Work Experiences –  Stress and Health among Managerial

This post reviews research on work experiences, stress, and health among managerial women. This area is relatively new; most of the literature cited is less than 10 years old. One purpose of the post is to encourage more research on work and health of managerial women, since most of the available research findings are based on men (Chusmir et al., 1990; Greenglass, 1991). The focus on managerial women, a highly educated, motivated, and well-paid group, is taken because this group is growing in size and importance, serves both as an important model for younger women and as an indicator of women’s progress towards equality, and may be frustrated with their relative lack of progress and increased stress (Nelson & Quick, 1985; Zappert & Weinstein, 1985). It goes without saying that other groups of women not included in this review may experience as much or even more work stress. Read the rest of this entry »

Applying the multiaxial model of coping challenges certain assumptions that have been inherent in the basis of coping research to date.

Assumption 1: Perhaps one of the more commonly held assumptions is that it is best to approach goals through active problem-solving.

Particularly in Western cultures, attacking the problem is the valued approach to dealing with almost any situation. Any other approach would most likely be considered weak coping at best. This assumption is likely responsible for the existing literature’s focus on problem-focused and emotion-focused coping. Folkman&Lazarus (1980) defined problemfocused coping as managing the stressor, while they defined emotion-focused coping as dealing with the emotional consequences of the stress. Although it was initially assumed that men were more likely to use problem-focused coping and women were more likely to use emotion-focused coping, subsequent research has failed to consistently support this (e.g. Folkman & Lazarus, 1980; Folkman et al., 1986a; Vitaliano et al., 1987). Read the rest of this entry »

Nevertheless, this picture is also unsatisfying because although the effects ofwork on men and women who are directly comparable is one key focus for research, it does not represent the current picture of men’s and women’s experiences with work. Men tend to be in more senior positions, have greater autonomy, spend fewer hours on household labour, receive more pay, and hold more supervisory positions (Blumberg, 1991; Grossman & Chester, 1990; Powell, 1988). Even when they hold the same job, men tend to be given greater autonomy and are more likely to be given leadership roles, rather than maintenance tasks (Powell, 1988). Women are more likely to have to move to accommodate their partner’s career opportunities, be subjected to sexual harassment, and have special demands related to the poor fit of their health issues with company policy (i.e. pregnancy considered a problem, whereas men’s greater incidence of alcoholism and heart disease is not considered a genderrelevant concern). In addition, women are more likely to be expected to take time off work for care of an ill child or parent (even her spouse’s parent), and are more likely to be expected to take time away from their careers for child rearing. Read the rest of this entry »

Technological innovation is important for industrial organizations trying to survive in competitive markets. However, innovation is never a simple nor a smooth process. Faced with major technological changes, people react differently; some seem to relish the challenge, but many show symptoms of stress. In the 1970s new computer technologies started to change nearly every workplace, and also influenced private life. People feared that stress and unemployment would be the future consequences of the technological revolution.

Scientists started empirical research that might support or contradict these expectations, and developed implementation strategies in order to reduce some of the potential negative consequences.

Nowadays computer systems have become standard, at least in modern industries and administration. The cycle of computer hardware and software innovation has accelerated. Every year or so new hardware and software systems are released, to which people have to adapt. The hardware components of new technologies are also changing more rapidly in our times. In the meantime, it has become evident that innovation and new technologies are not the source of unemployment or of low qualification requirements per se (Welsch, 1989). The question is how people react to such permanent innovation, whether it results in stress, and which practical psychological consequences should be drawn to help them cope with permanent technological innovation. One of the central psychological problems of all these different changes relates to highly complex interrelated systems and the resulting risk of errors. Complexity and error management, therefore, will be major problems that will have to be looked at in relation to stress and coping competencies. Read the rest of this entry »