Organizational Behavior Concepts

Introduction to Organizational Behavior (OB)

• Studies human behavior within organizations
• Aims to understand, predict, and intervene in workplace dynamics
• Goal is to achieve better outcomes

Levels of Analysis

• Individual Level: Focuses on personality, motivation, and job satisfaction
• Group/Team Level: Examines communication, leadership, and group dynamics
• Organizational Level: Includes structure, culture, and policies

OB as a Science

• Employs scientific methods to test hypotheses
• Designed to provide evidence-based insights
• Intuition or authority-based decision-making is not suitable

Correlations

• Measures the relationship between two variables
• Positive Correlation: Both variables increase together (e.g., effort and productivity)
• Negative Correlation: One variable increases as the other decreases (e.g., stress and job satisfaction)
• No Correlation: No consistent pattern between variables
• Strong: ±0.50 and higher
• Moderate: ±0.30
• Weak: ±0.10
• Correlation does not imply causation; causation requires establishing a relationship between variables, temporal progression, and no alternative explanations.

Decision-Making

• Selecting a course of action from multiple options
• Programmed: Routine decisions made using established rules
• Non-Programmed: Complex, unique decisions requiring creative solutions

Common Issues

• Limited Information:
  • Bounded Rationality: Inability to consider all information, leading to simplified decisions
  • Satisficing: Choosing an option that is "good enough"
• Faulty Perceptions:
  • Selective Perception: Noticing information that confirms pre-existing beliefs
  • Stereotypes: Generalizing assumptions about individuals based on group affiliation
  • Projection Bias: Assuming others think the same way as oneself
  • Heuristics: Mental shortcuts (e.g., anchoring, framing) that can lead to errors

Attribution Theory

• Perceivers try to attribute observed behavior to a type of cause:
• Internal behavior is believed to be under the personal control of the individual
• External influence forces the person into the behavior by outside events/causes

Faulty Attributions

• Fundamental Attribution Error: Tendency to attribute others' behavior to internal factors rather than external ones
• Self-Serving Bias: Tendency to overestimate one's own (internal) influence on successes and overestimate external influences on failures
• Hindsight Bias: Perceiving events as more predictable after they have occurred

Escalation of Commitment

• Continuing a failing course of action due to sunk costs, even when evidence suggests changing direction would be better

Job Performance (Individual Outcome)

• Behaviors that contribute to achieving organizational goals
• Focuses on behaviors, not just outcomes
• Exampple of Job performance at HNTB:
  • Set of behaviors, going through the pdfs, calculating totals, copy reviews, ect
  • The final digital recap report
• Drawbacks to results oriented job performance:
  • Lack of teamwork, ignores other behaviors that might be important

Dimensions of a Good Performer

• Task Performance: Core responsibilities
  • Routine: Regular, predictable tasks
    • Examples: Filing out new hire paperwork
  • Adaptive: Responding to change and emergencies
    • Examples: A manager training one person vs another
  • Creative: Generating innovative ideas or solutions
    • Examples: Finding a way to decrease turnover with a payday breakfast
• Citizenship Behavior: Discretionary actions that help others and improve the organization (e.g., mentoring, helping coworkers)
  • Organizational examples: Voice, Civic virtue, and Boosterism
  • Interpersonal Examples: Courtesy, Helping, and Sportsmanship
• Counterproductive Work Behavior (CWB): Actions that harm the organization
  • Organizational:
    • Minor: Production Deviance and Substance abuse
    • Major: Sabotage and Theft
  • Interpersonal:
    • Minor: Gossiping and Incivility
    • Major: Harassment and Abuse
  • CWBs are weekly related to task performance
  • Strong positive correlations are found between different types of CWBs

Key Debate

• Balance between high performers with toxic behavior versus overall team morale and productivity

Evaluation Methods

• Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS): Rates performance based on observable behaviors
• Forced Ranking: Assigns performance ratings on a bell curve (top 10%, middle 70%, bottom 10%)
  • Can result in a lack of teamwork, increased stress, competition, and sabotage

Organizational Commitment (Individual Outcome)

• Degree to which an employee identifies with the organization and wants to remain a member

Types of Commitment

• Affective Commitment: Emotional attachment to the organization, staying because one wants to (e.g., strong friendships or a positive work atmosphere)
• Continuance Commitment: Based on costs associated with leaving, staying because one needs to (e.g., financial benefits, job security, or relocation difficulties)
• Normative Commitment: Based on obligation, staying because one ought to (e.g., feeling loyal due to mentorship or the organization giving them their first job)
• Employees higher in affective commitment engage in more citizenship behaviors

Withdrawal Behavior

• Psychological Withdrawal (Neglect): Daydreaming, socializing, looking busy, cyberloading, moonlighting (having another job at the same time)
• Physical Withdrawal (Exit): Tardiness, missing meetings, quitting, absenteeism, and long breaks

Responses to Negative Events

• The Exit-Voice-Loyalty-Neglect (EVLN) framework categorizes how employees respond to dissatisfaction:
  • Exit: Leaving the organization
    • Example: Lone Wolves, High job performance, Low organizational commitment
  • Voice: Attempting to improve conditions by discussing issues
    • Example: Stars, High job performance, High organizational commitment
  • Loyalty: Passively waiting for improvement while maintaining performance
    • Example: Citizens, Low Job performance, High organizational commitment
  • Neglect: Reduced effort and attention to work
    • Example: Apathetics, Low job performance, Low organizational commitment

Drivers of Commitment

• Significant driver of affective commitment is social life
• Erosion Model: Employees with fewer social ties are more likely to leave
• Social Influence Model: Turnover spreads through social networks within organizations

Building Commitment

• Create equitable work environments
• Foster meaningful relationships
• Provide job security and minimize organizational politics
• Strong workplace relationships increase affective commitment
• Positive work environments enhance commitment

Job Satisfaction (Individual Mechanisms)

• Definition: A positive evaluation about a job
  • Global Satisfaction: Overall evaluation of the job
    • Ex. Overall how satisfied are you with your job
  • Facet Satisfaction: Evaluations of specific job components like pay, coworkers, supervision, tasks, and promotion opportunities
    • Examples: How satisfied are you with your work tasks?

Attitudes

• Evaluative statements
  • Either favorable or unfavorable concerning objects, people, or events(e.g., "I hate my job!")
• Satisfaction has a decreasing trend
• Satisfaction varies according to specific facets and culture
• Theories regarding satisfaction are mostly based on Western Europe and the US

Value-Percept Theory

• Satisfaction depends on whether a job provides things that an individual values
• People evaluate job satisfaction according to specific facets of the job
• Dissatisfaction = (VWANT - VHAVE) × (VIMPORTANCE)
  • VWANT: How much of a value an employee desires
  • VHAVE: How much of that value is actually present
  • VIMPORTANCE: The importance of that value to the individual

Job Characteristics Model

• Certain characteristics of a job lead to satisfaction with the work itself:
  • Variety: The job involves a range of tasks and challenges
  • Identity: The ability to complete an identifiable piece of work from start to finish
  • Significance: The job has a meaningful impact on others
  • Autonomy: Independence in how tasks are performed
  • Feedback: Receiving direct information on performance

Benefits of Job Satisfaction

• Improved task and organizational performance
  • Increased customer satisfaction
• Increased citizenship behavior
• Decreased counterproductive work behaviors
• Higher levels of commitment
  • Decreased absenteeism and turnover

Test your knowledge of organizational behavior concepts. Questions cover attribution bias, fundamental attribution error, the sunk cost fallacy, civic virtue, and task performance.