1 CHAPTER-I INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION The study of Organizational Behaviour (OB) is very interesting and challenging too. Organizational behaviour is a field of study, meaning that it is a distinct area of expertise with a common body of knowledge. It studies the three determinants of behaviour in organizations; individuals, groups, and structure. In addition, OB applies the knowledge gained about individuals, groups and the effect of structure on behaviour in order to make organizations work more effectively. Organizational behaviour is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and structure have on behaviour within organization. In other words, the study of organizational behaviour relates to the expected behaviour of an individual in the organization. No two individuals are likely to behave in the same manner in a particular work situation. It is the human factors that contribute in the importance of the study of the human behaviour. Researchers, management practitioners, psychologists and social scientists must understand the very testimonial of an individual’s, his background, social framework, education update, impacts of social group and other situational factors on behaviour. OB involves integration of studies undertaken relating to behaviour science like psychology, economics, social psychology, sociology, anthropology, and political science. Therefore, organizational behaviour is a comprehensive field of study in which individual, group and organizational structure is studied in relation to organizational growth and organizational culture, in an environment where is the great the impact of modern technology. The aim of the study is to ensure that human behaviour contributes toward growth of organization and great efficiency is achieved. Organizational behaviour can be defined as- “the study and application of knowledge about human behaviour related to other elements of on organization such as structure, technology and social system- L.M. Prasad. Stephen P Robins defines “organizational behaviour as a systematic study of the action and attitude that people exhibit within organization. In other words, “Organizational Behaviours refer to the behaviour of
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1
CHAPTER-I
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
The study of Organizational Behaviour (OB) is very interesting and challenging too.
Organizational behaviour is a field of study, meaning that it is a distinct area of
expertise with a common body of knowledge. It studies the three determinants of
behaviour in organizations; individuals, groups, and structure. In addition, OB applies
the knowledge gained about individuals, groups and the effect of structure on behaviour
in order to make organizations work more effectively. Organizational behaviour is a
field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and structure have
on behaviour within organization. In other words, the study of organizational behaviour
relates to the expected behaviour of an individual in the organization. No two
individuals are likely to behave in the same manner in a particular work situation. It is
the human factors that contribute in the importance of the study of the human
behaviour. Researchers, management practitioners, psychologists and social scientists
must understand the very testimonial of an individual’s, his background, social
framework, education update, impacts of social group and other situational factors on
behaviour.
OB involves integration of studies undertaken relating to behaviour science like
psychology, economics, social psychology, sociology, anthropology, and political
science. Therefore, organizational behaviour is a comprehensive field of study in which
individual, group and organizational structure is studied in relation to organizational
growth and organizational culture, in an environment where is the great the impact of
modern technology. The aim of the study is to ensure that human behaviour contributes
toward growth of organization and great efficiency is achieved.
Organizational behaviour can be defined as- “the study and application of knowledge
about human behaviour related to other elements of on organization such as structure,
technology and social system- L.M. Prasad. Stephen P Robins defines “organizational
behaviour as a systematic study of the action and attitude that people exhibit within
organization. In other words, “Organizational Behaviours refer to the behaviour of
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individuals and groups within organizations and the interaction between organizational
members and their external environment”.
To sum up the definitions, OB is the study of what people do in an organization and
how heir behaviour affects the organization’s performance. Because organizational
behaviour is concerned specifically with employment-related situation, should not be
surprised that it emphasizes behaviour as related to concerns such as work,
absenteeism, employments turnover, productivity, human performance, and
management. In the other words, the value system, emotional intelligence,
organizational culture, job design and the work environment are important casual
agents in determining human behaviour.
FOUNDATIONS OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR
Organizational behaviour is based on some fundamental concepts which turn around
the nature of people and organizations. These concepts are not irregular to the field of
OB, even every discipline, to be social science or physical science, will flourish on
definite assumptions. The basic assumptions that distinct to this discipline are as below;
Individual differences- the first foundation is the differences of the individuals, people
have much in common, but each person in this is also individually different. In the
several ways, each one is different from others. Whether it is intelligence, physique,
personality, diction, or any such trait, one can find remarkable differences. OB begins
with the individual, because of individual differences.
Whole person: - with the appointment, not only his/her skill hired even his/her social
background, likes and dislikes, pride and prejudice are also hired. Family of a person
cannot be separate from his or her work life. This is the reason that managers should
endeavour to make the workplace a home away from home.
Human dignity: - Human dignity is more an ethical philosophy than a scientific
conclusion. It confirms that people are to be treated different from other factors of the
production because they are different from other factors and are off a higher order in
the universe. It recognizes that people want to be treated with respect and dignity and
they should be treated. A human dignity concept rejects the old idea of using
employees as economic tools.
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Organizations are social systems:- organizations are social systems, the activities
within the organizations are governed by social as well as psychological laws. As
people have psychological needs, they also have social role and status. The behaviour
of human is influenced by their groups as well as by their individual drives. There are
two types of social systems i.e. formal system and informal system exists in
organizations. The existence of social system implies that the organization environment
is one of dynamic change, rather than a static set of relation as reveled in an
organization chart.
Mutuality of interest: - the statement “organizations needs people and people also
need organizations” represented mutual interest. Organizations are formed and maintain
on the basis of some mutuality of interest among their participants. People consider
organizations as a mean to help them to reach their goals, and at same time,
organizations need people to attain organizational objectives. It makes no sense to try to
assemble a group and develop cooperation in the lacking of mutuality. Mutual interest
provides a super ordinate goal that unites the variety of needs that people bring to
organization.
Need for Management: - There is need for management in an organization because
management is the attainment of organization goals in an effective and efficient manner
through planning, organizing, leading and controlling organization resources, of course
making use of the knowledge about organization behaviour. And they called executives
or managers who, plan, organize, lead and control constitute.
As explain above; these concepts are the foundation of the organizational behaviour.
DISCIPLINES THAT CONTRIBUTE TO THE
ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR FIELD
Organization behaviour is an applied behavioural science built on contributions from a
number of behavioural disciplines, mainly psychology, social psychology, sociology,
and anthropology. Psychology contributes mainly at the individual or micro level of
analysis, while other disciplines have contributed to understand macro concepts such as
group processes and organization.
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Figure 1.1 Major disciplines and their contributions to OB
Source: Robbins, S.P. and T.A. Judge, book: Organizational Behavior, 15th
edition.
Psychology
Psychology is an applied science, which attempts to explain human behaviour in a
particular situation and predicts actions of individuals. Psychology concerned with
individuals’ behaviour and has contributed greatly to the intra individual dynamics of
human behaviour. In other words, psychology has contributed toward various theories
on individual decision making, motivation, personality, perception, attitude, job
satisfaction, performance appraisal, opinion, job design, work stress and conflict
management. Studies of these theories can improve personal skills, bring change in
attitude and develop positive approach to organizational systems.
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Social psychology
Generally, social psychology, considered a branch of psychology, blends concepts from
both psychology and sociology to focus on peoples’ influence on one another. The field
has contributed to measuring, understanding, and changing attitude; identifying
communication patterns; and building trust. Finally they have made important
contribution to study of group behaviour, power, and conflict.
Sociology
Psychology focuses on the study of individual behaviour, sociology addresses itself to
the study of group behaviour. Sociology studies people in relation to their social
environment or culture. Sociologists have contributed to organizational behaviour
through their study of group behaviour in organizations, particularly formal and
complex organizations. Sociologists have studied organizational culture, formal
organizational theory and structure, organizational technology, communications,
power, and conflicts.
Anthropology
Anthropology is a field of study relating to human activities in various cultural and
environmental frameworks. It understands difference in behaviour based on value
system of different cultures of various countries. In other words, anthropologists’ work
on culture and environment has helped to understand differences in fundamental values,
attitudes, and behaviour between people in different countries and with in different
organizations.
Political science
Political scientists study the behaviour of individuals and groups within political
environment. Contributions from political scientists for a better understanding of
organizational behaviour are significant. Political scientists concern to conflict
resolution, group coalition, allocation of power, and how people manipulate power in
their self-interest.
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CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR ORGANIZATIONAL
BEHAVIOUR
There are a lot of challenges and opportunities today for manager to use organizational
behaviour concepts. Today’s challenges bring opportunities for managers to use OB
concepts. In this section, some of critical issues confronting managers for which
organizational behaviour offers solutions or at least meaningful insights toward
solutions.
Responding to globalization
Organizations are no longer constrained by national borders. Growing
internationalization of business has its impact on people management. The management
is required to cope with problems which increase because of globalization. The
management have to cope with problems of unfamiliar laws, languages, practices,
competitors, attitudes, management style, work ethics and many more. The world has
become a global village. In the process, the manager’s job has changed.
Managing workforce diversity
One of the most important challenges for organizations is adapting people who are
different. The definition of diversity for business world means having a workforce that
represents many different viewpoints, background and cultures, individuals with a
variety of physical or psychological abilities. Diversity affects all the areas of
organisation from recruitment to compensation. Managing this diversity is a global
concern. Dealing with the people from different age, gender, race, educational
background, location, culture, income, parental status, religious beliefs, marital status
and work experience can be challenging task for HR managers also. With this,
managing people with different set of ideologies, views, life-style and psychology can
be very risky. Positive attitude of HR managers, effective communication and
adaptability can be helpful in bind the diverse workforce and retain the talents in the
organisation.
Improving customer service
In recent time, the majority of employees in developed countries work in service jobs
that include technical support representatives, fast-food counter workers, sales clerks,
waiters and waitresses, nurses, automobile repair technicians, consultants, credit
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representatives, financial planners etc. the common characteristics of these jobs is
substantial interaction with an organization’s customers. An organization can’t exist
without customers so management needs to ensure employees do what it takes to please
customers.
Improving people skills
Organizational behaviour represents relevant concepts and theories that can help a
manager to predict and explain the behaviour of at work. In addition, it also provides
insights into specific people skills that can be used on the job.
Improving ethical behaviour
Organizational word is characterized by cutbacks, expectations of increasing
productivity, and tough completions. Many employees feel pressured to cut corners,
break rules, and engage in other questionable practices. Employees face ethical
dilemmas and ethical choice, in which they are required to identify right and wrong
conduct. So managers need to create an ethically healthy climate for his/her employees
where they can do their work with minimal degree of ambiguity regarding what
constitute right and wrong behaviour.
Creating a positive work environment
There are stronger competitive pressures on most of organizations, even than some
organization are trying to realize a competitive advantage by fostering a positive work
environment. A real growth area in organizational behaviour is positive organizational
behaviour, which studies how organizations develop human strengths, foster energy
and unlock potential.
Positive organizational behaviour does not deny the value of the negative
feedback, it does challenge researcher to look at OB through a new lens and pushes
organizations to exploit employees’ strength.
These are some of challenges and opportunities which are faced in organization
behaviour. Although, debate exists about the relative importance of each related
behaviour, organizational behaviour include the core topics of motivation, leader
behaviour and power, interpersonal communication, group structure and process,
conflict, work design, commitment, work stress and organizational effectiveness.
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In the present study, the researcher explained the three core variables of organizational
behaviour i.e. organizational commitment, occupational stress, and organizational
effectiveness.
1.1 ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT
The concept of commitment is regularly associated with both attitudes and emotions.
And commitment in workplace is still one of the most challenging and researched
concepts in the fields of management, organization behaviour, and human resource
management (HRM). Commitment to a relationship, an organization, a goal, or even an
occupation involves emotional attachment, in addition to evaluation of whether current
situation are what one expected or might expected in the future. Becker, (1960)
suggested a cost based commitment, where an individual assesses the perceived gains
associated with continued membership of an organization and perceived cost associated
with leaving and ultimate decision of leaving and staying is made based on its
comparative advantage.
1.1.1 CONCEPT OF ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT
Organizational commitment in the fields of Organizational Behavior and
Industrial/Organizational Psychology is, in a general sense, the employee's
psychological attachment to the organization. It can be contrasted with other work-
related attitudes, such as job satisfaction, defined as an employee's feelings about their
job, and organizational identification, defined as the degree to which an employee
experiences a 'sense of oneness' with their organization. Many definitions exist in the
literature for organizational commitment.
Organizational commitment has been defined as “a psychological state that
characterizes an employee’s relationship with an organization and has implications for
the decision to continue membership of the organization” (Meyer and Allen 1991).
Hall, Schneider and Nygren (1970) defined organizational commitment as the process
by which the goals of the organizations and those of the individual become increasingly
integrated and congruent. Sheldon (1971) defined organizational commitment as an
attitude or an orientation towards the organization, which links or attracts the identity of
the person to the organizations.
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Salancik (1977) gives two approaches to understand organizational commitment-
prospective and retrospective. In prospective, commitment is conceived as an
individual’s psychological bond to the organization or social system as reflected in
his/her involvement with, loyalty for and belief in the value of the organization. In the
retrospective view, commitment results as the individual becomes bound to the
behavioural acts that are chosen voluntarily.
According to Cook and Wall (1980) organizational commitment has three interrelated
components; pride in the organization and internalization of its goal; willingness to
invest personal efforts for the sake of organization; and affection for and attachment to
the organization and a wish to remain a member of the organization. In the context of
this definition, organizational commitment embraces the following three elements.
a) The acceptance of organization goals and a strong belief in these goals.
b) Willingness to perform substantial efforts on behalf of the organization.
c) Having a definite desire to maintain organizational membership. (Allen and
Mayer, 1990).
Mowday, Porter, and Steers (1982) defined organizational commitment as the relative
strength of an individual’s identification with and involvement in a particular
organization. Organizational commitment has been defined as a psychological state that
characterizes an employee’s relationship with an organization and has implications for
the decision to continue membership of the organization (Mayer and Allen, 1991,
Agarwal, 1999).
Organizational commitment has been defined as the strength of an individual’s
identification with and involvement in a particular organization, characterized by;
a) A strong belief in and acceptance of an organization’s goals and value.
b) Willingness to exert considerable efforts on behalf of the organization;
c) A define desire to maintain organizational membership.
These three dimensions refer to what have been described as normative, affective and
continuance commitment. Organizational commitment has been demonstrated to be
better conceptualized as a set of different, more or less independent components instead
of using a single construct. In organizational commitment, an employee identified with
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a particular organization and its goals and wishes to remain a member. Most research
has focused on emotional attachment to an organization.
The multiple commitments consist of an employees’ belief in the organization,
willingness to work hard for it, and desire to continue to work for it. Generally, higher
level of commitment show employees’ desire to staying and lower level of commitment
show employees’ intentions leaving on organization.
The importance of organizational commitment has been reflected in ongoing researches
in the management area. Organizational commitment reveals complex employee
attitude, including emotional attachment to the organization refers as affective
commitment, continuance commitment emphasizing the perceived investment and
costs, and obligation based consideration known as normative commitment.
1.1.2 COMPONENTS OF ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT
In a model of commitment developed recently by Meyer and Allen (1987), the three
components outlined and were labeled affective, continuance and normative
commitment respectively. According to Meyer and Allen (1991) three component
model of commitment indicated that there are three mind set which can characterize an
employee’s commitment to organization.
Affective commitment
Affective commitment is defined as the employee's positive emotional attachment to
the organization. An employee who is affectively committed strongly identifies with
the goals of the organization and desires to remain a part of the organization. This
employee commits to the organization because he/she "wants to". Affective
commitment refers to the employee’s emotional attachment to, identification with and
involvement in the organization and its goals, according to Meyer and Allen, 1991. The
attachment is reflected in one’s role, task management and social interaction in relation
to the organizational goals and value.
Continuance commitment
The individual commits to the organization because he/she perceives high costs of
losing organizational membership including economic costs (such as pension accruals)
and social costs (friendship ties with co-workers) that would be incurred. The employee
remains a member of the organization because he/she "has to". On other words,
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continuance commitment refers to commitment based on the costs and risk the
employees associate with leaving the organization. As such, the fewer alternative
employment opportunities an employee has, the higher the continuance commitment is
perceived. It is argues that individualism is associated positively with continuance
commitment as both constructs emphasis a cost-benefit approach to behavioral
intention.
Normative commitment
The individual commits to and remains with an organization because of feelings of
obligation. These feelings may derive from many sources. For example, the
organization may have invested resources in training an employee who then feels a
'moral' obligation to put forth effort on the job and stay with the organization to 'repay
the debt.' It may also reflect an internalized norm, developed before the person joins the
organization through family or other socialization processes, that one should be loyal to
one's organization. The employee stays with the organization because he/she "ought
to". According to Meyer & Allen, 1991, normative commitment refers to employees’
feelings of obligation, duty or loyalty to remain with the organization, even when the
organization suffers some problems. It is believed that this type of commitment will be
influenced by an individual’s experiences both prior to cultural socialization and
following organizational socialization entry into the organization.
Commitment has usually been studied as an individual level
variable. Studies have also looked at commitment as an organization/ group level
variable. Ostroff (1992) showed that aggregation of commitment scores of individuals
is meaningful when there has been consensus among members of the group. The
correlation between commitment at group level and performance has shown to be
stronger than what was seen at individual level. Such aggregation is more appropriate
when performance is a result of highly interdependent activities of individuals (Ostroff
1992).
1.1.3 CORRELATIONS OF THE ORGANIZATIONAL
COMMITMENT
The correlates of the organizational commitment can be grouped into three major
categories on the base of related literature.
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a) Personal characterizes
b) Role/ Job characteristic
c) Organizational characteristics
Personal characteristics
Organizational commitment is consider as an attitudinal phenomenon by most of the
researchers. Why do employees differ from each other in terms of this attitude?
Whether or not an employee is committed to the organization (if yes, so to what extent)
is recognized by some researchers to his/her personal background and attributes. Thus,
organizational commitment has been found to be positively related to age (Fukami and
Larson, 1984; Balaji, 1986; Alvi and Ahmed, 1987), to job tenure (Fukami and Larson,
1984; Reichers, 1985) and negatively related to education (Fukami and Larson, 1984;
Curry, et.al., 1986; Glisson and Durick, 1988). Managerial respect and job status are
also reported to be related to organizational commitment. The employees who having
high level of managerial respect and having high job status showed greater degree of
organizational commitment than the employees having low level of managerial respect
and job status (Verma,1986). Srivastava and Dolke (1978), locus of control (personal
characteristic) was found to be most important determinants of organizational
commitment and work identification in comparison to organizational variables.
Role/ Job characteristics
Empirical studies have demonstrated that role conflict, role ambiguity and certain other
job characteristics influence the level of organizational commitment. Role conflict was
found to be inversely related to organizational commitment and mixed results emerged
for role ambiguity (Morris and Koch, 1980; Morris and Sherman, 1981). The results of
study conducted by Glisson and Durick (1988) also indicated that job characteristics
primarily role ambiguity and role conflict play a significant but smaller role in
predicting organizational commitment.
Several other studies have found that organizational commitment to be positively
related to job variety (Martin and O’Laughlin, 1984; Wallace, 1995), feedback and task
identity (Steers and Spencer, 1977). According to the results of study conducted by
Rosin and Korabik (1991) revealed that women who described their job as having
limited scope for leadership, responsibility, time flexibility and autonomy, variety
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expressed low job satisfaction and low organizational commitment and had a great
intention to leave.
Organizational characteristics
Organizational commitment has also been found to be positively and significantly
related to many organizational characteristics like, communication (Martin and
O’Laughlin, 1984; Curry, et. al., 1986), promotional and advancement opportunities
(Curry, et. al. 1986; Sharma, 1989; Sharma and Singh, 1991), group cohesion and
training (Martin and O’Laughlin, 1984; Singh, 1990), job security (Wanous, 1980;
Sharma,1989), recognition and appreciation (Sharma, 1989; Sharma and Singh, 1991),
objectivity, rationality, welfare facilities, and grievance handling (Sharma, 1989),
relations with supervisor and interpersonal trust (Cook and Wall, 1980; Fukami and
Larson, 1984), welfare-corporatism (Lincoln and Kalleberg, 1996).
On the other hand, ceratin organizational characteristics like decisional deprivation
(Alutto and Acito, 1974) and perceived inequity (Singh, 1990) have been found to be
inversely related to organizational commitment. The results of a study conducted by
Sheldon (1971) indicated difference in the relationship between occupational position
and organizational commitment and reward-recognition system was not operating as
expected in producing organizational commitment.
1.2 OCCUPATIONAL STRESS
In recent years changing scenario of job life is witnessed from organizational change
that has assumed greater significance due to the entry of multinational companies and
economic globalization as well. The advent of technological revolution in all walks of
life coupled with globalization, privatization policies has radically changed
conventional patterns in all sectors.
The frontiers of knowledge on the concept of stress and its effects are
expanding in all directions. There exists a multiplicity of theories and invalidated
explanations to the term stress. But there is a general acceptance of the concept of stress
as a description of the individual's reactions to the environmental demands and
influences which are potential stressors. Stressors combine to pressure an individual
until stress develops. Hans Selye (1974) defines stress as, the non specific response of
the body to any demand made upon it. Robbins (2001) defines stress as a dynamic
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condition in which the individual is confronted with an opportunity, constraint, or
demand related to what he or she desires and for which the outcome is perceived to be
both uncertain and important. Organizational based factors have been known to induce
job stress for employees at the workplace (Greenhaus and Beutell, 1985). These factors
are termed as organizational stressors since they serve as agents that trigger various
stress reactions (Van Onciul, 1996).
Further, in banks jobs are structured in a way that a worker is simultaneously
exposed to both overload and the employees work under acute time pressure. This
exposes bank employees to greater stress situation which is reacted by them in various
ways. Generally people under stress express their frustration through some common
ways like excessive criticism of management, inability to get along with others or the
joining of militant unions.
1.2.1 CONCEPT OF OCCUPATION STRESS
Occupational stress is stress involving Work Stress is defined in terms of its
physical and physiological effects on a person, and can be a mental, physical or
emotional strain. It can also be a tension or a situation or factor that can cause stress.
Occupational stress can occur when there is a discrepancy between the demands of the
environment/workplace and an individual’s ability to carry out and complete these
demands. Many definitions also exist in the literature for occupational stress. Cobb
(1975) has the opinion that the responsibility load creates severe stress among workers
and managers. If the individual manager cannot cope with the increased responsibilities
it may lead to several physical and psychological disorders among them. Brook (1973)
reported that qualitative changes in the job create adjustmental problem among
employees. The interpersonal relationships within the department and between the
departments create qualitative difficulties within the organisation to a great extent.
Miles and Perreault (1976) identify four different types of role conflict: 1. Intra-sender
role conflict 2. Inter sender role conflict. 3. Person- role conflict; 4. Role overload. The
use of role concepts suggests that job related stress is associated with individual,
interpersonal, and structural variables (Katz and Kahn, 1978).
It is indicated that occupational stress has become an important topic for study of
organizational behaviour for several reasons; Stress has harmful psychological and
physiological effects on employees; Stress is a major cause of employee turnover and
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absenteeism,; Stress experienced by one employee can affect the safety of other
employees; By controlling dysfunctional stress, individual and organisation can be
managed more effectively.
Cooper summarizes (1994) stress as everything that deprives the person of purpose and
zest that leaves him/her with negative feeling about himself/herself, with anxieties,
tension, and a sense of lostness, emptiness and futility. Mc Grath (1976) suggests that
situations have potential for stress when they have demands which are perceived to
threaten to exceed a person’s capabilities to meet them and where there are substantial
differences in rewards and costs from meeting versus not meeting the demands. He
adds, however, that the uncertainty of the rewards and costs also influences a person’s
arousal (an indicator of stress).
The World Health Organization says that stress is a worldwide epidemic. A United
Nations report labeled job stress as “the twentieth-century disease”. According to the
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), one-fourth of
employees view their jobs as the number one stressor in their lives and, three-fourths of
employees believe that the worker has more on-the-job stress than a generation ago
(NIOSH. 1999).
1.2.2 FORMS OF STRESS
Stress is not the bane of our existence. When stress starts to interfere with one’s ability
to keep going, it turns into a problem. Indeed certain level of stress can be used as a
positive source of energy like increased self confidence and motivation. Harmful high
levels of stress occur when adverse effects crop up from everyday stress. The important
effects of stress are the body does not distinguish between negative and positive forms
of stress. This means that the same physiological responses can take place whether
individuals are happy or sad about a given situation. The words positive and stress may
not often go together. But there are numerous instances of athletes rising to the
challenge of stress and achieving the unachievable, scientists stressing themselves out
over a point to bring into light the most unlikely secrets of the phenomenal word and
likewise a painter, a composer or a writer producing the best painting, the most lifting
of tunes or the most appealing piece of writing by pushing themselves to the limit.
Psychologists second the opinion that some stress situation can actually boost
our inner potential and be creatively helpful. Sudha Chandran, an Indian dancer lost
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both of her legs in an accident but the physical and social inadequacies gave her more
impetus to carry on with her dance performance with the help of prosthetic legs rather
than deter her spirit.
Due to inappropriate usage, the word stress has assumed bad connotation in
original sense a stress is neither good nor bad. It becomes good or bad, desirable or
undesirable, healthy or unhealthy depending upon what it does to us. There are
following forms of stress.
I) Distress
The most familiar is the continual feeling of being overwhelmed, oppressed and behind
in one’s task. When the stressor becomes too demanding or when an individual has not
adequate resources to meet the demand, he/she gets stressed up; the stressed up
experience is called a distress. Distress conveys the most common meaning of stress,
usually undesired, unwanted, accompanied with negative feelings e.g. sorrow,
frustration, grief may rise in situations such as failure, death of some loved one,
inevitable catastrophe, notification of a tax audit by (Internal Revenue Service) IRS etc.
Thus distress is bad and unhealthy. Prolonged distress initiates number of reactions at
the level of body and mind.
II) Eustress
This conveys the meaning of good stress. Eustress is a positive stress set off by a
positive event in one’s life. When a stressor put demand on resources and the persons
experience stress not always had to distress. If the stressor is within limits and an
individual has enough resources he/she will be able to cope up with the stress. When a
stress makes individual – up with it. There is a feeling of satisfaction and joy stresses
that make individual – with them culminate in better integration of personality. Such
stresses are called eustress or useful stress. Examples may include winning a
championship, a wedding, winning the lottery. The child, who prepared well for the
examination, wrote it effectively and came out successfully experiences better self
worthy and increased self esteem. The examination though a stress had indeed
beneficial effect on him/her. Thus eustress is the alternative form of stress that is
actually beneficial. Eustress allows individuals to engage with the challenges in the life
that are meaningful and offset boredom.
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III) Neustress
It is a neutral stress – neither good nor bad in which persons remain indifferent. It may
not be a stress like condition. Thought of concern may occupy mind but may not cause
serious fear or arousal, may be in response to news storm hitting barren land.
IV) Acute Stress
Stress that last relatively for a short period of time. It is most common stress. Acute
stress can demand all of one’s energy and leave him/her drained. This stress designates
quantitative dimension duration of the stress, may be an aspect of eustress or distress.
This is usually a reaction to an immediate threat may come from demands and pressure
of the recent past or immediate future. Stressors such as noise, crowding, isolation or
infection may result in acute stress. In some cases, it can even cause anxiety, attack or
state of shock requiring medical attention. Short term health effects of acute stress
include fatigue, irritability, depression and anxiety.
V) Chronic Stress
This is also called long term stress. It is that stress that extends over a long period of
time and is often present to perform one’s daily activities. This is generally a crushing
stress, destroys mind, body and life – overall well being ness of the individual. Often an
individual’s body reacts to this kind of stress slowly and he/she might even become
accustomed to a certain level of tension. This stress is particularly harmful because it
can lead to health problems which include – ulcers, heart diseases, colds, asthma. This
stress is often ignored until the body shows sign of it, such as an increase in the
frequency of headaches or fatigue. Individuals who are prone to chronic stress might
feel depressed or incapable of getting through the day. Chronic stress may lead to
violence, suicide, killings, heart attack and like.
The examples of chronic stressors are highly pressured work, sustained long term
interpersonal relationship, long lasting loneliness etc.
1.2.3 OPTIMUM LEVEL OF STRESS
The concept of an appropriate dosage of stress is highly important. Stress literature
indicates that the ultimate goal is to reduce stress. It may be, but not necessary. For
some people, the level of stimulation is very low; they are bored and need more
excitement and challenge. If stress is a neutral concept, then the goal is to reduce
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distress and maintain eustress. Thus we are concerned with maintaining balance and
equilibrium, realizing that it is a dynamic process. Balance here implies several things.
For examples:
Uncertainty can lead to distress, but so can certainties or over control.
Pressure can produce distress, but so is lack of contract or limbo.
Responsibility can lead to distress, but so can lack of responsibility or insignificance.
Performance evaluation can lead to distress, but so can lack of feedback regarding your
efforts.
Role ambiguity can lead to distress, but so can job descriptions that constrain
individuality.
For these and other factors, the important key is to find out an appropriate amount of
stress for the organization in general and for each individual in particular.
1.2.4 MODELS AND THEORIES OF OCCUPATIONAL STRESS
(I) French, Caplan and Kahn’s Person – Environment Fit (PE-Fit) theory
French, Caplan, Kahn and their colleagues (French and Caplan, 1972; French et al.,
1982; French and Kahn, 1962; Kahn et al., 1964) subsequently integrated Lewin’s
concepts of stress and strain in their Person – Environment Fit (PE-Fit) theory, which is
commonly accepted as a major conceptual framework for research on occupational
stress (Chemers et al., 1985; Edwards and Cooper, 1990). In the context of this
theoretical direction, occupational stress is defined in terms of job characteristics that
pose a threat to the individual resulting from a poor match between the abilities of the
employee and the demands of the job (French and Caplan, 1972). The workplace stress
that occurs as a result of incompatible person- environment fit produces psychological
strain that may contribute to stress-related physical disorders (French et al., 1982).
(II) Stress at Work Model
Cooper and Marshall’s (1976; Marshall and Cooper, 1979) Stress at Work model is
similar to PE-Fit theory, but is more specific in identifying five major categories of job
pressure and lack of organizational support in the workplace that contribute to
occupational stress: (1) pressures intrinsic to the job; (2) the employee’s role in the
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organization; (3) interpersonal relationships at work; (4) limitations in career
development; and (5) organizational structure and climate.
(III) Karasek’s Demand–Control Model
Karasek’s (1979) Demand–Control model focuses on interactions between the
objective demands of the work environment and the decision autonomy of employees
in meeting these demands (Karasek and Theorell, 1990). According to this model, the
greatest risk to physical and mental health from stress occurs to workers facing high
psychological workload demands or pressures combined with low control or decision
latitude in meeting those demands (Schnall, 1998). The combination of high job
demands with relatively little control contributes to lowered productivity and a greater
risk of health-related problems (Theorell and Karasek, 1996). The Demand–Control
model also recognizes the beneficial effects of social support from supervisors and co-
workers (Karasek et al., 1982; Schnall, 1998).
(IV) Lazarus’ Transactional Process Model
Lazarus’ (1966) Transactional Process model of psychological stress and coping
conceptualizes stress as a process that involves a complex transaction between a person
and her/his environment (Lazarus and Folkman, 1984). In applying this model to
occupational stress, Lazarus (1991) emphasizes the distinction between sources of
stress (‘stressors’) in the workplace and the emotional reactions that are evoked when a
particular stressor is cognitively appraised as threatening. Three types of appraisal
mediate the effects of stressors on emotional reactions. Primary appraisal occurs when
a stressor is evaluated in terms of its immediate impact on a person’s well-being.
Secondary appraisal takes into account the resources of the employee for coping with
the stressor. The third type, reappraisal, incorporates new information resulting from
the worker’s appraisal of the effectiveness of her/his efforts to cope with a particular
stressor.
(V) National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Model
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) defines job stress in
terms of ‘the harmful physical and emotional responses that occur when the
requirements of the job do not match the capabilities, resources, or needs of the
worker’(NIOSH, 2002). This definition of job stress, as well as the resulting model
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developed by NIOSH, was primarily influenced by PE-Fit theory. The NIOSH model
explicitly recognizes that exposure to stressful working conditions plays a primary role
in causing job stress and influencing worker safety and health, while ‘individual and
other situational factors can intervene to strengthen or weaken this influence. However,
the NIOSH model gives little attention to the significant influence of the employee’s
cognitive appraisal of sources of stress in the workplace.
(VI) Spielberger’s State–Trait Process (STP) Model
Spielberger’s State–Trait Process (STP) model of occupational stress focuses on the
perceived severity and frequency of occurrence of two major categories of stressor
events, job pressures and lack of support (Spielberger et al., 2002). The STP model
builds on the PE-Fit and Transactional Process models by endeavoring to integrate
these models with the conception of anxiety, anger and depression as emotional states
and personality traits (Spielberger, 1972; Spielberger et al., 1983; Spielberger et al.,
1988). The STP model gives greater emphasis than other models to the effects of
individual differences in personality traits in determining how workplace stressors are
perceived and appraised.
1.2.5 OCCUPATIONAL STRESS DIMENSIONS OF THE STUDY
In the present study, the adaptive version of Occupational stress Index (1981)
developed by A.K. Srivastva and A.P. Singh, has been used. The following study
dimensions have been used to measure the degree of perceived stress arising from
various aspects of the job of the employees. The items relate to almost all relevant
components of the job size which causes stress in some way or the other, such as, role
over-load, role ambiguity, role conflict, unreasonable group and political pressure,
responsibility for others, under participation, powerlessness, poor peer relations,
intrinsic impoverishment, low status, and strenuous working conditions.
I) Role Overload
It is a condition in which the individual is faced with a set of obligations which require
him to do more than he is able to in the time available. It obviously has to do with lack
of time and too many activities. It obviously has to do with lack of time and too many
activities. In the case of too many activities, we speak of quantitative overload; when an
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individual has to perform tasks that are too difficult for him, we speak of qualitative
overload (French and Caplan, 1972).
II) Role Ambiguity
People in an organization sometimes do not have sufficient information about what
they are expected to do and especially about how they are to perform a task. . It occurs
when the person in a role is uncertain about the role expectation. Research indicates
that role ambiguity may cause loss of confidence in the role sender, low self
confidence, and decrease job satisfaction. Role ambiguity makes people hesitant to act.
In the research on middle management ambiguity emerged as the most powerful
Stressor.
III) Role Conflict
It is the simultaneous occurrence of two or more sets of pressures, such that compliance
with one would make more difficult compliance with the other (Kahn et al., 1964).
Some professions or jobs are characterized by a higher degree of role conflict than
others. People in mediating positions appear to be the most vulnerable because they are
in the centre of a network of pressures. The Personnel Manager, for instance, wants to
belong to the organizational staff, but on the other hand, he must dare to stand up for
the man at a lower level. This forces him to compromise, which results in both parties
mistrusting him.
IV) Group and Political Pressure
This dimension covers the difficulty to adjust with the political and group pressures and
formal rules and instructions, compulsion to perform unwillingly, maintenance of group
conformity, violation of formal procedures and policies, etc.
V) Responsibility for others
This dimension covers such aspects as the thrust of responsibility of other persons, the
responsibility of other employees’ future, responsibility for the progress of
organization, etc. A job that carries responsibility for either the well being or task
performance of others is likely to cause some degree of stress. Mostly people in
supervisory positions are more susceptible to such problems.
VI) Under Participation
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This dimension covers job areas such as the position of the person in the organization
that with high or low power; the acceptance of suggestions made by other persons, etc.
The difference between one’s desires and actual participation gives a measure of the
potential effectiveness of participation. But the employees can’t participate in activities
they feel stress due to under participation.
VII) Powerlessness
This dimension covers areas such as acceptance of decisions taken by the person
among employees, acceptance of suggestions regarding training programs of
employees, lack of coordination of interest and opinion in making appointments for
important posts, etc. Powerlessness play a huge role in stress found within workplace.
Powerless invest their energy in dysfunctional behavior like avoiding, covering up
difficulties.
VIII) Poor Peer Relations
The area covered under this dimension refers to poor interpersonal relationships with
colleagues, colleagues’ attempt to defame and malign the employee as unsuccessful,
colleagues’ lack of cooperation in solving administrative and industrial problems, lack
of cooperation and team spirit of employees of the organization, etc. Stress can be
generated from poor relations with other employees whether they are boss, peer,
subordinates or workers in other department. Difficult peers can be unpleasant to work
with for a variety of reasons.
IX) Intrinsic Impoverishment
Monotonous nature of assignments, less opportunity to utilize abilities and experience
independently, less opportunity to develop aptitude and proficiency, lack of place of
suggestions in problem solving, etc., are included in this area.
X) Low Status
Status is the measure of relative worth conferred upon an individual by the group. Early
in groups life, status ranking are usually determined by each persons’ status outside the
group. External sources of status include income education, occupation or title. A more
permanent status pattern developed based on contribution, productivity, creativity,
cohesiveness, or some other quality. It also includes the nature of job enhancing the
social status.
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XI) Strenuous Working Conditions
This dimension covers tense circumstances in which work has to be done, risky and
complicated assignments, unsatisfactory working conditions from the point of view of
welfare and convenience, etc.
Occupational stress is an increasingly important occupational health problem and a
significant cause of economic loss. Occupational stress may produce both overt
psychological and physiologic disabilities.
1.3 ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENES
The success and sustenance of any organization lies in the ability to utilize the available
resources primarily human resources to maintain an effective level of operations. The
keyword in this notion is effective because the organizational success is ultimately
judged against this concept. Research in the field of organizational effectiveness has
acquired a significant role in modern industrial set up as large amounts of energy,
human resource, finance, etc are invested in organizations everyday and organizations
emerge to fulfill certain individual and societal needs. Organizational effectiveness is
one of the most complex and least tackled in the social organizations. In simple terms,
organizational effectiveness is an organization’s ability to maximize result in the
competitive external environment. The concept of organizational effectiveness is an
important innovation in business management. Organizational effectiveness can be
defined as the extent to which an organization, given certain resources and means,
achieves its objectives without placing undue strain on its members. The 21st century is
deemed as knowledge economy century, in which those who have the technology will
take a lead in the future of the competition. As the future is defined as competition of
knowledge and technology, enterprise knowledge management turns more important in
promoting organizational effectiveness, and effective knowledge management is a key
factor in an enterprise success. Apart from financial performance and business
performance, organizational effectiveness includes resolutions to various conflicts and
satisfaction of goals for people involved both interior and exterior to the organization.
Evaluation method and classification for operation performance could be categorized in
to four types: I) Operation goals refer to which degree the enterprise executes the
operation plans, e.g. annual budget, increase of capitals, extension of plants, joint
investments, merger & acquisition. II) Productivity: the condition of use of plants and
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equipments. III) Profits: the outcome of proper use of capitals of the enterprise and
reflected by ratio of income on investment, and could be calculated by increase ratio of
profit. IV) Long-term strengths: the base on which the enterprise have sustainable
operation and continuous development.
Promoting organizational effectiveness is one of the goals for all activities and
strategies in business operation. As there doesn’t exist a specified theory applied to
organizational effectiveness, scholars apply multiple scientific methods and models,
such as production management, psychology and economics to search for evaluation
methods. In the present study nine dimensions have been used to measure the
effectiveness of selected banks. These dimensions are organizational attachment, job