Richard L. Daft - Management. 9th ed., 2010

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PART 5 LEADING390

Personality differences among employees make the

life of a new manager interesting—and sometimes

exasperating. Consultant Deborah Hildebrand took a

lighthearted look at this issue by comparing the man-

ager to a ringmaster at the circus. Here are a few of

the “performers” managers encounter:

▪ The Lion Tamer. These people are  ercely

independent and like to be in control. They are

willing to tackle the biggest, toughest projects

but aren’t typically good team players. The

manager can give lion tamers some freedom, but

make sure they understand who is ultimately in

charge. Lion tamers crave recognition. Praising

them for their accomplishments is a sure way

to keep them motivated and prevent them from

acting out to draw attention to themselves.

▪ The Clown. Everybody loves him (or her), but

the clown tends to goof off a little too much,

as well as disrupt the work of others. Keeping

this person focused is the key to keeping him or

her productive. A little micromanaging can be

a good thing with a clown. It’s also good to put

clowns in jobs where socializing is a key to pro-

ductivity and success.

▪ Sideshow Performers. These are the knife throw-

ers,  re eaters, and sword swallowers. They

have unique strengths and skills but tend to get

overwhelmed with broad projects. These folks

are expert team members because they like to

combine their talents with others to make up a

whole. Don’t ask a sideshow performer to do a

lion tamer’s job.

This list is intended to be humorous, but in the real

world of management, working with different per-

sonalities isn’t always a laughing matter. Differences

at work can create an innovative environment but

also lead to stress, con ict, and bad feelings. Manag-

ers can learn to work more effectively with different

personality types by following some simple tips.

1. Understand your own personality and how you

react to others. Try to avoid judging people

based on limited knowledge. Realize that every-

one has many facets to their personality.

2. Treat everyone with respect. People like to be

accepted and appreciated for who they are.

Even if you  nd someone’s personality grating,

remain professional and keep your frustration

and irritation to yourself.

3. When leading a team or group, make sure

everyone has an equal chance to participate.

Don’t let the outgoing members dominate the

scene.

4. Remember that everyone wants to  t in. No

matter their personalities, people typically take

on behavior patterns that are the norm for their

environment. Managers can create norms that

keep everyone focused on positive interactions

and high performance.

SOURCES: Based on Deborah S. Hildebrand, “Managing

Different Personalities,” Suite101.com (June 25, 2007), http://

businessmanagement.suite101.com/article.cfm/manag-

ing_different_personalities; Jamie Walters and Sarah Fenson,

“Building Rapport with Different Personalities,” Inc.com

(March 2000), http://www.inc.com/articles/2000/03/17713

.html; Tim Millett, “Learning to Work with Different Personal-

ity Types,” http://ezinearticles.com/?Learning-To-Work-With-

Different-Personality-Types&id=725606; and Carol Ritberter,

“Understanding Personality: The Secret to Managing People,”

http://www.dreammanifesto.com/understanding-personality-

the-secret-of-managing-people.html (accessed April 17, 2008).

Bridging the Personality Gap

Manager’sShoptalk

They are better able to handle complex information and problem solving, are more

achievement oriented, but are also more independent and therefore more dif cult to

manage. By contrast, people with an external locus of control are harder to motivate,

less involved in their jobs, more likely to blame others when faced with a poor per-

formance evaluation, but more compliant and conforming and, therefore, easier to

manage.

Do you believe luck plays an important role in your life, or do you feel that you

control your own fate? To  nd out more about your locus of control, read the instruc-

tions and complete the questionnaire in Exhibit 13.7.

Authoritarianism Authoritarianism is the belief that power and status differences

should exist within the organization.

Individuals high in authoritarianism tend to

be concerned with power and toughness, obey recognized authority above them,

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CHAPTER 13 DYNAMICS OF BEHAVIOR IN ORGANIZATIONS 391

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stick to conventional values, critically judge others, and oppose the use of subjective

feelings. The degree to which managers possess authoritarianism will in uence how

they wield and share power. The degree to which employees possess authoritarianism

will in uence how they react to their managers. If a manager and employees differ in

their degree of authoritarianism, the manager may have dif culty leading effectively.

The trend toward empowerment and shifts in expectations among younger employ-

ees for more equitable relationships contribute to a decline in strict authoritarianism

in many organizations.

Machiavellianism Another personality dimension that is helpful in understand-

ing work behavior is Machiavellianism, which is characterized by the acquisition

of power and the manipulation of other people for purely personal gain. Machiavel-

lianism is named after Niccolo Machiavelli, a sixteenth-century author who wrote

The Prince, a book for noblemen of the day on how to acquire and use power.

Psy-

chologists developed instruments to measure a person’s Machiavellianism (Mach)

orientation.

Research shows that high Machs are predisposed to being pragmatic,

capable of lying to achieve personal goals, more likely to win in win-lose situations,

and more likely to persuade than be persuaded.

Different situations may require people who demonstrate one or the other type of

behavior. In loosely structured situations, high Machs actively take control, while low

Machs accept the direction given by others. Low Machs thrive in highly structured

situations, while high Machs perform in a detached, disinterested way. High Machs

are particularly good in jobs that require bargaining skills or that involve substantial

rewards for winning.

EXHIBIT 13.7 Measuring Locus of Control

Your Locus of Control

This questionnaire is designed to measure locus-of-control beliefs. Researchers using this questionnaire in a study of college students

found a mean of 51.8 for men and 52.2 for women, with a standard deviation of 6 for each. The higher your score on this question-

naire, the more you tend to believe that you are generally responsible for what happens to you; in other words, higher scores are as-

sociated with internal locus of control. Low scores are associated with external locus of control. Scoring low indicates that you tend to

believe that forces beyond your control, such as powerful other people, fate, or chance, are responsible for what happens to you.

For each of these 10 questions, indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree using the following scale:

1  strongly disagree 4  neither disagree nor agree 7  strongly agree

2  disagree 5  slightly agree

3  slightly disagree 6  agree

1. When I get what I want, it is usually because I worked hard for it. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

2. When I make plans, I am almost certain to make them work. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

3. I prefer games involving some luck over games requiring pure skill. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

4. I can learn almost anything if I set my mind to it. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

5. My major accomplishments are entirely due to my hard work and ability. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

6. I usually don’t set goals because I have a hard time following through on them. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

7. Competition discourages excellence. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8. Often people get ahead just by being lucky. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

9. On any sort of exam or competition, I like to know how well I do relative to everyone else. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

10. It’s pointless to keep working on something that’s too difﬁ cult for me. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Scoring and Interpretation

To determine your score, reverse the values you selected for questions 3, 6, 7, 8, and 10 (1  7, 2  6, 3  5, 4  4, 5  3, 6  2, 7  1).

For example, if you strongly disagree with the statement in question 3, you would have given it a value of 1. Change this value to a 7.

Reverse the scores in a similar manner for questions 6, 7, 8, and 10. Now add the point values for all 10 questions together.

Your score ________

SOURCES: Adapted from J. M. Burger, Personality: Theory and Research (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1986): 400–401, cited in D. Hellriegel, J.W. Slocum, Jr., and R.W.Woodman,

Organizational Behavior, 6th ed. (St. Paul, MN: West, 1992): 97–100. Original source: D. L. Paulhus,“Sphere-Speciﬁ c Measures of Perceived Control,”Journal of Personality and Social

Psychology, 44, 1253–1265.

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PART 5 LEADING392

Problem-Solving Styles and the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator Managers

also need to realize that individuals solve problems and make decisions in different

ways. One approach to understanding problem-solving styles grew out of the work

of psychologist Carl Jung. Jung believed differences resulted from our preferences in

how we go about gathering and evaluating information.

According to Jung, gath-

ering information and evaluating information are separate activities. People gather

information either by sensation or intuition, but not by both simultaneously. Sensa-

tion-type people would rather work with known facts and hard data and prefer

routine and order in gathering information. Intuitive-type people would rather look

for possibilities than work with facts and prefer solving new problems and using

abstract concepts.

Evaluating information involves making judgments about the information a per-

son has gathered. People evaluate information by thinking or feeling. These repre-

sent the extremes in orientation. Thinking-type individuals base their judgments on

impersonal analysis, using reason and logic rather than personal values or emotional

aspects of the situation. Feeling-type individuals base their judgments more on per-

sonal feelings such as harmony and tend to make decisions that result in approval

from others.

According to Jung, only one of the four functions—sensation, intuition, thinking,

or feeling—is dominant in an individual. However, the dominant function usually is

backed up by one of the functions from the other set of paired opposites. Exhibit 13.8

shows the four problem-solving styles that result from these matchups, as well as

occupations that people with each style tend to prefer.

Two additional sets of paired opposites not directly related to problem solving are

introversion–extroversion and judging–perceiving. Introverts gain energy by focusing on

personal thoughts and feelings, whereas extroverts gain energy from being around

others and interacting with others. On the judging versus perceiving dimension, peo-

ple with a judging preference like certainty and closure and tend to make decisions

quickly based on available data. Perceiving people, on the other hand, enjoy ambigu-

ity, dislike deadlines, and may change their minds several times as they gather large

amounts of data and information to make decisions.

Personal Style Action Tendencies Likely Occupations

Sensation-Thinking • Emphasizes details, facts, certainty

• Is a decisive, applied thinker

• Focuses on short-term, realistic goals

• Develops rules and regulations for judging performance

• Accounting

• Production

• Computer programming

• Market research

• Engineering

Intuitive-Thinking • Prefers dealing with theoretical or technical problems

• Is a creative, progressive, perceptive thinker

• Focuses on possibilities using impersonal analysis

• Is able to consider a number of options and problems

simultaneously

• Systems design

• Systems analysis

• Law

• Middle/top management

• Teaching business, economics

Sensation-Feeling • Shows concern for current, real-life human problems

• Is pragmatic, analytical, methodical, and conscientious

• Emphasizes detailed facts about people rather than tasks

• Focuses on structuring organizations for the beneﬁ t of people

• Directing supervisor

• Counseling

• Negotiating

• Selling

• Interviewing

Intuitive-Feeling • Avoids speciﬁ cs

• Is charismatic, participative, people oriented, and helpful

• Focuses on general views, broad themes, and feelings

• Decentralizes decision making, develops few rules and regulations

• Public relations

• Advertising

• Human Resources

• Politics

• Customer service

EXHIBIT 13.8 Four Problem-Solving Styles

CHAPTER 13 DYNAMICS OF BEHAVIOR IN ORGANIZATIONS 393

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A widely used personality test that measures how people differ on all four of

Jung’s sets of paired opposites is the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). The

MBTI measures a person’s preferences for introversion versus extroversion, sen-

sation versus intuition, thinking versus feeling, and judging versus perceiving.

The various combinations of these four preferences result in 16 unique personality

types.

Go to the experiential exercise on pages 400–402 that pertains to evaluating your

Myers–Briggs personality type.

Each of the 16 different personality types can have positive and negative con-

sequences for behavior. Based on the limited research that has been done, the two

preferences that seem to be most strongly associated with effective management

in a variety of organizations and industries are thinking and judging.

However,

people with other preferences can also be good managers. One advantage of under-

standing your natural preferences is to maximize your innate strengths and abilities.

Dow Chemical manager Kurt Swogger believes the MBTI can help put people in the

right jobs—where they will be happiest and make the strongest contribution to the

organization.

When Kurt Swogger arrived at Dow Chemical’s plastics business in 1991, it took anywhere

from 6 to 15 years to launch a new product—and the unit hadn’t launched a single one for

3 years. Ten years later, a new product launch took just 2 to 4 years, and Swogger’s R&D team

was launching hit after hit.

What changed? “The biggest obstacle to launching great new products was not having

the right people in the right jobs,” says Swogger. He began reassigning people based on his

intuition and experience, distinguishing pure inventors from those who could add value later

in the game and still others who were best at marketing the new products. Swogger says he

was right-on about 60 percent of the time. If someone didn’t work out after six months, he’d

put him or her in another assignment.

Seeking a better way to determine people’s strengths, Swogger began using the Myers–

Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), predicting which types would be best suited to each stage

of the product development and launch cycles. After administering the test to current and

former Dow plastics employees, he found some startling results. In 1991, when Swogger

came on board, the match between the right personality type and the right role was only

29 percent. By 2001, the rate had jumped to 93 percent. Swogger’s next step was to admin-

ister the MBTI to new hires, so he could immediately assign people to jobs that matched

their natural thinking and problem-solving styles, leading to happier employees and higher

organizational performance.

Other organizations also use the MBTI, with 89 of the Fortune 100 companies

recently reporting that they use the test in hiring and promotion decisions.

Putting

the right people in the right jobs is a vital skill for managers, whether they do it based

on intuition and experience or by using personality tests such as the MBTI.

Person–Job Fit

An important responsibility of managers is to try to match employee and job char-

acteristics so that work is done by people who are well suited to do it. The extent to

which a person’s ability and personality match the requirements of a job is called

person–job  t. When managers achieve person–job  t, employees are more likely to

contribute and have higher levels of job satisfaction and commitment.

The impor-

tance of person–job  t became apparent during the dot-com heyday of the late 1990s.

People who rushed to Internet companies in hopes of  nding a new challenge—or

making a quick buck—found themselves  oundering in jobs for which they were

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PART 5 LEADING394

unsuited. One manager recruited by a lead-

ing executive search  rm lasted less than

two hours at his new job. The search  rm,

a division of Russell Reynolds Associates,

later developed a “Web Factor” diagnostic

to help determine whether people have the

right personality for dot-com jobs, includ-

ing such things as a tolerance for risk and

uncertainty, an obsession with learning,

and a willingness to do whatever needs

doing, regardless of job title.

A related concern is person–environment

 t, which looks not only at whether the per-

son and job are suited to one another but

also at how well the individual will  t in

the overall organizational environment.

An employee who is by nature strongly

authoritarian, for example, would have a

hard time in an organization such as W. L.

Gore and Associates, which has few rules,

no hierarchy, no  xed or assigned authority, and no bosses. Many of today’s organi-

zations pay attention to person–environment  t from the beginning of the recruit-

ment process. Texas Instruments’ Web page includes an area called Fit Check that

evaluates personality types anonymously and gives a prospective job candidate the

chance to evaluate whether he or she would be a good match with the company.

LEARNING

Years of schooling condition many of us to think that learning is something students

do in response to teachers in a classroom. With this view, in the managerial world of

time deadlines and concrete action, learning seems remote—even irrelevant. How-

ever, successful managers need speci c

knowledge and skills as well as the ability

to adapt to changes in the world around

them. Managers have to learn. Learning is

a change in behavior or performance that

occurs as the result of experience. Two indi-

viduals who undergo similar experiences—

for example, a business transfer to a foreign

country—probably will differ in how they

adapt their behaviors to (that is, learn from)

the experience. In other words, each person

learns in a different way.

The Learning Process

One model of the learning process, shown

in Exhibit 13.9, depicts learning as a four-

stage cycle.

First, a person encounters a

concrete experience. This event is followed

by thinking and re ective observation,

which lead to abstract conceptualization

and, in turn, to active experimentation.

The results of the experimentation generate

new experiences, and the cycle repeats. The

Jenny Craig, the pioneering weight-loss company,

believes in continuous learning for both employees and clients. Its program combines

Web-based tools with more traditional methods, including videos and sessions led

by instructors, such as trainer Jeri Dawn Martel, shown here. Employees undergo an

extensive orientation, as well as several days of training each time they assume new

responsibilities. In addition, headquarters provides over 600 centers with product and

services updates for their semimonthly staff meetings and in-depth training materials

for quarterly continuing education courses.

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Andrew Field, who owns a $25 million printing services

company, PrintingForLess.com, uses dogs to help him create the person-environment ﬁ t

when hiring new employees. The dog-friendly policy started at the company’s inception

when Field began bringing his Border collie and black Labrador mix Jessie (far left) to

work on a daily basis. The idea caught on and now as many as ﬁ fteen dogs frequent the

ofﬁ ce with their owners. With rules such as owner accountability, a dog review board,

and a dog-approval process, employees ﬁ nd the dogs are a great release for stress. Fields

says that the dog policy helps him make good hires; candidates who respond favorably

to the canine rule are likely to ﬁ t in with the ofﬁ ce culture.

COURTESY, PRINTINGFORLESS

CHAPTER 13 DYNAMICS OF BEHAVIOR IN ORGANIZATIONS 395

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arrows in the model indicate that this process is a recurring cycle. People continually

test their conceptualizations and adapt them as a result of their personal re ections

and observations about their experiences.

Learning Styles

Individuals develop personal learning styles that vary in terms of how much they

emphasize each stage of the learning cycle. These differences occur because the learn-

ing process is directed by individual needs and goals. For example, an engineer might

place greater emphasis on abstract concepts, while a salesperson might emphasize

concrete experiences. Because of these preferences, personal learning styles typically

have strong and weak points.

Questionnaires can assess a person’s strong and weak points as a learner by mea-

suring the relative emphasis the person places on each of the four learning stages

shown in Exhibit 13.9: concrete experience, re ective observation, abstract conceptu-

alization, and active experimentation. Some people have a tendency to overempha-

size one stage of the learning process or to avoid some aspects of learning. Not many

people have totally balanced pro les, but the key to effective learning is competence

in each of the four stages when it is needed.

Researchers have identi ed four fundamental learning styles, outlined in

Exhibit 13.10, labeled Diverger, Assimilator, Converger, and Accommodator. Each

style combines elements of the four stages of the learning cycle.

The exhibit lists

some questions that can help you understand your dominant learning abilities and

identi es some occupations you might enjoy based on your dominant style. For

example, people whose dominant style is Accommodator are often drawn to sales

and marketing. Those with a primarily Diverger style might enjoy human resource

management.

As a new manager, determine your natural learning style to understand how you

approach problems, use your learning strengths, and better relate to people who

have different styles. As you grow in your management responsibilities, strive for a

balance among the four learning stages shown in Exhibit 13.9.

TakeaMoment

EXHIBIT 13.9

The Experiential Learning

Cycle

PART 5 LEADING396

STRESS AND STRESS MANAGEMENT

Now let’s turn our attention to a problem almost every manager will encounter at

some time in his or her career: workplace stress. Formally de ned, stress is an indi-

vidual’s physiological and emotional response to external stimuli that place physical

or psychological demands on the individual and create uncertainty and lack of per-

sonal control when important outcomes are at stake.

These stimuli, called stressors,

produce some combination of frustration (the inability to achieve a goal, such as the

inability to meet a deadline because of inadequate resources) and anxiety (such as

the fear of being disciplined for not meeting deadlines).

Go to the ethical dilemma on page 403 that pertains to organizational sources of

stress.

People’s responses to stressors vary according to their personalities, the resources

available to help them cope, and the context in which the stress occurs. When the

level of stress is low relative to a person’s coping resources, stress can be a positive

force, stimulating desirable change and achievement. However, too much stress is

associated with many negative consequences, including sleep disturbances, drug and

alcohol abuse, headaches, ulcers, high blood pressure, and heart disease. People who

are experiencing the ill effects of too much stress may become irritable or withdraw

from interactions with their coworkers, take excess time off, and have more health

problems. In the United States, an estimated one million people each day don’t show

up for work because of stress.

Similarly, a survey in the United Kingdom found

that 68 percent of nonmanual workers and 42 percent of manual workers reported

missing work because of stress-related illness.

Just as big a problem for organiza-

tions as absenteeism is presenteeism, which refers to people who go to work but are

too stressed and distracted to be productive.

Clearly, too much stress is harmful to

employees as well as to companies.

TakeaMoment

Learning

Style Type

Dominant

Learning Abilities Is This Your Style? You Might Be Good At:

Diverger • Concrete experience

• Reﬂ ective observation

• Are you good at generating ideas, seeing a

situation from multiple perspectives, and

being aware of meaning and value?

• Are you interested in people, culture, and

the arts?

• Human resource management

• Counseling

• Organization development

specialist

Assimilator • Abstract conceptualization

• Reﬂ ective observation

• Are you good at inductive reasoning, cre-

ating theoretical models, and combining

disparate observations into an integrated

explanation?

• Do you tend to be less concerned with

people than ideas and abstract concepts?

• Research

• Strategic planning

Converger • Abstract conceptualization

• Active experimentation

• Are you good at making decisions, the

practical application of ideas, and hypo-

thetical deductive reasoning?

• Do you prefer dealing with technical tasks

rather than interpersonal issues?

• Engineering

Accommodator • Concrete experience

• Active experimentation

• Are you good at implementing decisions,

carrying out plans, and getting involved in

new experiences?

• Do you tend to be at ease with people

but are sometimes seen as impatient or

pushy?

• Marketing

• Sales

EXHIBIT 13.10 What’s Your Learning Style?

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CHAPTER 13 DYNAMICS OF BEHAVIOR IN ORGANIZATIONS 397

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Type A and Type B Behavior

Researchers observed that some people seem to be more vulnerable than others to

the ill effects of stress. From studies of stress-related heart disease, they categorized

people as having behavior patterns called Type A and Type B.

The Type A behavior

pattern includes extreme competitiveness, impatience, aggressiveness, and devotion

to work. In contrast, people with a Type B behavior pattern exhibit less of these

behaviors. They consequently experience less con ict with other people and a more

balanced, relaxed lifestyle. Type A people tend to experience more stress-related ill-

ness than Type B people.

Most Type A individuals are high-energy people and may seek positions of power

and responsibility. By pacing themselves and learning control and intelligent use of

their natural high-energy tendencies, Type A individuals can be powerful forces

for innovation and leadership within their organizations. However, many Type A

personalities cause stress-related problems for themselves, and sometimes for those

around them. Type B individuals typically live with less stress unless they are in

high-stress situations. A number of factors can cause stress in the workplace, even for

people who are not naturally prone to high stress.

Causes of Work Stress

Workplace stress is skyrocketing worldwide. The World Congress on Health and

Safety at Work presented studies suggesting that job-related stress may be as big a

danger to the world’s people as chemical and biological hazards.

The number of

people in the United States who say they are overworked grew from 28 percent in

2001 to 44 percent in 2005, and one-third of Americans between the ages of 25 and

39 say they feel burned out by their jobs. Surveys in Canada consistently peg work

as the top source of stress for people in that country. In India, growing numbers of

young software professionals and call-center workers are falling prey to depression,

anxiety, and other mental illnesses because of increasing workplace stress.

And in

France, companies did some serious soul searching after the notes of three engineers

who committed suicide within  ve months implied that workplace stress was a major

factor in their decision to end their lives.

Most people have a general idea of what a stressful job is like: dif cult, uncomfort-

able, exhausting, even frightening. Managers can better cope with their own stress

and establish ways for the organization to help employees cope if they de ne the

conditions that tend to produce work stress. One way to identify work stressors is to

think about stress caused by the demands of job tasks and stress caused by interper-

sonal pressures and con icts.

▪ Task demands are stressors arising from the tasks required of a person holding a

particular job. Some kinds of decisions are inherently stressful: those made under

time pressure, those that have serious consequences, and those that must be made

with incomplete information. For example, emergency room doctors are under

tremendous stress as a result of the task demands of their jobs. They regularly

have to make quick decisions based on limited information that may determine

whether a patient lives or dies. Almost all jobs, especially those of managers, have

some level of stress associated with task demands. Task demands also sometimes

cause stress because of role ambiguity, which means that people are unclear

about what task behaviors are expected of them.

▪ Interpersonal demands are stressors associated with relationships in the organiza-

tion. Although in some cases interpersonal relationships can alleviate stress, they

also can be a source of stress when the group puts pressure on an individual or

when con icts arise between individuals. Managers can resolve many con icts

using techniques that will be discussed in Chapter 17.

Role con ict occurs when

an individual perceives incompatible demands from others. Managers often feel

role con ict because the demands of their superiors con ict with those of the

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PART 5 LEADING398

employees in their department. They may be expected to support employees and

provide them with opportunities to experiment and be creative, while at the same

time top executives are demanding a consistent level of output that leaves little

time for creativity and experimentation.

As a new manager, learn to recognize the conditions that cause stress in the work-

place and then change what you can to alleviate unnecessary or excessive stress for

employees. Remember that not all stress is negative, but try to help people manage

stress in a healthy way.

Innovative Responses to Stress Management

Organizations that want to challenge their employees and stay competitive will never

be stress-free, but healthy workplaces promote the physical and emotional well-being

of their employees. Managers have direct control over many of the things that cause

people stress, including their own behavior. Exhibit 13.11 lists some of the top things

managers do to cause excessive and unnecessary stress.

A variety of techniques can help individuals manage

stress. Among the most basic strategies are those that help

people stay healthy: exercising regularly, getting plenty

of rest, and eating a healthful diet. Although individuals

can pursue stress management strategies on their own,

today’s enlightened companies support healthy habits to

help people manage stress and be more productive. Stress

costs businesses billions of dollars a year in absenteeism,

lower productivity, staff turnover, accidents, and higher

health insurance and workers’ compensation costs.

Tak-

ing care of employees has become a business as well as an

ethical priority. In Britain, employers are required to meet

certain minimal conditions to manage workplace stress,

such as ensuring that employees are not exposed to a poor

physical work environment, have the necessary skills and

training to meet their job requirements, and are given a

chance to offer input into the way their work is done.

Helping employees manage stress can be as simple

as encouraging people to take regular breaks and vaca-

tions. Consider that more than a third of U.S. employees

surveyed by the Families and Work Institute currently

don’t take their full allotment of vacation time.

Here are

TakeaMoment

Many companies help employees

manage stress by offering discounts to local gyms. At SALO, LLC,

a ﬁ nancial stafﬁ ng ﬁ rm in Minneapolis, employees can exercise as

they work. Here, co-owners Amy Langer and John Folkstead walk as

they meet. Langer and Folkstead experimented with a few treadmill

desks to help get their employees and themselves moving more. The

desks were such a hit with the staff that they installed twelve more

stations. Employees report they have more energy and have lost

weight since the treadmill desks were installed.

EXHIBIT 13.11

How Managers Create

Stress for Employees

Working for a bad boss is a major cause of workplace stress. Here are some things bad bosses do

to create stress for their subordinates:

1. Impose unreasonable demands and overwhelming workloads.

2. Don’t let people have a say in how they do their work.

3. Create perpetual doubt about how well employees are performing.

4. Refuse to get involved in conﬂ icts between employees; let them work it out.

5. Fail to give people credit for their contributions and achievements.

6. Keep people guessing about what is expected of them.

7. Bully and harass people to keep them on their toes.

8. Don’t allow people to form a community; tell them work isn’t a social club.

SOURCES: Based on “Getting the Least From Your Staff,” sidebar in Don Mills, “Running on High Octane or Burning Out Big

Time?” National Post, April 8, 2006; Donna Callea, “Workers Feeling the Burn; Employee Burnout a New Challenge to Productive,

Morale, Experts Say,” News Journal, March 27, 2006; and Joe Humphreys, “Stress Will Be Main Cause of Workplace Illness by

2020,” Irish Times, July 27, 2005.

CHAPTER 13 DYNAMICS OF BEHAVIOR IN ORGANIZATIONS 399

Leading

some proactive approaches managers are taking to combat the growing stress level

in today’s workplace:

▪ Some companies, including BellSouth, First Union, and Tribble Creative Group,

have designated quiet rooms or meditation centers where employees can take short,

calming breaks at any time they feel the need.

The time off is a valuable invest-

ment when it allows employees to approach their work with renewed energy and

a fresh perspective.

▪ Wellness programs provide access to nutrition counseling and exercise facilities.

A worldwide study of wellness programs conducted by the Canadian govern-

ment found that for each dollar spent, the company gets from $1.95 to $3.75 return

payback from bene ts.

▪ Training programs and conferences can help people identify stress and teach them

coping mechanisms. Training managers to recognize warning signs is critical.

▪ Manager intervention is a growing trend in enlightened companies. At Boston

Consulting Group, for instance, the boss steps in if he or she sees someone work-

ing too hard or displaying signs of excessive stress. Mark Ostermann says, “It was

a great feeling [to have the boss provide support]. I didn’t have to complain to

anyone. They were proactive in contacting me.”

▪ Broad work–life balance initiatives that may include  exible work options such

as telecommuting and  exible hours, as well as bene ts such as onsite daycare

or eldercare,  tness centers, and personal services such as pickup and delivery

of dry cleaning. Daily  extime is considered by many employees to be the most

effective work–life practice, which means giving employees the freedom to vary

their hours as needed, such as leaving early to take an elderly parent shopping or

taking time off to attend a child’s school play.

The study of organizational behavior reminds managers that employees are human

resources with human needs. By acknowledging the personal aspects of employees’

lives, these various initiatives communicate that managers and the organization care

about employees. In addition, managers’ attitudes make a tremendous difference in

whether employees are stressed out and unhappy or relaxed, energetic, and productive.

ch13

A MANAGER’S ESSENTIALS: WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED?

▪ The principles of organizational behavior describe how people as individuals

and groups behave and affect the performance of the organization as a whole.

Desirable work-related attitudes include job satisfaction and organizational com-

mitment. Employees’ and managers’ attitudes can strongly in uence employee

motivation, performance, and productivity. Three components of attitudes are

cognitions, emotions, and behavior.

▪ Attitudes affect people’s perceptions, and vice versa. Individuals often “see”

things in different ways. The perceptual process includes perceptual selectivity

and perceptual organization. Perceptual distortions, such as stereotyping, the

halo effect, projection, and perceptual defense, are errors in judgment that can

arise from inaccuracies in the perception process. Attributions are judgments that

individuals make about whether a person’s behavior was caused by internal or

external factors.

▪ Another area of interest is personality, the set of characteristics that underlie a

relatively stable pattern of behavior. One way to think about personality is the Big

Five personality traits of extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional

stability, and openness to experience. Some important work-related attitudes

and behaviors in uenced by personality are locus of control, authoritarianism,

Machiavellianism, and problem-solving styles. A widely used personality test is