Organizational stress and dilemma management in mid-level industrial executives: An exploratory study

The aim of our study is to identify dilemmas experienced by mid-level managers throughout their daily business as well as their resilience strategies to deal with those dilemmas. Based on this information it is planned to develop a dilemma-focused resilience training. The article summarizes analysis of 18 semi-structured interviews that were conducted with mid-level managers from two medium-sized enterprises in Germany. Content analysis revealed 48 categories. We identified organizational dilemmas, aggravating and alleviating factors, and health-promoting strategies to deal with dilemmas. The importance of a constructive way to deal with dilemmas and implications for the aspired resilience training are discussed.