Women in Management and Occupational Stress

Since the first democratic elections in South Africa, there has been an accelerated move to promote women into managerial and executive positions. The Affirmative Action Policy was introduced to facilitate this process of gender equity amongst managers in the workplace. However, whilst the government has viewed this as positive action, women managers themselves have experienced several sources of work, family and individual stressors. It is against this backdrop that this study examined the stressors that women managers experienced during transformation in the post-apartheid era and strategies used by women managers and organisations to cope with occupational stress.

The sample consisted of 30 women managers from diverse racial backgrounds. Both public and private organisations were included in this study. The managers experienced several sources of stress, viz. work stressors, family stressors, personality and individual stressors as well as extra-organisational sources of stress. They manifested stress symptoms at a behavioural, psychological and physiological level. The study found that as stress impacts on all levels of the woman manager's life, the ecological approach to stress management using a multidimensional framework was most appropriate.

A descriptive design was used which portrayed the unique characteristics of the population more accurately It also allowed for an inductive, subjective and process-oriented worldview. Both qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection were used in this studyThe biographical questionnairew as used to collect data on the profile of the respondentsa nd the organisations. Asemi-structured interview schedule was used to elicit informationo n the sources of stress, its manifestations and the interventions used to cope with stress. espectively.Theg eographical area of study was the Durban and surrounding areas extending to Phoenix in the north and Hammarsdale in the west. Non-probability sampling was used to select a sample of 30 women managers. The present findings reflect no significant variations in the type of stressors experienced by women managers in the public and private organisations

Job Stress, Achievement Motivation and Occupational Burnout Among Male Nurses.

This paper is a report of an exploration of job stress, achievement motivation and occupational burnout in male nurses and to identify predictors of occupational burnout. Background. Since the Nightingale era, the nursing profession has been recognized as ‘women’s work’. The data indicate that there are more female nurses than male nurses in Taiwan. However, the turnover rate for male nurses is twice that of female nurses. Understanding the factors that affect occupational burnout of male nurses may help researchers find ways to reduce the likelihood that they will quit. Method. A survey was conducted in Taiwan in 2008 using a cross-sectional design. A total of 121 male nurses participated in the study. Mailed questionnaires were used to collect data, which were analysed using descriptive statistics and stepwise multiple regression. Results. The job stress of male nurses was strongly correlated with occupational burnout ( r = 0·64, P < 0·001). Stepwise multiple regression analyses indicated that job stress was the only