Exhausted organisations, technostress - new challenges in the corporate world

It is important that in this area, as in other areas of psychology - there is a continuous dialogue between academic research and practical experience. The most transformative global polycrisis in recent years has been the epidemic situation, as classic work patterns, leadership roles, criteria for success, and emphases (on loyalty, engagement, work-life balance, intrinsic work motivation, etc.) have changed. Everyone was faced with a sudden crisis, some benefited and others were caught up in the challenge of several years. This was followed by other global events, inflation, war situations, the conquest and all-changing power of artificial intelligence, all challenging organisations.

In this context, the new special issue seeks to present some of the results of the inspiring thinking and research taking place in academic workshops in organisational psychology across the country.

What new organizational challenges have been identified in addition to the already researched phenomena of burnout caused by the "global polycrisis"? What are the most pressing challenges now?

The most common challenge is uncertainty, the lack of transparency in how organisations adapt to unpredictable changes at the individual and whole organisational level. Whether in the individual or organisational dynamics of coping with positive or negative change, there is a naturally occurring resistance and chaotic trough. This is a strong phase of the way we approach change, often saturated with negative emotions. These dynamics are reflected in the study of organisational trust and leadership in the waves of epidemiological crisis management. When these changes come simultaneously, from multiple directions and with different content, they can easily exhaust the organisation and present leaders with difficult challenges. How to maintain positivity, resilience, motivation, engagement, loyalty, how to retain employees and once retained, how to avoid them losing enthusiasm and quietly leaving, passively staying in the workplace in the hope of something better? A further challenge is how to rethink current jobs, roles and workflows with the advent of artificial intelligence in a way that maintains trust and reduces the sense of threat?

The issues of overwork, fatigue, insecurity, overtime and ill-conceived staffing solutions, the ill-conceived introduction and then seemingly unjustified withdrawal of different forms of work, the management of employee voice, dialogue, lack of transparency, and increasingly disintegrating or transforming workplace (and not only workplace) communities are all themes that emerge from the studies.

Most often, strategic and operational solutions are driven by leaders (although it is on engagement that research emphasising the importance of voice reflects), so in some studies the authors touch on key leadership competencies, and in the special issue we find studies discussing adaptive, generative, transformational leadership approaches and styles. Together, researchers and practitioners explore the essence of leadership that creates communities, mobilises them, is open to transformation and change, and inspires them, and how to develop a leadership style.

A very specific group of workers is also addressed in this special issue, as we were working on it while the teacher protests were taking place: the study looked at professional and organisational commitment among primary and secondary school teachers who were considering leaving the profession. The issue has not lost its relevance today, and is now spreading to higher education.

A new phenomenon, technostress, has emerged to meet the challenges. What are the consequences and how is it related to psychosocial variables at work?

Today, the majority of workplaces are now technical, technological, computerised work environments. With the emergence of hybrid, remote working, those working in technological, computer-based environments have experienced not only the benefits but also the acute difficulties of using them, and the threatening or even challenging nature of the AI-driven work that will increasingly develop in the future is also affecting employee attitudes: because as employees, we are asking ourselves: what will our role be in the future world of work, will our work be needed? How do we effectively integrate IT and AI systems into our work so that we continue to add value?

One study is discussing what technostress means: fast-paced, unstructured working hours, techno-overload indicative of multitasking. So-called techno-stress is a dimension of techno-invasion, which is a blurring of the boundary between work and private life, and the techno-complexity associated with learning increasingly complex computer and other technologies, the techno-uncertainty of our fears and anxieties about our own replaceability, and finally the techno-unpredictability of newer and newer technologies as they are constantly being developed. Just think of the attitudes an employee might have as AI infiltrates? In the study, techno-uncertainty seemed to be the most prominent and affected psychosocial factors such as organizational climate, co-workers, and peer-manager relationships. And techno-invasion can have a negative impact on work-life balance and employee health.

The author of this study also wondered, however, what kind of organisational and managerial support is needed to make the beneficial aspects more prominent in the balance. Employees should perceive the positive aspects of technological change as they can facilitate, optimise and provide strong support not only in specific tasks, but also in professional development.

VUCA has become a familiar term in management science, covering four terms: volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. This acronym refers to the need for managers to be able to make decisions and lead effectively in an uncertain and changing environment.

Over the world, a leader is faced with a world where knowledge and information are dynamically changing and rapidly becoming outdated, with no predictability as to which ones will become relevant. Full access and understanding of what is relevant is limited. The problems are complex, the linkages are not transparent, there is no clear solution, so planning a response and action is hampered. In addition to misinterpretation, slowness in responding, use of outdated solutions, short-term symptomatic treatment or risk-aversion and inaction are indicators of failure to adapt. What can support an effective response that delivers new solutions is increasing access to actionable information, such as fostering a culture of collaboration and diversity, operating in an agile, feedback-using, technology-enabled way, and sharing clear ideas that guide rapid, informed decision-making and response. This requires the development of critical, creative and practical problem-solving skills at both staff and management levels.

In the meantime, some authors have supplemented VUCA with VUCCA, where the plus C indicates opacity, chaos. Similar aspects are emphasized by the term BANI (Brittle, Anxious, Non-linear, Incomrehensible), used to describe the present circumstances, also emphasizing uncertainty, lack of stability, and, that any situation can change at a moment's notice, and that solutions require moving outside the box, despite the fact that many of the managers and workers involved find many elements of our changing reality unintelligible and incomprehensible.

These mosaic words describe a circumstance, but the reactions, responses and solutions of organisations and companies are nevertheless - for the time being at least - human choices, and how they cope depends to a large extent on the beliefs, perceptions, attitudes and competences of managers and employees.

Kiss Orhidea Edith

Another notion of AVICA is leading: Agile, Value-oriented, Inspiring, Collaborative, Appreciative. Can these still be existing models in today's complex relationships? What are the competencies that describe an effective leader?

More leadership theories have emerged and have become the focus of academic research. They have explored the extent to which different leadership models and the competencies that go with them are effective in responding to current challenges. The above-mentioned is one such idea, and builds on the acronym VUCA (VUCCA). However, it is important to stress that these acronyms and step-by-step change management models, while sympathetic and theoretically valid in management training, do not work in practice, or not quite so well, precisely because our reality is so chaotic, uncertain and unpredictable. Leadership models can only be seen as a guide, it is worth making their application situational.

The studies that form the basis of our research tend to refer to a transformational leadership style as one that can hold the organisation together in the face of change. Inspirational, motivating leadership attitudes, charismatic influence, the creation of an intellectually stimulating environment and managerial attention to individual needs also play an important role in this model.

In different types of organisational cultures, other leadership style characteristics may be evident in addition to the transformational aspect, such as transactional leadership, where the main focus is on fair exchange of effort and rewards, situational rewards and exception-based leadership. But the special issue also includes a study that focuses on generative leadership approaches, which is exciting because the emphasis here is on internal leadership identity development that is driven by creating, sustaining and co-creating with the community.

Is there a difference between this in the public sector and the competitive sector?

The public sector and the competitive sector show differences in which leadership style can be most effective, but it is more explanatory to look at the types of organisational culture to see which style is better suited to which culture. In the world of VUCA, it is essential to adopt the style or combine different style traits in a way that makes leadership adaptive to a particular moment, a particular situation, a particular employee, rather than prioritising one model.

Looking through a magnifying glass into the workings of an organisation, we cannot say that the "paper form" works in all cases, i.e. it is not self-evident that a predictable, coordinating, consistent, compliant leader is better suited to the public sector, while a change-open, transformational leader works better in the competitive sector. So in the public sector, where the rhythm is truly different, there will be units and workflows where the leader will need to be creative and transformative, just as a rule-following, coordinating, predictable, consistent leader can be effective in managing the process-like operations found in the competitive sector.

There is more situational variance than attributing a particular leadership style to public sector or competitive sector. Today, the public sector is also undergoing so much change that it has become much more exciting than the typologies of what a team or organisation needs in a particular organisational life stage or situation.

Studies have found that resilience, empathy, awareness and alternative solutions can help in managing and adapting to chaotic, overwhelming realities at both individual and organisational levels. What helps or hinders leaders to respond to situations with this type of adaptation?

It can be helpful if the leader becomes open to communication and feedback, engages in dialogue with employees and strives for transparency. Neosys has set up a great model for this: open communication, dialogue and transparency create the atmosphere of trust that is essential for effective operations and employee well-being. Here, I also believe it is important to emphasise the importance of action and a real sensitivity to employee motivation and well-being. It definitely helps the leader to be open to monitoring his own leadership attitude, to be able to revise his own leadership beliefs and opinions and to reframe his own interpretations. A positive psychological approach is very important in this regard, as it enables the leader to focus on his own resources and those of his subordinates, and to use them to generate the psychological capital that is likely to make the organisation successful.

All of the above can be hindered by the creation of a culture of silence as opposed to expression of opinion, the perpetuation of closed, negative beliefs and opinions, the lack of transparent and open communication and thus the creation of a culture of trust.

Sipos Júlia

Photo by Edith Kiss Orhidea