Argosy University
COURSE SYLLABUS
L7404
Stress Management
Spring I 2009
Faculty Information
Faculty Name:
Campus:
Contact Information:
Office Hours:
Short Faculty Bio:
Dr. Darlene Wright
Chicago
dr.wright@yahoo.com
708-534-3149
As arranged.
Dr. Wright, a Licensed Clinical Psychologist, is the Clinical Director of Wes Health System. She is a an Associate
Professor of Psychology at Governors State University (GSU) and has published research in the areas of
behavioral medicine, child development, and rehabilitation psychology. She is a member of the Board of
Directors of LaRabida Children’s Hospital Joli Burrell Advocacy Center and the Community Mental Health Council
(CMHC); she is a member of the Bio-Terrorist Emergency Preparedness Task Force for South Shore Hospital.
Dr. Wight earned a BA from DePaul University and a Ph.D. from Illinois Institute of Technology.
:
Course Description:
This course examines the organizational and environmental factors that cause stress. It also explores the cost of stress to the
organization and the individuals who work within that environment. Emphasis is placed understanding stress from a scientific and
psychological perspective as it relates to principles and methods of preventive stress management, the improvement of individualorganizational relationships, the design of effective stress management training, and personal wellness programs.
Education Philosophy and Strategy for Curriculum Delivery
The literature on the topic of stress and stress management is vast and as a result, can be explored from multiple perspectives. This
course, however, will closely examine issues of organizational stress as well as begin a conversation on how personal power and/or
the perceived loss of personal power impacts organizational stress from multiple perspectives.
In a seminar environment, the topics will be discussed both in large and small group breakout situations. The presentation and
discussion of academic literature from the field, in concept with organizational experience will occupy an important position in the
discussion process.
Course Goals and Objectives

The student will demonstrate a capacity to deconstruct and analyze the factors that contribute to organizational stress. This
learning objective will be evaluated via the pre-class assignments, class discussions, and the final assignment.

The student will demonstrate an understanding of factors leading to burnout from stress, as well as preventive strategies,
through class discussion, article reviews, and written assignment.

The student will explore and analyze the concept of personal power and how it impacts individual and organizational stress.
This learning objective will be demonstrated via the pre-class assignments and final assignment.

The student will analyze from a scientific perspective the issue of stress management and to apply an integrative theory to
practice. This learning objective will be evaluated via pre-class assignments, class discussions and the final assignment.

The student will demonstrate an understanding of stress from an organizational, social, cultural and economic
perspective. This learning objective will be demonstrated via class discussions and final assignment.

researchers, and practitioners in the field of stress management. It is bound to stimulate a more sophisticated approach
to the study and practice of stress management." --

The student will demonstrate an ability to analytically assess the effectiveness of traditional stress management programs,
juxtaposed against the dynamics of a constantly changing organizational environment.

The student will demonstrate the ability to appropriately apply structural, behavioral and programmatic strategies and methods
for successful preventive stress management and stress wellness programs in organizations through class discussion, article
reviews, and written papers.

The student will demonstrate the ability to design stress wellness programs through class activities and written assignments.
Course Pre-requisites: None
Required Textbooks:
Maslach, C. and Leiter, M., The Truth About Burnout: How Organizations Cause Personal Stress and What to Do
About It, (1997). San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
Quick, J. C., Quick, J. D., Nelson, D. L., & Hurrell, J. J. (1997). Preventive stress management in organizations.
Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Wolfgang, Linden (2004). Stress Management: From Basic Science to Better Practice. Sage Publications, Inc.
ISBN: 9780761929468
Course length: 7.5 Weeks
Contact Hours: 45 Hours
Credit Value: 3.0
Program Outcomes:
1. Leadership in Teams: Given an organizational situation, identify strategies to develop, maintain, motivate, and sustain self-managed teams
using concepts, theories and techniques of team leadership.
2. Collaboration in Teams: Given a case study or leadership situation, collect, assimilate, disseminate, and maximize the views of team
stakeholders in order to reach defensible goals with minimal conflict.
3. Conflict: Given an organizational situation that requires interpersonal or interdepartmental action, identify situations of conflict, diagnose the
impact of both overt and covert behavior, and develop a plan for conflict resolution using evidence-based methods.
4. Ethics: Given an organizational setting, identify ethical and dilemma-resolution practices, and make evidence-based decisions
that integrate personal, social, and corporate responsibility.
5. Communication: Communicate orally and in writing to individuals and groups in a concise, clear, organized, and well-supported manner
using formats and technology relevant to the organizational context.
6. Motivation: Given a leadership situation, identify workplace commitment theories to incorporate influences and power as a
leader to motivate organizational stakeholders.
7. Research: Given an organizational need to evaluate and defend its actions or potential actions, select, analyze, and apply the
assessment techniques, research methods, and/or statistical analyses needed to evaluate and defend those actions based on
evidence
8. Knowledge and Understanding of the Field: Demonstrate competency in identifying and integrating the major concepts,
theoretical perspectives, historical trends, and key figures in the field of organizational leadership.
9. Change: Evaluate the impact of change on organizations, organizational members, and other stakeholders and apply
appropriate change models and theories to facilitate successful change.
10. Global diversity: Analyze and evaluate the involvement of diversity in leadership issues, with special attention to the
implications of diversity for individuals, organizations, and societies.
11. Interpersonal Effectiveness: Achieve personal development and demonstrate positive relationship skills via effective
communication, respect for others, and awareness of their impact on others.
Assignment Table:
NOTE: All written assignments need to be in APA format.
Please read the text books. Class will be conducted in a seminar format. Various topics will be discussed (not necessarily in order of
chapters in the text). If specific chapters are related to the discussion questions, it will be posted on the discussion board prior to class.
Week
Discussion Questions
Online component: Should be
completed prior to beginning of
class.
1
(1/23)
Choose a perspective in which to
define stress. Provide an
operational definition that can be
applied across settings and/or
individuals.
Assignments
Write an Autobiography. An example of
information that should be included is as follows:
where/when you were born, where you lived,
parents, etc. Who I am in life, What life means to
me, Outlook for the future, How stress has
impacted decisions in your life, Conclusion.
Instructions
Autobiography should be 2-4
pages. It should posted so that
other students may view it and
respond with questions.
Respond to at least two other
students with questions related
to their autobiographies.
Perform an assessment of the stressfulness of your . You are preparing a paper
work environment by identifying and discussing the discussing these issues that is in
stress factors within the environment and what the
the range of 8-10 pages, APA
organization does to help manage stress. Within the format, which is due the first
context of your assessment, examine the leadership week of class. You should also
and management styles, job design, organization
prepare a class presentation via
culture, and human resource management strategies Power Point which is also due
that work to help individuals self-actualize and
the first week of class.
effectively perform or operate in continual distress.
What are some of the more formalistic stress
management programs? Do they evoke change in
the stressfulness of the environment or do they shift
the responsibility of stress management to the
employee versus the organization taking a holistic
look at how it functions? You are to also look at
some of the hidden variables, such as the
environmental factors, unspoken culture,
psychological contracts and expectations. You are
preparing a paper discussing these issues that is in
the range of 10-15 pages, APA format, which is
due the first in residence session (first week of
class). You should also prepare a class presentation
via Power Point which is also due the first in
residence session.
2
(1/24)
3
(1/25)
Explore the concept of Burnout.
Discuss the signs, symptoms,
causes, and coping strategies.
Compare and contrast the different perspectives of
stress (i.e. organizational, social, cultural, and
economic). Feel free to add additional
perspectives. Describe ways in which these
perspectives impact the world at large, your
workplace, and you as an individual,
Create a chart that compares
and contrast the various
perspectives. The last three
columns should summarize how
each perspective has impacted
the world, workplace, and
individual.
A significant percentage of work stress is a direct
outcome of a dysfunctional organizational culture.
To effectively overcome the stress that results from
one’s work environment, we must learn to step into
our own personal power. You should think about
the definition of personal power and ascertain how
an individual can gain personal power?
Based on the quote and selfreflections, respond to the
following statement and
questions.
The pressures for conformity in
my life are _______________.
How do these pressures link
with my sense of
More specifically, at a personal level (you are not
required to share these answers with your
classmates on line) respond to the following
questions, which follow this quote from Robert
Quinn, a leading author on organizational and
personal leadership:
empowerment?
What actions would I need to
take to more fully empower
myself?
“Culture change begins with personal change. The
problem is that to grow, to take the journeys on
which our growth is predicated, we must confront
our own immaturity, selfishness, and lack of
courage. In a sense, life is all about our forceful,
often overpowering need to take journeys, yet our
tendency is to grip the swings ever more tightly.
The decisions we make about our journeys
determine how our self is aligned with our
surrounding environment.” (Source: Deep Change
by Robert Quinn, 1996, Jossey Bass Publishers)
4
5
6
7
Information will be provided prior
to the second weekend meeting
Information will be provided prior
to the second weekend meeting
Information will be provided prior
to the second weekend meeting
Final Synthesis & Integration
Updated information pending
Updated information pending
Updated information pending

Peer reviewed articles based on paper topic
1. Final Integrative paper:
Details of the
assignment given
below.
Final Integrative Paper: Use your scenario that was applied to in week one to develop your final paper. Within the context of the
organization’s issues, I want you to analyze the factors that cause stress in the organization in much more detail than you did in your
assignment for week one. Your logic and assessments must be supported by a comprehensive literature review. Next, you are to
analyze how the organization handles stress. Specifically, what are the programmatic initiatives that are in place and how effective are
they? How are they communicated in the organization? How do the leadership and management practices delimit or enhance a
stressful environment?
Next you are to identify a strategy for addressing stress within the organization, from two perspectives. First, you are to assess what
change strategies must be incorporated into the organization that will work to change how the work environment evokes stress. Your
change strategies should be supported by a review of the literature. Next, you are to identify the programmatic initiatives, from a
conceptual framework as well as design perspective that you would put into place to sustain the change and help employees
effectively manage stress.
Throughout your paper, you must validate your logic, assumptions and proposed strategies via cited references to the literature.
All of your assignments are required to be word processed in APA format. Students are required to insure that all references/sources
are appropriately cited. You paper should be in the range of 15-20 pages double spaced and must follow APA format.
This assignment is due by February 6th and should be emailed to your instructor at dr.wright@yahoo.com. No late
assignments will be accepted.
Grading Criteria
Grading Scale
Grading requirements
A
100 -93
A-
92 – 90
B+
89 – 88
B
87 – 83
B-
82 – 80
C+
79 – 78
C
77 – 73
C-
72 – 70
F
69 and below
Attendance/participation
Case Application Papers (6)
Final paper
Class Presentation
30%
30%
20%
20%
100%
Library
Library Resources: Argosy University’s core online collection features nearly 21,000 full-text journals and 23,000 electronic books
and other content covering all academic subject areas including Business & Economics, Career & General Education, Computers,
Engineering & Applied Science, Humanities, Science, Medicine & Allied Health, and Social & Behavior Sciences. Many titles are
directly accessible through the Online Public Access Catalog at http://library.argosyu.edu. All resources in Argosy University’s
online collection are available through the Internet. The library will provide students with links, user IDs, and passwords. A detailed
list of online resources is located at http://library.argosyu.edu/misc/onlinedblist.html. In addition to online resources, Argosy
University’s onsite collections contain a wealth of subject-specific research materials searchable in the Online Public Access Catalog.
Catalog searching is easily limited to individual campus collections. Alternatively, students can search combined collections of all
Argosy University Libraries. Students are encouraged to seek research and reference assistance from campus librarians.
Information Literacy: Argosy University’s Information Literacy Tutorial was developed to teach students fundamental and
transferable research skills. The tutorial consists of five modules where students learn to select sources appropriate for academic-level
research, search periodical indexes and search engines, and evaluate and cite information. In the tutorial, students study concepts and
practice them through interactions. At the conclusion of each module, they can test their comprehension and receive immediate
feedback. Each module takes less than 20 minutes to complete. Please view the tutorial at http://library.argosyu.edu/infolit/
Academic Dishonesty/Plagiarism: In an effort to foster a spirit of honesty and integrity during the learning process, Argosy University
requires that the submission of all course assignments represent the original work produced by that student. All sources must be
documented through normal scholarly references/citations and all work must be submitted using the Publication Manual of the
American Psychological Association, 5th Edition (2001). Washington DC: American Psychological Association (APA) format. Please
refer to Appendix A in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th Edition for thesis and paper format.
Students are encouraged to purchase this manual (required in some courses) and become familiar with its content as well as consult
the Argosy University catalog for further information regarding academic dishonesty and plagiarism.
Scholarly writing: The faculty at Argosy University is dedicated to providing a learning environment that supports scholarly and
ethical writing, free from academic dishonesty and plagiarism. This includes the proper and appropriate referencing of all sources.
You may be asked to submit your course assignments through “Turnitin,” (www.turnitin.com), an online resource established to help
educators develop writing/research skills and detect potential cases of academic dishonesty. Turnitin compares submitted papers to
billions of pages of content and provides a comparison report to your instructor. This comparison detects papers that share common
information and duplicative language.
Americans with Disabilities Act Policy
It is the policy of Argosy University to make reasonable accommodations for qualified students with disabilities, in accordance with
the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). If a student with disabilities needs accommodations, the student must notify the Director
of Student Services. Procedures for documenting student disability and the development of reasonable accommodations will be
provided to the student upon request.
Students will be notified by the Director of Student Services when each request for accommodation is approved or denied in writing
via a designated form. To receive accommodation in class, it is the student’s responsibility to present the form (at his or her
discretion) to the instructor. In an effort to protect student privacy, the Department of Student Services will not discuss the
accommodation needs of any student with instructors. Faculty may not make accommodations for individuals who have not been
approved in this manner.
The Argosy University Statement Regarding Diversity
Argosy University prepares students to serve populations with diverse social, ethnic, economic, and educational experiences. Both
the academic and training curricula are designed to provide an environment in which students can develop the skills and attitudes
essential to working with people from a wide range of backgrounds.