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1. CHAPTER 10:
ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR:
POWER, POLITICS, CONFLICT, AND
STRESS
CH 10
© 2015 SAGE Publications

2. Organizational Behavior
• The study of actions that affect performance in the workplace
• The goal of organizational behavior theorists is to explain and
predict actions and how they will affect performance
• The field of organizational behavior has three levels of focus:
• The individual
• The group
• The organization

3. Personality
• A combination of behavioral, metal, and emotional traits that
define an individual
• Based on genetics and environmental factors
• Affects behavior as well as perceptions and attitudes
• Four traits:
• Locus of Control
• Optimism vs. Pessimism
• Risk Propensity
• Machiavellianism

4. Locus of Control
• Lies on a continuum between believing that control over one’s
destiny is external (externalizers) or believing that it is internal
(internalizers)
• Externalizers believe that they have no control over their fate and that
their behavior has little to do with their performance
• Internalizers believe that they control their fate and that their behavior
has a direct effect on their performance

5. Optimism vs. Pessimism
• Optimistic people believe that things will go well, and they tend
to be generally happier and more confident
• Pessimistic people believe that things will not go well. They tend
to be unhappy much of the time and experience more stress
than optimistic people.

6. Risk Propensity
• The degree to which someone is willing to face uncertainty

7. Machiavellianism
• Based on the belief that the ends can justify the means and
power should be used to reach desired ends
• High “Machs” are generally considered effective in situations in which
bargaining and winning is important, such as jobs involving negotiation
and sales

8. The Big Five Personality Dimensions
Extroversion
Agreeableness
Emotionalism
Conscientiousness
Openness to Experience

9. Perception
• The process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting
environmental information
• Self-esteem (self-concept)
• Self-efficacy: The belief in your own capability to perform in a specific
situation.

10. The Attribution Process
• Determining the reason
for an individual’s
behavior and whether it
is
• Situational: out of
control of the individual
or
• Intentional: the
individual is
consciously behaving
this way

11. Bias in Perception
• Selectivity
• Frame of reference
• Stereotyping
• Expectations
• The “like me” assumption

12. Attitudes
• Positive or negative evaluations of people, things, and
situations

13. Attitude Formation
• Family, friends, teachers, coworkers, the mass media, and so on
affect your attitude formation
• Negative attitudes toward change tend to lead to behavioral
resistance to the change, and vise versa
• Not only can employees’ attitudes have an effect on their own
performance, but they can also have an effect on the
performance on their coworkers
• The Pygmalion effect is the theory that managers’ attitudes
toward and expectations and treatment of employees largely
determine their performance

14. Job Satisfaction
• Is generally measured along a continuum from
satisfied/positive/high to dissatisfies/negative/low
• Affects absenteeism and turnover rates
• Affects citizenship behaviors and counterproductive work
behaviors
• Is shaped by personality, the work itself, compensation, growth
and upward mobility, coworkers, management

15. Power
• The ability to influence others’ behavior
• Position power: derived from top management & is delegated down
the chain of command
• Personal power: derived from followers, based on an individual’s
behavior
• Empowerment: giving power to employees

16. Types of Power
• Coercive Power: Involves threats and/or punishment to influence
compliance
• Connection Power: Based on the user’s relationship with
influential people
• Reward Power: Based on the user’s ability to influence others by
providing something of value to them
• Legitimate Power: Based on the user’s position power in the
organization

17. • Referent Power: Based on the user’s personal power
relationships with others
• Information Power: Based on others’ need for data
• Expert Power: Based on the user’s skills and knowledge
Types of Power

18. Politics
• The process of gaining and using power
• Networking: The process of developing relationships for the purpose of
socializing and career building
• Reciprocity: The creation of obligations and the development of alliances
that are used to accomplish objectives
• Coalition Building: A network of alliances that help a manager achieve an
objective

19. Political Behaviors and Guidelines for
Developing Political Skills

20. Conflict
• Exists whenever people are in disagreement & opposition
• With globalization and increasingly team-based structures, the frequency
and intensity of conflict will only continue to increase

21. The Psychological Contract
• Composed of the implicit expectations of individual parties
• Conflict arises when the contract is broken, which happens
when:
• We fail to make explicit our own expectations & fail to inquire into the
expectations of others
• We assume that others have the same expectations that we hold

22. Functional and Dysfunctional Conflict
• Exists when disagreement & opposition support the
achievement of organizational goals
• Functional conflict can decrease complacency and reveal
inefficiencies
• Exists when conflict prevents the achievement of organizational
goals
• Too little or too much conflict is dysfunctional

23. Conflict Management Styles
• Avoiding Conflict Style
• Accommodating Conflict Style
• Forcing Conflict Style
• Negotiating Conflict Style
• Collaborating Conflict Style

24. The Negotiation Process

25. Conflict Resolution
When initiating a conflict resolution, you may want to use the
collaborative conflict resolution model:
1. State the problem in terms of behaviors, consequences, and feelings
2. Get the other person to acknowledge the problem or conflict
3. Ask for and/or present alternative resolutions to the conflict
4. Come to an agreement

26. Responders and Mediators
• Responding To Conflict Resolution:
• In the role of responder, you have a responsibility to contribute to
successful conflict resolution when someone confronts you with a
problem
• Mediating Conflict Resolution:
• Frequently, parties in conflict cannot resolve their dispute alone. In
these cases, a mediator may be used.
• A mediator is a neutral third party who helps resolve a conflict

27. Conflict Management Styles

28. Arbitrators in Conflict Resolution
• If the conflict cannot be resolved by mediation, an arbitrator may
be used as a follow-up
• An arbitrator is a neutral third party who resolves a conflict by
making a binding decision
• The arbitrator is like a judge whose decision must be followed

29. Stress
• The body’s reaction to environmental demands
• Stressors: Factors that cause people to feel overwhelmed by anxiety,
tension, and/or pressure
• Functional Stress: Helps improve performance by challenging and
motivating people to meet objectives
• Dysfunctional Stress: Stress that is severe enough to lead to burnout

30. Causes of Job Stress
• Personality Types
• Organizational Culture
• Organizational Change
• Management Behavior
• Type of Work
• Interpersonal Relations

31. Stress Management
• Time Management
• Relaxation
• Nutrition
• Exercise
• Positive Thinking
• Support network
Relaxation Techniques