GRA 2231 Stress and Productivity in Organisations

GRA 2231 Stress and Productivity in Organisations

Course code: 
GRA 2231
Department: 
Leadership and Organizational Behaviour
Credits: 
6
Course coordinator: 
Emilie Lapointe
Course name in Norwegian: 
Stress and Productivity in Organisations
Product category: 
Master
Portfolio: 
MSc in Leadership and Organisational Psychology
Semester: 
2020 Spring
Active status: 
Active
Level of study: 
Master
Teaching language: 
English
Course type: 
One semester
Introduction

Work stress imposes a high cost on individual health and well-being as well as on organisational productivity. As organisations and businesses today are facing challenges in their efforts to perform effectively, the high price of a poor fit between people and their work environments is increasingly recognized. In the area of human resource management, there is increasing agreement that in order to be successful, organisations need to focus on their human capital for unique competitive advantage. The shift toward positive psychology represents a framework to understand how to enhance work engagement, motivation and job performance, thus increasing employee health and well-being and ultimately building more effective organisations.

The course will prepare students to critically assess or advise on work organization and health-promotion programs that will protect the individual from stress and enhance organisational performance.

Learning outcomes - Knowledge

By the end of the course the students will have knowledge of:

  • the sources and consequences of job-related stress,
  • the methods used to assess levels of stress and strain,
  • the strategies to prevent or minimize work-related stress and health problems.
  • approaches to help organisations to identify, obtain, preserve and manage valued work resources in order to unleash the talents of their people.
Learning outcomes - Skills

By the end of the course students should

  • Know how to reduce work-related stress and increase individual's ability to cope with work demands,
  • Know how to enhance job resources to build work engagement and commitment so that workers continue to be productive and effective in their jobs.
General Competence

Students should be able to critically reflect on the manager’s and organization’s roles and responsibilities for employee wellbeing.

Course content
  • The changing nature of work
  • Sources and consequences of job-related stress
  • Stress and productivity
  • Psychological burnout
  • Methodological issues in job stress research
  • Issues and interventions
  • Positive psychology
  • Work engagement, flow and optimal functioning
  • Organizational health and well-being
  • Case studies of organisational restructuring
Teaching and learning activities

The course is structured as a combination of lectures, discussions, in-class activities, and compulsory student presentations. It requires a substantial amount of preparation by the students and active involvement during class.

Software tools
No specified computer-based tools are required.
Additional information

Please note that while attendance is not compulsory in all courses, it is the student’s own responsibility to obtain any information provided in class.

This is a course with continuous assessment (several exam components) and one final exam code. Each exam component is graded by using points on a scale from 0-100. The components will be weighted together according to the information in the course description in order to calculate the final letter grade for the examination code (course). Students who fail to participate in one/some/all exam elements will get a lower grade or may fail the course. You will find detailed information about the point system and the cut off points with reference to the letter grades when the course starts.

At resit, all exam components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course.

Qualifications

All courses in the Masters programme will assume that students have fulfilled the admission requirements for the programme. In addition, courses in second, third and/or fourth semester can have spesific prerequisites and will assume that students have followed normal study progression. For double degree and exchange students, please note that equivalent courses are accepted.

Required prerequisite knowledge

GRA 2205 Organizational Behaviour or equivalent

Exam categoryWeightInvigilationDurationGroupingComment exam
Exam category:
Activity
Form of assessment:
Presentation
Exam code:
GRA22316
Grading scale:
Point scale
Grading rules:
Internal examiner
Resit:
All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course
30No -Group/Individual (1 - 2)Student presentations (one or two students) of cases or research articles.
Exam category:
Submission
Form of assessment:
Written submission
Exam code:
GRA22316
Grading scale:
Point scale
Grading rules:
Internal and external examiner
Resit:
All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course
70No1 Semester(s)Group/Individual (1 - 3)
Exams:
Exam category:Activity
Form of assessment:Presentation
Weight:30
Invigilation:No
Grouping (size):Group/Individual (1-2)
Duration: -
Comment:Student presentations (one or two students) of cases or research articles.
Exam code:GRA22316
Grading scale:Point scale
Resit:All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course
Exam category:Submission
Form of assessment:Written submission
Weight:70
Invigilation:No
Grouping (size):Group/Individual (1-3)
Duration:1 Semester(s)
Comment:
Exam code:GRA22316
Grading scale:Point scale
Resit:All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course
Type of Assessment: 
Continuous assessment
Grading scale: 
ECTS
Total weight: 
100
Sum workload: 
0

A course of 1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. Therefore a course of 6 ECTS credits corresponds to a workload of at least 160 hours.