Occupational Stress Experiences Introduction Statement of the Problem

Although high levels of organizational stress are present for all employee groupsfrom the Chief Executive Officer to the assembly line workerin contemporary organizational environments in American automobile manufacturing, the stress burden is particularly onerous for firstlevel supervisors. These individuals are at the organizational cuttingedge where the dramatic changes in the industry must be implemented. On the one hand, the firstlevel supervisor must be a representative of organizational policy in effecting sometimes painful change. On the other hand, the firstlevel supervisor must work in concert with production line employees to create an effective and an efficient team. With one foot on each side of the line between management and the workforce, the position of the firstlevel supervisor is one which invites stress even in periods of relative calm. In the contemporary industrial

environment, exceptionally high stress levels affect firstlevel supervisors.

Stress research is traced to the formulation of the general adaptation syndrome in the 1930s by H.

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ill not produce similar stress outcomes in all individuals. 6. There are no stress quality or quantity threshold levels, above which negative stress outcomes will be induced in all individuals. Extensive research was initiated and conducted in the 1960s and 1970s relative to the relationship between stress and life events. One research study (Rabkin, & Struening, 1976) developed the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS). Several 5studies were subsequently conducted, using the SRRS as a basis for investigation. The research performed for these studies was retrospective in character, and asked subjects to report (1) illness histories, and (2) personal life event changes for a 10year time period. In this research, the numbers and types of illnesses experienced were related to the number of life event changes, which were called life change units (LCUs). As a general rule, these studies found that: (1) fewer than 150 LCUs per year correlated with good health in the succeeding year; (2) from 151to300 LCUs per year correlated with illness by 50 percent of clients in the succeeding year; and (3) more than 300 LCUs per year correlated with illness by 70 percent of the clients in the succeedi
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Approximate Word count = 2139
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)

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