Organizational Change and Employee Stress

Module 5 Assignment 1

Discussion – Organizational Change and Employee Distress

What are some causes of stress among employees when organizational change happens? One of the biggest I have experienced myself was when my company was bought out by another company. Everyone was assured that no serious changes would be made, but it seemed like overnight, everything that was once written was required to be entered into a computer. Most of coworkers were *ahem* older, so the thought of having to input data into a computer database, as opposed to jotting it down into a notebook was daunting. The change may have seemed small to a progressive, forward-thinking company, but to the rest of worker bees, it was intimidating.
How can managers help mitigate that stress? Managers are our first and in some cases, last line of defense when it comes to change. Senior managers relay messages to them, who are supposed to relay the same to us. Often times, we’ll get a manager that can’t be bothered, and will assume a typed notice next to the clock-in machine will suffice. The manager should make an effort to convey the message of change in more ways than one, in order to know for a fact that everyone working beneath them can see and understand it.