Abstract
PurposeThis study explores how compassionate managerial leadership style can help to mitigate workplace stressors and alleviate stress experiences among employees — particularly in an extreme situation, such as the current global COVID-19 pandemic. The study's context is Nigeria's banking, manufacturing and healthcare sectors, which have a history of high employee stress levels.Design/methodology/approachUsing a qualitative, interpretive methodology, the study adopts the thematic analysis process (TAP) to draw and analyse data from semi-structured telephone interviews with 10 banking, 11 manufacturing and 9 frontline healthcare workers in Nigeria.FindingsIt was found that a compassionate managerial leadership can drive a considerate response to employees' “fear of job (in)security”, “healthcare risk” and concerns about “work overload, underpayment and delayed payment”, which respondents considered to be some of the key causes of increased stress among employees during the current COVID-19 pandemic.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is limited to exploring the relationship between compassionate managerial leadership and an organisation's ability to manage employee stress in the COVID-19 situation, using 30 samples from organisations operating in three Nigerian cities and sectors. Future studies may involve more Nigerian cities, sectors and samples. It may also possibly include quantitative combination to allow generalisation of findings.Practical implicationsIn order to survive in extreme situations, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, organisations are forced to take drastic and often managerialist-driven work measures which can trigger high stress levels, low productivity and absenteeism among employees. Hence, organisations would benefit from implementing compassion-driven policies that are more inclusive and responsive to the workplace stressors facing employees.Originality/valueEmployee stress has been widely explored in many areas, including definitions, stressors, strains, possible interventions and coping strategies. There remains, however, a dearth of scholarship on how management-leadership compassion can help to reduce employee stress levels in extreme conditions, such as the COVID-19 pandemic — particularly in emerging economies.
Highlights
CompassionateThe relationship between extreme environmental conditions and rising employee stress managerial levels is attracting increased scholarly attention
They reported on the rising level of stress this phenomenon is creating among employees (Zhang et al, 2020), in the Nigerian work terrain, which has a history of undermining employee wellbeing (Otobo, 2016; Oshagbemi, 2017)
Employee stress has been studied globally, examining the aspects of definitions, stressors, strains (Kihara and Mugambi, 2018), possible interventions and coping strategies, among other aspects which aid the process of developing the concept further
Summary
The relationship between extreme environmental conditions and rising employee stress managerial levels is attracting increased scholarly attention. This is due to the current COVID-19 pandemic crisis, which, aside from destabilising the workplace (WHO, 2020a, b), is reinforcing (more than ever) the need for more effective leadership in work settings (Rosinha leadership style et al, 2017). Studies have explored employee stress management in a variety of military settings (including air, sea and land conflicts) as well as possible mitigation against the associated psychological effects that these extreme conditions may have on military personnel (Friedman, 2006; Jensen and Wrisberg, 2014). In a situation involving extreme natural environmental conditions, Field et al.’s (2012)
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