Organizational Behavior Chapter 1 PDF

Damietta University Faculty of commerce Organizational Behavior Collected By: Dr. Yomna Mohamed Eldaly Lecturer of Business Administration Faculty of Commerce- Damietta University 2024 Chapter (1): W...

Damietta University Faculty of commerce Organizational Behavior Collected By: Dr. Yomna Mohamed Eldaly Lecturer of Business Administration Faculty of Commerce- Damietta University 2024 Chapter (1): What is organizational behavior? Learning objectives is to know about:  What Managers Do?  Organizational Behavior.  Disciplines That Contribute To The Ob Field  Coming Attractions: Developing An Ob Model Chapter (1): What is organizational behavior What Managers Do Let’s begin by briefly defining the terms manager and organization —the place where managers work. Then let’s look at the manager’s job; specifically, what do managers do? Managers get things done through other people. They make decisions, allocate resources, and direct the activities of others to attain goals. Managers do their work in an organization , which is a consciously coordinated social unit, composed of two or more people, that functions on a relatively continuous basis to achieve a common goal or set of goals. By this definition, manufacturing and service firms are organizations, and so are schools, hospitals, churches, military units, retail stores, police departments, and local, state, and federal government agencies. The people who oversee the activities of others and who are responsible for attaining goals in these organizations are managers (sometimes called administrators, especially in not-for-profit organizations). Management Functions In the early part of the twentieth century, French industrialist Henri Fayol wrote that all managers perform five management functions: planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating, and controlling. Today, we have condensed these to four: planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. Because organizations exist to achieve goals, someone has to define those goals and the means for achieving them; management is that someone. The planning function encompasses defining an organization’s goals, establishing an overall strategy for achieving those goals, and developing a comprehensive set of plans to integrate and coordinate activities. Evidence indicates this function increases the most as managers move from lower-level to mid-level management. Managers are also responsible for designing an organization’s structure. We call this function organizing. It includes determining what tasks are to be done, who is to do them, how the tasks are to be grouped, who reports to whom, and where decisions are to be made. Every organization contains people, and it is management’s job to direct and coordinate those people. This is the leading function. When managers motivate employees, direct their activities, select the most effective communication channels, or resolve conflicts among members, they’re engaging in leading. 2 Chapter (1): What is organizational behavior To ensure things are going as they should, management must monitor the organization’s performance and compare it with previously set goals. If there are any significant deviations, it is management’s job to get the organization back on track. This monitoring, comparing, and potential correcting is the controlling function. So, using the functional approach, the answer to the question ―What do managers do?‖ is that they plan, organize, lead, and control. Management Roles In the late 1960s, Henry Mintzberg, then a graduate student at MIT, undertook a careful study of five executives to determine what they did on their jobs. On the basis of his observations, Mintzberg concluded that managers perform ten different, highly interrelated roles—or sets of behaviors. As shown in Exhibit 1-1 , these ten roles are primarily (1) interpersonal, (2) informational, or (3) decisional. Interpersonal Roles All managers are required to perform duties that are ceremonial and symbolic in nature. For instance, when the president of a college hands out diplomas at commencement or a factory supervisor gives a group of high school students a tour of the plant, he or she is acting in a figurehead role. All managers also have a leadership role. This role includes hiring, training, motivating, and disciplining employees. The third role within the interpersonal grouping is the liaison role, or contacting others who provide the manager with information. The sales manager who obtains information from the quality-control manager in his or her own company has an internal liaison relationship. When that sales manager has contacts with other sales executives through a marketing trade association, he or she has an outside liaison relationship. Informational Roles All managers, to some degree, collect information from outside organizations and institutions, typically by scanning the news media (including the Internet) and talking with other people to learn of changes in the public’s tastes, what competitors may be planning, and the like. Mintzberg called this the monitor role. Managers also act as a conduit to transmit information to organizational members. This is the disseminator role. In addition, managers perform a spokesperson role when they represent the organization to outsiders. 3 Chapter (1): What is organizational behavior Exhibit 1-1 Minztberg’s Managerial Roles Role Description Interpersonal Figurehead Symbolic head; required to perform a number of routine duties of a legal or social nature Leader Responsible for the motivation and direction of employees Liaison Maintains a network of outside contacts who provide favors and information Informational Monitor Receives a wide variety of information; serves as nerve center of internal and external information of the organization Disseminator Transmits information received from outsiders or from other employees to members of the organization Spokesperson Transmits information to outsiders on organization’s plans, policies, actions, and results; serves as expert on organization’s industry Decisional Entrepreneur Searches organization and its environment for opportunities and initiates projects to bring about change Disturbance Responsible for corrective action when organization handler faces important, unexpected disturbances Resource Makes or approves significant organizational allocator decisions Negotiator Responsible for representing the organization at major negotiations Decisional Roles Mintzberg identified four roles that require making choices. In the entrepreneur role, managers initiate and oversee new projects that will improve their organization’s performance. As disturbance handlers, managers take corrective action in response to unforeseen problems. As resource allocators, managers are responsible for allocating human, physical, and monetary resources. Finally, 4 Chapter (1): What is organizational behavior managers perform a negotiator role, in which they discuss issues and bargain with other units to gain advantages for their own unit. Management Skills Still another way of considering what managers do is to look at the skills or competencies they need to achieve their goals. Researchers have identified a number of skills that differentiate effective from ineffective managers. Technical Skills: Technical skills encompass the ability to apply specialized knowledge or expertise. When you think of the skills of professionals such as civil engineers or oral surgeons, you typically focus on the technical skills they have learned through extensive formal education. Of course, professionals don’t have a monopoly on technical skills, and not all technical skills have to be learned in schools or other formal training programs. All jobs require some specialized expertise, and many people develop their technical skills on the job. Human Skills: The ability to understand, communicate with, motivate, and support other people, both individually and in groups, defines human skills. Many people are technically proficient but poor listeners, unable to understand the needs of others, or weak at managing conflicts. Because managers get things done through other people, they must have good human skills. Conceptual Skills Managers must have the mental ability to analyze and diagnose complex situations. These tasks require conceptual skills. Decision making, for instance, requires managers to identify problems, develop alternative solutions to correct those problems, evaluate those alternative solutions, and select the best one. After they have selected a course of action, managers must be able to organize a plan of action and then execute it. The ability to integrate new ideas with existing processes and innovate on the job are also crucial conceptual skills for today’s managers. Effective versus Successful Managerial Activities Fred Luthans and his associates looked at what managers do from a somewhat different perspective. They asked, ―Do managers who move up the quickest in an organization do the same activities and with the same 5 Chapter (1): What is organizational behavior emphasis as managers who do the best job?‖ You might think the answer is yes, but that’s not always the case. Luthans and his associates studied more than 450 managers. All engaged in four managerial activities: 1. Traditional management. Decision making, planning, and controlling. 2. Communication. Exchanging routine information and processing paperwork. 3. Human resource management. Motivating, disciplining, managing conflict, staffing, and training. 4. Networking. Socializing, politicking, and interacting with outsiders. The ―average‖ manager spent 32 percent of his or her time in traditional management activities, 29 percent communicating, 20 percent in human resource management activities, and 19 percent networking. However, the time and effort different individual managers spent on those activities varied a great deal. As shown in Exhibit 1-2 , among managers who were successful (defined in terms of speed of promotion within their organization), networking made the largest relative contribution to success, and human resource management activities made the least relative contribution. Among effective managers (defined in terms of quantity and quality of their performance and the satisfaction and commitment of employees), communication made the largest relative contribution and networking the least More recent studies in Australia, Israel, Italy, Japan, and the United States confirm the link between networking and social relationships and success within an organization. And the connection between communication and effective managers is also clear. A study of 410 U.S. managers indicates those who seek information from colleagues and employees—even if it’s negative—and who explain their decisions are the most effective. This research offers important insights. Successful managers give almost the opposite emphases to traditional management, communication, human resource management, and networking as do effective managers. This finding challenges the historical assumption that promotions are based on performance, and it illustrates the importance of networking and political skills in getting ahead in organizations. 6 Chapter (1): What is organizational behavior A Review of the Manager’s Job One common thread runs through the functions, roles, skills, activities, and approaches to management: Each recognizes the paramount importance of managing people, whether it is called ―the leading function,‖ ―interpersonal roles,‖ ―human skills,‖ or ―human resource management, communication, and networking activities.‖ It’s clear managers must develop their people skills to be effective and successful. Enter Organizational Behavior We’ve made the case for the importance of people skills. But neither this book nor the discipline on which it is based is called ―people skills.‖ The term that is widely used to describe the discipline is organizational behavior. Organizational behavior (often abbreviated OB) is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and structure have on behavior within organizations, for the purpose of applying such knowledge toward improving an organization’s effectiveness. That’s a mouthful, so let’s break it down. Organizational behavior is a field of study, meaning that it is a distinct area of expertise with a common body of knowledge. What does it study? It studies three determinants of behavior in organizations: individuals, 7 Chapter (1): What is organizational behavior groups, and structure. In addition, OB applies the knowledge gained about individuals, groups, and the effect of structure on behavior in order to make organizations work more effectively. To sum up our definition, OB is the study of what people do in an organization and how their behavior affects the organization’s performance. And because OB is concerned specifically with employment-related situations, you should not be surprised that it emphasizes behavior as related to concerns such as jobs, work, absenteeism, employment turnover, productivity, human performance, and management. Although debate exists about the relative importance of each, OB includes the core topics of motivation, leader behavior and power, interpersonal communication, group structure and processes, learning, attitude development and perception, change processes, conflict, work design, and work stress. Complementing Intuition with Systematic Study The systematic approach in this book will uncover important facts and relationships and provide a base from which to make more accurate predictions of behavior. Underlying this systematic approach is the belief that behavior is not random. Rather, we can identify fundamental consistencies underlying the behavior of all individuals and modify them to reflect individual differences. These fundamental consistencies are very important. Why? Because they allow predictability. Behavior is generally predictable, and the systematic study of behavior is a means to making reasonably accurate predictions. When we use the term systematic study , we mean looking at relationships, attempting to attribute causes and effects, and basing our conclusions on scientific evidence—that is, on data gathered under controlled conditions and measured and interpreted in a reasonably rigorous manner. Evidence-based management (EBM) complements systematic study by basing managerial decisions on the best available scientific evidence. For example, we want doctors to make decisions about patient care based on the latest available evidence, and EBM argues that managers should do the same, becoming more scientific in how they think about management problems. A manager might pose a managerial question, search for the 8 Chapter (1): What is organizational behavior best available evidence, and apply the relevant information to the question or case at hand. You might think it difficult to argue against this (what manager would say decisions shouldn’t be based on evidence?), but the vast majority of management decisions are still made ―on the fly,‖ with little or systematic study of available evidence. Disciplines That Contribute to the OB Field Organizational behavior is an applied behavioral science built on contributions from a number of behavioral disciplines, mainly psychology and social psychology, sociology, and anthropology. Psychology’s contributions have been mainly at the individual or micro level of analysis, while the other disciplines have contributed to our understanding of macro concepts such as group processes and organization. Exhibit 1-3 is an overview of the major contributions to the study of organizational behavior. Psychology Psychology seeks to measure, explain, and sometimes change the behavior of humans and other animals. Those who have contributed and continue to add to the knowledge of OB are learning theorists, personality theorists, counseling psychologists, and, most important, industrial and organizational psychologists. Early industrial/organizational psychologists studied the problems of fatigue, boredom, and other working conditions that could impede efficient work performance. More recently, their contributions have expanded to include learning, perception, personality, emotions, training, leadership effectiveness, needs and motivational forces, job satisfaction, decision-making processes, performance appraisals, attitude measurement, employee- selection techniques, work design, and job stress. 9 Chapter (1): What is organizational behavior Social Psychology Social psychology , generally considered a branch of psychology, blends concepts from both psychology and sociology to focus on peoples’ influence on one another. One major study area is change —how to implement it and how to reduce barriers to its acceptance. Social psychologists also contribute to measuring, understanding, and changing attitudes; identifying communication patterns; and building trust. Finally, they have made important contributions to our study of group behavior, power, and conflict. 10 Chapter (1): What is organizational behavior Sociology While psychology focuses on the individual, sociology studies people in relation to their social environment or culture. Sociologists have contributed to OB through their study of group behavior in organizations, particularly formal and complex organizations. Perhaps most important, sociologists have studied organizational culture, formal organization theory and structure, organizational technology, communications, power, and conflict. Anthropology Anthropology is the study of societies to learn about human beings and their activities. Anthropologists’ work on cultures and environments has helped us understand differences in fundamental values, attitudes, and behavior between people in different countries and within different organizations. Much of our current understanding of organizational culture, organizational environments, and differences among national cultures is a result of the work of anthropologists or those using their methods. Coming Attractions: Developing an OB Model We conclude this chapter by presenting a general model that defines the field of OB, stakes out its parameters, and identifies inputs, processes, and outcomes. The result will be ―coming attractions‖ of the topics in the remainder of this book. An Overview A model is an abstraction of reality, a simplified representation of some real world phenomenon. Exhibit 1-4 presents the skeleton on which we will construct our OB model. It proposes three types of variables (inputs, processes, and outcomes) at three levels of analysis (individual, group, and organizational). The model proceeds from left to right, with inputs leading to processes and processes leading to outcomes. Notice that the model also shows that outcomes can influence inputs in the future. Inputs Inputs are the variables like personality, group structure, and organizational culture that lead to processes. These variables set the stage for what will occur in an organization later. Many are determined in 11 Chapter (1): What is organizational behavior advance of the employment relationship. For example, individual diversity characteristics, personality, and values are shaped by a combination of an individual’s genetic inheritance and childhood environment. Group structure, roles, and team responsibilities are typically assigned immediately before or after a group is formed. Finally, organizational structure and culture are usually the result of years of development and change as the organization adapts to its environment and builds up customs and norms. Processes If inputs are like the nouns in organizational behavior, processes are like verbs. Processes are actions that individuals, groups, and organizations engage in as a result of inputs and that lead to certain outcomes. At the individual level, processes include emotions and moods, motivation, perception, and decision making. At the group level, they include communication, leadership, power and politics, and conflict and negotiation. Finally, at the organizational level, processes include human resource management and change practices. 12 Chapter (1): What is organizational behavior Outcomes Outcomes are the key variables that you want to explain or predict, and that are affected by some other variables. What are the primary outcomes in OB? Scholars have emphasized individual-level outcomes like attitudes and satisfaction, task performance, citizenship behavior, and withdrawal behavior. At the group level, cohesion and functioning are the dependent variables. Finally, at the organizational level we look at overall profitability and survival. Because these outcomes will be covered in all the chapters, we’ll briefly discuss each here so you can understand what the ―goal‖ of OB will be. Attitudes and Stress Employee attitudes are the evaluations employees make, ranging from positive to negative, about objects, people, or events. For example, the statement, ―I really think my job is great,‖ is a positive job attitude, and ―My job is boring and tedious‖ is a negative job attitude. Stress is an unpleasant psychological process that occurs in response to environmental pressures. Some people might think that influencing employee attitudes and stress is purely soft stuff, and not the business of serious managers, but as we will show, attitudes often have behavioral consequences that directly relate to organizational effectiveness. The belief that satisfied employees are more productive than dissatisfied employees has been a basic tenet among managers for years, though only now has research begun to support it. Ample evidence shows that employees who are more satisfied and treated fairly are more willing to engage in the above-and-beyond citizenship behavior so vital in the contemporary business environment. Task Performance The combination of effectiveness and efficiency at doing your core job tasks is a reflection of your level of task performance. If we think about the job of a factory worker, task performance could be measured by the number and quality of products produced in an hour. The task performance of a teacher would be the level of education that students obtain. The task performance of a consultant might be measured by the timeliness and quality of the presentations they offer to the client firm. All these types of performance relate to the core duties and responsibilities of a job and are often directly related to the functions listed on a formal job description. Obviously task 13 Chapter (1): What is organizational behavior performance is the most important human output contributing to organizational effectiveness, so in every chapter we devote considerable time to detailing how task performance is affected by the topic in question. Citizenship Behavior The discretionary behavior that is not part of an employee’s formal job requirements, and that contributes to the psychological and social environment of the workplace, is called citizenship behavior. Successful organizations need employees who will do more than their usual job duties—who will provide performance beyond expectations. In today’s dynamic workplace, where tasks are increasingly performed by teams and flexibility is critical, employees who engage in ―good citizenship‖ behaviors help others on their team, volunteer for extra work, avoid unnecessary conflicts, respect the spirit as well as the letter of rules and regulations, and gracefully tolerate occasional work-related impositions and nuisances. Organizations want and need employees who will do things that aren’t in any job description. Evidence indicates organizations that have such employees outperform those that don’t. As a result, OB is concerned with citizenship behavior as an outcome variable. Withdrawal Behavior We’ve already mentioned behavior that goes above and beyond task requirements, but what about behavior that in some way is below task requirements? Withdrawal behavior is the set of actions that employees take to separate themselves from the organization. There are many forms of withdrawal, ranging from showing up late or failing to attend meetings to absenteeism and turnover. Employee withdrawal can have a very negative effect on an organization. The cost of employee turnover alone has been estimated to run into the thousands of dollars, even for entry-level positions. Absenteeism also costs organizations significant amounts of money and time every year. It’s obviously difficult for an organization to operate smoothly and attain its objectives if employees fail to report to their jobs. The work flow is disrupted, and important decisions may be delayed. In organizations that rely heavily on assembly-line production, absenteeism can be considerably more than a disruption; it can drastically reduce the quality of output or even shut down the facility. Levels of absenteeism beyond 14 Chapter (1): What is organizational behavior the normal range have a direct impact on any organization’s effectiveness and efficiency. A high rate of turnover can also disrupt the efficient running of an organization when knowledgeable and experienced personnel leave and replacements must be found to assume positions of responsibility. Group Cohesion Although many outcomes in our model can be conceptualized as individual level phenomena, some relate to how groups operate. Group cohesion is the extent to which members of a group support and validate one another at work. In other words, a cohesive group is one that sticks together. When employees trust one another, seek common goals, and work together to achieve these common ends, the group is cohesive; when employees are divided among themselves in terms of what they want to achieve and have little loyalty to one another, the group is not cohesive. Group Functioning In the same way that positive job attitudes can be associated with higher levels of task performance, group cohesion should lead to positive group functioning. Group functioning refers to the quantity and quality of a group’s work output. In the same way that the performance of a sports team is more than the sum of individual players’ performance, group functioning in work organizations is more than the sum of individual task performances. What does it mean to say that a group is functioning effectively? In some organizations, an effective group is one that stays focused on a core task and achieves its ends as specified. Other organizations look for teams that are able to work together collaboratively to provide excellent customer service. Still others put more of a premium on group creativity and the flexibility to adapt to changing situations. In each case, different types of activities will be required to get the most from the team. Productivity The highest level of analysis in organizational behavior is the organization as a whole. An organization is productive if it achieves its goals by transforming inputs into outputs at the lowest cost. Thus productivity requires both effectiveness and efficiency.A hospital is effective when it successfully meets the needs of its clientele. It is efficient when it can do so at a low cost. If a hospital manages to achieve 15 Chapter (1): What is organizational behavior higher output from its present staff by reducing the average number of days a patient is confined to bed or increasing the number of staff–patient contacts per day, we say the hospital has gained productive efficiency. A business firm is effective when it attains its sales or market share goals, but its productivity also depends on achieving those goals efficiently. Popular measures of organizational efficiency include return on investment, profit per dollar of sales, and output per hour of labor. Service organizations must include customer needs and requirements in assessing their effectiveness. Why? Because a clear chain of cause and effect runs from employee attitudes and behavior to customer attitudes and behavior to a service organization’s productivity. Survival The final outcome we will consider is organizational survival , which is simply evidence that the organization is able to exist and grow over the long term. The survival of an organization depends not just on how productive the organization is, but also on how well it fits with its environment. A company that is very productively making goods and services of little value to the market is unlikely to survive for long, so survival factors in things like perceiving the market successfully, making good decisions about how and when to pursue opportunities, and engaging in successful change management to adapt to new business conditions. 16 Chapter (2): Attitudes and Job Satisfaction Learning objectives is to know about:  Attitudes And Its Main Components  What Are The Major Job Attitudes?  Job Satisfaction  The Impact Of Satisfied And Dissatisfied Employees On The Workplace Chapter (2): Attitudes and job satisfaction Attitudes Attitudes are evaluative statements—either favorable or unfavorable— about objects, people, or events. They reflect how we feel about something. When I say ―I like my job,‖ I am expressing my attitude about work. Attitudes are complex. If you ask people about their attitude toward religion, Lady Gaga, or the organization they work for, you may get a simple response, but the reasons underlying it are probably complicated. In order to fully understand attitudes, we must consider their fundamental properties or components. What Are the Main Components of Attitudes? Typically, researchers have assumed that attitudes have three components: cognition, affect, and behavior. Let’s look at each. The statement ―My pay is low‖ is the cognitive component of an attitude— a description of or belief in the way things are. It sets the stage for the more critical part of an attitude—its affective component. Affect is the emotional or feeling segment of an attitude and is reflected in the statement ―I am angry over how little I’m paid.‖ Finally, affect can lead to behavioral outcomes. The behavioral component of an attitude describes an intention to behave in a certain way toward someone or something—to continue the example, ―I’m going to look for another job that pays better.‖ Viewing attitudes as having three components—cognition, affect, and behavior—is helpful in understanding their complexity and the potential relationship between attitudes and behavior. Keep in mind that these components are closely related, and cognition and affect in particular are inseparable in many ways. For example, imagine you realized that someone has just treated you unfairly. Aren’t you likely to have feelings about that, occurring virtually instantaneously with the realization? Thus, cognition and affect are intertwined. Exhibit 3-1 illustrates how the three components of an attitude are related. In this example, an employee didn’t get a promotion he thought he deserved; a co-worker got it instead. The employee’s attitude toward his supervisor is illustrated as follows: the employee thought he deserved the promotion (cognition), he strongly dislikes his supervisor (affect), and he 18 Chapter (2): Attitudes and job satisfaction is looking for another job (behavior). As we’ve noted, although we often think cognition causes affect, which then causes behavior, in reality these components are often difficult to separate. In organizations, attitudes are important for their behavioral component. If workers believe, for example, that supervisors, auditors, bosses, and time-and motion engineers are all in conspiracy to make employees work harder for the same or less money, it makes sense to try to understand how these attitudes formed, how they relate to actual job behavior, and how they might be changed. Does Behavior Always Follow from Attitudes? Early research on attitudes assumed they were causally related to behavior—that is, the attitudes people hold determine what they do. Common sense, too, suggests a relationship. Isn’t it logical that people watch television programs they like, or that employees try to avoid assignments they find distasteful? 19 Chapter (2): Attitudes and job satisfaction However, in the late 1960s, a review of the research challenged this assumed effect of attitudes on behavior. 2 One researcher—Leon Festinger—argued that attitudes follow behavior. Did you ever notice how people change what they say so it doesn’t contradict what they do? Perhaps a friend of yours has consistently argued that the quality of U.S. cars isn’t up to that of imports and that he’d never own anything but a Japanese or German car. But his dad gives him a late-model Ford Mustang, and suddenly he says U.S. cars aren’t so bad. Festinger proposed that cases of attitude following behavior illustrate the effects of cognitive dissonance, any incompatibility an individual might perceive between two or more attitudes or between behavior and attitudes. Festinger argued that any form of inconsistency is uncomfortable and that individuals will therefore attempt to reduce it. They will seek a stable state, which is a minimum of dissonance. No individual, of course, can completely avoid dissonance. You know cheating on your income tax is wrong, but you fudge the numbers a bit every year and hope you’re not audited. Or you tell your children to floss their teeth, but you don’t do it yourself. Festinger proposed that the desire to reduce dissonance depends on moderating factors, including the importance of the elements creating it and the degree of influence we believe we have over them. Individuals will be more motivated to reduce dissonance when the attitudes or behavior are important or when they believe the dissonance is due to something they can control. A third factor is the rewards of dissonance; high rewards accompanying high dissonance tend to reduce the tension inherent in the dissonance. While Festinger argued that attitudes follow behavior, other researchers asked whether there was any relationship at all. More recent research shows that attitudes predict future behavior and confirmed Festinger’s idea that ―moderating variables‖ can strengthen the link. What Are the Major Job Attitudes? We each have thousands of attitudes, but OB focuses our attention on a very limited number of work-related attitudes. These tap positive or negative evaluations that employees hold about aspects of their work environment. Most of the research in OB has looked at three attitudes: job satisfaction, job involvement, and organizational commitment. A few 20 Chapter (2): Attitudes and job satisfaction other important attitudes are perceived organizational support and employee engagement; we’ll also briefly discuss these. Job Satisfaction When people speak of employee attitudes, they usually mean job satisfaction, which describes a positive feeling about a job, resulting from an evaluation of its characteristics. A person with a high level of job satisfaction holds positive feelings about his or her job, while a person with a low level holds negative feelings. Because OB researchers give job satisfaction high importance, we’ll review this attitude in detail later in the chapter. Job Involvement Related to job satisfaction is job involvement, which measures the degree to which people identify psychologically with their job and consider their perceived performance level important to self- worth. Employees with a high level of job involvement strongly identify with and really care about the kind of work they do. Another closely related concept is psychological empowerment, employees’ beliefs in the degree to which they influence their work environment, their competence, the meaningfulness of their job, and their perceived autonomy. One study of nursing managers in Singapore found that good leaders empower their employees by involving them in decisions, making them feel their work is important, and giving them discretion to ―do their own thing.‖ High levels of both job involvement and psychological empowerment are positively related to organizational citizenship and job performance. 14 High job involvement is also related to reduced absences and lower resignation rates. Organizational Commitment In organizational commitment , an employee identifies with a particular organization and its goals and wishes to remain a member. Most research has focused on emotional attachment to an organization and belief in its values as the ―gold standard‖ for employee commitment. A positive relationship appears to exist between organizational commitment and job productivity, but it is a modest one. A review of 27 studies suggested the relationship between commitment and performance is strongest for new employees and considerably weaker for more experienced employees. Interestingly, research indicates that employees who feel their employers fail to keep 21 Chapter (2): Attitudes and job satisfaction promises to them feel less committed, and these reductions in commitment, in turn, lead to lower levels of creative performance. And, as with job involvement, the research evidence demonstrates negative relationships between organizational commitment and both absenteeism and turnover. Theoretical models propose that employees who are committed will be less likely to engage in work withdrawal even if they are dissatisfied, because they have a sense of organizational loyalty. On the other hand, employees who are not committed, who feel less loyal to the organization, will tend to show lower levels of attendance at work across the board. Research confirms this theoretical proposition. It does appear that even if employees are not currently happy with their work, they are willing to make sacrifices for the organization if they are committed enough. Perceived Organizational Support Perceived organizational support (POS) is the degree to which employees believe the organization values their contribution and cares about their well-being (for example, an employee believes his organization would accommodate him if he had a child care problem or would forgive an honest mistake on his part). Research shows that people perceive their organization as supportive when rewards are deemed fair, when employees have a voice in decisions, and when they see their supervisors as supportive. Employees with strong POS perceptions have been found more likely to have higher levels of organizational citizenship behaviors, lower levels of tardiness, and better customer service. Though little cross-cultural research has been done, one study found POS predicted only the job performance and citizenship behaviors of untraditional or low power-distance Chinese employees—in short, those more likely to think of work as an exchange rather than a moral obligation. Employee Engagement A new concept is employee engagement , an individual’s involvement with, satisfaction with, and enthusiasm for, the work she does. We might ask employees whether they have access to resources and the opportunities to learn new skills, whether they feel their work is important and meaningful, and whether their interactions with co- workers and supervisors are rewarding. Highly engaged employees have 22 Chapter (2): Attitudes and job satisfaction a passion for their work and feel a deep connection to their company; disengaged employees have essentially checked out—putting time but not energy or attention into their work. A study of nearly 8,000 business units in 36 companies found that those whose employees had high- average levels of engagement had higher levels of customer satisfaction, were more productive, brought in higher profits, and had lower levels of turnover and accidents than at other companies. Molson Coors found engaged employees were five times less likely to have safety incidents, and when one did occur it was much less serious and less costly for the engaged employee than for a disengaged one ($63 per incident versus $392). Engagement becomes a real concern for most organizations because surveys indicate that few employees— between 17 percent and 29 percent—are highly engaged by their work. Caterpillar set out to increase employee engagement and recorded a resulting 80 percent drop in grievances and a 34 percent increase in highly satisfied customers. Job Satisfaction We have already discussed job satisfaction briefly. Now let’s dissect the concept more carefully. How do we measure job satisfaction? What causes an employee to have a high level of job satisfaction? How do dissatisfied and satisfied employees affect an organization? Measuring Job Satisfaction Our definition of job satisfaction—a positive feeling about a job resulting from an evaluation of its characteristics—is clearly broad. 30 Yet that breadth is appropriate. A job is more than just shuffling papers, writing programming code, waiting on customers, or driving a truck. Jobs require interacting with co-workers and bosses, following organizational rules and policies, meeting performance standards, living with less than ideal working conditions, and the like. An employee’s assessment of his satisfaction with the job is thus a complex summation of many discrete elements. How, then, do we measure it? Two approaches are popular. The single global rating is a response to one question, such as ―All things considered, how satisfied are you with your job?‖ Respondents circle a number between 1 and 5 on a scale from ―highly satisfied‖ to ―highly dissatisfied.‖ The second method, the summation of job facets, is more sophisticated. It identifies key elements 23 Chapter (2): Attitudes and job satisfaction in a job such as the nature of the work, supervision, present pay, promotion opportunities, and relationships with co-workers. Respondents rate these on a standardized scale, and researchers add the ratings to create an overall job satisfaction score. Is one of these approaches superior? Intuitively, summing up responses to a number of job factors seems likely to achieve a more accurate evaluation of job satisfaction. Research, however, doesn’t support the intuition. This is one of those rare instances in which simplicity seems to work as well as complexity, making one method essentially as valid as the other. The best explanation is that the concept of job satisfaction is so broad a single question captures its essence. The summation of job facets may also leave out some important data. Both methods are helpful. The single global rating method isn’t very time consuming, thus freeing time for other tasks, and the summation of job facets helps managers zero in on problems and deal with them faster and more accurately. What Causes Job Satisfaction? Think about the best job you’ve ever had. What made it so? Chances are you liked the work you did and the people with whom you worked. Interesting jobs that provide training, variety, independence, and control satisfy most employees. There is also a strong correspondence between how well people enjoy the social context of their workplace and how 24 Chapter (2): Attitudes and job satisfaction satisfied they are overall. Interdependence, feedback, social support, and interaction with co-workers outside the workplace are strongly related to job satisfaction even after accounting for characteristics of the work itself. Job satisfaction is not just about job conditions. Personality also plays a role. Research has shown that people who have positive core self- evaluations —who believe in their inner worth and basic competence— are more satisfied with their jobs than those with negative core self- evaluations. Not only do they see their work as more fulfilling and challenging, they are more likely to gravitate toward challenging jobs in the first place. Those with negative core self- evaluations set less ambitious goals and are more likely to give up when confronting difficulties. Thus, they’re more likely to be stuck in boring, repetitive jobs than those with positive core self-evaluations. The Impact of Satisfied and Dissatisfied Employees on the Workplace What happens when employees like their jobs, and when they dislike their jobs? One theoretical model—the exit–voice–loyalty–neglect framework—is helpful in understanding the consequences of dissatisfaction. Exhibit 3-5 illustrates the framework’s four responses, which differ along two dimensions: constructive/destructive and active/passive. The responses are as follows: Exit. The exit response directs behavior toward leaving the organization, including looking for a new position as well as resigning. Voice. The voice response includes actively and constructively attempting to improve conditions, including suggesting improvements, discussing problems with superiors, and undertaking some forms of union activity. Loyalty. The loyalty response means passively but optimistically waiting for conditions to improve, including speaking up for the organization in the face of external criticism and trusting the organization and its management to ―do the right thing.‖ Neglect. The neglect response passively allows conditions to worsen and includes chronic absenteeism or lateness, reduced effort, and error rate. 25 Chapter (2): Attitudes and job satisfaction Exit and neglect behaviors encompass our performance variables— productivity, absenteeism, and turnover. But this model expands employee response to include voice and loyalty—constructive behaviors that allow individuals to tolerate unpleasant situations or revive satisfactory working conditions. It helps us understand situations, such as we sometimes find among unionized workers, for whom low job satisfaction is coupled with low turnover. Union members often express dissatisfaction through the grievance procedure or formal contract negotiations. These voice mechanisms allow them to continue in their jobs while convincing themselves they are acting to improve the situation. As helpful as this framework is, it’s quite general. We now discuss more specific outcomes of job satisfaction and dissatisfaction in the workplace. Job Satisfaction and Job Performance As several studies have concluded, happy workers are more likely to be productive workers. Some researchers used to believe the relationship between job satisfaction and job performance was a myth. But a review of 300 studies suggested the correlation is pretty strong. As we move from the individual to the organizational level, we also find support for the satisfaction– performance relationship. When we gather satisfaction and productivity 26 Chapter (2): Attitudes and job satisfaction data for the organization as a whole, we find organizations with more satisfied employees tend to be more effective than organizations with fewer. Job Satisfaction and OCB It seems logical to assume job satisfaction should be a major determinant of an employee’s organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Satisfied employees would seem more likely to talk positively about the organization, help others, and go beyond the normal expectations in their job, perhaps because they want to reciprocate their positive experiences. Consistent with this thinking, evidence suggests job satisfaction is moderately correlated with OCBs; people who are more satisfied with their jobs are more likely to engage in OCBs. Why? Fairness perceptions help explain the relationship. Those who feel their co-workers support them are more likely to engage in helpful behaviors, whereas those who have antagonistic relationships with coworkers are less likely to do so. Individuals with certain personality traits are also more satisfied with their work, which in turn leads them to engage in more OCBs. Finally, research shows that when people are in a good mood, they are more likely to engage in OCBs. Job Satisfaction and Customer Satisfaction As we noted in Chapter 1 , employees in service jobs often interact with customers. Because service organization managers should be concerned with pleasing those customers, it is reasonable to ask, Is employee satisfaction related to positive customer outcomes? For frontline employees who have regular customer contact, the answer is ―yes.‖ Satisfied employees increase customer satisfaction and loyalty. Job Satisfaction and Absenteeism We find a consistent negative relationship between satisfaction and absenteeism, but it is moderate to weak. While it certainly makes sense that dissatisfied employees are more likely to miss work, other factors affect the relationship. Organizations that provide liberal sick leave benefits are encouraging all their employees—including those who are highly satisfied—to take days off. You can find work satisfying yet still want to enjoy a 3-day weekend if those days come free with no penalties. When numerous alternative jobs are available, dissatisfied employees have high absence rates, but when 27 Chapter (2): Attitudes and job satisfaction there are few they have the same (low) rate of absence as satisfied employees. Job Satisfaction and Turnover The relationship between job satisfaction and turnover is stronger than between satisfaction and absenteeism. The satisfaction–turnover relationship also is affected by alternative job prospects. If an employee is presented with an unsolicited job offer, job dissatisfaction is less predictive of turnover because the employee is more likely leaving in response to ―pull‖ (the lure of the other job) than ―push‖ (the unattractiveness of the current job). Similarly, job dissatisfaction is more likely to translate into turnover when employment opportunities are plentiful because employees perceive it is easy to move. Finally, when employees have high ―human capital‖ (high education, high ability), job dissatisfaction is more likely to translate into turnover because they have, or perceive, many available alternatives. Job Satisfaction and Workplace Deviance Job dissatisfaction and antagonistic relationships with co-workers predict a variety of behaviors organizations find undesirable, including unionization attempts, substance abuse, stealing at work, undue socializing, and tardiness. Researchers argue these behaviors are indicators of a broader syndrome called deviant behavior in the workplace (or counterproductive behavior or employee withdrawal ). 60 If employees don’t like their work environment, they’ll respond somehow, though it is not always easy to forecast exactly how. One worker might quit. Another might use work time to surf the Internet or take work supplies home for personal use. In short, workers who don’t like their jobs ―get even‖ in various ways—and because those ways can be quite creative, controlling only one behavior, such as with an absence control policy, leaves the root cause untouched. To effectively control the undesirable consequences of job dissatisfaction, employers should attack the source of the problem—the dissatisfaction—rather than try to control the different responses. 28 Chapter (3): Emotions and Mood Learning objectives is to know about:  What Are Emotions and Moods?  The Basic Emotions  The Basic Moods: Positive and Negative Affect  Emotional Labor.  Affective Events Theory  Emotional Intelligence  Leadership.  Deviant Work Behavior Chapter (3): Emotions and Mood What Are Emotions and Moods? In our analysis, we‟ll need three terms that are closely intertwined: affect, emotions, and moods. Affect is a generic term that covers a broad range of feelings people experience, including both emotions and moods. Emotions are intense feelings directed at someone or something. Moods are less intense feelings than emotions and often (though not always) arise without a specific event acting as a stimulus. Most experts believe emotions are more fleeting than moods. For example, if someone is rude to you, you‟ll feel angry. That intense feeling probably comes and goes fairly quickly, maybe even in a matter of seconds. When you‟re in a bad mood, though, you can feel bad for several hours. toward a specific object (your colleague). But as the specific emotion dissipates, you might just feel generally dispirited. You can‟t attribute this feeling to any single event; you‟re just not your normal self. You might then overreact to other events. This affect state describes a mood. Exhibit 4-1 shows the relationships among affect, emotions, and mood. First, as the exhibit shows, affect is a broad term that encompasses emotions and moods. Second, there are differences between emotions and moods. Some of these differences—that emotions are more likely to be caused by a specific event, and emotions are more fleeting than moods— we just discussed. Other differences are subtler. For example, unlike moods, emotions like anger and disgust tend to be more clearly revealed 30 Chapter (3): Emotions and Mood by facial expressions. Also, some researchers speculate that emotions may be more action-oriented—they may lead us to some immediate action—while moods may be more cognitive, meaning they may cause us to think or brood for a while. Finally, the exhibit shows that emotions and moods are closely connected and can influence each other. Getting your dream job may generate the emotion of joy, which can put you in a good mood for several days. Similarly, if you‟re in a good or bad mood, it might make you experience a more intense positive or negative emotion than otherwise. In a bad mood, you might blow up in response to a co- worker‟s comment that would normally have generated only a mild reaction. Affect, emotions, and moods are separable in theory; in practice the distinction isn‟t always crystal-clear. In some areas, researchers have studied mostly moods, in other areas mainly emotions. So, when we review the OB topics on emotions and moods, you may see more information about emotions in one area and about moods in another. This is simply the state of the research. The Basic Emotions How many emotions are there? There are dozens, including anger, contempt, enthusiasm, envy, fear, frustration, disappointment, embarrassment, disgust, happiness, hate, hope, jealousy, joy, love, pride, surprise, and sadness. Numerous researchers have tried to limit them to a fundamental set. But some argue that it makes no sense to think in terms of “basic” emotions because even emotions we rarely experience, such as shock, can have a powerful effect on us. Psychologists have tried to identify basic emotions by studying facial expressions. One problem is that some emotions are too complex to be easily represented on our faces. Many think of love as the most universal of all emotions, for example, yet it‟s not easy to express it through only a facial expression. Cultures also have norms that govern emotional expression, so the way we experience an emotion isn‟t always the same as the way we show it. In collectivist countries people are more likely to believe another‟s emotional displays have something to do with the relationship between them, while people in individualistic cultures don‟t think others‟ emotional expressions are directed at them. 31 Chapter (3): Emotions and Mood It‟s unlikely psychologists or philosophers will ever completely agree on a set of basic emotions, or even on whether there is such a thing. Still, many researchers agree on six essentially universal emotions—anger, fear, sadness, happiness, disgust, and surprise. Some even plot them along a continuum: happiness— surprise—fear—sadness—anger— disgust. The closer two emotions are to each other on this continuum, the more likely people will confuse them. We sometimes mistake happiness for surprise, but rarely do we confuse happiness and disgust. In addition, as we‟ll see later on, cultural factors can also influence interpretations. The Basic Moods: Positive and Negative Affect One way to classify emotions is by whether they are positive or negative. Positive emotions—such as joy and gratitude—express a favorable evaluation or feeling. Negative emotions—such as anger or guilt— express the opposite. Keep in mind that emotions can‟t be neutral. Being neutral is being non emotional. When we group emotions into positive and negative categories, they become mood states because we are now looking at them more generally instead of isolating one particular emotion. In Exhibit 4-2 , excited is a pure marker of high positive affect, while boredom is a pure marker of low positive affect. Nervous is a pure marker of high negative affect; relaxed is a pure marker of low negative affect. Finally, some emotions— such as contentment (a mixture of high positive affect and low negative affect) and sadness (a mixture of low positive affect and high negative affect)—are in between. You‟ll notice this model does not include all emotions. Some, such as surprise, don‟t fit well because they‟re not as clearly positive or negative. So, we can think of positive affect as a mood dimension consisting of positive emotions such as excitement, self-assurance, and cheerfulness at the high end and boredom, sluggishness, and tiredness at the low end. Negative affect is a mood dimension consisting of nervousness, stress, and anxiety at the high end and relaxation, tranquility, and poise at the low end. ( Note: Positive and negative affect are moods. We‟re using these labels, rather than positive mood and negative mood, because that‟s how researchers label them.) 32 Chapter (3): Emotions and Mood Positive affect and negative affect play out at work and beyond in that they color our perceptions, and these perceptions can become their own reality. One flight attendant posted an anonymous blog on the Web that said, “I work in a pressurized aluminum tube and the environment outside my „office‟ cannot sustain human life. That being said, the human life inside is not worth sustaining sometimes... in fact, the passengers can be jerks, and idiots. I am often treated with no respect, nobody listens to me... until I threaten to kick them off the plane.” Clearly, if a flight attendant is in a bad mood, it‟s going to influence his perceptions of passengers, which will, in turn, influence his behavior. Positive affect and negative affect play out at work and beyond in that they color our perceptions, and these perceptions can become their own reality. One flight attendant posted an anonymous blog on the Web that said, “I work in a pressurized aluminum tube and the environment outside my „office‟ cannot sustain human life. That being said, the human life inside is not worth sustaining sometimes... in fact, the passengers can be jerks, and idiots. I am often treated with no respect, nobody listens to me... until I threaten to kick them off the plane.” Clearly, if a flight attendant is in a bad mood, it‟s going to influence his perceptions of passengers, which will, in turn, influence his behavior. 33 Chapter (3): Emotions and Mood Sources of Emotions and Moods Have you ever said “I got up on the wrong side of the bed today”? Have you ever snapped at a co-worker or family member for no particular reason? If you have, it probably makes you wonder where emotions and moods come from. Here we discuss some of the primary influences. Personality Moods and emotions have a trait component: most people have built-in tendencies to experience certain moods and emotions more frequently than others do. People also experience the same emotions with different intensities. Contrast Texas Tech basketball coach Bobby Knight to Microsoft CEO Bill Gates. The first is easily moved to anger, while the other is relatively distant and unemotional. Knight and Gates probably differ in affect intensity, or how strongly they experience their emotions. Affectively intense people experience both positive and negative emotions more deeply: when they‟re sad, they‟re really sad, and when they‟re happy, they‟re really happy. Stress As you might imagine, stressful daily events at work (a nasty e- mail, an impending deadline, the loss of a big sale, a reprimand from the boss) negatively affect moods. The effects of stress also build over time. As the authors of one study note, “a constant diet of even low-level stressful events has the potential to cause workers to experience gradually increasing levels of strain over time.” Mounting levels of stress can worsen our moods, and we experience more negative emotions. Consider the following entry from a worker‟s blog: “I‟m in a bit of a blah mood today... physically, I feel funky, though, and the weather out combined with the amount of personal and work I need to get done are getting to me.” Although sometimes we thrive on stress, most of us, like this blogger, find stress takes a toll on our mood. Social Activities Do you tend to be happiest when out with friends? For most people, social activities increase positive mood and have little effect on negative mood. But do people in positive moods seek out social interactions, or do social interactions cause people to be in good moods? It seems both are true. Does the type of social activity matter? Indeed it does. Research suggests activities that are physical (skiing or hiking with 34 Chapter (3): Emotions and Mood friends), informal (going to a party), or epicurean (eating with others) are more strongly associated with increases in positive mood than events that are formal (attending a meeting) or sedentary (watching TV with friends). Emotional Labor If you‟ve ever had a job in retail sales or waited on tables in a restaurant, you know the importance of projecting a friendly demeanor and smiling. Even though there were days when you didn‟t feel cheerful, you knew management expected you to be upbeat when dealing with customers. So you faked it. Every employee expends physical and mental labor by putting body and mind, respectively, into the job. But jobs also require emotional labor , an employee‟s expression of organizationally desired emotions during interpersonal transactions at work. The concept of emotional labor emerged from studies of service jobs. Airlines expect their flight attendants to be cheerful; we expect funeral directors to be sad and doctors emotionally neutral. But emotional labor is relevant to almost every job. At the least your managers expect you to be courteous, not hostile, in your interactions with co-workers. The true challenge arises when employees have to project one emotion while feeling another. This disparity is emotional dissonance , and it can take a heavy toll. Bottled-up feelings of frustration, anger, and resentment can eventually lead to emotional exhaustion and burnout. It‟s from the increasing importance of emotional labor as a key component of effective job performance that we have come to understand the relevance of emotion within the field of OB. Emotional labor creates dilemmas for employees. There are people with whom you have to work that you just plain don‟t like. Maybe you consider their personality abrasive. Maybe you know they‟ve said negative things about you behind your back. Regardless, your job requires you to interact with these people on a regular basis. So you‟re forced to feign friendliness. It can help you, on the job especially, if you separate emotions into felt or displayed emotions. Felt emotions are an individual‟s actual emotions. In contrast, displayed emotions are those that the organization requires workers to show and considers appropriate in a given job. They‟re not innate; they‟re learned. “The ritual look of delight on the face of the first runner-up as the new Miss America is 35 Chapter (3): Emotions and Mood announced is a product of the display rule that losers should mask their sadness with an expression of joy for the winner.” Similarly, most of us know we‟re expected to act sad at funerals, regardless of whether we consider the person‟s death a loss, and to appear happy at weddings even if we don‟t feel like celebrating. Displaying fake emotions requires us to suppress real ones. Surface acting is hiding inner feelings and forgoing emotional expressions in response to display rules. A worker who smiles at a customer even when he doesn‟t feel like it is surface acting. Deep acting is trying to modify our true inner feelings based on display rules. A health care provider trying to genuinely feel more empathy for her patients is deep acting. Surface acting deals with displayed emotions, and deep acting deals with felt emotions. Research shows that surface acting is more stressful to employees because it entails denying their true emotions. Displaying emotions we don‟t really feel is exhausting, so it is important to give employees who engage in surface displays a chance to relax and recharge. A study that looked at how cheerleading instructors spent their breaks from teaching found those who used their breaks to rest and relax were more effective instructors after their breaks. Instructors who did chores during their breaks were only about as effective after their break as they were before. Another study found that in hospital work groups where there were heavy emotional display demands, burnout was higher than in other hospital work groups. Affective Events Theory We‟ve seen that emotions and moods are an important part of our lives and our work lives. But how do they influence our job performance and satisfaction? A model called affective events theory (AET) demonstrates that employees react emotionally to things that happen to them at work, and this reaction influences their job performance and satisfaction. Exhibit 4-5 summarizes AET. The theory begins by recognizing that emotions are a response to an event in the work environment. The work environment includes everything surrounding the job—the variety of tasks and degree of autonomy, job demands, and requirements for expressing emotional labor. This environment creates work events that can be hassles, uplifting events, or both. Examples of hassles are 36 Chapter (3): Emotions and Mood colleagues who refuse to carry their share of work, conflicting directions from different managers, and excessive time pressures. Uplifting events include meeting a goal, getting support from a colleague, and receiving recognition for an accomplishment. These work events trigger positive or negative emotional reactions, to which employees‟ personalities and moods predispose them to respond with greater or lesser intensity. People who score low on emotional stability are more likely to react strongly to negative events. And our emotional response to a given event can change depending on mood. Finally, emotions influence a number of performance and satisfaction variables, such as organizational citizenship behavior, organizational commitment, level of effort, intention to quit, and workplace deviance. Tests of affective events theory suggest the following: 1. An emotional episode is actually a series of emotional experiences, precipitated by a single event and containing elements of both emotions and mood cycles. 2. Current emotions influence job satisfaction at any given time, along with the history of emotions surrounding the event. 37 Chapter (3): Emotions and Mood 3. Because moods and emotions fluctuate over time, their effect on performance also fluctuates. 4. Emotion-driven behaviors are typically short in duration and of high variability. 5. Because emotions, even positive ones, tend to be incompatible with behaviors required to do a job, they typically have a negative influence on job performance. In summary, AET offers two important messages. 66 First, emotions provide valuable insights into how workplace hassles and uplifting events influence employee performance and satisfaction. Second, employees and managers shouldn‟t ignore emotions or the events that cause them, even when they appear minor, because they accumulate. Emotional Intelligence Diane Marshall is an office manager. Her awareness of her own and others‟ emotions is almost nil. She‟s moody and unable to generate much enthusiasm or interest in her employees. She doesn‟t understand why employees get upset with her. She often overreacts to problems and chooses the most ineffectual responses to emotional situations. Diane has low emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence (EI) is a person‟s ability to (1) perceive emotions in the self and others, (2) understand the meaning of these emotions, and (3) regulate one‟s emotions accordingly in a cascading model, as shown in Exhibit 4-6. People who know their own emotions and are good at reading emotional cues—for instance, knowing why they‟re angry and how to express themselves without violating norms—are most likely to be effective. 38 Chapter (3): Emotions and Mood Several studies suggest EI plays an important role in job performance. One study that used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology found executive MBA students who performed best on a strategic decision making task were more likely to incorporate emotion centers of the brain into their choice process. The students also de- emphasized the use of the more cognitive parts of their brains. Another study looked at the successes and failures of 11 U.S. presidents—from Franklin Roosevelt to Bill Clinton—and evaluated them on six qualities: communication, organization, political skill, vision, cognitive style, and emotional intelligence. The key quality that differentiated the successful (such as Roosevelt, Kennedy, and Reagan) from the unsuccessful (such as Johnson, Carter, and Nixon) was emotional intelligence. One simulation study also showed that students who were good at identifying and distinguishing among their own feelings were able to make more profitable investment decisions. EI has been a controversial concept in OB, with supporters and detractors. In the following sections, we review the arguments for and against its viability. OB Applications of Emotions and Moods In this section, we assess how an understanding of emotions and moods can improve our ability to explain and predict the selection process in organizations, decision making, creativity, motivation, leadership, interpersonal conflict, negotiation, customer service, job attitudes, and 39 Chapter (3): Emotions and Mood deviant workplace behaviors. We also look at how managers can influence our moods. Selection One implication from the evidence on EI to date is that employers should consider it a factor in hiring employees, especially in jobs that demand a high degree of social interaction. In fact, more employers are starting to use EI measures to hire people. Decision Making Traditional approaches to the study of decision making in organizations have emphasized rationality. But OB researchers are increasingly finding that moods and emotions have important effects on decision making. Positive moods and emotions seem to help. People in good moods or experiencing positive emotions are more likely than others to use heuristics, or rules of thumb, to help make good decisions quickly. Positive emotions also enhance problem-solving skills, so positive people find better solutions to problems. OB researchers continue to debate the role of negative emotions and moods in decision making. Although one often-cited study suggested depressed people reach more accurate judgments, more recent evidence hints they make poorer decisions. Why? Because depressed people are slower at processing information and tend to weigh all possible options rather than the most likely ones. They search for the perfect solution, when there rarely is one. Creativity People in good moods tend to be more creative than people in bad moods. They produce more ideas and more options, and others think their ideas are original. It seems people experiencing positive moods or emotions are more flexible and open in their thinking, which may explain why they‟re more creative. Supervisors should actively try to keep employees happy because doing so creates more good moods (employees like their leaders to encourage them and provide positive feedback on a job well done), which in turn leads people to be more creative. 40 Chapter (3): Emotions and Mood Leadership Effective leaders rely on emotional appeals to help convey their messages. In fact, the expression of emotions in speeches is often the critical element that makes us accept or reject a leader‟s message. “When leaders feel excited, enthusiastic, and active, they may be more likely to energize their subordinates and convey a sense of efficacy, competence, optimism, and enjoyment.” Politicians, as a case in point, have learned to show enthusiasm when talking about their chances of winning an election, even when polls suggest otherwise. Corporate executives know emotional content is critical if employees are to buy into their vision of the company‟s future and accept change. When higher-ups offer new visions, especially with vague or distant goals, it is often difficult for employees to accept the changes they‟ll bring. By arousing emotions and linking them to an appealing vision, leaders increase the likelihood that managers and employees alike will accept change. Leaders who focus on inspirational goals also generate greater optimism and enthusiasm in employees, leading to more positive social interactions with co-workers and customers. Customer Service A worker‟s emotional state influences customer service, which influences levels of repeat business and of customer satisfaction. Providing high- quality customer service makes demands on employees because it often puts them in a state of emotional dissonance. Over time, this state can lead to job burnout, declines in job performance, and lower job satisfaction. Employees‟ emotions can transfer to the customer. Studies indicate a matching effect between employee and customer emotions called emotional contagion —the “catching” of emotions from others. How does it work? The primary explanation is that when someone experiences positive emotions and laughs and smiles at you, you tend to respond positively. Emotional contagion is important because customers who catch the positive moods or emotions of employees shop longer. But are negative emotions and moods contagious, too? Absolutely. When an employee feels unfairly treated by a customer, for example, it‟s harder for him to display the positive emotions his organization expects of him. 41 Chapter (3): Emotions and Mood Deviant Workplace Behaviors Anyone who has spent much time in an organization realizes people often behave in ways that violate established norms and threaten the organization, its members, or both. As we saw in Chapter 1 , these actions are called workplace deviant behaviors. Many can be traced to negative emotions. For instance, envy is an emotion that occurs when you resent someone for having something you don‟t have but strongly desire—such as a better work assignment, larger office, or higher salary. It can lead to malicious deviant behaviors. An envious employee could backstab another employee, negatively distort others‟ successes, and positively distort his own accomplishments. Angry people look for other people to blame for their bad mood, interpret other people‟s behavior as hostile, and have trouble considering others‟ point of view. It‟s not hard to see how these thought processes, too, can lead directly to verbal or physical aggression. Evidence suggests people who feel negative emotions, particularly anger or hostility, are more likely than others to engage in deviant behavior at work. Once aggression starts, it‟s likely that other people will become angry and aggressive, so the stage is set for a serious escalation of negative behavior. How Managers Can Influence Moods You can usually improve a friend‟s mood by sharing a funny video clip, giving the person a small bag of candy, or even offering a pleasant beverage. But what can companies do to improve employees‟ moods? Managers can use humor and give their employees small tokens of appreciation for work well done. Also, when leaders themselves are in good moods, group members are more positive, and as a result they cooperate more. Finally, selecting positive team members can have a contagion effect because positive moods transmit from team member to team member. One study of professional cricket teams found players‟ happy moods affected the moods of their team members and positively influenced their performance. It makes sense, then, for managers to select team members predisposed to experience positive moods. 42 Chapter (4): Personality and Values Learning objectives is to know about:  Personality.  Personality Traits Relevant to OB  Values and its importance.  Linking an Individual’s Personality and Values to the Workplace Chapter (4): Personality and Values Personality What Is Personality? When we talk of personality, we don’t mean a person has charm, a positive attitude toward life, or a constantly smiling face. When psychologists talk of personality, they mean a dynamic concept describing the growth and development of a person’s whole psychological system. Defining Personality The definition of personality we most frequently use was produced by Gordon Allport nearly 70 years ago. Allport said personality is ―the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his unique adjustments to his environment.‖ For our purposes, you should think of personality as the sum total of ways in which an individual reacts to and interacts with others. We most often describe it in terms of the measurable traits a person exhibits. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is the most widely used personality assessment instrument in the world. It is a 100-question personality test that asks people how they usually feel or act in particular situations. Respondents are classified as extraverted or introverted (E or I), sensing or intuitive (S or N), thinking or feeling (T or F), and judging or perceiving (J or P). These terms are defined as follows: Extraverted (E) versus Introverted (I). Extraverted individuals are outgoing, sociable, and assertive. Introverts are quiet and shy. Sensing (S) versus Intuitive (N). Sensing types are practical and prefer routine and order. They focus on details. Intuitives rely on unconscious processes and look at the ―big picture.‖ Thinking (T) versus Feeling (F). Thinking types use reason and logic to handle problems. Feeling types rely on their personal values and emotions. Judging (J) versus Perceiving (P). Judging types want control and prefer their world to be ordered and structured. Perceiving types are flexible and spontaneous. 44 Chapter (4): Personality and Values These classifications together describe 16 personality types, identifying every person by one trait from each of the four pairs. For example, Introverted/ Intuitive/Thinking/Judging people (INTJs) are visionaries with original minds and great drive. They are skeptical, critical, independent, determined, and often stubborn. ESTJs are organizers. They are realistic, logical, analytical, and decisive and have a natural head for business or mechanics. The ENTP type is a conceptualizer, innovative, individualistic, versatile, and attracted to entrepreneurial ideas. This person tends to be resourceful in solving challenging problems but may neglect routine assignments. The Big Five Personality Model The MBTI may lack strong supporting evidence, but an impressive body of research supports the thesis of the Big Five Model —that five basic dimensions underlie all others and encompass most of the significant variation in human personality. Moreover, test scores of these traits do a very good job of predicting how people behave in a variety of real-life situations. The following are the Big Five factors: Extraversion. The extraversion dimension captures our comfort level with relationships. Extraverts tend to be gregarious, assertive, and sociable. Introverts tend to be reserved, timid, and quiet. Agreeableness. The agreeableness dimension refers to an individual’s propensity to defer to others. Highly agreeable people are cooperative, warm, and trusting. People who score low on agreeableness are cold, disagreeable, and antagonistic. Conscientiousness. The conscientiousness dimension is a measure of reliability. A highly conscientious person is responsible, organized, dependable, and persistent. Those who score low on this dimension are easily distracted, disorganized, and unreliable. Emotional stability. The emotional stability dimension—often labeled by its converse, neuroticism—taps a person’s ability to withstand stress. People with positive emotional stability tend to be calm, self-confident, and secure. Those with high negative scores tend to be nervous, anxious, depressed, and insecure. Openness to experience. The openness to experience dimension addresses range of interests and fascination with novelty. Extremely open 45 Chapter (4): Personality and Values people are creative, curious, and artistically sensitive. Those at the other end of the category are conventional and find comfort in the familiar. How Do the Big Five Traits Predict Behavior at Work? Research has found relationships between these personality dimensions and job performance. As the authors of the most-cited review put it, ―The preponderance of evidence shows that individuals who are dependable, reliable, careful, thorough, able to plan, organized, hardworking, persistent, and achievement-oriented tend to have higher job performance in most if not all occupations.‖ In addition, employees who score higher in conscientiousness develop higher levels of job knowledge, probably because highly conscientious people learn more (a review of 138 studies revealed conscientiousness was rather strongly related to GPA). Higher levels of job knowledge then contribute to higher levels of job performance. Conscientious individuals who are more interested in learning than in just performing on the job are also exceptionally good at maintaining performance in the face of negative feedback. There can be ―too much of a good thing,‖ however, as extremely conscientious individuals typically do not perform better than those who are simply above average in conscientiousness. Conscientiousness is as important for managers as for front-line employees. As Exhibit 5-1 shows, a study of the personality scores of 313 CEO candidates in private equity companies (of whom 225 were hired, and their company’s performance later correlated with their personality scores) found conscientiousness—in the form of persistence, attention to detail, and setting of high standards—was more important than other traits. These results attest to the importance of conscientiousness to 46 Chapter (4): Personality and Values organizational success. Interestingly, conscientious people live longer because they take better care of themselves (they eat better and exercise more) and engage in fewer risky behaviors like smoking, drinking and drugs, and risky sexual or driving behavior. Still, probably because they’re so organized and structured, conscientious people don’t adapt as well to changing contexts. They are generally performance oriented and have more trouble learning complex skills early in the training process because their focus is on performing well rather than on learning. Finally, they are often less creative than less conscientious people, especially artistically. Although conscientiousness is most consistently related to job performance, the other Big Five traits are also related to aspects of performance and have other implications for work and for life. Let’s look at them one at a time. Exhibit 5-2 summarizes. Of the Big Five traits, emotional stability is most strongly related to life satisfaction, job satisfaction, and low stress levels. This is probably true because high scorers are more likely to be positive and optimistic and experience fewer negative emotions. They are happier than those who score low. People low on emotional stability are hyper vigilant (looking for problems or impending signs of danger) and are especially vulnerable to the physical and psychological effects of stress. Extraverts tend to be happier in their jobs and in their lives as a whole. They experience more positive emotions than do introverts, and they more freely express these feelings. They also tend to perform better in jobs that require significant interpersonal interaction, perhaps because they have more social skills— they usually have more friends and spend more time in social situations than introverts. Finally, extraversion is a relatively strong predictor of leadership emergence in groups; extraverts are more socially dominant, ―take charge‖ sorts of people, and they are generally more assertive than introverts. One downside is that extraverts are more impulsive than introverts; they are more likely to be absent from work and engage in risky behavior such as unprotected sex, drinking, and other impulsive or sensation-seeking acts. One study also found extraverts were more likely than introverts to lie during job interviews. 47 Chapter (4): Personality and Values Individuals who score high on openness to experience are more creative in science and art than those who score low. Because creativity is important to leadership, open people are more likely to be effective leaders, and more comfortable with ambiguity and change. They cope better with organizational change and are more adaptable in changing contexts. Recent evidence also suggests, however, that they are especially susceptible to workplace accidents. You might expect agreeable people to be happier than disagreeable people. They are, but only slightly. When people choose romantic partners, friends, or organizational team members, agreeable individuals are usually their first choice. Agreeable individuals are better liked than disagreeable people, which explains why they tend to do better in interpersonally oriented jobs such as customer service. They also are more compliant and rule abiding and less likely to get into accidents as a result. People who are agreeable are more satisfied in their jobs and 48 Chapter (4): Personality and Values contribute to organizational performance by engaging in citizen-ship behavior. They are also less likely to engage in organizational deviance. One downside is that agreeableness is associated with lower levels of career success (especially earnings). Other Personality Traits Relevant to OB Although the Big Five traits have proven highly relevant to OB, they don’t exhaust the range of traits that can describe someone’s personality. Now we’ll look at other, more specific, attributes that are powerful predictors of behavior in organizations. The first relates to our core self- evaluation. The others are Machiavellianism, narcissism, self-monitoring, propensity for risk taking, proactive personality, and other-orientation. People who have positive core self-evaluations like themselves and see themselves as effective, capable, and in control of their environment. Those with negative core self-evaluations tend to dislike themselves, question their capabilities, and view themselves as powerless over their environment. We discussed that core self-evaluations relate to job satisfaction because people positive on this trait see more challenge in their job and actually attain more complex jobs. But what about job performance? People with positive core self- evaluations perform better than others because they set more ambitious goals, are more committed to their goals, and persist longer in attempting to reach these goals. One study of life insurance agents found core self- evaluations were critical predictors of performance. Ninety percent of life insurance sales calls end in rejection, so an agent has to believe in him- or herself to persist. In fact, this study showed the majority of successful salespersons did have positive core self-evaluations. Such people also provide better customer service, are more popular co-workers, and have careers that both begin on better footing and ascend more rapidly over time. Some evidence suggests that individuals high in core self- evaluations perform especially well if they also feel their work provides meaning and is helpful to others. Machiavellianism Kuzi is a young bank manager in Taiwan. He’s had three promotions in the past 4 years and makes no apologies for the 49 Chapter (4): Personality and Values aggressive tactics he’s used to propel his career upward. ―I’m prepared to do whatever I have to do to get ahead,‖ he says. Kuzi would properly be called Machiavellian. The personality characteristic of Machiavellianism (often abbreviated Mach ) is named after Niccolo Machiavelli, who wrote in the sixteenth century on how to gain and use power. An individual high in Machiavellianism is pragmatic, maintains emotional distance, and believes ends can justify means. ―If it works, use it‖ is consistent with a high-Mach perspective. A considerable amount of research has found high Machs manipulate more, win more, are persuaded less, and persuade others more than do low Machs. They like their jobs less, are more stressed by their work, and engage in more deviant work behaviors. Yet high-Mach outcomes are moderated by situational factors. High Machs flourish (1) when they interact face to face with others rather than indirectly; (2) when the situation has minimal rules and regulations, allowing latitude for improvisation; and (3) when emotional involvement with details irrelevant to winning distracts low Machs. Thus, in jobs that require bargaining skills (such as labor negotiation) or that offer substantial rewards for winning (such as commissioned sales), high Machs will be productive. But if ends can’t justify the means, there are absolute standards of behavior, or the three situational factors we noted are not in evidence, our ability to predict a high Mach’s performance will be severely curtailed. Narcissism Hans likes to be the center of attention. He looks at himself in the mirror a lot, has extravagant dreams, and considers himself a person of many talents. Hans is a narcissist. The term is from the Greek myth of Narcissus, a man so vain and proud he fell in love with his own image. In psychology, narcissism describes a person who has a grandiose sense of self-importance, requires excessive admiration, has a sense of entitlement, and is arrogant. Evidence suggests that narcissists are more charismatic and thus more likely to emerge as leaders, and they may even display better psychological health (at least as they self-report). Despite having some advantages, most evidence suggests that narcissism is undesirable. A study found that while narcissists thought they were better leaders than their colleagues, their supervisors actually rated them as worse. Because narcissists often want to gain the admiration of others 50 Chapter (4): Personality and Values and receive affirmation of their superiority, they tend to ―talk down‖ to those who threaten them, treating others as if they were inferior. Narcissists also tend to be selfish and exploitive and believe others exist for their benefit. Their bosses rate them as less effective at their jobs than others, particularly when it comes to helping people. Subsequent research using data compiled over 100 years has shown that narcissistic CEOs of baseball organizations tend to generate higher levels of manager turnover, although curiously, members of external organizations see them as more influential. Self-Monitoring Joyce McIntyre is always in trouble at work. Though she’s competent, hardworking, and productive, in performance reviews she is rated no better than average, and she seems to have made a career of irritating bosses. Joyce’s problem is that she’s politically inept. She’s unable to adjust her behavior to fit changing situations. As she puts it, ―I’m true to myself. I don’t remake myself to please others.‖ We would describe Joyce as a low self-monitor. Self-monitoring refers to an individual’s ability to adjust his or her behavior to external, situational factors. Individuals high in self- monitoring show considerable adaptability in adjusting their behavior to external situational factors. They are highly sensitive to external cues and can behave differently in different situations, sometimes presenting striking contradictions between their public persona and their private self. Low self-monitors, like Joyce, can’t disguise themselves in that way. They tend to display their true dispositions and attitudes in every situation; hence, there is high behavioral consistency between who they are and what they do. Evidence indicates high self-monitors pay closer attention to the behavior of others and are more capable of conforming than are low self-monitors. They also receive better performance ratings, are more likely to emerge as leaders, and show less commitment to their organizations. 45 In addition, high self- monitoring managers tend to be more mobile in their careers, receive more promotions (both internal and cross-organizational), and are more likely to occupy central positions in an organization. Risk Taking Donald Trump stands out for his willingness to take risks. He started with almost nothing in the 1960s. By the mid-1980s, he had 51 Chapter (4): Personality and Values made a fortune by betting on a resurgent New York City real estate market. Then, trying to capitalize on his successes, Trump overextended himself. By 1994, he had a negative net worth of $850 million. Never fearful of taking chances, ―The Donald‖ leveraged the few assets he had left on several New York, New Jersey, and Caribbean real estate ventures and hit it big again. In 2011, when Trump was contemplating a presidential run, The Atlantic estimated his net worth at more than $7 billion. People differ in their willingness to take chances, a quality that affects how much time and information they need to make a decision. For instance, 79 managers worked on simulated exercises that required them to make hiring decisions. High risk-taking managers made more rapid decisions and used less information than did the low risk takers. Interestingly, decision accuracy was the same for both groups. Although previous studies have shown managers in large organizations to be more risk averse than growth-oriented entrepreneurs who actively manage small businesses, recent findings suggest managers in large organizations may actually be more willing to take risks than entrepreneurs. The work population as a whole also differs in risk propensity. It makes sense to recognize these differences and even consider aligning them with specific job demands. A high risk-taking propensity may lead to more effective performance for a stock trader in a brokerage firm because that type of job demands rapid decision making. On the other hand, a willingness to take risks might prove a major obstacle to an accountant who performs auditing activities. Proactive Personality Did you ever notice that some people actively take the initiative to improve their current circumstances or create new ones? These are proactive personalities. Those with a proactive personality identify opportunities, show initiative, take action, and persevere until meaningful change occurs, compared to others who passively react to situations. Proactives create positive change in their environment, regardless of, or even in spite of, constraints or obstacles. Not surprisingly, they have many desirable behaviors that organizations covet. They are more likely than others to be seen as leaders and to act as change agents. Proactive individuals are more likely to be satisfied with 52 Chapter (4): Personality and Values work and help others more with their tasks, largely because they build more relationships with others. Proactives are also more likely to challenge the status quo or voice their displeasure when situations aren’t to their liking. If an organization requires people with entrepreneurial initiative, proactives make good candidates; however, they’re also more likely to leave an organization to start their own business. As individuals, proactives are more likely than others to achieve career success. They select, create, and influence work situations in their favor. They seek out job and organizational information, develop contacts in high places, engage in career planning, and demonstrate persistence in the face of career obstacles. Other-orientation Some people just naturally seem to think about other people a lot, being concerned about their well-being and feelings. Others behave like ―economic actors,‖ primarily rational