organisational stress - Pondicherry University DSpace Portal

Two different approaches to the study of coping have beenpursued by various investlgators.On the one hand, someresearchers (e.g. Byrne, 1964; Goldstein, 1973) have emphasizedgeneral coping traits, styles or dispositions, while on the other(e.g., cohen and Lazarus, 1973: Katz et al., 1970; Wolf and Goodell1968 ), some investlgators have preferred to study the activeongoing strategies in a particular stress situation.Coplng traits refer to a dlsposltion to respond In a specificway In sltuatlons that are stressful. Coplng traits are thus stablecharactenstics of persons who transcend all stressful situations.Coping style ~rnpl~es a broader, more encornpasslng dlsposltlon.Tra~t and style are fundamentally strnilar Ideas. Tralt and stylerefer to a charactenstic way of handllng sltuatlons, they are stabletendencies on the basis of whlch ~nferences are drawn about howan md~vldual u~ll cope In posltlon IS typically assessed bypersonality tests, not by actual observation of what the personsays or does m a particular stress situation.The emphasis on process distinguishes this approach fromothers whichtra~t - onented. Rychologists have identified twomajor ways in which people cope with stress.In the first163