Date of Award

1996

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Administration

First Advisor

Daniel W. Kemper

Second Advisor

Karen Johnson

Abstract

This thesis will focus primarily on occupational stress management. The information contained therein advocates that the responsibility to relieve stress both in the workplace and in the home fall in either of two categories; one is the corporate or managerial responsibility to ameliorate occupational stress, while the other is the individual responsibility to self-manage stress. One's reaction to stress has a defining influence on whether a stressful event is either good ( eustress) or bad (distress).

The purpose of this study is to explore a task-oriented • multidisciplinary approach (a combination of perspectives) to occupational stress management which will serve both corporate and individual interests. It will conclude with the proposal for a specific regimen which can serve as a prototype and can be modified or tailored to meet the needs of any individual, without regard to variances in gender, intellect, or physical capacity. It must be emphasized, however, that this is not a proposal that accentuates resistance to stress; but rather places importance upon developing the individual's tolerance to change and to the vagaries common to the American workplace.

This study combines sociological and psychological emphasis on occupational stress. From the sociological perspective, the primary focus on occupational stress is the work environment's influence on the individual and secondarily the individual 's influence on the work environment. The psychological perspective, however, looks first at the individual 's impact on the individual employers and employees in the effort to manage occupational stress. The optimum benefit of this research can be derived only by bearing in mind the balanced relationship between the individual and the work environment.

The results of the analysis produced supporting documentation which indicates that the hypothesis is supported and concludes that a multidisciplinary approach to the management of occupational stress can be an effective intervention between the onset of occupational stress and the casualties it precipitates.

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