Preventing stress: positive manager behaviour

Our research highlights the pivotal role that line managers play in workplace stress management. For employers to reduce and manage workplace stress effectively they need to ensure that managers demonstrate the skills and behaviours that allow them to manage their staff in ways that minimise work-related stress.

Until recently there was very little research evidence to clarify which manager behaviours are relevant in this context. Research funded by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the CIPD and Investors in People (IIP) has applied a behavioural competency approach to fill this gap.  This report, which builds on research carried out in 2009, looks at how managers used the interventions materials and how they implemented the work in practice.

The case studies cover:

• the context within the organisation, including stress management activities, management/leadership development and use of a competency framework
• how and where the Management Competencies for Preventing and Reducing Stress (MCPARS) at work have been rolled out
• how the intervention and other elements of MCPARS research findings have been integrated into the organisation’s practices and procedures
• facilitators to roll-out/integration
• barriers to roll-out/integration and how they have been overcome.

Download the report below:

This 2009 report sets out the management interventions designed to help managers show the behaviours to prevent stress and shows how organisations can overcome the barriers to great management practice.