UNIT TWO

Managing Individuals
 Diversity and Individual Differences
• Everybody brings differences to an organization
where they work.

• These differences can create energy and

excitement in the workplace, but they can also
cause conflict.

• So it is important that we have an

understanding of how diversity works in
organizations.
 Two levels of diversity
• When we look at the workplace we can recognize two levels of diversity.

1. Surface-level diversity represents the characteristics that are easily observed

such as race, gender, age etc.

2. Deep-level diversity represents the aspects that are more difficult to see at
first glance such as values, personality, and work preferences.
♦♦♦ Organizations need to engage in Diversity Management to eliminate unfair
discrimination.

♦♦♦ By understanding what diversity is and helping employees with training and
development opportunities, the negative impact of discrimination can be
minimized.
 Diversity

Surface-level diversity

Deep-level diversity

Diversity Management
 Personality
DEFINITION

• Set of characteristics that underlie a relatively stable pattern of behavior in

response to ideas, objects, or people in the environment

• The sum total of ways in which an individual reacts and interacts with
others.

• Personality is a pattern of stable states and characteristics of a person that

influences his or her behavior toward goal achievement.

• Each person has unique ways of protecting these states.
 Definition

• The dynamic organization within the individual of those

psychophysical systems that determine his unique
adjustments to his environment.
- Gordon Allport
 Determinants to Personality

What determines an individual's personality?

 .................Determinants to Personality
a. Heredity- Whether we are tall or short, experience
good health or ill health, are quickly irritable or patient, are all
characteristics which can, in many cases, be traced to heredity.

Factors determined at conception: physical stature, facial

attractiveness, gender, temperament, muscle composition and
reflexes, energy level, and bio-rhythms
This “Heredity Approach” argues that genes are the source of
personality.
- Twin studies: raised apart but very similar personalities.
- There is some personality change over long time periods.
 Determinants to Personality
b. Culture. The cultural values we are surrounded
by significantly tend to shape our personal
values and predisposition.

c. Family Background- His socio-economic

status of the family, the number of children in
the family and birth order, and the
background and education of the parents and
extended members of the family such as
uncles and aunts, influence the shaping of
personality to a considerable extent
 .................Determinants to Personality
d. Situation:- Individual has to interact with number of

problems in a given situation, which does not remain constant. It

is subject to change and hence fluid in nature

e. Environment:- Every individual is born and brought

up in a particular environment. Environment leaves an imprint on

the personality of an individual. It is commonly seen that a
doctor’s son preferring his father’s profession and a child of a
soldier entering into defense Services.
Frameworks used to describe personality

• Two dominant frameworks used to describe

personality
— Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
— Big Five Model
 The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
Most widely used instrument in the world.
Participants are classified on four axes to determine one of
16 possible personality types, such as ENTJ.

Sociable and Extroverte Introverted Quiet and

Assertive d (E) (I) Shy

x
Practical and conscious
Processes
Orderly

Use Reason es Values

and Logic & Emotions

Want Order Flexible and

& Structure Spontaneous
/artless
 16 Myers-Briggs Types

ISTJ ISFJ INFJ INTJ

ISTP ISFP INFP INTP
ESTP ESFP ENFP ENTP
ESTJ ESFJ ENFJ ENTJ
 T h e Ty p e s a n d T h e i r U s e s

• Each of the sixteen possible combinations has a name, for

instance:
— Visionaries (INTJ) - original, stubborn/willful, and driven
— Organizers (ESTJ) - realistic, logical, analytical, and businesslike
— Conceptualizer (ENTP) - entrepreneurial, innovative, individualistic,
and resourceful

Research results on validity mixed

— MBTI is a good tool for self-awareness and counseling.
The Big Five Model of Personality Dimensions
Sociable, gregarious, and assertive

Good-natured, cooperative, and trusting

Responsible, dependable, persistent,

and organized

Calm, self-confident, secure under stress

(positive), versus nervous, depressed, and
insecure under stress (negative)
Curious, imaginative, artistic, and sensitive.
 How Do the Big Five Traits Predict Behavior?

• Research has shown this to be a better framework.

• Certain traits have been shown to strongly relate to higher job
performance:
— Highly conscientious people develop more job knowledge, exert
greater effort, and have better performance.
— Other Big Five Traits also have implications for work.
• Emotional stability is related to job satisfaction.
• Extroverts tend to be happier in their jobs and have good social
skills.
• Open people are more creative and can be good leaders.
• Agreeable people are good in social settings.
 Major Personality Attributes Influencing
OB

• Locus of Control
• Machiavellianism
• Self-Esteem
• Self-Monitoring
• Risk-Taking
• Type A Personality
• Type B Personality
• Proactive Personality
 Locus of Control
The degree to which people believe they are in control of their
own fate/destiny.
o Internals (internal locus of control)
o Individuals who believe that they control what happens to them.

o Externals (external locus of control

o Individuals who believe that what happens to them is controlled by outside forces such as
luck or chance.

•If you believe you control your own destiny you are labelled internal; if you
see your life as being controlled by outside forces you are labelled external.

•Research shows internals are more satisfied with their jobs, have lower
absenteeism, and perform better on certain types of jobs.
 Machiavellianism
• Degree to which an individual is pragmatic/realistic,
maintains emotional distance, and believes that ends can
justify means.
• A person having High Machiavellianism (H Mach) generally
displays variety of personality traits like manipulation, win
more, and persuade others to do a work while they do not
get persuaded by others.
• Machiavelli believed in one doctrine, that a work must be
finished whatever be the means.
 Authoritarianism
•Authoritarianism Close to the personality trait that a person
possesses who is achievement oriented is a person who believes in
having a reasonably high authority in the organization.
•Theory of authoritarianism is related with status and power.

•The theory states that there should be status and power difference
between various people in the organization
 Self-Esteem
• Individuals’ degree of liking or disliking of themselves.

• People’s self-esteem has to do with their self-perceived competence and

self-image.
• People having high degree of self-esteem take more risk in job selection and
take up unconventional assignments.
• those possessing low self-esteem display dependency, seek approval from
others for the decision they make, respect others and seek confirmation in
beliefs.
• Managers with low self-esteem do not take unpopular stand, which may lead
to displeasing others.
 Self-Monitoring
• it is related to self- efficacy

• A personality trait that measures an individual’s ability to adjust

behaviour to external situational factors.

• This quality displays high degree of adaptability and high sensitivity of

an individual.

> A person possessing self monitoring trait is likely to behave differently in

different situation.
 Risk-Taking

• Refers to a person’s willingness to take chances or

risks.

• May be best to align propensity with job requirements.

• Risk takers make faster decisions with less information
 Type A Personality
■ a keen sense of time urgency

■ focuses excessively on achievement, very competitive

■ Aggressive

■ Quick Mover,

■ Impatient and compulsory ,irritable, perfectionist

■ Multitasks once
Type A: significant risk
■ Dislikes leisure
factor for coronary
■ Obsessed with numbers heart disease.
 Type B Personality
— Never suffers

— Doesn’t need to display

— Plays for fun

— Can relax

— strong self-esteem, even tempered,

— no sense of time urgency

— are more methodical in getting tasks accomplished

 Learning
Definitions: Learning is:
1. "a persisting change in human performance or
performance potential . . . (brought) about as a result of
the learner's interaction with the environment"
(Driscoll, 1994, pp. 8-9).

2. "the relatively permanent change in a person's knowledge

or behavior due to experience"
(Mayer, 1982, p. 1040).

3. "an enduring change in behavior, or in the capacity to

behave in a given fashion, which results from
practice or other forms of experience"
(Shuell, 1986, p. 412).
 Overview of the Three Types of Learning

• Classical Conditioning: The learning of “involuntary ”

reflexive behavior, such as emotional reactions
e.g. Pavlov dog case
• Operant Conditioning: The learning of voluntary, goal-
directed behavior through the direct experience of
consequences
- a type of learning that involves reinforcement and punishment. e.g.
Skinner
• Social Learning: The learning of voluntary, goal- directed
behavior through observation and imitation of others
An unconditioned stimulus (U£S) produces on A neutraJ stimulus produces no salivation response.
unconditioned response (UCR).
WJRHG CONDITION HG AFTER COW rTK>« HG

Neutral
shmdus - DCS (food
in mouth)

DCS (food
in mouth)
The unconditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented just The neutraJ stimulus alone now produces a conditioned response (CR),
after the neutral stimulus. thereby becoming a conditioned stimulus (CS).
The unconditioned stimulus continues to produce an
unconditioned response.
 Social Learning

• Social learning approach is a behavioral approach. The approach basically

deals with learning process based on direct observation and the experience
• It is achieved while interacting with individuals.

• In social learning people observe, alter and even construct a particular

environment to fit in the social behavioral pattern.

• Individuals learn a great deal from watching attractive models and they

copy their behavior and display the same.

 B/Q

?
 c
Perception, Attribution
and
Judgment of Others
Perception Defined

The process of receiving

information about and making
sense of the world around us
- deciding which information to
notice
- how to categorize this
information
- how to interpret information
within our existing knowledge
framework
3-117
 Definition of Perception

■ Perception is defined as “a process by which

individuals organize and interpret their sensory

impressions in order to give meaning to their

environment (Robbins)
Kolsds defines "perception as the selection and organization of material
which stems from the outside environment at one time or the other to
provide the meaningful entity we experience ”.
 Errors and Biases in Attributions
• Fundamental Attribution Error
— The tendency to underestimate the influence of external factors and
overestimate the influence of internal factors when making judgments
about the behavior of others
— We blame people first, not the situation

• Self-Serving Bias
— The tendency for individuals to attribute their own successes to
internal factors while putting the blame for failures on external factors

— It is "our” success but "their”failure

Common Errors While Judging Others
•Prejudice refers to a person’s predetermined negative
attitudes towards people based on some group identity. When
an individual acts on his negative prejudicial attitudes,
discrimination occurs.
•Discrimination is the result of prejudicial attitudes.
Prejudices are generally deeply ingrained, learned beliefs and
attitudes passed on by family, regional, and peer cultures.
 Selective Perception

• People selectively interpret what they see based on their attitude, interest,

background and experience.

• It is important that when we read others, we make a mistake reading with

speed and putting seal of what has been selectively seen by a perceiver.
 Halo Effect

• It refers to judging an individual based on single

characteristics, such as intellectual ability, sociability and
appearance.
• Believing a person who did good/bad things once will do
similar things continuously.
•Example: Sales Manager’s visit to sales territory and consequent
increase in sales volume may be attributed to the visit of the sales
manager to a particular sales territory.
 Projection

• You assume a person based on your own traits and not what he actually

possesses.

• If you were hard working and dependable you would expect others to

be so.
• Attributing one’s own characteristics
 Contrast Effect/relativity effect

• We do not evaluate a person in isolation.

• Our reaction to one person is relative to the

other.

• During selection process, interviewer selects

a particular person for a particular job not
because he fulfils all requirements but he is
generally selected in relation to the other
 Stereotyping

♦♦♦ In order to simplify matters, we often tend

to classify people and events into already
known categories.
♦♦♦ For example we generally perceive man as
executive and woman as secretary even if the
situation may be different.
 d
Values,
Attitudes
and
Work Behavior
 Values
• Represent interpretations of “right” and
“wrong”
 Importance of Values
• Provide understanding of the attitudes, motivation,
and behaviors
• Influence our perception of the world around us
• Represent interpretations of “right” and “wrong”
• Imply that some behaviors or outcomes are
preferred over others
 Classifying Values - Rokeach Value Survey
• Terminal Values
— Desirable end-states of existence; the goals that a person would
like to achieve during his or her lifetime
• Instrumental Values
— Preferable modes of behavior or means of achieving one’s
terminal values

• People in same occupations or categories tend to hold

similar values
— But values vary between groups
— Value differences make it difficult for groups to negotiate and
may create conflict
 EXHIBIT 2-1 Examples of Terminal and Instrumental Values
in the Rokeach Value Survey
r- A
rermirul \ allies Instrumental Values

\ cut ns stable life (i prosnemus life) Ambitious (hardworking. aspiring}

g. ^ Capable t competent, effective)
''msc »f acc miph diinent<lasting contribution)
^ Wltrido' peace urec of HIT and conflict) Cheerful (lighthearted, joyful)
^ kS ,r d of beauty beauty of nature and the arts) Clean (neat, tidy)

FapulK; li n rherh' XHi, ctjujl opportunity lorail) Courageous (standing up for your beliefs)
\ A! HI I v security ttakingcare of loved ones) Helpful (working for the welfare of others)
IrrcvJmTi t independence, tree choice) Honest (sincere, truthful)

Happtncvs (cuntentodness) Imaginative (daring, creative)

IfiiJi r harroonv I treed »tn fr< MU inner conflict) Lunical icorsistent, raonml

I enjoyable, leisure!\ life! 1 .« wrmg (affectionate, lender)

Sahitjc*i baved^ ctenul libel Obedient (dutiful, respectful)

*** al rc%» oTiu**n [respect, admiration* Polite (courteous, well mannered <

J
• Responsible (dependable, reliable )
V '*** tnrrvihlnp iclusc citfiipuniondup}
 ATTITUDE
• Attitudes are evaluative statements-either favorable or unfavorable-
concerning objects, people, or events.
• They reflect how one feels about something
• Evaluative statements or judgments concerning objects, people, or
events

• Attitude is a mental state organized through experience, exerting a

directive or dynamic influence upon individual’s response to all
objects and situations with which it is related.”
• An attitude is “a learned predisposition to respond in a consistently
favorable or unfavorable manner with respect to a given object”
• Attitude object: physical objects, issues, ideas, events, people, places
 Components of Attitudes
• Cognitive component includes the beliefs, opinions, and information the
person has about the object of the attitude.
e.g. “I believe my boss plays favorites at work”. “I believe Japanese workers are
industrious” reflects the cognitive component of an attitude
• Affective component is the person’s emotions or feelings about the object of
the attitude
e.g. I don’t like my boss, I like this..I prefer that...
• Behavioral component of an attitude is the person’s intention to behave
toward the object of the attitude in a certain way.

•e.g. I do not like Maya because she is not hard working

This is an affective

component, I therefore would like to disassociate myself with her,

 Attitudes

Three components of an
attitude:

Affective
The emotional or
Cognitive feeling segment of
r an attitude
The opinion or A

\ belief segment of Behavioral

an attitude
An intention to behave in
a certain way toward
someone or something
Attitude
Components of an Attitude
What are the Major Job Attitudes?

• Job Satisfaction
— A positive feeling about the job
resulting from an evaluation of its
characteristics
Job Involvement
— Degree of psychological
identification with the job where
perceived performance is important to
self-worth
Psychological Empowerment
— Belief in the degree of influence over
the job, competence, job
meaningfulness, and autonomy
High Performance Job Designs
Motivation in Practice

OB&A
 Alternative Work Arrangements
• There are some alternative work arrangements that havebeen
successful in helping increase the motivation of workers.
• These arrangements give the worker more control over their
work and thereby can increase their level of motivation. For
example
i. Flextime
- Flextime allows employees to choose the hours they work within a
defined period of time.
ii. Job Sharing
- Job Sharing allows two or more individuals to split a traditional 40/48-
hour-a-week job.
iii. Telecommuting
- Telecommuting allows workers to work from home at least 2 days
a week on a computer linked to the employer’s office.

OB&A
. Social and Physical Context of Work
Social Context
- Some social characteristics that improve job performance include:
•
Interdependence
Social support
• Interactions with other people outside of work ___,

Physical Context
- The work context will also affect employee satisfaction
• Work that is hot, loud, and dangerous is less
satisfying
• Work that is controlled, relatively quiet, and
safe will be more satisfying

OB&A
 . Employee Involvement
• Definition: A participative process that uses employees’ input
to increase their commitment to the organization’s success.

Examples of Employee Involvement Programs

• Participative Management: when managers include
employees in the decision-making process
• Representative Participation: tries to redistribute power by
putting labor on a more equal footing with the interest of
managers and stockholders. They do this by letting the workers be
represented by small groups of employees who participate in
decisions.

OB&A
.Using Rewards to Motivate Employees
• Although pay is not the primary factor
driving job satisfaction, it is a
motivator. - Establish a pay structure
- Variable-pay programs

OB&A
 . Establishing a Pay Structure

4
' Internal External
< Pay Equity Pay Equity

OB&A
 . Flexible Benefits

• Flexible benefits give individual rewards by

allowing each employee to choose the
compensation package that best satisfies his
or her current needs and situations.

OB&A
 . Employee Recognition Programs
• Employee rewards need to be intrinsic and
extrinsic. Employee recognition programs are a
good method of intrinsic rewards.
— The rewards can range from a simple thank-you to more
widely publicized formal programs.
— Advantages of recognition programs are that they are
inexpensive and effective.
— Some critics say they can be politically
motivated and if they are perceived to be
applied unfairly, they can cause more harm
than good.

OB&A
 Motivational Practices

Not only this practices

OB&A
 GOODBYE!!

THANKYOU

OB&A
Unit Three
Managing Groups
Defining Groups
0 Group:
◦ Two or more individuals interacting and interdependent, who
have come together to achieve particular objectives
❖ Formal Group:
◦ Defined by the organization’s structure with designated work
assignments establishing tasks
Informal Group:
◦ Alliances that are neither formally structured
nor organizationally determined
◦ Appear naturally in response to the need for social contact
◦ Deeply affect behavior and performance

9
2
1
7
Why do you...?
 Why do people join a group?
Security
◦ By joining a group, individuals can reduce the insecurity of
"standing alone.” People feel stronger, have fewer selfdoubts, and
are more resistant to threats when they are part of a group.

Status
◦ Inclusion in a group that is viewed as important by others provides
recognition and status for its members.

Self-Esteem
◦ Groups can provide people with feelings of self-worth. That is, in
addition to conveying status to those outside the group, membership
can also give increased feelings
~ _ o f worth to the group members themselves.
2
0
 Why do people join a gCont...
Affiliation

◦ Groups can fulfill social needs. People enjoy the regular

interaction that comes with group membership. For many people,
these interactions are their primary way of satisfying their needs
for affiliation.
Power

◦ What cannot be achieved individually often becomes possible

through group action. There is power in numbers.

Goal Achievement

◦ There are times when it takes more than one person to

igomplish a particular task; there is a need to pool
wledge, or power in order to complete a 22
1
Classifying Groups
group (s) formal group
Two or more individuals,
interacting and interdependent, A designated work group
who have come together to defined by the organization’s
achieve particular objectives
structure.

22
2
command group
task group
A group composed of the
individuals who report Those working together to
directly to a given manager complete a job task.

friendship group
interest group
Those brought together
Those working together to because they share one or
attain a specific objective more common characteristics.
with which each is
concerned.
22
3
1. Forming stage
2. Storming stage
3. Norming stage
4. Performing stage
5. Adjourning stage

22
4
 forming stage
norming stage
The first stage in group
The third stage in group
development, characterized by
development, characterized by
much uncertainty.
close relationships and
cohesiveness.
storming stage
The second stage in group
development, characterized by
intragroup conflict.

22
5
Stages of Group Development
(cont’d)
performing stage
The fourth stage in group
development, when the
group is fully functional.

adjourning stage
The final stage in group
development for temporary
groups, characterized by
concern with wrapping up
activities rather than task

22
6
Prestage I Stage I Stage II
Forming Storming

22
7
 ......GB Model
1. External Conditions Imposed on the
Group
Imposed Conditions:
• Organization's overall strategy
• Authority structures
• Formal regulations
• Resource constraints
• Selection process
• Performance and evaluation system
• Organization's culture
• Physical work setting

22
9
I Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
◦ Interpersonal s k i l l s
• Conflict management and
resolution
• Collaborative problem solving
• Communication skills
◦ Personality Characteristics

23
0
......GB Model
3. Group Structure
I Under group structure we can see

a. Roles
b. Norms
c. Status
d. Size
e. Composition
f. Cohesiveness
23
1
Known as Group Properties
Norms
Status
Roles

Group
Performanc
e
Cohesiveness Size

23
2
H Formal Leadership
◦ Leadership that is imposed on the group by the organization.
◦ Leaders who derive their power from the positions they
occupy in the organizational structure.
◦ Formal leaders may or may not also be the informal
Readers of the groups in which they function.
23
4
role identity role perception
Certain attitudes and behaviors An individual’s view of how he
consistent with a role. or she is supposed to act in a
role expectations given situation.
role conflict
How others believe a person
should act in a given situation. A situation in which an
individual is confronted
by divergent role
expectations.

23
5
 norms
Acceptable standards of behavior within a group
that are shared by the group’s members.

Classes of Norms:
Performance norms - level of acceptable work
Appearance norms - what to wear
Social arrangement norms - friendships and the like
Allocation of resources norms - distribution and assignments of jobs and
material
3

Is
conformity
Adjusting one’s behavior to
align with the norms of the
group.

reference groups
Important groups to which
individuals belong or hope to
belong and with whose norms
individuals are likely to conform.

23
6
deviant workplace
behavior
Antisocial actions by
organizational members that
intentionally violate established
norms and that result in
negative consequences for the
organization, its members, or
both.

23
7
Production Leaving early
Intentionally working slow Wasting
resources

Property Sabotage
Lying about hours worked Stealing from
the organization

Political Showing favoritism

Gossiping and spreading rumors
Blaming coworkers
Sexual harassment
Personal Aggression
Verbal abuse
Stealing from coworkers

23
8
status
A socially defined
position or rank
given to groups or
group members by
others.
24
0
 social loafing
Performance
The tendency for individuals to
expend less effort when
working collectively than when
working individually.

Other conclusions:
Odd number groups do
better than even.
Groups of 7 or 9 perform
better overall than larger
or smaller groups.

24
1
group demography

cohorts
Individuals who, as part of a

24
2
cohesiveness
Degree to which group
members are attracted to each
other and are motivated to
stay in the group.

Increasing group cohesiveness:

1. Make the group smaller.
2. Encourage agreement with group goals.
3. Increase time members spend together.
4. Increase group status and admission difficultly Stimulate
5. competition with other groups.
6 Give rewards to the group, not individuals. Physically
. isolate the group.
24
3
 GB Model
synergy
4. Group Processes
An action of two or more
substances that results in an
effect that is different from the
individual summation of the
substances.

24
4
 ......GB Model
6. Group Performance and
Satisfaction
Performance
S Typically, clear role perception, appropriate norms, low status

differences and smaller, more cohesive groups lead to higher

performance

Satisfaction
Increases with high match between boss and employee’s
perceptions about the job specially if group size is small

25
0
The Grapevine
Three Main Grapevine Characteristics
1. Informal, not controlled by management
2. Perceived by most employees as being more believable
and reliable than formal communications
3. Largely used to serve the self-interests of those who use it
Results from:
o
Desire for information about important situations
◦ Ambiguous conditions °
Conditions that cause anxiety
Insightful to managers
Serves employee’s social needs

11-280
 1. Announce timetables for making
important decisions

2. Explain decisions and behaviors that may

appear inconsistent or secretive
Emphasize the downside, as well as the
3.
upside, of current decisions and future
plans
Openly discuss worst-case possibilities—
4. they are almost never as anxiety-provoking
as the unspoken
Source: Adapted from L. Hirschhorn,TMinap|nQ Rnmors,” in L. Hirschhorn (ed.), Cutting Back (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1 983), pp. 5456. With
permission.

11-281
11.1 CONFLICTS & CONFLICT MGMT.

29
6
 After studying this chapter, you
LEARNINGOBJECTIVES should be able to:
1. Define conflict.
2 . Differentiate between the traditional,
human relations, and interactionist views
of conflict.
3 . Contrast task, relationship, and
process conflict.
4 . Outline the conflict process.
5. Describe the five conflict-
hanrllinn intentions.
 Conflict is a disagreement through
which the parties involved perceive a
threat to their needs, interests or
concerns.

Hh Substantive *
Conflict
Emotional Conflict

29
8
Traditional View Human
Relations View
Interactionist View
Functional Conflict
Dysfunctional Conflict
30
1
Transitions in Conflict Thought
Traditional View of Conflict
The belief that all conflict is harmful
and must be avoided.

Causes:
• Poor
communication
• Lack of openness
• Failure to
respond to
employee needs
The belief that conflict is a natural and inevitable
outcome in any group.

Interactionist View of Conflict

The belief that conflict is not only

a positive force in a group but
that it is absolutely necessary for
a group to perform effectively.
Functional versus Dysfunctional
Conflict
Functional Conflict
Conflict that supports the goals
of the group and improves its
performance. - encourage
creativity, individual dep’t,
working environment

Dysfunctional Conflict
Conflict that hinders group
performance.
Lead to no absenteeism
solution, and etc.
1. Task conflict relates to the group goals or objectives to be
achieved by the group.
2. Behavioral conflict relates to individual’s value system,
approach, attitude, ego state, skill and norms being followed by him.
Studies reveal that most of the dysfunctional conflict falls under this
category.
3. Process conflict is related to how a task is being
accomplished in the organization. It is related with various
processes, procedures, drills and instructions that are being followed
on a particular job.
30
5
Forms of Conflict
Inter-Group Conflict

Conflicts between different groups, sections and departments are

called inter-group conflict. For example, conflict between
production and sales departments over the quality being produced
and the customer requirements. Inter-group conflict causes due to
factors inherent to the organizational structure like independence,
inconsistency in various policy matter, variance on promotion
criteria, reward system and different standards being adopted for
different sub-units and departments.
Inter-Organizational Conflict
It takes place between two dependent organizations. Conflict can
take place between government organization, unions and the
operating industry. Governmefltorganizations function to ensure
30
that minimum standards are followed bythe^rgmizations 7
Intra-Organizational Conflicts
It encompasses horizontal, vertical, line-staff and role based conflicts. Let
us briefly study these situations
8 Horizontal Conflict: Horizontal Conflict is caused due to incompatibility
of goals, sharing limited resources and difference in time orientation

8 Vertical Conflict: Vertical conflict refers to conflicts that might take place
between different levels of hierarchy.
8 Line and Staff Conflict: Line and staff conflict has been traditional. Line
authority creates product and services and contributes directly towards
the revenue generation. While staff authority, assists line authority and
acts in advisory capacity
8 Role Conflict: A person in an organization has to perform various roles.
Conflict arises when roles assigned to him have different expectation.
'Time' management may cause conflict

30

8
End!
 Unit Four

Managing Organizations
 POWER AND POLITICS
Everyone in an organization has varying degrees of power.

Without power, people cannot plan and achieve goals; they cannot motivate

themselves or others, manage their careers effectively, mobilize resources, or

protect their rights.

Without power, organizations cannot compare effectively in national and

global markets. Power in and of itself is neither bad nor evil.

 POLITICS
Definition of Politics:

politics as those activities taken within organizations to acquire, develop and

use power and other resources to obtain one’s preferred outcome in a situation
in which there is uncertainty or dis-census about choices”.

power is a force, a store of potential influence through which events can be

affected. Politics involves those activities or behaviors through which power is
developed and used in organizational settings.
 Causes of Increase Political Behavior

Political behavior would probably emerge when someone or something upsets

the status quo of the organization that is when some change occurs.

The causes of political behavior include the followings:

• Technological and Environmental Change

• Personnel Changes
• Structural Change
• Interdepartmental Coordination Activities
• Resource Allocation
• Organizational Politics
 Causes of Increase Political Behavior cont’d

♦♦♦ Technological and Environmental Change

The introduction of computers, automation, changes in

government regulations, and increased competition, etc. can

cause increased political behavior.

♦♦♦ Personnel Changes: Personnel changes generally
involve promotions, transfers, etc. at the executive levels.
Causes of Increase Political Behavior

♦♦♦ Structural Change: Structural or organizational change aims at the core of

power and authority relationships and therefore, can be expected to induce

political behaviors. When reorganizations occur, no one expect change in

jobs, duties, responsibilities, and authority.

Causes of Increase Political Behavior

Interdepartmental Coordination Activities: These can also

facilitate political behaviors. This is because those relations between

interacting groups are sometimes not well defined, requiring a set of

coordinating mechanisms

Resource Allocation: Political behaviors can initiate particularly when

there is a scarcity of resources. When the resources are limited, some units

will take advantage and some will lose the advantage as a result of

allocations process
 Work Stress
• Stress

— A dynamic condition in which an individual is confronted

with an opportunity, constraint, or demand related to what
he or she desires and for which theoutcome is perceived to be
both uncertain and important
• Types of Stress
— Challenge Stressors
• Stress associated with workload, pressure to complete tasks,
and time urgency

— Hindrance Stressors
• Stress that keeps you from reaching your goals, such as red
tape/uncooperative employees
 Not All Stress Is Bad
• Some level of stress can increase productivity
• Too little or too much stress will reduce performance

• This model is not empirically supported

Hig
h

t
o
v
C
o
£
o
Low
M—
4)
L.
a Low -Stress —
 Managing Stress
• Individual Approaches
— Implementing time management
— Increasing physical exercise
— Relaxation training
— Expanding social support network
• Organizational Approaches
— Improved personnel selection and job placement
rp • •

— Training
— Use of realistic goal setting
— Redesigning of jobs
— Increased employee involvement
— Improved organizational communication
— Offering employee sabbaticals
— Establishment of corporate wellness programs