The Role of Organizational and Ethical Values in Reducing Oc-cupational Stress in the view of Directors and Deans of Guilan University of Medical Sciences

Abstract

Occupational stress is the most significant cause of stress in today’s societies and a major factor leading to decline in the productivity of organizations. The identification and institutionalization of workers’ values is an important fundamental source guaranteeing growth, survival and efficiency of organizations. The present study was conducted to examine the role of organizational and ethical values in reducing occupational stress in the view of directors and deans of Guilan University of Medical Sciences. The present descriptive, correlational study with its cross-sectional approach had 44 directors of staff of Guilan University of Medical Sciences as its statistical population. Data collection instrument was a 3-section questionnaire consisting of one section for personal and demographic information (7 items), one for the role of organizational values in stress (22 items) and another one for the role of ethical values in stress (10 items), which were scored on a 5-point Likert scale. The questionnaire validity was examined and confirmed by means of surveying the university professors and its reliability was assessed using Cronbach's alpha. Data collected were analyzed in SPSS software using descriptive statistics, and the correlation among components was determined through Pearson’s correlation coefficient and regression analysis. There was a direct, significant correlation between organizational and ethical values and reduction of occupational stress (P=0.0001). The statistical difference between the mean score obtained by gender for the role of organizational values in reducing occupational stress was also significant (P=0.017). However, the difference between the mean score obtained by gender for the role of ethical values in reducing occupational stress was not significant (P=0.056). Observing ethical and organizational standards paves the ground for reducing occupational stress and job tension. In general, adherence to values provides the basis for reducing occupational stress.