»Overwhelmed in Overwrite Mode«

Optimierte Stressgestaltung und Belastungserfahrungen in agil organisierten Start-ups

Abstract

Start-ups are considered to be ideally agile and serve as a model for restructuring in companies. The grounded theory study reconstructs how stress and strain are dealt with in agile-organized start-ups. Optimized stress management characterizes the work, which is determined by a wide range of tasks, tight time cycles and a pronounced commitment. Balancing the loads and appropriating the stress enables high performance but carries the risk of various negative stress experiences. There is the threat of getting lost in a tunnel, of experiencing dissonance due to contradictions between the experienced reality of the working conditions and the ideal of agility or of not being able to survive in the agile environment. The striving for balance, which is reflected in the wishes of the employees as well as in the conceptual principles of the agile working method, thus appears fragile. Through different narratives the stress experiences get integrated into the optimized stress management.