UNIT-V

Organizational Culture and Organizational Stress

Organizational culture:
Meaning and Nature of Organizational Culture:
Organizational culture is a system of shared assumptions, values, and beliefs, which govern
how people behave in organizations. Organizational culture includes an organization’s
expectations, experiences, philosophy, and values that hold it together and is expressed in its
self-image, inner workings, interactions with the outside world, and future expectations.
It is based on shared attitudes, beliefs, customs, and written and unwritten rules that have
been developed over time and are considered valid. These shared values strongly influence
the people in the organization and dictate how they dress, act, and perform their jobs.
Every organization develops and maintains a unique culture, which provides guidelines and
boundaries for the behaviour of the members of the organization.
Organizational culture/corporate culture includes-
 The ways the organization conducts its business, treats its employees, customers, and
the wider community,
 The extent to which freedom is allowed in decision making, developing new ideas,
and personal expression,
 How power and information flow through its hierarchy, and
 How committed employees are towards collective objectives.
Definition of Organizational Culture:
Many Scholars have given the definition of organizational culture. Some of the popular
definitions are given below:
 According to Robbie Katanga, “Organizational Culture is how organizations do
things.”
 According to Alec Haverstock, “In large part, Organizational culture is a product of
compensation.”
 According to Bruce Perron, “Organizational culture defines a jointly shared
description of an organization from within.”
 According to Richard Perrin, “Organizational culture is the sum of values and rituals
that serve as a glue to integrate the organization’s members.”

Organizational culture affects the organization’s productivity and performance and provides
guidelines on customer care and service, product quality and safety, attendance and
punctuality, and concern for the environment. It also extends to production methods,
marketing and advertising practices, and new product creation.
What Are the Key Elements of Organizational Culture?
Organizational culture is unique for every organization and one of the hardest things to
change. Corporate culture reflects the values, beliefs, and attitudes that permeate a business.
Corporate culture is often referred to as “the character of an organization,” representing the
collective behavior of people using common corporate vision, goals, shared values, attitudes,
habits, working language, systems, and symbols.

Corporate culture is interwoven with processes, technologies, learning, and significant events.
It is a total sum of the values, customs, traditions, and meanings that make a company unique.

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Characteristics of Organizational Culture: As individuals come into contact with
organizations, they come into contact with dress norms, stories people tell about what goes
on, the organization’s formal rules and procedures, its formal codes of behavior, rituals, tasks,
pay systems, jargon, and jokes only understood by insiders and so on. Organizational culture
is composed of seven characteristics that range in priority from high to low. Every
organization has a distinct value for each of these characteristics.

Members of organizations make judgments on the value their organization places on these
characteristics and then adjust their behavior to match this perceived set of values.

7 Characteristics of organizational culture are;

1. Innovation (Risk Orientation)
2. Attention to Detail (Precision Orientation)
3. Emphasis on Outcome (Achievement Orientation)
4. Emphasis on People (Fairness Orientation)
5. Teamwork (Collaboration Orientation)
6. Aggressiveness (Competitive Orientation)
7. Stability (Rule Orientation)
Functions of Organizational Culture:
1. The first function of culture is that it has a Boundary-Defining role which means that
culture helps to create distinctions between one organization and others.
2. Culture helps to create a sense of identity for the organization members.
3. Culture facilitates the generation of commitment to something larger the than one's
individual self-interest. Culture encourages the members of the organization to give priority
to organizational interests over and above their personal interests.
4. Culture enhances the Social System Stability. Culture is also known as the social glue that
helps to hold the organization together by providing appropriate standards for what
employees should say and do. It provides a list of social do's and don'ts for the employees.
5. Culture finally, serves as a sense making and control mechanism that guides and shapes the
attitudes and behaviours of employees. This function is particularly important in the study of
organizational behaviour. Every organization has its own set of assumptions, understandings
and implicit rules to guide the day-to-day behaviour of the employees. The newcomers will
be accepted as fully fledged members of the organization only when they learn to obey these
rules. Conformity to the rules is generally the primary basis for rewards and promotions.
Thus, culture is beneficial to the organization as it enhances organizational
commitment and increases the consistency of employee behaviour. Culture is beneficial to the
employee also as it reduces ambiguity. Employees become very clear as to how things are to
be done and what is more important for the organization.
Types of organizational culture:
1. Normative Culture
2. Pragmatic Culture
3. Academy Culture
4. Baseball Team Culture
5. Club Culture
6. Fortress Culture
7. Tough Guy Culture
8. Bet your Company Culture
9. Process Culture
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10. Power Culture
11. Role Culture
12. Task Culture
13. Person Culture

Normative Culture: In such a culture, the norms and procedures of the organization are
predefined, and the rules and regulations are set as per the existing guidelines.
The employees behave in an ideal way and strictly adhere to the policies of the organization.
No employee dares to break the rules and sticks to the already laid policies.
Pragmatic Culture: In a pragmatic culture, more emphasis is placed on the clients and the
external parties. Customer satisfaction is the main motive of the employees in a pragmatic
culture. Such organizations treat their clients as Gods and do not follow any set rules. Every
employee strives hard to satisfy his clients to expect maximum business from their side. ‘
Academy Culture: Organizations following academy culture and hire skilled individuals.
The roles and responsibilities are delegated according to the employees’ background,
educational qualification, and work experience. Organizations following academy culture are
very particular about training the existing employees. They ensure that various training
programs are being conducted at the workplace to hone the employees’ skills.The
management makes sincere efforts to upgrade the knowledge of the employees to improve
their professional competence. The employees in an academy culture stick to the organization
for a longer duration and also grow within it. Educational institutions, universities, hospitals,
etc., practice such types of culture.
Baseball Team Culture: A baseball team culture considers the employees as the most
treasured possession of the organization. The employees are the true assets of the
organization who have a major role in its successful functioning. In such a culture, the
individuals always have an upper edge, and they do not bother much about their organization.
Advertising agencies, event management companies, financial institutions follow such a
culture.
Club Culture: Organizations following a club culture are very particular about the
employees they recruit. The individuals are hired as per their specialization, educational
qualification, and interests. Each one does what he is the best. The high potential employees
are promoted suitably and appraisals are a regular feature of such a culture.
Fortress Culture: There are certain organizations where employees are not very sure about
their career and longevity. Such organizations follow a fortress culture. The employees are
terminated if the organization is not performing well. Individuals suffer the most when the
organization is at a loss. Stockbroking industries follow such a culture.
Tough Guy Culture: In a tough-guy culture, feedbacks are essential. The performance of the
employees is reviewed from time to time, and their work is thoroughly monitored. Team
managers are appointed to discuss queries with the team members and guide them whenever
required. The employees are under constant watch in such a culture.
Bet your Company Culture: Organizations that follow bet your company culture take
decisions that involve a huge amount of risk and the consequences are also unforeseen. The
principles and policies of such an organization are formulated to address sensitive issues, and
it takes time to get the results.
Process Culture: As the name suggests, the employees in such a culture adhere to the
processes and procedures of the organization. Feedbacks and performance reviews do not
matter much in such organizations. The employees abide by the rules and regulations and
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work according to the ideologies of the workplace. All government organizations follow such
a culture.
Charles Handy, a leading authority on organizational culture, defined four different kinds of
culture:
 Power culture
 Role culture
 Task culture
 Person culture
Power Culture: In an organization with a power culture, power is held by just a few
individuals whose influence spreads throughout the organization. There are few rules and
regulations in a power culture. What those with power decide is what happens. Employees
are generally judged by what they achieve rather than how they do things or how they act.
A consequence of this can be quick decision-making, even if those decisions aren’t in the best
long-term interests of the organization. A power culture is usually a strong culture, though it
can swiftly turn toxic.
Role Culture: Organizations with a role culture are based on rules. They are highly
controlled, with everyone in the organization knowing what their roles and responsibilities
are. Power in a role culture is determined by a person’s position (role) in the organizational
structure. Role cultures are built on detailed organizational structures that are typically tall
(not flat) with a long chain of command. A consequence is that decision-making in role
cultures can often be painfully-slow and the organization is less likely to take risks. In short,
organizations with role cultures tend to be very bureaucratic.
Task Culture: Task culture forms when teams in an organization are formed to address
specific problems or progress projects.The task is important, so power within the team will
often shift depending on the mix of the team members and the status of the problem or
project. Whether the task culture proves effective will largely be determined by the team
dynamic. With productive and creative, the right mix of skills, personalities, and leadership,
working in teams.
Person Culture: In an organization with personal cultures, individuals very much see
themselves as unique and superior to the organization. The organization simply exists in order
for people to work. An organization with a person’s culture is really just a collection of
individuals who happen to be working for the same organization.

Creating and maintain Organizational Culture:

Some organizational cultures may be the direct, or at least indirect, result of actions taken by
the founders. However, this is not always the case. Sometimes founders create weak cultures,
and if the organization is to survive, a new top manager must be installed who will sow the
seeds for the necessary strong culture.
Thomas Watson, Sr. of IBM is a good example. When he took over the CTR Corporation, it
was a small firm manufacturing computing, tabulating, and recording equipment. Through his
dominant personality and the changes, he made at the firm, Watson created a culture that
propelled IBM to be one of the biggest and best companies in the world. However, IBM’s
problems in the early 1990s when the computer market shifted from mainframes to PCs also
were largely attributed to its outdated culture. After Watson and his son, the leaders of IBM
made some minor changes and modifications that had little impact and eventually left the
company in bad shape. However, in recent years IBM, under the leadership of Louis
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Gerstner, launched into a bold new strategy that changed IBM from top to bottom. Mr.
Gerstner became convinced that “all the cost-cutting in the world will be unable to save IBM
unless it upends the way it does business.” 65 This cultural change at IBM led to an
outstanding turnaround that included getting out of the sale of computers. IBM is an example
of an organization wherein a culture must be changed because the environment changes and
the previous core cultural values are not in step with those needed for survival. The following
sections take a close look at how organizational cultures get started, maintained, and changed.
How Organizational Cultures Start
Although organizational cultures can develop in a number of different ways, the process
usually involves some version of the following steps:
1. A single person (founder) has an idea for a new enterprise.
2. The founder brings in one or more other key people and creates a core group that shares
a common vision with the founder. That is, all in this core group believe that the idea is
a good one, is workable, is worth running some risks for, and is worth the investment of
time, money, and energy that will be required.
3. The founding core group begins to act in concert to create an organization by raising
funds, obtaining patents, incorporating, locating space, building, and so on.
4. At this point, others are brought into the organization, and a common history begins to
be built.66

Most of today’s successful corporate giants in all industries basically followed these steps.
Two well-known representative examples are McDonald’s and Wal-Mart.

• McDonald’s. Ray Kroc worked for many years as a salesperson for a food supplier (Lily
Tulip Cup). He learned how retail food operations were conducted. He also had an
entrepreneurial streak and began a sideline business with a partner. They sold multimixers,
machines that were capable of mixing up to six frozen shakes at a time. One day Kroc received
a large order for multimixers from the McDonald brothers. The order intrigued Kroc, and he
decided to look in on the operation the next time he was in their area. When he did, Kroc
became convinced that the McDonald’s fast-food concept would sweep the nation. He bought
the rights to franchise McDonald’s units and eventually bought out the brothers. At the same
time, he built the franchise on four basic concepts: quality, cleanliness, service, and price. In
order to ensure that each unit offers the customer the best product at the best price, franchisees
are required to attend McDonald University, where they are taught how to manage their
business. Here they learn the McDonald cultural values and the proper way to run the franchise.
This training ensures that franchisees all over the world are operating their units in the same
way. Kroc died many years ago, but the culture he left behind is still very much alive in
McDonald’s franchises across the globe. In fact, new employees receive videotaped messages
from the late Mr. Kroc. Some of the more interesting of his pronouncements that reflect and
carry on his values are his thoughts on cleanliness: “If you’ve got time to lean, you’vegot time
to clean.” About the competition he says: “If they are drowning to death, Iwould put a hose in
their mouth.” And on expanding he declares: “When you’re green, you grow; when you’re ripe,
you rot.” So even though he has not been involved in the business for many years, his legacy
lives on. Even his office at corporate headquarters is preserved as a museum, his reading
glasses untouched in their leather case on the desk.

• Wal-Mart. Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., opened his first Wal-Mart store
in 1962. Focusing on the sale of discounted name-brand merchandise in smalltown markets,
he began to set up more and more stores in the Sun Belt. At the same time, he began
developing effective inventory control systems and marketing techniques. Today, Wal-Mart
has not only become the largest retailer but also one of the biggest firms in the world.
Although Sam died many years ago, his legacy and cultural values continue. For example,
Walton himself stressed, and the current management staff continues to emphasize, the

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importance of encouraging associates to develop new ideas that will increase their store’s
efficiency. If a policy does not seem to be working, the company quickly changes it.
Executives continually encourage associates to challenge the current system and look for
ways to improve it. Those who do these things are rewarded; those who do not perform up to
expectations are encouraged to do better. Today, Walton’s founding values continue to
permeate the organization. To make sure the cultural values get out to all associates, the
company has a communication network worthy of the Pentagon. It includes everything from
a satellite system to a private air force of numerous planes. Everyone is taught this culture
and is expected to operate according to the core cultural values of hard work, efficiency, and
customer service.
Although the preceding stories of cultural development are well known, in
recent years these and other well-known companies founded by charismatic leaders have had
varied success. The same is true of the dot-com firms. Some, like Jeff Bezos’s founding and
cultural development of Amazon.com, are in some ways similar to and in some ways
different from the stories of Ray Kroc at McDonald’s or Sam Walton at Wal-Mart. They are
similar in that both started from scratch with very innovative, “out of the box” ideas to build
an empire and change the way business is done. They are different in terms of speed and
style. Other corporate culture stories today are not necessarily about the founders, but about
those who took their company to the next level. For example, John Chambers, the CEO of
Cisco, is largely credited for taking this well-known high-tech firm from a market
capitalization of $9 billion when he took over in 1995 to being the highest-valued corporation
in the world five years later and then repositioning the firm when the economy began to
slump.
The culture of Cisco is largely attributed to his old-school values such as
trust, hard work, and customer focus, but as the subsequent economic downturn and the rapid
decline in the stock values of Cisco brought out, being at the right place at the right time in
terms of the technology environment also had had a lot to do with Cisco’s initial success.
After the bubble had burst for Cisco and the other high-tech and especially dot-com firms,
those who had the strong, but flexible, cultures were the ones that survived the extreme
roller-coaster ride of the economy in recent years. Chambers indicated such desirable
organizational cultural values when he declared, “I have no love of technology for
technology’s sake. Only solutions for customers.” Maintaining Cultures through Steps of
Socialization Once an organizational culture is started and begins to develop, there are a
number of practices that can help solidify the acceptance of core values and ensure that the
culture maintains itself. These practices can be described in terms of several socialization
steps.
Figure.1 illustrates what Richard Pascale has identified as the sequence of these steps.

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Selection of Entry-Level Personnel:
The first step is the careful selection of entry-level candidates. Using standardized procedures
and seeking specific traits that tie to effective performance, trained recruiters’ interview
candidates and attempt to screen out those whose personal styles and values do not make a
“fit” with the organization’s culture. There is research indicating that newcomers’ and their
supervisors’ perceptions of organization culture fit are related to organizational commitment
and intention to leave the organization.70 There is also accumulating evidence that those who
have a realistic preview (called realistic job preview, or RJP) of the culture will turn out
better.71 An example of effective selection for cultural fit is North Shore Bank, a community
bank in Wisconsin. One approach that they have implemented in order to maximize the “fit”
as well as productivity is through recruitment and selection in neighbourhoods closest to its
branches. This helps customers and employees alike identify with the unique differences
between their local bank and their large national bank competitors.
Placement on the Job:
The second step occurs on the job itself, after the person with a fit is hired. New personnel
are subjected to a carefully orchestrated series of different experiences whose purpose is to
cause them to question the organization’s norms and values and to decide whether or not
they can accept them. For example, many organizations with strong cultures make it a point
to give newly hired personnel more work than they can handle. Sometimes these assignments
are beneath the individual’s abilities. At Procter & Gamble, for example, new personnel
may be required to color in a sales territory map. The experience is designed to convey the
message, “Although you’re smart in some ways, you’re in kindergarten as far as what you
know about this organization.” The objective is also to teach the new entrant into the culture
the importance of humility. These experiences are designed to make newly hired personnel
vulnerable and to cause them to move emotionally closer to their colleagues, thus intensifying
group cohesiveness. Campus fraternities and the military have practiced this approach for
years.
Job Mastery:
Once the initial “cultural shock” is over, the next step is mastery of one’s job. This is
typically done via extensive and carefully reinforced field experience. For example, Japanese
firms typically put new employees through a training program for several years. As personnel
move along their career path, their performance is evaluated, and additional responsibilities
are assigned on the basis of progress. Quite often companies establish a step-by-step
approach to this career plan, which helps reduce efforts by the personnel to use political
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power or to take shortcuts in order to get ahead at a faster pace. Highly successful “Coca-
Cola slowly steeps its new employees in the company culture—in this case, an understanding
of the trademark’s image. The people system then ensures that only Coke managers who have
been thoroughly socialized into worrying about the company as a whole get to make
decisions affecting the company.”
Measuring and Rewarding Performance:
The next step of the socialization process consists of meticulous attention to measuring
operational results and to rewarding individual performance. These systems are
comprehensive and consistent, and they focus on those aspects of the business that are most
crucial to competitive success and to corporate values. For example, at Procter & Gamble
there are three factors that are considered most important: building volume, building profit,
and making changes that increase effectiveness or add satisfaction to the job. Operational
measures are used to track these three factors, and performance appraisals are tied to
milestones. Promotions and merit pay are determined by success in each of these critical
areas. Motorola personnel are taught to adhere to the core cultural values through careful
monitoring of team performance and through continual training programs. Typically, in
companies with a strong culture, those who violate cultural norms, such as overzealousness
against the competition or harsh handling of a subordinate, are sent to the “penalty box.” This
typically involves a lateral move to a less-desirous location. For example, a branch manager
in Chicago might be given a nebulous staff position at headquarters in Newark. This
individual is now off-track, which can slow his or her career progress.
Adherence to Important Values:
The next step involves careful adherence to the firm’s most important values. Identification
with these values helps employees reconcile personal sacrifices brought about by their
membership in the organization. They learn to accept these values and to trust the
organization not to do anything that would hurt them. As Pascale observes: “Placing one’s
self ‘at the mercy’ of an organization imposes real costs. There are long hours of work,
missed weekends, bosses one has to endure, criticism that seems unfair, job assignments and
rotations that are inconvenient or undesirable.” However, the organization attempts to
overcome these costs by connecting the sacrifices to higher human values such as serving
society with better products and/or services. Today’s firms in the global economy must give
special attention to cultural differences around the globe, but maintain the core values. For
example, when Wal-Mart Stores entered the German market a few years ago, it took along
the “cheer”—Give me a W! Give me an A! etc. Who’s Number One? The customer! —
which went over as well with the German associates as it did with their counterparts in the
United States. However, the cultural value of greeting any customer within a 10-foot radius
did not. German employees and shoppers were not comfortable with this Wal-Mart custom,
and it was dropped from the German stores.
Reinforcing the Stories and Folklore:
The next step involves reinforcing organizational folklore. This entails keeping alive stories
that validate the organization’s culture and way of doing things. The folklore helps explain
why the organization does things a particular way. One of the most common forms of
folklore is stories with morals the enterprise wants to reinforce. For example, Leonard
Riggio, CEO of Barnes & Noble, often tells stories about his childhood experiences in
Brooklyn and in particular his father’s stint as a boxer. These often-told stories have been a
great help to communicate a populist culture that needed to shed its elitist past. Also, Bill
Hewlett of Hewlett-Packard is known for the often-told story of him using a bolt cutter to
remove a lock that he encountered on the supply room. He left a note behind instructing that
the door never be locked again to forever communicate the important cultural value of trust at
H-P. 3M is probably the best-known firm to use stories and sagas to emphasize cultural
values. The famous Post-it Notes legacy is a great example.
The idea originated with Art Fry, a 3M employee who used bits of paper to
mark hymns when he sang in his church choir. But these markers kept falling out of the

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hymnals. He decided that he needed an adhesive-backed paper that would stick as long as
necessary but could be removed easily, and soon found what he wanted in a 3M laboratory.
Fry saw the market potential of his invention, but others did not. Market survey results were
negative; major office supply distributors were sceptical. Undeterred, because he had heard
stories about other 3M employees that conveyed the importance of perseverance, Fry began
giving samples to 3M executives and their secretaries. Once they actually used the little
notepads, they were hooked. Having sold 3M on the project, Fry used the same approach with
the secretaries of other companies’ executives throughout the United States.74 The rest is
history. Post-it Notes became a huge financial success for 3M, and retelling the story
reinforces cultural values of innovation that can come from anywhere, perseverance, and
championing of your good ideas.
Recognition and Promotion:
The final step is the recognition and promotion of individuals who have done their jobs well
and who can serve as role models to new people in the organization. By pointing out these
people as winners, the organization encourages others to follow their example. Role models
in strong-culture firms are regarded as the most powerful ongoing training program of all.
Morgan Stanley, the financial services firm, chooses role models on the basis of energy,
aggressiveness, and team play. Procter & Gamble looks for people who exhibit extraordinary
consistency in such areas as tough-mindedness, motivational skills, energy, and the ability to
get things done through others. There is considerable research evidence that recognition can
serve as a powerful reinforcer,75 and thus those exhibiting cultural values that are given
either formal recognition or even one-on-one social attention/recognition from relevant others
can build and sustain the organizational culture.

Any business that needs to be successful must have a borderless view and an unyielding
commitment to ensure that cultural diversity is a part of its day-to-day business conduct. The
views of different authors on cultural diversity are as follows: Ivancevich and Gilbert (2000)
and Nkomo and Cox (1996), ―The concept of cultural diversity is both specific and
contextual. Many contemporary researchers consider cultural diversity as an important
difference distinguishing one individual from another, a description that covers a wide range
of obvious and hidden qualities.‖ Doherty and Chelladurai (1999), ―Cultural diversity
reflects the unique sets of values, beliefs, attitudes, and expectations, as well as language,
symbols, customs, and behaviours, that an individual possess by virtue of sharing some
common characteristic(s) with others.‖ Cox (1994) defines cultural diversity as, ―identities
such as race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, gender, and other dimensions of difference
derived from membership in groups that are socio culturally distinct, that is, they collectively
share certain norms, values or traditions that are different from those of other groups.‖ From
the aforementioned definitions, we can chalk out the following features of cultural diversity:-
1.3.1 Characteristics of Cultural Diversity    Cultural diversity is a double-edged
sword, which can prove to be a competitive advantage, if handled properly and a reason of
conflict and dissatisfaction, if by mistake ignored in an organization. Cultural diversity is
going beyond the concept of affirmative action or equal opportunity. Cultural diversity is not
only limited to the primary dimensions (gender, age, race, ethnicity etc.) but also includes
secondary dimensions (such as religion, personality differences, education etc.).

Managing Cultural Diversity:

Managers and team members can manage cultural differences. This is only possible if they
adopt and chose the right strategies within their organizations. Cultural difference poses
various challenges which include hindering success within the organization. They pose as
a barrier to effective communication which is a key element in any organization. Cultural
difference creates differing attitudes towards authority and hierarchy hence difference in the
ways people are treated. It also leads to conflicts especially when making decisions. These

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challenges are a great hindrance towards success and development of any organization.
Therefore, managers need to come up with various strategies and policies in ensuring cultural
differences and challenges are eliminated.

There are four main strategies of dealing with cultural challenges for managers
and various teams in organizations. They include adaption, structural intervention,
managerial intervention and exit. Adaption mainly involves acknowledgement of cultural
gaps frankly and even working around them. Managerial intervention involves early setting
of norms and even bringing in of high-level management. Structural intervention is changing
of the team’s shape. Exit involves removing a team member in case the options have failed.
They are several steps that any organization’s management can adopt in dealing and
eliminating cultural differences. Identification of the challenge is the key and first step in
dealing with multicultural differences. Assessing the circumstances under which the
differences are occurring is another crucial step towards dealing with multicultural
differences.

1. Adaption is a great strategy that organizations encourage in dealing with cultural

diversity. This involves teams finding various ways of working with and around the
challenge that they encounter. It also involves adapting practices and attitudes without
necessarily making changes to the assignment of the group. Adaption works well when
members of the team or organization acknowledge and even name their differences in
culture as well as assuming their responsibilities. It also involves figuring on various
ways to live with the cultural differences. Adaption has been seen as the best way of
dealing with cultural diversity difference as it does not demand a lot of time as compared
to other strategies. This is mainly because members of the team take part in problem
solving while learning from the process. This kind of mind set plays a great role in
ensuring there are creative in protecting their cultural differences within the organization.
Organization taking this type of initiative ensures that cultural diversity does not affect
its performance and operations among its teams. Various organizations’ managements
have found adaption as an ideal strategy towards solving cultural diversity. This is
mainly because it is effective and solves its own problem with little input from
management. Team members must be aware of this strategy in order for it to be
successful in solving the intended problems or differences. However, negotiating a
common understanding may take some time among the team members.
2. Structural intervention is another way that organizations are utilizing in ensuring they
manage the cultural diversity. It is an intentional reorganization or reassignment that is
designed to reduce or eliminate source of conflict between people or teams. It is also
intended to reduce interpersonal frictions that largely contribute to cultural diversity. The
strategy works effectively when obvious subgroups separate the team. This is mainly if
team members are clinging to negative stereotypes of one another or feel threatened.
Structural intervention also involves creating smaller working groups of diversified
cultures. This enables team members to know and even respect every team member.
Various organizations utilize or use this strategy as it encourages reduction of cultural
diversity within the organization. Structural intervention as a strategy for managing
cultural diversity shields people who are not working well in a team.
3. Managerial intervention also plays a vital role in solving organization’s cultural diversity
effects. Although the failure to involve team in decision making may result to a
stalemate, it is important for managers to intervene when cultural diversity blocks the
success of decision making. Managerial intervention has been used in many occasions by
various organizations to solve sort out its problems effectively. Setting norms early in a
team through managerial intervention assists the team towards starting out effectively.
Managers encourage team members to encourage each other towards ensuring everybody
is appreciated and encouraged to work with each other despite cultural diversity.
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Managers address the issues like language barrier and ethnic diversity directly. They
encourage them on various ways to solve cultural diversity within the team and entire
organization.
4. Exit is another strategy that is utilized towards reducing the problems of cultural
diversity. This is usually the last and infrequent strategy towards managing cultural
differences. It is important for those members who are not happy with their teams to
move out of the team to another team. This will ensure there is continued delivery of
efficient services. Exit of one or several members is used by organizations as a last
resort. One or several members of the team or organization may be kindly requested
formally by management to exit. They may also exit voluntarily from the team.

Managing a diverse culture within an organization is not an easy task. Realizing and
managing cultural diversity within an organization has been on the increase. This is assisting
greatly in facilitating organizational progress and success. On a broad perspective,
organizations can manage cultural diversity through communication. This is creating
awareness among the employees and various teams on the importance of diverse values of
peers. Another way is through cultivating; this is facilitating encouragement, support, and
appreciation of any employee’ achievement by all other colleagues. Diverse culture can also
be managed through capitalizing strategies. This involves linking diversity to every process
of business and strategy such as employee development, re-engineering, succession
planning, performance review and management.

Organizations also adopt various innovative ways towards management of cultural diversity.
This includes incorporating various people from different cultural backgrounds as well as
acknowledging the importance of their cultural. Appreciating people cultural background
usually leads to reduced background differences. This ensures there is a
common organizational diversity that does not affect the performance of various teams.
Organizations have also started empowerment to all members regardless of race or gender.
Empowerment is crucial towards making of an effective decision making. Towards reducing
culture diversity difference, organizations are encouraging free contribution towards decision
making processes. Utilization of empowerment in diverse organizations results to more trust
among the team members as well as higher productivity. Empowerment in an organization
with diverse culture has been seen to make team members feel their contribution in a manner
that is more worthwhile and meaningful. This assists greatly towards improvement of
diversity climate hence accomplishment of organization objectives.

It is also crucial for various organizations to initiate diversity training programs. Leaders and
managers in organizations should be trained on how to manage and understand culturally
diversified employees. Employees as well should be provided with adequate training on the
importance of understanding people with different cultures. This will greatly assist in
improving the differences that arise when people of different cultures work together. Training
is crucial towards the breakdown of stereotypes as well as reducing prejudicial attitudes
among the team members. Mentoring and networks are other effective ways towards
improvement of the diversity climate. Mentors usually provide recognition, support, and
challenge in order to assist in shaping the future for those individuals they are assisting.
Mentors are in most occasions beneficial mainly because it assists in keeping minorities on
the track. It also assists in keeping them focused within any culturally diversified
organization. Networking is also another crucial process that assists organizations in
managing the cultural diversity within the teams. Networking acts as a source of
encouragement and support to various employees with diversified cultural differences.

It is also crucial for organizations to strength top-management commitment towards creating

a positive diversity climate within the organization. This commitment should be distributed
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even to the lowest management levels. All managers at every level within an organization
should openly and strongly support all policies, strategies, and practices that support the
management of culture diversity. This will greatly assist towards reducing culture
diversification related challenges within an organization. It will assist in improving and
increasing the benefits associated with culture diversity.

Organizational Stress:

Definition and Meaning:

Organisational stress can be described as a cognitive, behavioural and emotional response to
the harmful and aggressive aspects of the work, organisational climate and work
environment.
When an employee feels uneasy and helpless in solving tasks, such a condition comes under
organisational stress. In a work setting, people face various job-related issues, such as
discrimination, job dissatisfaction, and so on, which result in stress.
The term ‘stress’ refers to various kinds of pressures that people feel in life. It can be defined
as a reaction that people have towards excessive pressures caused by demands imposed on
them. It is created when individuals are not able to deal with changes happening around them.
Sources of Stress:
The poll a group of individuals about what their biggest stressors are, they’re likely to give
you these four answers:
 Money
 Work
 Family responsibilities
 Health concerns
In most surveys on stress and its causes, these four responses have been at the top of the list
for quite a long time, and I’m sure you weren’t surprised to read them. But managers should
take pause when they realize that all four of these are either directly or indirectly impacted by
the workplace.
Still, there are so many differences among individuals and their stressors. Why is one
person’s mind-crippling stress another person’s biggest motivation and challenge? We’re
going to attempt to answer this by looking at the three sources of stress—individual,
organizational, and environmental—and then add in the concept of human perception in an
attempt to understand this conundrum.

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Individual Factors: Let’s start at the top. The first of three sources of stress is individual.
Individuals might experience stressful commutes to work, or a stressful couple of weeks
helping at a work event, but those kinds of temporary, individual stresses are not what we’re
looking at here. We’re looking for a deeper, longer-term stress. Family stress—marriages that
are ending, issues with children, an ailing parent—these are stressful situations that an
employee really can’t leave at home when he or she comes to work. Financial stress, like the
inability to pay bills or an unexpected new demand on a person’s cash flow might also be an
issue that disturbs an employee’s time at work. Finally, an individual’s own personality might
actually contribute to his or her stress. People’s dispositions—how they perceive things as
negative or positive—can be a factor in each person’s stress as well.

Organizational Factors: There’s a plethora of organizational sources of stress.

 Task or role demands: these are factors related to a person’s role at work, including the
design of a person’s job or working conditions. A stressful task demand might be a
detailed, weekly presentation to the company’s senior team. A stressful role demand
might be where a person is expected to achieve more in a set amount of time than is
possible.
 Interpersonal demands: these are stressors created by co-workers. Perhaps an employee
is experiencing ongoing conflict with a co-worker he or she is expected to collaborate
closely with. Or maybe employees are experiencing a lack of social support in their
roles.

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 Organizational structure: this refers to the
level of differentiation within an organization,
the degree of rules and regulations, and where
decisions are made. If employees are unable
to participate in decisions that affect them,
they may experience stress.
 Organizational leadership: this refers to the
organization’s style of leadership, particularly
the managerial style of its senior executives.
Leaders can create an environment of tension,
fear and anxiety and can exert unrealistic
pressure and control. If employees are afraid,
they’ll be fired for not living up to
leadership’s standards, this can definitely be a
source of stress.
 Organizational life stage: an organization goes through a cycle of stages (birth, growth,
maturity, decline). For employees, the birth and decline of an organization can be
particularly stressful, as those stages tend to be filled with heavy workloads and a level
of uncertainty about the future.
Environmental Factors: Finally, there are environmental sources of stress. The economy
may be in a downturn, creating uncertainty for job futures and bank accounts. There may be
political unrest or change creating stress. Finally, technology can cause stress, as new
developments are constantly making employee skills obsolete, and workers fear they’ll be
replaced by a machine that can do the same. Employee are also often expected to stay
connected to the workplace 24/7 because technology allows it.
As a side note, it’s important to understand that these stressors are additive. In other words,
stress builds up, and new elements add to a person’s stress level. So a single element of stress
might not seem important in itself, but when added to other stresses the worker is
experiencing, it can, as the old adage says, be the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Individual Differences
Those are the sources of stress, but differences within an individual determine whether that
stress will be positive or negative. Those individual differences include
 Perception: This is what moderates the individual’s relationship to the stressor. For
instance, one person might see a potential layoff as a stressful situation, while another
person might see that same layoff as an opportunity for a nice severance package and the
opportunity to start a new business.
 Job Experience: Because stress is associated with turnover, it would stand to reason that
those employees with a long tenure are the most stress-resistant of the bunch.
 Social Support. Co-workers, especially those who are caring or considered to be friends,
can help protect a fellow employee against the effects of stress.
 Belief in locus of control: Those who have a high internal locus of control (those that
believe they are in control of their own fate) are, unsurprisingly, not as affected by stress
as those who feel they are not in control.
 Self-efficacy: Self-efficacy is an individual’s belief that he or she can complete a task.
Research shows that employees who have strong levels of self-efficacy are more resistant
to the effects of stress.
 Hostility: Some employees carry around a high level of hostility as a part of their
personalities, and they’re often suspicious and distrustful of their co-workers. These
personality traits make a person more susceptible to stress.
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If those potential sources of stress sneak through the individual difference filters and manifest
themselves as stress, they will appear in a variety of physiological, psychological and
behavioural symptoms. We reviewed the physiological symptoms when we talked about the
definition of stress. Add to that psychological symptom, like tension and anxiety, but also job
dissatisfaction and boredom, and behavioural symptoms, like turnover and absenteeism, and
you can see how stress can become an organizational problem.

Impact of stress on organizations:

The three Impacts of stress are explained below:

1.Performance and Health benefits of stress: The stress response is not inherently bad or
destructive. Performance and health benefits of stress indicate that stress leads to improved
performance up to an optimum point. Beyond the optimum point, further stress and arousal
have a detrimental effect on performance. Therefore, healthy amounts of eustress are
desirable to improve performance by arousing a person to action. The stress response does
provide momentary strength and physical force for brief periods, thus providing a basis for
peak performance. The various individual and organizational forms of distress often
associated with the word stress are the result of prolonged activation of the stress response,
mismanagement of the energy induced by the response, or unique vulnerabilities in a
person.

2.Individual Distress: In general, individual distress usually takes one of the three basic
forms -
 Physiological symptoms
 Psychological symptoms and
 Behavioural symptoms.
Physiological Symptoms: A number of medical illnesses have a stress-related
component. The most significant medical illnesses of this form are heart disease and
strokes, backaches, peptic ulcers, and headaches. Most of the early concern with stress
was directed at physiological symptoms. This was primarily because specialists in the
health and medical sciences researched the topic. The link between stress and particular
physiological symptoms is not clear. There is no clear evidence that stress is a direct
causal agent.
However, stress may play an indirect role in the progression of disease. For example, an
extreme preoccupation with work may result in acute individual distress, such as the
unique Japanese phenomenon of "Karoshi" (death by overwork).
Psychological Symptoms: The most common types of psychological distress are
depression, burnout, and psychogenic disorders. In the early stages, depression and
burnout result in decline in efficiency; diminished interest in work; fatigue; and an
exhausted run-down feeling. Psychogenic disorders are physical disorders with a genesis
(beginning) in the psyche (mind). For example, the intense stress of public speaking may
result in a psychogenic speech disorder; that is, the person is under so much stress that the
mind literally will not allow speech to occur.
Behavioural Symptoms: Behavioural problems are the third form of individual distress.
These problems include violence, substance abuse of various kinds and accidents.
Behaviourally related stress symptoms include changes in productivity, absence and
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turnover as well as changes in eating habits, increased smoking or consumption of alcohol,
rapid speech, fidgeting and sleep disorders.
Accidents, both on and off the job, are another behavioural form of distress that can
sometimes be traced to work-related stressors. For example, an unresolved problem at
work may continue to preoccupy or distract an employee driving home and result in the
employee having an automobile accident. These three forms of individual distress cause a
burden of personal suffering.
3.Organizational Distress: The University of Michigan studies on organizational stress
identified a variety of indirect costs of mismanaged stress for the organization, such as low
morale, dissatisfaction, breakdowns in communication and disruption of working
relationships. The problems caused by organizational distress are: -
 Participation problems: Participation problems are the costs associated with
absenteeism, tardiness, strikes and work stoppages and turnover.
 Performance decrements: Performance decrements are the costs resulting from
poor quality or low quality of production, grievances and unscheduled machine
downtime and repair.
 Compensation awards: Compensation awards are a third organizational cost
resulting from court awards for job distress.

Stress Management Techniques:

1. Stress Diary- Finding Your Optimum Stress Levels:
a) How to use tool- Keeping a stress diary is an effective way of finding out what
causes you stress, the level of stress you prefer and your effectiveness under pressure. In
this diary keep track of your stress levels and your feelings, every day. In particular, note
down stressful events.
Record the following information:
i. At a regular interval, for example every hour, record routine stress.
Note:
 The time
 The amount of stress that you feel (perhaps on a scale of 1 to 10)
 How happy you feel
 How efficiently you are working
ii. When stressful events occur, write down-
 What the event was
 When and where did it occur?
 What important factors made the event stressful?
 How stressful was the event?
 How did you handle the event?
 Did you tackle the cause or the symptom?
 Did you deal with the stress correctly?
b) Analysing the Diary- After a few weeks you should be able to analyse this
information. It may be interesting as you carry out the analysis to note down the
outcomes of the jobs you were doing when you were under stress.
This should give you two types of information:

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i. You should be able to understand the level of stress you are happiest with and the level
of stress at which you work most effectively. You may find that your performance is
good even when you feel upset by stress.
ii. You should know what the main sources of unpleasant stress in your life are. You
should understand what circumstances make stresses particularly unpleasant and should
be able to see whether your strategies for handling the stresses are effective or not.

2. Psyching Up- Raising Stress Levels to Improve Performance:

1. How to Use Tool- Where you are not feeling motivated towards a task, either because
you are bored by it, or because you are tired, then you may need to ‘psych yourself up’.
This will increase your arousal so that you can perform effectively.
You can try the following:
 Focus on the importance or urgency of the task
 Set yourself a challenge, e.g., to do the job in a particular time or to do it to a
particularly high standard
 Break job down into small parts, do each part between more enjoyable work and
take satisfaction from the successful completion of each element.
 Use suggestion, e.g., ‘I can feel energy flowing into me’
 Get angry about something!

3. Anticipating Stress- Managing Stress by Preparing for it:

1. How to use tool- By anticipating stress you can prepare for it and work out how to
control it when it happens. You can do this in a number of ways:
i. Rehearsal:
By practicing for a stressful event such as an interview or a speech several times in
advance you can polish your performance and build confidence.
ii. Planning:
 By analysing the likely causes of stress, you will be able to plan your responses to
likely forms of stress. These might be actions to alleviate the situation or may be
stress management techniques that you will use.
 It is important that you formally plan for this – it is little use just worrying in an
undisciplined way – this will be counterproductive. Formal planning of responses
to stress is a technique used by top-level athletes to ensure that they respond
effectively to the stresses of competition.

iii. Avoidance:
Where a situation is likely to be unpleasant and will not yield any benefit to you, it may
be one you can just avoid. You should be certain in your own mind however, that this is
the case and that you are not running away from problems.
iv. Reducing the Importance of an Event:
 When an event is important to you, this can make it very stressful. This is
particularly true where you are operating at a high level, where many people are
watching, or where there is the prospect of a large financial reward, of promotion,
or of personal advancement. The presence of family, friends or important people
can also add to pressure.

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 If stress is a problem under these circumstances, then think carefully about the
event – take every opportunity to reduce its importance in your eyes:
 If the event seems big, put it in its place along the path to your goals.
Compare it in your mind with bigger events you might know of or might have
attended.
 If there is a financial reward, remind yourself that there may be other
opportunities for reward later. This will not be the only chance you have.
Focus on the quality of your performance. Focusing on the rewards will only
damage your concentration and raise stress.
 If members of your family are watching, remind yourself that they love you
anyway. If friends are real friends, they will continue to like you whether you
win or lose.
 If people who are important to your goals are watching then remind yourself
that you may well have other chances to impress them.
 If you focus on the correct performance of your tasks, then the importance of
the event will dwindle into the background.
v. Reducing Uncertainty:
Uncertainty can cause high levels of stress.
Causes of uncertainty can be:
 Not having a clear idea of what the future holds
 Not knowing where your organization will be going
 Not having any career development plans
 Not knowing what will be wanted from you in the future
 Not knowing what your boss or colleagues think of your abilities
 Receiving vague or inconsistent instructions

4. Get a Hobby, Relax and have Fun- Talk with Friends or Someone You Can Trust
about Your Worries/Problems:
i. Learn to use your time wisely-
 Evaluate how you are budgeting your time.
 Plan ahead and avoid procrastination.
 Make a weekly schedule and try to follow it.
ii. Set realistic goals and priorities
iii. Practice relaxation techniques. For example, whenever you feel tense, slowly breathe
in and out for several minutes.

5. Other Techniques:
i. Meditation can also be a good effort to bring down the stress levels.
ii. Taking exercise
iii. Effective time Management
iv. Good Food and nutrition.

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