Differences in physical, behavioral and emotional health of managers at different levels of management

Pages: 180-188
Himani Singh (Center for Doctoral Studies in Business, University of Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany)
Nidhi Prakash (Department of Psychology, University of Delhi, Delhi)

The present study is an investigation into the differences in total, physical, behavioral and emotional health of managers at different management levels of the largest Indian public sector enterprise operating in the power sector Data were collected from 100 managers from the corporate and regional offices of the enterprise, encompassing lower, middle and top levels of management, using EQ MAP (full form) Health Outcomes. One-way ANOVA and post-hoc analysis were performed to analyze data. Statistically significant differences were observed across managers at the lower, middle and upper levels of management on total, behavioral and emotional health, and management levels were found to account for one-tenth of the variability in emotional and behavioral health. Managers at middle level were found to report relatively worse emotional and behavioral health than upper and lower levels of managers. Physical health was not found to differ significantly across the three levels of management. Results are discussed around factors such as job design (job type, job complexity, & control/authority over decisions), socio-cultural factors (national culture & power distance) and demographic details, integrated with the Open Systems and Stratified Systems theories of organizational behavior and processes. Implications for future research and praxis are suggested.