Abstract

Over the past few years, an economic crisis of global proportions has affected all aspects of our lives. Jobs are less secure, work demands are greater, and therefore, effective stress management is crucial to the success of any business. The aim of this study was to identify the stress levels experienced at work by Slovene middle-level managers; the frequency of stress symptoms among Slovene managers; stress-coping strategies applied, and gender differences in terms of the intensity of stress symptoms experienced. Altogether, 85 middle-level managers from Slovene enterprises of random choice participated in this study. The obtained data was processed with SPSS 16.0 and analysed by means of descriptive statistics, frequency distribution, t-test and Pearson correlation data processing statistic methods. The managers who participated in this research all had a huge workload and experienced their work to be on average stressful. They used strategies focused on a specific problem in order to cope with problem situations effectively.

Key words: Slovenia enterprises, middle-level management, stress, stress symptoms, stress-coping strategies.