Stress in the Work Place

A study was undertaken in an attempt to get answers to current questions on the im­ pact of stress in the work place as perceived by company management and employees at different levels, but emphasizing views of persons in supervisory positions. Information was gathered in ques­ tionnaires submitted to 150 companies selected at random from telephoAe directories of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. The survey was administered by college students majoring in business and drew 128 respondents representing a cross-section of occupations from 100 business concerns of vary­ ing size. When asked which factors contributed to stress, the preponderent response was "heavy work load," cited by 44.5 percent. Other identifying factors are tabulated. Of the respondents, 60.7 percent of the males and 63.3 percent of the females were supervisors. The reported levels of stress related generally to the number of persons supervised. A review of contemporary business literature reveals in­ creasing interest in the effect of stress in the work place. This is reflected by both studies to learn more about it and inplementation of stress prevention and stress relief programs in companies and institutions. This review of various studies demonstrates that when stress is recognized as a part of living, it can have both negative and positive effects; and that productive levels can be maintained by knowing the limitations or capacity of individuals to adapt to situations, and by exercising or pursuing activities that are perceived as being enjoyable or beneficial. In a field investigation phase of this study, 128 employees, workers as well as managers from a variety of companies and occupational situations were surveyed to examine job factors 'which contributed to stress, what methods were used to relieve it, and whether such coping techniques on the job front were similar to those recommended by researchers. Method used to gather data A structured, nonLdisguised two-page questionnaire was de­ veloped as the study instrument. It was trial tested to iron out ambiguities in the questionnaire, and after a few revisions the survey was administered by a research team of college students majoring in business. The interview approach had been pre-arranged in order to reduce variables in the sampling procedure. Findings reported in this publication reflect certain selections necessary for space reasons. Businesses, chosen in the selection process at random were called to obtain permission to administer the survey, result­ ing in a pool of 128 respondents generally classified as white collar, blue collar, service, technical and/or professional. These worked in either small or large retail establishments, or for wholesalers, manufacturers, hospitals or schools. Their occupational titles ranged from janitor to company president_ It was the general impression of the research team that the respondents were genuinely interested in the topic of stress. However, because management approval had been obtained before each respondent was given the questionnaire, there may have been possible sampling bias. This may explain the relatively high percentage (6L7 percent) of supervisors par­ ticipating in this survey. The relatively small size of the popu-