Managers coping in further educational colleges

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to document the coping styles of first tier managers in English further education (FE) colleges, in relation to the most significant stressors and to create an original, grounded scale of coping based on the data. Design/methodology/approach – This study adopted a qualitative approach to coping strategies and involved semi‐structured interviews with 23 first tier managers in four colleges. Findings – The study identified 16 distinct coping strategies employed by the first tier managers that ranged from “compliant” strategies, such as increased effort and self‐coaching, to “affective” strategies, such as exercise and tension reduction; and finally, those strategies that were “non‐compliant” such as escape and dissent. Research limitations/implications – This research presents a tentative coping scale for first tier managers that could potentially inform the design of structured development programmes according to their particular needs. Originality/value – This is the first coping scale of first tier managers in FE and its findings may have implications for first tier managers in other organisational settings.