Investigating the implications of changes in supervisor and organizational support.

Workers tend to experience many benefits when they work for supportive supervisors and organizations. But what happens when workers experience changes in perceived support, more or less support than they typically experience? We studied family-supportive supervision (FSS) and perceived organizational support (POS) to test how changes in the perception of support in response to the COVID-19 pandemic may influence workers. Three waves of survey data from 368 workers in the United States and Canada were collected as the human and economic toll of COVID-19 manifested. Random-intercepts cross-lagged panel analyses were used to differentiate between stable associations and the within-person changes of interest. Stable associations among variables were consistent with prior research, but cross-lagged effects painted a complex picture that offered reasons for hope and concern. As hypothesized, we observed evidence for gain cycles such that there were reciprocal positive associations between FSS and POS, and higher-than-normal POS was associated with greater job satisfaction. However, remaining hypotheses were not supported, as changes in FSS and POS were not significantly associated with job insecurity, and heightened FSS was associated with higher levels of anxiety and depression. Our study reinforces prior findings by showing that employees generally benefit when working for supportive supervisors and organizations, while also suggesting that episodic changes in FSS and POS may have limited impacts on workers. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Student stress in focus: Short-term fixes and long-term pedagogical change in business school curriculum

This paper explores course design and curriculum decisions made to acknowledge the contextual and personal stressors experienced by business school students. Business school professors have an opportunity to promote an active orientation to stress management, teach stress management skills, and link these practices to students’ lives beyond academia. We use a lens of intersectionality to understand the human experience of stress and coping, connecting research from the management, psychology, biology, and sociology literatures to reveal a more complicated picture of stress for students in the 2020–2021 academic year. We then examine recent pedagogical changes in two business courses, Personal and Professional Development I for first-year students and Organizational Behaviour for second year students, as we discuss how many stressors can be addressed at the course-design level (through principles of simplicity, predictability, and consistency) as well as through module design (by creating community and connections to services, societies, and supports). Rather than viewing pandemic-induced course modifications as a temporary “fix” for the current situation, professors can use this time to re-imagine the importance of student stress in the learning process. We offer recommendations for long-term change to business school curriculum to accomplish this goal.