Análisis de la evidencia científica sobre la sobrecarga de rol y la multiplicidad de 1 funciones como condiciones organizacionales asociadas al deterioro de la salud mental del personal administrativo de pequeñas y medianas empresas (PYMES).

Abstract

Contemporary work dynamics have undergone significant transformations as a result of globalization, the digitalization of processes, business competitiveness, and the need to optimize organizational resources. In this context, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have adopted more flexible management models, characterized by leaner organizational structures, redistribution of responsibilities, and the simultaneous assignment of multiple functions to a single employee. While these strategies can promote productivity and organizational efficiency, they also alter certain conditions in the performance of work activities, increasing exposure to factors that can affect the physical and psychological well-being of workers. With regard to Occupational Safety and Health (OSH), these changes have generated an increased interest in understanding how the organization influences the mental health of workers. Initially, in recent years, research has shown that organizational conditions go beyond the administrative dimension and constitute a relevant determinant in the appearance of work stress, emotional exhaustion, burnout syndrome, and other alterations related to psychological well-being. With this, mental health has ceased to be considered an exclusively individual matter and is now recognized as a result linked to the way in which organizations design, distribute, and manage work. Among the organizational conditions that have aroused the greatest interest are role overload and multiplicity of functions, both of which reflect particular forms of work in which the same worker assumes diverse responsibilities, simultaneous expectations, and activities that in many cases correspond to different processes or positions in the organization. However, the information provided indicates that these concepts are not always addressed in a differentiated way. While some studies analyze them as manifestations of work overload, others react to them with role ambiguity, role conflict, or organizational demands, thus generating conceptual differences that hinder the integration of available knowledge and the formulation of specific preventive strategies. Therefore, it acquires special relevance in small and medium-sized enterprises, where structural and budgetary limitations favor the assignment of multiple responsibilities to administrative staff, which means that the same worker performs functions related to administrative management, human talent processes, customer service, purchasing, document management, payroll or the implementation of Occupational Safety and Health activities, without necessarily having a formal redefinition of the position or a proportional redistribution of the workload and without taking into account that these conditions can increase cognitive and emotional demands, affect the perception of control over the work and progressively compromise psychological well-being.