Francis G.
Ruiz,
MBA
College of Business &
Accountancy
CHAPTER 8:
Prosocial Behavior, Cooperation,
Conflict and Stress
PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR: HELPING OTHERS
- Helping others on the job, as you might imagine, often
goes beyond merely being polite and attentive. Indeed, it
is a key element in making work a pleasant experience
and a productive one as well.
Cooperation within Organization
The Reciprocity Principle
- the principle of reciprocity describes the way people
behave when cooperating with others. The key task in
establishing cooperation in organizations is
straightforward: Getting it started. Once individuals or
teams have begun to cooperate, the process may be
largely self_x0002_sustaining.
Cooperation within Organization
Trust: Believing in Others
- we described trust as a determinant of organizational
citizenship behavior. As you might imagine, it also is a
powerful cause of cooperation as well. In particular, the
kind of trust that encourages cooperation involves
demonstrating that you really care for someone and that
you will be there for them emotionally when needed
(termed affect based trust).
Cooperation within Organization
Personal Orientation
- As you know from experience, by nature, some people
tend to be more cooperative than others. In contrast,
other people tend to be far more competitive—interested
in doing better than others in one way or another.
Competitors
- People whose primary motive is doing better than
others, besting them in open competition.
Individualists
- People who care almost exclusively about
maximizing their own gain, and who don't care whether
others do better or worse than themselves.
Cooperators
- People who are concerned with maximizing joint
outcomes, getting as much as possible for their team.
Equalizers
- People who are interested primarily in minimizing the
differences between themselves and others.
Organizational Reward Systems
- It is not only people’s predisposition that
eads them to behave cooperatively, but differences in the
nature of organizational reward systems as well. Despite
good intentions, companies all too often create reward
systems that lead their employees to compete against
each other.
Cooperation between Organizations
- It is not only people’s predisposition that leads them to
behave cooperatively, but differences in the nature of
organizational reward systems as well. Despite good
intentions, companies all too often create reward systems
that lead their employees to compete against each other.
CONFLICT: THE INEVITABLE RESULT OF INCOMPATIBLE
INTERESTS
Causes of Conflict
Grudges
- All too often, conflict is caused when people who have lost face in dealing
with someone attempt to "get even" with that person by planning some
form of revenge. Employees involved in this kind of activity are not only
going out of their way to harm one of their co-workers, but by holding a
grudge, they are wasting energy that could be devoted to more productive
organizational endeavours.
Causes of Conflict
Malevolent Attributions
- we believe that we suffered harm because of factors outside
someone's control (e.g., an accident), conflict is less likely to occur.
As you might imagine, it can be problematic if we falsely attribute
the harm we suffer to another's negative intent when, in reality,
that person's behavior was caused by external factors.
Causes of Conflict
Destructive Criticisms
- Communicating negative feedback in organizations is inevitable. All too
often, however, this process arouses unnecessary conflict. The problem is
that some people make the mistake of using destructive criticism—that is,
negative feedback that angers the recipient rather than helps this person do
a better job.
Causes of Conflict
Distrusts
- The more strongly people suspect that some other individual or group is
out to get them, the more likely they are to have a relationship with that
person or group that is riddled with conflict.
Causes of Conflict
Competition Over Scarce Resources
- Because organizations never have unlimited resources (such as space,
money, equipment, or personnel), it is inevitable that conflicts will arise
over the distribution of those resources.
Consequences of Conflict: Both Good and Bad
- The word "conflict" doubtlessly brings to mind negative images—
thoughts of anger and confrontation. Indeed, there is no denying the many
negative effects of conflict. But conflict has a positive side as well.
General Negative Consequences of Conflict
- The major problem with conflict, as you know from experience, is that it
yields strong negative emotions. However, these emotional reactions mark
only the beginning of a chain of reactions that can have harmful effects in
organizations.
Third-Party Intervention
- One commonly used type of third-party intervention is known as
mediation. In mediation, the third party attempts to create voluntary
agreements between the disputants. Mediators have no formal power and
cannot impose any agreement on the two sides.
STRESS IN ORGANIZATIONS
Stress is an all-too-common aspect of work life today, something few
individuals can avoid. In fact, a nationwide survey recently conducted by a
large life insurance company showed that nearly 46 percent of American
workers felt that their jobs are highly stressful. For 27 percent, work was
the single greatest source of stress in their lives. And, growing evidence
suggests that high levels of stress adversely affect physical health,
psychological well-being, and many aspects of task performance
What is Stress?
- Stress does not simply shape our thoughts; in many cases, it derives from
and is strongly affected by them. To the extent that people appraise various
situations as stressors, they are likely to have stress reactions. Often, as we
will see, these can have damaging behavioral, psychological, and/or medical
effects on people.
Causes of Stress
Occupational Demands
- Some jobs, such as emergency room physician, police officer, fire fighter,
and airline pilot, expose the people who hold them to high levels of stress.
Others, such as college professor, janitor, and librarian, are less likely to
produce stress.
Causes of Stress
Conflict between Work and Non-work
- If you've ever known anyone who has had to face the demands of working
while at the same time trying to raise a family, you are probably well aware
of how difficult this situation can be.
Causes of Stress
Role Ambiguity: Stress from Uncertainty
- Even if individuals are able to avoid the stress associated with role
conflict, they may still encounter an even more common source of job-
related stress: role ambiguity
Causes of Stress
Overload and Underload
- When the phrase "work-related stress" is mentioned, most people
envision scenes in which employees are asked to do more work than they
can handle in a given period of time.
Causes of Stress
Responsibility for Others: A Heavy Burden
- Division of responsibility occurs in every organization. Some people deal
primarily with the production side of the business (e.g., obtaining supplies,
maintaining equipment), others focus mainly on financial matters (e.g.,
budgets, taxes, accounting), and still others—usually supervisors or
managers—deal primarily with people.
Causes of Stress
Lack of Social Support: The Costs of Isolation
- According to the old saying, "misery loves company." With respect to
stress, this statement implies that if we have to face stressful conditions, it's
better to do so along with others (and with their support) than to do so
alone.
Causes of Stress
Sexual Harassment: A Pervasive Problem in Work Settings
- There can be little doubt that sexual harassment (defined as unwanted
contact or communication of a sexual nature, usually against women) is a
source of stress found in many of today's workplaces. The stressful effects
of sexual harassment stem primarily from two sources:
Major Effects of Organizational Stress
Stress and Tasks Performance
- The most current evidence available suggests that stress exerts mainly
negative effects on task performance. In other words, performance can be
disrupted even by relatively low levels of stress: The greater the stress
people encounter on the job, the more adversely affected their job
performance tends to be.
Major Effects of Organizational Stress
Burnout: Stress and Psychological Adjustment
- Most jobs involve some degree of stress. Yet, somehow, the people
performing them manage to cope; they continue to function despite their
daily encounters with various stressors. Some individuals, though, are not
so fortunate.
Major Effects of Organizational Stress
Burnout: Stress and Psychological Adjustment
- Most jobs involve some degree of stress. Yet, somehow, the people
performing them manage to cope; they continue to function despite their
daily encounters with various stressors. Some individuals, though, are not
so fortunate.
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