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3. An organized system. Once you’ve decided the actions you need to take, you need to keep reminders in
a well-organized system.
By building a self-management approach based on these three principles, you can get unstuck and make
measurable progress toward achieving all the things you need to do.
B. A Step-by-Step Guide for Managing Your Time Exhibit 14.10
One self-management system is based on five steps:
1. Empty your head. The first step is to write down all the activities that demand your attention on scraps
of paper, organize them into various manageable “buckets” using available tools, and add new projects
or commitments as and when they occur.
This approach to self-management can help you get a handle of all the various things you have to do and
approach them in a systematic way with a clear mind,
Discussion Question #09: How do you think a system for self-management such as the five-step system
described in this chapter could benefit you as a student? What parts of the system seem particularly useful to
you? Explain
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VII. STRESS AND STRESS MANAGEMENT Exhibit 14.11
Stress is a physiological and emotional response to stimuli that place physical or psychological demands on an
A. Challenge Stress and Threat Stress
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Challenge stress fires you up, whereas threat stress burns you out. Stress up to a certain point challenges
you and increases your focus, alertness, efficiency, and productivity. After that point, however, things will
B. Type A and Type B Behavior
1. Researchers have categorized people as having one of two behavior patterns.
a. Type A Behavior is a behavior pattern characterized by extreme competitiveness, impatience,
aggressiveness, and devotion to work.
C. Causes of Work Stress
1. Work-related stress is on the rise worldwide. Managers can better cope with their own stress and
establish ways for the organization to help employees cope if they define the conditions that tend to
produce work stress. One way to identify work stressors is to place them in four categories.
a. Task demands are stressors arising from the tasks required of a person holding a particular job
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D. Innovative Responses to Stress Management Exhibit 14.12
Organizations that want to challenge their employees and stay competitive in a fast-changing
environment will never be stress-free. Because many consequences of stress are negative, managers
need to participate in stress management for themselves and for their employees. But healthy
workplaces promote the physical and emotional well-being of their employees.
1. What You Can Do to Combat Stress
a. Seek and destroy key sources of stress. Being well organized, planning ahead, and using various
time management techniques are highly effective ways to manage and prevent stress.
2. What Managers and Organizations Can Do
a. Create a psychologically healthy workplace. The number one way to lessen employee stress is
to create a healthy corporate culture that makes people feel valued. This includes making sure
that people don’t have unreasonable workloads, providing opportunities for growth and
advancement, and offering suitable salaries and benefits.
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Discussion Question #10: Why do you think workplace stress is skyrocketing? Do you think it is a trend that
will continue? Explain the reasons for your answer. Do you think it is the responsibility of managers and
organizations to help employees manage stress? Why or why not?
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Answers to End-of-Chapter Discussion Questions
1. Why is self-awareness important for being a good manager? Can you think of some negative consequences
that might result from a manager with low self-awareness?
In order to be effective leaders, it is important for managers to possess self-awareness—the knowledge of
who they are and what they stand for. When managers deeply understand themselves, they remain grounded
2. As a manager, how might you deal with an employee who is always displaying negative emotions that affect
the rest of the team? How might you use an understanding of attributions and emotional contagion to help
you decide what to do?
The first thing a manager might do in this situation would be to sit down with the employee to discuss the
3. In what ways might attitudes influence the behavior of employees who are faced with learning an entirely
new set of computer-related skills in order to retain their jobs at a manufacturing facility?
An attitude is an evaluation—either positive or negative—that predisposes a person to act in a certain way.
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4. The chapter suggests that optimism is an important characteristic for a manager, yet some employees
complain that optimistic managers cause them significant stress because they expect their subordinates to
meet unreasonable goals or expectations. How might an employee deal with a perpetually optimistic
manager?
The best way to deal with a perpetually optimistic manager whose goals or expectations are unreasonable is
5. How might a manager apply an understanding of perception to communicate more effectively with
subordinates?
Managers can use an understanding of perceptual selectivity and perceptual organization to obtain clues about
6. Surveys by the Conference Board show that job satisfaction has declined from 61 percent of people
surveyed in 1987 to 45 percent in 2009, and one workplace analyst has said a high level of dissatisfaction is
“the new normal”. What are some factors that might explain this decline in satisfaction levels? Do you
think it is possible for managers to reverse the trend? Discuss.
One possible factor is that work is increasingly knowledge-based, and the outputs of knowledge-based work are
less tangible than those of more materially-based work such as manufacturing and even service work. Less
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7. Which of the four components of emotional intelligence do you consider most important to an effective
manager in today’s world? Why?
The four components of emotional intelligence include self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and
8. How might understanding whether an employee has an internal or an external locus of control help a
manager better communicate with, motivate, and lead the employee?
People differ in terms of what they tend to attribute as the cause of their success or failure. Their locus of
control defines whether they place the primary responsibility within themselves or on outside forces. Some
9. How do you think a system for self-management such as the five-step system described in this chapter could
benefit you as a student? What parts of the system seem particularly useful to you? Explain.
The five-step system described in the chapter will benefit not just employees but anyone who practices it. It is
10. Why do you think workplace stress is skyrocketing? Do you think it is a trend that will continue? Explain
the reasons for your answer. Do you think it is the responsibility of managers and organizations to help
employees manage stress? Why or why not?
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Workplace stress is skyrocketing, in part, because the advancements in technology that were at one time
expected to give us a great deal more leisure time have, instead, resulted in people working longer hours and
being unable to escape the pressures of work even when they aren’t physically at work. The constant
Apply Your Skills: Experiential Exercise
Personality Assessment: Jung’s Typology
Personality assessments based on the work of psychologist Carl Jung are widely used. No one is a pure type;
however, each individual has preferences for introversion versus extroversion, sensing versus intuition, thinking
versus feeling, and judging versus perceiving. Based the scores in the survey, students can read the descriptions
of their types in the chart. They can then discuss whether they feel that the description fits their personalities.
Apply Your Skills: Small Group Breakout
Personality Role Play
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Apply Your Skills: Ethical Dilemma
Should I Fudge the Numbers?
1. Make the previous numbers work. Kristin and the entire team have put massive amounts of time into the
project and they all expect you to be a team player. You don’t want to let them down. Besides, this project
is a great opportunity for you in a highly visible position.
2. Stick to your principles and refuse to fudge the numbers. Tell Kristin you will work overtime to help
develop an alternate proposal that stays within the budget by providing more training to employees who
work directly with customers and fewer training hours for those who don’t have direct customer contact.
3. Go to the team and tell them what you’ve been asked to do. If they refuse to support you, threaten to reveal
the true numbers to the CEO and board members.
Apply Your Skills: Case for Critical Analysis
A Nice Manager
1. What does Nice mean to you? Is being considered nice a good trait for managers to have or the kiss of
death?
The word nice can be construed in several different ways. It could simply mean being compassionate and
2. Is nice related to any concepts in the chapter, such as agreeableness, conscientiousness, or emotional
intelligence? Discuss.
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3. If Harry is passed over for promotion, what feedback and advice should he be given about how to improve
his management skills for possible future promotions?
If Harry is passed over for promotion, he should retain his basic helping nature but should also ensure that he is
On the Job Video Case Answers
Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams
1. In the video, Vice President Dan Gauthreaux says, “I think you can learn from any job you do and try to
make the best of it.”What does this statement say about Gauthreaux’s personality and self-awareness?
The statement suggests several things about Gauthreaux’s personal nature. Although he is acknowledging that
2. How did Kim Clay’s organizational citizenship behavior lead to the creation of a new computer help desk at
MG+BW?
Organizational citizenship refers to the tendency of some employees to help others and put in extra effort that
3. What role did management play in fostering Kim Clay’s high organizational commitment? In what ways does
this commitment benefit the organization?
Organizational commitment refers to an employee’s loyalty to, and involvement in, an organization. It is
characterized by a belief in the company’s goals, a concern for the company’s growth, and a desire to remain
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