Understanding Stress and Conflict: Causes, Effects, and Coping Strategies

2. Learning Objectives • Define the meaning of stress. • Identify the extraorganizational, organizational, and group stressors. • Examine individual dispositions of stress. • Describe intraindividual and interactive conflict. • Discuss the effects of stress and conflict. • Present strategies for coping/managing stress and negotiation skills for conflict resolution.

3. Introduction • Stress and conflict are conceptually similar • Conflict: individuals, groups, and organizations • Stress and conflict: individual level

4. Emergence of Stress • Contemporary environment demands • Technostress • Stress is, and is not • Hindrance stressors • Challenge stressors • Job stress • Stress is not: • Simply anxiety • Simply nervous tension • Necessarily something damaging, bad, or to be avoided. • Burnout

5. Causes of Stress • Categories affecting occupational stress

6. Causes of Stress Continued • Extraorganizational stressors • Societal/technological change • Globalization • Family, relocation, economic and financial conditions • Sociological-demographic • Residential or community conditions

7. Causes of Stress Continued • Organizational stressors

8. Causes of Stress Continued • Group stressors • Lack of group cohesiveness • Lack of social support • Individual stressors: role of dispositions • Type A characteristics • Personal control • Learned helplessness • Psychological hardiness

9. Causes of Stress Continued • Individual stressors (continued) • Type A characteristics

10. Intraindividual Conflict • Conflict in organizational behavior

11. Intraindividual Conflict Continued • Conflict due to frustration

12. Intraindividual Conflict Continued • Goal conflict • Approach-approach conflict • Approach-avoidance conflict • Avoidance-avoidance conflict • Role conflict and ambiguity • The person and the role • Intrarole • Interrole

13. Interactive Conflict • Interpersonal conflict • Personal differences • Information deficiency • Role incompatibility • Environmental stress • Intergroup behavior and conflict • Competition for resources • Task interdependence • Jurisdictional ambiguity • Status struggles

14. Effect of Stress and Intra-individual Conflict • Physical problems • Immune system problems • Cardiovascular system problems • Musculoskeletal system problems • Gastrointestinal system problems • Psychological problems • Anger, anxiety, depression, nervousness, irritability, tension, and boredom

15. Effect of Stress and Intra-individual Conflict Continued • Behavioral problems • Direct behaviors include under-eating or overeating, sleeplessness, increased smoking and drinking, and drug abuse.

16. Coping Strategies for Stress and Conflict • Individual coping strategies • Exercise • Relaxation • Behavioral self-control • Cognitive therapy • Networking • Organizational coping strategies • Reorganization initiatives • Work and life benefit policies and programs

17. Coping Strategies for Stress and Conflict Continued • Organizational coping strategies (continued) • In case of downsizing: • Be proactive • Acknowledge survivors’ emotions • Communicate after the downsizing • Clarify new roles

18. Negotiation Skills: Going Beyond Conflict Management • Traditional negotiation approaches • Distributive bargaining • Positional bargaining

19. Negotiation Skills: Going Beyond Conflict Management Continued • Contemporary negotiation skills • Use of skills • Establishing superordinate goals • Separating the people from the problem • Focusing on interests, not on positions • Inventing options for mutual gain • Using objective criteria • Based on degree of risk • Low-risk negotiation techniques • High-risk negotiation techniques

20. Questions ?