Indian Bureaucrats across Different Lengths of Service: A Comparative Study

Abstract

Occupational stress has been attracting the attention of the researchers since very long now. Decline in performance and productivity as well as an undesirable shift in the work attitude of the employees are just few of its undesirable outcomes. Bureaucracy in India comprises of a fleet of government officials who are employed at both Central and State level. The purpose of the present study was to empirically investigate occupational stress in Indian Bureaucracy and to compare the same on the basis of length of service. Job satisfaction, Resilience and Emotional Intelligence of Indian bureaucrats were also analyzed and compared on the said basis. A sample of 120 civil servants was taken for this study. Four different psychometric scales were used to measure the four variables. Occupational stress levels, Emotional Intelligence, Resilience and Job Satisfaction were compared across three levels of administrative hierarchy, i.e. Short (less than 10 years of service), Medium (10 to 20 years of service), and Long (more than 20 years of service). Significant difference was found in stress levels across three levels of administrative hierarchy, wherein officers in Short service category exhibited the least amount of stress, while those in Long service category showed the highest amount of stress. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to understand in depth the various factors contributing to the occupational stress in Indian bureaucrats.