Pamela Brown

MGS 3400 Spring 2021

Week 2
ORGANIZATIONAL
BEHAVIOR
AN INTEGRATIVE ROADMAP

Image: Copyright: McGraw-Hill Education. Permission required for reproduction or display.

ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
Definition
Organizational Behavior is a field of study devoted to understanding, explaining
and ultimately improving the attitudes and behaviors of individuals and groups i
organizations

Two Primary Outcomes

Job Performance
Job Commitment
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
Definition of Organizational Behavior
Two primary outcomes
Why does OB matter?
JOB PERFORMANCE
JOB PERFORMANCE
Definition – The value of the set of employee behaviors that contribute, either
positively or negatively, to organizational goal or accomplishment

Question:
What does it mean to be a good performer?
What does it mean to be a good
performer?
Task Performance - directly involved in the transformation of organizational
resources into the good or services that the organization produces. Obligations an
employee MUST fill to receive compensation.

Citizenship Behavior - Voluntary employee activities that may or may not be

rewarded but contribute to the organization by contributing to the overall quality of
the setting or context in which work takes place. Can be individual or organizational.

Counterproductive Behavior - Employee behaviors that intentionally hinder

organizational goal accomplishment.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
What is job performance?
What is task performance?
What are citizenship behaviors?
What is counterproductive behavior at work?
ORGANIZATIONAL
COMMITMENT
ORGANIZATIONAL
COMMITMENT
Why do you stay at your current job (or have you stayed at other jobs?)

Create a list….
AFFECTIVE COMMITMENT
A desire on the part of an employee to remain a member of an organization because
of an emotional attachment to, and involvement with, that organization

I believe in this org…my social network is here

These people tend to engage in more individual and organizational citizenship

behaviors
CONTINUANCE COMMITMENT
OF 2
1

A desire on the part of an employee to remain a member of an organization because

of an awareness of the costs associated with leaving it

My stock, the economy, all effect continuance commitment

NORMATIVE COMMITMENT
1 OF 2

A desire on the part of an employee to remain a member of an organization because

of a feeling of obligation

My boss really helped me/gave me a chance

FOUR TYPES OF EMPLOYEES

Organizational High task Low task

commitment performance performance
High Stars Citizens
organizational
commitment
Low Lone wolves Apathetics
organizational
commitment

Source: Adapted from R.W. Griffeth, S. Gaertner, and J.K. Sager,

“Taxonomic Model of Withdrawal Behaviors: the Adaptive Response
Model,” Human Resource Management Review 9 (1999), pp. 577-90
WITHDRAWAL
1 OF 3

A set of actions that employees perform to avoid the work situation

● One study found that 51% of employees’ time was spent working.
● The other 49% was allocated to coffee breaks, late starts, early departures,
personal, and other forms of withdrawal.
FIGURE 3-4
PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PHYSICAL WITHDRAWAL

Jump to Appendix 4 long image

description
APPLICATION
Employees are more committed when employers are committed to them.
Perceived organizational support is fostered when organizations:
●Protect job security
●Provide rewards
●Improve work conditions
●Minimize politics
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
What is organizational commitment?
What are withdrawal behaviors (psychological and physical)?
Three types of organizational commitment and how do they differ?
Describe the four types of employees.
How can organizations foster a sense of organizational commitment?
For 1/26:
Group paper #1
Individual Journal entry #1
Read chapter 4
Read article:
More than job satisfaction
Complete Values Exercise:
MGS 3400 Values Exercise.doc

questions?
GROUP TIME
FIRST…
HOW DO WE KNOW WHAT WE
KNOW?
Experience
Intuition
Authority
Science
Science
Theory
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

To test our theory, we gather data on the variables included in our hypotheses.
We then use variants of the correlation coefficient to test hypotheses, to see if
they verify our theory.
The correlation is as follows:
● Perfect positive relationship: 1
● Perfect negative relationship: -1
BIZARRE CORRELATIONS
CAUSATION IS NEAR IMPOSSIBLE
TO PROVE IN THE CASE OF OB (and
everything else really…)
Important disclaimer
○Correlation does not prove causation.

Proving causation requires:

○Correlation
○Temporal precedence
○Elimination of alternative explanations
Other ways people mislead you
Assumptions
Giving only a portion of the story
Small sample size
https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-who-found-evidence-for-gluten-sensitivity-ha
ve-now-shown-it-doesn-t-exist
SO HOW DO WE KNOW
ANYTHING??
The correlations from multiple studies get averaged together using meta-analysis.
Meta-analyses can then form the foundation for evidence-based management—the
use of scientific findings to inform management practice.
Well-supported theories become helpful tools for answering why questions, like:
○Why your best and worst coworkers act so differently
○Why you sometimes think, feel, and act a certain way
How do we combat all the trickery??
ASK QUESTIONS!
DO NOT ASSUME SOMETHING IS TRUE BECAUSE SOMEONE SAID IT IS!
MAKE PEOPLE PROVE WHAT THEY ARE SAYING

QUESTION YOUR OWN BELIEFS

ASK YOURSELF, “WHAT ARE THE STORIES I TELL MYSELF SO I CAN KEEP
MY BELIEFS?”
HAVE FRIENDS/ THAT THINK DIFFERENTLY THAN YOU
SEEK OUT THE OTHER SIDE
Group Paper
Find an example from recent news/commercials/social media where you feel they are
making assumptions, misusing correlation to imply causation, or just presenting
something as fact that you believe not to be a fact. Explain the issues and defend your
argument. At least 500 words.