There is a sad and consistent narrative that permeates the story of so many pastors. After dedicating their lives to advance the gospel and to serve the Bride of Christ, His church, so often the story ends in the tragedy of burnout and its debilitating effects and far reaching impacts on family, congregation, and community. Yet, there is a small group of resilient and enduring pastors who have somehow learned to grow from the difficulties and stress of ministry. How are they able to avert the negative and often detrimental effects of ministerial stress to experience such success and longevity in ministry? What are their stories? How do they perceive their roles and the stress of those roles? How have they learned to not only survive, but somehow, thrive? This study seeks to give a voice to their stories and to understand their self-perceptions. Several researchers have concluded that the occupation of pastor is especially prone to burnout. These same researchers cite varying contributors to this condition, such as time demands, unrealistic expectations, isolation, and loneliness. Even though debate exists surrounding the specific contributing factors and the level of their contribution, the results are clear in the research. Pastors’ lives become imbalanced and their spiritual growth stagnates. However, some pastors have demonstrated growth and longevity in a constant ministry context. Hence, they have seemingly developed and matured through the difficult experiences and occupational stressors that have left many of their colleagues defeated. This study sought to discover why some pastors are able not only to overcome these adverse and detrimental factors of stress and burnout, but also achieve both personal and professional growth in spite of them. This phenomenological qualitative study describes the experiences of twenty pastors who have experienced the phenomenon of growth and longevity in ministry despite occupational and personal stressors, and identifies commonalities of their perceptions of how they have dealt with stress and achieve success over an extended period of time in a constant ministry context. The pastors have ministered at one church for at least fifteen years. Each church has exhibited measurable growth under the leadership of each respective pastor during their tenure. The results of this study identified four common themes: Source of stressors, how these pastors identify and deal with their occupational stress, the impacts of stress on their personal lives, and their advice for young pastors from what they have learned over their long tenures in ministry. A common pattern among these veteran pastors is that over time they gained a new perspective and became more effective at coping with stress. They modified and adapted their behaviors, adopting several practices that are recommended in the broader literature on stress and burnout and the specific literature on religious clergy. These include: delegating and prioritizing responsibilities, seeking social support, taking time off, engaging in regular physical exercise, guarding family time and family vacations as well as recreational activities, and discipline in spiritual practices such as prayer, meditation, and worship.

The purpose of this study was to determine the stress factors which create the most difficulty for the superintendent; to determine which, if any, groups are most responsible for generating these stress factors? to determine if variables in the personal life of the individual superintendent are related to the amount of stress felt by him; and to suggest ways in which the amount of stress may be reduced. The population of this study was the school superintendents in Texas. The instrument used in this study was a two-part questionnaire consisting of thirty-five items designed to elicit perceptions of superintendents toward those situations that were most bothersome on their job.

M.Tech.

Ph.D. / Most people‘s future aspiration and dreams are closely linked to the work activities that they engage in on a daily basis. Work is a central theme in human evolution and plays a key role in the social and economic spheres of human existence (Blustein, 2006; Donkin, 2001; Fouad & Bynner, 2008). However, the vocational landscape has undergone prolific changes in recent times and the way in which work is organised and performed has changed dramatically from preceding eras (Chipunza & Berry, 2010). These changes have contributed to the production of highly stressful and pressured working conditions that adversely impact employees‘ overall wellness (Blouin, Chopra, & Van der Hoeven, 2009; Marmot, Siegrist, & Theorell, 2006). Organisational responses to employee stress have historically been embedded in the pathogenic paradigm, which aims to minimise the direct financial cost of distressed and vulnerable employees through providing some form of prevention-based employee therapy (Wright, 2003). However, as organisations become increasingly dependent on employees who are willing to conduct multiple in-role and extra-role work activities they are shifting their focus towards the total wellbeing of their workers. Clearly, key organisational goals will not be achieved with a workforce that is simply healthy in the traditional sense of the word, implying that employees are symptom-free and do not suffer from physical illness (Ulrich, 1997). Instead, organisational goals will most likely only be achieved through the promotion of workforce wellness, which refers to not only counteracting the adverse impact of highly demanding work environments on employee health but also promoting engagement and flourishing at work. Research on occupational wellness has a rich tradition of describing and measuring the ways in which job characteristics external to the person (e.g. job design, technology, and organisational structure) impact on employees‘ well-being (Briner, Harris, & Daniels, 2004; Mark & Smith, 2010). Although occupational wellness has largely been associated with organisational and environmental factors recent research suggests that perceptions of work wellness are equally influenced by employees‘ individual cognitive-affective tendencies (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007; Bakker & Derks, 2009). Work wellness can therefore be viewed as a function of the dynamic interaction between job characteristics and personal attributes, with personality potentially moderating the relationship between stressor and strain outcomes (Swider & Zimmerman, 2010; Van den Heuvel, Demerouti, Bakker, & Schaufeli, 2010).

According to Greenberg (2011) stress is an inevitable fact of organizational life today, and has an effect on both the employer and employee. The main aim of this study was on finding out the effect of job stress on job satisfaction and employee turnover in the Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature department. This study was conducted employing logical positivism as the philosophical paradigm; and this logical positivism derives from only two sources of knowledge which are logical reasoning and empirical experience. The researcher employed a non-experimental exploratory quantitative approach, employing the questionnaire as a data collection instrument. A sample size of 238 participants was used to collect data. Data analysis was done using the Pearson correlation coefficient and multi regressions. Job stress was found to have substantial influence to increase turnover intentions and to decrease job satisfaction. In addition, job stress and job satisfaction combine to have a collective influence on turnover intentions. The study recommends managers to implement motivational strategies to enhance job satisfaction and retain employees as long as possible.

Graduate

Leaders of organisations are faced with a severe challenge due to a rapidly changing business environment. Increased competition and lack of knowledge workers have seen organisations operating with lean labour forces, thus applying excessive pressure on these workers to deliver high quality products and services. Studies have shown that constant excessive pressure on these knowledge workers cause stress leading to loss of productivity while still being at work, giving rise to a phenomenon known as presenteeism. Studies have fallen short in measuring presenteeism as it has only been focussed on sickness as an antecedent for presenteeism. A recent study on presenteeism has shown evidence of job stress to be a precursor of presenteeism thus providing a new construct called 'job-stress-related presenteeism, and huge opportunity for studies in this field. This study aims to assess the effect that leadership styles have on job-stress-related presenteeism as leaders drive organisational performance. 242 responses from 12 widely categorised industries were collected and analysed. Analysis included principal component analysis and various correlations to assess for associations between the two variables. The results indicated that leadership style can be used as a predictor for job-stress-related presenteeism. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / lmgibs2014 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

M.Phil. / This study examined the relationship between vocational stress and physical health and well being. To address this issue schoolteachers participated in a controlled physical exercise program for eight consecutive weeks. Two groups were established and subjects were classified as being part of a control group and an exercise group. The psychological parameters were assessed through the use of the Occupational Stress Inventory questionnaire which functioned as a pre and post-test and which showed the significant improvements made in Physical Strain, Role Overload, Psychological Strain, Interpersonal Strain and Vocational Strain scales. This suggests that the teachers experienced and reported fewer complaints about physical health issues, work-related issues, psychological disturbances, and less disruption in interpersonal relationships. Accordingly, the overall mental state of the teachers improved significantly. The physiological parameters were assessed by using the resting heart rate readings; recorded on a daily basis throughout the study. The results presented in this study show that the eight-week physical exercise program explained 56 per cent of the variance in the resting heart rate. This result demonstrates that the teachers contributed to their physical health by participating in the exercise program. Additionally, these results seem to suggest that prolonged participation in a program of physical exercise would result in the maintenance of effective coping skills to combat stress. The practical implications of these findings are reviewed with an eye to assisting teachers to better health and well being.

M.A. (Social Work) / Stress is a well-known phenomenon in our everyday lives, and has a serious impact on our personal and social functioning. Stress is experienced by almost all individuals, especially in their work-environment, and has a huge impact on their functioning, motivation, performance, colleagues and even clients. Within the Department of Social Development there is a lot of red tape, challenges and situations that create stress for the employees on an ongoing basis. If these situations are not handled and managed correctly and effectively through successful stress management, intervention methods, and also support systems, it can prove detrimental to employees on the level of service delivery. Within the Department of Social Development, social workers are irreplaceable in their roles, as they fulfil the core functions of the Department. They are responsible for the social work services to clients and the public, and also all other duties that go hand in hand in improving their clients’ social functioning. Observations by the researcher in her own work environment (Ekurhuleni region) showed that social workers and other employees are overworked and stressed out, and sick leave is taken regularly for stress-related problems. Some of the current workplace trends have been determined in a pre-study by the author during March/April 2008 (Maré, 2008). The reason for the study was to determine if social workers in the Ekurhuleni Region experience negative stress, and if it is related to their work. The aim was to discover if the source of their stress is work-related, and if they can successfully cope with this work-related stress and deal with it. The researcher is a social worker in the Ekurhuleni Region and has been in the position of having to cope with tremendous work-related stress in conditions which made coping with it difficult. With this study, the researcher wanted to investigate the stress experience of social workers and their way of coping with it, in order to develop guidelines from the results that would assist the social workers in effectively handling their work-related stress. These guidelines should not only improve the functioning of the social workers, but also impact positively on the service delivery of the organisation. Social work is a helping profession in which social workers draws from themselves to be able to assist clients with their problems and stress. This in itself can turn out to be a stressful situation, as social workers ignore their own stress through focusing on the client. The social worker’s own functioning is not as important as the client’s, and therefore the social worker’s needs are forgotten or ignored. The researcher hopes that with this study a positive contribution will be made in understanding the needs of the helper, instead of only focusing on the helpless.

Presenteeism is defined as the loss in productivity when workers are on the job, but not performing to their best because of health-related issues. As with absenteeism, presenteeism is considered negative as it results in low levels of productivity and can, in the long term, have high cost implications. The research problem in this study was to identify strategies for reducing health-related presenteeism at primary health care clinics in the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality. To achieve this goal, the following actions were taken: A literature study was conducted to identify the extent of health related presenteeism at primary health care clinics as well as the management thereof. Strategies that could be utilised to prevent and reduce health-related presenteeism, ensuring that there is an ongoing service delivery in the workplace, were identified. The literature study revealed, amongst others, that those who suffer from emotional and physical stress have difficulty in performing well on the job. By law, employers have responsibilities to provide a safe environment. Hence, companies have to conduct an audit re-examining the health and safety document of the company. In addition, employers must ensure compliance within the current and developing legislative context. A balance between professional and personal demands of every employee should be promoted. In so doing, employees are able to trust their managers to share whatever problem is encountered. A commitment from the company and good management of presenteeism will result in a positive effect on productivity and customer service quality. A questionnaire was developed and administered to primary health care clinic personnel in the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality. The results from this empirical study revealed that sick or tired employees are less able to work at optimum levels. These employees have the potential to aggravate their illness, resulting in prolonged absence, or infecting their colleagues. In the study, chronic diseases were perceived as prevalent among employees at the health care clinics. It did not appear as if the management of stress received much attention or that an audit has been done to determine the state of health of employees. It is therefore necessary to educate employees about the importance of their wellbeing. Welldesigned jobs and good management can assist in minimising organisational stressors. Employers need to be convinced that investing in the health of their employees is in their best interest from a business perspective. In today’s competitive business world, companies look at maximising both profit and productivity. Hence, employee health plays a fundamental role in the success of companies. In the health care environment, the wellness of nurses will lead to more productive behaviour and better service delivery.