Stress in Organizations: between Efficiency and the Institutionalization of Fear
Journal Title: BAR: Brazilian Administration Review - Year 2008, Vol 5, Issue 1
Abstract
Sometimes organizations described as benevolent, focusing on stable procedures and cordial relations are regarded as examples of collective indolence and likely to be out-competed by aggressive, merciless and stressprone organizations. In this paper we suggest that some managers and organizations follow a requisite stress principle, according to which stress inside organizations is treated as a variable to be equated to the stress level perceived to prevail in the institutionalized environment the organization operates. We thus predict the relationship between stress-inducing practices, individual responses and performance to be recursively explained. When organizations induce stress at levels that are different from those admitted institutionally as normal levels, there will be a negative response to this induction. When induced stress levels are considered excessive, activities will be inhibited because fear will control the capacity of people to deal with situations and act in an appropriate manner. The validity of this principle implies that control of stress in organizations is as complex as the level of stress in society: it will depend on the control of stress levels coming from society. The principle consequently puts an end to any management aspirations to use stress as a managing mechanism and for inducing behavior.
Authors and Affiliations
Vasconcelos, Flávio Carvalho de; Vasconcelos, Isabella Freitas Gouveia de; Crubellate, João Marcelo
Organizational Memory and Forgetfulness Generating Vulnerabilities in Complex Environments
This article analyzes the relationship between organizational memory and forgetfulness in the generation of operational vulnerabilities, based on a case study carried out with a highly specialized technical team from a...
Transformational Leaders and Work Performance: The Mediating Roles of Identification and Self-efficacy
In this study we investigate the connections between transformational leadership and subordinate formal and contextual performance among Brazilian employees. We also proposed and tested two mediating processes through...
International Relations and the Paradiplomacy of Brazilian Cities: Crafting the Concept of Local International Management
Based on the broader context of globalization as politics, this paper adopts the following assumption: cities through their transnational cooperation networks and economic projects are the expression of a new political...
A Bibliometric Study on Culture Research in International Business
National cultures and cultural differences provide a crucial component of the international business (IB) research context. We conducted a bibliometric study of articles published in seven leading IB journals over a per...
The Meanings of the Death of the Founder: The Constructionist Approach
The aim of this article is to investigate the meanings constructed around the death of a university center’s founder. For this purpose, the culture theory and the social constructionism approach formed the theoreticalme...