Written assignment Unit 2

University of the People

BUS 1101 Principles of Business Management

Sandra Sheppard, Instructor

February 10, 2021

Written Assignment Unit 2: Psychology and Work Behaviors

SAS Institute is a major software company that is considered the top 1 company to work

for every year. Factors that have the strongest influence over work behaviors are job

performance, organizational citizenship, absenteeism, and turnover. Each factor is managed by

SAS as the following.

Firstly, job performance. “It refers to the level to which an employee successfully fulfills

the factors included in the job description. For each job, the content of job performance may

differ. Measures of job performance include quality and quantity of work performed by the

employee, the accuracy and speed with which the job is performed, and the overall effectiveness

of the person on the job” (Carpenter, Bauer, & Erdogan, 2010, paras. 99). For instance, in SAS

they have 35 hours work week, but they trust their employees, although they might not work the

35 hours, they will still complete their job requirement with joy, and that’s how they get inspired,

gets new ideas, contributes and are loyal. You can see the results as they have 37 consecutive

years of earning (Crowley, 2013). Their employees and family have many benefits, such as gym,

tennis, basketball court, health insurance, and a pool to name a few.  Because they feel content
and valued, their quantity, quality, accuracy, speed, and effectiveness is achieved with excellent

work results and better performance.

Secondly, organizational citizenship. Described as “voluntary behaviors employees

perform to help others and benefit the organization” (Carpenter, Bauer, & Erdogan, 2010,

paras.109). For example, in SAS, you must have this factor in order to get a managerial position.

It has to come from within as it is part of oneself, you should proactively help others, and you

should place their growth first before yours. Once you were able to guide them successfully with

your help, you will get rewarded with better and better assignments (Crowley, 2013).

Thirdly, absenteeism. Described as absent from work with or without justification. In

some companies, they offer wellness programs, proper nutrition education programs, exercise,

and the employees gets rewards for healthy habits or a single paid time off policy (Parks, K. M.,

& Steelman, 2008). We should pay extra attention on absenteeism because they might resign

soon, we could approach them and the other employees and ask them what is going on with the

employee and offer to solve the issue. In SAS, they offer their staff to stay healthy and fit with

athletic fields and free in-site health care as I mentioned before. As well as, unlimited sick

leaves, because they believe that people have their own life, and this way they will work harder,

at their own pace. 

Finally, turnover. When your employees leave the company. It could be because of the

company values, personality, management, co-workers, etc. A good positive example of turnover

is SAS. They have only 2-4% of turnover rate. Which normally any industry has around 20%.
They achieve that because they put the employee’s satisfaction as a priority. Therefore, they feel

valued and it is a win win situation for both parties. They retain their best employees, and the

employees gets benefits in return. Hence, the time and money that they save on recruiting,

training they spend it on their actual employees.

To sum up, I do agree with the firms approach and policies because, it creates a positive

ambience for the employees and top managements. What we want is to flourish the potential of

our employees and not stress them with punishments, meetings, and deadlines. Also, by doing

so, we save a great amount with staff turnover and sick leave payments. “In the U.S. companies

are currently losing a trillion dollars each year to voluntary turnover” (Emplify, 2020).

Therefore, I believe it is a great idea to try their method, but we have to be consistent and ask for

feedback and give questionnaires to our staff to know in which areas we should improve.

Word count: 675

References

Carpenter, M., Bauer, T., & Erdogan, B. (2010). Management Principles, v. 1.1.

https://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/management-principles-v1.1/s06-personality-attitudes-

and-work.html

Crowley, M. C. (2013, January 22). How SAS became the world's best place to work. Fast

Company. http://www.fastcompany.com/3004953/how-sas-became-worlds-best-place-work

The State of Employee Turnover in 2020. (2020, July 22). https://emplify.com/blog/state-of-

employee-turnover/