document/management/Can The Cyclic Meditation Intervention Help To Manage Job Stress Effectively A Qualitative Study on Indian Information Technology Professionals conv.txt

International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR) ISSN (Online): 2319-7064
Index Copernicus Value (2013): 6.14 | Impact Factor (2013): 4.438

Can The Cyclic Meditation Intervention Help To Manage Job Stress Effectively? A Qualitative Study on Indian Information Technology Professionals

Pammi Sesha Srinivas1, K. B. Akhilesh2, Sony Kumari3


Abstract: Enormous increase in opportunities in Information Technology industry in India also resulted in increase of job stress among its professionals. Coping techniques employed by professionals is of paramount importance as job stress caused by informational technology industry sector has enormous health complications starting from musculoskeletal disorders to cardio-vascular diseases. In-effective management of job stress by professionals would impact their employability as well as personal lives. Yoga is an ancient science which can give comfort to body/mind complex of human being in any context of life with a disciplined practice. Here a study was done to pursue the effect ofyoga based cyclic meditation practice to cope up with job stress for Indian information technology professionals. A qualitative research method was employed to gain deep insights into effects of the practice. A, 8 work week duration intervention was administered to the participants. Based on the findings derived from written experience from participants, Cyclic Meditation has potential to be chosen as one of the coping techniques for Job stress management among Indian Information Technology Professionals. Though  these  findings  are  derived  for  Indian  context,  the  results  are  worth  pursuing  for  international  information  technology professionals as well.

Keywords: Cyclic Meditation, Yoga, Job stress, Information Technology Professional, Qualitative


1. Background

Post 1991 economic reforms, India attracted lot of private and  foreign  investment  in  business.  The  impact  of  the economic reforms were started to be seen in big way in late 90s  where  more  number  of  foreign  industries  set  up  its development  and  manufacturing  units  in  India,  creating thousands   of   jobs   for   Indian   nationals.   India,   having advantage of premier educational institutes of research as well   as   considerable   percentage   of   English   speaking population, attracted investments in information technology business sector from both Indian business firms as well as foreign  business   firms.   In   this   web   connected   world, information technology (IT) based companies need to cater to the needs of the global market trends to stay competitive. Global Competitive markets demand IT professionals to be innovative, cost effective as well as deliver ―customer liked‖ products on time, all the time. It all boils down to‖ do more with less every time on time ―.This creates lot of stressful situations for IT Professionals like ever changing customer expectations,  squeezed  project  schedules,  availability  of skilled professionals, availability of talented leadership pool etc.  As  Robbins  (2001)  mentioned,  an  individual  goes through stressful condition when he/she needs to deliver on any opportunity where the perceived outcome is essential and un-predictable. Research also shown that excessive job stress  can  cause  enormous  health  complications  ranging from musculoskeletal disorders to cardio-vascular diseases. Indian IT professionals are more prone to Job stress related health complication due to the nature of the job they have to perform.

Though  job  stress is  mainly governed  by  work-overload, role conflict and role ambiguity, any professional’s ability to withstand job related stress also depends on physical well-being, psychological wellbeing and personal life well-being. An individual who can with stand job related stress, can also turn areas of problems in the organization/industry into areas of opportunity for success. Yoga based practices are gaining

popularity in India and abroad among IT professionals. This study investigates the effects of cyclic meditation (A yoga practice	based	meditation	technique)	on   Indian	IT professionals. Qualitative method was used to find out the experiences from the participants` perspective.

2. Cyclic Meditation

Cyclic Meditation (C.M.) was used as an intervention for this qualitative study. Cyclic meditation was developed by SVYASA	(Swami	Vivekananda	Yoga	Anusandhana Samstahana), Bangalore, India. Cyclic Meditation could be shortly referred as C.M here after. C.M is inspired by a verse from	Mandukya     Upanishad     (SanjibPatra,	Shirley Tells.2009).  C.M.is  a  set  of  stimulation  and  relaxation combine  involving  cycles  of  body  postures  followed  by supine rest relax poses. Body postures are yoga based body postures  like  ardhakatichakrasana,  Taadasana  ,  Vajrasana and Ardhavustrasana. Supine rest relax posture followed is shavasana i.e dead corpse pose. Participants going through this intervention need to make their body movements very slow and continuous. Idea here is by controlling the speed of the  body  movements,  participants  can  feel  the  energy impulses flowing in the body. While in supine rest position, participants are made aware of their body parts and asked to relax the tension if any. This is over all 40 minute practice.

3. Research Design and Methods

Qualitative methodologies could be considered to be used in cases where large range of unknown variables effect an area (Creswell,  1998). There  are large  range  of variables  like organisational	variables,	environment	variables	and individual variables which play significant role in job stress perceived  by  IT  professionals.  Hence  qualitative  design method  was  adopted  for  this  study.  Key  advantage  with qualitative case study is that it helps to get deeper insight into  participant  experiences  without  any  prior  hypothesis (Patton, 1990). Participants were selected from Bengaluru,





Paper ID: SUB15941

Volume 4 Issue 1, January 2015 www.ijsr.net
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International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR) ISSN (Online): 2319-7064
Index Copernicus Value (2013): 6.14 | Impact Factor (2013): 4.438


India office of one of the leading Multinational European Company  (MNC).  This  MNC  has  its  headquarters  in Germany  and  has  research  and  development  office  in Bengaluru since 1999. This company also has research and development   centres	in	Munich   (Germany),	Villach (Austria), Bristol (U.K) and in Singapore. Along with that, this company has marketing presence in all continents of the world.

A,8   work   week  intervention   was   administered   to   the participants during working days. Participants were mix of both  male  and  female  employees.  45  employees  of  the selected company participated in the study which ended in Nov 2014. All the participants were not having any serious illness  or  were  not  under  medical  treatment  during  the intervention period. The age range of employees varied from 24 years to 42 years. This is a post only study. At the end of intervention period, participants were encouraged to provide their experience which they believed happened due to C.M. practice  honestly.  Participants  were  requested  to  provide their experience in a written format honestly without any bias  or  apprehension.15  participants  volunteered  to  share their  experience  in a  written  format.  Average  age  of the experience sharing volunteers is about 28.9 years. A written format was provided to the volunteering participants to share their experiences.

The  written  format  provided,  has  guiding  questions  like ―describe the impact of cyclic meditation at physical level, if any‖. Written format provided also left room to share any remarkswhich  participants  wanted  to  express  freely  and honestly.

4. Data Analysis

As Denzin and Lincoln (1994) explain, data analysis begins after collecting the data from the participants in qualitative research. Written experiences from participants were studied carefully by the researcher. By looking into the obtained data, researcher looked into pattern of experiences so that the experiences could be grouped into conceptual categories. Written  data  provided  by  volunteered  participants,  was grouped into four major categories of information. First one was effect of Cyclic Meditation (C.M.) on physical well-being, second one was effect of C.M. on psychological well-being, and third one was effect of C.M. on personal life and the last one being effect of C.M. on work place. As part of last   category  of  effect   on   workplace,   responses   from participants were also carefully examined to see the effect of C.M on job stress for IT professionals.

Effect of C.M. practice on physical well-being

Due to the nature of the Job, IT professionals need to be seated in chairs before the monitors for long hours in a day. Most of the times, IT professionals might not adapt most healthy pose for the backbone which can potentially cause back bone problems. Due to regular use of mouse and key board with the computer, IT professionals are more prone to wrist  pains,  shoulder  joint  pains  etc.  Also  due  to  less physical nature of the job,IT professionals are also prone to obesity   issues   as   well   body   laziness   issues.   As   IT professionals work under cool air conditions constantly, IT

professionals might also get exposed to breathing issues. As the job requires more of mind share than body share, I.T professionals might be exposed to sleep issues as there is a possibility of imbalance in effort done between body and mind in a day. Below are experiences as expressed by some of the participants.

“Usually, I do not get proper sleep in the night. Also if I sleep longer hours by chance, I use to feel tired and sleepy all the time following wakeup. C.M. sessions helped me to get proper and continuous sleep for 6 hours, which is good enough for the body to relax. (Participant#7).”

“I  often used  to get  head-aches  (sinus  problem) at  least thrice a week which got drastically reduced after practicing cyclic meditation. (Participant#10). “

“I use to have back pain on daily basis. When I use to get up in the morning, I use to feel the pain a lot. After I practice cyclic meditation, I have no more back pain and feeling relaxed. (Participant#12). “

“Conscious breathing as part of the meditation practice is helping to cure nasal related discomfort (Participant#5)”

Effect of C.M. practice on psychological well-being:-

As IT jobs demand more of professionals’ mind share, it is possible for IT professionals to experience un-comfortness at  psychological  level  due  to  demands  from  work-place. Challenging  projects  and  ambitious  targets  also  add  to impact  the  psychological  well-being.  Psychological  well-being can be felt by self-awareness, self- confidence and listening capabilities. Below are experiences as expressed by some of the participants.

“I feel confident about self being and feel easy in decision making. (Participant#10)”.

“I have become aware of my thoughts and body movements post Cyclic Meditation practice. (Participant#1). “

“I am able to take decisions well after analysing all the pre &   post   actions   of   decisions   post   Cyclic   Meditation practice(Participant#2).”
“I	became	more	patient	in	listening	to	others. (Participant#12).”

Effect of the C.M. practice on personal life:-

With ever increasing demands of I.T jobs, I.T professionals are spending much more time at workplace than at home. It would not be un-natural to say that working professionals are  becoming  weekend  partners  and/or  weekend  parents .This could potentially also be one of the reasons for the rise in  the  family  outings  as  well  as  family  shopping  in  the weekends in India, compared to earlier times. Many a jobs, demand  professionals  to  work  for  the  tasks  even  after reaching  home  in  working  days,  if  not  in  weekends.  As quality time spent at home for professionals is decreasing day by day, any disturbance at home/family would disturb the   work   efficiency   of   professionals   and   make   those





Paper ID: SUB15941

Volume 4 Issue 1, January 2015 www.ijsr.net
Licensed Under Creative Commons Attribution CC BY



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International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR) ISSN (Online): 2319-7064
Index Copernicus Value (2013): 6.14 | Impact Factor (2013): 4.438


professional more prone to job stress situation. Below are experiences as expressed by some of the participants.

“I am able to manage multiple tasks without feeling anxiety and stress. (Participant #9). “
“Cyclic  Meditation  practice  has  obviously  increased  the patience and it helped to handle the
situations and relations effectively with family and friends ( Participant#3).”
“Also I must say, I am able to spend quality time with my family every evening. (Participant #15). “

Effect of C.M. practice at workplace

Some  of  the  common  challenges  for  Indian  Information Technology sector projects are, lack of sufficiently skilled resources  availability,  need  to  execute  multiple  projects simultaneously, ambitious project timelines, role ambiguity for   employees,   ever   demanding   customer   expectations (which   can   also   result   in   canning   of   projects),   non-availability of sufficiently experienced leadership and cross cultural communicational challenges. Due to the challenges listed,  I.T  professionals  may  have  challenging  times  in handling	work	related	discussions/risk	management/ schedules  which  can  potentially  impact  work  efficiency, resulting in job related stress. Support from sub-ordinates/ peers as well as supervisors, is also crucial for performing assigned   tasks   efficiently.   Responses   from   Participant experience sharing document were also examined to assess the impact of Cyclic Meditation at workplace. Below are experiences as expressed by some of the participants.

“I feel relaxed and able to solve problems in a better way without getting tensed. (Participant #1).”
“I am able to focus on work with greater intensity and am able to manage work schedules more effectively (Participant #7)”
“I  feel  effectiveness  in  my  way  of  approach  in  handling discussions   which   helped   to   increase   my   productivity (Participant#3). “

Effect of C.M on Job related stress management Participants’  responses  were  also  carefully  examined  to assess the effect of C.M. in handling job related stressful situations. Ability to work with cool mind is the key for stressful  job  situations.  It  is  also  important  to  respond appropriately for work place discussions else it would have negative spiral effect on Job stress. Ability to complete tasks even  under  stressful  situations  is  key  for  professional’s success. Below are experiences as expressed by some of the participants.

“Compared to before, Under stress situations, I can work easily  with  cool  mind  and  complete  the  tasksuccessfully without errors. (Participant #10). “

“It  helped  to  reduce  tensions  at  work  place  and  I  feel relaxed in taking decisions compared to before. (Participant #12). “

“Earlier due to more stress, sometimes I tend to react to situations hastily. With a relaxed body and mind, I am able

to  appropriately  respond  to  situations  at  work  place.( Participant #15). “

5. Result Discussion

Results due to C.M. practice are encouraging as expressed by participants. Participants experienced positive effects at physical well-being as well as psychological well-being due to C.M. practice. Practice helped some participants to reduce uncomfortness due to body ailments like sinus problem and back  pain  issues.  All  participants  who  had  quality  sleep issues, experienced a good quality sleep due to practice of Cyclic Meditation. C.M. practice also helped to reduce the nasal   related   discomfort   for   some   participants.   Some Participants  reported  more  of  self-  awareness  and  self-confidence as expressed in written experience. C.M practice also has positive effect  on  decision making capability as well   as   on   listening   capability   as   expressed   by   few participants. Some participants experienced positive effect in personal lives in terms of handling situations and relations effectively. A quality time spent in personal time helps to tackle work related issues as well as job stress effectively. Most of the participants experienced positive effect at work place in terms handling discussions, risk forecasting and in adopting   systematic   problem   solving.   Some   of   the participants  also  experienced  ability  to  handle  job  stress effectively and able to deliver on the tasks without errors under stressful conditions. Some participants also expressed enhancement  in  their  ability  to  respond  appropriately  in work related situations.

6. Limitations

The  average  age  of  the  participants  under  this  study  is around  29  years.  Also  to  generalize  these  finding  more number of participants to be covered bringing the average age  of  the  participant  close  to  40  years.  This  study  is currently done in one I.T , M.N.C company. Doing similar study  in  more  I.T,  M.N.C  companies  would  give  more promising outcomes which might support existing findings more robustly or modify some of the findings. Triangulation might  be  helpful  to  generalize  these  current  findings  by using a mix of qualitative and quantitative research methods. However  present  study  gives  a  solid  platform  for  future studies on job stress management in I.T professionals using yoga based interventions like Cyclic Meditation. To enrich this study, future research can also consider women specific job stress as well as, study on IT enabling sector like B.P.O industry

7. Conclusions

Cyclic  Meditation  practice  helped  IT  professionals  for enhancing  their  physical  and  psychological  well-being. Cyclic  Meditation  also  helped  to  spend  quality  time  in personal  lives  of  IT  professionals.  This  intervention  also helped  to  manage  work related  tasks effectively .Though organization and environment variables play significant role in impacting job stress for Indian IT professionals, a well thought through and relaxed attitude from individual also plays positive effect in alleviating the Job stress for Indian IT professionals to greater extent. Cyclic Meditation practice





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International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR) ISSN (Online): 2319-7064
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would help modify IT professional response to job stress so that , not only he/she would not become scape-goat to health complications due to job stress, but it also enables the IT professional to perform efficiently at work place despite of stressful work conditions.

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