ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR

• By sujith Bhaskar R

CONFLICT MANAGEMENT

Compromising

Obliging

AvoidingDominating

Integrating

High Low

High

Low

Concern for self

Con

cern

for O

ther

sFive Conflict-Handling Styles

Source:M A Rahim, “A strategy for Managing Conflict in Complex Organizations, Human Relations, January 1985, p 84. Used with author’s permission.

Organizational

Intergroup

Interpersonal

Intra-individual

CONFLICTMicro

MacroLevels of conflict in Organizational Behavior

Need (deficiency)

Drive (deficiency with direction)

Goal/Incentive (reduction of the drives and fulfillment of deficiencies)

Frustration

Defense mechanisms(1) Aggression(2) Withdrawal(3) Fixation(4) Compromise

MICRO AND MACRO DYNAMICS OF ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

Barrier(1) Overt(2) Covert

Need(cells are deprived of water)

Drive(walk to the water fountain)

Goal/Incentive (water fountain)

Frustration

Defense mechanisms(1) Aggression (kick and/or curse the door)(2) Withdrawal (back away from the door and/or pout)(3) Fixation (continue to try to open the door)(4) Compromise (drink some coffee in the room or climb out the window)

A SIMPLE EXAMPLE OF FRUSTRATION

Barrier(stuck door)

1OPEN SELF

3BLIND SELF

4UNDISCOVERED SELF

2HIDDEN SELF

The person does not know about the other

The person knows about the other

The person knows about him-or herself

The person does not know about him-or herself

The Luft and Ingham Johari window for inter-personal relationships.

Share Information

* Share company performance information.* Help people understand the business* Build trust through sharing sensitive information* Create self-monitoring possibilities.

Create Autonomy Through Structure

* Create a clear vision and clarify the little pictures.* Clarify goals and roles collaboratively.* Create new decision-making rules that support empowerment.* Establish new empowering performance management processes* Use heavy doses of training.

Let Teams Become The Hierarchy

* Provide direction and training for new skills.* Provide encouragement and support for change.* Gradually have managers let go of control.* Work through the leadership vacuum stage.* Acknowledge the fear factor.

Remember: Empowerment is not magic;it consists of a few simple steps and a lot of persistence.

Source: “Navigating the journey to Empowerment,’ by W Alan Randolph. Reprinted by permission of the publisher from Organizational dynamics, Spring 1995. 1995 American Management Association. All rights reserved.

The Empowerment Plan

Randolph’s Empowerment Model

Too muchconflict

Appropriateconflict

Too littleconflict

Moderate

Intensity

HighLow

Negative

Neutral

Positive

Out

com

esThe Relationship between Conflict Intensity and Outcomes

Source: L D Brown, Managing Conflict of Organizational Interfaces, 1986, Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., Inc., Reading, Massachusetts.

STRESS MANAGEMENT

Fatalism A feeling that you lack control over your work.Boredom A lack of interest in doing your job.Discontent A sense of being unhappy with your job.Cynicism A tendency to undervalue the content of your job and the rewards received.Inadequacy A feeling of not being able to meet your objectives.Failure A tendency to discredit your performance and conclude that you are ineffective.Overwork A feeling of having too much to do and not enough time to complete it.Nastiness A tendency to be rude or unpleasant to your co-workers.Dissatisfaction A feeling that you are not being justly rewarded for your efforts.Escape A desire to give up and get away from it all.

Source: Adapted from D P Rogers, “Helping Employees Cope with Burnout,” Business, October-December 1984, p 4.

Attitude Description

Attitudinal Characteristics of Burnout

Personal stressors

•High achievement expectations•High organizational expectations•Level of job involvement

Job and organizational stressors

•Role overload•Role conflict•Duration, frequency, and intensity of interpersonal interactions

Emotional exhaustion

Depersonalization

Feeling of lack ofpersonal accomplishment

Attitudinal and behavioral symptoms of burnout

•Negative attitudes•Fatigue•Frustration•Helplessness•Withdrawal from friends and socializing

Source: Based in part on C L Cordes and T W Dougherty, “ A Review and an Integration of Research on Job Burnout, “Academy of Management Review, October 1993, p 641.

A Model of Burnout

A Model of the Coping Process

Personalfactors

Cognitiveappraisal of

stressorCoping strategies

Harmful?Threatening?Challenging?

Situationalfactors

Control

Escape

Symptommanagement

Source: Based in part on R S Lazarus and S Folkman, “Coping and Adaptation,” in Handbook of Behavioral Medicine, ed W D Gentry (New York: The Guilford Press, 1984), pp 282-325.

Type A Characteristics1. Hurried speech; explosive accentuation of key words.

2. Tendency to walk, move, and eat rapidly.

3. Constant impatience with the rate at which most events take place (e.g., irritation with slow-moving traffic and slow-talking and slow-to-act people.

4. Strong preference for thinking of or doing two or more things at once (e.g., reading this text and doing something else at the same time).

5. Tendency to turn conversations around to personally meaningful subjects or themes.

6. Tendency to interrupt while others are speaking to make your point or to complete their train of thought in your own words.

7. Guilt feelings during periods of relaxation or leisure time.

8. Tendency to be oblivious to surroundings during daily activity.

9. Greater concern for things worth having than with things worth being.

10. Tendency to schedule more and more in less and less time; a chronic sense of time urgency.

11. Feelings of competition rather than compassion when faced with another Type A person.

12. Development of nervous tics or characteristic gestures.

13. A firm belief that success is due to the ability to get things done faster than the other guy.

14. A tendency to view and evaluate personal activities and the activities of other people in terms of “numbers” (e.g., number of meetings attended, telephone calls made, visitors received).

Source: Adapted from M Friedman and R H Roseman, Type A Behavior and Your Heart (Greenwich, CT: Fawcett Publications, 1974), pp 100-102.

Stress-Reduction Techniques

TECHNIQUE DESCRIPTIONS ASSESMENT

Muscle relaxation Uses slow deep breathing Inexpensive and easy to use; maysystematic muscle tension require a trained professional toreduction, and an altered state of implement.Consciousness to reduce stress.

Biofeedback A machine is used to train people Expensive due to costs ofto detect muscular tension; muscle equipment; however, equipmentrelaxation is then used to alleviate can be used to evaluatethis symptom of stress. effectiveness of other

stress-reduction programs.

Meditation The relaxation response is Least expensive, simple toactivated by redirecting one’s implement, and can be practicedthoughts away from oneself; a almost anywhere.four-step procedure is used.

Cognitive restructuring Irrational or maladaptive thoughts Expensive because it requires aare identified and replaced with trained psychologist or counselor.those that are rational or logical.

Holistic wellness A broad, interdisciplinary approach Involves inexpensive but oftenthat goes beyond stress reduction behaviorally difficult lifestyleby advocating that people strive for changes.personal wellness in all aspects oftheir lives.

Low Stress Optimum Stress High stress

STRESS LEVEL LOW STRESS OPTIMUM STRESS HIGH STRESS------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Reactions Boredom/Apathy High Energy Exhaustion

Behaviors Low Motivation High Motivation Anxiety & NervousnessCareless Mistakes Heightened Perception IndecisivenessPsychological Withdrawal High Involvement Bad JudgementPhysical WithdrawalInactivity

Performance Low Performance High Performance Poor Performance

Health Effects Dull Health Good Health InsomniaPsychosomatic Illness

Stress Levels and Consequences

INTRA-PERSONAL STRESSORS

Role Conflict Role Ambiguity Role Overload

Ethical Dilemmas Unsatisfactory Career Progress

INTER-PERSONAL STRESSORS

Relationships with Peers Subordinates and Superiors Interpersonal Communication Interpersonal Conflicts

Group Processes

JOB-RELATED STRESSORS

Nature of Job In-Built Stress Transfers Travel

Time Pressures

INTER-ORGANISATIONAL STRESSORS

Noise Heat Lighting

Limited Resources

No Career Paths

Individual

Organisational Stressors

Low High

Low

High

LEVEL OF CONFLICT

Optimum

Levels of Conflict

Functionality of Conflict

(Creativity, Innovation, Productivity, Performance)

Function

HORIZONTAL THREE SLIDES

STRESS CAN BE A TOUGH COMPETITOR

THERE IS GROWING REALIZATION AMONG

COMPANIES AS THEY WITNESS STRESSED-OUT

WORKERS FALLING VICTIM TO ILLNESS, ACCIDENTS,

AND IN RARE CASES, DEATH.

COMPANIES ARE REALIZING THAT TEACHING

EMPLOYEES HOW TO DEAL WITH STRESS IS JUST

AS IMPORTANT AS TEACHING THEM TECHNICAL

SKILLS. IT IS AS IMPORTANT FOR PRODUCTIVITY

AND FOR THE HEALTH OF WORKERS.

FIGHT-OR-FLIGHT RESPONSE

TO EITHER CONFRONT STRESSORS OR TRY TO

AVOID THEM. STRESS IS EXPERIENCED IN OUR

DAILY LIFE. RESEARCHERS CONCLUDE THAT

STRESS TRIGGERS ONE OF THE TWO BASIC

REACTION: ACTIVE FIGHTING OR PASSIVE FLIGHT

(RUNNING AWAY OR ACCEPTANCE), THE SOCALLED

FIGHT-OR-FLIGHT RESPONSE.

PHYSIOLOGIVALLY, THE STRESS RESPONSE IS A

BIOCHEMICAL “PASSING GEAR” INVOLVING

HARMONAL CHANGES THAT MOBILIZE THE BODY

FOR EXTRAORDINARY DEMANDS. THE BODIES ARE

ENERGIZED BY AN HARMONAL CHANGE,

INVOLVING THE RELEASE OF ADRENALINE INTO

THE BLOOKSTREAM.

IN TODAY’S HECTIC URBANIZED AND

INDUSTRIALIZED SOCIETIES THE PROBLEMS ARE

DEADLINES, ROLE CONFLICT AND AMBIGUITY,

FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITIES, TRAFFIC

CONGESTION, NOICE AND AIR POLLUTION, FAMILY

PROBLEMS AND WORK OVERLOAD. THESE TRIGGER

OFF NEGATIVE SIDE EFFECTS SUCH AS HEADACHES,

INSOMANIA, ULCERS, HEART ATTACKS, HIGH

BLOOD PRESSURE AND STROKES.

STRESS : DEFINITION

STRESS IS “AN ADAPTIVE RESPONSE, MEDIATED BY INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS AND/OR PSYCHOLOGICAL PROCESSES, THAT IS A CONSEQUENCE OF ANY EXTERNAL ACTION, SITUATION OR EVENT THAT PLACES PHYSICAL AND/OR PSYCHOLOGICAL DEMANDS UPON A PERSON.”

THERE ARE THREE INTER-RELATED DIMENSIONS OF STRESS:

(1) ENVIRONMENTAL DEMANDS (“STRESSORS”)

(2) ADAPTIVE RESPONSE INFLUENCED BY

(3) INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES.

ACCORDING TO HANS SELYE, FATHER OF THE MODERN CONCEPT OF STRESS:

STRESS IS NOT MERELY NERVOUS TENSION

STRESS CAN HAVE POSITIVE CONSEQUENCES

STRESS IS NOT SOMETHING TO BE AVOIDED

COMPLETE ABSENCE OF STRESS IS DEATH.

IT IS CLEAR THAT STRESS IS INEVITABLE. EFFORTS ARE TO BE DIRECTED AT MANAGING STRESS, NOT AT SOMEHOW ESCAPING IT ALTOGETHER.

STRESSORS: ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS THAT PRODUCE STRESS.

STRESSFUL LIFE EVENTS: LIFE EVENTS THAT DISRUPT DAILY ROUTINES AND SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS.

BURNOUT: A CONDITION OF EMOTIONAL EXHAUSTION AND NEGATIVE ATTITUDES.

BUFFERS: RESOURCES OR ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES THAT REDUCE BURNOUT.

MODERATORS OF OCCUPATIONAL STRESS

1. AWARENESS OF MODERATORS HELPS IDENTIFY THOSE MOST LIKELY TO EXPERIENCE STRESS AND ITS NEGATIVE OUTCOMES. STRESS REDUCTION PROGRAMS CAN BE FORMULATED FOR HIGH-RISK EMPLOYEES.

2. MODERATORS, IN AND OF THEMSELVES, SUGGEST POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS FOR REDUCING OUTCOMES OF OCCUPATIONAL STRESS.

FOUR MODERATORS:(A) SOCIAL SUPPORT: AMOUNT OF HELPFULNESS

DERIVED FROM SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS.

GLOBAL SOCIAL SUPPORT: THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF SOCIAL SUPPORT AVAILABLE.

FUNCTIONAL SOCIAL SUPPORT: SUPPORT SOURCES THAT BUFFER STRESS IN SPECIFIC SITUATIONS.

(B) COPING: PROCESS OF MANAGING STRESS.

CONTROL STRATEGY: COPING STRATEGY THAT DIRECTLY CONFRONTS OR SOLVES PROBLEMS.

ESCAPE STRATEGY: COPING STRATEGY THAT AVOIDS OR IGNORES STRESSORS AND PROBLEMS.

FOUR MODERATORS:

(C) HARDINESS: PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTICS THAT NEUTRALIZES STRESS.

(D) TYPE A BEHAVIOR PATTERN: AGGRESSIVELY INVOLVED IN A CHRONIC, DETERMINED STRUGGLE TO ACCOMPLISH MORE IN A LESS TIME.