Academic employees presenting stress management behaviour in a diverse context

Education is critical in the development in any country as it influences future economic growth and personal development. Increased demands on creating sustainable education in South Africa has resulted in increased pressures to perform under extreme academic developmental, learning and growth pressures and restrictions. Employees working under stressful conditions play a vital role in assisting the organisation to achieve its mission and objectives. Different stress management behaviour is the result of the differences and similarities that exist between individuals. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how diverse academic employees of a merged tertiary institution presents stress management behaviour, to cope with these stresses. The paper examines the existing literature regarding diversity and stress management behaviour in organisations (specifically merging tertiary institutions). The research was by means of a census conducted among permanent academic staff of a merged institution in South Africa as research population. The findings indicate that high levels of stress are experienced by all diverse groups of academic employees, although the type of stress can be different. Diversity resulted in various stress management approaches and behaviour