ORGANISATIONAL
BEHAVIOUR
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Module 5
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Contents:
• Stress-Meaning and Definition
• Types of Stress-Sources of stress
• Stress Management strategies
• Conflict-Meaning, Definition
• Sources, Types, Process,
• Conflict management strategies
• Recent advances in OB.
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Stress at Work (1 of 4)
Exhibit 18-7 Work Is a Top Source of Stress
What area of your life causes you the most stress? Blank
Area Causes Most Stress
Financial worries 64%
Work 60%
Family responsibilities 47%
Health concerns 46%
Source: Based on “Stress in America: Paying with Our Health,” American Psychological Association, February 4, 2015,
[Link]
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Stress at Work (2 of 4)
OB POLL Many Employees Feel Extreme Stress
Source: Based on J. Hudson, “High Stress Has Employees Seeking Both Wellness and Employee Assistance Help,” ComPsych
Corporation press release, November 12, 2014, [Link]
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Stress at Work (3 of 4)
Exhibit 18-8 A Model of Stress from
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Managing Stress at Work (1 of 11)
• Managing Stress
• Because low to moderate levels of stress can be functional and lead to higher
performance, management may not be concerned when employees experience
stress at these levels.
• What management may consider to be “a positive stimulus that keeps the
adrenaline running” is very likely to be seen as “excessive pressure” by the
employee.
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Managing Stress at Work (2 of 11)
• Individual Approaches
• An employee can take personal responsibility for reducing stress levels.
• Individual strategies include:
• Time-management techniques.
• Increased physical exercise.
• Relaxation training.
• Expanded social support networks.
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Managing Stress at Work (3 of 11)
• Organizational Approaches
• Several organizational factors that cause stress are
controlled by management.
• Task and role demands can be modified or changed.
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Managing Stress at Work (4 of 11)
• Strategies include:
• Better selection and placement, and training.
• Goal-setting.
• Redesigning jobs.
• Employee involvement.
• Organizational communication.
• Employee sabbaticals.
• Wellness programs.
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Managing Stress at Work (5 of 11)
• Selection and Placement
• Individuals with little experience or an external locus of
control tend to be more prone to stress.
• Selection and placement decisions should take these
facts into consideration.
• Training can increase an individual’s self-efficacy and thus
lessen job strain in these situations.
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Managing Stress at Work (6 of 11)
• Goal-setting
• Goals can reduce stress as well as provide motivation.
• Employees who are highly committed to their goals and see purpose in their
jobs experience less stress.
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Managing Stress at Work (7 of 11)
• Redesigning Jobs
• Redesigning jobs to give employees more responsibility, more meaningful
work, more autonomy, and increased feedback can reduce stress because
these factors give employees greater control over work activities and lessen
dependence on others.
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Managing Stress at Work (8 of 11)
• Employee involvement
• Role stress is detrimental to a large extent because
employees feel uncertain about goals, expectations,
how they’ll be evaluated, and the like.
• Giving employees a voice in management decisions
can increase employee control and reduce role
stress.
• Managers should consider increasing employee
involvement in decision making.
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Managing Stress at Work (9 of 11)
• Organizational Communication
• Increasing formal organizational communication with
employees reduces uncertainty by lessening role
ambiguity and role conflict.
• Given the importance that perceptions play in
moderating the stress-response relationship,
management can also use effective communications as
a means to shape employee perceptions.
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Managing Stress at Work (10 of 11)
• Employee sabbaticals
• Some employees need an occasional escape from the
frenetic pace of their work.
• These sabbaticals—ranging in length from a few weeks
to several months—allow employees to travel, relax, or
pursue personal projects that consume time beyond
normal vacations.
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Managing Stress at Work (11 of 11)
• Corporate wellness programs
• Typically provide workshops to help people quit smoking, control alcohol
use, lose weight, eat better, and develop a regular exercise program.
• Focus on the employee’s total physical and mental condition.
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CONFLICT MANAGEMENT
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Three Types of Conflict and Three Loci of
Conflict (1 of 5)
• Conflict: a process that begins when one party perceives that another party has
negatively affected, or is about to negatively affect, something that the first party
cares about.
• If no one is aware of a conflict, then it is generally agreed no conflict exists.
• Also needed to begin the conflict process are opposition or incompatibility and
interaction.
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Types of Conflict and Three Loci of Conflict (2
of 5)
• Contemporary perspectives differentiate types of conflict based on their effects.
• Functional conflict supports the goals of the group and improves its performance.
• Conflicts that hinder group performance are dysfunctional or destructive forms of
conflict.
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Three Types of Conflict and Three Loci of
Conflict (3 of 5)
Exhibit 14-1 Conflict and Unit
Performance from
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Three Types of Conflict and Three Loci of
Conflict (4 of 5)
• Types of Conflict
• Researchers have classified conflicts into three categories:
• Task conflict relates to the content and goals of the work.
• Relationship conflict focuses on interpersonal relationships.
• Process conflict is about how the work gets done.
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Three Types of Conflict and Three Loci of
Conflict (5 of 5)
• Loci of Conflict
• Another way to understand conflict is to consider its locus, or where the conflict
occurs.
• There are three basic types:
• Dyadic conflict is conflict between two people.
• Intragroup conflict occurs within a group or team.
• Intergroup conflict is conflict between groups or teams.
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Role play: Title: Navigating Conflict:
A Role-Play Scenario
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Objective: To practice effective conflict management strategies in a simulated group setting.
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Duration: Approximately 45 minutes
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Participants: 4-6 students
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Scenario: You are a team of students working on a group project. While you all share a common goal, differences in opinions,
personalities, and work styles have led to some tensions within the group. Today, you will engage in a role-play exercise to address
and resolve these conflicts using various conflict management strategies.
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Roles:
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Mediator (Student A): Your role is to facilitate the discussion, encourage open communication, and guide the group towards finding
mutually acceptable solutions to the conflicts.
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Assertive Communicator (Student B): You are assertive in expressing your opinions and concerns while respecting the viewpoints of
others. You strive to find win-win solutions that address everyone's needs.
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Passive Communicator (Student C): You tend to avoid confrontation and may struggle to express your thoughts and feelings openly.
You prefer to go along with the group's decisions to maintain harmony.
•
Aggressive Communicator (Student D): You are outspoken and may resort to dominating the conversation to ensure your ideas are
heard. You tend to prioritize your own interests over others'.
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Outline the Conflict Process (1 of 10)
Exhibit 14-2 The Conflict Process
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Three Types of Conflict and Three Loci of
Conflict (3 of 10)
• Intentions: decisions to act in a given way.
• Competing
• Collaborating
• Avoiding
• Accommodating
• Compromising
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Outline the Conflict Process (4 of 10)
Exhibit 14-3 Conflict-Intensity Continuum
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Outline the Conflict Process (5 of 10)
Exhibit 14-4 Conflict Management Techniques
Conflict-Resolution Techniques Blank
Problem solving Meeting face to face for the purpose of identifying the problem and resolving it through open discussion.
Superordinate goals Creating a shared goal that cannot be attained without the cooperation of each of the conflicting parties.
Expansion of resources Expanding the supply of a scarce resource (for example, money, promotion, opportunities, office space).
Avoidance Withdrawing from or suppressing the conflict.
Smoothing Playing down differences while emphasizing common interests between the conflicting parties.
Compromise Having each party to the conflict give up something of value.
Authoritative command Letting management use its formal authority to resolve the conflict and then communicating its desires to the parties
involved.
Altering the human variable Using behavioral change techniques such as human relations training to alter attitudes and behaviors that cause
conflict.
Altering the structural variables Changing the formal organization structure and the interaction patterns of conflicting parties through job redesign,
transfers, creation of coordinating positions, and the like.
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Outline the Conflict Process (6 of 10)
[Exhibit 14-4 Continued]
Conflict-Stimulation Techniques Blank
Communication Using ambiguous or threatening messages to increase conflict levels.
Bringing in outsiders Adding employees to a group whose backgrounds, values, attitudes, or managerial
styles differ from those of present members.
Restructuring the organization Realigning work groups, altering rules and regulations, increasing interdependence,
and making similar structural changes to disrupt the status quo.
Appointing a devil’s advocate Designating a critic to purposely argue against the majority positions held by the
group.
Source: Based on S. P. Robbins, Managing Organizational Conflict: A Nontraditional Approach (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice
Hall, 1974): 59–89.
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Outline the Conflict Process (7 of 10)
• Stage V: Outcomes
– Conflict is constructive when it…
Improves the quality of decisions, stimulates creativity and innovation,
encourages interest and curiosity, provides the medium through which problems
can be aired and tensions released, and fosters an environment of self-evaluation
and change.
– Conflict is destructive when it…
Breeds discontent, reduces group effectiveness, and threatens the group’s
survival.
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Outline the Conflict Process (8 of 10)
• Managing Functional Conflict
• One of the keys to minimizing counterproductive conflicts is recognizing when there
really is a disagreement.
• Many apparent conflicts are due to people using different language to discuss the
same general course of action.
• Successful conflict management recognizes these different approaches.
• Attempts to resolve them by encouraging open, frank discussion focused on interests
rather than issues.
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Outline the Conflict Process (9 of 10)
• Groups that resolve conflicts successfully discuss differences of opinion openly.
• The most disruptive conflicts are those that are never addressed directly.
• Managers need to emphasize shared interests in resolving conflicts.
• Groups with cooperative conflict styles and an underlying identification to group
goals are more effective than groups with a more competitive style.
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Outline the Conflict Process (10 of 10)
• Differences across countries in conflict resolution strategies may be based on
collectivistic tendencies and motives.
• Collectivist cultures see people as deeply embedded in social situations.
• They will avoid direct expression of conflicts, preferring indirect methods for
resolving differences of opinion.
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Contrast Distributive and Integrative
Bargaining (1 of 6)
• Negotiation is a process in which two or more parties exchange goods or
services and attempt to agree upon the exchange rate for them.
• We use the terms negotiation and bargaining interchangeably.
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Contrast Distributive and Integrative
Bargaining (2 of 6)
Exhibit 14-5 Distributive versus Integrative Bargaining
Bargaining Distributive Bargaining Integrative Bargaining
Characteristic
Goal Get as much of the pie as Expand the pie so that both
possible parties are satisfied
Motivation Win–lose Win–win
Focus Positions (“I can’t go beyond this Interests (“Can you explain why
point on this issue.”) this issue is so important to
you?”)
Interests Opposed Congruent
Information sharing Low (Sharing information will High (Sharing information will
only allow other party to take allow each party to find ways to
advantage.) satisfy interests of each party.)
Duration of relationship Short term Long term
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Contrast Distributive and Integrative
Bargaining (3 of 6)
Exhibit 14-6 Staking Out the Bargaining Zone
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Contrast Distributive and Integrative
Bargaining (4 of 6)
• Research shows that when you’re engaged in distributive bargaining, one of the
best things you can do is make the first offer, and make it an aggressive one.
• Shows power.
• Establishes an anchoring bias.
• Another distributive bargaining tactic is revealing a deadline.
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Contrast Distributive and Integrative
Bargaining (5 of 6)
Exhibit 14-7 Integration of Two Bargaining Strategies within One
Negotiation Episode
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Contrast Distributive and Integrative
Bargaining (6 of 6)
• Compromise might be your worst enemy in negotiating a win-win agreement.
• The reason is that compromising reduces the pressure to bargain integratively.
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Apply the Five Steps of the Negotiation
Process
Exhibit 14-8 The Negotiation
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How Individual Differences Influence
Negotiations (1 of 4)
• Personality Traits in Negotiation
• Can you predict an opponent’s negotiating tactics if you know something about
his/her personality?
• The evidence says “sort of.”
• Moods/Emotions in Negotiation
• Influence negotiation, but the way they do appears to depend on the type of
negotiation.
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How Individual Differences Influence
Negotiations (2 of 4)
• Culture in Negotiations
• Do people from different cultures negotiate differently?
Yes, they do.
• People generally negotiate more effectively within cultures than between them.
• In cross-cultural negotiations, it is especially important that the negotiators be high
in openness.
• People are more likely to use certain negotiation strategies depending on what
culture they belong to.
• Negotiators need to be especially aware of the emotional dynamics in cross-cultural
negotiation.
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How Individual Differences Influence
Negotiations (3 of 4)
• Gender Differences in Negotiations
• Men and women negotiate differently and these differences affect outcomes.
• There is some merit to the popular stereotype that women are more
cooperative, pleasant, and relationship-oriented in negotiations than are
men.
• These gender differences can be lessened at both the organizational and
individual level.
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How Individual Differences Influence
Negotiations (4 of 4)
OB POLL Men Ask More
Source: Based on A. Gouveia, “Why Americans Are Too Scared to Negotiate Salary,” San Francisco Chronicle, April 3, 2013, downloaded May
30, 2013, from [Link]
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Roles and Function of Third-party
Negotiations (2 of 2)
• When individuals or group representatives reach a stalemate and are
unable to resolve their differences through direct negotiations, they
may turn to a third party.
• A mediator
• A conciliator
• An arbitrator
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Case : Sam Couts and Sentinel
Business Systems: Stress,
Stressors, and Strains
• Product: Sage Business Cases
• By: Daniel M. Peat, Jaclyn Perrmann-Graham
• Publisher: International CHRIE
• DOI: [Link]
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Thank
You
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