Chapter 13

Changing Organizations:
Stress, Conflict, and Virtuality

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Fundamentals of Changing an Organization

• Process involves modifying an existing organization to
increase organizational effectiveness
• Managers realize the reality and necessity of change for
organizational success in today’s environment

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1
Change versus Stability
Adaptation, stability, and organizational survival

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Factors to Consider When Changing an

Organization
• Change Agent
• Determining What Should be Changed
• Kind of Change to Make
• Individuals Affected by the Change
• Evaluation of the Change

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2
Factors Influence on Success of the Change
The collective influence of five major factors on the success of changing
an organization

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Change Agent
• Most important factor
• Individual/individuals inside/outside organization who work
to modify and implement the change
• Requires skills to solve change-related problems

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3
Determining What Should Be Changed
• People Factors
– Attitudes, Leadership Skills, and Communication Skills
• Structural Factors
– Organizational Controls, Policies, and Procedures
• Technological Factors
– Equipment or Processes Assisting Employees in
Performance of Jobs

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Impact on Organizational Effectiveness

Determination of organizational effectiveness by the relationship among
people, technological, and structural factors

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4
Kind of Change to Make
• Technological
– Modifying level of technology used
• Structural
– Changing organizational controls
• People
– Organization development—OD

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Grid OD
The managerial grid

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5
Status of Organizational Development (1 of 2)
• Weaknesses of OD
– Effectiveness is difficult to evaluate
– Time consuming
– Vague objectives
– Costs difficult to gauge
– OD programs are generally expensive

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Status of Organizational Development (2 of 2)

• Improving OD efforts
– Tailor OD programs to meet the needs of the
organization
– Continually demonstrate how people should change
behavior
– Change reward systems to reward OD suggested
behaviors

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6
Individuals Affected by the Change
• Resistance to Change
– Fear of personal loss
– Disturbance of social and working relationships
– Personal failure
• Reducing Resistance
– Avoid surprises
– Promote genuine understanding
– Set the stage for change
– Make the change tentative

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Evaluation of the Change

• Was the change successful?
• Does change need to be modified?
• Is further change necessary?

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7
Change and Stress
• Stress: Bodily strain individual experiences as a result of
coping with some environmental factor
• Wear and tear on the body
• Body’s subconscious mobilization of energy when an
employee is confronted with new organizational or work
demands
• Costs companies $150B per year

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Influence of Stress on Worker Performance

The relationship between worker stress and the level of worker
performance

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8
Identifying Unhealthy Stress
• Constant fatigue
• Low energy
• Moodiness
• Increased aggression
• Excessive use of alcohol
• Temper outbursts
• Compulsive eating
• High levels of anxiety
• Chronic worrying
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Helping Employees Deal with Stress (1 of 2)

• Stressors: An environmental demand that causes people
to feel stress
• Workplace Bullying: Occurs when an individual feel
isolated or socially excluded and have their work efforts
devalued

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9
Helping Employees Deal with Stress (2 of 2)
• Create supportive organizational climate
• Implement stress management courses
• Make jobs interesting
• Design and operate career counseling services

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Change and Conflict

• Conflict
‒ Struggle resulting from opposing needs or feelings of
two or more people
‒ Can result in positive outcomes for the organization
‒ Generally results when managers make changes that
threaten employees or create conflicting views
between managers and employees

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10
Strategies for Settling Conflict (1 of 2)
Techniques for handling conflict

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Strategies for Settling Conflict (2 of 2)

• Compromising
– Involved parties get part of what they wanted
• Avoiding
– Conflict is ignored
• Forcing
– Managers declare conflict is ended
• Resolving
– Differences are worked out

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11
Virtuality
• Virtual Organization
‒ Organization extended beyond boundaries and
structure of a traditional organization by connecting all
parties through e-mail and other Internet-related
vehicles such as videoconferencing

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Degrees of Virtuality
• Virtual Corporations
• Virtual Teams
• Virtual Training

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12
The Virtual Office Continuum
Continuum of alternative work arrangements

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Reasons for Establishing a Virtual Office

• Cost reduction in office space
• Increase employee productivity due to fewer interruptions
• Greater employee efficiency and effectiveness through job
redesign
• Able to arrive quickly at customer locations

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13
Challenges in Managing a Virtual Office
• More difficult to create a desired organizational culture
• More difficult to integrate employees into the fabric of
organizational culture
• More difficult to supervise employees
• More difficult to communicate with employees

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