With a little coping from my friends: A mixed methods study of the distributed nature of coping in organisations

TY - CHAP

T1 - With a little coping from my friends

T2 - A mixed methods study of the distributed nature of coping in organisations

AU - Kirkegaard, Tanja

AU - Waldstrøm, Christian

AU - Andersen, Johan Hviid

PY - 2015/9

Y1 - 2015/9

N2 - In this study, we explore the distributed nature of coping and thereby expand the understanding of coping as more than a transaction between the individual and a specific stressful situation. We argue that coping is not just an individual process, but is embedded in the organizational and thereby social and cultural environment, the employees form part of.Results from a longitudinal mixed methods study at one department in a large Danish company indicate that specific ways of coping are socially distributed among employees due to organizational, cultural and managerial characteristics. The quantitative part of the study indicates significant differences in coping between formal groups as well as between informal subgroups in the department. The qualitative part of the study reveals how the group differences in coping emerge due to specific cultural goals represented in the two groups and that a lack of a managerial accommodation of the groups concern seem to polarize the coping practice of the groups over time. Thus in this article we aim at illuminating that coping is not just an individual matter, but something that one learns from, and shares with one’s social group.

AB - In this study, we explore the distributed nature of coping and thereby expand the understanding of coping as more than a transaction between the individual and a specific stressful situation. We argue that coping is not just an individual process, but is embedded in the organizational and thereby social and cultural environment, the employees form part of.Results from a longitudinal mixed methods study at one department in a large Danish company indicate that specific ways of coping are socially distributed among employees due to organizational, cultural and managerial characteristics. The quantitative part of the study indicates significant differences in coping between formal groups as well as between informal subgroups in the department. The qualitative part of the study reveals how the group differences in coping emerge due to specific cultural goals represented in the two groups and that a lack of a managerial accommodation of the groups concern seem to polarize the coping practice of the groups over time. Thus in this article we aim at illuminating that coping is not just an individual matter, but something that one learns from, and shares with one’s social group.

KW - Coping

KW - stress

KW - Social networks

KW - distributed

M3 - Book chapter

SN - 978-87-7112-176-6

SP - 149

EP - 179

BT - STRESS AS A SOCIOCULTURAL PHENOMENON EXPLORING THE DISTRIBUTED NATURE OF STRESS IN AN ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT

PB - Aalborg Universitetsforlag

ER -