1

COMMERCE 2BA3
ORGANIZATIONAL
BEHAVIOUR
Class 9
Conflict and Stress
Dr. Christa Wilkin

Brain Teasers
2

Right = Right

Job I'm Job

MAN
BOARD

R|E|A|D|I|N|
G

Last Class
3

People do not always make rational

decisions
Different types of power can lead to
higher commitment
Some people may behave for political
gains and may behave unethically

THIS CLASS
Conflict and stress

Agenda
4

Types of conflict
Managing conflict
Causes of stress
Outcomes of stress
How our personality affects stress
levels
Coping with stress

CH 13: CONFLICT AND

STRESS

What is Conflict?
6

Interpersonal conflict is a process that

occurs when one person, group, or
organizational subunit frustrates the goal
attainment of another.

Types of Conflict
7

Relationship conflict (the who)

Task conflict (the what)

Interpersonal tensions among individuals that have to

do with their relationship per se, not the task at hand
E.g., personality clashes
Disagreements about the nature of work to be done
E.g., this is the answer

Process conflict (the how)

Disagreements about how work should be organized

and accomplished
E.g., I want to do this part

Question
8

Should we avoid conflict at all costs?

Approaches to Managing
Conflict

There are five styles for dealing with

conflict.
None of the five styles is inherently
superior.
Each style might have its place given the
situation in which the conflict episode
occurs.

Avoiding
10

A conflict management style

characterized by low assertiveness of
ones own interests and low cooperation
with the other party.
It might be a sensible response when:

The issue is trivial.

Information is lacking.
People need to cool down.
The opponent is very powerful and hostile.

Accommodating
11

A conflict management style in which

one cooperates with the other party,
while not asserting ones own interests.
It can be an effective strategy when:

You are wrong.

The issue is more important to the other
party.
You want to build good will.

Competing
12

A conflict management style that

maximizes assertiveness and minimizes
cooperation.
It can be effective when:

You have a lot of power.

You are sure of your facts.
The situation is truly win-lose.
You will not have to interact with the other
party in the future.

Compromise
13

A conflict management style that

combines intermediate levels of
assertiveness and cooperation.
It is a sensible reaction to conflict
stemming from scarce resources and it is
a good fall-back position if other
strategies fail.

Collaborating
14

A conflict management style that

maximizes both assertiveness and
cooperation.
It is an attempt to secure an integrative
agreement that fully satisfies the interests
of both parties (a win-win resolution).
It works best when the conflict is not
intense and when each party has
information that is useful to the other.

How to Manage Conflict

15

Too much is bad, too little is also bad,

some is ok
Emphasize common goals

e.g., project, organization

Reduce differentiation

The more team members think they have

common experiences or backgrounds, more
motivated to resolve conflict
Create common experiences (e.g., socialize)

How to Manage Conflict

16

Improve communication and

understanding

Caveat: People from different cultures may

vary in their preference of direct
communication

Clarify rules and procedures (ambiguous)

Show ultimate frisbee video

17

QUESTIONS?

Individual Exercise
18

How do you cope with stress? Lets find out.

For each of the 20 statements, indicate the
extent to which each statement describes you.
Once you have completed all 20 questions,
follow the scoring instructions provided. First,
you must add up the numbers you circled for
the four questions that make up each of the
five scales. Second, you then add the scores
from all five scales to give you an overall total
score that can range from 20 to 100.

Stress
19

An adaptive response to a situation that

is perceived as challenging or
threatening

The Myth of Stress

20

Video clip

21

What causes stress?

(Stressors)

Stress

Organizational Stressors
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Work overload

Role conflict

Too much work (paid, overtime, unpaid overtime)

When fulfilling the requirements of one role interferes
with the fulfillment of another role requirement
Inter-role: two different roles conflict
Intra-role: conflicting instructions on what to do (one role)
Person-role: expectations conflict with values

Role ambiguity

Uncertainty about job duties, performance expectations,

level or source of authority, etc.

Quiz Question
23

Dereks supervisor asks him to work late

into the evening on a report that is due next
week but he is supposed to pick up the kids
from daycare. We can be sure that Derek:
A) is experiencing burnout.
B) is experiencing role ambiguity.
C) is a Type A personality.
D) is experiencing intra-role conflict.
E) is experiencing inter-role conflict.

Organizational Stressors
24

Psychological Environment Stressors

Organizational injustice, interpersonal conflict

Psychological contract
Job insecurity
Organizational change

Physical Environment Stressors

Excessive noise
Poor lighting
Safety hazards

Work Non-work
Stressors

25

Time conflict

Time required for non-work activities

interferes with work
E.g.,

family responsibilities (e.g., caring for sick

parents), volunteer work etc.

Strain conflict

Stress from one domain spills into other

Relationships,

finances, new responsibilities, etc.

Attitudes can be transmitted to other people

Outcomes of Stress?
26

Stress

Outcomes of Stress
27

Psychological reactions
Physiological reactions

Behavioural reactions

High blood pressure, sweatiness, heart

palpitations, dizziness, more cortisone, etc.
Attempts to cope (e.g., shopping, exercise)

Videos of Office Stress

Burnout
28

Emotional exhaustion

Cynicism / depersonalization

Lack of energy, difficulty emoting

Compassion fatigue: no longer able to empathize
Indifferent attitude to work
Treating individuals as objects / callousness
Strict adherence to rules and regulations

Reduced professional accomplishment

Lower self-efficacy
No longer see value of extra effort

29

Organizational
Outcomes
Too much stress can lead to:
Job dissatisfaction
Occupational injuries and illnesses
Decision-making, cognitive abilities, task
performance
Absenteeism, turnover

Question
30

Are certain types of people more

stressed out than others?

Personality
31

Personality can affect both the extent to

which potential stressors are perceived
as stressful and the types of stress
reactions that occur.
Personality

Stressors

Stress

Outcomes

Locus of Control
32

Peoples beliefs about the factors that

control their behaviour
Externals are more likely to feel anxious
in the face of potential stressors

E.g., The world is against me

Internals are more likely to confront

stressors directly

E.g., I can get through this

Type A Behaviour
Pattern

33

A personality pattern that includes

aggressiveness, ambitiousness,
competitiveness, hostility, impatience, and a
sense of time urgency.
Type A: cant relax, constantly busy,
impatient
Type B: easy-going, patient, relaxed
Question: Which personality type are you?
Are you one or the other?

34

Negative and Positive

Affectivity

Negative: The propensity to view the

world, including oneself and other people,
in a light

Positive: View world in a + light

E.g., pessimistic, moody

E.g., happy go lucky, always smiling,
optimistic

People high in NA report more stressors in

the work environment and feel more
subjective stress

35

Reducing or Coping with

Stress

Some of the things that organizations

can do to reduce workplace stress and
assist employees in coping with stress
include:

Job redesign
Social support
Family-friendly human resource policies
Stress management programs
Work-life balance programs

Job Redesign
36

Organizations can redesign jobs to

reduce their stressful characteristics.
Most formal job redesign efforts involve
enriching operative-level jobs to make
them more stimulating and challenging.
There is growing evidence that providing
more autonomy in how service is
delivered can alleviate stress and
burnout.

Social Support
37

Social support refers to having close ties

with other people.
A social network acts as a buffer against
stress.
The buffering aspects of social support are
most potent when they are directly
connected to the source of stress.
Coworkers and superiors are the best
sources of support for dealing with workrelated stress.

38

Family Friendly Human

Resource Policies

Family friendly human resource policies

include some combination of formalized
social support, material support, and
increased flexibility to adapt to employee
needs.
A common form of material support is
corporate daycare centres.
Flexibility is also important and includes
flex-time, telecommuting, job sharing, and
family leave policies.

Stress Management
Programs

39

Programs designed to help employees

manage work-related stress.
Stress management programs involve
techniques such as meditation, training in
time management, and biofeedback
training.
They can be useful in reducing
physiological arousal, sleep disturbances,
and self-reported tension and anxiety.

Work-Life Balance
Programs

40

Work-life balance programs encourage

employees to participate in activities to
improve their mental and physical health.
Work-life balance programs include fitness
facilities and memberships, employee
assistance programs, and health food
programs.
Work-life programs are believed to lower
health-care costs due in part to stress
reduction.

Wellness Programs
Research

41

My study on wellness programs

Findings suggest that after one year
health promo initiatives decrease return
on assets (ROA), while work-life balance
initiatives increase ROA. However, both
effects become non-significant after
three years.

Group Exercise
42

Form groups of 5 to 6 people. Share your

results within your group from your
stress test. Talk about potential stressors
and outcomes of your stress. Talk about
effective ways to deal with stress.
Pick a spokesperson to summarize your
results
I will randomly call on a few groups to
present

Summary
43

There are different styles to managing

conflict but no style is inherently
superior (contextual)
Stress isnt necessarily a bad thing but
it depends on how we cope with it

For Next Class

44

Read Chapter 14 on organizational

structure
Hand in group assignment at the
beginning of class