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765 Managing Workplace Stress
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Healthy Organizations

Researchers have identified organizational characteristics associated with both healthy, low-stress work and high levels of productivity.

Image of five smiling employees
Opportunities for career development is a characteristic of a healthy organization.

Examples of these characteristics include the following:

  • recognition of employees for good work performance
  • opportunities for career development
  • an organizational culture that values the individual worker
  • management actions consistent with organizational values

However, managers are sometimes uncomfortable with this approach because it can involve changes in work routines or production schedules, or changes in the organizational structure.

As a general rule, actions to reduce job stress should give top priority to organizational change to improve working conditions. But even the most conscientious efforts to improve working conditions are unlikely to eliminate stress completely for all workers. For this reason, a combination of organizational change and stress management is often the most useful approach for preventing stress at work.

Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.

3-5. Which of the following should be given top priority when considering actions to improve working conditions?