Managing in the Age of Anxiety

Employees in a range of organizations live in a state of heightened anxiety today attributable to common sources arising from the potential for war and terrorism, natural disasters, cyber-threats, political climate, and the like, as well as constant media coverage of these concerns. Drawing on the extensive literature on terror management theory, we recommend four approaches to addressing this problem. These are: (a) specifying norms and building self-esteem, (b) building empathy, (c) encouraging a collectivist mindset, and, (d) encouraging helping behavior. We discuss each approach and provide some representative examples.