Influences on Employee

Behavior
Chapter 2

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 Learning Objectives
• Identify the major external and internal factors that influence
employee behavior
• Describe two primary types of outcomes that result from behavior
and tell how they may influence future behavior.
• State how a supervisor’s leadership and expectations can affect
employee behavior
• Recognize that impact that have on employee at co workers and
organizations themselves have on of employee behavior.
• Define motivation and describe the main approaches/theory to
understanding motivation at work.
• Discuss how knowledge, skill, ability, and attitude influences
employee behavior

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A Major Purpose of Human
Resource Development
To change employee behavior through
training and other incentives

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Model of Employee
Behavior/factors/environment
Forces that influence behavior:
 External to the employee:
 External environment (economic conditions,
laws and regulations, etc.)
 Work environment (supervision, organization,
coworkers, outcomes of performance)
 Within the employee:
 Motivation, attitudes, knowledge/skills/abilities
(KSAs)

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The External Environment

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Factors in the External
Environment
Economic conditions
Technological changes
Labor market conditions
Laws and regulations
Labor unions

Source: Heneman, Schwab, Fossum & Dyer (1989)

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Factors in the Work
Environment
Outcomes – result of E behavior
Supervision and leadership
Organization
Coworkers

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Influences on Employee
Behavior
Factor Issues
Outcomes Types
Effect on Motivation
Supervision Leadership
Performance Expectations
Organization Reward Structure
Organizational Culture
Job Design
Coworkers Norms
Group Dynamics
Teamwork
Control of Outcomes

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Outcomes Can Influence
Employee Behavior
Personal outcomes
Organizational outcomes

 Both expectancy theory and equity theory

predict that employee perceptions of the
outcomes they receive (or hope to receive)
influences their performance of that
behavior.

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Supervisor Characteristics
Leadership
Performance expectations (Pygmalion
effect)
Evaluation of efforts

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Organizational Influences
Reward structure
Organizational culture
Job design

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Coworker Influence
Norms
Group dynamics
Teamwork
Control over outcomes

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Motivation
Psychological processes that cause the
arousal, direction, and persistence of
voluntary actions that are goal-directed

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Motivation Characteristics
Pertains to voluntary behavior
Focuses on processes affecting
behavior such as:
 Energizing of effort
 Direction of effort
 Persistence of effort
An individual phenomenon

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Energizing Effort

The generation or mobilization of effort

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Direction of Effort
Applying effort to one behavior over
another

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Persistence
Continuing (or ceasing) to perform a
behavior

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Explanations of Work
Motivation
Need-based
Cognitive-based
Noncognitive-based

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Need-Based Theories
Underlying needs, Theories:
such as needs for Maslow’s hierarchy
survival, safety, of needs theory
power, etc., are Alderfer’s existence,
what drives relatedness, and
motivation growth (ERG) theory
Herzberg’s two-
factor theory

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Need Activation-Need
Satisfaction Process

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Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Self-Actualization
Needs
Esteem Needs
Belonging & Love Needs
Safety Needs
Survival Needs

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Cognitive Theories
Expectancy theory
Goal-setting theory
Social learning theory
Equity theory

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Expectancy Theory
Motivation is viewed as a conscious choice
People put their efforts into actions they can
perform to achieve desired outcomes
Three key elements:
 Expectancy – expect effort to result in success

 Instrumentality – performance results in reward

 Valence – value individual puts on outcome

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Expectancy Theory

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Goal Setting Theory
Specific, difficult, and understood goals
generally lead to higher performance
Keys to success are the level of difficulty and
the clearness of goals

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Social Learning Theory
Self-efficacy – judgment of what you
think you can do with the skills you
have
Major prediction of the theory is that
expectations determine:
 Whether a behavior will be performed
 How much effort will be expended
 How long you will perform the behavior

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Self-Efficacy and Effort

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Equity Theory
Major assumptions:
If you are treated fairly, you will keep
working well
If you think you are being treated unfairly,
you will change your behavior in order to be
treated fairly

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Equity Theory

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A Noncognitive Theory
Reinforcement theory
 e.g., behavior modification

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Complexity of Behavior

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Behavior Modification
Principles for controlling employee behavior:
Positive Reinforcement
Negative Reinforcement
Extinction – decrease occurrences by
eliminating reinforcement that causes the
behavior
Punishment – introduce an adverse
consequence immediately after behavior

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A Specific Example
Sleeping in Class:
1. Warning
2. Leave class and explain to the Assistant
Dean why you were asked to leave
Too often – you are dropped from the class
Question: Is this positive or negative
reinforcement, and why?

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Internal Factors That
Influence Employee Behavior
Motivation
Attitudes
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs)

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Attitudes
A person’s general feelings of favor or
disfavor towards something
Feelings towards a person, place, thing,
event, or idea
Tend to be VERY stable and hard to change
Attitudes are important in training – e.g.,
does the trainee intend to use the training or
ignore it?

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Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
(KSAs)
Abilities – general capacities related to the
performance of specific tasks
Skills – combines abilities and capacities,
generally the result of training
Knowledge – understanding of the factors or
principles related to a specific subject
HRD programs mostly focus on changing
skills and knowledge

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