Table 5.1 Will Is Experiencing Stress at Work Because He Is Not

Table 5.1
Will is experiencing stress at work because he is not clear about what to do in his new job, what his work priorities should be. His boss is out due to major surgery, and no one else knows what his job is. Jane is a typical 2010 woman; good career, married, and with a small child. As her career advances she is experiencing more and more stress because her husband wants her home more. Her parents are proud of her career success, yet they keep saying things like, "No sense having children if you're going to let someone else raise them." Tom is in a matrix reporting relationship with several other people. His boss has authority over the whole matrix; Tom does not, yet Tom is responsible for the performance of the people in the matrix. He isn't sure who he can tell what to do and who he has to let his boss tell. A deadline is approaching, and Tom is stressed out. Tom's boss, John, is also stressed. He isn't clarifying who reports to whom because he worries about everyone and doesn't want to let go of watching over them. He thinks that he may have to terminate Jane because her home situation is interfering so much with work that it is creating problems for the project. He is agonizing over this. Having been fired once in his career, he knows how painful it can be.
-Refer to Table 5.1. Tom's stress is being caused by:

A) quantitative overload.
B) role conflict.
C) qualitative overload.
D) role ambiguity.