Mayberry Police Department

Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to work with Mayberry Police department. As requested, I have evaluated the Stress Diagnostic Survey (SDS) results of your officer's stress levels. Mr. Ernest Bass used this survey to examine if the officers are stressed (null hypothesis) or not stressed (alternative hypothesis). Method of analysis used to obtain the results was Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) for making simultaneous comparisons between the stressor averages and testing those averages to determine whether a relation exists.

I will present the analysis in three parts. The first part explains how the survey was measured. Second part is the findings from the analysis. The last part is my recommendations to reduce stress in the department. All calculations are located in the attached Excel file.

How the SDS is measured

The SDS asks 30 unambiguous questions to each officer to measure their organizational stress, individual stress, and individual modifiers of the stress response. Each question uses a 1 to 7 point scale. Score 1 indicates the condition is never a source of stress while score 7 indicates it is always a source of stress. The questionnaire measures six levels of stressor dimensions that are associated with five specific questions combined to identify the individual-level stressor:

* Role Ambiguity- individuals lack of clarity about expected behavior from job or position: items 1,7, 13, 19, 25

* Role Conflict- competing demands are made on an individual in the fulfillment of his or her multiple social roles: items 2, 8, 14, 20, 26

* Role Overload-quantitative- required to perform more work than the time period given: items 3, 9, 15, 21, 27

* Role Overload-qualitative- work demands exceed experience and ability to carry out role demands: items 4, 10, 16, 22, 28

* Career Development Stress- reaction to the organizational environment which influences that person's awareness to their quality of their career progress: items 5, 11, 17, 23, 29

* Responsibility for People- taking accountability for people who are opposed to things: items 6, 12, 18, 24 ,30

Each officer's response to the stressor dimensions are calculated based on item numbers and categorized into three classifications: low stress, moderate stress, and high stress. Any category 10 and under is low stress, between 10 and 24 is moderate stress, and 24 or higher is high stress.

ANOVA Findings

As you can see in the Excel file, the mean level of stress reported by work overload- qualitative (23.54) is higher than that of the other categories: conflict (22.83), ambiguity (22.80), quantitative (22.97), responsibility for people (22.97), and career development (22.77) as the lowest. According