Eustress, distress and interpretation in ocupational stress

Mark Le Fevre, Jonathon Matheny, Gregory S. Kolt

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticle

    245 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    We examine the concepts of stress, distress, and eustress and develop three tenets that are used to relate these concepts to three major theories or models of occupational stress. Selye's concept of eustress or "good stress" appears to be largely ignored in the literature, while the Yerkes Dodson Law is illustrated as a model for management practice. We suggest that the meaning assigned to the word stress has shifted from Selye's original formulation, and that this shift, in conjunction with the use of the Yerkes Dodson Law leads to inappropriate management of stress in organizations. We conclude that the concept that some stress is good and enhances performance should be rejected in favour of more useful and accurate concepts.
    Original languageEnglish
    JournalJournal of Managerial Psychology
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2003

    Keywords

    • control theory
    • stress (psychology)
    • work environment

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