The role of the manager in the management of work related stress: A case of the teachers service commission secretariat staff, Kenya)
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Date
2012-07-06
Authors
Mungai, Wanjiru Margaret
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Abstract
The study intended to find out the role of the manager in handling work related stress. It aimed at creating awareness and developing management skills in stress management among managers in the Teachers Service Commission secretariat staff. The objective of the study was find out what the managers are doing, and if they are facing any challenges and also come up with ways/methods that can be used by managers in dealing with stress in the work place.
The study was carried out in the Teachers Service Commission headquarters among the secretariat staff. A sample of one hundred and fifty managers was selected through stratification and simple random with table numbers sampling methods. They were given questionnaires to complete which were based on the research questions. From the respondents it emerged that the management has not addressed stress management in TSC, infact only 17% of the managers have attended a stress management course while only 2% had nominated any member of staff for the training. The study also revealed that there are no organizational policies for managing stress as 87 % of the managers stated that there are none in their departments/divisions/sections. A few managers stated that they are involved in carrying out stress audits, surveys and employee counseling 7%, 3% and 17% respectively. Many of the managers cited various challenges that they face while trying to help their employees reduce their stress. The most challenging came out as lack of time to do so, inability to identify the stressed employee, and workload. Also they face a challenge when the stress is of a financial nature.
Most of the challenges/problems encountered can be attributed to lack of training in stress management and other courses closely related to stress management. However it emerged that most of the managers use time off to sort out personal problems and encourage staff to take time off as a means to cope with their stress.