Sustaining management quality through stress management

Abstract

PurposeThis exploratory research aims to identify the effect of perceived stress level and self-efficacy on management quality and what practices and theories need to be enhanced to improve management quality under volatility business environments.Design/methodology/approachThe study surveyed 291 working women, using the Perceived Stress Scale and the General Self-Efficacy Scale. Latent class analysis (LCA) for classifications of respondents, using categorical observed variables and MANCOVA, are applied to determine the relationship between stress and self-efficacy on the assigned classes.FindingsThe study suggests that in a highly volatile business environment, where stress is high, affecting management quality, managers as individuals fall into one of four classes that describe their techniques of coping with the stress, namely Uncommitted Experimenters, Try Anything, Intrinsically Motivated and Externally Motivated. Techniques of stress management classification are significantly related to the combined perceived stress and self-efficacy measures, with Externally Motivated respondents as the classification with a significant mean difference.Research limitations/implicationsThe main limitation of the study at hand refers to the sample size versus the number of potential factors of stress. This limitation highlights the need for further data gathering and research in this area, as stress is a critical factor of performance and often ignored in traditional management theories. Another limitation of this study is the lack of in-depth analysis of the use of meditation; its benefits and how to best use this practice in traditional work settings.Practical implicationsThe outcome of the study could have significant implications for quality of management in business, private and social sectors by providing meditation as a tool for employees and stakeholders to handle stress in conflict zones.Social implicationsUsing stress management techniques might prove to be a low-cost tool for better quality management of human assets.Originality/valueThe authors study focuses on women in volatile economic turmoil, natural devastations, conflict areas and politically insecure environments. This socioeconomic segment was rarely scrutinized despite its direct effect on a large number of economies hosting a sizeable portion of the world’s population. Interesting potential results highlight the relationship between the respondents in the Intrinsically Motivated class and stress reduction for the benefit of management quality.