ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR & ANALYSIS (MBA 541)

UNIT – 5
Stress management: Stress-Understanding sources of stress and its consequences-Effects of
Stress - Stress management strategies- Implications for performance and satisfaction – power
& politics in organization- Types of organization structure

Stress Management:

Definition:

Stress: can be defined as a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from
adverse or demanding circumstances.

Stress management is a wide spectrum of techniques and psychotherapies aimed at

controlling a person's level of stress, especially chronic stress, usually for the purpose of
improving everyday functioning.

Sources of stress :

Causes of work stress include:

 Being unhappy in your job

 Having a heavy workload or too much responsibility
 Working long hours
 Having poor management, unclear expectations of your work, or no say in the
decision-making process
 Working under dangerous conditions
 Being insecure about your chance for advancement or risk of termination
 Having to give speeches in front of colleagues
 Facing discrimination or harassment at work, especially if your company isn't
supportive

Life stresses can also have a big impact. Examples of life stresses are:

 The death of a loved one

 Divorce
 Loss of a job
 Increase in financial obligations
 Getting married
 Moving to a new home
 Chronic illness or injury
 Emotional problems (depression, anxiety, anger, grief, guilt, low self-esteem)
 Taking care of an elderly or sick family member
 Traumatic event, such as a natural disaster, theft, rape, or violence against you or a
loved one
Categories of Stress:

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Organizational Group Individual
Stressors Stressors stressors:
Extraorganizational
stressors

 Social &
Technological
changes
 Family problems
 Relocation
 Race & Class
 Residential &
community
condition

Extra organizational stressors:

Since Organizations are open systems, an employee is affected not only by the things
happening within the organization but also by those which occur outside it.

The various factors are:

 Social & Technological changes-influence lifestyles of people

 Family problems-stress high in families in which both husbands and wife works
 Relocation
 Race & Class-employees from minority tend to experience stress because they may feel
socially isolated.
 Residential & community condition

Organizational Stressors:

Certain macro-level aspects of the organizations also act as potential stressors and these
aspects are distinct and differ from organization to organization.

 High-stress jobs-people have hectic work schedules major job responsibilities

 Job role- if job role have unpleasant characteristics such as work overload, insufficient
amount of work, role ambiguity, role conflict
 Poor working conditions-extreme heat, noise and overcrowding
 Organizational politics
 Poor work relationships- with immediate superior

Group Stressors:

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Groups tend to have great impact on the behavior of their members and others who come in
contact with them. Various factors are

 Absence of group cohesiveness

 Absence of support from group members
 Conflicts related to the group

Individual stressors:

Fred Luthans suggests that a person’s disposition as the demands of the situations are
responsible for the way a person perceives stress.

 Role conflict & ambiguity- e.g. a person might not be able to devote enough time to his
family because of work pressures or his work may suffer due to problems at home. This
make the person feels pressurized and stressed out
 Type A characteristics-This type individual is very competitive, highly involved in his
work, aggressive, motivates, ambitious and very conscious of time which lead to stress.
 Locus of control-The degrees of control that an individual exercise over his work
environment is known as the locus of control
 Learned helplessness- The behavior of individual who become helpless in a stressful
situation and do not attempt to change thing. They learn to accept certain stressors as a
part of their work life
 Self –efficacy-Self perception of how well a person can cope with situations they arise.
People those who have high self-efficacy cope out with stress than people with low self-
efficacy

The effects of occupational stress:

 Physical Problems
 Psychological Problems
 Behavioral Problems
 Physical Problems:

 Studies reveals that the early symptoms of stress are headaches, increase in blood
pressure, sweating, hot flushes, loss of appetite, gastrointestinal disorder, and fatigue.

 Prolonged exposure of high stress levels can often result in severe physiological
disorders, such as high blood pressure and high levels of cholesterol, ulcers and heart
diseases, which may seriously affect the health of employees

 Psychological problems:

 High stress levels can also cause various psychological problems in people.

 High levels of stress can make a person feel angry, anxious, bored, depresses,
dissatisfied, tense and irritated. This can result in poor performance at workplace.

 Behavioral problems:

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  High level of stress changes the behavioral patterns in an individual

 They may lead to symptoms like sleep disorders, overeating, loss of appetite, increase,
smoking or alcohol consumption.

 High level of stress make person to be violent at workplace.

Strategies to cope with stress:

Various methods are used to combat stress at both the individual and the organizational level
Individual strategies to cope with stress
 Problem-focused strategies: These strategies help an individual cope with stress by
identifying the source of stress and determining the course of action that will reduce the
stress level.
The following are some problem –focuses strategies:
 Time management : People need to learn how to mange their time well so that they
can complete their task and meet their deadline
 Requesting others for help: A person can ask his colleagues or superiors for help in
dealing with certain work related problems
 Shifting to another job: Individual can either change the nature of his job or seek
employment in another organization if the previous job gives him more stress
 Emotion-focused strategies: These strategies can be used when people are in high-stress
occupations and they have to get accustomed to the hectic schedules
Some strategies are
 Relaxation: Individual can reduce stress by certain relaxation techniques like
meditation, hypnosis, and biofeedback.
 Exercise: Physical exercises such as walking; Aerobics, jogging, swimming, cycling
etc. are very effective in bringing down stress levels.
 Psychological strategies: Increased self-awareness and perceptual adaptation are
used to control the effect stress has on individual
 Recreation: Individual engages in diverse recreational activities and hobbies like
reading, dancing, horse-riding, singing etc.

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  Companionship: Individual should look for companions in whom he can confide his
problems and fears.

Organization strategies to cope with stress

 Problem-Focuses strategies:

 Redesigning the job: Organization can carry out job analysis to determine the
reasons for stress and the problem caused for it and can redesign the job according
to the person’s ability and interest. Organization can introduce flexible shift for
their employs.
 Proper selection and placement: The recruitment and selection policies of an
organization should clearly specify what the educational qualifications,
experience, skills and abilities that an employee should possess to handle a
particular job.
 Training: Proper training reduces work-related stress among employees, It
ensures that employees will develop the necessary skills to performance their jobs
effectively.
 Team building: Team building enhances amity within the team and helps
employees cooperate with one another to achieve organizational goals.
 Providing various day care facilities: Organization can provide in-house
facilities in which employees can take care of their children and elderly person or
relatives.

 Emotion-focused strategies:

 Promoting open communication within the organization: Employees should be

kept informed about change taking place within the organization and how they are
likely to be affected by these changes.
 Employee assistance programs: Offering free counseling within the organization
or by referring them to specialist who can help them to cope with their problems.
 Mentoring: Many organization adopt a mentoring program in which employees
with less experience are placed under the guidance and care of senior and
experienced employees.
 Wellness programs and personal time off: They are designed by the
organization to improve the physical and metal condition of the employee

Implications for performance and satisfaction:

 Recognize individual differences

 Use goals and feedback
 Allow employees to participate in decisions that affect them
 Link reward to performance
 Check the system for equity

Power & Politics:

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 Definitions:

Power: The ability to influence and control anything that is of value to other

Politics: activities aimed at improving someone's status or increasing power within an

organization.

Types of power:

 Coercive power: It is based on fear and is the ability to influence another person
through threat or fear or punishment.
 Reward power: It refers to the ability to get things done through others on the basis
of one’s power to grant rewards.
 Legitimate power: It depends on organization position and authority. It referred to
the power conferred by a person’s organizational position.
 Expert power: It is derived from a person’s expertise or specialized knowledge of a
certain subject that is perceived as important to the organization.
 Referent power: It is based on people’s identification with a certain individual and
their attempt to emulate his behavior.

Organizational Structure:

Definition:

 Organization is defined as group of people working together to achieve common

goals.
 Organizational structure is defined as how job tasks are formally divided, grouped
and coordinated. It is the framework of tasks, reporting and authority relationships
within an organization.

Types of Organisational Structures: their Advantages and Disadvantages

Formal organization structure: The formal organisation in usually delineated by an

organisational chart and job descriptions. The official reporting relationships are clearly
known to every manager.

Formal organisational structures are categorised as:

 Line organisational structure.

 Staff or functional authority organisational structure.
 Line and staff organisational structure.
 Committee organisational structure.
 Divisional organisational structure.
 Project organisational structure.
 Matrix organisational structure and
 Hybrid organisational structure.

1. Line Organisational Structure:

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A line organisation has only direct, vertical relationships between different levels in the firm.
There are only line departments-departments directly involved in accomplishing the primary
goal of the organisation. For example, in a typical firm, line departments include production
and marketing. In a line organisation authority follows the chain of command.

Single line organisational structure.

Features: It has only direct vertical relationships between different levels in the firm.

Advantages:

1. Tends to simplify and clarify authority, responsibility and accountability relationships

2. Promotes fast decision making
3. Simple to understand.

Disadvantages:

1. Neglects specialists in planning

2. Overloads key persons.

2. Staff or Functional Authority Organisational Structure: The jobs or positions in an

organisation can be categorized as:

 Line position: A position in the direct chain of command that is responsible for the
achievement of an organisation’s goals and
 Staff position: A position intended to provide expertise, advice and support for the line
positions.

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In the line organisation, the line managers cannot be experts in all the functions they are
required to perform. But in the functional authority organisation, staff personnel who are
specialists in some fields are given functional authority (The right of staff specialists to issue
orders in their own names in designated areas).

While this type of organisational structure overcomes the disadvantages of a pure line
organisational structure, it has some major disadvantages:

 The potential conflicts resulting from violation of principle of unity of command

 The tendency to keep authority centralized at higher levels in the organisation.

3. Line and Staff Organisational Structure:

Most large organisations belong to this type of organisational structure. These organisations
have direct, vertical relationships between different levels and also specialists responsible for
advising and assisting line managers. Such organisations have both line and staff
departments. Staff departments provide line people with advice and assistance in specialized
areas (for example, quality control advising production department).

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The line functions are production and marketing whereas the staff functions include
personnel, quality control, research and development, finance, accounting etc.

4. Divisional Organisational Structure:

In this type of structure, the organisation can have different basis on which departments are
formed. They are:

 Function,
 Product,
 Geographic territory,
 Project and
 Combination approach.

Organisational structures formed based on the above basis of Departmentation.

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5. Project Organisational Structure:

A project organisation is a temporary organisation designed to achieve specific results by

using teams of specialists from different functional areas in the organisation. The project
team focuses all its energies, resources and results on the assigned project.

Examples of projects: Research and Development Projects, Product Development,

construction of a new plant, housing complex, shopping complex, bridge etc.

Project Organisational Structure.

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Feature:

Temporary organisation designed to achieve specific results by using teams of specialists

from different functional areas in the organisation.

Importance of Project Organisational Structure:

Project organisational structure is most valuable when:

 Work is defined by a specific goal and target date for completion.

 Work is unique and unfamiliar to the organisation.
 Work is complex having independent activities and specialized skills are necessary
for accomplishment.
 Work is critical in terms of possible gains or losses.
 Work is not repetitive in nature.

Characteristics of project organisation:

1. Personnel are assigned to a project from the existing permanent organisation and are
under the direction and control of the project manager.
2. The project manager specifies what effort is needed and when work will be performed
whereas the concerned department manager executes the work using his resources.
3. The project manager gets the needed support from production, quality control,
engineering etc. for completion of the project.
4. The authority over the project team members is shared by project manager and the
respective functional managers in the permanent organisation.
5. The services of the specialists (project team members) are temporarily loaned to the
project manager till the completion of the project.

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6. There may be conflict between the project manager and the departmental manager on the
issue of exercising authority over team members.
7. Since authority relationships are overlapping with possibilities of conflicts, informal
relationships between project manager and departmental managers (functional managers)
become more important than formal prescription of authority.
8. Full and free communication is essential among those working on the project.

6. Matrix Organisational Structure:

It is a permanent organisation designed to achieve specific results by using teams of

specialists from different functional areas in the organisation.

Feature: Superimposes a horizontal set of divisions and reporting relationships onto a

hierarchical functional structure

Advantages:

 Decentralised decision making.

 Strong product/project co-ordination.
 Improved environmental monitoring.
 Fast response to change.
 Flexible use of resources.
 Efficient use of support systems.

Disadvantages:

 High administration cost.

 Potential confusion over authority and responsibility.
 High prospects of conflict.
 Overemphasis on group decision making.

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  Excessive focus on internal relations.

This type of organisation is often used when the firm has to be highly responsive to a rapidly
changing external environment.

7. Hybrid Organisational Structure:

Exhibit 10.9 (b) illustrates a combination structure

Advantages:

1. Alignment of corporate and divisional goals.

2. Functional expertise and efficiency.

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 3. Adaptability and flexibility in divisions.

Disadvantages:

1. Conflicts between corporate departments and units.

2. Excessive administration overhead.
3. Slow response to exceptional situations.

Uses:

Used in organisations that face considerable environmental uncertainty that can be met
through a divisional structure and that also required functional expertise or efficiency

The Informal Organisation:

An informal organisation is the set of evolving relationships and patterns of human interaction within
an organisation which are not officially presented. Alongside the formal organisation, an informal
organisation structure exists which consists of informal relationships created not by officially
designated managers but by organisational members at every level. Since managers cannot avoid
these informal relationships, they must be trained to cope with it

Characteristics of Informal organisation:

1. Its members are joined together to satisfy their personal needs (needs for affiliation,
friendship etc.)
2. It is continuously changing
3. The informal organisation is dynamic.
4. It involves members from various organisational levels.
5. It is affected by relationship outside the firm.
6. It has a pecking order: certain people are assigned greater importance than others by the
informal group.

Even though an informal organisational structure does not have its own formal organisational chart, it
has its own chain of command:

Benefits of Informal Organisation:

 Assists in accomplishing the work faster.

 Helps to remove weakness in the formal structure.
 Lengthens the effective span of control.
 Compensation for violations of formal organisational principles.
 Provides an additional channel of communication.
 Provides emotional support for employees.
 Encourages better management.

Disadvantages of informal organisation:

o May work against the purpose of formal organisation.

o Reduces the degree of predictability and control.
o Reduces the number of practical alternatives.
o Increases the time required to complete activities.

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