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Different stakeholders define stress differently. Management may see stress as a maladaptive person/environment fit. A trade union may define stress in terms of poor working conditions, lack of control over work, or work overload. Both these perspectives focus on the person experiencing stress.

Sociologists would argue that there is another perspective: that power inequalities embedded in existing social and organizational structures such as those arising from social class, race or gender affect the way that people at work experience stress. Do women experience more stress than men for example?

There is also a growing interest in the idea that in some workplaces it is not acceptable to acknowledge stress at all. There are cultural aspects to this. Especially in western cultures, staff are expected to show emotional restraint at work. In some organisations there may be a 'macho' culture of 'we can all cope'. This may be as true in a caring environment such as a hospital as it is in a high pressure sales office or city trading floor.