Introduction to the field of organizational behavior

Introduction to the Field of Organizational Behavior

AILEEN MAE DOROJA

TOPICS

• Types of Individual Behavior• Contemporary Challenges for Organizations• Anchors of Organizational Behavior

Knowledge

Types of Individual Behavior

- Task Performance- Organizational Citizenship- Counterproductive Work Behaviors- Joining and Staying with the organization- Maintaining Work Attendance

2003 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd PPTs t/a Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim by McShane and Travaglione

Types ofwork-related

behaviour

Task Performance

Organizational Citizenship

Counterproductive Work

Behaviors

Maintaining Work

Attendance

Joining/Staying with the

organization

Types of work-related behaviourExhibit 1.2

TASK PERFORMANCE• Refers to goal-directed behaviours under the individual's control

that support organisational objectives. • Task performance behaviours transform raw materials into

goods and services, or support and maintain technical activities.

– For example, foreign exchange traders at the Bank of New Zealand make decisions and take actions to exchange currencies. Employees in most jobs have more than one performance dimension. Foreign exchange traders must be able to identify profitable trades, work cooperatively with clients and coworkers in a stressful environment, assist in training new staff and work on special telecommunications equipment without error.

ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP

• Perspective that employees have whereby they extend their behaviors beyond the normal duties of their position.

• Organizational citizenship behaviours (OCBs) – various forms of cooperation and helpfulness to

others that support the organisation's social and psychological context. In other words, companies require contextual performance (i.e. OCBs) along with task performance.

• Assisting coworkers: – An employee can take time from their work to

help another to get their job done, as they know it's important to the company and to the other employee. We have all potentially had situations where others pitched in to get a job done that had nothing to do with their specific job, outside of wanting to help the company and a fellow worker.

ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP(EXAMPLES)

• Working for the future: – So many employees look at what they are going to

get right now and do not look far into the future. Those who practice organizational citizenship believe there will be rewards down the road and do not focus on the short-term; rather, they focus on the long-term. This viewpoint also makes them long-term employees, which are desirable to any company.


• Being a company representative: – When some employees leave for the day, the company

they represent stays behind them in the office. An organizational citizen represents their company 24/7 and has no problem talking to others about how their company might help them. Think about standing in line with someone - you tell them about your company or job, and they begin to tell you how their company can help you. They are not on the clock, but they take the company with them wherever they go.


ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP(EX

• Company's public image• Taking discretionary action to help the

organisation avoid potential problems• Offering ideas beyond those required for your

own job• Attending voluntary functions that support the

organization• Keeping up with new developments in the

organization.


P&G was waiting for a shipment of materials needed to keep its production lines running. The shipment had arrived in

customs, but due to heavy rains the government declared a holiday for all of its offices (including customs). Undeterred by

the weather, a P&G plant engineer took the initiative of arranging to pick up a customs official from his house and take

him to the customs office to authorise clearance of the valuable materials. When the materials were cleared through customs, the engineer then made sure they were delivered to the plant the same day. By going beyond the call of duty, the engineer (with the cooperation of the customs officer) was

able to keep the production lines running


COUNTERPRODUCTIVE WORK BEHAVIORS

• ”dark side”• Counterproductive work behaviours (CWBs) – are voluntary behaviours that have the potential

to directly or indirectly harm the organisation.

• They include abuse of others (e.g. Insults and nasty comments)

• Threats (threatening harm)• Work avoidance (e.g. Tardiness)• Work sabotage (doing work incorrectly) and

overt acts (theft).

COUNTERPRODUCTIVE WORK BEHAVIORS(EXAMPLES)

Joining/Staying with the Organization

• Companies survive and thrive not just by hiring people with talent or potential; they also need to ensure that these employees stay with the company. Companies with high turnover suffer because of the high cost of replacing people who leave.

One Australian newspaper published stories of employers who didn't have any qualified applicants in spite of rising

unemployment. (Most employers filled their vacancies after the stories were reported.) The effects of staff shortages are apparent

in Wittlesea, Victoria, where a chronic shortage of paramedics has resulted in cancellation of some ambulance services. The

shortage has also placed a heavy strain on existing staff, some of whom are regularly (and reluctantly) working fourteen-hour days without a lunch break, and also covering other shifts on their days

off. ‘The paramedics are exhausted and each patient is then forced to wait longer for treatment,’ says the union representing

paramedics.

Joining/Staying with the Organization(EXAMPLE)

MAINTAINING WORK ATTENDANCE

• Situational factors—such as severe weather or car breakdown—explain some work absences.

• Motivation is another factor. Employees who experience job dissatisfaction or work-related stress are more likely to be absent or late for work because taking time off is a way to temporarily withdraw from stressful or dissatisfying conditions.

• Absenteeism is also higher in organisations with generous sick leave because this benefit limits the negative financial impact of taking time away from work.

• Studies have found that absenteeism is also higher in teams with strong absence norms, meaning that team members tolerate and even expect coworkers to take time off.

• One study of Queensland government employees discovered that absenteeism rates changed over time, and that these changing absence levels may be due to changing norms about how much unscheduled time off team members should take.

MAINTAINING WORK ATTENDANCE

Contemporary Challenges for Organizations

- Globalization- Increasing Workforce Diversity- Emerging Employment Relationships

GLOBALIZATION

• Refers to economic, social and cultural connectivity with people in other parts of the world.

• Globalisation offers numerous benefits to organisations in terms of larger markets, lower costs, and greater access to knowledge and innovation.

• At the same time, there is considerable debate about whether globalisation benefits developing nations, and whether it is primarily responsible for increasing work intensification, as well as reducing job security and work–life balance in developed countries.

Most people in the world have not heard of Fonterra, but chances are they have recently purchased or eaten one of its products. The New Zealand–based company is the world's largest dairy exporting business and the world's lowest cost producer of dairy ingredients. It operates in 140 countries, employs 20 000 people (including 2000 in Australia and 2500 in Asia) and represents 40 per cent of the global dairy trade. In many countries, it forms joint partnerships, such as those with the Dairy Farmers of

America, SanCor in Argentina and Aria in Europe.

GLOBALIZATION(EXAMPLE)

Fonterra's current position on the world stage is quite different from the situation a decade

ago, when three New Zealand dairy companies joined forces. They realised that forming a global enterprise was essential to their survival. The merged company was so globally focused from the outset that it was temporarily called GlobalCo until the name

Fonterra was chosen.


Fonterra's adjustment to a global operation was not easy, however. Executives were replaced as the company needed to adopt a different mindset. ‘A lot of people in the [pre-merger companies] were very New Zealand–centric and culturally did not understand the global

challenges of the teams offshore and the different operating companies,’ acknowledges

a Fonterra executive.


Fonterra and other organisations globalise when they actively participate in other countries and

cultures. Although businesses have traded goods across borders for centuries, the degree

of globalisation today is unprecedented because information technology and

transportation systems allow a much more intense level of connectivity and

interdependence across the planet.


Increasing Workforce Diversity

• Diversity encompasses race, gender, ethnic group, age, personality, cognitive style, tenure, organizational function, education, background and more.

• Diversity not only involves how people perceive themselves, but how they perceive others. Those perceptions affect their interactions.



• SURFACE-LEVEL DIVERSITY – The observable demographic or physiological

differences in people, such as their race, ethnicity, gender, age and physical disabilities.

• For example, during the late 1960s, more than half of Australia's immigrants came from the United Kingdom and Ireland. Today, these countries represent only 15 per cent of immigrants, whereas more than 25 per cent are from various parts of Asia.

• Even in countries with less diversity, globalisation puts employees in more contact with people with diverse backgrounds. Hong Kong is about 95 per cent Chinese, but many Hong Kong employees do business daily with suppliers and customers from every possible ethnic and cultural background elsewhere in the world.


• DEEP-LEVEL DIVERSITY – Differences in the psychological characteristics of

employees, including personalities, beliefs, values and attitudes.

– isn't as visible as surface-level diversity, but it is evident in a person's decisions, statements and actions.


GENERATIONAL COHORTS• Baby boomers—people born between 1946 and 1964—seem

to expect and desire more job security and are more intent on improving their economic and social status.

• Generation-X employees—those born between 1965 and 1979—expect less job security and are motivated more by workplace flexibility, the opportunity to learn (particularly new technology), and egalitarian and ‘fun’ organisations.

• Generation-Y employees (those born after 1979) are noticeably self-confident, optimistic, multitasking and more independent than even their Gen-X coworkers.


CONSEQUENCES OF DIVERSITY• Diversity presents both opportunities and challenges

in organisations.• diversity can become a competitive advantage by

improving decision making and team performance on complex tasks

• The evidence supporting diversity is consistent with anecdotal evidence that having a diverse workforce improves customer service, creativity and employee retention.


• Mt Albert PAK'nSAVE in New Zealand employs 300 people from fourteen cultures around the world. Brian Carran, who owns the PAK'nSAVE franchise, actively supports this diversity. Employees are encouraged to display their national flags on their name badges, making it easier for customers to find a staff member who speaks their language. By recognising and supporting each employee's ethnic origins, the Mt Albert PAK'nSAVE enjoys a much lower employee turnover rate than other supermarkets and (based on revenue) has become the fifth-largest supermarket in New Zealand.

Increasing Workforce Diversity(EXAMPLE)

CONSEQUENCES OF DIVERSITY• There is growing evidence that most forms of diversity

creates challenges as well as the aforementioned benefits.• Teams with diverse employees usually take longer to

perform effectively. • Diversity brings numerous communication problems as

well as ‘faultlines’ in informal group dynamics. • Diversity is also a source of conflict, which can lead to lack

of information sharing and, in extreme cases, morale problems and higher turnover.


• Workforce diversity is likely to be much more of a business advantage than a liability, but aside from that debate companies need to make it a priority on purely ethical grounds.

• Surface-level diversity is a moral and legal imperative. Companies that offer an inclusive workplace are, in essence, making fair and just decisions regarding employment, promotions, rewards and so on.

• This fairness is valuable in its own right (as a moral imperative) and because fairness is a well-established influence on employee loyalty and satisfaction.


• WORK–LIFE BALANCE– The degree to which a person minimises conflict

between work and nonwork demands.• VIRTUAL WORK – Work performed away from the traditional physical

workplace by means of information technology.• Ex. telecommuting or teleworking• In another form of virtual work, employees are connected

to the office while on the road or at clients' offices

EMERGING EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIPS

• Some research suggests that virtual work, particularly teleworking, potentially reduces employee stress by offering better work–life balance and dramatically reducing time lost through commuting to the office.

• Under some circumstances, telework arrangements also increase productivity and job satisfaction.

• Another benefit, at least for companies, is reduced office costs.



• Family relations may suffer rather than improve if employees lack sufficient space and resources for a home office.

• Some virtual workers complain of social isolation and reduced promotion opportunities.

Anchors of Organizational Behavior Knowledge

- The Multidisciplinary Anchor- The Systematic Research Anchor- The Contingency Anchor- The multiple Levels of Analysis Anchor

Anchors of Organizational Behavior KnowledgeExhibit 1.3

Multidisciplinary Anchor

• Organizational behavior is anchored around the idea that the field should develop from knowledge in other disciplines, not just from its own isolated research base.

• For instance, psychological research has aided our understanding of individual and interpersonal behavior. Sociologists have contributed to our knowledge of team dynamics, organizational socialization, organizational power, and other aspects of the social system.

Multidisciplinary Anchor• OB knowledge has also benefited from knowledge in

emerging fields such as:– Communications – Marketing– Information systems

• Some OB experts have recently argued that the field suffers from a “trade deficit”—importing far more knowledge from other disciplines than is exported to other disciplines. Although this may be a concern, organizational behavior has thrived through its diversity of knowledge from other fields of study.

Systematic Research Anchor

• A critical feature of OB knowledge is that it should be based on systematic research, which typically involves forming research questions, systematically collecting data, and testing hypotheses against those data.

• When research is founded on theory and conducted systematically, we can be more confident that the results are meaningful and useful for practice. This is known as evidence-based management — making decisions and taking actions based on research evidence.

Contingency Anchor• People and their work environments are complex, and the

field of organizational behavior recognizes this by stating that a particular action may have different consequences in different situations.

• OB experts do search for simpler theories, but they also remain sceptical about ‘sure-fire’ recommendations; an exception is likely to be lurking about.

• Thus, when faced with a particular problem or opportunity, we need to understand and diagnose the situation and select the strategy most appropriate under those conditions.

THE MULTIPLE LEVELS OF ANALYSIS ANCHOR

• Individual level – includes the characteristics and behaviours of employees, as

well as the thought processes that are attributed to them, such as motivation, perceptions, personalities, attitudes and values.

• Team level – of analysis looks at the way people interact. This includes team

dynamics, communication, power, organisational politics, conflict and leadership.

• Organisational level– focuses on how people structure their working relationships

and how organisations interact with their environments.

SUMMARY

The five main types of workplace behaviour are task performance, organisational citizen-ship, counterproductive work behaviours, joining and staying with the organisation, and work attendance. These represent the individual-level dependent variables found in most OB research.

Three environmental shifts challenging organisations include globalisation, increasing workforce diversity and emerging employment relationships. Globalisation refers to economic, social and cultural connectivity with people in other parts of the world. Workforce diversity includes both surface-level and deep-level diversity. Two emerging employment relationship changes are: demands for work–life balance and virtual work.

SUMMARY

Several conceptual anchors represent the principles on which OB knowledge is developed and refined. These anchors include beliefs that OB knowledge should be multidisciplinary and based on systematic research, that organisational events usually have contingencies and that organisational behaviour can be viewed from three levels of analysis (individual, team and organisation).

Introduction to the field of organizational behavior

Business