nge, preferring to maintain the status quo.
Paul Strebel (1996) indicated that employees resist change because it upsets the balance that they have established. This balance, according to him, is dependent upon personal compacts that have been established between the organization and the employee. These compacts contain both explicit and implicit obligations and commitments, and are expressed in formal, psychological, and social dimensions. When these compacts are violated, from the employee's perspective, this creates considerable job stress. The important thing to remember is that many of the aspects of these personal compacts are implicit, rather than explicit, which creates difficulties, and that organizations often try to change those compacts unilaterally during their change efforts. This creates resentment and stress.
NIOSH identified some of the major sources of job stress that they anticipate will predominant during the next ten years. These include:
a.Nine out of 10 new jobs will be in the service sector, which has increased risk of psychological disorders;
b.Six of every 10 new jobs will be filled with women, subject to multiple role demands;
c.Computers and robots will increasingly impact the workplace, leading to job displacement and lower paying jobs; and,
d.Health service occupations are among the fastest growing, but again, are high risk for psychological disorders (Crampton et al., 1995).
One of the major sources of workplace stress during the 1990s is downsizing. Downsizing is the attempt by corporations to reduce their workforce to a level at which the corporation is more profitable, while still able to maintain its productivity. Downsizing, or layoffs, places a great deal of stress both on the people fired and the people who remain. It can violate both formal compacts and psychological compacts that people have with the organization.
Another major source of stress in the workplace is ...