Organizational Stress And Person-Environment Fit Theory

Studies by Cooper and Marshall’s (1976) Marshall and Cooper, 1979) revealed that Stress at Work model is similar to PE-Fit theory, but is more specific in identifying five major categories of job pressure and lack of organisational support in the workplace that contribute to occupational stress namely (1) pressures intrinsic to the job; (2) the employee’s role in the organisation; (3) interpersonal relationships at work; (4) limitations in career development; and (5) organisational structure and climate.

1.4.2 French, Caplan and Kahn’s Person - Environment Fit (PE-Fit) theory French, Caplan, Kahn and their colleagues (French and Caplan, 1972; French et al., 1982; French and Kahn, (1962); Kahn et al., (1964) subsequently incorporated Lewin’s concepts of stress and strain in their Person-Environment Fit (PE-Fit) theory, which is widely accepted as a major conceptual framework for research on occupational stress (Chemers et al., 1985; Edwards and Cooper, 1990). In the context of this theoretical orientation, occupational stress is defined in terms of job characteristics that pose a threat to the individual resulting from a poor match between the abilities of the employee and the demands of the job (French and Caplan, 1972). The workplace stress that occurs as a result of incompatible person-environment fit produces psychological strain that may contribute to stress-related physical disorders (French et al., 1982).

1.4.3 Karasek’s Demand-Control Model Karasek’s (1979)