The Role of the Supervisor In Creating and Maintaining an Emotionally Healthy Workplace

Document Type

Book Section

Publication Date

10-23-2020

Publication Title

The Emotional Self at Work in Higher Education

Publisher

IGI Global

Edition

1

First page number:

246

Last page number:

261

Abstract

Supervisors, be they employed in higher education or in other industries, operate in capacities that allow them to shape organizational cultures within their departments, divisions, colleges, or broader units. Within the higher educational model, this means that supervisors are uniquely placed to counteract negative elements within the culture of academia, which historically has tended to prioritize individual competitive output, with alternative models that may offer improvements to the emotional health and well-being of higher education employees. This chapter seeks to describe the impact of stress on the health of workers, the employment stressors that are unique to higher education, and the processes by which supervisors in higher education can use their positional power to counteract said stressors and improve academic organizational cultures. The chapter includes practical suggestions for supervisors to enhance wellness and decrease emotional harm in scenarios common to the higher education workplace as identified via social media crowdsourcing.

Keywords

Higher educational model; Culture of academia; Supervisor role; Emotionally healthy workplace; Higher education workplace; Employment stressors

Disciplines

Education | Higher Education

Language

English

UNLV article access

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