Conflict & Stress Flashcards
Conflict
Process occurring when one group, person, or organizational subunit frustrates the goal attainment of another
Involves antagonistic attitudes and behaviours
Power
If dependence is one way, potential for conflict increases
E.g. production may be highly dependent on inspection but dependence is not reciprocated
Production may treat inspectors with hostility
Status
People expect for low class to be dependent on those with higher status
Because this dynamic is expected it doesn’t always cause conflict
When status dynamic works the other way around conflict can be generated
E.g. waitstaff giving orders to higher status chefs
Ambiguity & Conflict
Ambiguous goals, jurisdictions, or performance criteria can lead to conflict
Formal and informal rules governing interaction break down under ambiguity
Scarce Resources & Conflict
Differences in power are magnified when resources become scarce
E.g. limited budget money can cause conflict
Relationship Conflict
Tensions among individuals that have to do with relationship, not tasks
E.g. personality clashes
Task Conflict
Disagreements about nature of work to be done
Differences of opinion about goals or technical matters
Can be beneficial for performance if task is non routine and requires a variety of perspectives (if doesn’t degenerate into relationship conflict)
Constructive Conflict
Promotes good decisions and positive organizational change
Elevated task conflict combined with low/minor levels of relationship & process conflict
When tendency to avoid conflict is resisted and parties have open minded discussion of differences
Process Conflict
Disagreements about how work should be organized and accomplished
Disagreements about responsibility, authority, resource allocation, and who does what
Conflict Stimulation
Strategy of increasing conflict to motivate change
Causes of conflict can be manipulated by managers to achieve change
Modes of Managing Conflict
Avoiding
Accommodating
Compromise
Competing
Collaborating
Avoiding
Low assertiveness of one’s own interests and low cooperation with other group
Short term stress reduction
Does not change the situation
Application: when issue is trivial, info is lacking, people need to cool down, or opponent is very powerful/hostile
Accommodating
Cooperating with other group’s wishes while not asserting one’s own interests
If seen as sign of weakness, does not bode well for future interactions
Application: when you are wrong, issue is more important to the other party, want to build goodwill
Competing
Maximize assertiveness for own position and minimize cooperative responses
Win/lose, priority to win
Application: when you have a lot of power, are sure of your facts, situation is truly win/lose, will not have to interact with other party in the future
Compromise
Intermediate levels of assertiveness and cooperation
Combine competition and accommodation
Contains seed for procedural conflict
Not useful for resolving conflicts that stem from power asymmetry
Does not always result in most creative response to conflict
Application: sensible reaction to conflict from scarce resources, good fallback position if other strategies fail
Collaborating
Both assertiveness and cooperation are maximized
Win/win resolution
Enhances productivity and achievement
Application: when conflict is not intense, when each party has info that is useful to the other
Stressors
Environmental events or conditions that have potential to induce stress
Demand that exceeds the capacity of the individual to cope
Some conditions are stressful for everyone (e.g. heat, cold, isolation, hostility)
Personality often determines extent to which a stressor induced stress
Stress
Psychological reaction to demands inherent in a stressor that has potential to make a person feel tense or anxious because person does not feel capable of coping with demands
Not intrinsically bad (becomes problem when leads to strain)
Strain
Consequences of stress over long period of time
Physical: immune system, cardiovascular system, blood pressure, noradrenaline, backaches, gastrointestinal issues
Psychological: anxiety, depression, anger issues, hostility, irritability, memory loss
Behaviours: grinding teeth, overuse of alcohol, smoking, compulsive gum chewing, compulsive eating
Stress Reactions
Behavioural, psychological, and physiological consequences of stress
Passive responses - individual has little control over (e.g. reduced immune function)
Active attempts to cope with aspect of stress
Locus of Control & Stress
People’s beliefs about the factors that control their behaviours
Internal: control their own behaviour
-More likely to confront stress directly because assume will help
Externals: behaviour controlled by luck, fate, powerful people
-Prone to simple anxiety reduction strategies that only work short term
-More likely to feel anxious in face of stressors (feel less in control)
Basic Stress Principle
Stressors in the environment lead to strain
Extent to which stressors lead to strain depends on the level of control/autonomy employees have
More control leads to less impact of stressors
High control people less lightly to die with high job demands
Type A Behaviour Pattern
Aggressive and ambitious
Hostility easily aroused, feel great sense of time urgency
Report heavy workloads, long work hours, conflicting work demands
More likely to exhibit elevated blood pressure and heart rate, modified blood chemistry
Workaholism: addiction to work in which one has an internal compulsion to work, thinks persistently about work, works excessively
Tend to be stressed, burned out, dissatisfied, poor health, do not perform better than laid back colleagues
Negative Affectivity
Propensity to view the world in negative light
Component of neuroticism, Pessimistic and downbeat
Report more work stressors and feel more subjective stress
Self fulfilling prophecy
Passive coping (e.g. drink more with more stress)
Role Overload
One must perform too many tasks in too short a time period or work too many hours
Common stressor for managers
Heavy Responsibility
Work has important consequences for organization and members
Operative Level Stressors
Poor physical working conditions
Poor job design (e.g. too simple)
Boundary Role
Positions requiring members to interact with members of other organizations or with the public
Experience stress when straddling imaginary boundary between organization and environment (role conflict)
Burnout
Syndrome made up of emotional exhaustion, cynicism, low self efficacy
Medical diagnosis
Common for people who enter job with high ideals
Consequences of Burnout
Pursuing a new occupation
Guilt for not being able to cope
Stay in same occupation but seek new job
Stay in jobs and do little to contribute
Pursue admin careers
Work Engagement
Positive work related state of mind that is characterized by vigour, dedication, absorption
Job Demands-Resources Model
Work can be described in terms of demands and resources
Job demands: physical, psychological, social, or organizational features of a job that require sustained physical or psychological effort that can result in physiological or psychological costs (work overload, time pressure, etc)
Job resources: features that are functional in helping achieve work goals, reduce job demands, and stimulate personal growth, learning, and development (pay, job security, etc)
High job resources foster work engagement
High job demands exhaust employees physically and mentally
Counterproductive Work Behaviour
Intentional verbal or physical behaviour meant to harm one’s organization or individuals
Bullying
Cyberbulliyng
Workplace ostracism
Sexual harassement
Mobbing
Number of individuals gang up on an employee
Abusive Supervision
Managers engage in bullying of subordinates
Work-Family Conflict
When work duties interfere with family life or vice versa
Conflict results in burnout
Men and women equally susceptible
Women have more family interfering with work (2 more hours doing housework)
Men have more work interfering with family (1 more hours of work)
Social Support
Close ties can affect stress by bolstering self esteem, providing useful info, offering comfort and humour, providing material resources
People with stronger social networks have better psychological and physical well being
Defence Mechanisms
Rationalization
Projection
Displacement
Reaction Formation
Compensation
Can be useful strategies is used occasionally to temporarily reduce anxiety
When becomes a chronic reaction to stress the picture changes
Rationalization
Attributing social acceptable reasons or motives to one’s actions so they appear reasonable and sensible
Projection
Attribute one’s own undesirable ideas and motives to others so they seem less negative
Displacement
Directing feelings of anger at a safe target rather than expressing them where they may be punished
Reaction Formation
Expressing oneself in a manner that is directly opposite to the way one truly feels rather than risking negative reactions to one’s true position
Compensation
Applying one’s skills in a particular area to make up for failure in another area
