Organisational Strategies for Mitigation and Management of Stress of Women Garment Workers in Bangalore

Abstract

The garment industry is a large economic activity in the Indian economy and Bangalore can be termed as one of the garment industries with major workforce being women. Despite the numerous employment opportunities, the sector has to offer, the high workloads, long working hours, low welfare support and high production pressures are typical of the sector which shapes high organizational pressures among the workers. The paper will discuss the implications of organizational stress management amongst women garment workers in Bangalore. We adopted a descriptive research design and survey 100 women who work in various functional capacities using a structured questionnaire. The tool consisted of questions related to demographic, work-related, organizational stress management practices and organizational stress levels that included workload, work conditions, pay and benefits, organizational support, work life balance, job insecurity and work supervisor relationship.

Data analysis involved descriptive statistics and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to find the correlation between mitigation strategies and stress in organizations. Root Mean Square Error of Approximation RMSEA and Standardized Root Mean Square Residual SRMR model fit indices indicated an excellent model fit. The findings demonstrate that low stress levels are also linked to an excellent mitigation and management strategies within organizations. They were identified as organizational variables and found to play a significant role in stress reduction: they were structured training program, grievance redressal, supportive supervision and participatory communications. These results highlight the importance of shifting towards a paradigm of applying personal coping responses to institutionalized stress response strategies.

The study contributes to the research literature by combining organizational strategies systematically in an analytical approach and giving managerial recommendations to factories, policy makers, and labour welfare authorities. It shows the importance of gender sensitive workplace responses in order to enhance the well-being, job satisfaction, and sustain the productivity of the workforce in the garment industry.