A topic that I believe is very important for a more comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon of stress. One particular medium that plays a role in constructing an individual's perception of the occurrence of stress is the print media.
Introduction
The second part of the diagram includes the potential effects of stress at both the individual and organizational levels. On the other hand, lower profits, more accidents, and more lawsuits provide examples of the costs of stress at the organizational level (Palmer, Cooper, & Thomas, 2001).
Stress - a definition?
Finally, Summers, DeCottis, and DeNisi (1995) provide a definition of job stress that can be said to be in the middle of the continuum. According to Summers, DeCottis, and DeNisi (1995), work stress can be defined as the uncomfortable feelings that arise from forces that exist in the workplace.
Theories of stress relating to the individual
It is therefore argued that this stress model provides the most holistic and effective account of the stress experience to date (Monat & Lazarus, 1991). The defining and fundamental characteristic of this approach is its focus on the cognitive aspects of the stress experience (Hobfoll, 1998).
Organisational stress theories
It focuses on the issue of reward rather than the control structure of the work that the individual performs (De Jonge & Dormann, 2003). An objective person or environment refers to the attributes or characteristics of a person or environment as they exist, independent of individual perception.
Social Basis of the stress experience
Hobfoll (1998), on the other hand, sees stress as a product of the interrelationship between individuals and the social context they live in. One can conclude from this statement that individuals' understanding of the world has a collective component.
Stress in the media
Newton, Handy and Finnemore (1995) argue that the discourses surrounding the phenomenon of stress offer an individualized image of the stress experience. In light of the powerful role of discourses, and in the case of the stress discourse, it is essential that one is critical of the concepts that one assumes as 'natural'.
Moving towards a social conceptualisation of the stress experience
It can therefore be argued that the experience of stress, or the perception of an event as stressful, is determined by the social and cultural context, and is not entirely the result of the individual subject's perceptions. Despite our seemingly contradictory recognition that stress is in the eye of the beholder, we well understand the common sense meaning of stress in our daily lives.
Conclusion
Research objectives and questions
Sample
However, it should be noted that although the readership of the above four newspapers is indicated to reflect the general South African population, the purpose of this research is not to determine the way in which organizational stress is represented in specific relation to each newspaper. Therefore, the extent to which the newspapers are representative of the South African population is not essential. However, at the start of the analysis stage of the project, it appeared that only 139 articles were relevant for the purpose of this research.
Ethical Considerations
Description of the sample
It can therefore be said that this newspaper provides the reader with a range of information relating to South African society whilst at the same time keeping the focus on business (www.businessday.co.za). According to the editor of the Mercury, Canning, (2005) this newspaper has played an integral role in KwaZulu-Natal. The Independent on Saturday is a weekend newspaper providing readers with a range of up-to-date information relating to news, sport and entertainment (Independent Newspapers, 2004).
Procedure
Since the Independent Newspaper archive is located in Durban, and the Mail and Guardian newspaper articles are also located on the Internet, accessing these newspaper articles has been much less stressful and time-consuming. In the case of Business Day and the Sunday Times, it took me two days to gather all the relevant newspaper articles. In order to ensure the selection of the most relevant newspaper articles, I had to constantly monitor my concentration throughout the data collection.
Data Analysis
If the accounts provide a critical perspective on the way in which organizational stress has been built up. Once the data had been transformed and organized chronologically for each newspaper, an initial thematic analysis of the data was undertaken. Finally, questions of mood and style represent the last of the three obstacles to effective thematic analysis.
Introduction
Stress as a Response (theory-led)
Reviewing the newspaper articles revealed that the majority of accounts were consistent with this dominant response-based conceptualization of stress. When examining this conceptualization of the stress experience, a seemingly one-dimensional view of stress becomes apparent. Therefore, this unidirectional understanding of the stress experience tends to neglect the complexity of the stress experience.
Stress as a Stimulus (theory-led)
Second, by normalizing life changes and universalizing their effects on individuals, the complexity of the stress experience is lost. In this way, the complexity of the stressful experience and the individual's unique response to the stimulus are neglected (Lyon, 2000). It could further be argued that this portrayal of the individual as passive serves to legitimize and normalize the stressful experience.
Stress as a transaction (theory-led)
Thus, rather than construing stress as merely a response or stimulus, these conceptualizations took into account and recognized the role of perception in the stress experience. However, by arguing for the role of individual perception in determining the stress experience, these accounts argue against the view that stress is homogeneous. This step away from the norm provides evidence for a more complex understanding of the stress experience.
Costs vs. Benefits of Stress (theory-led)
What also became significant when analyzing the articles was the proportion of articles that focused on the negative effects of stress as opposed to its positive implications for the individual. One can critically argue that by focusing on the costs of stress and arguing that it can kill you, for example, organizational stress as a phenomenon is both problematized and pathologized. The main implication of such a conceptualization is that it again reduces the phenomenon of stress to the level of the individual; a problem that the individual must deal with.
Change at the level of the individual (Emergent)
In this way, the center of the stress experience is primarily located in the individual. It is the individual who is to blame, not the social context he or she is in. The majority of articles constructed the problem and management of stress at the individual level.
The Homogenisation of the stress experience (emergent)
In contrast to this homogenized account, Burr (1995) argues that one's understanding of the world is situated in specific historical and cultural contexts. Similarly, Hobfoll (1998) argues that as much as the stress experience is experienced at the individual level, this experience is informed by the social context in which the individual finds himself. In such a way, this conceptualization will account for the true complexity of the organizational stress experience .
Or2anisational/Social Conceptualisations of stress
Organisational Theories of stress (theory-led)
By thus focusing on the demands experienced by the employees, rather than the control they have over their work, a pessimistic and powerless view of the individual's role in the stress experience is created. This focus can be argued to once again reinforce the one-dimensional and simplistic understanding of organizational stress represented in the majority of newspaper articles. In such a way, these articles are not able to account for the complexity of the stress experience and the role that individual perception plays in the process.
The Age of stress (theory-led)
Although research shows that stress is increasing at the individual and organizational level, we must be critical of the assumption that we live in an age of stress. Similarly, Newton, Handy, and Finnemore (1995) argue that stress has become an essential feature of the modern situation. However, one must critically ask what are the benefits of developing the assumption or argument that we live in an age of stress.
Increasing rates of stress (theory-led)
Research has shown that with changes in technology and developments in globalization, individuals must endure increased levels of stress (Hart and Cooper, 1991). But the assumption that the experience of stress is far worse in today's society is one that needs to be examined critically. One should also question the benefits of presenting the experience of stress as far worse than it was a hundred years ago.
The changing organisational and social context (theory-led)
With a particular focus on the South African context, there was a group of articles that argued for the role of the changing socio-political context in the experience of stress. An article in Business Day noted that "As they experience major changes in their society, South Africans experience abnormally high levels of stress, experts say" (Business Day, 1994, South Africans suffer abnormally high stress). The rapid changes that have taken place over the past decade have been exciting but also stressful for all South Africans.
Cost vs. Benefits of stress (theory-led)
However, although most articles noted the negative effects of stress on the organization, some articles noted the positive effects of stress on organizational productivity. From a critical perspective, the implications of this argument are that it once again justifies the experience of stress in the workplace. Second, by including the positive effects of stress, the costs of stress are understated, that is, this message is creating the perception that as much as stress has its drawbacks in the organization, the benefits are worth the cost.
Change at the level of the organisation (emergent)
Hobfoll (1998) argues that stress as a phenomenon is a product of the interrelationship between individuals and the social context in which they find themselves. Similarly, Marx (as cited in McLennan, 1975) argues for the role of the social in the construction of one's consciousness, insights, or experiences. In this way, both this literature and the articles recognize the role of the social and organizational context in the stress experience.
Stress is socially constructed as inevitable and desired (emergent)
Demers (2002) and Fairclough (1995) argue that the relationship between the media and the social systems that surround them is dialectical. In light of this, it could be argued that the construction of organizational stress as inevitable and even desirable may have served a certain purpose. It could be argued that by using stress levels as a measure of success, the two become interrelated.
The Pathologisation of the stress experience (emergent)
By aligning stress with crime, and as something to be victimized, stress is constructed as predatory and beyond one's control. That is, when stress is viewed as a victimization phenomenon, both the ability to manage the experience and the organization's responsibility are negated.
The Justification of the stress experience (emergent theme)
From a critical perspective, one has to question the implications of articles that try to justify the experience of stress. These arguments can therefore be argued to be a means of justifying the experience of stress by indicating possible reasons for its increasing rates. That is, it is the individual who is considered responsible for faking or pathologizing the stress experience, rather than the organization being perceived as a major cause of stress.
A critical stance - a move awav from the norm
However, there were some articles that attempted to address the role of the organization in the stress experience. When analyzing the newspaper articles, problems related to coping with the stress experience emerged. This article indicates the development of a more critical and holistic understanding of the stress experience.
CONCLUSION
This means that most of the articles give a distinctly individualistic understanding of experiencing stress. In most cases, newspaper articles deny the role of society and organization in experiencing stress. The articles also highlight the costs and benefits of stress at both the individual and organizational levels.
