Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Coping

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia

Coping with the stress

The indictment of Martha Stewart generated increased stress upon the management of the corporation as well as upon the employees. Employees were worried in regard to their jobs, the company's future and the morality of their leaders.

In order to deal with the great amounts of stress that was pun on everyone's shoulders, the management at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia must have attempted to insure the workers of their best interests and their actions aimed at the growth and development of the corporation. Most employees must have been disoriented and would have found it difficult to believe the board. As such, in order to avoid the stress created, some of them must have left the MSO to search for better jobs. Other must have waited and hoped for the return of founder Martha Stewart. (MSNBC News, 2005)

Martha's indictment and the stress on employees

When Martha Stewart was prosecuted for inside trading, she was forced to renounce her position as Chief Executive Officer within the multimedia empire she had built herself. (Crawford, 2004) When this happened, the employees at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia felt abandoned as their leader and protector was facing incarceration. The founder of MSO had always been regarded as a person who cared about others as she had the best interests of the simple people at heart. Even facing the prosecution, Martha said "I didn't cheat the little people.... We're all little people. I didn't cheat anybody out of anything."(Crawford, 2004)

Aside from the stress caused by the indictment of their leader, the people were also stressed due to the uncertainty created around the future existence of MSO. Now that Martha was facing jail time, the employees feared for their jobs. This stress was accentuated by the already increasing number of people who have lost their jobs within MSO. Another factor that generated stress was the workers' lack of trust in the company's leaders. Since Martha had been capable of cheating, others would probably be too.

3. Training programs

The training programs to be designed for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia ought to include technical trainings that assist employees in improving their on job skills. The trainings should include all employees and should be differentiated based on the work areas and positions occupied within the company. Furthermore, aside from trainings, the management should present the workers the company's overall situation and figures, so that they are able to understand the ongoing trend and the company's future prospects.

4. The rationale behind the training programs

The rationale behind the implementation of training programs for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia is based on two simple goals: achieving higher levels of productivity and increasing employees' satisfaction in regard to their workplace. The first idea comes to satisfy the company's needs. Technical training on the job will ensure MSO with better qualified personnel who will register increased performances and eventually lead to increased productivity and larger profits.