College of Administrative and Financial Sciences
Assignment 2
Deadline: 12/11/2020 @ 23:59
Course Name: Organizational Behavior
Student’s Name:
Course Code: MGT301
Student’s ID Number:
Semester: 1st
CRN:
Academic Year: 1441/1442 H
For Instructor’s Use only
Instructor’s Name: Dr xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Students’ Grade: Marks Obtained/ 05
Level of Marks: High/Middle/Low
Instructions – PLEASE READ THEM CAREFULLY
• The Assignment must be submitted on Blackboard (WORD format only) via allocated
folder.
• Assignments submitted through email will not be accepted.
• Students are advised to make their work clear and well presented, marks may be
reduced for poor presentation. This includes filling your information on the cover page.
• Students must mention question number clearly in their answer.
• Late submission will NOT be accepted.
• Avoid plagiarism, the work should be in your own words, copying from students or
other resources without proper referencing will result in ZERO marks. No exceptions.
• All answered must be typed using Times New Roman (size 12, double-spaced) font.
No pictures containing text will be accepted and will be considered plagiarism).
• Submissions without this cover page will NOT be accepted.
Course Learning Outcomes-Covered
1 Apply Organizational behavior knowledge and skills to manage diversified culture in the
organizational settings (Lo 2.2).
Assignment 2
Reference Source:
Textbook:Colquitt, J. A., LePine, J. A., & Wesson, M. J. (2019). Organizational behaviour: Improving
performance and commitment in the workplace (6th ed). Burr Ridge, IL: McGraw-Hill Irwin.
Case Study: -
Case: Whole Foods
Please read the case “Whole Foods” from Chapter 11 “Team Characteristics And Diversity”
Page: - 362 given in your textbook – Organizational behaviour: Improving performance and
commitment in the workplace (6th ed). by Colquitt, J. A., LePine, J. A., & Wesson, M. J. (2019) and
Answer the following Questions:
Assignment Question(s):
1. What label would best describe the type of team that Whole Foods uses in its stores? Explain.
(1.25 Marks )
2. Describe the advantages and disadvantages of Whole Foods’ hiring process with respect to
managing team composition. (1.25 Marks )
3. What steps could Whole Foods take to mitigate potential disadvantages of their hiring process?
(1.25 Marks )
Part:-2
Discussion Question: Please read Chapter 11 “Team Characteristics and Diversity” carefully and
then give your answers on the basis of your understanding.
4. In which types of teams have you worked? Were these teams consistent with the taxonomy of
team types discussed in this chapter, or were they a combination of types? (1.25 Marks )
Due date for the submission of Assignment:- 2
• Assignment-2 should posted in the Black Board by end of Week-09.
• The due date for the submission of Assignment-1 is end of Week-11.
Answer:
1.
2.
3.
.
.
Case Study Analysis Rubric
Assignment - 2 Rubrics.
NOTE:- Evaluators are encouraged to assign a zero to any work sample or collection of work
that does not meet benchmark.
Instructor feedback: Students can see their feedback in the Grade Center.
Criteria/Achie
vement Level
Outstanding
4 Marks
Excellent
3 Marks
Inquiry and
Analysis
Provides in-depth analysis
that demonstrates complete
understanding of multiple
hiring process
2
Provides in-depth
analysis that
demonstrates complete
understanding of some
hiring process
1.5
Critical
Thinking
Draws insightful conclusions
that are thoroughly defended
with evidence and examples
2
Writing
(Mechanics/Ci
tations)
No errors related to
organization, grammar and
style, and citations
(01)
Good
2 Marks
Benchmark
1 Marks
Provides inDoes not provide
depth analysis in-depth analysis
that
0.5
demonstrates
complete
understanding
of minimal
hiring process
01
Draws informed
Draws logical
Does not draw
conclusions that are
conclusions, but
logical
justified with evidence does not defend
conclusions
1.5
with evidence
0.5
01
Minor errors related to
Some errors
Major errors
organization, grammar
related to
related to
and style, and citations
organization,
organization,
(0.75)
grammar and
grammar and
style, and
style, and
citations
citations
(0.5)
(0.25)
Val
ue
2
2
1
Case Study Analysis Rubric
Assignment - 2 Rubrics.
NOTE:- Evaluators are encouraged to assign a zero to any work sample or collection of work
that does not meet benchmark.
Instructor feedback: Students can see their feedback in the Grade Center.
Criteria/Achie
vement Level
Outstanding
4 Marks
Excellent
3 Marks
Inquiry and
Analysis
Provides in-depth analysis
that demonstrates complete
understanding of multiple
hiring process
2
Provides in-depth
analysis that
demonstrates complete
understanding of some
hiring process
1.5
Critical
Thinking
Draws insightful conclusions
that are thoroughly defended
with evidence and examples
2
Writing
(Mechanics/Ci
tations)
No errors related to
organization, grammar and
style, and citations
(01)
Good
2 Marks
Benchmark
1 Marks
Provides inDoes not provide
depth analysis in-depth analysis
that
0.5
demonstrates
complete
understanding
of minimal
hiring process
01
Draws informed
Draws logical
Does not draw
conclusions that are
conclusions, but
logical
justified with evidence does not defend
conclusions
1.5
with evidence
0.5
01
Minor errors related to
Some errors
Major errors
organization, grammar
related to
related to
and style, and citations
organization,
organization,
(0.75)
grammar and
grammar and
style, and
style, and
citations
citations
(0.5)
(0.25)
Val
ue
2
2
1
Final PDF to printer
ORGANIZATIONAL
BEHAVIOR
Improving Performance and
Commitment in the Workplace
Sixth Edition
JASON A. COLQUITT
University of Georgia
JEFFERY A. LEPINE
Arizona State University
MICHAEL J. WESSON
Texas A&M University
coL27660_fm_i-1.indd
i
11/07/17 02:56 PM
ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR: IMPROVING PERFORMANCE AND COMMITMENT
IN THE WORKPLACE, SIXTH EDITION
Published by McGraw-Hill Education, 2 Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121. Copyright © 2019 by
McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Previous
editions © 2017, 2015, and 2013. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in
any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written
consent of McGraw-Hill Education, including, but not limited to, in any network or other electronic
storage or transmission, or broadcast for distance learning.
Some ancillaries, including electronic and print components, may not be available to customers
outside the United States.
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 LWI 21 20 19 18
ISBN 978-1-259-92766-9
MHID 1-259-92766-0
Portfolio Manager: Michael Ablassmeir
Lead Product Developer: Kelly Delso
Senior Product Developer: Kelly I. Pekelder
Directors of Development: Rose Koos and
Meghan Campbell
Executive Marketing Manager: Debbie Clare
Content Project Managers: Melissa M. Leick,
Keri Johnson, Karen Jozefowicz
Buyer: Sandy Ludovissy
Design: Egzon Shaqiri
Content Licensing Specialist: Ann Marie Jannette
Cover Image: ©Hidden Figures/Twentieth Century
Fox Film Corporation/Photofest
Compositor: SPi Global
All credits appearing on page or at the end of the book are considered to be an extension of the
copyright page.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Colquitt, Jason, author. | LePine, Jeffery A., author. | Wesson,
Michael J., author.
Title: Organizational behavior: improving performance and commitment in the
workplace / Jason A Colquitt, Jeffery A LePine, Michael J. Wesson.
Description: Sixth Edition. | Dubuque : McGraw-Hill Education, 2018. |
Revised edition of the authors’ Organizational behavior, [2016]
Identifiers: LCCN 2017048454 | ISBN 9781259927669 (hardback : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Organizational behavior. | Personnel management. | Strategic
planning. | Consumer satisfaction. | Job satisfaction. | BISAC: BUSINESS &
ECONOMICS / Organizational Behavior.
Classification: LCC HD58.7 .C6255 2018 | DDC 658.3—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017048454
The Internet addresses listed in the text were accurate at the time of publication. The inclusion
of a website does not indicate an endorsement by the authors or McGraw-Hill Education, and
McGraw-Hill Education does not guarantee the accuracy of the information presented at these sites.
mheducation.com/highered
Dedication
To Catherine, Cameron, Riley, and Connor, and also to Mom, Dad,
Alan, and Shawn. The most wonderful family I could imagine, two
times over.
–J.A.C.
To Marcie, Izzy, and Eli, who support me and fill my life with meaning
and joy.
–J.A.L.
To Liesl and Dylan: Their support in all I do is incomparable. They
are my life and I love them both. To my parents: They provide a
foundation that never wavers.
–M.J.W.
About the Authors
JASON A. COLQUITT
Courtesy of Jason Colquitt
Jason A. Colquitt is the William H. Willson Distinguished Chair in the Department of
Management at the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business. He received his PhD
from Michigan State University’s Eli Broad Graduate School of Management and earned his
BS in psychology from Indiana University. He has taught organizational behavior and human
resource management at the undergraduate, masters, and executive levels and has also taught
research methods at the doctoral level. He has received awards for teaching excellence at the
undergraduate, masters, and executive levels.
Jason’s research interests include organizational justice, trust, team effectiveness, and personality influences on task and learning performance. He has published more than 40 articles
on these and other topics in Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review,
Journal of Applied Psychology, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, and
Personnel Psychology. He recently served as editor-in-chief for Academy of Management Journal
and has served on a number of editorial boards, including Academy of Management Journal,
Academy of Management Review, Administrative Science Quarterly, Journal of Applied Psychology,
Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, and Personnel Psychology. He is a recipient of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology’s Distinguished Early Career
Contributions Award and the Cummings Scholar Award for early to mid-career achievement,
sponsored by the Organizational Behavior division of the Academy of Management. He was
also elected to be a representative-at-large for the Organizational Behavior division.
Jason enjoys spending time with his wife, Catherine, and three sons, Cameron, Riley,
and Connor. His hobbies include playing basketball, playing the trumpet, watching movies,
and rooting on (in no particular order) the Pacers, Colts, Cubs, Spartans, Gators, Hoosiers, and
Bulldogs.
JEFFERY A. LEPINE
Courtesy of Jeffrey A. LePine
iv
Jeffery A. LePine is the PetSmart Chair in Leadership in the Department of Management
at Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business. He received his PhD in organizational behavior from the Eli Broad Graduate School of Management at Michigan State
University. He also earned an MS in management from Florida State University and a BS in
finance from the University of Connecticut. He has taught organizational behavior, human
resource management, and management of groups and teams at undergraduate and graduate
levels. He has also delivered courses to doctoral students in research methods, meta-analysis,
scale development, and human resource management. He received the Outstanding Doctoral
Professor Award from the W.P. Carey School of Business for his teaching and mentoring of
doctoral students and his work as PhD program director.
Jeff’s research interests include team functioning and effectiveness, individual and team
adaptation, citizenship behavior, voice, employee engagement, and occupational stress. He
has published more than 30 articles on these and other topics in Academy of Management
Journal, Academy of Management Review, Journal of Applied Psychology, Organizational
Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Personnel Psychology, and Journal of Management.
He has served as associate editor of Academy of Management Review and Journal of Applied
Psychology. He has also served on the editorial boards of Academy of Management Journal,
A B O U T T H E A U T H O R S
v
Academy of Management Review, Journal of Applied Psychology, Organizational Behavior
and Human Decision Processes, Personnel Psychology, Journal of Management, Journal of
Organizational Behavior, and Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology. He is a
recipient of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology’s Distinguished Early
Career Contributions Award and the Cummings Scholar Award for early to mid-career achievement, sponsored by the Organizational Behavior division of the Academy of Management.
He was also elected to the Executive Committee of the Human Resource Division of the
Academy of Management. Prior to earning his PhD, Jeff was an officer in the U.S. Air Force.
Jeff spends most of his free time with his wife, Marcie, daughter, Izzy, and son, Eli. He also
enjoys playing guitar, hiking and mountain biking, working on his growing collection of classic Pontiacs, and serving as the caretaker of his family’s desert hideaway, tentatively called
the Goat Farm.
MICHAEL J. WESSON
Michael J. Wesson is an associate professor in the Management Department at Texas A&M
University’s Mays Business School. He received his PhD from Michigan State University’s
Eli Broad Graduate School of Management. He also holds an MS in human resource management from Texas A&M University and a BBA from Baylor University. He has taught organizational behavior and human resource management–based classes at all levels but currently
spends most of his time teaching Mays MBAs, EMBAs, and executive development at Texas
A&M. He was awarded Texas A&M’s Montague Center for Teaching Excellence Award.
Michael’s research interests include organizational justice, leadership, organizational
entry (employee recruitment, selection, and socialization), person–organization fit, and compensation and benefits. His articles have been published in journals such as Journal of Applied
Psychology, Personnel Psychology, Academy of Management Review, and Organizational Behavior
and Human Decision Processes. He has served on several editorial boards and has been an ad
hoc reviewer for many others. He is active in the Academy of Management and the Society
for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Prior to returning to school, Michael worked
as a human resources manager for a Fortune 500 firm. He has served as a consultant to the
automotive supplier, health care, oil and gas, and technology industries in areas dealing with
recruiting, selection, onboarding, compensation, and turnover.
Michael spends most of his time trying to keep up with his wife, Liesl, and son, Dylan. He
is a self-admitted food and wine snob, home theater aficionado, and college sports addict.
(Gig ’em Aggies!)
Courtesy of Michael J. Wesson
Preface
Why did we decide to write this text? Well, for starters, organizational behavior (OB) remains
a fascinating topic that everyone can relate to (because everyone either has worked or is
going to work in the future). What makes people effective at their job? What makes them
want to stay with their employer? What makes work enjoyable? Those are all fundamental
questions that organizational behavior research can help answer. However, our desire to write
this text also grew out of our own experiences (and frustrations) teaching OB courses using
other texts. We found that students would end the semester with a common set of questions
that we felt we could answer if given the chance to write our own text. With that in mind,
Organizational Behavior: Improving Performance and Commitment in the Workplace was written to answer the following questions.
DOES ANY OF THIS STUFF REALLY MATTER?
Organizational behavior might be the most relevant class any student ever takes, but that
doesn’t always shine through in OB texts. The introductory section of our text contains two
chapters not included in other texts: Job Performance and Organizational Commitment. Being
good at one’s job and wanting to stay with one’s employer are obviously critical concerns
for employees and managers alike. After describing these topics in detail, every remaining
chapter in the text links that chapter’s content to performance and commitment. Students
can then better appreciate the practical relevance of organizational behavior concepts.
IF THAT THEORY DOESN’T WORK, THEN WHY IS IT IN
THE TEXT?
In putting together this text, we were guided by the question, “What would OB texts look
like if all of them were first written now, rather than decades ago?” We found that many
of the organizational behavior texts on the market include outdated (and indeed, scientifically disproven!) models or theories, presenting them sometimes as fact or possibly for the
sake of completeness or historical context. Our students were always frustrated by the fact
that they had to read about, learn, and potentially be tested on material that we knew to be
wrong. Although historical context can be important at times, we believe that focusing on
so-called evidence-based management is paramount in today’s fast-paced classes. Thus, this
text includes new and emerging topics that others leave out and excludes flawed and outdated
topics that some other texts leave in.
HOW DOES ALL THIS STUFF FIT TOGETHER?
Organizational behavior is a diverse and multidisciplinary field, and it’s not always easy to
see how all its topics fit together. Our text deals with this issue in two ways. First, all of the
chapters in our text are organized around an integrative model that opens each chapter (see
the back of the text). That model provides students with a road map of the course, showing
them where they’ve been and where they’re going. Second, our chapters are tightly focused
around specific topics and aren’t “grab bag–ish” in nature. Our hope is that students (and
instructors) won’t ever come across a topic and think, “Why is this topic being discussed in
this chapter?”
vi
P R E F A C E
DOES THIS STUFF HAVE TO BE SO DRY?
Research on motivation to learn shows that students learn more when they have an intrinsic
interest in the topic, but many OB texts do little to stimulate that interest. Put simply, we
wanted to create a text that students enjoy reading. To do that, we used a more informal, conversational style when writing the text. We also tried to use company examples that students
will be familiar with and find compelling. Finally, we included insert boxes, self-assessments,
and exercises that students should find engaging (and sometimes even entertaining!).
NEW AND IMPROVED COVERAGE
• Chapter 1: What Is OB?—This chapter now opens with a wraparound case on IKEA.
The case describes the personality of the company’s founder, Ingvar Kamprad, as well
as the values at play in the corporate culture. The case also describes some of the practices IKEA uses to maximize job satisfaction and motivation, along with some of its
corporate social responsibility initiatives. The OB at the Bookstore selection has been
changed to How to Have a Good Day. This book describes how research in psychology,
neuroscience, and behavioral economics can be used to improve employee attitudes
and behaviors.
• Chapter 2: Job Performance—This chapter features a new wraparound case on General
Electric (GE), which describes how and why the company’s approach to managing
employee job performance has changed. With a new emphasis on creativity and rapid
innovation, GE abandoned formal annual job performance evaluations. Our OB at the
Bookstore feature has been changed to Mastering Civility. This book overviews implications and costs of incivility in the workplace, and outlines steps that employees and
managers can take to manage this form of counterproductive behavior. Our new OB on
Screen feature, Sully, provides a glimpse of extraordinary job performance as well as
the dilemma of distinguishing job performance behavior from results.
• Chapter 3: Organizational Commitment—PwC serves as the wraparound case in this edition, spotlighting the things the company does to build loyalty among Millennials. The
case also describes studies that PwC performed on what Millennials value at work, and
how those studies match the findings of scientific research. One key finding was that
Millennials value leisure time more than prior generations. That insight triggered a new
initiative at PwC where managers work with employees to chart out a schedule that
suits them.
• Chapter 4: Job Satisfaction—This chapter’s wraparound case now highlights Publix,
the Florida-based supermarket chain. Publix does a number of things to keep their
employees satisfied, including promoting from within, paying above market wages, and
reimbursing tuition. The case also focuses on Publix’s employee stock ownership plan
and what owning a piece of the company can do for job satisfaction. The OB at the
Bookstore selection is now The Power of Meaning, which contrasts the pursuit of shortterm happiness with the pursuit of long-term meaning. The book describes a number of
ways to pursue meaning, including work that promotes a purpose. The OB on Screen
feature examines the subjective nature of job satisfaction. Paterson depicts a bus driver
who has a seemingly boring, repetitive job. Yet he winds up satisfied because it affords
him free time for his passion in life: poetry.
vii
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P R E FAC E
• Chapter 5: Stress—Honeywell is now featured in the wraparound case for this chapter.
Honeywell has grown and evolved through mergers and acquisitions, and this has placed
a variety of stressful demands on employees. The case describes how the company’s
response to a slowdown in one of its businesses created even more stress. Our OB on
Screen feature has been changed to Deepwater Horizon. The film provides insight into
the nature of role conflict and how it contributed to the the largest marine oil spill in
U.S. history. The bestselling book, Work Without Stress, is now our OB at the Bookstore
feature. The authors argue that rumination is responsible for turning demands into
stress, and thus, the whole key to managing stress, is to stop ruminating. The authors
provide many suggestions for putting this rather provocative idea into practice.
• Chapter 6: Motivation—This chapter now opens with a wraparound case on Google. The
case describes exactly how Google evaluates and compensates its employees so that it
can motivate them. The case also describes Google’s philosophy on “star” employees,
including how to retain talent that contributes fundamentally more than the norm. The
OB on Screen feature focuses on psychological empowerment using Star Trek Beyond,
where Captain Kirk struggles with purpose given the monotony of his job and the infinite vastness of space. The OB at the Bookstore focuses on Deep Work, a form of work
that requires a distraction-free state that pushes the limits of one’s ability. The book
argues that deep work is increasingly vital in a knowledge economy, but several factors
conspire to limit the motivation to perform such work.
• Chapter 7: Trust, Justice, and Ethics—SeaWorld serves as the wraparound case for the
revised chapter. The case spotlights the controversies over the park’s orca shows that
have caused it to phase out those attractions. The case also describes how corporate
ethics are often shaped by a combination of public pressure and government intervention. The Founder is the OB on Screen selection for the chapter. The film details how
Ray Kroc wrested control over McDonald’s from the brothers who founded the company, including performing actions that the brothers deemed unethical. The OB at the
Bookstore selection is now Radical Candor, which describes how trust can be cultivated
by a combination of caring personally, but also challenging directly. Of course, the latter component is difficult for many managers, so the book provides some specific tips
for improvement.
• Chapter 8: Learning and Decision Making—Bridgewater Associates and the highly
unique “radical transparency” philosophy established by hedge fund manager and
founder Ray Dalio serves as the wraparound case in this edition. The case describes
how Bridgewater is attempting, by using decisions made by people in the organization
paired with organizational “principles,” to develop a software system that will make the
majority of management decisions after Dalio is gone. The OB on Screen feature now
focuses on The Big Short, highlighting how decision-making errors were at the core of
the financial crash of 2008. A new OB at the Bookstore feature highlights Peak and
the development of expertise through deliberate practice. The chapter also includes a
number of research updates as well as several new company examples.
• Chapter 9: Personality and Cultural Values—This chapter’s wraparound case is now the
Chicago Cubs. The case describes the personality traits that Theo Epstein, the club’s
president, looked for to turn around the losing history of the franchise. La La Land is
P R E F A C E
the chapter’s OB on Screen selection, with the film spotlighting a musician who possesses high openness to experience but low conscientiousness. He’s therefore talented
with his music, but finds it difficult to hold down a job. The OB at the Bookstore selection is Grit, which focuses on a personality trait that represents a combination of passion and perseverance. It is the “gritty” employees that remain resilient and determined
in the face of adversity.
• Chapter 10: Ability—This chapter’s wraparound case now features the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI). The case describes how various jobs at the FBI require unique abilities, and how the organization ensures that agents possess these abilities when they’re
hired. The case also discusses how the FBI introduced annual physical fitness testing
to deal with the potential erosion of physical abilities after agents are hired. Humility
Is the New Smart is now our OB at the Bookstore feature. The authors argue that jobs
are quickly being replaced by smart machines, and following from this, the definition
of what it means to be smart is also changing. Specifically, the authors propose that
being smart now involves interpersonal capacities, such as humility and putting others
first, that promote cooperation and collaborative efforts. The new movie for our OB on
Screen feature is Hidden Figures. This film provides vivid real-world examples of various quantitative abilities, and their role in the U.S. space program during the 1960s.
• Chapter 11: Teams: Characteristics and Diversity—Whole Foods serves as the new wraparound case for this chapter. The case discusses how Whole Foods relies on teams,
which are largely self-managed, at all levels of the organization. The case describes how
existing teams are involved in the hiring of new team members. The OB on Screen feature now discusses the movie Arrival, which provides excellent examples of task, goal,
and outcome interdependence. Inclusion is now discussed in our OB at the Bookstore
feature. The author of this book describes how a special type of parallel team, the
employee resource group or ERG, provides support and guidance to members of their
communities who may be dealing with diversity- or inclusion-related challenges.
• Chapter 12: Teams: Processes and Communication—This chapter includes a new wraparound case featuring Microsoft. Microsoft responded to an erosion of their position
in the tech industry by restructuring around multidisciplinary teams. The case focuses
on how Microsoft redesigned two buildings to inspire creativity and encourage collaboration among team members. The OB on Screen feature now centers on the movie
Spotlight. This film illustrates how boundary-spanning activities are crucial to the effectiveness of a team of investigative reporters. Our OB at the Bookstore feature has been
changed to Smart Collaboration. This book addresses the challenge of managing teams
in the professional services industry, where highly specialized employees are typically
not keen on collaborating.
• Chapter 13: Leadership: Power and Negotiation—This chapter features a new wraparound
case on Zappos’s move toward “holocracy”—a self-management oriented organizational
structure. Tony Hsieh (CEO) expects this move to get rid of organizational politics and
take away organizational forms of power, which should allow Zappos employees to
manage themselves and make decisions for the right reasons. It isn’t going well. The
chapter has been updated with new research including our decision to move “exchange”
to a lower tier of effectiveness as an influence tactic based on a new meta-analysis.
ix
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P R E FAC E
The new OB on Screen feature uses Bridge of Spies to illustrate what might lead one to
take a competing style of conflict resolution in a negotiation. Pre-suasion is the new OB
at the Bookstore feature, which focuses on the best way to set things up to be able to
influence others.
• Chapter 14: Leadership: Styles and Behaviors—The chapter begins with a new wraparound case featuring the consistent Mary Barra of General Motors. The opener and
the case highlight Barra’s push to make GM’s culture shift from slow to fast. Several
examples, including Barra’s push toward her vision of autonomous cars, highlight her
transformational leadership style. A new OB at the Bookstore feature highlights Sydney
Finkelstein’s Superbosses, which is a unique book that ends up being more about transformational leadership than it lets on. The new OB on Screen is The Martian, which
gives students a chance to utilize the time-driven model of leadership to see if the
leader made the correct decision in the movie. The chapter includes a number of new
research findings as well as updated company examples, including organizations such
as American Apparel, Chobani, and GoPro.
• Chapter 15: Organizational Structure—Apple is the focus of this chapter’s new wraparound
case that highlights the company’s dogged determination to stay with the functional
structure that has served them well for so long amid lots of pressure to change. A number
of new company examples such as Facebook, Chipotle, and Cargill have been added as
well as the introduction of “Dunbar’s number” (150), which a number of companies pay
attention to when it comes to size and structure. A new OB at the Bookstore features
The Silo Effect, which illustrates the trials and tribulations of how organizational structure
(and culture) plays havoc with our perceptions and ability to communicate inside an
organization.
• Chapter 16: Organizational Culture—This chapter has a new wraparound case that
focuses on both Delta and United. The case spotlights the differences in the cultures at
the two carriers—differences that can explain specific actions and their larger reputations. The OB at the Bookstore feature now highlights Originals, a book that describes
the kinds of people who “go against the grain” by performing creative acts. Many organizations try to foster a culture that encourages such originality. The OB on Screen
selection is now The Circle, a film that spotlights a faux Silicon Valley corporation
whose work is ethically murky. The film provides a vivid example of several elements
of organizational culture. A number of new company examples such as Wells Fargo,
Cirque du Soleil, and Whataburger have been added.
Acknowledgments
An enormous number of persons played a role in helping us put this text together. Truth be
told, we had no idea that we would have to rely on and put our success in the hands of so
many different people! Each of them had unique and useful contributions to make toward the
publication of this text, and they deserve and thus receive our sincere gratitude.
We thank Michael Ablassmeir, our executive editor, for his suggestions and guidance on
the last four editions, and John Weimeister for filling that same role with earlier editions.
We are thankful to both for allowing us to write the text that we wanted to write. Thanks
also go out to Kelly Pekelder, our product developer, for keeping us on track and being such
a pleasure to work with during this revision. We also owe much gratitude to our marketing
manager, Debbie Clare. We also would like to thank Melissa Leick, Egzon Shaqiri, and Ann
Marie Jannette at McGraw-Hill, as they are the masterminds of much of how the text actually looks; their work and effort were spectacular. A special thanks also goes out to Jessica
Rodell (University of Georgia) and Megan Endres (Eastern Michigan University) for their
assistance with our CONNECT content.
We would also like to thank our students at the undergraduate, masters, and executive
levels who were taught with this text for their constructive feedback toward making it more
effective in the classroom. Thanks also to our PhD students for allowing us to take time out
from research projects to focus on this effort.
Finally, we thank our families, who gave up substantial amounts of time with us and put up
with the stress that necessarily comes at times during an endeavor such as this.
Jason Colquitt
Jeff LePine
Michael Wesson
xi
Text Features: OB Insert Boxes
OB
ON SCREEN
This feature uses memorable scenes
from recent films to bring OB concepts
to life. Films like Hidden Figures, The
Founder, La La Land, The Martian,
Sully, and The Big Short offer rich, vivid
examples that grab the attention of
students.
©Moviestore collection Ltd/Alamy
“Very comprehensive. Well laid-out. Interesting. Good mix
of theoretical material and practical insights.”
OB
AT THE BOOKSTORE
This feature links the content in each
chapter to a mainstream, popular
business book. Books like Originals,
The Power of Meaning, Grit, and Peak
represent the gateway to OB for many
students. This feature helps them put
those books in a larger context.
©Roberts Publishing Services
xii
OB
ASSESSMENTS
This feature helps students see where
they stand on key OB concepts in each
chapter. Students gain insights into their
personality, their emotional intelligence,
their style of leadership, and their ability
to cope with stress, which can help
them understand their reactions to the
working world.
©iChzigo/Shutterstock
“The material presented in this chapter is well balanced. Again,
the tables, charts, and figures help to organize the material for
students.”
OB
INTERNATIONALLY
Changes in technology, communications,
and economic forces have made business
more global and international than ever.
This feature spotlights the impact of globalization on the organizational behavior
concepts described in this text. It describes
cross-cultural differences in OB theories,
how to apply them in international corporations, and how to use OB to manage cultural
diversity in the workplace.
©Namas Bhojani/AP Images
xiii
McGraw-Hill Connect® is a highly reliable, easy-touse homework and learning management solution
that utilizes learning science and award-winning
adaptive tools to improve student results.
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■ Connect’s assignments help students
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■ Connect will create a personalized study path
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through adaptive highlighting and review.
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Education products more intelligent,
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Using Connect improves retention
rates by 19.8%, passing rates by
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Quality Content and Learning Resources
■ Connect content is authored by the world’s best subject
matter experts, and is available to your class through a
simple and intuitive interface.
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■ The Connect eBook makes it easy for students to
access their reading material on smartphones
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■ Connect Insight® generates easy-to-read
reports on individual students, the class as a
whole, and on specific assignments.
■ The Connect Insight dashboard delivers data
on performance, study behavior, and effort.
Instructors can quickly identify students who
struggle and focus on material that the class
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■ Connect automatically grades assignments
and quizzes, providing easy-to-read reports
on individual and class performance.
More students earn
As and Bs when they
use Connect.
Trusted Service and Support
■
Connect integrates with your LMS to provide single sign-on and automatic syncing
of grades. Integration with Blackboard®, D2L®, and Canvas also provides automatic
syncing of the course calendar and assignment-level linking.
■
Connect offers comprehensive service, support, and training throughout every
phase of your implementation.
■
If you’re looking for some guidance on how to use Connect, or want to learn
tips and tricks from super users, you can find tutorials as you work. Our Digital
Faculty Consultants and Student Ambassadors offer insight into how to achieve
the results you want with Connect.
www.mheducation.com/connect
Additional Resources
PowerPoint® Presentation Slides
The PowerPoint presentation slides are designed to help instructors deliver course content in a
way that maintains students’ engagement and attention. The slides include a Notes section that
offers specific tips for using the slides (and the text). The Notes also provide bridges to many of
the resources in the Instructor’s Manual, including innovative teaching tips and suggestions for
using OB on Screen. Finally, the PowerPoints also include bonus OB Assessments for instructors
who want additional assessments for their teaching.
Instructor’s Manual
Prepared by Jason Colquitt, this manual was developed to help you get the most out of the text
in your own teaching. It contains an outline of the chapters, innovative teaching tips to use with
your students, and notes and answers for the end-of-chapter materials. It also provides a guide for
the assessments in the text, and suggestions for using the OB on Screen feature. The manual also
contains additional cases, exercises, and OB on Screen selections from earlier editions of the text,
giving you extra content to use in your teaching.
xvi
Brief Contents
PART 1 INTRODUCTION TO ORGANIZATIONAL
PART 4 GROUP MECHANISMS
BEHAVIOR 3
CHAPTER 11 336
CHAPTER 1 4
Teams: Characteristics and Diversity
What Is Organizational Behavior?
CHAPTER 12 374
CHAPTER 2 28
Teams: Processes and Communication
Job Performance
CHAPTER 13 410
CHAPTER 3 60
Leadership: Power and Negotiation
335
CHAPTER 14 442
Organizational Commitment
Leadership: Styles and Behaviors
PART 2 INDIVIDUAL MECHANISMS
91
PART 5 ORGANIZATIONAL MECHANISMS
CHAPTER 4 92
Job Satisfaction
CHAPTER 15 480
CHAPTER 5 124
Organizational Structure
Stress
CHAPTER 16 508
CHAPTER 6 160
Organizational Culture
Motivation
INTEGRATIVE CASES 540
CHAPTER 7 194
Trust, Justice, and Ethics
GLOSSARY/SUBJECT INDEX 549
CHAPTER 8 232
NAME INDEX 568
Learning and Decision Making
479
COMPANY INDEX 583
PART 3 INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS
263
CHAPTER 9 264
Personality and Cultural Values
CHAPTER 10 304
Ability
xvii
Table of Contents
PART 1
INTRODUCTION TO ORGANIZATIONAL
BEHAVIOR 3
CHAPTER 1 4
What Is Organizational Behavior?
What Is Organizational Behavior? 6
Organizational Behavior Defined 6
An Integrative Model of OB 7
Does Organizational Behavior Matter? 9
Building a Conceptual Argument 10
Forced Ranking 48
Social Networking Systems 49
TAKEAWAYS 49
KEY TERMS 50
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 50
CASE 51
EXERCISE 52
ENDNOTES 52
Research Evidence 12
So What’s So Hard? 14
How Do We “Know” What We Know About Organizational
Behavior? 16
Summary: Moving Forward in This Book 20
TAKEAWAYS 23
KEY TERMS 23
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 23
CASE 24
EXERCISE 25
ENDNOTES 26
CHAPTER 2 28
Job Performance
Job Performance 30
What Does It Mean to Be a “Good Performer”? 31
CHAPTER 3 60
Organizational Commitment
Organizational Commitment 62
What Does It Mean to Be “Committed”? 63
Types of Commitment 63
Withdrawal Behavior 69
Summary: What Does It Mean to Be “Committed”? 75
Trends That Affect Commitment 75
Diversity of the Workforce 75
The Changing Employee–Employer Relationship 77
Application: Commitment Initiatives 79
TAKEAWAYS 81
KEY TERMS 82
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 82
CASE 83
Task Performance 31
EXERCISE 84
Citizenship Behavior 35
ENDNOTES 85
Counterproductive Behavior 39
Summary: What Does It Mean to Be a “Good Performer”? 44
Trends Affecting Performance 45
Knowledge Work 45
Service Work 45
Application: Performance Management 46
xviii
PART 2
INDIVIDUAL MECHANISMS 91
CHAPTER 4 92
Job Satisfaction
Job Satisfaction 94
Why Are Some Employees More Satisfied Than Others? 94
Management by Objectives 46
Value Fulfillment 94
Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales 47
Satisfaction with the Work Itself 98
360-Degree Feedback 48
Mood and Emotions 104
TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S
Summary: Why Are Some Employees More Satisfied
Than Others? 109
How Important Is Job Satisfaction? 109
Life Satisfaction 111
Application: Tracking Satisfaction 113
Psychological Empowerment 177
Summary: Why Are Some Employees More Motivated
Than Others? 180
How Important Is Motivation? 180
Application: Compensation Systems 182
TAKEAWAYS 115
TAKEAWAYS 185
KEY TERMS 116
KEY TERMS 185
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 116
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 186
CASE 117
CASE 186
EXERCISE 117
EXERCISE 187
ENDNOTES 118
ENDNOTES 188
CHAPTER 5 124
CHAPTER 7 194
Stress
Stress 126
Why Are Some Employees More “Stressed” Than Others? 127
Trust, Justice, and Ethics
Trust, Justice, and Ethics 196
Why Are Some Authorities More Trusted Than Others? 197
Types of Stressors 128
Trust 197
How Do People Cope with Stressors? 132
Justice 203
The Experience of Strain 135
Ethics 208
Accounting for Individuals in the Stress Process 137
Summary: Why Are Some Authorities More Trusted
Summary: Why Are Some Employees More “Stressed”
Than Others? 139
How Important Is Stress? 140
Application: Stress Management 143
Assessment 143
Reducing Stressors 143
Than Others? 215
How Important Is Trust? 217
Application: Social Responsibility 219
TAKEAWAYS 220
KEY TERMS 220
Providing Resources 145
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 221
Reducing Strains 146
CASE 221
TAKEAWAYS 149
KEY TERMS 149
xix
EXERCISE 222
ENDNOTES 223
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 150
CASE 150
EXERCISE 151
ENDNOTES 152
CHAPTER 6 160
Motivation
Motivation 162
Why Are Some Employees More Motivated Than
Others? 164
Expectancy Theory 164
CHAPTER 8 232
Learning and Decision Making
Learning and Decision Making 234
Why Do Some Employees Learn to Make Decisions
Better Than Others? 234
Types of Knowledge 234
Methods of Learning 236
Methods of Decision Making 241
Decision-Making Problems 246
Summary: Why Do Some Employees Learn to Make
Decisions Better Than Others? 251
Goal Setting Theory 170
How Important Is Learning? 253
Equity Theory 173
Application: Training 254
xx
TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S
TAKEAWAYS 255
PART 4 GROUP MECHANISMS
KEY TERMS 255
CHAPTER 11 336
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 256
Teams: Characteristics and Diversity
Team Characteristics and Diversity 338
CASE 256
What Characteristics Can Be Used to Describe Teams? 339
EXERCISE 257
Team Types 339
ENDNOTES 258
PART 3 INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS
335
Variations Within Team Types 342
263
CHAPTER 9 264
Personality and Cultural Values
Personality and Cultural Values 266
How Can We Describe What Employees Are Like? 266
The Big Five Taxonomy 266
Team Interdependence 345
Team Composition 349
Summary: What Characteristics Can Be Used
to Describe Teams? 357
How Important Are Team Characteristics? 358
Application: Team Compensation 359
Other Taxonomies of Personality 279
TAKEAWAYS 360
Cultural Values 280
KEY TERMS 360
Summary: How Can We Describe What Employees
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 361
Are Like? 283
How Important Are Personality and Cultural Values? 285
Application: Personality Tests 287
CASE 361
EXERCISE 362
ENDNOTES 364
TAKEAWAYS 291
KEY TERMS 292
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 292
CASE 293
EXERCISE 294
ENDNOTES 294
CHAPTER 10 304
Ability
Ability 306
What Does It Mean for an Employee to Be “Able”? 307
Cognitive Ability 307
CHAPTER 12 374
Teams: Processes and Communication
Team Processes and Communication 376
Why Are Some Teams More Than the Sum of Their
Parts? 376
Taskwork Processes 378
Teamwork Proceses 384
Communication 386
Team States 389
Summary: Why Are Some Teams More Than the Sum
of Their Parts? 392
Emotional Ability 313
How Important Are Team Processes? 392
Physical Ability 318
Application: Training Teams 395
Summary: What Does It Mean for an Employee
to Be “Able”? 320
Transportable Teamwork Competencies 395
Cross-Training 396
How Important Is Ability? 321
Team Process Training 396
Application: Selecting High Cognitive Ability Employees 323
Team Building 397
TAKEAWAYS 326
TAKEAWAYS 398
KEY TERMS 326
KEY TERMS 398
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 327
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 399
CASE 327
CASE 399
EXERCISE 328
EXERCISE 400
ENDNOTES 329
ENDNOTES 402
TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S
CHAPTER 13 410
Elements of Organizational Structure 483
Leadership: Power and Negotiation
Leadership: Power and Negotiation 412
Organizational Design 489
Why Are Some Leaders More Powerful Than Others? 412
Acquiring Power 412
Common Organizational Forms 491
Summary: Why Do Some Organizations Have Different
Structures Than Others? 497
Using Influence 416
How Important Is Structure? 498
Power and Influence in Action 420
Application: Restructuring 500
Negotiations 426
Summary: Why Are Some Leaders More Powerful
Than Others? 429
TAKEAWAYS 501
KEY TERMS 501
How Important Are Power and Influence? 429
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 502
Application: Alternative Dispute Resolution 431
CASE 502
EXERCISE 503
TAKEAWAYS 432
ENDNOTES 504
KEY TERMS 433
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 433
CHAPTER 16 508
CASE 434
Organizational Culture
Organizational Culture 510
EXERCISE 434
ENDNOTES 435
Why Do Some Organizations Have Different Cultures
Than Others? 510
CHAPTER 14 442
Culture Components 510
Leadership: Styles and Behaviors
Leadership: Styles and Behaviors 444
General Culture Types 514
Why Are Some Leaders More Effective Than Others? 446
Leader Decision-Making Styles 447
Specific Culture Types 514
Culture Strength 517
Maintaining An Organizational Culture 520
Day-to-Day Leadership Behaviors 452
Changing An Organizational Culture 523
Transformational Leadership Behaviors 456
Summary: Why Are Some Leaders More Effective
Than Others? 461
Summary: Why Do Some Organizations Have Different
Cultures Than Others? 526
How Important Is Organizational Culture? 527
How Important Is Leadership? 464
Application: Managing Socialization 529
Application: Leadership Training 466
TAKEAWAYS 531
TAKEAWAYS 467
KEY TERMS 532
KEY TERMS 467
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 532
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 468
CASE 532
CASE 468
EXERCISE 533
EXERCISE 469
ENDNOTES 534
ENDNOTES 470
PART 5 ORGANIZATIONAL MECHANISMS
xxi
479
CHAPTER 15 480
Organizational Structure
Organizational Structure 482
Why Do Some Organizations Have Different Structures
Than Others? 482
INTEGRATIVE CASES 540
GLOSSARY/SUBJECT INDEX 549
NAME INDEX 568
COMPANY INDEX 583
ORGANIZATIONAL
BEHAVIOR
Improving Performance and
Commitment in the Workplace
P A R T
1
INTRODUCTION TO
ORGANIZATIONAL
BEHAVIOR
CHAPTER 1
What Is Organizational Behavior?
CHAPTER 2
Job Performance
CHAPTER 3
Organizational Commitment
1
What Is Organizational
Behavior?
ORGANIZATIONAL
MECHANISMS
Organizational
Culture
Organizational
Structure
INDIVIDUAL
MECHANISMS
GROUP
MECHANISMS
Job
Satisfaction
Leadership:
Styles &
Behaviors
INDIVIDUAL
OUTCOMES
Stress
Leadership:
Power &
Negotiation
Job
Performance
Motivation
Teams:
Processes &
Communication
Teams:
Characteristics &
Diversity
Organizational
Commitment
Trust, Justice,
& Ethics
Learning &
Decision Making
INDIVIDUAL
CHARACTERISTICS
Ability
Personality &
Cultural Values
LEARNING GOALS
After reading this chapter, you should be able to answer the following questions:
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5
1.6
What is the definition of “organizational behavior” (OB)?
What are the two primary outcomes in studies of OB?
What factors affect the two primary OB outcomes?
Why might firms that are good at OB tend to be more profitable?
What is the role of theory in the scientific method?
How are correlations interpreted?
©Kumar Sriskandan/Alamy
IKEA
D
oes the name Ingvar Kamprad ring a bell? What
if I told you he grew up on a farm called Elmtaryd
near the village of Agunnaryd? That’s right—he’s the
founder of Sweden-based IKEA (and now you know what
the letters stand for). IKEA operates 389 stores worldwide,
employing 183,000 employees. Kamprad built his massive
company from the humblest of beginnings. At the age of
five, he began buying boxes of matches in order to sell them
by the book for profit. He founded IKEA in 1943 at the age
of seventeen, using seed money from his father. Kamprad
began by selling knickknacks and trinkets before moving
on to furniture five years later. IKEA expanded beyond Sweden in 1963 and opened its first U.S. store in Philadelphia
in 1985.
Kamprad has been described as having the classic entrepreneur’s personality—highly conscientiousness, highly creative, but very willing to disagree with the opinions and views
of others. Those traits helped him make a number of innovations, including shipping furniture using “flatpacking”—
where the buyer assembles the finished product. Today,
Kamprad’s company tries to instill specific traits in its
employees and its organizational culture. New hires are
given the “Little IKEA Dictionary” that describes the importance of humility, heritage, simplicity, equality, togetherness,
and sustainability.
How do such values shape the experience of working
at IKEA? In terms of equality, Lars Petersson, the leader of
IKEA’s Conshohocken, Pennsylvania-based U.S. headquarters, notes that “Hierarchy is not a big Swedish thing . . .
We actually work with trust rather than control.” The company has also successfully combatted the glass ceiling,
with more than half of senior managerial roles filled by
women. In terms of sustainability, Nabeela Ixtabalan, the
head of human resources, notes “My boss would say, ‘Go
home, you’ve been here too long,’ . . . Here, if you can’t
do your job successfully in a reasonable amount of time,
you’re doing something wrong.” IKEA’s pay philosophy
is also sensitive to the long term. Hourly wages average
$15.45—double the minimum wage—and are indexed to
MIT’s Living Wage Calculator. And part-time employees
qualify for health benefits if they work 20 hours per week.
These and other aspects of life at IKEA explain why it was
recently named one of Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to
Work For.
6
C H A P T E R 1 What Is Organizational Behavior?
WHAT IS ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR?
1.1
What is the definition of
“organizational behavior”
(OB)?
Before we describe what the field of organizational behavior studies, take a moment to ponder
this question: Who was the single worst coworker you’ve ever had? Picture fellow students who collaborated with you on class projects; colleagues from part-time or summer jobs; or peers, subordinates, or supervisors working in your current organization. What did this coworker do that earned
him or her “worst coworker” status? Was it some of the behaviors shown in the right column
of Table 1-1 (or perhaps all of them)? Now take a moment to consider the single best coworker
you’ve ever had. Again, what did this coworker do to earn “best coworker” status—some or most of
the behaviors shown in the left column of Table 1-1?
If you found yourself working alongside the two people profiled in the table, two questions
would be foremost on your mind: “Why does the worst coworker act that way?” and “Why does
the best coworker act that way?” Once you understand why the two coworkers act so differently,
you might be able to figure out ways to interact with the worst coworker more effectively (thereby
making your working life a bit more pleasant). If you happen to be a manager, you might formulate plans for how to improve attitudes and behaviors in the unit. Such plans could include how
to screen applicants, train and socialize new organizational members, manage evaluations and
rewards for performance, and deal with conflicts that arise between and among employees. Without understanding why employees act the way they do, it’s extremely hard to find a way to change
their attitudes and behaviors at work.
ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR DEFINED
Organizational behavior (OB) is a field of study devoted to understanding, explaining, and ultimately improving the attitudes and behaviors of individuals and groups in organizations. Scholars
TABLE 1-1
The Best of Coworkers, the Worst of Coworkers
THE BEST
THE WORST
Have you ever had a coworker who usually
acted this way?
Have you ever had a coworker who usually
acted this way?
Got the job done, without having to be managed or reminded
Did not got the job done, even with a great
deal of hand-holding
Adapted when something needed to be
changed or done differently
Was resistant to any and every form of change,
even when changes were beneficial
Was always a “good sport,” even when bad
things happened at work
Whined and complained, no matter what was
happening
Attended optional meetings or functions to
support colleagues
Optional meetings? Was too lazy to make it to
some required meetings and functions!
Helped new coworkers or people who
seemed to need a hand
Made fun of new coworkers or people who
seemed to need a hand
Felt an attachment and obligation to the
employer for the long haul
Seemed to always be looking for something
else, even if it wasn’t better
Was first to arrive, last to leave
Was first to leave for lunch, last to return
The Million-Dollar Question:
Why do these two employees act so differently?
C H A P T E R 1 What Is Organizational Behavior?
7
in management departments of universities and scientists in business organizations conduct
research on OB. The findings from those research studies are then applied by managers or consultants to see whether they help meet “real-world” challenges. OB can be contrasted with two
other courses commonly offered in management departments: human resource management and
strategic management. Human resource management takes the theories and principles studied in
OB and explores the “nuts-and-bolts” applications of those principles in organizations. An OB
study might explore the relationship between learning and job performance, whereas a human
resource management study might examine the best ways to structure training programs to promote employee learning. Strategic management focuses on the product choices and industry characteristics that affect an organization’s profitability. A strategic management study might examine
the relationship between firm diversification (when a firm expands into a new product segment)
and firm profitability.
The theories and concepts found in OB are actually drawn from a wide variety of disciplines.
For example, research on job performance and individual characteristics draws primarily from
studies in industrial and organizational psychology. Research on satisfaction, emotions, and team
processes draws heavily from social psychology. Sociology research is vital to research on team
characteristics and organizational structure, and anthropology research helps inform the study
of organizational culture. Finally, models from economics are used to understand motivation,
learning, and decision making. This diversity brings a unique quality to the study of OB, as most
students will be able to find a particular topic that’s intrinsically interesting and thought provoking to them.
AN INTEGRATIVE MODEL OF OB
Because of the diversity in its topics and disciplinary roots, it is common for students in an organizational behavior class to wonder, “How does all this stuff fit together?” How does what gets covered in Chapter 3 relate to what gets covered in Chapter 13? To clarify such issues, this textbook
is structured around an integrative model of OB, shown in Figure 1-1, that’s designed to provide a
roadmap for the field of organizational behavior. The model shows how the topics in the next 15
chapters—represented by the 15 ovals in the model—all fit together. We should stress that there are
other potential ways of combining the 15 topics, and Figure 1-1 likely oversimplifies the connections among the topics. Still, we believe the model provides a helpful guide as you move through
this course. Figure 1-1 includes five different kinds of topics.
INDIVIDUAL OUTCOMES The right-most portion of the model contains the two primary outcomes of interest to organizational behavior researchers (and employees and managers in organizations): job performance and organizational commitment. Most employees have two primary
goals for their working lives: to perform their jobs well and to remain a member of an organization that they respect. Likewise, most managers have two primary goals for their employees:
to maximize their job performance and to ensure that they stay with the firm for a significant
length of time. As described in Chapter 2, there are several specific behaviors that, when taken
together, constitute good job performance. Similarly, as described in Chapter 3, there are a
number of beliefs, attitudes, and emotions that cause an employee to remain committed to an
employer.
This book starts by covering job performance and organizational commitment so that you can
better understand the two primary organizational behavior goals. Our hope is that by using performance and commitment as starting points, we can highlight the practical importance of OB topics. After all, what could be more important than having employees who perform well and want
to stay with the company? This structure also enables us to conclude the other chapters in the
book with sections that describe the relationships between each chapter’s topic and performance
and commitment. For example, the chapter on motivation concludes by describing the relationships between motivation and performance and motivation and commitment. In this way, you’ll
learn which of the topics in the model are most useful for understanding your own attitudes and
behaviors.
1.2
What are the two primary
outcomes in studies of OB?
8
C H A P T E R 1 What Is Organizational Behavior?
FIGURE 1-1
Integrative Model of Organizational Behavior
ORGANIZATIONAL
MECHANISMS
Organizational
Culture
Organizational
Structure
INDIVIDUAL
MECHANISMS
GROUP
MECHANISMS
Job
Satisfaction
Leadership:
Styles &
Behaviors
INDIVIDUAL
OUTCOMES
Stress
Leadership:
Power &
Negotiation
Job
Performance
Motivation
Teams:
Processes &
Communication
Teams:
Characteristics &
Diversity
Organizational
Commitment
Trust, Justice,
& Ethics
Learning &
Decision Making
INDIVIDUAL
CHARACTERISTICS
Ability
Personality &
Cultural Values
1.3
What factors affect the two
primary OB outcomes?
INDIVIDUAL MECHANISMS Our integrative model also illustrates a number of individual
mechanisms that directly affect job performance and organizational commitment. These include
job satisfaction, which captures what employees feel when thinking about their jobs and doing their
day-to-day work (Chapter 4). Another individual mechanism is stress, which reflects employees’
psychological responses to job demands that tax or exceed their capacities (Chapter 5). The model
also includes motivation, which captures the energetic forces that drive employees’ work effort
(Chapter 6). Trust, justice, and ethics reflect the degree to which employees feel that their company
does business with fairness, honesty, and integrity (Chapter 7). The final individual mechanism
C H A P T E R 1 What Is Organizational Behavior?
shown in the model is learning and decision making, which deals with how employees gain job
knowledge and how they use that knowledge to make accurate judgments on the job (Chapter 8).
INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS Of course, if satisfaction, stress, motivation, and so forth
are key drivers of job performance and organizational commitment, it becomes important to
understand what factors improve those individual mechanisms. Two such factors reflect the characteristics of individual employees. Personality and cultural values reflect the various traits and
tendencies that describe how people act, with commonly studied traits including extraversion,
conscientiousness, and collectivism. As described in Chapter 9, personality and cultural values
affect the way people behave at work, the kinds of tasks they’re interested in, and how they react
to events that happen on the job. The model also examines ability, which describes the cognitive
abilities (verbal, quantitative, etc.), emotional skills (other awareness, emotion regulation, etc.),
and physical abilities (strength, endurance, etc.) that employees bring to a job. As described in
Chapter 10, ability influences the kinds of tasks an employee is good at (and not so good at).
GROUP MECHANISMS Our integrative model also acknowledges that employees don’t work
alone. Instead, they typically work in one or more work teams led by some formal (or sometimes
informal) leader. Like the individual characteristics, these group mechanisms shape satisfaction, stress, motivation, trust, and learning. Chapter 11 covers team characteristics and diversity—
describing how teams are formed, staffed, and composed, and how team members come to rely on
one another as they do their work. Chapter 12 then covers team processes and communication—how
teams behave, including their coordination, conflict, and cohesion. The next two chapters focus
on the leaders of those teams. We first describe how individuals become leaders in the first place,
covering leader power and negotiation to summarize how individuals attain authority over others
(Chapter 13). We then describe how leaders behave in their leadership roles, as leader styles and
behaviors capture the specific actions that leaders take to influence others at work (Chapter 14).
ORGANIZATIONAL MECHANISMS Finally, our integrative model acknowledges that the
teams described in the prior section are grouped into larger organizations that themselves affect
satisfaction, stress, motivation, and so forth. For example, every company has an organizational
structure that dictates how the units within the firm link to (and communicate with) other units
(Chapter 15). Sometimes structures are centralized around a decision-making authority, whereas
other times, structures are decentralized, affording each unit some autonomy. Every company
also has an organizational culture that captures “the way things are” in the organization—shared
knowledge about the values and beliefs that shape employee attitudes and behaviors (Chapter 16).
SUMMARY Each of the chapters in this textbook will open with a depiction of this integrative
model, with the subject of each chapter highlighted. We hope that this opening will serve as a
roadmap for the course—showing you where you are, where you’ve been, and where you’re going.
We also hope that the model will give you a feel for the “big picture” of OB—showing you how all
the OB topics are connected.
DOES ORGANIZATIO NAL BEHAVIOR MATTER?
Having described exactly what OB is, it’s time to discuss another fundamental question: Does it
really matter? Is there any value in taking a class on this subject, other than fulfilling some requirement of your program? (You might guess that we’re biased in our answers to these questions,
given that we wrote a book on the subject!) Few would disagree that organizations need to know
principles of accounting and finance to be successful; it would be impossible to conduct business
without such knowledge. Similarly, few would disagree that organizations need to know principles
of marketing, as consumers need to know about the firm’s products and what makes those products unique or noteworthy.
However, people sometimes wonder whether a firm’s ability to manage OB has any bearing
on its bottom-line profitability. After all, if a firm has a good-enough product, won’t people buy it
9
10
C H A P T E R 1 What Is Organizational Behavior?
OB
INTERNATIONALLY
Changes in technology, communications, and economic forces have made business more global
and international than ever. To use Thomas Friedman’s line, “The world is flat.” The playing field
has been leveled between the United States and the rest of the world. This feature spotlights the
impact of globalization on the organizational behavior concepts described in this book and covers
a variety of topics.
Cross-Cultural Differences. Research in cross-cultural organizational behavior has illustrated
that national cultures affect many of the relationships in our integrative model. Put differently,
there is little that we know about OB that is “universal” or “culture free.”
International Corporations. An increasing number of organizations are international in scope,
with both foreign and domestic operations. Applying organizational behavior concepts in these
firms represents a special challenge—should policies and practices be consistent across locations
or tailored to meet the needs of the culture?
Expatriation. Working as an expatriate—an employee who lives outside his or her native
country—can be particularly challenging. What factors influence expatriates’ job performance and
organizational commitment levels?
Managing Diversity. More and more work groups are composed of members of different
cultural backgrounds. What are the special challenges involved in leading and working in such
groups?
Sources: T.L. Friedman, “The World Is Flat,” Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 2002; and H. Aguinis and C.A. Henl,
“The Search for Universals in Cross-Cultural Organizational Behavior.” In Organizational Behavior: The State of the Science,
ed. J. Greenberg, Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 2003, pp. 373–411.
regardless of how happy, motivated, or committed its workforce is? Perhaps for a time, but effective OB can help keep a product good over the long term. This same argument can be made in
reverse: If a firm has a bad-enough product, isn’t it true that people won’t buy it, regardless of how
happy, motivated, or committed its workforce is? Again, perhaps for a time, but the effective management of OB can help make a product get better, incrementally, over the long term.
Consider this pop quiz about the automotive industry: Which two automakers were rated tops
in car technology by J.D. Power in 2016? BMW was one—can you guess the other? The answer is
Hyundai (yes, Hyundai).1 The study focused on entertainment, connectivity, navigation, collision
avoidance, driving assistance, and convenience. The South Korean automaker has come a long
way since comedian Jay Leno likened a Hyundai to a bobsled (“It has no room, you have to push
it to get going, and it only goes downhill!”).2 Today its Sonatas and Elantras are built in an very
modern factory in Montgomery, Alabama. The factory employs 3000 workers and pays $17 per
hour as an entry-level wage.3 Much of Hyundai’s turnaround can be credited to the company’s
increased emphasis on quality. Work teams devoted to quality have been expanded eightfold, and
almost all employees are enrolled in special training programs devoted to quality issues.4 Hyundai
represents a case in which OB principles are being applied across cultures. Our OB Internationally
feature spotlights such international and cross-cultural applications of OB topics in each chapter.
BUILDING A CONCEPTUAL ARGUMENT
Of course, we shouldn’t just accept it on faith that OB matters, nor should we merely look for specific
companies that appear to support the premise. What we need instead is a conceptual argument that
captures why OB might affect the bottom-line profitability of an organization. One such argument
is based on the resource-based view of organizations. This perspective describes what exactly makes
resources valuable—that is, what makes them capable of creating long-term profits for the firm.5
C H A P T E R 1 What Is Organizational Behavior?
A firm’s resources include financial (revenue, equity, etc.) and
physical (buildings, machines,
technology) resources, but they
also include resources related to
organizational behavior, such as
the knowledge, ability, and wisdom of the workforce, as well as
the image, culture, and goodwill
of the organization.
The resource-based view
suggests that the value of
resources depends on several
factors, shown in Figure 1-2.
For example, a resource is
more valuable when it is rare. ©Dave Martin/AP Images
Diamonds, oil, Babe Ruth baseball cards, and Action Comics #1 (the debut of Superman) are
all expensive precisely because they are rare. Good people are also rare—witness the adage “good
people are hard to find.” Ask yourself what percentage of the people you’ve worked with have
been talented, motivated, satisfied, and good team players. In many organizations, cities, or job
markets, such employees are the exception rather than the rule. If good people really are rare, then
the effective management of OB should prove to be a valuable resource.
The resource-based view also suggests that a resource is more valuable when it is inimitable,
meaning that it cannot be imitated. Many of the firm’s resources can be imitated, if competitors
have enough money. For example, a new form of technology can help a firm gain an advantage for
a short time, but competing firms can switch to the same technology. Manufacturing practices can
be copied, equipment and tools can be approximated, and marketing strategies can be mimicked.
Good people, in contrast, are much more difficult to imitate. As shown in Figure 1-2, there are
three reasons people are inimitable.
FIGURE 1-2
What Makes a Resource Valuable?
Rare
Inimitable
History
Numerous
Small
Decisions
Socially Complex
Resources
Resource
Value
11
Hyundai’s emphasis on
work teams and training
has increased the quality
of its cars, like these models built in its Montgomery,
Alabama, plant.
12
C H A P T E R 1 What Is Organizational Behavior?
Microsoft opened its first
retail stores in 2009,
including this one in Mission Viejo, California. The
look and feel of Microsoft’s
stores are very similar to
Apple’s retail outlets.
HISTORY People create a
history—a collective pool of
experience,
wisdom,
and
knowledge that benefits the
organization. History cannot be
bought. Consider an example
from the consumer electronics
retailing industry where Microsoft, taking a cue from Apple,
launched its first retail store in
Scottsdale, Arizona, in 2009.6
The company hoped that the
stores would give it a chance
to showcase its computer software, along with its hardware
©Mark Boster/Getty Images
and gaming products. Microsoft continues to face an uphill climb in the retail space, however, because Apple had an eight-year
head start after opening its first store in 2001, in McLean, Virginia.7 Microsoft’s position on the
“retail learning curve” was therefore quite different, meaning that it had to grapple with many of
the same issues that Apple had resolved years earlier.
NUMEROUS SMALL DECISIONS The concept of numerous small decisions captures the idea
that people make many small decisions day in and day out, week in and week out. “So what?”
you might say, “Why worry about small decisions?” To answer that question, ask yourself what
the biggest decisions are when launching a new line of retail stores. The location of them maybe,
or perhaps their look and feel? It turns out that Microsoft placed their stores near Apple’s, and
mimicked much of their open, “Zen” sensibility. Said one patron, “It appears that the Microsoft
Store in Mission Viejo is dressed up as the Apple Store for Halloween.”8 Big decisions can be copied; they are visible to competitors and observable by industry experts. In contrast, the “behind
the scenes” decisions at the Apple Store are more invisible to Microsoft, especially the decisions
that involve the hiring and management of employees. Apple seems to understand the inimitable
advantage that such decisions can create. One article in Workforce Management included features
on the top human resources executives for 20 of the most admired companies in America.9 Interestingly, the entry for Apple’s executive was cryptic, noting only that the company “keeps its
human resources executive shrouded in secrecy and refuses to respond to any questions about
HR’s contribution to the company’s most admired status.”
SOCIALLY COMPLEX RESOURCES People also create socially complex resources, like culture,
teamwork, trust, and reputation. These resources are termed “socially complex” because it’s not
always clear how they came to develop, though it is clear which organizations do (and do not) possess them. One advantage that Apple has over Microsoft in the retail wars is the unusual amount
of interest and enthusiasm created by products like the iPhone, iPad, MacBook, and Apple Watch.
Those products have an “it factor” that brings customers into the store, and Apple itself sits atop
Fortune’s list of 50 most admired companies in the world.10 Competitors like Microsoft can’t just
acquire “coolness” or “admiration”—they are complex resources that evolve in ways that are both
murky and mysterious.
RESEARCH EVIDENCE
1.4
Why might firms that are
good at OB tend to be
more profitable?
Thus, we can build a conceptual argument for why OB might affect an organization’s profitability:
Good people are both rare and inimitable and, therefore, create a resource that is valuable for
creating competitive advantage. Conceptual arguments are helpful, of course, but it would be even
better if there were hard data to back them up. Fortunately, it turns out that there is a great deal of
research evidence supporting the importance of OB for company performance. Several research
studies have been conducted on the topic, each employing a somewhat different approach.
One study began by surveying executives from 968 publicly held firms with 100 or more employees.11 The survey assessed so-called high performance work practices—OB policies that are widely
C H A P T E R 1 What Is Organizational Behavior?
agreed to be beneficial to firm performance. The survey included 13 questions asking about a
combination of hiring, information sharing, training, performance management, and incentive
practices, and each question asked what proportion of the company’s workforce was involved in
the practice. Table 1-2 provides some of the questions used to assess the high-performance work
practices (and also shows which chapter of the textbook describes each particular practice in
more detail). The study also gathered the following information for each firm: average annual
rate of turnover, productivity level (defined as sales per employee), market value of the firm,
and corporate profitability. The results revealed that a one-unit increase in the proportion of the
workforce involved in the practices was associated with an approximately 7 percent decrease in
turnover, $27,000 more in sales per employee, $18,000 more in market value, and $3,800 more in
profits. Put simply, better OB practices were associated with better firm performance.
Although there is no doubting the importance of turnover, productivity, market value, and profitability, another study examined an outcome that’s even more fundamental: firm survival.12 The study
focused on 136 nonfinancial companies that made initial public offerings (IPOs) in 1988. Firms that
undergo an IPO typically have shorter histories and need an infusion of cash to grow or introduce
some new technology. Rather than conducting a survey, the authors of this study examined the prospectus filed by each firm (the Securities and Exchange Commission requires that prospectuses contain honest information, and firms can be liable for any inaccuracies that might mislead investors). The
authors coded each prospectus for information that might suggest OB issues were valued. Examples
of valuing OB issues included describing employees as a source of competitive advantage in strategy
and mission statements, emphasizing training and continuing education, having a human resources
management executive, and emphasizing full-time rather than temporary or contract employees. By
1993, 81 of the 136 firms included in the study had survived (60 percent). The key question is whether
the value placed on OB predicted which did (and did not) survive. The results revealed that firms that
valued OB had a 19 percent higher survival rate than firms that did not value OB.
TABLE 1-2 Survey Questions Designed to Assess HighPerformance Work Practices
SURVEY QUESTION ABOUT OB PRACTICE
COVERED IN CHAPTER
What is the proportion of the workforce whose jobs have
been subjected to a formal job analysis?
2
What is the proportion of the workforce who are administered attitude surveys on a regular basis?
4
What is the proportion of the workforce who have access to
company incentive plans, profit-sharing plans, and/or gainsharing plans?
6
What is the average number of hours of training received by
a typical employee over the last 12 months?
8, 10
What is the proportion of the workforce who have access to
a formal grievance procedure and/or complaint resolution
system?
7
What proportion of the workforce are administered an
employment test prior to hiring?
What is the proportion of the workforce whose performance
appraisals are used to determine compensation?
9, 10
6
Source: Adapted from M.A. Huselid, “The Impact of Human Resource Management Practices on Turnover, Productivity,
and Corporate Financial Performance.” Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 38, pp. 635–72. Academy of Management.
13
14
C H A P T E R 1 What Is Organizational Behavior?
TABLE 1-3
The “100 Best Companies to Work For” in 2017
1. Google
23. PwC
63. Delta
2. Wegmans
26. Hilton
64. Deloitte
3. Boston Consulting
28. REI
68. QuikTrip
4. Baird
29. EY
69. American Express
5. Edward Jones
32. Hyatt
72. IKEA
6. Genentech
33. Marriott
79. Four Seasons
10. Quicken Loans
48. Cheesecake Factory
84. Mayo Clinic
12. KPMG
49. Container Store
88. Accenture
13. Intuit
50. Mars
91. Aflac
15. SAS
54. Nationwide
93. AT&T
17. Capital One
58. Whole Foods
94. Nordstrom
21. Publix
62. Goldman Sachs
99. FedEx
Source: M.C. Bush and S. Lewis-Kulin., “The 100 Best Companies to Work For.” Fortune, March 15, 2017.
A third study focused on Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” list, which has appeared
annually since 1998.13 Table 1-3 provides some highlights from the 2017 version of the list. If the
100 firms on the list really do have good OB practices, and if good OB practices really do influence firm profitability, then it follows that the 100 firms should be more profitable. To explore
this premise, the study went back to an earlier version of the list and found a “matching firm” for
those companies that were included.14 The matching firm consisted of the most similar company
with respect to industry and size in that particular year, with the added requirement that the
company had not appeared on the “100 Best” list. This process essentially created two groups of
companies that differ only in terms of their inclusion in the “100 Best.” The study then compared
the profitability of those two groups of companies. The results revealed that the “100 Best” firms
were more profitable than their peers. Indeed, the cumulative investment return for a portfolio
based on the “100 Best” companies would have doubled the return for the broader market.
SO WHAT’S SO HARD?
Clearly this research evidence seems to support the conceptual argument that good people constitute a valuable resource for companies. Good OB does seem to matter in terms of company
profitability. You may wonder then, “What’s so hard?” Why doesn’t every company prioritize
the effective management of OB, devoting as much attention to it as they do accounting, finance,
marketing, technology, physical assets, and so on? Some companies do a bad job when it comes to
managing their people. Why is that?
One reason is that there is no “magic bullet” OB practice—one thing that, in and of itself, can
increase profitability. Instead, the effective management of OB requires a belief that several different practices are important, along with a long-term commitment to improving those practices.
This premise can be summarized with what might be called the Rule of One-Eighth:
One must bear in mind that one-half of organizations won’t believe the connection between
how they manage their people and the profits they earn. One-half of those who do see the
connection will do what many organizations have done—try to make a single change to solve
their problems, not realizing that the effective management of people requires a more comprehensive and systematic approach. Of the firms that make comprehensive changes, probably
C H A P T E R 1 What Is Organizational Behavior?
OB
AT THE BOOKSTORE
This feature spotlights bestselling business books that complement the content of each chapter.
Drawing a bridge from our chapters to these books lets you see how the titles at the bookstore
complement the concepts in our integrative model of OB.
HOW TO HAVE A GOOD DAY
by Caroline Webb (New York: Brown Business, 2016).
We’re living in a golden age of behavioral science, where every passing week seems to deliver fresh insights into the way we think, feel,
and act. Neuroscientists, psychologists, and economists are busy
unraveling the important mysteries of our time, questions like: “How
can I conquer my inbox?” “Why do perfectly reasonable people get
their wires crossed?” “What would it take for me to stop procrastinating right now (or later today, or tomorrow)?” Scientific research has
ever more to say in answer to these sorts of pressing questions.
With those words, Webb highlights the potential of scientific
research for several different corners of our integrative model of
OB. An economist by trade, Webb also spent time doing in-depth
reading of research in psychology and neuroscience. The book then
applies a “neuro-psycho-economic” perspective to a number of different questions—questions relevant to any employee or manager.
©Roberts Publishing Services
For example, Webb describes research on priorities and productivity that echoes some of what we’ll cover in our Motivation and Job Performance chapters.
Studies on relationships and influence complement the content in our Teams and Leadership
chapters. Her coverage of thinking research reflects aspects of our Learning and Decision Making
chapter. Finally, her focus on resilience and energy supplements our discussions of Job Satisfaction and Stress. In all of those sections, Webb pauses to explain scientific principles while highlighting specific studies and experiments.
What happens if we successfully bring to bear all of this scientific knowledge in our working
lives? Well, according to Webb, such efforts will result in more good days at work—and fewer bad
days. “We have more room to maneuver than we realize,” she argues. “The secret lies in learning
some of the science explaining how the brain works, and why people behave the way they do . . .
Grasp these essentials, and it becomes far clearer how to bring the best out of ourselves and others. And that puts us in a much stronger position to create the kind of day we really want to have.”
only about one-half will persist with their practices long enough to actually derive economic
benefits. Because one-half times one-half times one-half equals one-eighth, at best 12 percent
of organizations will actually do what is required to build profits by putting people first.15
The integrative model of OB used to structure this book was designed with this Rule of OneEighth in mind. Figure 1-1 suggests that high job performance depends not just on employee
motivation but also on fostering high levels of satisfaction, effectively managing stress, creating
a trusting climate, and committing to employee learning. Failing to do any one of those things
could hinder the effectiveness of the other concepts in the model. Of course, that systemic nature
reveals another reality of organizational behavior: It’s often difficult to “fix” companies that struggle with OB issues. Such companies often struggle in a number of different areas and on a number
of different levels. For more discussion about why firms struggle to manage their people, see our
OB at the Bookstore feature, which appears in each chapter to showcase a well-known business
book that discusses OB concepts.
15
16
C H A P T E R 1 What Is Organizational Behavior?
HOW D O W E “KNOW” WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT
ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR?
Now that we’ve described what OB is and why it’s an important topic of study, we now turn to
how we “know” what we know about the topic. In other words, where does the knowledge in this
textbook come from? To answer this question, we must first explore how people “know” about
anything. Philosophers have argued that there are several different ways of knowing things:16
• Method of experience: People hold firmly to some belief because it is consistent with their own
experience and observations.
• Method of intuition: People hold firmly to some belief because it “just stands to reason”—it
seems obvious or self-evident.
• Method of authority: People hold firmly to some belief because some respected official, agency,
or source has said it is so.
• Method of science: People accept some belief because scientific studies have tended to replicate
that result using a series of samples, settings, and methods.
1.5
What is the role of theory in
the scientific method?
Consider the following prediction: Providing social recognition, in the form of public displays
of praise and appreciation for good behaviors, will increase the performance and commitment of
work units. Perhaps you feel that you “know” this claim to be true because you yourself have always
responded well to praise and recognition. Or perhaps you feel that you “know” it to be true because
it seems like common sense—who wouldn’t work harder after a few public pats on the back? Maybe
you feel that you “know” it to be true because a respected boss from your past always extolled
the virtue of public praise and recognition.
However, the methods of experience, intuition, and authority also might have led you to the
opposite belief—that providing social recognition has no impact on the performance and commitment of work units. It may be that public praise has always made you uncomfortable or embarrassed, to the point that you’ve tried to hide especially effective behaviors to avoid being singled
out by your boss. Or it may seem logical that social recognition will be viewed as “cheap talk,”
with employees longing for financial incentives rather than verbal compliments. Or perhaps the
best boss you ever worked for never offered a single piece of social recognition in her life, yet her
employees always worked their hardest on her behalf. From a scientist’s point of view, it doesn’t
really matter what a person’s experience, intuition, or authority suggests; the prediction must be
tested with data. In other words, scientists don’t simply assume that their beliefs are accurate; they
acknowledge that their beliefs must be tested scientifically.
Scientific studies are based on the scientific method, originated by Sir Francis Bacon in the
1600s and adapted in Figure 1-3.17 The scientific method begins with theory, defined as a collection of assertions—both verbal and symbolic—that specify how and why variables are related, as
well as the conditions in which they should (and should not) be related.18 More simply, a theory
tells a story and supplies the familiar who, what, where, when, and why elements found in any
newspaper or magazine article.19 Theories are often summarized with theory diagrams, the “boxes
and arrows” that graphically depict relationships between variables. Our integrative model of OB
in Figure 1-1 represents one such diagram, and there will be many more to come in the remaining
chapters of this textbook.
A scientist could build a theory explaining why social recognition might influence the performance and commitment of work units. From what sources would that theory be built? Well,
because social scientists “are what they study,” one source of theory building is introspection.
However, theories may also be built from interviews with employees or from observations where
scientists take notes, keep diaries, and pore over company documents to find all the elements of a
theory story.20 Alternatively, theories may be built from research reviews, which examine findings
of previous studies to look for general patterns or themes.21
Although many theories are interesting, logical, or thought provoking, many also wind up being
completely wrong. After all, scientific theories once predicted that the earth was flat and the sun
revolved around it. Closer to home, OB theories once argued that money was not an effective motivator
C H A P T E R 1 What Is Organizational Behavior?
FIGURE 1-3
The Scientific Method
THEORY
VERIFICATION
HYPOTHESES
DATA
and that the best way to structure jobs was to make them as simple and mundane as possible.22 Theories must therefore be tested to verify that their predictions are accurate. As shown in Figure 1-3, the
scientific method requires that theories be used to inspire hypotheses. Hypotheses are written predictions that specify relationships between variables. For example, a theory of social recognition could be
used to inspire this hypothesis: “Social recognition behaviors on the part of managers will be positively
related to the job performance and organizational commitment of their units.” This hypothesis states,
in black and white, the expected relationship between social recognition and unit performance.
Assume a family member owned a chain of 21 fast-food restaurants and allowed you to test this
hypothesis using the restaurants. Specifically, you decided to train the managers in a subset of the
restaurants about how to use social recognition as a tool to reinforce behaviors. Meanwhile, you
left another subset of restaurants unchanged to represent a control group. You then tracked the
total number of social recognition behaviors exhibited by managers over the next nine months
by observing the managers at specific time intervals. You measured job performance by tracking
drive-through times for the next nine months and used those times to reflect the minutes it takes
for a customer to approach the restaurant, order food, pay, and leave. You also measured the commitment of the work unit by tracking employee retention rates over the next nine months.
So how can you tell whether your hypothesis was supported? You could analyze the data by
examining the correlation between social recognition behaviors and drive-through times, as well as
the correlation between social recognition behaviors and employee turnover. A correlation, abbreviated r, describes the statistical relationship between two variables. Correlations can be positive
or negative and range from 0 (no statistical relationship) to 1 (a perfect statistical relationship).
Picture a spreadsheet with two columns of numbers. One column contains the total numbers of
social recognition behaviors for all 21 restaurants; the other contains the average drive-through
times for those same 21 restaurants. The best way to get a feel for the correlation is to look at a
scatterplot—a graph made from those two columns of numbers. Figure 1-4 presents three scatterplots, each depicting different-sized correlations. The strength of the correlation can be inferred
from the “compactness” of its scatterplot. Panel (a) shows a perfect 1.0 correlation; knowing the
score for social recognition allows you to predict the score for drive-through times perfectly. Panel
(b) shows a correlation of .50, so the trend in the data is less obvious than in Panel (a) but still
easy to see with the naked eye. Finally, Panel (c) shows a correlation of .00—no statistical relationship. Understanding the correlation is important because OB questions are not “yes or no”
in nature. That is, the question is not “Does social recognition lead to higher job performance?”
but rather “How often does social recognition lead to higher job performance?” The correlation
provides a number that expresses an answer to the “how often” question.
1.6
How are correlations
interpreted?
17
C H A P T E R 1 What Is Organizational Behavior?
Job Performance
Three Different Correlation Sizes
(a) r = 1.00
Social Recognition Behaviors
Job Performance
FIGURE 1-4
(b) r = .50
Social Recognition Behaviors
Job Performance
18
(c) r = .00
Social Recognition Behaviors
So what is the correlation between social recognition and job performance (and between social
recognition and organizational commitment)? It turns out that a study very similar to the one
described was actually conducted, using a sample of 21 Burger King restaurants with 525 total
employees.23 The correlation between social recognition and job performance was .28. The restaurants that received training in social recognition averaged 44 seconds of drive-through time nine
months later versus 62 seconds for the control group locations. The correlation between social
recognition and retention rates was .20. The restaurants that received training in social recognition had a 16 percent better retention rate than the control group locations nine months later.
The study also instituted a financial “pay-for-performance” system in a subset of the locations and
found that the social recognition effects were just as strong as the financial effects.
Of course, you might wonder whether correlations of .28 or .20 are impressive or unimpressive. To understand those numbers, let’s consider some context for them. Table 1-4 provides some
notable correlations from other areas of science. If the correlation between height and weight is
only .44, then a correlation of .28 between social recognition and job performance doesn’t sound
too bad! In fact, a correlation of .50 is considered “strong” in organizational behavior research,
given the sheer number of things that can affect how employees feel and act.24 A .30 correlation
is considered “moderate,” and many studies discussed in this book will have results in this range.
Finally, a .10 correlation is considered “weak” in organizational behavior research. It should be
noted, however, that even “weak” correlations can be important if they predict costly behaviors
such as theft or ethical violations. The .08 correlation between smoking and lung cancer within
25 years is a good example of how important small correlations can be.
Does this one study settle the debate about the value of social recognition for job performance and organizational commitment? Not really, for a variety of reasons. First, it included only
C H A P T E R 1 What Is Organizational Behavior?
TABLE 1-4
19
Some Notable Correlations
CORRELATION BETWEEN . . .
r
SAMPLE SIZE
Height and weight
.44
16,948
Ibuprofen and pain reduction
.14
8,488
Antihistamines and reduced sneezing
.11
1,023
Smoking and lung cancer within 25 years
.08
3,956
Coronary bypass surgery and 5-year survival
.08
2,649
Source: Robert Hogan, “In Defense of Personality Measurement: New Wine for Old Whiners.” Human Performance, Vol. 18,
2005, pp. 331–41.
A study of Burger King
restaurants revealed
a correlation between
social recognition—praise
and appreciation by
managers—and employees’ performance and
commitment. Such studies
contribute to the growing
body of organizational
behavior knowledge.
©Wilfredo Lee/AP Images
21 restaurants with 525 employees—maybe the results would have turned out differently if the
study had included more locations. Second, it focused only on restaurant employees—maybe
there’s something unique about such employees that makes them particularly responsive to social
recognition. Third, it may be that the trained locations differed from the control locations on
something other than social recognition, and it was that “something” that was responsible for
the performance differences. You may have heard the phrase, “correlation does not imply causation.” It turns out that making causal inferences—establishing that one variable really does cause
another—requires establishing three things.25 First, that the two variables are correlated. Second,
that the presumed cause precedes the presumed effect in time. Third, that no alternative explanation exists for the correlation. The third criterion is often fulfilled in experiments, where researchers have more control over the setting in which the study occurs.
The important point is that little can be learned from a single study. The best way to test a theory
is to conduct many studies, each of which is as different as possible from the ones that preceded
it.26 So if you really wanted to study the effects of social recognition, you would conduct several
20
C H A P T E R 1 What Is Organizational Behavior?
studies using different kinds of samples, different kinds of measures, and both experimental and
nonexperimental methods. After completing all of those studies, you could look back on the results
and create some sort of average correlation across all of the studies. This process is what a technique
called meta-analysis does. It takes all of the correlations found in studies of a particular relationship
and calculates a weighted average (such that correlations based on studies with large samples are
weighted more than correlations based on studies with small samples). It turns ...
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