Question

"Managers and Employee Stress during Organizational Change"

When organizations are in a state of change, employees feel the stress. In fact, a recent study indicated that job pressures, often due to downsizing and other organizational changes, are the second leading cause of stress. Dealing with that stress has long been in the domain of workers, who could turn to constructive (counselors, health professionals, support networks) or destructive (alcohol, gossip, counterproductive work behaviors) options as coping mechanisms. Employees who couldn’t cope with stress suffered job burnout and headed to the unemployment line.

Beneficent employers provided employee assistance programs (EAP) through subcontracted counselors or in-house HR departments to counsel employees dealing with stress. Managers simply steered individuals toward these resources when workplace problems indicated a need for intervention. This help often arrived too late to mitigate the negative outcomes of stress such as lost productivity and burnout—and sometimes too late to save the employee’s job. Research suggests that continually occurring job stressors, such as when organizations are in the midst of change, reduce employee engagement because workers are deprived of recovery periods. Employee stress thus needs to be addressed proactively at the manager level if it is to be effective, even before there are negative work outcomes.

On the one hand, managers are responsible for maximizing productivity and realize that organizations increase profitability when fewer employees perform increased work. On the other hand, overwork will increase employee stress, particularly when the organization is in a state of change due to downsizing or growth. Managers who keep head count low and workloads high may find short-term gains from lower workforce costs but long-term losses from negative stress outcomes, such as increased turnover and lowered productivity. Experts recommend that managers consider hiring the workers they need to keep employee workloads reasonable, adding reward programs to keep top employees engaged, and cutting non-workforce costs to maintain profitability. Smaller methods, such as teaching employees stress reduction techniques and creating a “greenery room” for a nature retreat from the office environment, can also be helpful. Managers must make the ethical choice between spending more money now on labor costs and stress reduction methods versus later on the more hidden but salient costs of employee stress.

As research increasingly indicates, when employees react to stress, they and their organizations suffer the consequences. Managers must, therefore, consider their opportunity to help alleviate the stress before it’s too late.

Sources: E. Frauenheim, “Stressed & Pressed,” Workforce Management (January 2012), pp. 18–22; J. B. Oldroyd and S. S. Morris, “Catching Falling Stars: A Human Resource Responses to Social Capital’s Detrimental Effect of Information Overload on Star Employees,” Academy of Management Review 37 (2012), pp. 396–418; and S. Sonnentag, E. J. Mojza, E. Demerouti, and A. B. Bakker, “Reciprocal Relations Between Recovery and Work Engagement: The Moderating Role of Job Stressors,” Journal of Applied Psychology 97 (2012), pp. 842–853.

Discussion Questions

Please share information with each other about stress you have experienced in school (i.e, school project deadlines, group dysfunction, dating, bullying, social networking, and others). Also, how did you managed the stress?

Answer 1

In school or universities, we often go through stress. These are the days to enjoy life and career, but our busy schedules lead our lives towards the path of stress. Suppose, if a teacher scolds us or we don't get good marks in exams, then because of the pressure, we face stress. This pressure is developed between us and our parents or teachers and it is quite disturbing and stressful. Also, if we fight in school or university, that also leads to a high amount of stress.

We should often avoid all these kinds of incidences and stress by diverting our minds and our attention to activities that are fun like playing, listening to music, etc. In short, modifying your routine reduces stress levels.