1. Organizational factors
a. Pressures to avoid errors or complete tasks in a limited time period, work
overload, a demanding and insensitive boss, and unpleasant coworkers are a few
examples.
b. Task demands are factors related to a person’s job.
i. They include the design of the individual’s job (autonomy, task variety, degree
of automation), working conditions, and the physical work layout.
c. Role demands relate to pressures that are a function of the role an individual plays
in an organization.
d. Interpersonal demands are pressures created by other employees.
2. Personal factors
a. These are factors in the employee’s personal life.
b. National surveys consistently show that people hold family and personal
relationships dear.
c. Economic problems can be created by individuals overextending their financial
resources.
d. Studies in three diverse organizations found that participants who reported stress
symptoms before beginning a job accounted for most of the variance in stress
symptoms reported 9 months later.
3. Stressors are additive
a. When we review stressors individually, it’s easy to overlook that stress is an
additive phenomenon—it builds up.
b. A single stressor may be relatively unimportant in and of itself, but if it’s added to
an already high level of stress, it can be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
c. To appraise the total amount of stress an individual is under, we have to sum up
his or her opportunity stresses, constraint stresses, and demand stresses.
B. Individual Differences
1. Four individual difference variables moderate the relationship between potential
stressors and experienced stress: perception, job experience, social support, and
personality.
a. Perception: Moderates the relationship between a potential stress condition and an
employee’s reaction to it.
b. Job experience: The evidence indicates that experience on the job tends to be
negatively related to work stress.
c. Social support: Relationships with coworkers or supervisors can buffer the impact
of stress.
d. Personality trait: Perhaps the most widely studied personality trait in stress is
neuroticism, discussed in Chapter 5.
e. Workaholism is another personal characteristic related to stress levels.
i. Workaholics are people obsessed with their work; they put in an enormous
number of hours, think about work even when not working, and create
additional work responsibilities to satisfy an inner compulsion to work more.
C. Cultural Differences
1. Research suggests the job conditions that cause stress show some differences across
cultures.
2. One study revealed that whereas U.S. employees were stressed by a lack of control,
Chinese employees were stressed by job evaluations and lack of training.
3. One study of employees in Hungary, Italy, the United Kingdom, Israel, and the
United States found Type A personality traits (see Chapter 5) predicted stress equally
well across countries.
4. A study of 5,270 managers from 20 countries found individuals from individualistic
countries such as the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom experienced
higher levels of stress due to work interfering with family than did individuals from
collectivist countries like Asia and Latin America.
D. Consequences of Stress at Work
1. Physiological symptoms
a. Most early concern with stress was directed at physiological symptoms because
most researchers were specialists in the health and medical sciences.
2. Psychological symptoms
a. Job dissatisfaction is an obvious cause of stress.
b. Multiple and conflicting demands—lack of clarity as to the incumbent’s duties,
authority, and responsibilities—increase stress and dissatisfaction.
c. The less control people have over the pace of their work, the greater the stress and
dissatisfaction.
3. Behavioral symptoms
a. Research on behavior and stress has been conducted across several countries and
over time, and the relationships appear relatively consistent.
b. Behavior-related stress symptoms include reductions in productivity, absence, and
turnover, as well as changes in eating habits, increased smoking or consumption
of alcohol, rapid speech, fidgeting, and sleep disorders.
c. A significant amount of research has investigated the stress–performance
relationship.
d. The most widely studied pattern of this relationship is the inverted U. (Exhibit
18-9)
i. The logic underlying the figure is that low to moderate levels of stress
stimulate the body and increase its ability to react.
ii. Individuals then often perform their tasks better, more intensely, or more
rapidly.
iii. But too much stress places unattainable demands on a person, which result in
lower performance.
e. In spite of the popularity and intuitive appeal of the inverted U model, it doesn’t
get a lot of empirical support.
i. So we should be careful of assuming it accurately depicts the
stress–performance relationship.
II. Managing Stress
A. Introduction
1. Because low to moderate levels of stress can be functional and lead to higher
performance, management may not be concerned when employees experience them.
2. Employees, however, are likely to perceive even low levels of stress as undesirable.
3. What management may consider “a positive stimulus that keeps the adrenaline
running” is very likely to be seen as “excessive pressure” by the employee.
B. Individual approaches
1. An employee can take personal responsibility for reducing stress levels.
2. Individual strategies that have proven effective include time-management techniques,
increased physical exercise, relaxation training, and expanded social support
networks.
3. Many people manage their time poorly.
a. A few of the best-known time-management principles are:
i. Making daily lists of activities to be accomplished.
ii. Prioritizing activities by importance and urgency.
iii. Scheduling activities according to the priorities set.
iv. Knowing your daily cycle and handling the most demanding parts of your job
when you are most alert and productive.
v. Avoiding electronic distractions like frequently checking e-mail which can
limit attention and reduce efficiency.
4. Physicians have recommended noncompetitive physical exercise, such as aerobics,
walking, jogging, swimming, and riding a bicycle, as a way to deal with excessive
stress levels.
5. Individuals can also teach themselves to reduce tension through relaxation techniques
such as meditation, hypnosis, and deep breathing.
C. Organizational Approaches
1. Several organizational factors that cause stress—particularly task and role demands—
are controlled by management and thus can be modified or changed.
2. Strategies to consider include improved employee selection and job placement,
training, realistic goal-setting, redesign of jobs, increased employee involvement,
improved organizational communication, employee sabbaticals, and corporate
wellness programs.
3. Selection and Placement. Certain jobs are more stressful than others but, as we’ve
seen, individuals differ in their response to stressful situations.
a. We know individuals with little experience or an external locus of control tend to
be more prone to stress.
4. Selection and placement decisions should take these facts into consideration.
a. Obviously, management shouldn’t restrict hiring to only experienced individuals
with an internal locus, but such individuals may adapt better to high-stress jobs
and perform those jobs more effectively. Similarly, training can increase an
individual’s self-efficacy and thus lessen job strain.
5. We discussed goal-setting in Chapter 7.
a. Individuals perform better when they have specific and challenging goals and
receive feedback on their progress toward these goals.
i. Goals can reduce stress as well as provide motivation.
b. Employees who are highly committed to their goals and see purpose in their jobs
experience less stress because they are more likely to perceive stressors as
challenges rather than hindrances.
c. Specific goals perceived as attainable clarify performance expectations.
d. In addition, goal feedback reduces uncertainties about actual job performance.
e. The result is less employee frustration, role ambiguity, and stress.
6. 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.
7. Role stress is detrimental to a large extent because employees feel uncertain about
goals, expectations, how they’ll be evaluated, and the like.
8. Increasing formal organizational communication with employees reduces uncertainty
by lessening role ambiguity and role conflict.
9. Some employees need an occasional escape from the frenetic pace of their work.
Companies including Genentech, American Express, Intel, General Mills, Microsoft,
Morningstar, DreamWorks Animation, and Adobe Systems have begun to provide
extended voluntary leaves.
10. Our final suggestion is organizationally supported wellness programs.
III. Summary and Implications for Managers
A. The need for change has been implied throughout this text.
B. For instance, think about attitudes, motivation, work teams, communication, leadership,
organizational structures, human resource practices, and organizational cultures.
C. Change was an integral part in our discussion of each.
1. If environments were perfectly static, if employees’ skills and abilities were always
up to date and incapable of deteriorating, and if tomorrow were always exactly the
same as today, organizational change would have little or no relevance to managers.
D. But the real world is turbulent, requiring organizations and their members to undergo
dynamic change if they are to perform at competitive levels.
E. Coping with all these changes can be a source of stress, but with effective management,
challenge can enhance engagement and fulfillment, leading to the high performance that,
as you’ve discovered in this text, is one major goal of the study of organizational
behavior (OB). Specific implications for managers are below:
1. Consider that, as a manager, you are a change agent in your organization.
a. The decisions you make and your role-modeling behaviors will help shape the
organization’s change culture.
2. Your management policies and practices will determine the degree to which the
organization learns and adapts to changing environmental factors.
3. Some stress is good.
a. Low to moderate amounts of stress enable many people to perform their jobs
better by increasing their work intensity, alertness, and ability to react. This is
especially true if stress arises due to challenges on the job rather than hindrances
that prevent employees from doing their jobs effectively.
4. You can help alleviate harmful workplace stress for your employees by accurately
matching work-loads to employees, providing employees with stress-coping
resources, and responding to their concerns.
5. You can identify extreme stress in your employees when performance declines,
turnover increases, health-related absenteeism increases, and engagement declines.
a. However, by the time these symptoms are visible, it may be too late to be helpful,
so stay alert for early indicators and be proactive.
EXPANDED CHAPTER OUTLINE
I. Change
A. Forces for Change
1. Organizations face a dynamic and changing environment. This requires adaptation.
Exhibit 18-1 summarizes six specific forces that are acting as stimulants for change.
2. Nature of The Workforce
a. Almost every organization must adjust to a multicultural environment,
demographic changes, immigration, and outsourcing.
3. Technology is changing jobs and organizations.
a. It is not hard to imagine the very idea of an office becoming an antiquated concept
in the near future.
4. Economic Shocks
a. Led to the elimination, bankruptcy, or acquisition of some of the best-known U.S.
companies, including Merrill Lynch, Countrywide Financial, Washington Mutual,
and Ameriquest.
b. Millions of jobs were lost worldwide.
5. Competition is Changing
a. Competitors are as likely to come from across the ocean as from across town.
b. Successful organizations will be fast on their feet, capable of developing new
products rapidly and getting them to market quickly.
6. Social trends don’t remain static either.
a. Consumers who are otherwise strangers now meet and share product information
in chat rooms and blogs.
b. Companies must continually adjust product and marketing strategies to be
sensitive to changing social trends, as Liz Claiborne did when it sold off fashion
brands (such as Ellen Tracy), deemphasized large vendors such as Macy’s, and
streamlined operations and cut staff.
c. Consumers, employees, and organizational leaders are more sensitive to
environmental concerns. “Green” practices are quickly becoming expected rather
than optional.
7. World Politics
a. A global context for OB is required. No one could have imagined how world
politics would change in recent years.
b. We’ve seen a major set of financial crises that have rocked global markets, a
dramatic rise in the power and influence of China, and dramatic shakeups in
government across the Arab world.
c. Throughout the industrialized world, businesses—particularly in the banking and
financial sectors—have come under new scrutiny.
B. Planned Change
1. Some organizations treat all change as an accidental occurrence; however, change as
an intentional, goal-oriented activity is planned change.
2. There are two goals of planned change:
a. Improve the ability of the organization to adapt to changes in its environment.
b. Change employee behavior.
3. Who in organizations are responsible for managing change activities?
a. Change agents can be managers, employees of the organization, or outside
consultants.
4. Many change agents fail because of organizational resistance to change.
II. Resistance to Change
A. Introduction
1. Our egos are fragile, and we often see change as threatening.
a. Employees who have negative feelings about a change cope by not thinking about
it, increasing their use of sick time, and quitting.
2. All these reactions can sap the organization of vital energy when it is most needed.
3. Resistance to change can be positive if it leads to open discussion and debate.
a. These responses are usually preferable to apathy or silence and can indicate that
members of the organization are engaged in the process, providing change agents
an opportunity to explain the change effort.
b. Change agents can also monitor the resistance to modify the change to fit the
preferences of other members.
4. Resistance to change does not necessarily surface in standardized ways.
5. Resistance can be overt, implicit, immediate, or deferred.
a. It is easiest for management to deal with resistance when it is overt and
immediate.
b. Implicit resistance efforts are more subtle—loss of loyalty to the organization,
loss of motivation to work, increased errors or mistakes, increased absenteeism
due to “sickness”—and hence more difficult to recognize.
c. Similarly, deferred actions cloud the link between the source of the resistance and
the reaction to it.
d. A single change of little inherent impact may be the straw that broke the camel’s
back because resistance to earlier change was deferred and stockpiled, and what
surfaces is a cumulative response.
6. Exhibit 18-2 summarizes the major forces for resistance to change categorized by
their sources.
a. Five reasons why individuals may resist change are:
i. Habit. Life is complex, to cope with having to make hundreds of decisions
everyday, we all rely on habits or programmed responses.
ii. Security. People with a high need for security are likely to resist change
because it threatens their feelings of safety.
iii. Economic factors. Another source of individual resistance is concern that
changes will lower one’s income.
iv. Fear of the unknown. Changes substitute ambiguity and uncertainty for the
known.
v. Selective information processing. Individuals shape their world through their
perceptions. Once they have created this world, it resists change.
b. There are six major sources of organizational resistance: (Exhibit 18-2)
i. Structural inertia. Organizations have built-in mechanisms to produce
stability; this structural inertia acts as a counterbalance to sustainability.
ii. Limited focus of change. Organizations are made up of a number of
interdependent subsystems. Changing one affects the others.
iii. Group inertia. Group norms may act as a constraint.
iv. Threat to expertise. Changes in organizational patterns may threaten the
expertise of specialized groups.
v. Threat to established power relationships. Redistribution of decision- making
authority can threaten long-established power relationships.
vi. Threat to established resource allocations. Groups in the organization that
control sizable resources often see change as a threat. They tend to be content
with the way things are.
7. It’s worth noting that not all change is good.
a. Speed can lead to bad decisions, and sometimes those initiating change fail to
realize the full magnitude of the effects or their true costs.
b. Rapid, transformational change is risky, and some organizations have collapsed
for this reason.
B. Overcoming Resistance to Change
1. Communication
a. Resistance can be reduced on two levels through communicating to help
employees see the logic of a change.
2. Participation
a. It is difficult for individuals to resist a change decision in which they participated.
b. Prior to making a change, those opposed can be brought into the decision process,
assuming they have the expertise to make a meaningful contribution.
c. The negatives—potential for a poor solution and great time consumption.
3. Building support and commitment
a. When employees’ fear and anxiety are high, counseling and therapy, new-skills
training, or a short paid leave of absence may facilitate adjustment.
b. When managers or employees have low emotional commitment to change, they
favor the status quo and resist it.
c. So firing up employees can also help them emotionally commit to the change
rather than embrace the status quo.
4. Develop positive relationships
a. People are more willing to accept changes if they trust the managers
implementing them.
i. One study surveyed 235 employees from a large housing corporation in the
Netherlands that was experiencing a merger.
ii. Those who had a more positive relationship with their supervisors, and who
felt that the work environment supported development, were much more
positive about the change process.
5. Implementing changes fairly
a. One way organizations can minimize negative impact is to make sure change is
implemented fairly.
b. As we saw in Chapter 7, procedural fairness is especially important when
employees perceive an outcome as negative, so it’s crucial that employees see the
reason for the change and perceive its implementation as consistent and fair.
6. Manipulation and cooptation
a. Manipulation refers to covert influence attempts, twisting and distorting facts to
make them appear more attractive, withholding undesirable information, and
creating false rumors to get employees to accept a change.
b. Cooptation is a form of both manipulation and participation.
i. It seeks to “buy off” the leaders of a resistance group by giving them a key
role in the change decision.
c. Both manipulation and cooptation are relatively inexpensive and easy ways to
gain support.
i. The tactics can backfire if the targets become aware that they are being tricked
or used.
7. Selecting people who accept change
a. Research suggests the ability to easily accept and adapt to change is related to
personality—some people simply have more positive attitudes about change than
others.
i. Such individuals are open to experience, take a positive attitude toward
change, are willing to take risks, and are flexible in their behavior.
ii. One study of managers in the United States, Europe, and Asia found those
with a positive self-concept and high-risk tolerance coped better with
organizational change.
iii. A study of 258 police officers found those higher in growth-needs strength,
internal locus of control, and internal work motivation had more positive
attitudes about organizational change efforts.
b. Individuals higher in general mental ability are also better able to learn and adapt
to changes in the workplace.
c. In sum, an impressive body of evidence shows organizations can facilitate change
by selecting people predisposed to accept it.
d. Besides selecting individuals who are willing to accept changes, it is also possible
to select teams that are more adaptable.
i. Studies have shown that teams that are strongly motivated by learning about
and mastering tasks are better able to adapt to changing environments.
ii. This research suggests that it may be necessary to consider not just individual
motivation, but also group motivation when trying to implement changes.
8. Coercion
a. Coercion is the application of direct threats or force upon the resisters.
b. Examples of coercion are threats of transfer, loss of promotions, negative
performance evaluations, and a poor letter of recommendation.
C. The Politics of Change
1. Change threatens the status quo, making it an inherently political activity.
2. Politics suggests the impetus for change is more likely to come from outside change
agents, employees new to the organization (who have less invested in the status quo),
or managers slightly removed from the main power structure.
3. Managers who have spent their entire careers with a single organization and
eventually achieve a senior position in the hierarchy are often major impediments to
change.
a. It is a very real threat to their status and position, yet, they may be expected to
implement changes.
4. By acting as change agents, they can convey to stockholders, suppliers, employees,
and customers that they are addressing problems and adapting to a dynamic
environment.
a. Of course, as you might guess, when forced to introduce change, these longtime
power holders tend to implement incremental changes.
b. Radical change is too threatening.
c. This explains why boards of directors that recognize the imperative for rapid and
radical change frequently turn to outside candidates for new leadership.
III. Approaches to Managing Organizational Change
A. Lewin’s Three-Step Model (Exhibit 18-3)
1. Kurt Lewin argued that successful change in organizations should follow three steps:
a. Unfreezing the status quo.
b. Movement to a new state.
c. Refreezing the new change to make it permanent.
2. The status quo can be considered to be an equilibrium state.
a. To move from this equilibrium—to overcome the pressures of both individual
resistance and group conformity—unfreezing is necessary. (Exhibit 18-4)
i. The driving forces, which direct behavior away from the status quo, can be
increased.
ii. The restraining forces, which hinder movement from the existing
equilibrium, can be decreased.
iii. A third alternative is to combine the first two approaches.
b. Companies that have been successful in the past are likely to encounter restraining
forces because people question the need for change.
c. Research on organizational change has shown that in order to be effective, the
actual change has to happen quickly.
d. Once the change has been implemented, the new situation needs to be refrozen so
that it can be sustained over time.
i. Unless this last step is taken, there is a very high chance that the change will
be short-lived and that employees will attempt to revert to the previous
equilibrium state.
ii. The objective of refreezing is to stabilize the new situation by balancing the
driving and restraining forces.
B. Kotter’s Eight-Step Plan for Implementing Change (Exhibit 18-5)
1. John Kotter of the Harvard Business School built on Lewin’s three-step model to
create a more detailed approach for implementing change.
2. Kotter began by listing common mistakes managers make when trying to initiate
change.
a. They may fail:
i. To create a sense of urgency about the need for change.
ii. To create a coalition for managing the change process.
iii. To have a vision for change and effectively communicate it.
iv. To remove obstacles that could impede the vision’s achievement.
v. To provide short-term and achievable goals, and to anchor the changes into
the organization’s culture.
vi. They may also declare victory too soon.
b. Kotter then established eight sequential steps to overcome these problems.
(Exhibit 18-5)
i. Notice how Kotter’s first four steps essentially extrapolate Lewin’s
“unfreezing” stage.
ii. Steps 5, 6, and 7 represent “movement,” and the final step works on
“refreezing.”
iii. So Kotter’s contribution lies in providing managers and change agents with a
more detailed guide for successfully implementing change.
C. Action Research
1. Action research is a change process based on the systematic collection of data and
then selection of a change action based on what the analyzed data indicate.
2. The process consists of five steps: diagnosis, analysis, feedback, action, and
evaluation. These steps closely parallel the scientific method.
a. Diagnosis begins by gathering information about problems, concerns, and needed
changes from members of the organization.
b. Analysis of information is synthesized into primary concerns, problem areas, and
possible actions.
c. Action research includes extensive involvement of the people who will be
involved in the change program.
d. Feedback requires sharing with employees what has been found from steps one
and two and the development of a plan for the change.
e. Action is the step where the change agent and employees set into motion the
specific actions to correct the problems that were identified.
f. Evaluation is the final step to assess the action plan’s effectiveness. Using the
initial data gathered as a benchmark, any subsequent changes can be compared
and evaluated.
3. Action research provides at least two specific benefits for an organization.
a. First, it is problem-focused. The change agent objectively looks for problems and
the type of problem determines the type of change of action.
b. Second, resistance to change is reduced. Once employees have actively
participated in the feedback stage, the change process typically takes on a
momentum of its own.
D. Organizational Development
1. Introduction
a. Organizational development (OD) is a collection of change methods that try to
improve organizational effectiveness and employee well-being.
b. The OD methods value human and organizational growth, collaborative and
participative processes, and a spirit of inquiry.
c. Contemporary OD borrows heavily from postmodern philosophy in placing heavy
emphasis on the subjective ways in which people see their environment.
2. There are six interventions that change agents might consider using. They are:
sensitivity training, survey feedback, process consultation, team building, intergroup
development, and appreciative inquiry.
a. Sensitivity Training
i. It can go by a variety of names—laboratory training, groups, or T-groups
(training groups)—but all refer to a thorough unstructured group interaction.
ii. Organizational interventions such as diversity training, executive coaching,
and team-building exercises are descendants of this early OD intervention
technique.
b. Survey Feedback
i. Everyone can participate in survey feedback.
ii. A questionnaire is usually completed by a manager and all his/her
subordinates.
iii. Surveys generally probe perceptions held by employees.
iv. Data from the survey are calculated for an individual’s “family” (work group).
v. Feedback and discussions should lead to implications.