Download Chapter Eight - Organizational Behavior

Chapter Eight
Stress and
Conflict
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Learning Objectives
• Define the meaning of stress.
• Identify the extraorganizational,
organizational, and group stressors.
• Examine individual dispositions of stress.
• Describe intraindividual and interactive
conflict.
• Discuss the effects of stress and conflict.
• Present strategies for coping/managing
stress and negotiation skills for conflict
resolution.
Introduction
• Stress and conflict are conceptually similar
– Conflict: individuals, groups, and
organizations
– Stress and conflict: individual level
Emergence of Stress
• Contemporary environment demands
– Technostress
• Stress is, and is not
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Hindrance stressors
Challenge stressors
Job stress
Stress is not:
• Simply anxiety
• Simply nervous tension
• Necessarily something damaging, bad, or to be avoided.
• Burnout
Causes of Stress
• Categories affecting occupational stress
Causes of Stress
Continued
• Extraorganizational stressors
– Societal/technological change
– Globalization
– Family, relocation, economic and financial
conditions
– Sociological-demographic
– Residential or community conditions
Causes of Stress
Continued
• Organizational stressors
Causes of Stress
Continued
• Group stressors
– Lack of group cohesiveness
– Lack of social support
• Individual stressors: role of dispositions
– Type A characteristics
– Personal control
– Learned helplessness
– Psychological hardiness
Causes of Stress
Continued
• Individual stressors (continued)
– Type A characteristics
Intraindividual Conflict
• Conflict in organizational behavior
Intraindividual Conflict
Continued
• Conflict due to frustration
Intraindividual Conflict
Continued
• Goal conflict
– Approach-approach conflict
– Approach-avoidance conflict
– Avoidance-avoidance conflict
• Role conflict and ambiguity
– The person and the role
– Intrarole
– Interrole
Interactive Conflict
• Interpersonal conflict
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Personal differences
Information deficiency
Role incompatibility
Environmental stress
• Intergroup behavior and conflict
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Competition for resources
Task interdependence
Jurisdictional ambiguity
Status struggles
Effect of Stress and Intra-individual
Conflict
• Physical problems
– Immune system problems
– Cardiovascular system problems
– Musculoskeletal system problems
– Gastrointestinal system problems
• Psychological problems
– Anger, anxiety, depression, nervousness,
irritability, tension, and boredom
Effect of Stress and Intra-individual
Conflict Continued
• Behavioral problems
– Direct behaviors include under-eating or
overeating, sleeplessness, increased smoking
and drinking, and drug abuse.
Coping Strategies for Stress and
Conflict
• Individual coping strategies
– Exercise
– Relaxation
– Behavioral self-control
– Cognitive therapy
– Networking
• Organizational coping strategies
– Reorganization initiatives
– Work and life benefit policies and programs
Coping Strategies for Stress and
Conflict
Continued
• Organizational coping strategies (continued)
– In case of downsizing:
•
•
•
•
Be proactive
Acknowledge survivors’ emotions
Communicate after the downsizing
Clarify new roles
Negotiation Skills: Going Beyond
Conflict Management
• Traditional negotiation approaches
– Distributive bargaining
– Positional bargaining
Negotiation Skills: Going Beyond
Conflict Management Continued
• Contemporary negotiation skills
– Use of skills
•
•
•
•
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Establishing superordinate goals
Separating the people from the problem
Focusing on interests, not on positions
Inventing options for mutual gain
Using objective criteria
– Based on degree of risk
• Low-risk negotiation techniques
• High-risk negotiation techniques
Questions