A Qualitative Research on Organizational Stress Sources of Flight Dispatchers

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to determine the organizational stress sources of flight dispatcher working in aviation companies operating in the Turkish civil aviation sector. Design/methodology/approach – In the research, semi-structured interview technique, which is a qualitative research method, was used. In the research, within the framework of purposive sampling, a study group of 24 people, who can represent their profession, was reached from 408 licensed flight operations specialists in Turkey with the criterion and snowball method. The audio recordings of the one-to-one interviews with the people in this group were manually transferred to the Microsoft Word program by the researcher, verbatim. The MAXQDA 2020 Analysis Program was used to analyze the data. Findings – According to the results of the research, organizational stress sources of flight dispatchers were grouped under 3 themes (in terms of the work itself, the work environment and its effect on people) and 16 titles. Discussion – Aviation sector is one of the sectors where organizational stress is experienced intensely. Especially flight dispatchers, who are at the center of the operation, are often faced with this situation. In this context, it is considered important to carry out studies to reduce organizational stress in flight dispatchers in order to prevent the negative consequences of organizational stress.