Exploring compassionate managerial leadership

style in reducing employee stress level during

COVID-19 crisis: the case of Nigeria
Emeka Smart Oruh, Chima Mordi, Chianu Harmony Dibia, Hakeem Adeniyi Ajonbadi

Introduction:

In this article the author has worked on how a compassionate managerial leadership style can
minimize workplace stress and employees' experiences of stress in crisis like situation such as
global COVID-19 outbreak. This study's context is the Nigerian banking, manufacturing, and
healthcare sectors, all of which have a history of having workers who are under a lot of stress.

The term "stress" is used to refer broadly to any negative emotional reaction someone may
experience, whether in or outside of the job, in response to a perceived threat of any type, to
which they are unable to effectively respond, leaving them feeling nervous and irritated
(Seaward, 2019). Several studies focus on how to handle employee stress during the present
COVID-19 situation in an appropriate way. The author adopted the perspective of Nigeria
because it is a developing nation with a history of having high employee stress levels.
(Oshagbemi, 2017) (Effiong et al., 2020).

So the hypothesis in this study was to examine “What does employee stress entail during the
COVID-19 crisis, and how an effective management-leadership mechanism can help to reduce
employee stress levels during such an extreme situation?” It takes compassionate management
and leadership to address employee concerns, especially in difficult situations (Cole-King &
Gilbert, 2011).

The study will adopt the qualitative-interpretive methodology and epistemology of social
constructionism. Data will be gathered qualitatively and analyzed using (Pratt, Rockmann, &
Kaufmann, 2006) pattern of thematic analysis.

Methodology: In this study, which uses qualitative interpretation, social constructionist

methodologies and epistemology are applied. According to (Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill, 2009)
this enables researchers to gather and assess raw data from people's lived experiences, which is
crucial for creating a thorough understanding of the subject under investigation (Patton, 2014).

The data was collected from 30 respondents through purposive sampling as it informed by
(Creswell & Creswell, 2017). An open-ended asking strategy was used in the interview, which
can increase the flexibility of the conversation between the interviewer and interviewee
(Crowther & Lancaster, 2012).

Findings: In response to workplace pressures and critically lowering employee stress levels, this
study suggested that organizations in a dire situation—like the present global COVID-19
pandemic—could adopt a compassionate management leadership strategy. As employees
stress is a global phenomenon but specially to the developing countries (Kihara, Mugambi, &
Management, 2018). A considerate response to workers' "fear of job (in)security," "healthcare
risk," and worries about "work overload, underpayment, and delayed payment," which
respondents considered to be some of the major causes of increased stress among employees
during the current COVID-19 pandemic, can be motivated by empathetic managerial leadership,
it was discovered (Oruh, Mordi, Dibia, & Ajonbadi, 2021).

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