Search

There is only fragmented conceptualizing on the role of key managers in influencing outcomes from crises created by the external environment. To help narrow these gaps, this paper presents and empirically tests the utility of a comprehensive stress/effectiveness model. The key managers, from 90 small business firms that experienced flood damage from the June, 1972 Hurricane Agnes, participated in depth-type interviews, during which behavioral, financial, attitudinal, and personality data was obtained. The Internal-External Control personality dimension exerted a strong influence on coping behaviors following the stress situation (flood). Certain types of coping behaviors were more likely to be manifested by some managers than others. For example, managers with "external" personalities tended to engage in more nonfunctional (i.e., related to firm recovery) behaviors. Managers with "internal" personalities more often exhibited functional behaviors which served to cope more directly with the demands that had to be satisfied for firm recovery. The strongest organizational determinants of perceived threat were the percentage of assets lost and the total number of business days lost. Effectiveness of firm recovery was only somewhat determined through the path analysis of the stress/effectiveness model. This lack of determination may have been due to measurement error, particularly in terms of the operational measures or effectiveness, and/or inadequacies in the model. However, several major parts of the stress/effectiveness model appear to be of considerable value in understanding the antecedents and processes by which key managers and their organizations cope with environmentally-induced stress. A significant outcome, not predicted from the model, was the finding that the number of employees in a firm was significantly related to recovery effectiveness. This may be a consequence of both the obvious use of employees in recovery efforts and the more subtle effect of group affiliation characteristics often associated with high stress levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]