Rlchard Pettlnger

References

Karasek, R.A. (1979) ‘‘Job demands, job decision latitude and mental strain: implications for job redesign.’’ Administrative Science Quar- terly, Vol. 24, No. 2.

Huczynski, A. and Buchanan, D. (1998) Organizational Behavior.

Prentice Hall.

GRATTON, L. (2000) LIVING STRATEGY. FT PEARSON

The approach taken here is to identify the direct relationship between the quality of working life, levels of expertise and commitment,


organization direction, and enduring success, effectiveness, profitabi- lity, and viability. Gratton takes the view that once corporate purpose and priorities are established, a ‘‘living strategy’’ is to be created in which the conditions that cause stress are recognized and addressed in advance so that they cannot possibly occur.

The approach is called a ‘‘journey.’’ In this, there are steps along the way – the need for a guiding coalition of directors at the helm, able to steer effectively only with the active support and identity of the rest of the staff. Strategic purpose is referred to as ‘‘imagining the future,’’ requiring a human vision rather than one-dimensional aims and objectives, or something that is purely defined by production and output targets. The gap between current capability and organizational requirements – a major cause of workplace pressure, and therefore stress – is covered from the point of view of recognizing the difficulties and addressing these in advance, so that the resourcing of perfor- mance gaps, problem-solving and organization development become integrated, rather than separate or dysfunctional.

The accent is consequently on stress recognition, avoidance and

removal from the most positive point of view. Understanding the universal potential for the existence of stress requires the creation and maintenance of the conditions in which it is kept to an absolute minimum.