Toward a Phenomenological Framework for the Study of Work and Organizational Stress

• Published in: Human relations (New York) 1998-05, Vol.51 (5), p.625-648
• Main Authors: Schabracq, Marc J., Cooper, Cary L.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animal behavior; Cultural anthropology; Culture; Employment; Ethology; Influences; Job analysis; Locus of control; Management; Mental stress; Methodology (Philosophical); Microsociology; Occupational stress; Organizational Research; Phenomenology; Research Methodology; Social Integration; Social networks; Sociology; Sociology of Work; Sociology of work and sociology of organizations; Stress; Studies; Work environment
• ISSN: 0018-7267; 1741-282X
• DOI: 10.1177/001872679805100503

In this article, elements from different stress models are embedded in a phenomenological framework for work and organization stress based on practical insights on the one hand and ideas and methods from ethology, microsociology, and cultural anthropology on the other. The framework is compatible with most of the existing research and theoretical views, and pays attention to some lacunas in these views. The central concept is integrity, i.e., the ways in which the process of situated individual functioning is organized in a niche, consisting of a limited set of situations. Integrity refers to the internal integration of individual functioning and the integration of the individual in his or her niche (and thereby in an organization and society at large). Integrity is a multileveled process with considerable individual variation, characterized by signification, morality, and individual experiences, which, with the help of four auxiliary verbs, can be analyzed in terms of individual options for action. Inadequate integrity may result from underdevelopment, decay, change, and intrusions by external events or an ongoing stress process. These can be described as (overlapping, and often coinciding) stress sources. In this respect, the framework makes a distinction between stressors that primarily affect the task itself and stressors that disturb the immediate environment of the task. All these stressors can be described as a matter of too much or too little on a great number of variables, of which usually only the medium range is conducive to adequate integrity. Lastly, attention is paid to stress reactions, which can act as stressors in their own right.