Chapter # 6: Applied Performance Practices Chapter # 7: Work Related Stress and Stress Management

1. APPLIED PERFORMANCE PRACTICES
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Four Reward Objectives its Advantages & disadvantages
Team and Organization based Rewards
Ways to improve performance based rewards
WORK RELATED STRESS AND STRESS
MANAGEMENT
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Introduction to stress and employees stress experience
Outlining stress process from stressors
Stressor varying effect on people
Physiological and Psychological effects of stress
Five Work life balance initiatives
Five Strategies to manage workplace stress

2. FOUR REWARD OBJECTIVES
Legacy Pay roll system versus Applied Performance Practices
Legacy Pay roll system – Based on fixed guaranteed pay and allowances
Applied Performance Practices – In a mega steel company in USA, average
steel worker earns $70,000 in a typical year , only one third of that is
guaranteed so real low base wage but high weekly bonuses, based on quality
and tons produced
Avg Base Pay = $10 per hour
Additional team Bonuses = $ 15 to 20 per hour
Profit Sharing Bonus = $ 15000 per year
Note : Penalties are given to employees for bad batch of steel production

3. APPLIED PERFORMANCE PRACTICES
Four Reward Objectives its Advantages & disadvantages:
Reward
Objectives
Sample Rewards Advantages Disadvantages
Membership
/Seniority
Fixed pay
Most employee benefits
Paid time off
May Attract applicants
Minimizes stress of
insecurity
Reduce Turnover
Doesn,t directly motivates
performance
May discourage poor
performers from leaving
Job Status
Job
Evaluation
is the basis
Promotion- based pay
increase
Status based benefits
Tries to maintain internal
equity
Minimizes Pay
Discrimination
Motivates employees to
compete for promotions
Encourages hierarchy
Which may increase costs
and reduce responsiveness
Reinforces status
differences
Motivates job competition
Competencies Pay increase based on
competency
Skill based pay
Improves workforce
flexibility
Tends to improve quality
Consistent with
employability
Subjective measurement
Of competencies
Skill based pay plans
are expensive
Task
Performance
(ESOPs)
Commissions
Gain sharing
Profit sharing
Stock options
Motivates Task performance
Attracts performance
oriented applicants
Organizational rewards
creates an ownership
culture Pay variability may
avoid layoffs during
downturns
May weaken job content
motivation
May distance reward giver
from receiver
May discourage creativity
Tends to Address
Symptoms not underlying

4. APPLIED PERFORMANCE PRACTICES
Job Design : Process of assigning tasks to a job, including the
interdependency of those tasks with other jobs
Job Evaluation : Systematically evaluating the worth of jobs within an
organization by measuring their required skill, effort, responsibility and
working conditions
Gain Sharing Plan : A reward system in which team members earn bonuses
for reducing costs and increasing labor efficiency in their work process
Employees Stock ownership Plans (ESOPs) : A reward system that
encourages employees to buy stock in the company
Stock Options : A reward system that gives employees the right to
purchase company stock at a future date at a predetermined price

5. APPLIED PERFORMANCE PRACTICES
Empowerment : A psychological concept in which people experience more self-
determination, meaning, competence and impact regarding their role in the
Organization
4 dimensions, any one weakens, employee sense of empowerment weakens
Self Determination : Empowered employees have feeling of freedom,
independence and discretion over their work activities
Meaning : They care for work and give importance to their work
Competence : Confident about abilities & have capacity to handle challenges
Impact: having feeling that their decisions & actions have influence on success
NB: Determinants are Managers empowering and job description.
Concluding Right individuals, job characteristics, organizational environment,
and empowerment have a direct effect on motivation and performance

6. APPLIED PERFORMANCE PRACTICES
Self - Leadership Practices
Companies look in employees:
Leadership potential
Ability to work in a team
Good communication skills
Survey of 800 British employers reveals “Self Motivation“ is most important
All motivation and other theories and practices studied overlooks the fact
That “Successful employees motivates and manages themselves” i.e Self
Leadership.
Self Leadership : Process of influencing oneself to establish the self
direction and self motivation needed to perform a task
Constructive
Thought
Patterns
Designing
Natural
Rewards
Self
Monitoring
Self
Reinforcement
Elements of Self Leadership

7. WORK RELATED STRESS AND STRESS
MANAGEMENT
Stress : An individual’s adoptive response to a situation that is perceived as
challenging or threatening to the person’s well being
General Reason / Causes (Stressors): People stressed from work, job insecurity,
information overload & increasing pace of life
Following happens in stress condition: Negative side, creates distress to human
Heart rate increases, muscles tighten, breathing speeds up and perspiration
Increases
Body moves more blood to brain, Body fuels the system by releasing more
glucose & fatty acids, activates systems that sharpen one’s senses,
Result : Body conserves resources by shutting down immune system
Positive Side of Stress called Eustress: It is stress generated that is
enough to activate and motivate people so that one can achieve
goals, change environment &succeed in challenges

8. WORK RELATED STRESS AND STRESS
MANAGEMENT
Ability Normal
State
To cope
HIGH
Low
Stage 1
Alarm Reaction Stage 2
Resistance
Time
Stage 3
Exhaustion
Selye’s General Adaption Syndrom

9. WORK RELATED STRESS AND STRESS
MANAGEMENT
Causes and Consequences of Stress:
Work Related
Stressors
Individual
Difference
Consequences of
distress
Interpersonal
Stressors
Role-related
Stressors
Task Control
Stressors
Organizational/
Physical
Environment
Stressors
Non work
Stressors
Personal health
Knowledge/skill
Coping skills
Resilience
Workaholism
Physiological
Heart diseases
Ulcers
Headaches
Sleep disturbances
Increased illness
Psychological
Job dissatisfaction
Low commitment
Exhaustion
Depression
Moodiness
Burnout
Behavioral
Lower job performance
Faulty decision
Higher absenteeism
Work place aggression

10. WORK RELATED STRESS AND STRESS
MANAGEMENT
• Work Related Stressors
Interpersonal Stressors – Most pervasive, generated by
Team work
Organizational Politics
Bad Bosses
Workplace Violence – Survey in US 600 employees murdered on job per year
2 mill. Experience lesser physical violence, similar in
rest of the world, violence generates stress not only to
effected person but to other employees
Psychological : Includes Repeated hostile or unwanted conduct, verbal
comments, actions or gestures effecting dignity or integrity – world over trends
sexual Harassment : Person’s employment or job appraisal conditional on
unwanted sexual relations (called “quid pro quo”), andor person experiences
sexual conduct from others (such as posting prono material that interfers work
performance or not wanted by co-worker called “ hostile work environment”
stress is more aggravated once the victim reports the matter
Role Related Stressors: It includes conditions whereby employees face difficulty
in understanding, reconciling, or performing the various roles in their lives

11. WORK RELATED STRESS AND STRESS
MANAGEMENT
Three types of role related stressors:
Role Conflict : Degree of Incompatibility of expectations associated with a
person’s role, e.g, mismatch between employees personal and organizational
values
Role Ambiguity : A lack of clarity and predictability of the outcomes of a
person’s behavior e.g joining a new org. or working in a new joint venture
Work Load : Working more hours and more intensely doing work than they
can reasonably handle,
Ist reason; Combined effects of technology and globalization
2nd reason; Because consumer intensive society people want to earn more
3rd reason; Ideal worker norm, professional expects themselves and others to
work longer working hours
Task Control Stressors : Stress generated by the situation that employee does
not have control on the task, with more responsibility it increases, e.g traffic

12. WORK RELATED STRESS AND STRESS
MANAGEMENT
• Work Related Stressors : Last stressors in this category is Organizational/
Physical Environment Stressors – these appear in many forms e.g downsizing
stressful for both who loses job and for survivors.
Physical Environment Stressors: Stress generated by excessive noise and
poor lighting, also employees working in dangerous environment
Work – Non-work Stressors : Three types of work spill over to non-work stressors
are
Time based – Refers to challenge of balancing time demanded by work with
family and other non-work activities, Reasons may be, longer working
hours, inflexible work schedules, business travel & rotating shift, acute for
women
Strain Based – Occurs when stress of one domain spills over to the
other, e.g, relationship problems, financial difficulties, or loss of loved
ones, cell phones used for this purpose
Role Behavior conflict – Occurs when people are expected to act differently at
work than in non-work roles, at work place acts logically and impartially but
more compassionate behavior in personal lives

13. WORK RELATED STRESS AND STRESS
MANAGEMENT
Stressors in Occupations
Accountant
Artist
Auto mechanic
Forester
Hospital Manager
Physician (GP)
Psychologist
School Principal
US President
Prison Officer
Teacher
Nurse
Low Stress Medium-Stress High Stress
Occupations

14. WORK RELATED STRESS AND STRESS
MANAGEMENT
Individual Differences in Stress :
People have different stress experience when exposed to the same stressors
Reasons :
Personal health Knowledge/skill coping skill:
(a) Different threshold levels of resistance to the stressors - Age
factor and life style/regular exercise etc.
(b) Different stress copping strategies - Some people deny/ignore
stress in short run faces stress consequences severally
(c) People have different beliefs and ability to handle stress – Those
who are optimistic, often face similar stress and are confident to handle
stress, the second category of people who have more knowledge and skill feels
better in stress
Resilience and Stress: Capability of individuals to cope successfully when faced with
significant change, adversity or risk so meaning thereby more resilience a person will
result in better handling of stress, it really means “ leap back” i.e capability to
withstand stress , recovery from stress is a separate issue
Different PERSPECTIVES
Personality
traits generating
positive emotions
Intelligence
and skills
Self Actualization /
Inner force

15. WORK RELATED STRESS AND STRESS
MANAGEMENT
Individual Difference
Workaholism – A person who is highly involved in work, feels compelled to
work and has a low enjoyment of work – Work Addict
Contrary to resilience this personal characteristic attracts more stresses &
weakens capacity to cope with it, these people become less social with
family members effecting WLB.
Results in TYPE “A” behavior pattern – because being pre-occupied with
work, people tend to lose their tempers and interrupt others in
conversation, results in sever body disorders etc in the long run.
Consequences of Distress – Effects of stress may appear on physical, mental or
behavioral deterioration:
(a) Physiological
(b) Psychological
(c) Behavioral

16. WORK RELATED STRESS AND STRESS
MANAGEMENT
Consequences of Distress
Physiological
Consequences
Behavioral
Consequences
Psychological
Consequences
Shuts
Down
Immune
System
Tension
Headaches
Muscle
pain &
back
problems
Cardiovascular
Diseases
Strokes
Hyper Tension
Job dissatisfaction
Moodiness
Depression
Lower organization
Commitment
Emotional
Exhaustion
Cynicism – Indifferent
Attitude
Reduced
Efficiency
Moderate
Stress
Positive,
Concentrate
Resources
Where
required
In distress
Job
Performance
Falls
Memory
Impaired
Decisions
less
Effective
Forgetfulness
Overstressed
Aggressive
Behavior
With
coworkers
Frustration

17. WORK RELATED STRESS AND STRESS
MANAGEMENT
Managing Work-Related Stress
Conclusion: Non existence of Work Life Balance is main stressor
Stress
Management
Strategies
Remove the
Stressor
WLB
Flexi timings
Job Sharing
Telecommuting
Leave
Child care
support
Control
Stress
Consequences
Fitness
Centers
Fitness &
relaxation
mediation
EAPs
Change
Stress
Perception
Enhancing
Confidence,
self esteem
&
self-
leadership
Receive
Social
Support
From
Coworkers,
Supervisors,
Family
members,
Friends
Others as
Info etc
Withdraw
From
Stressors
Temporary
With-drawl
Strategies
(Games/
relaxing
Rooms, leave,
TV rooms etc)
Social Support reduces
Stress at least three ways
- Improves perception, they
Are valued & worthy, it
Increases resilience
-Provides info & help
interpret, Comprehend &
remove stressors
-Emotional support help
To buffer stress experience