Developing Traditional and Digital Stress-Preventive Management Competencies in Hybrid Team Managers

Purpose: Developing stress-preventive management behaviours is recommended to enhance psychosocial working conditions and employees’ well-being. The “Management Competencies for Preventing and Reducing Stress at Work (MCPARS)” framework and associated Learning and Development Intervention (LDI) support organizations in this regard but do not consider Digital Stress-Preventive Management Competencies (DMCs) or remote workers (RWs). Aim: This study, part of a PhD program adapting the MCPARS to Public Administration (PA), aims to integrate DMCs into intervention, conducting and evaluating the LDI for RWs’ managers across three PAs. Method: The intervention includes T0 data collection from supervisors and employees, measuring management competencies, psychosocial work environment, well-being, and process variables. It is followed by a seminar (learning on management competencies), a workshop (development through upward feedback and action plan’s definition) for managers, and two follow-ups (T1, T2). In PA1, DMCs and corresponding questionnaire, developed through prior qualitative activities, were piloted and validated using all T0 data (236 RWs and 54 managers). In PA2 and PA3, the LDI involves 24 hybrid team managers. Seminars and workshops are ongoing, with T1 and T2 scheduled for December 2024 and February 2025. Preliminary results: T0 data confirmed two DMCs: Supportive ICTs-mediated Interaction (SIMI) and Avoidance of Abusive ICTs-Adoption (AAIA). Polynomial regression and response surface analysis showed that teams in-agreement with managers on high SIMI reported the best psychosocial environments’ perceptions while no significant difference was found between teams led by over-estimator or under-estimator managers. Conversely, teams supervised by under-estimator on AAIA reported better psychosocial environments than teams supervised by over-estimator regardless of agreement level (i.e., high or low). The results of the overall interventions will be presented at the symposium. Implications: The results highlight the importance of DMCs and (dis)agreement for RWs’ work environment and will be used during the intervention to raise motivation and awareness for competencies development.