The global economic crisis could hurt more than just the bottom line of Australian businesses, with stressed managers more likely to make ill-informed decisions in hard times, a workplace psychologist has warned.

Monash University academic Simon Moss said businesses were under threat from the poor psychological state of their managers during the financial crisis.

He said stressed executives were more inclined to make decisions that damaged productivity and progress.

"It is simple human nature that we can make the wrong decisions under stress," Dr Moss said in a statement.

He said that when people were stressed, the brain's mechanisms that provided insight and a broader perspective simply shut down.

"This can lead to executives making decisions that are driven by survival in the short term, not the company's strategic direction," he said.

Dr Moss said managers should instead trust their intuition and make meaningful decisions based on what was important for their business in the long term.

He said corporate captains' judgement of potential employees could also be skewed, with directors more likely to employ the wrong kind of managers.

"Directors will often choose managers whose strength is co-ordinating activities and resources to ensure targets are reached," Mr Moss said.

But, he said, employees responded best in uncertain times to leaders adopting an inspiring vision to temper staff anxiety.

AAP