ORGANISATI ONAL THEORY AND BEHAVIOUR

PROJECT ON ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE & STRESS MANAGEMENT

10/28/2011 113708 MRUDULA RACHURI

INDEX

S.NO 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

PARTICULARS
A. ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE: Levels of change Human reactions to change Case Study: ICICI Challenges to organisational change Causes of Resistance to organizational change Contemporary approaches to change Case Study: Nokia Booster Programme

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36 78 89 10 11 11 12 12 15 15 - 20 21 - 22

9 10 11 12 13
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B. STRESS MANAGEMENT: Sources of stress Consequences of stress Managing stress Case Study: QVC stress case study Case Study: Birmingham City Council

23 25 25 33 33 36 37 41 42 44 45 - 47

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ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE
Typically, the phrase organizational change is about a significant change in the organization, such as reorganization or adding a major new product or service. This is in contrast to smaller changes, such as adopting a new computer procedure. Organizational change occurs when an organization restructures resources to increase the ability to create value and improve effectiveness. A declining company seeks way to regain customers; a growing organization designs new products. Change is prevalent. In the past 10 years, over 50 percent of all Fortune 500 companies have undergone significant restructuring. What is organizational change? Organizational change means any change that occurs in the work environment. The change could be minor of major. Usually Organizational change re-aligns organizational systems and deal with the factors prevailing in the external environment of an organization. Sometimes, a change is effected to revamp the internal systems of the organization.

Targets of Change
Organizational change includes changes in four areas: Human resources are an organizations most important asset. Changes include: investment in training, socializing employees, changing norms to motivate a diverse workforce, monitoring promotion and reward systems, and changing top management. Functional resources can be transferred to maximize value creation as the environment changes. Thus, key functions grow in importance. Organizations can change structure, culture, and technology to improve the value created by functions. Example of structural and technology changes: A product team culture increases development time. Technology that uses self-managed work teams increases productivity and quality. Technological capabilities provide new products, change existing ones, and create a core competence. Improving the reliability and quality of goods and services is an important capability. Organizations may need to restructure to achieve the benefits of new technology.
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Organizational capabilities are imbedded in operations. Organizations use human and functional resources to seize technological opportunities through structure and culture.

These four resources are interdependent, so changing one leads to a change in others. Recruiting a team of scientists leads to restructuring a product team.

Forces for Change

Forces for change can come from many sources. Some of these are external, arising from outside the company, whereas others are internal, arising from sources within the organization. The forces prompting change can be categorized as: Internal forces External forces

Technology

Competitive environment external forces Social pressure

Forces of Change

Political and legal changes Changes in the managerial personnel Deficiency in Existing organization Nature of the work force To avoid developing inertia

internal forces

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External Forces
The forces compels from outside the organization, (on which organization normally have no or minimal control) are termed as External Change Forces. Every organization exists in some context; no organization is an island in itself. Each must continually interact with other organizations and individuals- the consumers, suppliers, unions, shareholders, government and many more. Each organization has goals and responsibilities related to each other in the environment. The present day environment is dynamic and will continue to be dynamic. Change in social, political, economic, technology, and legal environment force organizations to change themselves. Such changes may result in organizational changes like major functions production process, labour-management relations, nature of competitions, economic constraints, organizational methods etc. In order to survive in the changing environment, organization must change. How the change in various environmental, organizations, must change. The external forces effecting change are:

Technological developments:
Nowadays most of the organizations use technology as a means to improve productivity and market competitiveness. Hence, to retain and advance in competitive market, it is very important for organizations to keep themselves update according to the technological advancements, which are taking place at very fast rate. Competitive environment: The emerging global economy has the changed the style of business. Now the market competitors are not from only contiguous area but from throughout the world. This compels every business house to retain quality, lower prices, client satisfaction, etc; to sustain. Social pressure: Social changes reflect in terms of peoples aspirations, the needs, and their ways of working. Social changes have taken place because of the several forces like level of education, urbanization, feeling of autonomy, and international impact due to new information sources. These social changes affect the behavior of people in the organization. There, it is required to make adjustment in its working so that it matches with people. Political and legal changes: Political and legal factors broadly define the activities which an oganisation can undertake and the methods which will be followed by it in accomplishing those activities.

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Internal Forces
It is not only the changes in external factors, which may necessitate organizational changes; any change in organizations internal factors may also necessitate changes. Such a change is required because of two reasons: changes in managerial personnel and deficiency in existing organizational practices.

Changes in the managerial personnel:

Besides environmental changes there is a change in managerial personnel. Old managers are replaced by new mangers, which necessitated because of retirement, promotion, transfer or dismissal. Each new manager brings his own ideas and way of working in the organization. The relationships, more particularly informal ones, change because of changes in managerial personnel. Moreover, attitude of the personnel change even though there is no changes in them. The result in that an organization has to change accordingly. Deficiency in Existing organization: Sometimes, changes are necessary because of deficiency in the present organizational arrangement ad process. These deficiencies may be in the form of unmanageable span of management, large number of managerial levels, lack in co-ordination between various departments, obstacles in communication, multiplicity of committees, lack of uniformity in policy decisions, lack of cooperation between the line and staff, and so on. Beside these internal factors, there are two more internal factors that give rise to organizational changes. Nature of the work force: The nature of work force has changed over a passage of time. Different work values have been expressed by different generations. Workers, who are in the age group of 50 plus value their loyalty to their employers. Workers in their mid thirties to forties are loyal to themselves only. The youngest generation of workers is loyal to their career. The profile of the workforce is also changing fast. The new generation of workers has better educational; they place greater emphasis on human values and questions authority of managers. Their behavior has also become very complex and leading them towards organizational goals is a challenge for the managers. The employee turnover is also very high which again put strain on the management. To avoid developing inertia: In many cases, organizational changes take place just to avoid developing inertia or inflexibility. Conscious manager take into account this view of organization that organization should be dynamic because any single method is not the best tool of management every time. Thus, changes are incorporated so that the personnel develop liking for change and there is no unnecessary resistance when major change in the organization are brought about.

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LEVELS OF CHANGE

Individual Level Change

Individual level changes may take place due to changes in job assignment, transfer of an employee to a different location or the changes in the maturity level of a person which occurs over a passage of time. The general opinion is that change at the individual will not have the significant implications for the organization. But this is not correct because individual level changes will have impact on the group which in turn will influence the whole organization. Therefore, a manager should never treat the employees in isolation but he must understand that the individual level change will have repercussions beyond the individual.

Group Level Change

Management must consider group factors while implementing any change, because most of the organizational changes have their major effects at the group level. The groups in the organization can be formal groups or informal groups. Formal groups can always resist change for example; the trade unions can very strongly resist the changes proposed by the management. Informal groups can pose a major barrier to change because of the inherent strength they contain. Changes at the group level can affect the work flows, job design, social organization, influence and status systems and communication patterns. The groups, particularly the informal groups have a lot of influence on the individual members of the group. As such by effective implementing change at the group level, resistance at the individual level can be frequently overcome.

Organizational Level Change

The organizational change involves major programmes which affect both the individuals and the groups. Decisions regarding such changes are made by the senior management. These changes occur over long periods of time and require considerable planning for implementation. A few different types of organization level changes are:

Strategic: Sometimes in the course of normal business operation it is

necessary for management to adjust the firm's strategy to achieve the goals of the company, or even to change the mission statement of the organization in response to demands of the external environments. Adjusting a company's strategy may involve changing its fundamental approach to doing business: the markets it will target, the kinds of products it will sell, how they will be sold, its
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overall strategic orientation, the level of global activity, and its various partnerships and other joint-business arrangements. Structural: Organizations often find it necessary to redesign the structure of the company due to influences from the external environment. Structural changes involve the hierarchy of authority, goals, structural characteristics, administrative procedures, and management systems. Almost all change in how an organization is managed falls under the category of structural change. A structural change may be as simple as implementing a no-smoking policy, or as involved as restructuring the company to meet the customer needs more effectively. Process-oriented: Organizations may need to reengineer processes to achieve optimum workflow and productivity. Process-oriented change is often related to an organization's production process or how the organization assembles products or delivers services. The adaptions of robotics in a manufacturing plant or using laser-scanning checkout systems at supermarkets are examples of process-oriented changes. People-centered: This type of change alters the attitudes, behaviors, skills, or performance of employees in the company. Changing people-centered processes involves communicating, motivating, leading, and interacting within groups. This focus may entail changing how problems are solved, the way employees learn new skills, and even the very nature of how employees perceive themselves, their jobs, and the organization.

Human Reactions to Organization Change

There is a very close relationship between change and human attitudes. Every individual reacts to the change according to their individual attitude. Human reaction to change does not depend upon logic. Generally, depends upon how a change will affect ones needs and satisfaction in the organization. Attitudes are very important in determining the resistance to change. The employees reaction to organization change any occur in any of the following forms:

Acceptance
Acceptance of the change depends on the perception of the employees towards the change. So, all the changes are not necessarily restricted. If an employee perceives that the change will affect his/her favorably, then he/she will accept the change. For example if workers have to stand before a machine throughout the shift, they will like the introduction of new machine which will allow them to sit while working.
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 Resistance
All the changes are not necessarily resisted. Resistance to change arises due to deferring perception, personalities and needs. If the employee perceives the change is unfavorable to them, they resist to the change. Individual generally feel comfortable in the environment that they are habituated to. So, when the change arises, the thought of moving from the environment they are accustomed to become a source of resistance. Human resistance to change may be in any of following forms, Hostility or Aggression. Hostility or aggression is the immediate reaction if an individual to change. Hostility can be expressed verbally, but the combined form of hostility and aggression is of a more intense character and can also take physical forms. The individual may develop lack of interest towards has work. If individual do not like the change it may result to spoilage of materials, idling of time and decline in performance. This will alternately decrease this efficiency in work. Employee remains absent in their work as well slow performance in their work. Employee find themselves uncomfortable, shaky and tensed on the job. Resistance develops anxiety and tension in the employee. Strikes are usual symptoms of the group resistance.

Indifference
In some cases changes in the organization or environment fails to bring the reaction of the employee. There are two reaction to change, acceptance & resistance, but in some cases there is no reaction. This is because sometimes employee fails to realize the impact of change or some people feel that they will not be affected by the change. In both these cases there is no reaction to the change, so they will remain indifferent to change.

Forced Acceptance
Employee or the people may resist to the change in initial state but if he changes force are stronger the resistance force, then they have to accept the change. This is known as forced acceptance of the change. This is known as forced acceptance of the change. KEITH DAVIS absorbed that People develop an established set of relations with their environment. They learn how to deal with each other, how to perform their job and what to expect next. Equilibrium exists, individuals are adjusted when change comes along, and it requires individuals to make new adjustments, as the employee seeks a new equilibrium. When employees are unable to make adequate adjustment to change which occur, the organization is a state of imbalance or disequilibrium. Managements general human relations objective regarding change is to restore and maintain the group equilibrium and personal adjustment which change upsets.

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CASE STUDY: Change of Management at ICICI

In May 1996, K.V. Kamath (Kamath) replaced Narayan Vaghul (Vaghul), CEO of India's leading financial services company Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (ICICI). Immediately after taking charge, Kamath introduced massive changes in the organizational structure and the emphasis of the organization changed - from a development bank1 mode to that of a market-driven financial conglomerate. Kamath's moves were prompted by his decision to create new divisions to tap new markets and to introduce flexibility in the organization to increase its ability to respond to market changes. Necessitated because of the organization's new-found aim of becoming a financial powerhouse, the large-scale changes caused enormous tension within the organization. The systems within the company soon were in a state of stress. Employees were finding the changes unacceptable as learning new skills and adapting to the process orientation was proving difficult. The changes also brought in a lot of confusion among the employees, with media reports frequently carrying quotes from disgruntled ICICI employees. According to analysts, a large section of employees began feeling alienated. The discontentment among employees further increased, when Kamath formed specialist groups within ICICI like the 'structured projects' and 'infrastructure' group. Doubts were soon raised regarding whether Kamath had gone 'too fast too soon,' and more importantly, whether he would be able to steer the employees and the organization through the changes he had initiated. The change program was initiated within the organization, the first move being the creation of the 'infrastructure group (IIG),' 'oil & gas group (O&G),' 'planning and treasury department (PTD)' and the 'structured products group (SPG)', as the lending practices were quite different for all of these. Kamath picked up people from various departments, who he was told were good, for these groups. The approach towards creating these new skill sets, however, led to one unintended consequence. Another change management problem surfaced as a result of ICICI's decision to focus its operations much more sharply around its customers. In the system prevailing, if a client had three different requirements from ICICI,3 he had to approach the relevant departments separately. The process was time consuming, and there was a danger that the client would
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take a portion of that business elsewhere. To tackle this problem, ICICI set up three new departments: major client group (MCG), growth client group (GCG) and personal finance group. Now, the customer talked only to his representative in MCG or GCG. And these representatives in turn found out which ICICI department could do the job. Though the customers seemed to be happy about this new arrangement, people within the organization found it unacceptable. In the major client group, a staff of about 30-40 people handled the needs of the top 100 customers of ICICI. On the other hand, about 60 people manned the growth client group, which looked after the needs of mid-size companies. Obviously, the bigger clients required more diverse kinds of services. So working in MCG offered better exposure and bigger orders. The net effect was that the MCG executive ended up doing more business than the GCG executive. A middle-level manager at ICICI commented, "The bosses may call it handling growth clients but the GCG manager is actually chasing non-performing assets (NPA)4 and Board of Industrial and Financial Restructuring (BIFR)5 cases."

Challenges of Organizational Change

Planning and managing change, both cultural and technological, is one of the most challenging elements of a manager's job. Obviously, the more a manager can plan in anticipation of a change, the better she serves her subordinates and the organization. Diagnosing the causes of change and structuring a program to promote a smooth transition to the new process, structure, and so on, is critical to a manager's success. Managers need to be aware that organizations change in a number of dimensions that often relate to one another. These dimensions include: Extent of planning: Although experts differ about how much change can be planned, managers still need to take steps to set up conditions that permit and even encourage change to occur. Degree of change: Changes may be incremental (relatively small, involving fine-tuning processes and behaviors within just one system or level of the organization) or quantum (significant change altering how a company operates).
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Degree of learning: This dimension relates to the degree to which organizational members are actively involved in learning how to plan and implement change while helping solve an existing problem. Target of change: Organizational change programs can vary with respect to the hierarchical level or functional area of which the change is targeted. Some changes are designed to influence top management and assist them in becoming stronger leaders. Other change programs may involve basic learning, such as customer services techniques for lower level employees. Organization's structure: Is it very stiff and bureaucratic? Is there a need for emphasis on policies, procedures, and rules? Some organizations are very stiff and bureaucratic and may need to loosen up. Other organizations may suffer from lack of organization structure. They may need to emphasize policies, procedures, and rules.

Causes of Resistance to Organizational Change

The main reasons for resistance to change are both individual and organization. The research document of individual and organizational behavior has found that organization groups and individuals resist change. Resistance to change provides a degree of stability and predictability to behavior, as it does not allow immediate change. If there was no resistance to change the organization will take on characteristics of chaotic randomness. There may be reasons for resistance to change. For analytical purpose, lets us categories the causes into the following. Individual Resistance. Group Resistance. Organizational Resistance.

Individual Resistance
Individual arise due to differing perceptions, personalities and needs. Some of these reasons appear to be rational and emotional. These reasons are listed below:

Economic Factors:
The economic reasons for the resistance to change may be the following: In organization when the development or change on technology takes place, employee resists the change. Employee may fear that the change will lead to technological unemployment. Generally, new technology is associated with
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education of labor intake and therefore they resist the change. For example the introduction of computer in an organization means that employee will have to learn the certain package to work efficiently. They may not be liked by some employees and they develop negative attitude towards computer and resist them. In organization where pay is tied to productivity individuals usually resists change as they fear that they will not be able to perform new task effectively, thus causing a decline in productivity and a decrease in their income. Workers may fear that they will be demoted if they do not acquire the skills required for the new jobs. Workers resist the changes which lead to high standards which in turn may reduce the opportunities for bonus or incentive pay.

Habit:
All human being are creatures of habit. Individual generally feel comfortable in the environment that they are habituated to. The modern life is very complex and no one likes to consider the full range of option for the hundreds of decision which has to be made every day. Instead we rely on habit or programmed responses. When confronted with change, the thought if moving away from the environment they are accustomed to become a source of resistance.

Insecurity:
Safety and security are high priority for every individual. One of the major reasons for resistance to change is uncertainty about the impact of change, especially on the job security. When employees feel that the security of the job is threatened by change, they resist it. The fear unknown always has a major impact on the decision of the individual.

Lack of Communication:
If the workers are given an opportunity to participate in the process of change, the resistance is likely to be less. But if the change is not properly communicated in an acceptable manner to the employees, it is likely to cause resistance.

Extent of Change:
If there is a minor change and the change involves only the routine operations the resistance will be minimum or no resistance. But in case of major changes like reshuffling of staff will lead to major visible resistance. Similarly the process of change is slow; the resistance will be less as compared to rapid or sudden change.

Psychological Factors:

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One of the major reasons for resistance can be emotional turmoil that a change may cause especially if the past experiences with the change have not been positive. The psychological reasons for the resistance to change are: Workers may have the fear that the new job will bring boredom and monotony as a result of specialization brought by the new technology. Change in technology brings new method of doing the job and it must be learnt and adopt the new ideas of doing the job. To learn these ideas they need work hard and they do not want to take the trouble in learning new things. The workers may be incapable of understanding the implications of new ideas and method. Workers may not like criticism implied in a change that the present method is inadequate and unsuitable. New changes may lead to reduction of the personal pride of the workers because they fear that new work changes will do away with the need for much manual work.

Social Factors:
Every individual have social needs like friends, belongingness, etc. In organization, while working employee develop social relationship with the other employees. They become members of certain informal group. The change will bring a fear in mind of people because generally people dislike with for new adjustment, breaking present social relationship reduce social relationship, feeling of outside interference in the form change agent etc.

Group Resistance
While working in an organization, the employees form informal group in the organization. The most organizational change has impact in informal group in the organization. Breaking up a close knit work group or changing social relationship can provoke a great deal of resistance. The main reason why the groups resist change is that they fear that their cohesiveness or existence is threatened by it. This is particularly true in case of group which are very cohesive where people have a strong case of belongingness to group and where member consider the group as superior to the other groups.

Organizational Resistance
Organizational resistance means that the change is resisted at the level of the organizational itself. Some organizations are so designed that they resist new ideas, this is specifically true in case of organizations which are conservative in nature. Government agencies want to
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continue doing what they have been doing for a number of years even though there is need for the change in their services. Majority of the business firms are also resistant to changes.

The major reasons for organizational resistance are:

Threat to Power:
Top management generally considers change as a threat to their power and influence in the organization due to which the change will be resisted by them. The introduction of participative decision making or self-managed work teams is the kind of change which is often seen as threatening by the middle and top level management.

Group inertia:
Sometimes, the individuals resist change because the group to which they belong resists it. The degree and force of resistance will depend upon how loyal one is to the group and how effectively the group resists the change.

Organizational structure:
Change is often resisted by the bureaucratic structures where jobs are narrowly defined, lines of authority clearly spelled and flow of information is stressed from top to bottom. Moreover, organizations are made up of a number of interdependent subsystems; one system cannot be changed without affecting the others.

Threat to specialization:
Change in organization may threaten the expertise of specialized groups. For example, giving computer training to all the employees in the organization and giving personal computers was perceived as a threat by the experts in computer department of the organization.

Resource constraints:
Organizations need adequate financial resource for training change agents and for offering rewards to those who support change. An organization that does not have resources for implementing the change resists it.

Sunk cost:
The change is generally resisted by the top management because it often leads to the problem of sunk costs. The heavy capital which already invested in the fixed assets or
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the amount which has already been spent on the training of the employees will go waste if the change is introduced.

CONTEMPORARY APPROACHES TO CHANGE

Lewin's Force Field Model

A classic model of OD, commonly referred to as the 'force field' model, was proposed by Kurt Lewin in 1951. He described organizations as systems which are held in a constant state of 'equilibrium' by equal and opposing forces. The model suggests that a range of 'driving forces', which exert a pressure for change, are balanced by a number of opposing resisting forces'. Driving forces urging change might include the availability of new technology, economic pressure from competitors or even changes in local or national legislation. Conversely, resisting forces might include a firmly established organizational culture and climate or industry-specific customs. Lewin proposed that any process of organizational change can be thought of as implementing a move in the equilibrium position towards a desired or newly established position.

The Three-stage Process of Change

To elaborate on his model, Lewin also suggested a three-stage process of change implementation which is necessary for effective change within an organization. Those three stages are:

Unfreeze - Creation of motivation to change:

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An organization must be prepared for any change which is about to occur. This process is known as 'unfreezing' and involves the investigation of resisting forces. Any premature unilateral or authoritarian increase in driving forces for change will, according to the Lewin model, be met by an equal and opposite increase in resisting forces. No change will occur unless there is motivation within the organization to do so. If there is no motivation, it must be induced. This is often the most difficult part of any change process. Change not only involves learning, but unlearning something that is already present and well integrated into the personality and social relationships of the individuals. It is for this reason that an organizations culture can often act as a resisting force to change.

Practice: The following methods are often used by managers and OD consultants to
unfreeze an organizational system:

Disconfirmation or a lack of confirmation of present behaviors or attitudes. Creation of guilt, discomfort or anxiety to motivate change. Creation of psychological safety by reducing barriers to change or reducing
threat caused by past failures. Provision of information to employees and stakeholders giving knowledge of the first stage of the change process.

Change - Adjusting the equilibrium:

Developing new attitudes, beliefs, values and behaviours based on new information. Once the resisting forces have been investigated, understood and minimized, the change can be implemented. Resisting forces are reduced and driving forces increased. Doing so adjusts the position of equilibrium towards the desired balance position.

Practice: - There are three main approaches with which change may be
implemented:

Rational or Empirical: Change, or OD, is seen as a process of rational persuasion

whereby the benefits of the change are logically explained to those who are influenced by it. Normative or Re-educative: This approach also assumes employees are rational individuals, but acknowledges the existence of socio-cultural norms within organizations. It challenges established values, beliefs, attitudes and norms and re-educates employees into the new techniques of working.

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 Power Coercive: This method of change involves a process of the imposition

of legitimate authority. Feedback may be denied and no alteration to plans may take place as a result of resistance. This approach simply forces through change by authority.

Refreeze - Making routine:

For a change to become routine and accepted into the day-to-day practices of an organization, the organization must go through the final stage of refreezing the organizational system. A variety of strategies may be adopted to achieve this, including new rules, regulations and reward schemes to reinforce the change process and maximize the desired behaviors of staff or employees.

Kotter's 8-Step Change Model

30 years of research by leadership guru Dr. John Kotter have proven that 70% of all major change efforts in organizations fail. Why do they fail? Because organizations often do not take the holistic approach required to see the change through. However, by following the 8 Step Process outlined by Professor Kotter, organizations can avoid failure and become adept at change. By improving their ability to change, organizations can increase their chances of success, both today and in the future. Without this ability to adapt continuously, organizations cannot thrive. Dr. Kotter has proven over his years of research that following The 8-Step Process for Leading Change will help organizations succeed in an ever-changing world. 1) Establishing a Sense of Urgency Examine market and competitive realities Identify and discuss crises, potential crises or major opportunities Provide evidence from outside the organization that change is necessary

2) Build the Guiding Team

Assemble a group with enough power to lead the change effort

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 Attract key change leaders by showing enthusiasm and commitment Encourage the group to work together as a team

3) Get the Vision Right

Build alignment and engagement through stories Use every vehicle possible to communicate the new vision and strategies Keep communication simple and heartfelt Teach new behaviors by the example of the guiding coalition

4) Communicate for Buy-in

Build alignment and engagement through stories Use every vehicle possible to communicate the new vision and strategies Keep communication simple and heartfelt Teach new behaviors by the example of the guiding coalition

5) Empowering Action

Remove obstacles to the change Change systems and / or structures that work against the vision
6) Create short term wins

Plan for and achieve visible performance improvements Recognize and reward those involved in bringing the improvements to life
7) Do Not Let Up

Plan for and create visible performance improvements Recognize and reward personnel involved in the improvements Reinforce the behaviours shown that led to the improvements
8) Make Change Stick

Articulate the connections between the new behaviors and corporate success
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Continually articulate the connections between the new way of working and corporate success. Weave new corporate style / culture into leadership development and succession planning

8.
Institutionalise changes

1. Establish a sense of urgency

Articulate a powerful rationale and business case for change

2. Form a powerful coalition

Assemble a team with enough power & influence in the organisation to lead the change effort

Ap pli cab ilit y:

Use credibility to change policies & procedures that dont fit vision. Recruit and promote employees who can implement vision

The Kott er mo del Use every possible 6. can vehicle to 4. communicate the Plan for and be Communicate vision. Role-model new behaviours Create shortthe vision appl Plan visible quick-wins. 5. Implement and recognise term wins ied and reward employees Empower involved Remove obstacles to the change. Change for others systems, or structures that undermine the all vision topdow n change processes, i.e. for projects that have been decided at the top management level of an organization. The US Army applied it to prepare the troops for the new forms of asymmetrical threat.
7. Consolidate improvements

Kotters 8 Steps for Managing Change

3. Create a vision

Create a compelling vision of the future to guide the direction of the change

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Strengths:

Focus on buy-in of employees as the focus for success Clear steps which can give a guidance for the process Easy to understand Can be successful when all steps are well communicated Fits well into the culture of classical hierarchies

Weaknesses:

The linearity of the model can lead to wrong assumptions. Once the process has started, it is difficult to change the direction. The model is clearly top-down, it gives no room for co-creation or other forms of true participation. Can lead to deep frustrations among employees if the stages of grief and individual needs are not taken into consideration.

CASE STUDY: Nokias Booster Programme

In January 2004, Nokia, the largest mobile phone maker in the world, announced and then implemented what, for most companies, would represent a fundamental organisational change. In order to focus more closely on changing customer aspirations, its nine business units were restructured into four. At the same time, in order to ensure speed of innovation and production across the globe, all customer and market operations, product development operations, and manufacturing, logistics and support activities, were reorganised into three horizontal business units.

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This daunting organisational change was made fully effective within one week and involved about 100 people assuming new jobs. For the rest of Nokias employees, there was no need to change jobs; the modular teams of which they were members were simply reconfigured. The discipline, philosophy and mindset of reconfiguration through standardisation and shared platforms ensured that Nokia is able to skilfully and rapidly reconfigure its human resources to meet changing customer needs. Six years later and the senior team at Nokia remains as committed as ever to deep employee involvement in strategy and implementation via a modular, project-based structure. What has changed is the development of technological platforms capable of bringing together thousands of people from across the world with speed and ease. The capacity of social networks to create engagement and innovation is seen to be crucial to the long-term success of Nokia. The team decided on a blended solution with two main streams of activities: a two-day faceto-face workshop with team leaders followed by the much broader involvement of the whole community through an online social network community. The two-day workshops were staged in locations across the world, including Beijing, White Plains (New York), Helsinki, London and Dubai. About 100 potential change leaders were part of each workshop. When all workshops were completed, the 700 participants then returned to their teams to engage them in the ongoing process. It was at this point that the online community came to the fore. Working with specialist partners, the design team created an intranet site accessible to workshop participants and all employees of the Markets business. The online community was designed to host conversations and communications with senior managers as well as to provide information and ideas from content experts and community members. Too often in traditional forms of engagement and communication, employees are simply passive listeners. We found that with careful support and maintenance, the online community created real opportunities for employees in the business to be active and to make the companys agenda their agenda. We found that many people elected to steer discussions that interested them, post content they thought others would find useful, create groups of like-minded people around specific topics or raise igniting questions or issues. At the same time, others reacted to the ideas in the community or even remained silent users, preferring mainly to read and take in information. The online community also ignited a host of unintended actions. For example, one team in Germany took the initiative to invite 100 colleagues to an empty hangar, where they shared material from the Booster community and facilitated a Q&A session.

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STRESS MANAGEMENT
In todays changing and competitive work environment, stress level is increasing both in the workers as well as the managers. As a result of this work stress, more and more managers are showing signs of chronic fatigue and burnout. Research has concluded that stressed out managers are not good for their companies or shareholders. In most cases, stress leads to reduced efficiency in even the best of individuals, which in turn leads to reduced productivity. Stress is a problem in almost all the countries of the world, irrespective of whether the
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economy is strong or weak. Therefore, it become very essential to include work stress as one of the chapters in studying human behaviour, because we must know what is actually stress, what are the causes of stress, what are its consequences and then, what should be done to reduce it. According to Beehr and Newman, Job stress is a condition arising from the interaction of the people and their jobs, and characterized by changes within people that force them to deviate from their normal functioning.

Nature of stress

Stress is a neutral word: It is not bad in and of itself. But when stress is created by undesirable outcomes, it becomes Distress. On the other hand, if it is created by desirable and successful effects it is called Eustress. Eustress is a healthy, positive and developmental stress response. It is primarily the Distress form of stress which requires examination and steps to cope with it; because distress is generally associated with heart disease, alcoholism, drug abuse, marital problems, absenteeism etc. Stress is associated with Constraints and Demand: Constraints prevent an individual from doing what he or she desires. If a person wants to buy something, but he does not have the necessary cash, it is a constraint. Demands refer to the loss of something desired. If a person wants to go and watch a movie, but he is unable to do so because of pressing official work, it amounts to a demand. Both Constraints and Demands can lead to potential stress. Two conditions are necessary for potential stress to become actual stress. There must be : uncertainty over the outcome, and outcome must be important. Stress is usually very high when there is uncertainty over the outcome and the outcome is very significant. Both these conditions are necessary. If there is no uncertainty but the outcome is significant, there will not be any stress. On the other hand, if there is uncertainty, but the outcome is not significant, there will again be no stress. Stress is not simply anxiety: Stress may be accompanied by anxiety, but the two are not synonymous. Anxiety is psychological and emotional whereas stress operates in the physiological sphere also along with psychological sphere.

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Stress should also be differentiated from nervous tension: Nervous tension may be a result of stress. Stress is a subconscious action. Even unconscious people have exhibited stress, whereas nervous tension is a conscious action. People may bottle up their emotions and not reveal them through nervous tension. The term burnout is also closely associated with stress: Some researchers contend that burnout is a type of stress, but others treat it differently. Burnout is closely associated with helping professions like nursing, education and social work, it is characterised by emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and diminished personal accomplishments. Even though, technically, burnout is different from stress, these are generally used interchangeably.

S t r e s s

L OH o p i wt g i h S m t u S r mt L e r
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e s S e v s t s e r s l e s s R B H E e o i x a r g h e h a c d u t o E s i m n t o / e i n A r o s p g n
a t h y B L e o w y

h a v i o u r

A n x i m e o Mt t o y i t v i N a v e t a r i t v o i o n o u n s c H n a e e r i s e g s l h e t I s e n

H i g h

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s n e s s P s y c h o l o g i c a l w i t h d r a w a l P h y s i c a l w i t h d r

n d e e d c i p s e i r v c e e n p e t s i s o n B a H d i g J h u d i g n e v m o e l n v t e m e n t

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a w a l I n a c t i v i t y P L H P e o i o r w g o h r f p o e p p r r e e mf r r a o f f n r o o m r r c a mm e n a a c n n e c c e e H D G I e u o n a l o s l d o l h m t e h n h a e i l a a E t l f h t p h s f y e c
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c t s

h o m e t r i c i l l n e s s e s

Every year in Japan around 30,000 deaths occur because of Karoshi (over work). In a study conducted by Delhi based NGO - Saarthak in 30 Indian companies, it was found that 50% of the employees suffered from stress related problems. Further, in the studies conducted in the US and UK, it was found that more than 60% of employees complain to be stressed out in their jobs.

Sources of Stress
Stress is a reality of our everyday life. There are both distresses and distresses that come from our work and non work lives. It was pointed that the work and non work domains of ones life are closely interrelated. Thus, if one experiences much distress at work, that stress will be carried over to the home, which will increase the sense of awareness of even small distresses experienced in a family sphere. Likewise, stresses experienced at home or with
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friends or from other non work situations can be carried over to the work place which might heighten and multiply the stresses experienced at work. Thus, we can say that stresses generate from four sources: 1. 2. 3. 4. Extra-organizational stressors Organizational stressors Group stressors Individual stressors.

Extra Organisational Stressors

Job stress is not limited to things that happen inside the organisation, during the working hours. Extra organizational factors also contribute to job stress. These stressors include the following factors:

Political Factors:
Political factors are likely to cause stress in countries which suffer from political uncertainties as in Iran, for example. The obvious reason is that the countries have stable political system where change is typically implemented in an orderly manner.

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 Economic Factors:
Changes in business cycles create economic uncertainties. When the economy contracts, people get worried about their own security. A very important example is the great depression of 1930s. During this period, suicide rates touched the sky. Minor recessions also cause stress in the work force as downward swings in the economy are often accomplished by permanent reductions in the work force, temporary layoff or reduction in pay.

Technological Factors:
Technological uncertainty is the third type of environmental factor that can cause stress. In todays era of technological development new innovations make an employees skills and experience obsolete in a very short span of time. Computers, automation are other forms of technological innovations, which are threat to many people and cause them stress.

Organisational Stressors
In organisations, there is no shortage of factors which can cause stress. Almost every aspect of work can be a stressor for someone. Although there are many factors in the work environment that have some influence on the extent of stress that people experience at the job, the following factors have been shown to be particularly strong in inducing stress :

Job Related Factors:

Job related factors or task demands are related to the job performed by an individual. These factors include the following: If a job is too routine, dull and boring or happens to be too demanding in terms of frequent transfers or constant travelling, which limits the time he can spend with his family, the individual is likely to experience stress. Some jobs also are hazardous or morally conflicting to the individual who interfaces with it, for example, working in an explosives manufacturing factory for the individual who is a staunch believer in and advocate of peace. For lack of other job opportunities, he may be forced to work in this environment and this may be a constant source of severe stress and anguish to the person. Some duties and responsibilities have inbuilt stress such as those of the fire fighter or the police squad which defuses bombs. Jobs where temperatures, noise or other working conditions are dangerous or undesirable can increase anxiety. Similarly, working in an overcrowded room or invisible location where interruptions are constant, can also lead to stress. The more interdependence between a persons tasks and the tasks of others, the more potential stress there is. Autonomy, on the other hand tends to lessen stress.
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 Security is another task demand that can cause stress. Someone in a relatively
secure job is not likely to worry unduly about losing that position. On the other hand, if job security is threatened stress can increase dramatically. Another task demand stressor is workload. Overload occurs when a person has more work to do than he can handle. The overload can be either quantitative (the individual has too many tasks to perform or too little time in which to perform them) or qualitative (the person believes that he lacks the ability to do the job). On the other hand, the opposite of overload is also undesirable. It can result in boredom and apathy just as overload can cause tension and anxiety. Thus, a moderate degree of work related stress is optimal because it leads to high level of energy and motivation.

Role Related Factors:

Role related factors relate to pressures placed on a person as a function of the particular role he or she plays in the organization. Individuals can experience the following role related stresses: Role Conflict: Role conflict occurs when two or more persons have different and sometimes opposing expectations of a given individual. Thus, there are two or more sets of pressures on the individual so that it is not possible to satisfy all of them. Role conflict takes place when contradictory demands are placed upon an employee simultaneously. For example, an advertising manager may be asked to produce a creative ad campaign while on the other hand, time constraint is put upon him, both roles being in conflict with each other. Another type of role conflict is the inter-role conflict where an individual plays more than one role simultaneously in his life and the demands of these roles conflict with each other. For example, a police officer is invited to his friends wedding party where the guests use drugs which are against the law. Here he faces a role conflict. Role Ambiguity: Stresses from job ambiguity arise when an employee does not know what is expected of him or her or how to go about doing the job. For example, if an employee who joins an organization is left to himself to figure out what he is supposed to be doing and nobody tells him what the expectations of him or his role are, the newcomer will face a high level of role ambiguity. Even an old employee can be given a responsibility without being given much information. For example, a production manager might tell a foreman that 500 units of steel rods are to be manufactured in next five days and leaves town immediately without specifying what kind of additional help will be provided, or what the purpose, cost, weight or design details are. The
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foreman is left with a lot of role ambiguity and does not know how he should go about doing the job. Role Overload: Role overload refers to the situation when an individual is expected to do too many things within a limited time as part of the daily routine. For example, if Mrs. X is expected to perform the duties of a supervisor, receptionist, public relations officer and an accountant, she is likely to experience a lot of stress from the several roles she has to play during the day. She may be able to manage the various roles for a short period of time, but if expected to continue in this fashion on a long term basis, she is likely to fall sick or quit.

Inter Personal and Group Related Factors:

Interpersonal demands are pressures created by other employees. Group related stressors include factors like conflicts, poor communication, unpleasant relationship and fear of being ostracized from the group as a valued member. Working with superior, peers or subordinates with whom one does not get along can be a constant source of stress. Some people can deal with conflicts and misunderstandings in an open way and resolve issues as they arise. Many, however, find it difficult to do this and build internal stresses for themselves. Moreover, lack of social support from colleagues and poor interpersonal relationships can cause considerable stress, especially among employees with a high social need. Sometimes, the individuals try to avoid these stresses by remaining absent as frequently as possible and even start looking for new jobs.

Organizational Structural Factors:

Organizational structure defines the level of differentiation, the degree of rules and regulations and where decisions are made. Excessive rules and lack of participation in decisions that affect an employee are examples of structural variables that might be potential stressors.

Organizational Leadership Factors:

These factors represent the managerial style of the organizations senior managers. Some managers create a culture characterised by tension, fear and anxiety. They establish unrealistic pressures to perform in the short run impose excessively tight controls and routinely fire employees who fail to turn up.

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 Organizations Life Cycle:

Organizations go through a cycle. They are established; they grow, become mature and eventually decline. An organizations life cycle creates different problems and pressures for the employees. The first and the last stage are stressful. The establishment involves a lot of excitement and uncertainty, while the decline typically requires cutback, layoffs and a different set of uncertainties. When the organization is in the maturity stage, stress tends to be the least because uncertainties are lowest at this point of time.

Group Stressors
Another source of stress in organisations is poor interpersonal relationships or conflicts. These conflicts can be among the members of the group or between the superiors and subordinates. Groups have a lot of influence on the employees behaviour, performance and job satisfaction. On the other hand, the group can also be a potential source of stress. Group stressors can be categorised into the following factors. :

Group Cohesiveness:
The famous Hawthorne studies had proved that group cohesiveness is very important to the employees, particularly at the lower levels of the organization. Lack of cohesiveness can be very stress producing, especially for those persons who cannot thrive in isolation. The other side of the picture is that too much cohesiveness can also lead to stress. Sayings like Too much familiarity breeds contempt are very valid because prolonged contact with other people can also cause stress. This stress becomes more intensified when the people we are close to or with whom we come in contact with are in distress themselves. For example, people tend to become distressed when their friends, colleagues or pears are in distress. Due to this reason people belonging to certain specific professions, which deal with the problems of other people have the highest level of stress. According to Albercht, doctors have the highest rate of alcoholism of any of the professions and that psychiatrists have the highest rate of suicide.
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 Lack of Social Support:

Satisfaction, though, a state of mind is primarily influenced by the positive external factors. These factors include friendliness, respect from other members and self respect, support, opportunity to interact, achievement, protection against threats and a feeling of security. In this type of social support is lacking for an individual, it can be very stressful.

Conflicts:
People who are working in the organizations are prone to interpersonal and intergroup conflicts. As we have discussed in the previous chapter, conflict has both functional and dysfunctional aspects. Whenever conflict has dysfunctional consequences, it will lead to stress in all the concerned parties.

Organizational Climate:
Much of the group or interpersonal relationships depend upon the organizational climate. An overall organizational climate may have a relaxed style of working or it may be tense and crisis oriented. All the employees of such organization will be continuously tense, if the climate in general is unfriendly, hostile or totally task oriented.

Individual Stressors
The typical individual works for about 8 to 10 hours a day. The problems and experiences which he has to face in the remaining 14 to 16 non-working hours can spill over to his work place. Our final category of stressors thus includes personal or individual stressors. Following are the main factors which can cause stress to individuals:

Job Concerns:
One of the major job concerns is lack of job security which can lead to concern, anxiety or frustration to the individual. The prospect of losing a job especially when you have a family and social obligations is always very stressful. Career progress is another reason of anxiety. This is particularly true for middle aged people, because middle age is a period of soul searching and self doubt. If these people were not given promotions when due or they feel that the jobs which were

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given to them were beneath their qualifications, they may become very anxious. This anxiety will lead to stress.

Career Changes:
When an employee has to relocate geographically because of a transfer or promotion, it disrupts the routine of his daily life causing concern and stress. The relocation can lead to the following problems: The fear of working in a new location. Unpredictability about new work environment. Anxiety about creating new relationships. Uprooting of children from their schools and friends. If the employee has got a working spouse then the stress is greater. Uncertainty about getting a new job at the new location creates some degree of stress. Thus, when a person is geographically relocated, his stress will depend upon how many changes occur in his social relationships and family life. More the changes, more will be the stress.

Economic Problems:
Some people are very poor money managers or they have wants and desires that always seem to exceed their earning capacity. When individuals overextend their financial resources, or in simple words, if they spend more than they earn, it will always cause stress and distract the employees from their work.

Changes in Life Structure:

The life structure of a person changes as he grows older. As a person grows older, his responsibilities to himself as well as others change and increase. The higher the responsibility, the greater the stress.

The Pace of Life:

As the responsibilities of a person increase, his capacity to execute them should also increase. A hectic pace of life when the person is always busy in business or otherwise can create more stress than a relaxed pace of life. Certain professions like teaching are less stressful than those of company executives, bankers or businessmen.

Life Change and Life Traumas:

Life change and life traumas are both stress producing. Life changes may be slow (like getting older) or sudden (like the death of a spouse). Sudden changes are highly stressful. Life traumas can be highly stressful. A life trauma is any upheaval in an individuals life that alter his or her attitudes, emotions or behaviors. Life change and life trauma look alike but there is difference between the two. To illustrate, according to the life change view, the death of a spouse adds to a persons potential for health
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problems in the following year. At the same time, the person will also experience an emotional turmoil, which will constitute life trauma and life trauma will spill over to the work place.

Personality of a Person:
The extent of stress is also determined by the personality of a person. In respect of personality the distinction between TYPE A and TYPE B behavior patterns become relevant. As mentioned earlier, TYPE A personalities may create stress in their work circumstances due to their achievement orientation, impatience and perfectionism. TYPE A people, thus, bring stress on themselves. TYPE B personality; on the other hand, is less stress prone.

Ability to Cope:
How a person is able to cope with the stress and the sources a person seeks to deal with stress are also very important. For example, people who have strong faith in God and his will find it easier to deal with stressful situations like the loss of a loved one. Similarly, family, relations and friends are a source of great comfort at such times of crisis. Example: Studies indicate that 8 out of 10 employers fail to manage work-related stress. Health and safety executives identify six factors that contribute to workplace stress as: demands of the job, control over work, support from colleagues and management, working relationships, clarity of role, and organizational change (Management Services, 2004). The assessment of value of workplace stress will indicate the strength and the weakness of the organisation.

Consequences of Stress
As is pointed out stress is not automatically bad for individual employees or their organizational performance. It is the dysfunctional aspects of the high level of stress that should be and are a major concern for contemporary society in general and for effective human resource management in particular. Distress experienced by individuals has negative

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consequences for them, their families and for the organizations they serve. The consequences of stress can be studied under three general categories:

Consequences for the Individual

Stress shows itself in a number of ways. An individual who is experiencing stress may develop the following symptoms:

Physiological Symptoms:
In the initial stages, the major concern of stress was directed at physiological symptoms. The reason was that this topic was researched by specialists in the health and medical sciences. According to the researchers high degrees of stress are typically accompanied by severe anxiety, frustration and depression. Some of the physiological symptoms are as follows: Stress: Irritability, insomnia, alcohol and food abuse. Physical changes including rapid breathing, and heart beat, tensed muscles. Prolonged stress can cause muscular twitches, skin problems, baldness and sexual problems such as impotence. Anxiety: Excessive worry, irritability, anger, nervousness as well as inability to concentrate or sleep. Physical changes include palpitations, chest pain and dizziness.

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 Depression: Feeling of sadness, hopelessness, guilt and worthlessness, loss of

interest in activities, change in appetite or weight, difficulty in concentrating and suicidal thoughts. The link between stress and particular physiological symptoms is not clear. According to Academy of Management Journal there are few, if any, consistent relationships. But the fact which is relatively significant is that physiological symptoms have the least direct relevance to the students of Human Behaviour. Our concern is with behaviour and attitudes. Therefore, the other two categories of symptoms are more important to us.

Psychological Symptoms:
While considerable attention has been given to the relationship between stress and physiological symptoms, especially within the medical community not as much importance has been given to the impact of stress on mental health. But psychological problems resulting from stress are very important in day to day job performance. The psychological impacts of stress may be: Stress can cause dissatisfaction. Job related stress can cause job-related dissatisfaction. Job dissatisfaction is the simplest and most psychological aspect of stress. High levels of stress may be accompanied by anger, anxiety, depression, nervousness, irritability, tension and boredom. One study found that stress had the strongest impact on aggressive actions such as sabotage, interpersonal aggression, hostility and complaints. The psychological problems from stress may lead to poor job performance, lowered self esteem, resentment of supervision, inability to concentrate, make decisions and job dissatisfaction. Research indicates that when people are placed in jobs that make multiple and conflicting demands or in which there is a lack of clarity as to the individuals duties, authority and responsibilities, both stress and dissatisfaction are increased. The less control people have over the pace of their work, the greater the stress and dissatisfaction. Some evidence suggests that jobs that provide a low level of variety, significance, autonomy, feedback and identity, create stress and reduce satisfaction and involvement in the job.

Behavioral Symptoms:
Any behaviour which indicates that you are not acting your usual self may be a sign of adverse reaction to stress. Direct behaviour mat may accompany high levels of stress include:
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Undereating or overeating Sleeplessness Increased smoking and drinking Drug abuse Nodding off during meetings or social gatherings Losing your sense of humour Moving in a tense and jerky way Reacting nervously or irritably to everyday sounds Absenteeism and turnover Reduction in productivity Consistently acting and feeling out of character is a serious warning that we are losing our ability to cope with tension. Inability to feel or express any emotions or a sense of being indicates loss of contact with our surroundings and us. The above indicators can help us in overcoming the tensions in our day to day life. Like the psychological problems resulting from stress, the behavioural problems are often not attributed to stress by co- workers or supervisors and generate little sympathy.

Consequences for the Family

Distress which is handled by individuals in dysfunctional ways such as resorting to drinking or withdrawal behaviours, will have an adverse effect on their family life. The effects of this will be spouse abuse, child abuse, alienation from family members and even divorce. The stressors which generally affect the family life are: In the dual career families where both the spouses are pursuing careers, a lot of personal commitments, varied in nature, are demanded from them (both to their jobs and families). The stresses experienced by the couples stem from role overload, since both partners have to manage their careers as well as help the family. Additional stresses are experienced while handling the personal, social and cultural dilemmas of balancing work and family, discharging parenting responsibilities, handling competition at the work place and within the family and being an involved member of the extended family.

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Consequences to Organisations

The effects of employees stress on organizations are many and varied. These include: Low performance and productivity. High rate of absenteeism and turnover. Loss of customers due to poor attitudes of workers. Increased alienation of the worker from the job. Destructive and aggressive behaviours resulting in strikes and sabotage. The stresses experienced by employees who take on critical roles and are responsible for public safety can sometimes be detrimental to the well being of the constituents served. For example, the stress experienced by airline pilot, train driver, railway guard or air traffic controller can result in the loss of so many lives. Therefore, the costs of employees stress to the organization in terms of lost profits, declining assets, bad image projection, poor reputation and loss of future business are enormous.

Managing Stress
When we look at stress from organizational point of view, management may not be concerned about the low to moderate levels of stress experienced by the employees. The reason is that some functional level of stress is necessary to improve employee performance. But high levels of stress and sustained low levels of stress are a cause of action by the management. But when we look at stress from individuals point of view even the low levels of stress are perceived to be undesirable. Keeping this in mind we can discuss the individual and organizational approaches towards managing stress.

Individual Approach
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As we know that stress has got a number of negative consequences for the individuals, which is why every individual should take personal responsibility for reducing his or her stress level. There are a number of ways by which a person can avoid stressful conditions, change them or learn to cope with them. Stress can be managed by an individual, which will enable him to regain control over his life. Some of the stresses reducing strategies from individuals point of view are:

Knowledge About Stress:

In the first stage, an individual should become knowledgeable about stress. He should know about the process and effects of stress. He must find out the major sources of his stress. He must anticipate stressful periods and plan accordingly in advance. He must be honest with himself and decide what he can cope with what he cannot.

Physiological Fitness:
Exercise in any form can help people in coping with the stress. Non competitive physical exercise such as aerobics, walking, jogging, swimming, riding a bicycle, playing softball or tennis has been recommended by physicians as a way to deal with excessive stress levels. There is evidence to suggest that individuals who exercise are much less likely to suffer from certain types of stress related exercises. With proper exercise, diet control and non-smoking habits, blood pressure and cholesterol become controlled and the body becomes more resistant to pressures. People are more likely to get physically sick or emotionally depressed if they are overweight or poorly nourished.

Time Management:
Most of the people are very poor in managing their time. They dont know that what must be done and when it would be desirable to do so. The result of poor time management is feeling of work overload, skipped schedules and tension. A well organized person can often accomplish twice as much as the person who is poorly organized. Therefore, an individual must understand how to manage his time so that he can cope with tensions created by job demands. A few of the well known time management principles are: Preparing a daily list of activities to be attended to. Prioritizing activities by importance and urgency. Scheduling activities according to the priorities set. Knowing your daily schedule and handling the most demanding parts of a job when you are most alert and productive.

Assertiveness:
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An individual should become assertive. He should not say Yes when he wants to say No. He should start saying No to people or managers who demand too much of his time. Being assertive is an important factor in reducing stress.

Social Support Network:

Every person should have people to turn to, talk to and rely upon. Good friends become highly supportive during times of stress and crisis. Social net work includes friends, family or work colleagues. Expanding your social support system can be a means for tension reduction because friends are there when needed and provide support to get the person through stressful situations.

Readjust life Goals:

Every individual must know what he really wants to do. This should relate to not only the major decisions of the life but to all activities in our life. He must know what is important for him. Because of the severe competition in life to go ahead, most individuals set very high standards and goals for themselves. These high expectations and limited resources to reach such expectations result in stress. Accordingly, every person must readjust his goals and make sure he has the ability and resources to reach such goals. Perhaps the goals should be established after the resources have been analysed.

Relaxation Techniques:
Every individual must teach himself to reduce tension through relaxation techniques such as Yoga, mediation, hypnosis and biofeedback. 15-20 minutes a day of deep relaxation releases tension and provides a person with pronounced sense of peacefulness. Deep relaxation conditions will bring significant changes in heart rate, blood pressure and other physiological factors. Yoga is probably the most effective remedy for stress. Studies have revealed that Yoga has cured several stress related diseases.

Plan your life in Advance:

So many times, people create situations which induce stress because they neither did not plan nor did a bad job of planning. The traditional Indian attitude of whatever will be, will be a way of accepting the unexpected difficulties in life. This attitude may be relevant in those situations over which we do not have any control like death in the family, but for other events in life, it is better to plan in advance, so that we can confront them with confidence when they occur. Individuals may design their own strategies to reduce stress, but it is a must for the organizations to develop programmes that will help the employees in reducing their stress. This will lead to less employee turnover, absenteeism and as a result productivity will improve.

Organizational Approaches
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Some of the measures which organisations can take are:

Selection and Placement:

Individuals differ in their response to stress situations. We know that Type A individuals are more prone to stress. On the other hand, in the organizations there are certain jobs which are more stressful as compared to other jobs. While doing the selection and placement of the employees, these factors must be kept in mind. The individuals who are more prone to stress should not be put on jobs which are stressful. The individuals who are less prone to stress may adapt better to high stress jobs and perform those jobs more effectively.

Goal Setting:
Based on extensive amount of research it has been concluded that individuals perform better when they have specific and challenging goals and they receive feedback on how well they are progressing towards those goals. Goal setting can reduce stress as well as provide motivation. It will result in less employee frustration, role ambiguity and stress.

Improved Communication:
Sometimes due to lack of effective communication from the superiors, the employees do not know what they have to do and how they have to do it. This result in role ambiguity. Similarly, when two or more persons have contradicting role demands from an employee, it leads to role conflict if there is lack of proper communication. Effective communication with employees reduces the uncertainty by lessening role ambiguity and role conflict.

Redesigning Jobs:
Organisations should redesign the jobs in such a way as to give employees more responsibility, more meaningful work, more autonomy and increased feed back. This will help reduce the stress caused by monotony, routine work, work overload or underload and role ambiguity. Job redesigning enhances motivation, reduces the stress among the employees and enhances Quality of work life.

Participative Decision Making:

If the organisations give the employees participation in those decisions that directly affect them and their job performance, it can increase employee control and reduce the role stress. The main reason of role stress is that employees feel uncertain about their goals, expectations and how they will be evaluated. These uncertainties can be reduced by the management by giving the employees a right to participate in the decision making.
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 Building Teamwork:
The management should try to create such work environment in which there is no provision for interpersonal conflict or inter group conflict. Such conflicts are the causes of stress; such should be prevented from building or eliminated if they develop. Accordingly such team work should be developed that groups and the members are mutually supportive and productive. Members of the group should consider themselves as members of the same family and seek social support from each other.

Personal Wellness Programmes:

These personal wellness programmes focus on the employees total physical and mental condition. Organizations can provide facilities at their premises for physical fitness such as gyms, swimming pools, tennis courts etc as well as psychological counselling. They should hold seminars or workshops to make the employees understand nature and sources of stress and the possible ways to reduce it. These workshops should help those individuals who are already under stress. Moreover, a supervisor can impact personal wellness of his subordinates through positive example, encouragement and by practicing the basic concepts and techniques of human resource management.

Stress can be managed by practicing simple and easy techniques. The first step is to prevent stress and then to identify early signs of stress if one has failed to prevent it. If ignored, stress can change into a silent killer. Following are some stress-busting measures taken up by some top companies:

TCS established a gym and meditation center for helping employees to combat stress.
It also initiated health campaign for its employees for spreading awareness about correct sitting postures. Further, the company also initiated research about radiation impact due to increased usage of computers on its employees. The company organized workshops on stress management for group leaders to create awareness about the impact of employee stress. HCL Info systems organizes lectures on the stress management and importance of positive and healthy living. IT&T re-designed office furniture according to Ergonomics and also introduced 'break out method' - allowing employees to take two - three breaks before lunch hour. Companies like - HP, IBM, Cisco etc. help employees by providing emergency baby sitters; takeout food, and laundry services.

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 Companies have recognized the need to take preventive care about employee stress.
For instance - Indian Airlines, State Bank of India, Onida, Tata Group and BSES (Reliance Energy) etc., focus on the executive health management. These companies conduct regular workshops on the stress management, diabetics, hypertension and cardiac care during office hours Many companies, in association with healthcare majors such as - Apollo Hospitals, Wockhardt and Hinduja, provide complete medical checkup for their employees. HSBC employees enjoy salsa dance in their Mumbai office every evening as a means of combating stress.

CASE STUDY: QVC stress case study

QVC is one of the worlds largest multimedia retailers, reaching 166 million homes across the globe and employing more than 17,000 people across the USA, Germany, Japan, Italy and the UK. A workforce of more than 2,000 are involved in the 24 hours a day operation, in the Head Office and Broadcast Centre in Battersea, London, and Customer Operations Centre in Knowsley, Merseyside.

Why we decided to tackle stress at work?

One of QVCs vision statements relates to Creating a Great Place to Work for our people. This vision ensures we stay focused in all areas of our employees experiences at work, including their health, safety and wellbeing. Our focus when reviewing our approach to

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managing stress/pressure has been the employee experience (Employee Engagement) at work. Our key aim is to equip managers with the tools to recognise potential signs of stress and to prevent it. We were also keen to ensure that managers understood why we placed such great emphasis on employee wellbeing. The number of stress cases was not a key driver for us. Stress cases do exist, but we felt that a programme that inspired leaders to focus on the wellbeing of their people would lead to greater levels of engagement.

How we did it
We began by securing senior management commitment, as this is central to the Management Standards process. We briefed the senior management team to ensure they understood the need for and the benefits of the initiative. As the HR and Health and Safety function worked together the senior team understood the legal obligations as well as the health and well being approach we were taking. We decided that the traditional risk assessment route was not right for us but we have retained the five key elements of a risk assessment process: 1. Identify the risk factors: We worked with a third party consultant to set up and facilitate workshops and an awareness-raising programme for leaders. The workshop called Managing Pressure A Health and Wellbeing Approach involved raising awareness of the Standards and their relationship to every day management procedures, as well as explaining the difference between pressure and stress and exploring how nutrition and diet can affect mood and energy. 2. Who can be harmed and how: We have several methods of collecting data. They include traditional data gathering of sickness absence information, using our employee survey to understand where issues exist. Our staff survey operates every 18 months, and we select the questions that align with the Standards when reviewing the risk of workrelated stress. We also have an active HR team that monitors its client areas and feeds back centrally on team behaviour and morale. This combination of methods allows us to understand the risks. 3. Evaluate the risks: QVC is a non-unionised organisation, so leaders work closely and meet regularly with employee representatives to discuss emerging issues. We also work very closely with employees following the results of the employee survey and weve established focus groups with representatives from around the business to move the results into appropriate actions. 4. Record your findings: develop and implement action plans: We continually review and use the information gathered from sickness absence meetings, employee survey results, employee forum groups and HR teams to develop responses and proactive
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programmes to support our people. We work with our forum representatives and management groups across the business to develop solutions such as: Working with local financial organisations and relationship counsellors to provide services within QVC. We are currently in the process of enhancing and improving our Occupational Health service. Part of this includes developing further the links between our HR and Health and Safety teams. We have rolled out our Managing Pressure sessions to our management groups and intend to design and roll out a tailored Managing Pressure programme to employees. Performance management system: we have redesigned our appraisal documentation to encourage discussion about the managers style/behaviour. Scores from the employee survey, which link to our employee experiences, are now included with the appraisal form and assessed as part of a leaders overall performance. Communication is essential: We work with our internal communications team, our employee forums and our management team and use our employee survey to ensure everyone has a voice. 5. Monitor and Review: Appraisal system for leaders to help assess levels of engagement with employees Regular monitoring and review of staff survey results. Monitoring of issues discussed at QVC employee forums Monitoring of key employee relations issues Monitoring of feedback received on our Culture development programme

Impact
The biggest impact we believe this programme has had is an increased awareness of stress among line managers. Their feedback on the programme highlights that they feel more equipped to notice potential signs of stress and more confident about what action to take should they suspect a case of stress. The HR department has reported an increase in proactive discussions between managers and employees about potential stress cases. This also led to more referrals to occupational health before an absence. We have been able to support employees whilst in work and provide upfront support. Since the programme was delivered to our leaders in January 2009 we have seen a decrease of year on year sickness absence figures at our Knowsley Operation from 5.31% in 2008 and ending the year of 2009 at 4.96%. We have also experienced a 20% decrease of the average number of employees on long term absence between 2008 / 09. A recent survey of employees indicated that more than 40% believed that the Health & Wellbeing programme has had a positive impact on their life outside of QVC. More than 50%
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believe it has had a positive impact upon their work life balance and 70% indicated that it has had a positive influence upon their health awareness.

CASE STUDY: Birmingham City Council

Birmingham City Council is the largest local authority in the UK, consisting of 6 directorates. It serves a population of 1 million people and has offices and schools throughout the city.

Why Birmingham City Council decided to manage stress?

To ensure compliance with the Health & Safety At Work Act (1974) and the Health & Safety at Work Regulations (1999). To reduce sickness absence.

How did they do it?

The Council introduced a Stress Policy in April 2004 and appointed a Project Manager (for work related stress) and a Stress Trainer/Advisor to coordinate and implement it. A corporate
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steering group was formed to oversee implementation, share best practice and monitor the policys impact. It was comprised of the heads of HR and Occupational Health, StaffCare (the in-house counselling service), the Project Manager (Work related stress) and Trade Union reps. We achieved senior level commitment by appointing a senior management rep as Stress Champion to chair the steering group and by identifying a senior level project sponsor to feedback to the senior management team. A project plan to roll out the policys stress risk assessment process on a directorate, by directorate basis was then developed. One directorate was identified as the pilot site to develop a methodology for a directorate-wide stress risk assessment, following the guidance of the Health & Safety Executive (HSE). A Stress Policy Implementation Group (SPIG) was also set up to oversee the risk assessment process. As with the steering group, this was a cross-organisation group with broad representation.

Engagement of staff
All managers in the directorate received a stress policy briefing, which they communicated to their staff. This informed managers of their role in implementing the stress policy and the intention to conduct a stress audit.

Communication
To advertise the stress audit an organisation-wide publicity campaign was launched using available media. Stress audit questionnaires were then distributed to all employees, with a letter from the Director attached encouraging staff to take part. A note on the front page of the questionnaire reassured the staff about the confidentiality and anonymity of their responses.

Responses and Results

Audit results showed that all risk factor categories were in need of action, but especially role and relationships. A second set of questions added to the indicator tool allowed to measure stress levels among staff groups. This information enabled to identify the 'hot spot groups. 13 focus group sessions were run with staff from the hot spot areas. These groups were facilitated by Acas and allowed staff to discuss the specific causes of stress at work and put forward solutions to address them.

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Action plans
Action plans were developed into key themes for action around the 6 HSE stress risk factor categories. A leaflet outlining the results of the stress audit and focus groups was distributed to all staff and an article written for the in-house magazine. A series of half-day training sessions on managing stress were then offered for over 500 staff, an initiative which continues to be offered. A bespoke stress management module is being included in management development programmes, with training on how to carry out employee stress risk assessments. Improvements are also being made to the way in which information is communicated within the directorate. A section on employee well being is being incorporated into a pilot of new supervisory notes and the process of caseload management is being reviewed.

Benefits
The Stress Policy Implementation Group monitors the impact of the stress policy by reviewing sickness and turnover figures, as well as data provided by the in-house counselling service, and results of the staff attitude survey. Although sickness figures as a whole have remained similar over time, figures for stress, anxiety and depression have shown a decrease of 6% since 2005/6 when the work began to the present day.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Websites:
www.mbaknol.com http://www.lge.gov.uk http://www.icmrindia.org www.wikipedia.org http://www.hse.gov.uk
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 Books:
Oraganisation Theory and Behaviour by Shashi K Gupta & Rosy

Joshi

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