Organizational Behavior

E

vidence-based management:

 A perspective that argues that scientific findings should form the foundation for

management education.

Analytics

: The use of data (rather than just opinions) to guide decision making.



Is OB Common sense?

What is the best motivator for employees?

1. Pay

2. Promotion

3. Supervision

4. Co-worker

5. Work itself

Common sense will only get you so far…

There are right and wrong answers,

 There is a large volume of material in this course:

 COMMON SENSE can be deceiving.

Key to do well, focus on: UNDERSTANDING +

 RECALL. Relationships we will

explore

3 levels of analysis:

Individual

1. : factors that

direct to individual

employees themselves 

motivation (each

employee);

Teams and dyads

2. (Relationships ): groups of

people or two people 

leadership, communication,

power, negotiation, …

Organization

3. : structure of

org. (e.g., small flat or

burocracy), culture, change,

…

1. INDIVIDUAL OUTCOMES:

Job performance and

Organizational

commitment are the most

important aspects

(Individual outcomes).

Most employees and managers have 2 primary goals: perform their jobs well (maximize

it) and retain employees (remain members of org.) for a significant length of time.

2. INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS AND MECHANISMS: directly affect job performance

and organizational commitment.

3. RELATIONAL MECHANISMS:

Employees do not work alone but have to effectively interact and coordinate with others =>

what factors improve job performance and organizational commitment.

4. ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT: individuals and groups function within a broader

organizational context.

Organizational structure: dictates how the units within the firm link to and

o coordinate with other units centralized decision-making authority or



decentralized.

Organizational culture and change : from time to time, it has to change, and the

o process must be reviewed.

OB Internationally

Changes in technology, communications, and economic forces have made business more

global and international than ever <= GLOBALIZATION.

- Cross-cultural differences,

- International corporations, with both foreign and domestic operations,

- Expatriation = an employee who lives outside their native country,

- Managing diversity: members of different cultural backgrounds.

Building a Conceptual Argument

Resource-based view:

A model that argues that rare and inimitable resources

help firms maintain competitive advantage (more

valuable).

It describes what exactly makes resources valuable (create

long-term profits).

History = A collective pool of experience, wisdom,

and knowledge that benefits the organization.

Socially complex resources = Resources created by

people, such as culture, teamwork, trust, and reputation

not clear how they come to be, though it might be clear



which organizations do and do not possess them.

The effective management of OB requires a belief that

several different practices are important, along with

a long-term commitment to improving those practices => the Rule of One-Eight =

The belief that at best one-eighth, or 12%, of organizations will actually do what is required to

build profits by putting people first.

How do we know what we know about OB?

Philosophers have argued that there are several different ways of knowing things:

Method of experience : people hold firmly to some belief because it is consistent with

 their own experience and observations.

Method of intuition : people hold firmly to some belief because it “just stands to reason”

 – it seems obvious or self-evident.

Method of authority : people hold firmly to some belief because some respected

 official, agency, or source has said it is so.

Method of science : people accept some belief because scientific studies have tended

 to replicate that result using a series of samples, settings, and methods.

Ch.2 – Job performance

Think of it as “behaviour” (that are in control of the employees) => “results” = outcomes

associated with those behaviours. It is the variable that is most closely linked to

organizational performance.

Job performance : Employee behaviours that contribute either positively or

negatively to the accomplishment of organizational goals. It places a boundary on

which behaviors are (and not) relevant to job performance.

These behaviors generally fit into 3 broad categories:

Task performance,

1. (Organizational) Citizenship behavior:

2. both contribute positively,

Counterproductive behavior:

3. contributes negatively.

Task Performance

Employee behaviours that are directly involved in the transformation of organizational

resources into the goods or services that the organization produces – the tasks,

duties, and responsibilities that are a core part of the job (what’s in your job description). The

specific activities differ from job to job, but can be categorized considering the extent to which

the context of the job is routine or changing:

- Routine task performance involves well-known responses to demands that occur in

normal, routine, or otherwise predictable way (day-to-day activities) => habitual.

- Adaptive task performance (adaptability) involves employee responses to task

demands that are novel, unusual, or unpredictable.

- Creative task performance = the degree to which individuals develop ideas or physical

outcomes that are both novel and useful => employee creativity is necessary to spark the

types of innovations that enable organizations to stay ahead of their competition.

Therefore a job will vary in relation to creative task performance.

How do organizations identify the behaviors that underlie task performance?

Job analysis

Conducting a = a process by which an organization determines

requirements of specific jobs.

1) A list of all the activities involved in the job is generated: data from observations, surveys,

and interviews of employees.

2) Each activity is rated by “subject-matter experts” according to things like its importance

and frequency.

3) The activities rated highly are retained and used to define task performance.

Behaviors identified can also provide a basis for performance appraisals.

National Occupational Classification (NOC): A national database of occupations in

 Canada, organizing over 40,000 job titles into 500

occupational group descriptions.

Citizenship Behavior (OCB)

Voluntary employee behaviours that contribute to

organizational goals by improving the context in

which work takes place (either the production process

or the interpersonal environment).

Not mandatory ones (not in the job description), but



still contribute (help task performance – do work more

effectively) => may or may not be compensated.

Interpersonal citizenship behaviour

1. : Going

beyond normal job expectations to assist, support,

and develop (benefit) co-workers and colleagues =>

help others in their tasks (an OCB), sharing important

info with co-workers (courtesy), and sportsmanship (= maintaining a good attitude towards

co-workers).

Organizational citizens hip behavior

2. : Going beyond normal expectations to improve

Voice

operations of the organization, defend it, and be loyal to it => (= speaking up to

offer constructive suggestions for change, often in reaction to a negative work event),

Civic virtue (= participating in company operations at a deeper-than-normal level through

voluntary meetings, and reading and keeping up with organizational announcements and

Boosterism

news that affects the company), and (= positively representing the

organization when in public).

Citizenship behaviors are relevant in virtually any job, regardless of the nature of its tasks,

and have a particular influence on the bottom line. Secondly, because they are relatively

discretionary and influenced by the specific situation the employee is working in, they can

citizenship fatigue,

vary significantly over time (e.g., the sense that one is worn out and on

edge from engaging in citizenship).

Counterproductive Behavior (CWB)

Employee behaviours that intentionally hinder

organizational goal accomplishment (a negative

contribution). They vary in intensity.

- Property deviance = behaviors that harm the

organization’s assets and possessions.

sabotage = intentional destruction of physical



equipment, organizational processes, or company

products.

theft: stealing company products or equipment



from the organization.

- Production deviance : i ntentionally reducing

organizational efficiency of work output.

wasting resources: using too many materials or



too much time to do too little work. Or even

working too slowly, jeopardizing the production.

substance abuse: work done more slowly and less accurately.



- Political deviance = behaviors that intentionally disadvantage other individuals, targeted

at other co-workers.

gossiping, incivility.



- Personal aggression = h ostile verbal and physical actions directed toward other

employees.

harassment, abuse – the most serious ones.



Such behaviors tend to represent a pattern rather than isolated incidents => managers

 should not discount even on small CWBs.

It is relevant to any job and may be contagious with negative consequences that may

 ripple throughout an organization.

Sometimes the best task performers are the ones who can best get away with

 counterproductive actions, because they’re less likely to be suspected or blamed.

Prosocial counterproductive behaviour =

 Workplace behaviours that are intended to benefit others or the organization but,

nevertheless, are also counterproductive because they violate norms, rules, policies,

or laws; thus, they harm or could

potentially harm the organization.

What does it mean to be a

“good performer”?

It means being good at their job

tasks (high task performance),

engaging in citizenship behaviors,

avoiding the counterproductive ones.

Goal Setting

- They are specific and measurable.

- They are time-sensitive (when

there’s an endpoint to that goal).

- They are difficult (but not

impossible not so difficult to be



demotivating => challenging).

- People are committed to them

(self-set goals – you tend to be

more committed -, public

statements, and rewards –

external, like a raise, or self-

directed).

- People get feedback on their

progress you can’t know how



you’re doing otherwise someone

(or something) tells you that.

Goals increase motivation and

 motivation increases/betters

outcome.

Individuals less li