It’s the sheer quality of the book titled Role Stress and Coping: The Indian Scenario that enthused this reviewer to attempt a review. Since the Foreword of the book- a 2010 publication, is written by none other than Prof. Udai Pareek, an HR expert of international repute, it is appropriate to dedicate this book review to the memory of the luminary who passed away on March 21 this year. A distinguished scholar and prolific author, Prof. Pareek is unarguably recognized as the father of HRD and OD movement in India. A celebrity of the stature of Prof. Udai Pareek subscribing the Foreword to a book written by an academic of Kashmir is in fact acknowledgment of the worth of the book and the scholarly acumen of the author. The author of the book, Dr. Farooq Ahmad Shah has the teaching and research experience of more than two decades. Besides three books and a number of subject specific conceptual and research papers and articles, Dr. Shah has widely written on academic and educational issues.

The book under review is primarily the outcome of the doctoral study conducted by the author vis-à-vis the Indian banking industry and the data based investigation covers six banking organizations operating in three sectors viz. SBI and PNB (public sector), J&K Bank and HDFC Bank (private sector), and Elaquai Dehati Bank and J&K Grameen Bank (regional rural sector).

The preliminary section of the book i.e. the Foreword, Preface, Tables/Figures and Contents not only familiarize with the subject matter but also acquaint the reader to the focus and approach of the book. The main book spans over six broad chapters on distinct focal areas. The opening chapter is a rich embodiment of literature available on occupational and role stress and its dimensions, sources and consequences. A complete chapter has been devoted to the comprehensive review of literature available on stress coping and management. The two operative chapters that investigate the role stress experience and coping behaviour of people working in the Indian banking industry are empirical and data based. The concluding chapter highlights the implications of the study results and sets the agenda for future research in the area.

The Preface of the book underlines the need and rationale of the study on the subject, “……stress induced behaviours place a considerable burden on organizations and greatly affect their bottomline. Work related stress costs American business alone more than $300 billion each year in productivity loss, absenteeism, turnover, alcoholism and medical expenses. In the Indian context, such currency figures are though not available, but the costs, both in terms of money and employee health, must be very high.”

The book builds on the beautifully drawn theoretical and cognitive framework of the concepts of role stress and coping and proceeds to comprehensively but critically review the conceptual, theoretical and empirical literature available on the subject. Alongside, the book identifies the gaps in the existing literature and underscores the possibilities of future research in the field. During the course, the book also examines the nature, magnitude, causes and manifestations of employees’ occupational and role stress. Latter on, the book empirically assesses the banking employees’ stress coping strategies in general and their cognitive coping responses in particular. The book also explores the inter-relationship between the role stress experience and coping strategies of employees in the industry.

Towards the end, the book, on the basis of the results of the study, suggests the industry level workable stress alleviating interventions and employees’ coping improving mechanism with a view to ameliorate job satisfaction, motivation and performance of banking employees and the overall efficiency and effectiveness of Indian banking industry.

The most notable feature of the book is that in addition to psychometric analysis of various organizational role stresses, the book investigates a hitherto widely ignored area viz. the stress coping strategies of workers.

Despite the fact that the dimensions, sources and consequences of occupational and organizational stress have been popular areas of research, stress coping and management, a vital component, has till date not been adequately researched vis-à-vis organizational and work settings. The book of Dr. Shah is, therefore, a significant step towards filling in this vital gap in the existing research and a good contribution that attempts to explore the stress coping conduct of employees and highlights the areas that entail improvement.

The author based on the findings of the study, asserts :
That of the ten investigated role stresses, role overload, inter-role distance, and role stagnation are the three role stress dimensions that confront the banking industry workers most.

That stress sensation of employees in the banking industry is associated with and dependent upon the nature and ownership of banking organizations, the hierarchical position of employees, their gender, age and income level.

That a vast majority of people working in banks adopt ‘avoidance coping styles’ as compared to ‘approach coping’ which, according to the author, is an area that warrants immediate attention of behaviouralists and banking policy makers.

That the stress coping conduct of employees across various sectoral banks does not vary much. However, officers and employees of higher age and income group are more prone to adopt ‘approach coping strategies’.
Banking employees’ stress sensation and coping styles are interrelated. Those with high role stress are used to more ‘avoidance coping’ and those with more ‘approach coping’ are relatively less stressful.

The detailed and well documented ‘References’ that forms a part of the book is indicative of the sustained efforts that the author has invested in reviewing the voluminous literature and studying employees’ role stress experience and their coping behavior. The orderly arrangement and methodic review of a huge literature on the subject clearly reflects the rich research experience of the author who has, during the past fifteen years, contributed a number of conceptual and empirical papers and book chapters on the subject to various journals of repute and edited books.

The present book is a classic piece of research vis-à-vis its design and methodology. The conceptual clarity of the research methodology has, in fact, been a harbinger for effective analysis, interpretation and discussion on the results of the study. The present work has, as a matter of fact, dispelled the perception that the research methodology in business and management sciences sans proper technique and style. Contextual analysis of the enormous research material must have really been an uphill task for the author. The analytical table results have adequately been interpreted and duly wedded to the existing wealth of literature on the theme. Continuity and consistency in drafting the commentary on the study results has been ensured throughout the text and the findings have been corroborated by empirical evidences supported by documented references.

The author has been able to carve a niche on more than one front. In fact, a healthy deviation has been maintained in interpreting the results of the investigation and a novel format quite distinct from the one generally used in social sciences is the hallmark of the book which makes it an interesting read. The textual matter has been discussed under a number of sub-headings. In order to attract the quick attention of the reader, the important concepts and key terms are highlighted in a font form distinct from the general text, the practice hitherto unknown.

The book with presumably a depiction of a stressful bank executive on its very impressive jacket is hard bound, spread over XVI + 288 pages and priced at INR 595. The text is well laid out and the beauty of the book is that because of scrupulous editing and rigorous proof reading, the printer’s devil has been kept at bay. All in all, this reviewer replicates the concluding paragraph of the Foreword that reads, ‘on the whole the book is a great contribution on the subject and is certainly to benefit academic readers, researchers, banking policy makers and managers alike’.
(Dr. Nazir Ahmad Gilkar is Principal, Govt. Degree College, Sogam (Lolab), Kashmir.

Feedback at gilkarna@rediffmail.com)

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