STRESS:

Stress is a feeling that's created when we react to particular events. It's the body's way of rising to a challenge and preparing to meet a tough situation with focus, strength, stamina, and heightened alertness.

The events that provoke stress are called stressors, and they cover a whole range of situations — everything from outright physical danger to making a class presentation or taking a semester's worth of your toughest subject.

 We can define Stress is a dynamic condition in which an 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

Stress is a consequence of or a general response to an action or situation that places special physical or psychological demands, or both, on a person.

The physical or psychological demands from the environment that cause stress are STRESSORS.

WORK STRESS

ORGANIZATIONAL CLIMATE

Organizational climate is a set of properties of the work environment, perceived directly or indirectly by employees, that is assumed to be a major force in influencing employee behavior.

Understanding Organizational Culture

Just as top executives can influence climate, they can also set the tone for the culture. If the CEO is an entrepreneur, the culture will be one that makes fast decisions, takes risks and likes to innovate. Apple Computers would be a good example of an entrepreneurial culture. Insurance companies and banks tend to have very different cultures, dominated by avoidance of risk. Such processing cultures need elaborate rules to ensure consistency and efficiency. An engineering culture like aircraft manufacturers or phone companies, value technical competence and high quality. Then there are marketing cultures that are very sales oriented. They tend to be populated by dynamic, lively, outgoing people. Scientific cultures are common in medical or drug manufacturing companies where there is an insistence on pure research to back up new proposals. It is not this simple, of course. Cultures can vary a great deal within a particular industry. Organizations might have a culture of blame, fun, hard work, equality, career development, environmental consciousness or any other personality trait.

Understanding Organizational Climate

Typical climates correspond to human feelings or moods: excitement, depression, anger, fear, optimism or anxiety. Like human mood, an organization's climate can be caused by internal and external factors. If the CEO or other prominent leaders are in a certain mood, they can infect the entire organization. Leaders whose moods are highly variable could lead teams with wildly fluctuating climates. Just as most people won't be in the same mood all the time, we can't expect an organization's climate to be unchanging. Shifting emotions are a good thing as it makes the organization seem more human. It would feel like being part of a machine if the climate of your workplace never altered. An emotionally variable climate is, like a similarly expressive person, more open, transparent and understandable. We feel comfortable when we can read another person's feeling. The same applies to our workplace. It's unhealthy to suppress emotion in organizations or people.

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE Vs. ORGANIZATIONAL CLIMATE

Organizational culture is concerned with the  nature of beliefs and expectations about organizational life, while climate is an indicator whether those beliefs and expectations are being fulfilled.

We can compare organizational culture and climate to personality and mood. The former is enduring; the latter is temporary. We acquire our basic personalities early in life, but our moods can shift several times in one day.

Organizational culture is not quite as fixed as personality, however, so the analogy is not perfect. It is hard to change an organization's culture but not as difficult as changing your personality. Also, organizational climate can last so long it becomes indistinguishable from culture, like being in a bad mood for months on end. Generally, however, climate is easier to change. During an economic downturn, people are worried about their jobs, then suddenly a big order comes in and everyone breathes a sigh of relief, so the climate improves.

MATCHING PEOPLE WITH CULTURES

GOFFEE & JONES TYPOLOGY EXPLAINED

Networked culture (high on sociability, low on solidarity).

Organizations with this type of culture view members as family and friends. People know and like each other. People willingly give assistance to others and openly share information. The major downside to this culture is that the focus on friendships can lead to a tolerance for poor performance and creation of political cliques.

Mercenary culture (low on sociability, high on solidarity). 

Organizations with this type of culture are fiercely goal-focused. People are intense and determined to meet goals. They have a zest for getting things done quickly and a powerful sense of purpose. A mercenary culture is not just about winning; it is about destroying the enemy. This focus on goals and objectivity leads to a minimal degree of politicking. The major downside to this culture is that it can lead to an almost inhumane treatment of people who are perceived as low performers.

Fragmented culture (low on sociability, low on solidarity). 

Organizations with this type of culture are made up of individualists. Commitment is first and foremost to individual members and their job tasks. There is little or no identification with the organization. In a fragmented culture, employees are judged solely on their productivity and the quality of their work. The major downside to this culture is that it can lead to excessive critiquing of others and an absence of collegiality and cooperation. Some large accounting and law firms have this type of culture.

Communal culture (high on sociability, high on solidarity). 

Organizations with this type of culture value both friendship and performance. People have a feeling of belonging, but there is still a ruthless focus on goal achievement. Leaders of these cultures tend to be inspirational and charismatic, with a clear vision of the organizations’ future. The major downside to this culture is that it often consumes employees’ lives. Its charismatic leaders frequently expect to create disciples rather than followers, resulting in a work climate that is almost “cult-like.”

Sociability
	High	Communal	Networked
	Low	Mercenary	Fragmented
		High	Low
	Solidarity

CORPORATE CULTURE EXPLAINED

“Collaborate (Clan)” Culture

An open and friendly place to work where people share a lot of themselves. It is like an extended family. Leaders are considered

to be mentors or even parental figures. Group loyalty and sense of tradition are strong. There is an emphasis on the long-term benefits of human resources development and great importance is given to group cohesion.There is a strong concern for people.

The organization places a premium on teamwork, participation, and consensus.

 “Create (Adhocracy)” Culture  Entrepreneurial

A dynamic, entrepreneurial, and creative place to work. Innovation and risk-taking are embraced by employees and leaders. A commitment to experimentation and thinking differently are what unify the organization. They strive to be on the leading edge. The long-term emphasis is on growth and acquiring new resources. Success means gaining unique and new products or services. Being an industry leader is important. Individual initiative and freedom are encouraged. 

“Control (Hierarchy)” Culture  Bureaucratic

A highly structured and formal place to work. Rules and procedures govern behavior. Leaders strive to be good coordinators and organizers who are efficiency-minded. Maintaining a smooth-running organization is most critical. Formal policies are what hold the group together. Stability, performance, and efficient operations are the long-term goals. Success means dependable delivery, smooth scheduling, and low cost. Manage­ment wants security and predictability.

“Compete (Market)” Culture

A results-driven organization focused on job completion. People are competitive and goal-oriented. Leaders are demanding, hard-driving, and productive.The emphasis on winning unifies the organization. Reputation and success are common concerns. Long-term focus is on competitive action and achievement of measurable goals and targets. Sucess means market share and penetration. Competitive pricing and market leadership are important.

LEVELS OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

The most widely used organizational culture framework is that of Edgar Schein (1988), who adopts the functionalist view and described culture as a pattern of basic assumptions, invented, discovered, or developed by a given group, as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore is to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems.

In Schein’s (1988) model, culture exists on three levels:

1. Artifacts – Artifacts are difficult to measure and they deal with organizational attributes that can be observed, felt and heard as an individual enters a new culture.

2. Values – This level deals with the espoused goals, ideals, norms, standards, and moral principles and is usually the level that is usually measured through survey questionnaires.

3. Underlying assumptions – This level deals with phenomena that remain unexplained when insiders are asked about the values of the organizational culture. Information is gathered in this level by observing behavior carefully to gather underlying assumptions because they are sometimes taken for granted and not recognized. According to Schein, the essence of organizational culture lies in this level.

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE: THE ROLE OF FOUNDER

When it comes to understanding the culture or shared environment of a particular business or organization, there can be several factors to consider. In general, experts believe that culture is established over time it takes a while for a company or organization to really develop a collection of policies, values and beliefs that are shared among all the employees and/or workers. The initial founders or owners DO have a role to play in the creation of company or organizational culture-while time may cause the culture to evolve in unpredictable ways, the initial influencers are important.

When an individual or group of individuals start a company or organization, they normally have some fairly specific ideas about what they want to happen-whether it is focused on making money, serving the public or providing a place to work that satisfies certain desires, the owners and founders tend to have some very clear ideas about what sort of work environment they would like to create. These initial goals and efforts can have a lasting effect on the culture of a company or organization.
For example, if a person decides to start a business not only to provide a service that has been missing in the community, but to create a work environment that is consensual based, flexible and where employees can set their own hours and have a great deal of autonomy over their jobs, this is going to create a company or organization culture that supports these ideals. It will be quite different if the owner or founder wants to create a company where he or she can be "in charge" and where the positions are structured in a "top down" fashion and the "boss" has a strong need to write policies on how employees will behave.

Of course, other realities will influence the company culture as well-the actual employees who come to work for the company and external factors such as market changes, competitors and the overall economic situation