O impacto da gestão por metas na saúde mental do trabalhador: uma revisão integrativa

Abstract

Management of goals has become an important tool for production models adopted in the globalized world. This type of management aims at increasing productivity and profits of organizations, in the shortest time and at the lowest cost possible. Some authors argue that defining goals contribute to motivate workers in the work environment. Other scholars affirm that such type of management may result in several problems to the workplace, such as excessive control over the employee's work, reduction of free time (which causes the subject to ignore the physiological needs of his body), increase in production disregarding worker’s health, excessive pressure on employees, bullying, among other issues that can affect the physical and mental health of the worker. Thus, this research aimed to analyze the impacts of management of goals on workers' mental health. This work is an integrative literature review, in which articles published between 2011 and 2021 are studied, carried out in two databases: Lilacs and CAPES Journal Portal. Three distinct combinations of four descriptors were used, with the boolean operator “AND”, namely: “productivity AND mental health”, “goals AND mental health” and “goals AND worker's health”. Through inclusion and exclusion criteria, the reading of abstracts and, later, the full review of the literature, 16 articles were selected. The results showed that management of goals brings aspects that can cause suffering and illness of the worker, such as: intensification of work, unattainable goals, excessive control at work, mechanization of the activity performed. It was concluded that, when using management of goals, organizations apply strategies to achieve such goals which are harmful to the mental health of workers, in environments that favor competition, individualization, practice of moral harassment or the use of strategies considered unethical by workers. These factors insert workers into an illness process, until reaching physical and psychological limits, culminating in the actual illness. It was noticed a discrimination of workers who had a diagnosis of work-related mental disorder. Finally, therapeutic groups, listening environments for the subject and strengthening of work relationships, were identified as important factors to alleviate the individual's suffering and essential for the maintenance of the worker's mental health.