorin. This finding confirmed the finding of Martins (2019) who discovered that a significant relationship existed between causes of stress among staff and their job performance at the National Examinations Council, Ilorin. Based on the hypothesis on significant relationship between consequential effects of stress and staff job performance at the National Examinations Council, Ilorin, it was discovered that a significant relationship existed between consequential effects of stress and staff job performance at the National Examinations Council, Ilorin. This finding confirmed the finding of Adamu (2016) opined computerized examination record allows easy access to the student's record and subsequent decision making on the academic standing of each student. In a medical or biological context stress is a physical, mental, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension. Stresses can be external (from the environment, psychological, or social situations) or internal (illness, or from a medical procedure).

Conclusion
Stress is a complex phenomenon and is influenced by various factors. There is no single method for surviving the stressful events in life; rather, it is a process of figuring out what works best for person at the time of stress. The coping strategies will guide the individual to work through both everyday stress as well as crisis stressors. Cognitive behavioral approaches are effective in dealing with stressful conditions. Mindfulness based approaches are recently highlighted as intervention for managing stress. Stress management is important since stress is related to various medical conditions which has enduring effects on individual. Stress is a common phenomenon of modern life. Stress is generally due to conflict emanating from high aspirations and goal attainment. Stress may also result from indecisiveness and/or failure to cope with the demanding situation. Stress is common for all, but the degree varies which depend on various intra psychic and interpersonal factors. Stress prone people experience more health-related problems and experience difficulties in interpersonal area. Although stress cannot be totally eliminated from the  (1984) considered stress and coping a dynamic phenomenon and viewed stress as "particular relationship between the person and his environment, that is appraised by the person as taxing or exceeding his or her resources and endangering his or her wellbeing". In this context it can be said that a person with the developing mind (with high expectation) is more stress prone when he or she is in a middle track such as do's or don'ts. If the confusing situation becomes longer it leads towards prolonged stress, which results in mental and physical illness. Coffer and Appley, (1967) stated that in psychological stress the person perceives that, his wellbeing or (integrity) is endangered and that he must devote his energies to its protection. Vingoi, (1981) stated that the frequent provocation of frustrating events or situation involving conflict leads towards stress. This is the genuine process of human life to face stress, because human beings have to go through these events and situations throughout their life span. So for its protection it can be minimized by developing appropriate coping procedures, otherwise it will produce psychopathology. Environment also plays an important role in the perception of stress and its coping ability. Bower, (1973) viewed that psychological stress is the result of mismatching between the person and their environment.2. Stressors Stress can start from the daily hassles of family to the work place or from the work place for family. Those who are even living single, they are also facing stress. There are various sources which produced stress, where some are acute and some others are still chronic The study conducted by Holmes and Rahe (1967) stated that the greatest number of people faced stress due to the death of a spouse, divorce and marital separation as comparable to the change of residence, vacation and violation of law, etc. Cohen and his colleagues (1998) conducted their research on chronic and mild stress. They found that severe reprimand at work or a fight with the spouse produced less chronic stress as compared to unhappy marital life or unemployment. Selye (1950,1956,1958) identified the general adaptation syndrome which includes three different stages of stress such as the alarm stage, the resistance stage, and exhaustion stage. When a person is under stress, he/she may experience and passes through these specific stages. However, one may or may not pass through all stages of stress, depending on the events that triggered the occurrence. Some stress is of high frequency in nature where as some are of low frequency. Some high frequency stresses like the hassles of daily life are less severe than the low frequency stress like sudden work load in the workplace, support in social life (Delongis, Folkman & Lazarus 1988Kenner et at, 1981and Lazarus et al, 1985. In this context it can be stated that stress is always with the human being and it comes from every setup of human life, maybe from marital life, daily hassles of family life, dissatisfaction in marital life, low academic performance, job dissatisfaction, disturbed love affairs etc. One thing cannot be disregarded that the sources of stress vary from person to person.

Recommendations
From the findings and conclusions of this study, the following recommendations are made: 1. The organization should develop stress coping strategies in order to enhance staff job performance. 2. Workshop and seminars should be organized for staff of National Examinations Councils on stress management techniques. This will enable the staff to put in their best in the performance of their job. 3. The organization should identify those factors that are responsible for stress and devise means of reducing them to the barest minimum in order to enhance high productivity among staff. 4. Specialization should be given prominence in the distribution of works to staff so that tasks assigned to them can be easily completed thereby reducing stress that may arise from job performance. 5. Staff should be encouraged to always use their leave periods at home instead of engaging in activities that could bring about stress.