Page 100 - Biobehavioral Resilence to Stress

Resilience through Leadership 77

experience depression and to be diagnosed as suffering from post traumatic

stress disorder (PTSD) than those who felt they were in control and who
reported good social support.
Similarly, Solomon and Berger (2005) studied Zaka* body handlers who
gather up the body parts, blood, and tissue of Israelis who have died violently
(e.g., in suicide bombings or violent accidents). Fewer than 3% of these Zaka
volunteers demonstrated symptoms of PTSD. Instead, they reported feeling
a low sense of danger and a high sense of self-effi cacy. The researchers sug-

gest that a high degree of resilience among the Zaka body handlers is derived
from a sense of meaning (work is altruistic and spiritual) and from social
support (they receive a great deal of respect and admiration from their super-
visors and from the Israeli people). As noted earlier, these factors are crucial

components of resilience. They are also factors that person-oriented leaders
can strive to foster, even in enormously stressful work environments. Lead-
ers may be able to increase the psychological resilience of others by helping
them to appreciate the meaningfulness of their work (Bartone, 2006).
Rosen et al. (1999) observed that although certain hardiness scores (mea-
sured through the use of surveys) were relatively equivalent for male and
female service members deployed to combat areas during the fi rst Persian
Gulf War, female service members reported more stress. Th is diff erence was

explained in terms of different levels of bonding between female (vs. male)
service members and their leaders and colleagues. Rosen et al. concluded that
leaders should emphasize bonding and ensure that female soldiers receive
adequate support from leaders and peers.
Other researchers (e.g., Adler & Dolan, 2006; Bartone, 1999) have reported
evidence that hardiness protects Army Reserve forces from the eff ects of
war-related stress due to the disruption of their civilian jobs and separation
from family. Specifically, hardy soldiers were found less likely to suff er from

depression or PTSD than their nonhardy counterparts. Thus, leaders may
be able to foster resilience to stress by providing support that encourages or
promotes hardiness. For example, leaders can reinforce subordinates’ sense

of self-efficacy and help them to find meaning in their work. Cole, Bruch,

and Vogel (2006) examined workers during times of organizational crisis
and found that supervisor support positively related to employee hardiness
and negatively related to employee cynicism. In this case, supervisor support

took the form of stressing the significance of the work in which the employ-
ees were involved and ensuring them of their ability to achieve success.
Vogt, Pless, King, and King (2005) evaluated adjustment outcomes for
male and female service members upon their return from deployment to

* ZAKA is an abbreviation for “Identifying Victims of Disaster” (in Hebrew: Zihuy
Korbanot Asson). The ZAKA organization is a community emergency response team
that is officially recognized by the government of the state of Israel.

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