Learning Objectives
•Explain “diversity in the Indian Context
•Outline the payoffs and challenges from diversity
in a multicultural company
•Discuss changes in workforce composition and the
place of women at work
•Describe various approaches to managing
diversity
•Learning Objectives
•Explain the nature symptoms and sources of stress
•Describe the individual and organisational coping strategies
•State the symptoms of burnout
•Outline the techniques to reduce burnout
The emerging challenges
 Diversity has emerged as an issue because of imbalanced
representation of diverse groups in the workforce
 India has not only been a diverse society it has valued and
celebrated diversity
 Some authors have used the term synergic pluralism to
describe Indian culture
 In India diverse religious and ethnic groups coming from
outside such as Parsee/Jews and Christians were made
welcome and encouraged to maintain their identities-while
integrating with the social mainstream
The emerging challenges
 India is the only country in the world to have enacted
legislation on reservation quotas for underprivileged
sections of society(termed scheduled castes /scheduled
tribes or backward classes)
 Diversity has become an issue because of several reasons
 There is increasing realization in India that we need to
include in the workplace in a planned way from those
sections of society that are under presented
 Legislation and various commissions are monitoring
implementation of the laws
The emerging challenges
 World Bank and WTO are putting pressure on paying
attention to diversity
 Western countries are bringing about such pressures-
boycott some products if they find discriminatory practices
 With globalization and entry of Indian companies into the
global market attention to diversity has increased
 Diversity is a competitive advantage for a firm enhancing
productivity and profitability(Luthans)
 Organizations paying attention to diversity are also more
likely to attract and retain talented people
The emerging challenges
 There are several bases of diversity :
demographic(age/gender/education
-social (religion/language/region/caste/tribes/physical and
mental handicaps)
-ideological(different ways of perceiving issues)
 The demographic profile in India is changing very fast
-younger people are entering the workforce
-because of the spread of education legislation and social
movements more women and more members of minority
communities are being employed by organizations
 organizations considering physically and mentally
challenged persons as valuable
The emerging challenges
 Diversity is important at all levels
 Diversity needs to be promoted in a planned manner-some
values and behaviours promote diversity
 -empathy/openness /democratic values and supportive
behaviour help to develop a mindset conducive to diversity
 By special training –Education Resources Centre in New
Delhi under the Campus Diversity initiative
 Organisations that encourage dissent and debate will
develop a culture of leveraging diversity
 Monitoring can help in changing mindsets towards seeing
diversity as competitive advantage
 HR department can play an important role
India is a country of interesting contradictions. People from Nepal,
Bangladesh, Pakistan, Tibet, Bhutan and other neighboring countries have
been pouring into different parts of the country since times immemorial. In
terms of population, it is a continent by itself. The vast majority of Hindus live
in close proximity to Muslims, Christians, Jains, Buddhists and people from
other religious faiths. But for occasional flare ups between people belonging to
different religious faiths, it is a fairly accommodative and tolerant state. The
class divide between the rich and the poor, too, is tolerated admirably. In states
like Kerala, the literacy levels are excellent whereas in other states like Bihar,
UP, MP, Rajasthan the literacy levels are very poor. We have more number of
doctors than nurses. Engineers outnumber skilled technical personnel.
•The educated do not get jobs due to lack of relevant skills and knowledge
• The uneducated do not have anything to live by
• With the result the pains and pleasures of life stare at you in the face
wherever you go
• For managers it’s a challenge to understand the dynamics of society and
initiate appropriate actions that are in sync with local
/political/social/religious/legal and cultural interests of not only internal
groups but external groups-customer /suppliers/community at large
•Those who fail to live up to the expectations of society tend to pay heavy price
Flashpoints
 S Kumar’s Nationwide : Plant at Mysore closed on May 31 2005 due to
sudden labour unrest over a trivial issue
 Honda MotorCycle and Scooter India Manesar: Labour management
differences led to closure of plant /chief Minister R.S. Hooda had to
step into resolve the strike losses estimate to be around Rs 120 crore
 Toyota Kirlosker Bangalore: Unable to resolve wage –rlated disputes
workers resorted to strike in April-May 2005 leading to stoppage of
production
 CEO’s /HR Managers /Supervisors killed on the shop floor
 Many cases HR managers and CEO’s brutally murdered by angry
workers during 2007-08
The emerging challenges
 Diversity in the Indian Context
 The success of the firms continued success is its ability to
 Attract
 Motivate
 Retain talented employees with divergent backgrounds and
expectations and to mould them into a focused and
dedicated workforce
 Their multicultural backgrounds pose challenges for the
firm but also offer an exciting opportunity-of harnessing
human potential to firms competitive advantage
Contd
Diversity in the Indian Context
 The term ‘diversity’ as we use the term in 21st century is far
more than skin, colour and gender. It refers to multifarious
differences including religious affiliation, age, disability
status, sexual orientation, economic class, educational
background, and lifestyle in addition to gender, race,
ethnicity and nationality.
Diversity in the Indian Context -contd
 Composition of workforce changing -with opening of
economy after 1990’s
 The presence of young workers-skilled knowledgeable
employees occupying positions of importance
 The entry of educated women- to address issues on sexual
harassment/exploitation/gender inequity /it is no more
trivial and insignificant
Contd
 What about old hats?-with improved health care facilities older
employees have started asserting their rights in terms of equity/better
pay/interesting work
 The divide between public and private sector employees- is
narrowing in terms of pay levels and working conditions
 Minorities/Physically disabled people/economically weaker
sections of society/backward castes/ scheduled castes and
scheduled tribes/ ex-service men etc
-The traditional Indian image of diversity has been one of assimilation/A
kind of melting pot wherein differences based on caste /race /religion
economic status were blended into an Indian puree
-The socially deprived economically poorer sections of society never
raised their voices /why they had to remain at the bottom of the ladder
even after six decades of Independence
Contd
 Violent demonstrations –this has brought about sea change in
the thinking of political parties and industry leadership
 They cannot think of postponing issues relating to
minorities/backward castes and weaker sections of societyincluding marginal farmers /landless labour
 There is a dramatic change in the thinking and actions of the
large majority who till yesterday were mute witnesses to social
economic cultural religious exploitation
 Temporary workers:-large presence in the automobile /auto
component sectors/telecom/construction/real estate/health
care/textile etc- is of concern /cannot hire hem on regular basis
to be competitive
 Child labour:-carpet making /crackers industry-contract labour
/various pieces of labour legislation ignored by employers
Contd
 The changing force of Corporate India: The Global
workforce
-Indian companies are hiring global managers and workers
by hundreds
-They realize vital ingredient for success
 What is happening?
 Tata Motors: Global employees 950 out of a total
employee strength of 22,000/reportedly trying to hire over
1000 people for a development centre in the UK from all
over the globe
 Asian Paints: global employees 1400 out of a total
employee of 4600-global assignment for 50 Indian
managers
Managing Diversity
 In the light of above discussion, managing diversity may
look like a contradiction within itself. It means being
precisely aware of characteristics common to a group of
employees, while also managing these employees as
individuals. It is not just tolerating or accommodating all
sorts of differences arising out of diverse backgrounds and
divergent expectations but supporting, encouraging and
utilizing these differing points of view to a firm’s advantage
(Bateman and Snell).
Managing Diversity
 Diversity as a Source of Competitive Advantage
 Gaining and keeping market share:-managers having exposure to
multiple markets are in demand/case of Hispanic
manager/southwestern city predominantly Hisponic –as per Morrison
study
 Significant cost savings:--huge penalties if companies are dragged to
court for discrimination-incur high costs in recruiting training relocating replacing employees
offering competitive compensation package
-a little bit of compassion ,nurturing attention and equitable rewards
would help retain non traditional managers on their jobs /increase
comfort level of employees belonging to the same group-leading to cost
saving
Contd
 Increased productivity and innovation:- Morrison study-if
employees treated with respect/enjoyed coming to work
-Multicultural approach had a positive impact on employees
perception on equity
- they were found to be more innovative agile and productive
 Better quality management:- interaction with colleagues having
diverse background helped managers develop openness
 Enhancement of organisational flexibility-policies procedures to
be kept flexible to accommodate divergent points
-will help organisations to become more flexible /able to respond
quickly to environmental changes
Contd
 Organisations are taking a more practical view of diversity
especially while trying to convert the challenges into an
opportunity
 Researches have highlighted the advantages of diversity
-A study by the department of Labour’s Glass Ceiling
Institute (1955) showed that the stock performance of firms
that were high performers on diversity related goals was
over twice as high as that of other firms
-Recent study (Business Week Jan 26,2004) found that
companies with the highest percentage of women among
senior managers had a significantly higher return to
shareholders than companies with lowest percentage
The emerging challenges
 Diversity:
Challenges
in
Managing
a
Diverse
Workforce
 Diversity can turn out to be a big liability in the hands of a
manager who is not sensitive to the needs, concerns and
expectations of a diversified work group.
 It can pose, lot of problems when a particular section of
employees feels neglected or bypassed. The perceived
inequity might reside only in the brains of some who might
have been pushed to a corner on grounds of poor
performance. Subsequent law suits could threaten the very
existence of a company.
Contd
 When the reputation of a company, for right or wrong reasons,
takes a serious dent, it may be difficult to attract talent later on.
Some of the challenges may seem insurmountable but with
commitment and sincerity managers can cross over the hurdles.
Here are some challenges that come up:
 Unexamined assumptions-Seeing the world from someone
else’s perspective is a real challenge/qualified male for front
desk job
 Lower cohesiveness-Diverse groups are less cohesive than
homogeneous groups/lack of
similarity/language/culture/experiences-difficult to get
along and produce results cooperatively-mgrs to lead and
set common goals
 Communication problems-Diverse groups carry a lot of
emotional baggage in the form of misunderstandings
/inaccuracies/inefficiencies/ explain again and again to
achieve clarity
 Mistrust and tension-Because of limited interaction and
low familiarity with members belonging to a particular
community /region/race/religion you may not like to share
your feelings and opinion freely
 Stereotyping-to se the world in a particular manner based
on our background experience/women as not loyal /older
workers not willing to learn new skills etc
The emerging challenges
 Workforce Composition
 The composition of the workforce is changing in India.
Young, skilled and knowledgeable employees are occupying
positions of importance. At the same time, thanks to the
opening up of the private sector, employees are no more
fascinated by secure, less-paying, routine and standardised
jobs offered by the public sector (barring companies like
BHEL, NTPC etc.) and other government-owned and
controlled organisations. Old employees have grown in
number now, thanks to the improved medical and health
care. Big private sector firms have been exploiting their
talents to conceive, operate and develop new ventures in
emerging areas such as oil, telecom, insurance, banking,
health care, etc.
The emerging challenges
Young vs Old
•Inexperienced
•Difficult to bend and change
•Impulsive
•Traditional
•Impatient
•Go by the rule book
•Unethical/not always ethically
conscious
•Workaholic
•Selfish
•Inflexible
•Manipulative
•Prefer safe /steady work
environments/less risky activities
The emerging challenges
 Organisations cannot discriminate on the basis of age
 McDonald’s a heavy recruiter of older workers-develop
masters programme –training programme to “unlearn” old
behaviours while learning new skills
 Company’s to understand young employees-come with a
lot of expectations
 Days of lifetime employment/total loyalty to company and
commitment to work thing of past
 To attract and retain young brains organisations have to
institute appropriate HR policies supported by attractive
compensation offers
The emerging challenges
 Women at Work
 Women employees today constitute a major share of
the workforce. In India alone, over 400 million are
employed in various streams due to a combination of
factors like:
 Women’s emancipation, Growing economic needs,
Greater equality , Increased literacy rate, Suitability for
certain soft jobs (public relations, telephone
operations, reception counters, etc.).
The emerging challenges
• The invisible workforce-Women hold up more than the sky
-Government studies reveal that the female workforce in
India makes a significant contribution to the nations
economy and family welfare
 According to 1981 census-89.5 percent of women workers
are engaged in unorganised sector
-of which a huge chunk of 82.3 percent actively participate
in agriculture and allied operations
 60-70 percent to total agriculture in villages(Business India
March 6 to 19 special feature)
 Glass ceiling –A barrier that comes in the way of women
advancing to top management positions
The emerging challenges
 Managing Diversity: Appropriate Skills
and Strategies
 In an increasingly multicultural business environment, managers need
to develop appropriate skills and strategies to overcome diversity
related problems:

open communication

Encourage feedback

Awareness building

Diversity training and skill building

Organisational practices
The emerging challenges
 To avoid charges of discrimination Managers must (Luthans)
 Ensure that all types of applicants are sought without any
discrimination(recruiting)
 Use of valid and non –discriminators selection tools and
devices(selecting)
 Emphasise that all employees without exception are eligible to use
training and development oriented facilities(training)
 Apply performance appraisal systems without any bias or
prejudice(appraising)
 Reward employee performance emphasising the principle of
equity9compensating)
 Fix work schedules in a flexible way so that female employees /dual –
career couples/disabled workers can participate in all organisational
activities without any problem(scheduling)
The emerging challenges
Promoting Diversity through Pluralism
Pluralism refers to an environment in which differences are
acknowledged, accepted and seen as significant contributors to the
entirety.
-A diverse workforce is most effective when managers are capable of
guiding the organisation towards achieving pluralism.
-According to Jean Kim, five specific approaches could help
organisations achieve this: (Issues in Workforce Diversity, First Annual
National Diversity Conference, San Francisco, May 1991)

Contd
 Golden rule approach-Do unto others as you would have them do unto you

Assimilation approach-fit in the existing culture/the dominant culture
becomes the guiding force and others are compelled to fall in line
 Righting the wrongs approach-past injustices suffered by a particular group because of
historical inequalities
 Culture specific approach-learn about the different culture /especially when employee
takes up foreign assignment
 Multicultural approach-to develop an appreciation for both differences of culture and
variations in personal characteristics/attitudinal changes and interpersonal skills relate to
organisational performance/helps in achieving pluralism since advocates change in
management-employees and organisations systems and practices
The emerging challenges
 Job Stress
 Organisational life is quite stressful. Work pressures, tight schedules, meetings
that never seem to end on time, unhelpful colleagues, critical bosses,
incompetent subordinates and a host of other irritating factors may all have a
cumulative effect in making the lives of modern-day executives quite
miserable. As we all know, stress is the body’s reaction to any demand made on
it. Perceptions of events, whether positive or negative, activate stress. It is,
therefore, a highly individual affair.
 Stress may be understood as a state of tension experienced by individuals
facing extraordinary demands, constraints or opportunities. The pressures of
modern life, coupled with the demands of a job, can lead to emotional
imbalances that are collectively labelled ‘stress’. The term ‘stress’ normally
refers to excessive stress caused by extraordinary demands (which cause us to
lose something we desire), constraints (things that keep us from doing what we
desire) or opportunities. (Matteson)
Ch-2
The Emerging Challenges
Two Faces of Stress
There are actually two faces to stress, as depicted through Figure.
Constructive stress
Destructive stress
High
Rustout
Burnout
Low
Low
Moderate
High
Two Faces of Stress
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 necessarily.
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
distress and maintain eustress. Thus, we are concerned with maintaining balance
and equilibrium, realising that it is a dynamic process.
Cont….
Organisational Behaviour
V S P Rao
Copyright © 2009, V S P Rao
Excel Books
The emerging challenges
 Nature of Stress
 As pointed out previously, stress is a state of tension experienced by individuals
facing extraordinary demands, constraints or opportunities. Stress can be
either positive or negative. For example, some new work situations can bring us




positive challenges and excitement, while others are very disturbing and
anxiety-arousing.
The General Adaptation Syndrome
Selye considered stress a non-specific response to any demand made upon an
organism. He called the three phases of the defense reaction that a person
establishes when stressed as the General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS). Selye
called the defense reaction, general because stressors had effects on several
parts of the body; adaptation refers to a stimulation of defenses intended to
help the body adjust to or deal with the stressors, and syndrome shows that
individual pieces of the reaction take place more or less together. The three
distinct phases are known as: alarm, resistance and exhaustion.
Symptoms of Stress
There are a number of biological, psychological and behavioural changes which
can be symptomatic of individual stress.
The emerging challenges
 Sources of Stress
 Organisational Factors
1. Occupational demands
2. Role conflict
3. Role ambiguity
4. Role overload
5. Role underload
6. Interpersonal relationships
7. Ineffective communication
8. Responsibility
9. Job change
10. Climate within a company
 Personal Factors
1. The impact of life change
2. Type-A and Type-B personalities
3. Externals vs. internals and the belief in external locus of control
4. Other reasons
The emerging challenges
 Some Questions about You and your Job

Yes

Are you constantly doing more than one thing at a time?

When travelling do you feel the travel time is wasted?

Do you get angry when things do not run smoothly?

Do you feel you never get to really finish one thing before moving on to the next?

Are you constantly being told you work too hard?

Do you work more than 10 hours on a workday?

Are you too busy to develop a creative hobby like gardening, bird-watching, painting etc.?

Do you take only 10 minutes to finish your meals or skip them?

Are you too busy to go outside during the day for at least ½ an hour?

Do you get less than 7 hours of sleep at night?
(if you have a majority of ‘yes’ as answers then it is recommended that you attend courses in
time management)
No
The emerging challenges
Consequences of Stress
 Subjective effects: Anxiety, aggression, apathy, boredom, depression,
fatigue,
frustration, guilt and shame, irritability and bad temper, moodiness, low
self-esteem,
tension, nervousness, and loneliness.
 Behavioural effects: Accident proneness, drug use, emotional outbursts,
excessive eating or loss of appetite, excessive drinking and smoking,
excitability,
impulsive behaviour, impaired speech, nervous laughter, restlessness and
trembling.
The emerging challenges
 Cognitive effects: Inability to make decisions and concentrate,
frequent forgetfulness, hypersensitivity to criticism and mental
blocks
 Physiological effects: increased blood glucose levels, increased
heart rate and blood pressure, dryness of the mouth, sweating,
dilation of the pupils, difficulty in breathing, hot and cold spells, lump
in the throat, numbness and tingling in parts of the limbs.
 Organisational effects: Absenteeism, poor industrial relations and
poor productivity, high accident and labour turnover rates, poor
organisational climate, antagonism at work and job dissatisfaction.
(Source: T.Cox, Stress, Baltimore, University Park Press , 1978)
The emerging challenges
 Management of Stress
 It is not true that employees do not want any stress at work. As the current
research evidence indicates, employees are energised and motivated by
moderate amounts of stress. What most people want in the workplace is a
challenging job assignment followed by moderate doses of competitive spirit,
constructive conflict and a zeal to get ahead of others. There are a variety of
ways in which individuals cope or deal with stress at work. Broadly, these could
be classified into two categories: Individual coping strategies and
Organisational coping strategies.
 Individual Coping Strategies
 Why do some people seem to experience more stress than others or seem to
experience stress in situations that leave other people unaffected. Take a
moment and answer the following questions to understand more clearly the
questions given in Table
The emerging challenges
 An article published in the Hindustan Times, dated 31.1.1998
catalogues other individual coping strategies thus:
 Keep a Pet
 Say your Prayers
 Sing Aloud
 Laughter, The Elixir!
 Sleep Right
 Be Good at Loving
 Spend Time with Children
 Take a Walk
 Make Friends
 Enjoy the Idiot Box
 Cultivate Interests
 Dare to Dream
The emerging challenges
 Organisational Coping Strategies
 Stress management includes stress prevention also. This is best achieved
through certain organisational coping strategies. These include:
1.
Role clarity
2.
Supportive climate
3.
Clear career paths
4.
Company-wide programmes
The emerging challenges
 Burnout
 A phenomenon that is receiving great attention in recent times is the problem
of burnout (Pareek; T.V. Rao; Armstrong). Generally speaking, everyone is a
potential candidate for burnout. But the most likely candidate to face this
serious problem is the over-achiever. In the words of Herbert J. Freudenberger,
burnout is a state of fatigue or frustration brought about by devotion to a cause,
way of life or relationship that failed to produce the expected reward. It may be
defined as the total depletion of physical and mental resources caused by
excessive striving to reach an unrealistic work-related goal. In his book, Burn
out Dr. Freudenberger poses a set of questions designed to be a self-test to help
us find out if we are in danger of burnout. The test includes the following
questions:
Burn-out self test
 BuBrnout-Self Test

Are you working more now and enjoying it less?

Do you find it more difficult to confide in others?

Must you force yourself to do routine things?

Are you listless, bored, constantly seeking excitement?

Would you rather be somewhere else?

Do you drink more than you used to?

Do you need a tranquiliser to face the day…..a sleeping pill to get through the night?

Are you resigned about your future?

Is your need for a particular crutch increasing? (smoking, nail biting etc.)
Emerging Challenges
 Symptoms of Burnout
 Some of the symptoms of burnout include: chronic fatigue, anger at those
making demands, self-criticism for putting up with demands; negativism and
irritability; a sense of being besieged; and hair-trigger display of emotions.
Other symptoms include recurring health problems, such as ulcers, back pain
or frequent headaches. The burnout victim is generally unable to maintain an
even keel emotionally. The victim may burst out often and express his rage and
hostility in totally inappropriate circumstances.
 Reducing Burnout
 W.S Paine suggested four technique to reduce burnout. These are:

Identification

Prevention

Mediation

Remediation