Dominant Ego States in Transactional Analysis in the Context of Managers’ Stress Coping Strategies

Purpose: The article aims to grasp the relations between the ego states constituting the personality of a human being (manager) and his/her ways of reacting to stressful situations. Knowledge in this area is fascinating from a cognitive point of view and gives excellent opportunities associated with the optimisation of human resources management in the practice of managing enterprises. Design/Methodology/Approach: Two research tools were used in the studies presented in this paper, the CISS Questionnaire and the Ego State Scale of Kälin. The CISS Test enables measuring stress coping styles on three scales, task-oriented coping, emotion-oriented coping, avoidance-oriented coping (SSU). The Ego State Scale refers to the functional model and its authors distinguish the following states, Controlling Parent, Nurturing Parent, Adult, Free Child and Adapted Child. Findings: The paper presents results of studies the purpose of which was to capture the relation between the ego states, comprising an individual’s identity, and the mode in which the individual reacts to stressful situations. The knowledge gathered about the correlation between the individual ego states and styles of coping with stress was subjected to a multi-aspect analysis and interpretation, whereas its results offer a good insight into the mechanisms and causes of such relations. Practical Implications: Knowledge about the mutual determinants between the ego states and the preferred styles of coping with stress also offers extensive possibilities of taking practical development steps, aimed at increasing the efficiency of individuals becoming liberated from the adverse impact of stress-inducing stimuli. Originality/Value: The received results have great cognitive and practical significance. They confirm a very close relation between personality and modes in which people handle stress and explain which type of personality features correlate with individual stress coping styles. Increasing interest in Transactional Analysis follows from the fact that it is a theory that delivers a series of practical indications, possible for implementation whilst taking correcting or development actions.