By Diane Stafford, McClatchy Newspapers
Monday, June 25, 2012
Managers involved in repeated budget and staff cutbacks are hurting. Unfortunately, many don't have the psychological support they need. Two University of Kansas researchers, education dean Rick Ginsberg and psychology chairwoman Karen Multon, recently charted the stressful effects of the "financial tsunami" on deans and department chairs in higher education. Many public universities in particular have been hit with funding cuts that have forced layoffs, fewer and larger classes and staff morale problems.
The researchers found a greater incidence of headaches, high blood pressure, sleeping difficulty and weight gain among the deans and department chairs who had to oversee those cuts.
Their findings can easily translate into the private industry, where many supervisors have had to cope with repeated rounds of job eliminations and budget cutbacks.
They concluded that such managers need the equivalent of crisis management training because the ...