Kan stress være noget positivt? En sammenligning af Netterstrøm og McGonigals syn på stress i IT-branchen

Abstract

This Master thesis aims to investigate two different approaches to stress - based on a pilot company in the IT industry.
I have chosen Netterstrøm’s theories to analyze from a perspective of a more traditional and established theoretical foundation regarding stress. Furthermore, I have chosen McGonigal and Chaskalson’s point of view to discuss an alternative way of perceived stress.
The results of this pilot project show us that the CEO of the pilot company is applying the principles of McGonigal’s positive stress reaction and the principles of mindfulness.
The results of this study are interesting because they show that if you apply a traditional view based on the theories of Netterstrøm and Milsted, the IT manager will appear as if he is reaching the point (or limit) of being stressed. This is because he cannot actively change his stress management. Alternatively, if you analyze the pilot project data with McGonigal's point of view (including Chaskalson's point of view), the IT manager appears not to be stressed at all; this is because he can actively control and improve the tools he has in order to deal with stress.