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New Approaches to Job Stress.
By Armin
Brott.
This is a summary of an article appearing in Nation's
Business, 1, 1994, pp. 81-82
Brott interviewed a number of consultants and
summarizes strategies that companies can use to reduce
the inherent stress that is part of the way a company is
organized. She suggests that managers need to focus on
the causes of stress, rather than on employees' reactions
to stress.
 Try the Team approach. Empowered
teams have more control over their agendas and therefore
less stress.
Encourage Employee Involvement.
Keep people communicating and participating.
Reduce Head-to-Head Competition.
Don't set up incentive programs that have staff competing
directly against each other.
Be a Facilitator. Listen more to
your employees. Facilitate their participation.
Vive La Difference.
Recognize the different ways that people respond to
stress. Long hours aren't necessarily stressful for some,
at certain points in their lives. A young parent with a
new baby at home find those long hours unbearable.
Discourage Workaholism. Reward
results, not necessarily long hours.
Pay Attention to New Employees.
Get your new staff to start off right with appropriate
support. Learn more about their work style, so you can
detect when they run into stress-related problems.
Demonstrate Leadership. Bosses
set the tone. If senior managers are out of control with
their stress, it hardly sets a good example for the rest
of the company.
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