Organizational Behavior (Essay Sample)

Organizational Behaviour
Name:
Institution:
Managing Stress in the Workplace
Stress has become a major cause of concern in the workplace today due to reduced/lost productivity, accidents, and increased management pressure. Besides, there is also the increased likelihood of litigation for organizations and employers that may result into bad publicity and loss of reputation, not to mention the possibility of facing huge liabilities for damages. Handling claims related to stress consumes management time further impacting on productivity. Hence, there are strong monetary and socio-economic incentives for organizations to deal with stress in the work place, aside from the obvious ethical considerations. Effective methods that can be undertaken by the management to manage stress in the workplace includes;
Making expectations clear
The management should clearly state their expectation to the workers. Workers with clear job description experience less stress compared to those with ill-defined jobs. The managerial staff should ensure that employees are made aware of the relevant details as pertains to their jobs and ensure that the demands expected of them are appropriate. This may for example, involve setting of goals as this not only reduces stress but also provide motivation, besides reducing uncertainties pertaining to actual job performance.
Autonomy
Giving employees a sense of autonomy in the workplace can help reduce stress. Lack of control over their environment has been noted to be a key inducer of stress among employees in the workplace. Autonomy allows employees to have more control over how they perform their work. Such may include participative decision making whereby employees are given an opportunity to voice decisions that have a direct impact on their job performances. It may also include job-sharing, introducing flexi-time and increased consultations over working practices.
Conducive work environment
Creating a fair working environment helps a great deal in reducing stress among employees. Such environment creates a sense of self-worth and status among employees that buffer the effects of stress. This for example may involve training supervisors to be more sensitive at the interpersonal level. It may also involve setting up programs that focus on and help improve employee’s mental and physical conditions. Such may typically involve providing workshops to help employees abandon bad living habits like alcohol use, smoking and weight loss programs among others. Employers should, therefore, strive to develop a more supportive and friendly culture within the work place.
Employees can and should also take personal initiative in managing their stress levels. Effective strategies that can be undertaken by individuals include;
Social support
A robust social support network acts as a good outlet for stress. This is especially in instances when stress levels become excessive and hence provides a means of reducing built-up tension within an individual. It’s imperative that individuals expand their social support networks including, but not limited to friends, relatives or workmates. Such individuals offer avenues for one to access different objective perspectives on a given situation from many angles, and they also offer a hearing ear to one’s problems.
Proper time management
Poor time management is a major cause of stress among individuals in the workplace. Poor understanding and utilization of basic principles of time management result in individuals being unable to cope with their job demands hence leading to stress. Individuals should hence put in place time management principles like prioritizing tasks according to urgency and importance and scheduling their activities according to these set priorities. It is also helpful for individuals to be aware of their work routines and daily work cycle and hence put in place measures to handle demanding tasks while they are at their level of peak performance.
Physical exercises
Physical exercises play a great role in helping individuals relax and hence reduce their stress levels. Activities like jogging, aerobics, swimming and walking helps in providing a mental diversion from the pressures of work and also have a calming effect on the body.
Part B
CEOOrganizational chart
Production ManagerMarketing Manager
Assembly SupervisorFabrication SupervisorSales SupervisorSales Supervisor
Sales personsWorkersWorkersWorkersWorkersSales personsSales personsSales persons
The above company exhibits a line organizational structure. In this organizational structure, communication with external companies is constrained by the fact that people at the lower levels are not empowered to make an independent decision when dealing with external companies without involving the top management. The fact that the different departments in such a structure are detached from each other also present a major challenge to external companies in the course of their interaction with the organization. This is mainly because the different section heads have no idea of what goes on in...