Job stress is recognized as a primary roadblock to achieving job satisfaction. In order to investigate the linkage between important job characteristics and stressor levels, 378 factory supervisors (aged 45-54; 89 percent male; 93 percent white with an average of 21 years with the company) completed a two-part job analysis questionnaire. In the first part, supervisors identified and assigned time allocations to the crucial tasks, knowledge areas, skills, abilities, and demands of their jobs. In the second part, the occurrence of four stressors (role ambiguity, role conflict, responsibiltiy for people, and quantitative work overload) were rated on a five-point scale. An analysis of the results showed that a direct link did exist between perceptions of specific job characteristics and high stressor levels. Role ambiguity and conflict were most frequently related to providing knowledge to incumbents, organizational procedures, and interfacing with other people. Responsibility to people was stressful in terms of financial duties. Work overload stress related to pressure and pace of work activity. The direct application of these findings focus on stress management programs which deal with reducing stressor levels and not just with alleviating individual strains. (Demographic and analytic tables are appended). (BL)