Ravalier PhD Theis.pdf - Anglia Ruskin Research Online

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1.a2.1) Critique of Stimulus-Based Definitions
With the adoption of stimulus-based definitions and approaches to
workplace stress one of the major issues is that it does not take individual
differences into account, for example variability in tolerance levels and
expectations, which can justify the fact that two individuals can react
completely differently to the same condition. Also, the theory reflects just
one component of the stress process and says little about the process it's
self, i.e. does not explain the inherent properties of the different stimuli.
Therefore, properties of the events themselves have been somewhat
overlooked (Cooper, Dewe & O’Driscoll, 2001).
Many understand that utilising a solely objective measure of
external forces which impinge upon the individual thus causing stress is
unsuitable. A number of individual differences, such as levels of
resilience, can account for the fact that two individuals can react in
completely different ways to the same situation or their perception of
specific stressors change with time. For example, in nursing the
identification of major sources of workplace stress accounted for just 26%
of the variance in the data (McVicar, 2003), suggesting that almost three
quarters of variance is unaccounted for. As such it is now widely
recognised that, in a similar manner to response-based definitions,
individual differences are wrongly ignored. Additionally the traditional use
of a stimulus-based definition means only one component of the stress
process is reflected, indicating little about the process itself. With the
definitions only focussing on one aspect of a process this draws attention
away from the nature of the actual process, thus ignoring the possible
relational nature of stress that may be the focus of definitions (Cooper,
Dewe & O’Driscoll, 2001).
1a.3) Stress as a Transaction
Lazarus and Folkman’s transactional model views stress as the
result of the transaction between the person and their environment,
rather than a product of either the person or the environment alone (Troup
& Dewe, 2002). As such the theory maintains that stress encompasses a
set of negative cognitive and coping variables (Perrewe & Zellars, 1999),