When I was having breakfast with a bunch of friends this morning, a blog that talks about how managers should handle employees’ stress during a financial crisis popped up. A quote from it says: “it’s very necessary that the people in charge of the companies, the managers, the different executives in the company take this dimension into account and manage the emotion of the people, or we could very easily have, not a difficult moment, but explosions.”
As a beginner of OB, I understand how stress has negative behavioral consequences on task performance and organizational effectiveness. But are employees the only sector who needs comfort during the crisis? How are managers going to relieve the pressure alone? Are there any ways to minimize the possibility of negative working condition even before the crisis?
In Chapter 2 of the textbook, there’s a concept of emotion regulation. It means to “identify and modify the emotions you feel” and is part of the EI literature. Talking about stress with emotional regulation, I personally think the recruitment is another stage that should be focused on. To further analyze how to motivate employees, I checked on my group member Zain’s blog. He disagreed with Emma Seppala’s idea that all a manager should do is motivate spiritually. Intrinsic motivation such as rewards and bonuses is also important and that such motivation from employers needs to be both materially and spiritually. I agree with his point that spiritual support alone doesn’t work well, however, I think he ignored the fact that sometimes, especially under extreme condition like recession, managers are not the only one who should be motivating. There’re other factors that influence the workplace.
A successful firm could not only produce high quality and quantity of goods and services, but also work consistently and overcome difficulties. This requires certain level of EI for both employees and management executives. People with high EI adjusts their own emotions, and are also able to recognize the others and give positive feedback. Managers feel equally distressed during crisis and they alone can never handle employee stress without a corporative response and acceptance.
Managers are necessary to give energy to employees to help recover from stress and prevent them from “lack of oxygen” by offering open expressive communication. However, employees themselves are a conclusive factor for companies’ success at the start of the game. During the crisis, managers have the highest probability to get fired and they’re under pressure, too. Hiring employees with high EI will help not only the working condition during crisis, but also greatly improve the working quality and company spirit.
In conclusion, managers have the responsibility to balance the crisis awareness and work together with the cooperation from employees. Despite managers, companies could eliminate the potential low-efficiency-work at the stage of recruiting.
Word Count: 468
1.Dean Graham. The Berlin School Of Creative Leadership. “Why Managers Should Handle
Employee Stress During A Financial Crisis.” N.p., 25 Jan. 2016. Web. 15 Jan. 2017.
2.Major Reasons of Global Economic Crisis of 2008 – 2010: brief literature review. (2014, December 29). Retrieved February 05, 2017, from
Major Reasons of Global Economic Crisis of 2008 – 2010: brief literature review
3.Based on D. R. Caruso, J. D. Mayer, and P. Salovey, “Emotional Intelligence and Emotional Leadership,” in Multiple Intelligences and Leadership, ed. R. E. Riggio, S. E. Murphy, and F. J. Pirozzolo (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2002), p. 70