CH-1-3 What is Organizational Behavior? – Essentials of Organizational Behavior : Chapter Notes

This Document Contains Chapters 1 to 3 Chapter 1 What is Organizational Behavior? Chapter Overview This chapter introduces the concept of organizational behavior. The focus of the text is that coupling individual understanding of behavior gained through experience with that gained through systematic OB analysis will help managers become more effective. Many of the important challenges being faced by today’s managers are described, as are the three levels of OB study. The outline of the text is described in relation to these three levels. Chapter Objectives After studying this chapter, the student should be able to: 1. Demonstrate the importance of interpersonal skills in the workplace. 2. Define organizational behavior (OB). 3. Show the value to OB of the systematic study. 4. Identify the major behavioral science disciplines that contribute to OB. 5. Demonstrate why few absolutes apply to OB. 6. Identify the challenges and opportunities managers have in applying OB concepts. 7. Compare the three levels of analysis in this text’s OB model. Suggested Lecture Outline I. INTRODUCTION A. Managers most often describe people problems as their most frequent and troublesome problems. They talk about: 1. Bosses’ poor communication skills, 2. Employees’ employee resistance to a company’s reorganization and similar concerns. B. Until the late 1980s, business school curricula emphasized the technical aspects of management, focusing on economics, accounting, finance, and quantitative techniques. 1. Course work in human behavior and people skills received relatively less attention. 2. During the past three decades, however, business faculty have come to realize the role that understanding human behavior plays in determining a manager’s effectiveness, and required courses on people skills have been added to many curricula. C. Developing managers’ interpersonal skills also helps organizations attract and keep high-performing employees. 1. Regardless of labor market conditions, outstanding employees are always in short supply. 2. Companies known as good places to work have a big advantage. 3. A recent survey of hundreds of workplaces, and over 200,000 respondents, showed the social relationships among co-workers and supervisors were strongly related to overall job satisfaction. a. Positive social relationships also were associated with lower stress at work and lower intentions to quit. b. Having managers with good interpersonal skills is likely to make the workplace more pleasant, which in turn makes it easier to hire and keep qualified people. c. Creating a pleasant workplace also appears to make good economic sense. Companies with reputations as good places to work (such as the “100 Best Companies to Work for in America”) have been found to generate superior financial performance.4. We have come to understand that in today’s competitive and demanding workplace, managers can’t succeed on their technical skills alone. a. They also have to have good people skills. b. This book has been written to help both managers and potential managers develop those people skills. II. ENTER ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR A. We’ve made the case for the importance of people skills. But neither this book nor the discipline on which it is based is called “people skills.” B. The term that is widely used to describe the discipline is organizational behavior. Organizational behavior is an applied behavioral science built on contributions from a number of behavioral disciplines, mainly psychology and social psychology, sociology, and anthropology. 1. Psychology’s contributions have been mainly at the individual or micro level of analysis, while the other disciplines have contributed to our understanding of macro concepts such as group processes and organization. 2. Exhibit 1-1 is an overview of the major contributions to the study of organizational behavior. B. Psychology: seeks to measure, explain, and sometimes change behavior of humans and other animals. 1. Those who have contributed and continue to add to the knowledge of OB are: a. learning theorists b. personality theorists c. counseling psychologists d. industrial and organizational psychologists. 1) Early industrial/organizational psychologists studied the problems of fatigue, boredom, and other working conditions that could impede efficient work performance. 2) More recently, their contributions have expanded to include learning, perception, personality, emotions, training, leadership effectiveness, needs and motivational forces, job satisfaction, decision-making processes, performance appraisals, attitude measurement, employee-selection techniques, work design, and job stress. C. Social psychology: generally considered a branch of psychology; blends concepts from both psychology and sociology to focus on peoples’ influence on one another. 1. One major study area is change—how to implement it and how to reduce barriers to its acceptance. 2. Social psychologists also contribute to measuring, understanding, and changing attitudes; identifying communication patterns; and building trust. 3. Finally, they have made important contributions to our study of group behavior, power, and conflict. D. Sociology: studies people in relation to their social environment or culture. 1. While psychology focuses on the individual, sociology studies people in relation to their social environment or culture. a. Sociologists have contributed to OB through their study of group behavior in organizations, particularly formal and complex organizations. b. Perhaps most important, sociologists have studied organizational culture, formal organization theory and structure, organizational technology, communications, power, and conflict. E. Anthropology: the study of societies to learn about human beings and their activities. 1. Anthropologists’ work on cultures and environments has helped us understand differences in fundamental values, attitudes, and behavior between people in different countries and within different organizations. 2. Much of our current understanding of organizational culture, organizational environments, and differences among national cultures is a result of the work of anthropologists or those using their methods. V. THERE ARE FEW ABSOLUTES IN OB A. Laws in the physical sciences—chemistry, astronomy, physics—are consistent and apply in a wide range of situations. 1. They allow scientists to generalize about the pull of gravity or to be confident about sending astronauts into space to repair satellites. 2. Human beings are complex, and few, if any, simple and universal principles explain organizational behavior. a. Because we are not alike, our ability to make simple, accurate, and sweeping generalizations is limited. b. Two people often act very differently in the same situation, and the same person’s behavior changes in different situations. c. Not everyone is motivated by money, and people may behave differently at a religious service than they do at a party. B. That doesn’t mean that we can’t offer reasonably accurate explanations of human behavior or make valid predictions. It does mean that OB concepts must reflect situational, or contingency, conditions. 1. We can say x leads to y, but only under conditions specified in z—the contingency variables. 2. The science of OB was developed by applying general concepts to a particular situation, person, or group. 3. For example, OB scholars would avoid stating that everyone likes complex and challenging work (the general concept), because not everyone wants a challenging job. a. Some people prefer routine to varied, or simple over complex. b. A job attractive to one person may not be to another; its appeal is contingent upon the person who holds it. C. As you proceed through this book, you’ll encounter a wealth of research-based theories about how people behave in organizations. 1. But don’t expect to find a lot of straightforward cause-and-effect relationships. There aren’t many! 2. Organizational behavior theories mirror the subject matter with which they deal, and people are complex and complicated. VI. CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR OB A. Understanding organizational behavior has never been more important for managers. B. Take a quick look at the dramatic changes in organizations. 1. The typical employee is getting older. 2. More women and people of color are in the workplace; corporate downsizing and the heavy use of temporary workers are severing the bonds of loyalty that tied many employees to their employers. 3. Global competition requires employees to become more flexible and cope with rapid change. The global recession has brought to the forefront the challenges of working with and managing people during uncertain times. C. Responding to Economic Pressures 1. When the U.S. economy plunged into a deep and prolonged recession in 2008, virtually all other large economies around the world followed suit. Layoffs and job losses were widespread, and those who survived the ax were often asked to accept pay cuts. 2. When times are bad like they were during the recession, managers are on the front lines with employees who must be fired, who are asked to make do with less, and who worry about their futures. 3. The difference between good and bad management can be the difference between profit and loss, or ultimately, between survival and failure. 4. Managing employees well when times are good can be just as hard, if not harder, than when times are bad. 5. But the OB approaches sometimes differ. In good times, understanding how to reward, satisfy, and retain employees is at a premium. In bad times, issues like stress, decision making, and coping come to the fore. D. Responding to Globalization. There are many challenges faced by managers that can benefit by the use of OB concepts, including: 1. Increased foreign assignments. Managers increasingly find themselves working overseas dealing with a workforce that may hold different needs, aspirations, and attitudes. 2. Working with people from different cultures. Even if the manager stays in the domestic environment, the workers that the manager deals with may come from different cultures and backgrounds. Motivational techniques and managerial styles may have to be modified to remain effective. 3. Overseeing movement of jobs to countries with low-cost labor. Outsourcing tasks and jobs to low-labor-cost countries may make economic sense, but such decisions are not without local ramifications. a. Managers must be able to deal with unions, government, and the public, who see outsourcing as a threat to their livelihood. b. Balancing the needs of the company with the needs of the community is at the heart of a firm’s concerns over social responsibility. 4. Adapting to differing cultural and regulatory norms. a. Managers need to know the cultural norms of the workforce in each of the countries in which they do business. b. Managers also need to consider local and country regulations. Violating these can have implications for operations in the country and also for political relations between countries. c. Managers also need to be cognizant of differences in regulations for competitors in the country; many times, the laws will give national companies significant financial advantages over foreign subsidiaries. E. Managing Workforce Diversity. 1. One of the most important challenges for organizations is adapting to people who are different. We describe this challenge as workforce diversity. a. Whereas globalization focuses on differences among people from different countries, workforce diversity addresses differences among people within given countries. 2. Workforce diversity acknowledges a workforce of women and men; many racial and ethnic groups; individuals with a variety of physical or psychological abilities; and people who differ in age and sexual orientation. a. Managing this diversity is a global concern. 3. Though we have more to say about workforce diversity in a later chapter, suffice it to say here that it presents great opportunities and poses challenging questions for managers and employees in all countries. F. Improving Customer Service. The majority of the workforce in developed nations works in service jobs. 1. These jobs require substantial interaction with the organization’s customers: poor service experiences can lead to organizational failure. 2. Managers must create customer-responsive cultures whose members are: a. Friendly and courteous b. Accessible c. Knowledgeable d. Prompt in responding to customer needs e. Willing to do what is necessary to please the customer G. Improving People Skills. 1. As you proceed through the chapters of this book, we’ll present relevant concepts and theories that can help you explain and predict the behavior of people at work. 2. In addition, you’ll gain insights into specific people skills that you can use on the job. 3. For instance, you’ll learn ways to design motivating jobs, techniques for improving your listening skills, and how to create more effective teams. H. Working in Networked Organizations 1. Networked organizations allow people to communicate and work together even though they may be thousands of miles apart. a. Independent contractors can telecommute via computer to workplaces around the globe and change employers as the demand for their services changes. b. Software programmers, graphic designers, systems analysts, technical writers, photo researchers, book and media editors, and medical transcribers are just a few examples of people who can work from home or other non-office locations. 2. The manager’s job is different in a networked organization. a. Motivating and leading people and making collaborative decisions online require different techniques than when individuals are physically present in a single location. b. As more employees do their jobs by linking to others through networks, managers must develop new skills. OB can provide valuable insights to help with honing those skills. I. Enhancing Employee Well-Being at Work 1. The typical employee in the 1960s or 1970s showed up at a specified workplace Monday through Friday and worked for clearly defined 8- or 9-hour chunks of time. a. That’s no longer true for a large segment of today’s workforce as even the definition of the workplace has been expanded to include anywhere a laptop or smartphone can go. Even if employees work from home or from half a continent away, managers need to consider well-being at work. b. One of the biggest challenges to maintaining employee well-being is that organizations are asking employees to put in longer hours, either in the office or online. 1) Employees are increasingly complaining that the line between work and non-work time has become blurred, creating personal conflicts and stress. c. Second, employee well-being is challenged by heavy outside commitments. 1) Millions of single-parent households and employees with dependent parents have even more significant challenges in balancing work and family responsibilities. 2. Recent studies suggest employees want jobs that give them flexibility in their work schedules so they can better manage work–life conflicts. a. Organizations that don’t help their people achieve work–life balance will find it increasingly difficult to attract and retain the most capable and motivated employees. b. As you’ll see in later chapters, the field of OB offers a number of suggestions to guide managers in designing workplaces and jobs that can help employees deal with work–life conflicts. J. Creating a Positive Work Environment. 1. A real growth area in OB research is positive organizational scholarship (also called positive organizational behavior), which studies how organizations develop human strengths, foster vitality and resilience, and unlock potential. a. Researchers in this area say that too much of OB research and management practice has been targeted toward identifying what’s wrong with organizations and their employees. In response, they try to study what’s good about them. b. Some key independent variables in positive OB research are engagement, hope, optimism, and resilience in the face of strain. 2. Positive organizational scholars have studied a concept called “reflected best-self” – asking employees to think about when they were at their “personal best” in order to understand how to exploit their strengths. 3. Although positive organizational scholarship does not deny the value of the negative, it does challenge researchers to look at OB through a new lens and it pushes organizations to exploit employees’ strengths rather than dwell on their limitations. K. Improving Ethical Behavior. 1. In an organizational world characterized by cutbacks, expectations of increasing productivity, and tough competition, it’s not surprising many employees feel pressured to cut corners, break rules, and engage in other questionable practices. 2. Increasingly they face ethical dilemmas and ethical choices, in which they are required to identify right and wrong conduct. a. What constitutes good ethical behavior has never been clearly defined, and, in recent years, the line differentiating right from wrong has blurred. b. Employees see people all around them engaging in unethical practices—elected officials pad expense accounts or take bribes; corporate executives inflate profits so they can cash in lucrative stock options; and university administrators look the other way when winning coaches encourage scholarship athletes to take easy courses. 1) When caught, these people give excuses such as “Everyone does it” or “You have to seize every advantage nowadays.” 2) Determining the ethically correct way to behave is especially difficult in a global economy because different cultures have different perspectives on certain ethical issues.3) Fair treatment of employees in an economic downturn varies considerably across cultures, for instance. 3. Today’s manager must create an ethically healthy climate for his or her employees, where they can do their work productively with minimal ambiguity about what right and wrong behaviors are. a. Companies that promote a strong ethical mission, encourage employees to behave with integrity, and provide strong ethical leadership can influence employee decisions to behave ethically.b. In upcoming chapters, we’ll discuss the actions managers can take to create an ethically healthy climate and help employees sort through ethically ambiguous situations. VII. COMING ATTRACTIONS: DEVELOPING AN OB MODEL This book will follow the three levels of OB analysis, building from the individual to the organizational perspectives. Each level builds upon the levels before it. A. Three Levels of Analysis. OB can be examined at three levels, each with its own unique perspective. 1. Individual level. Examines foundations of individual behavior: personality, values, perception, decision making, motivation, emotions, and moods (Chapters 2–8). 2. Group level. Group behavior is more than the sum of the behaviors of the individuals within it; additionally, individuals act differently when in groups. The next section of the text (Chapters 9-14) explores group behavior by providing basic group concepts and examining what makes teams effective: communication, decision making, leadership, power, politics, conflict, and negotiation. 3. Organization system level. Organizational behavior, while composed of both individual and group behaviors, is more than the sum of its parts. Chapters 15-17 describe how an organization’s structure and culture affects individual behavior. The text finishes with change techniques in organizational settings. VIII. SUMMARY AND IMPLICATIONS FOR MANAGERS A. Managers need to develop their interpersonal, or people, skills to be effective in their jobs. 1. Organizational behavior (OB) investigates the impact that individuals, groups, and structure have on behavior within an organization, and it applies that knowledge to make organizations work more effectively. B. Here are a few specific implications for managers: 1. Resist the inclination to rely on generalizations; some provide valid insights into human behavior, but many are erroneous. 2. Use metrics and situational variables rather than hunches to explain cause-and-effect relationships. 3. Work on your interpersonal skills to increase your leadership potential. 4. Improve your technical and conceptual skills through training and staying current with organizational trends like big data. 5. Organizational behavior can improve your employees’ work quality and productivity by showing you how to empower your employees, design and implement change programs, improve customer service, and address the work-life balance conflict. IX. MARGINAL NOTES A. ¨OB’s goal is to understand and predict human behavior in organizations.” B. ¨There are several social science disciplines that contribute to OB, but none are more important than psychology.” C. ¨It is more important than ever to learn OB concepts.” Discussion Questions 1. Define organizational behavior (OB). How can learning OB help you in your daily life? Answer: OB is the study of the influence that individuals, groups, and structure have on behavior within organizations. The chief goal of OB is to apply that knowledge toward improving an organization’s effectiveness. The second question will vary depending on the student, but there should be a direct link between life situations and the areas covered by OB. Students should give some indication that by having a systematic understanding of behavior, rather than just an individual experiential understanding of behavior, a better outcome would be achieved. 2. Why has the study of OB become a standard component of business school programs? Answer: Business schools have come to realize, as have most managers, that learning just the technical aspects of management is insufficient for long-term managerial success. The important factors for this long-term managerial success are gaining an understanding of human behavior and developing increased communication skills. 3. How does the systematic study of OB help managers be more effective? Answer: Most people learn human behavior through their own individual observations. This method of learning always contains the potential for error. By coupling this individual learning with the systematic scientific study of OB and Evidence-based Management, managers benefit from the experiences and study of thousands of social scientists, rather than just relying on their own limited experiences. This broader base of understanding is more likely to help the manager make much better decisions and influence people more effectively. 4. What behavioral sciences contribute to our understanding of OB? Select one of these behavioral sciences and describe how it helps managers. Answer: Psychology, social psychology, sociology, and anthropology are the behavioral sciences that contribute to our understanding of OB. The answers of the second question will vary depending on the students. The answer should tie the primary learning areas of one of the behavioral sciences (see below) to typical managerial problems. Ensure that the student indicates that knowing more about OB will make managers more effective through either (1) a greater ability to understand and influence other people, (2) a better design of organizations and jobs, or (3) a better understanding of group behavior. Psychology: individual (micro) focus, in the areas of learning, perception, personality, emotions, training, leadership effectiveness, needs, motivation, job satisfaction, decision making, performance appraisals, attitude measurements, employee selection, work design, and job stress. Social Psychology: individual and group (macro) focus, in the areas of change, measuring and changing attitudes, communications patterns, building trust, group behavior, power, and conflict. Sociology: group and organizational (macro) focus, in the areas of group behavior, organizational culture, organizational theory and structure, communications, power, and conflict. Anthropology: group and organizational (macro) focus, in the areas of values, attitudes, behaviors between organizations and countries. Anthropology also studies organizational culture and environment. 5. Select one of the OB concepts given in the chapter and apply it to a situation in your work or school life. How did this concept help with the situation or if it was not applied, how could it have helped in the outcome? Answer: The answers will vary depending on the student. Ensure that the student clearly ties the situation to an OB concept and indicates understanding of the concept by explaining how the concept would help the situation. Let's consider the concept of "emotional intelligence" from Organizational Behavior (OB). In a recent group project at school, I noticed that conflicts arose between team members due to differing opinions and stress. Applying emotional intelligence helped me manage these interactions more effectively. By being aware of my own emotions and empathetic towards others, I facilitated better communication and resolved misunderstandings. This improved team cohesion and productivity. If I hadn't applied emotional intelligence, the project could have suffered from ongoing conflicts and reduced collaboration. 6. Taken from a managerial point of view, what do you think is the major OB challenge facing businesses today? Answer: This may again vary depending on the particular viewpoint and experience of the student, but it should be one of the following. The best answers based on the text are (1) managing diversity or (2) responding to globalization. Other acceptable answers are: (3) improving customer service, (4) improving people skills, (5) stimulating innovation and change, (6) coping with “temporariness,” (7) working in networked organizations, (8) helping employees balance work-life conflicts, or (9) improving ethical behavior. Ensure that the student provides a good rationale for the answer. 7. Compare and contrast the three levels of OB analysis. Answer: The three levels are individual, group, and organizational systems. Common aspects: the study of human behavior including decision making, emotion, perception, and motivation. Unique aspects for each level deal primarily with the focus of the research activity: person, group, or larger grouping (such as society, organization, or country). It should be noted, however, that each successive level builds on the theories and findings of the lower levels. Exercises 1. Self-analysis. What do you hope to gain from the study of OB? How well do you think you currently understand human behavior in organizations? Have you ever been surprised by the actions or reactions of another person? Why? Describe what actually happened and what you were expecting to happen. What do you think may have caused the difference? 2. Web Crawling. Using an Internet search engine of your choice, find an article in either the popular press or a professional journal that relates to OB. Describe the key points of the article and detail how OB was used or should have been used in the situation. 3. Current Event. In a small group (four or fewer people per group), discuss a current event that was influenced by, or could have been positively influenced by a clear understanding of OB. Prepare a ten-minute group presentation that concisely describes the current event and what the team believes to be the impact of OB. Discuss the team’s results with the class. 4. Three-Minute Elevator Introduction. Have students introduce themselves by giving their name and any other information you deem appropriate, and by offering one short one- to three-minute story about an experience they had with an organization. Give students several minutes to think about their story. Keep time, and stop students who go too long. Tell them to imagine that they are new employees and introducing themselves to co-workers met in an elevator. 5. Experiences with Managers. Divide the class into groups of three, and have them discuss their experiences with managers. They may discuss items such as their last performance appraisal, a job interview, or a customer service issue. Use this as a starting point to discuss the importance of "people" in an organizational context. 6. Where Do You Want to Work? Lead a class discussion on what makes good organizations and what makes bad organizations. Create two lists on the board (good and bad) and write the ideas as the students brainstorm them. Once the class has given 10-20 answers on each list, stop them, and start grouping their responses into relevant key ideas. Point out how these key ideas are the primary topics of OB studies. 7. Learn From Experience. If you have older adult students, have them share their experiences regarding how the workplace used to look. Examine such issues as the demographic make-up of the organization, and the attitudes of workers toward management. Emphasize how new the field of OB is, based upon these anecdotes. 8. Analyzing Your Organization (Cumulative Project). This is an on-going activity that will help the student better understand his or her organization, or, if the student is not currently working, the organization for which he or she would like to work. This cumulative “hands-on” project will build on the concepts of each chapter. The point of the exercise is to take the OB theories and concepts and apply them to real organizations. There are many ways you can use this project. For example, it could serve as homework to be turned in each week, or a project to be built upon each week and turned in at the end of the class as a term paper/project. You could also use the exercise as a class discussion item, selecting students to do short discussion starter presentations several times per term. Still another use is to have them summarize their findings in small groups, and have each group report a summary to the class. Most of these activities will involve interviewing someone who has knowledge of the topic. While interviewing someone in the subject organization is preferable, you may wish to allow students to interview outside experts to gain a greater understanding of the concepts. Use the questions provided after each chapter of the Instructor’s Manual as a guideline, but be sure to adapt them to the student’s needs. It is desirable for students to obtain written approval from their manager or supervisor early on in the process. Because OB deals with potentially sensitive issues, it is best if the students detail the project to the relevant parties early on in the process. You may choose to have the written approval as part of the first deliverables in this project. Suggested Assignments 1. Have the students discuss your course syllabus, including a description of the project, with their supervisor (or the person who will be their primary contact in cases where the student is not working for the organization to be studied in Analyzing Your Organization, No. 8 above). Submit the written approval. 2. Have the students briefly describe their chosen organization, discussing what goods or services are produced, how many employees it has, what the structure looks like, and a general overview of how the organization of study is managed. Ensure students include their relationship to the organization (they are employees, job seekers, or simply interested parties). Chapter 2 Diversity in Organizations Chapter Overview This chapter examines individual characteristics, including age, gender, race, ethnicity, and abilities, and how they influence employee performance; how managers can increase their awareness of these characteristics, and better manage a diverse workforce. Chapter Objectives After studying this chapter, the student should be able to: 1. Describe the two major forms of workforce diversity and give examples of how workplace discrimination undermines diversity effectiveness. 2. Identify the key biographical characteristics and describe how they are relevant to OB. 3. Define intellectual ability and demonstrate its relevance to OB. 4. Contrast intellectual and physical ability. 5. Describe how organizations manage diversity effectively. Suggested Lecture Outline I. INTRODUCTION A. In this chapter, we look at the two major forms of workforce diversity, identify the key biological characteristics, and describe their relevance to OB, define intellectual capability and explore its relevance in OB, and discuss how to manage a diverse workforce effectively. II. DIVERSITY A. Demographic Characteristics of the U.S. Workforce 1. A change has occurred in the formerly predominantly white, male managerial workforce. Today’s workforce is gender-balanced and multiethnic. a. Compared to 1950, women today are much more likely to be employed full time, have more education, and earn wages comparable to those of men. b. In addition, over the past 50 years, the earnings gap between Whites and other racial and ethnic groups has decreased significantly; past differences between Whites and Asians have disappeared or been reversed. 2. This permanent shift toward a diverse workforce means organizations need to make diversity management a central component of their policies and practices. 3. A survey by the Society for Human Resource Management shows some major employer concerns and opportunities resulting from the demographic makeup of the U.S. workforce. B. Levels of Diversity 1. Demographics mostly reflect surface level diversity, not thoughts and feelings, and can lead employees to perceive one another through stereotypes and assumptions. 2. However, evidence has shown that as people get to know one another, they become less concerned about demographic differences if they see themselves as sharing more important characteristics, such as personality and values, that represent deep-level diversity. a. Individual differences in personality and culture shape preferences for rewards, communication styles, reactions to leaders, negotiation styles, and many other aspects of behavior in organizations. C. Discrimination 1. Although diversity does present many opportunities for organizations, effective diversity management also means working to eliminate unfair discrimination. a. To discriminate is to note a difference between things, which in itself isn’t necessarily bad. b. Noticing one employee is more qualified for making hiring decisions, and noticing another is taking on leadership responsibilities exceptionally well is necessary for making promotion decisions. 1) Usually when we talk about discrimination, though, we mean allowing our behavior to be influenced by stereotypes about groups of people. Rather than looking at individual characteristics, unfair discrimination assumes everyone in a group is the same. c. As Exhibit 2-1 shows, discrimination can occur in many ways, and its effects can be just as varied depending on the organizational context and the personal biases of its members. 1) Some forms, like exclusion or incivility, are especially hard to root out because they are impossible to observe and may occur simply because the actor isn’t aware of the effects of his or her actions. d. Whether intentional or not, discrimination can lead to serious negative consequences for employers, including reduced productivity and citizenship behavior, negative conflicts, and increased turnover. e. Unfair discrimination also leaves qualified job candidates out of initial firing and promotions. 1) Even if an employment discrimination lawsuit is never filed, a strong business case can be made for aggressively working to eliminate unfair discrimination. f. Discrimination is one of the primary factors that prevent diversity, whether the discrimination is overt or covert. 1) Recognizing diversity opportunities can lead to an effective diversity management program and ultimately to a better organization. III. BIOGRAPHICAL CHARACTERISTICS A. Diversity is a broad term, and the phrase workplace diversity can refer to any characteristic that makes people different from one another. 1. Biographical characteristics such as age, gender, race, disability, and length of service are some of the most obvious ways employees differ. B. Age. 1. The relationship between age and job performance is likely to be an issue of increasing importance during the next decade for many reasons. a. The workforce is aging. b. There is U.S. legislation that, for all intents and purposes, outlaws mandatory retirement. 2. Employers express mixed feelings about the older worker. a. They see a number of positive qualities older workers bring to their jobs, such as experience, judgment, a strong work ethic, and commitment to quality. But older workers are also perceived as lacking flexibility and resisting new technology. 3. What effect does age actually have on turnover, absenteeism, productivity, and satisfaction? a. The older you get, the less likely you are to quit your job. b. In general, older employees have lower rates of avoidable absence than do younger employees. However, they have equal rates of unavoidable absence such as sickness absences. c. Reviews of the research find that age and job task performance are unrelated and that older workers are more likely to engage in citizenship behavior. d. The evidence is mixed regarding age and job satisfaction. Satisfaction tends to continually increase among professionals as they age, whereas it falls among nonprofessionals during middle age and then rises again in the later years. 4. Combatting age discrimination may be associated with higher levels of organizational performance. C. Sex. 1. Few issues initiate more debates, misconceptions, and unsupported opinions than whether women perform as well on jobs as men do. 2. The best place to begin to consider this is with the recognition that few, if any, important differences between men and women affect job performance. a. There are no consistent male-female differences in problem-solving ability, analytical skills, competitive drive, motivation, sociability, or learning ability. 3. Unfortunately, sex roles still affect our perceptions. a. Once on the job, men and women may be offered a similar number of developmental experiences, but females are less likely to be assigned challenging positions by men, assignments that may help them achieve higher organizational positions. b. Women who succeed in traditionally male domains are perceived as less likeable, more hostile, and less desirable as supervisors. c. Women still earn less money than men for the same positions, even for traditionally female positions. d. Working mothers also face “maternal wall bias” by employers, meaning that they often are not considered for new positions after they have children, and both men and women face discrimination for their family caregiving roles. 4. Research has shown that workers who experience the worst form of overt discrimination, sexual harassment, have higher levels of psychological stress, and that these feelings in turn are related to lower levels of organizational commitment and job satisfaction, and higher intentions to leave. a. Research continues to underline that although the reasons for employee turnover are complex, sex discrimination is detrimental to organizational performance particularly for intellectual positions, for managerial employees, in the United States, and in medium-size firms. 5. Again, it is worth asking what the implications of sex discrimination are for individuals. a. The evidence suggests that combatting sex discrimination may be associated with better performance for the organization as a whole. D. Race and Ethnicity. 1. Race is a controversial issue. a. We define race as the biological heritage people use to identify themselves; ethnicity is the additional set of cultural characteristics that often overlaps with race. 2. Most people in the United States identify themselves according to racial groups. The U.S. Bureau of the Census classifies individuals according to seven broad racial categories: American Indian and Alaskan Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, Some Other Race, White, and Two or More Races. a. An ethnicity distinction is also made between native English speakers and Hispanics: Hispanics can be of any race. 3. Race and ethnicity have been studied as they relate to employment outcomes such as hiring decisions, performance evaluations, pay, and workplace discrimination. We can summarize a few points. a. In employment settings, individuals tend to slightly favor colleagues of their own race in performance evaluations, promotion decisions, and pay raises, although such differences are not found consistently, especially when highly structured methods of decision making are employed. b. Substantial racial differences exist in attitudes toward affirmative action, with African Americans approving of such programs to a greater degree than Whites. c. African Americans generally fare worse than Whites in employment decisions. d. Employers’ major concerns about using mental-ability tests for selection, promotion, training, and similar employment decisions is that these tests may have an unnecessary negative impact on racial and ethnic groups, discriminating against employees whom they consider qualified. 4. Does racial and ethnic discrimination lead to negative workplace outcomes? 5. The evidence isn’t entirely clear. Considerable evidence suggests that diversity tends to interfere with group cohesion and decision making, at least in the early stages of group formation. 6. On the other hand, some research suggests that having a positive climate for diversity overall can lead to increased sales. 7. Evidence suggests that some people find interacting with other racial groups uncomfortable unless there are clear behavioral scripts to guide their behavior, so creating diverse work groups focused on mutual goals could be helpful, along with developing a positive diversity climate. E. Disability. 1. With the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990, representation of individuals with disabilities in the U.S. workforce rapidly increased. 2. Making inferences about the relationship between disability and employment outcomes is difficult because the term disability is so broad. 3. One of the most controversial aspects of the ADA is the provision that requires employers to make reasonable accommodations for people with psychiatric disabilities. 4. The impact of disabilities on employment outcomes has been explored from a variety of perspectives. a. On the one hand, a review of the evidence suggests that workers with disabilities receive higher performance evaluations, whether or not the evaluations would be considered objective. b. This same review found that despite these higher performance ratings, individuals with disabilities tend to encounter lower performance expectations and are less likely to be hired. c. Negative employment situations are prevalent for individuals with mental disabilities, and there is some evidence to suggest mental disabilities may impair performance more than physical disabilities. 5. In sum, the treatment of the disabled workforce has long been problematic, but the recognition of the talents and abilities of disabled individuals has made a difference toward reducing workplace discrimination. a. In addition, continuing technology and workplace advancements have greatly increased the scope of available jobs for those with all types of disabilities. F. Other Biographical Characteristics: Tenure, Religion, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, and Cultural Identity 1. Tenure. Except for gender and racial differences, few issues are more subject to misconceptions and speculations than the impact of seniority on job performance. a. If we define seniority as time on a particular job, the most recent evidence demonstrates a positive relationship between seniority and job productivity. b. So tenure, expressed as work experience, appears to be a good predictor of employee productivity. c. Studies consistently show seniority to be negatively related to absenteeism. d. Tenure is also a potent variable in explaining turnover. 2. Religion. Perhaps the greatest religious diversity issue in the United States today revolves around Islam. a. There are nearly 2 million Muslims in the United States, and across the world Islam is one of the most popular religions. Yet, there is evidence that people are discriminated against for their Islamic faith. b. Faith can be an employment issue when religious beliefs prohibit or encourage certain behaviors. 3. Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity. a. Employees differ widely in their treatment of sexual orientation. b. Federal law does not prohibit discrimination against employees based on sexual orientation, though many states and municipalities do. c. Many organizations have implemented policies and procedures protecting employees on the basis of sexual orientation. 4. Cultural Identity. a. Many people carry a strong cultural identity, a link with the culture of family ancestry or youth that lasts a lifetime, no matter where the individual may live in the world. b. People choose their cultural identity, and also how closely they observe the norms of that culture. c. Cultural norms influence the workplace. Organizations must adapt. d. Today’s global companies do well to understand and respect the cultural identities of their employees, both as groups and as individuals. IV. ABILITY A. Ability is an individual’s current capacity to perform the various tasks in a job. Overall abilities are made up of two sets of factors: intellectual and physical. B. Intellectual Abilities 1. Intellectual abilities are abilities needed to perform mental activities – thinking, reasoning, and problem solving. 2. Most societies place a high value on intelligence, and for good reason. 3. Smart people generally earn more money and attain higher levels of education. 4. They are also more likely to emerge as leaders of groups. 5. As shown in Exhibit 2-2, the seven most frequently cited dimensions making up intellectual abilities are number aptitude, verbal comprehension, perceptual speed, inductive reasoning, deductive reasoning, spatial visualization, and memory. a. Intellectual dimensions are positively related, so if you score high on verbal comprehension, for example, you’re more likely to also score high on spatial visualization. b. The correlations aren’t perfect, meaning people do have specific abilities that predict important work-related outcomes when considered individually. c. However, they are high enough that researchers also recognize a general factor of intelligence, general mental ability (GMA). d. Evidence strongly supports the idea that the structures and measures of intellectual abilities generalize across cultures. e. There is some evidence that IQ scores vary to some degree across cultures, but these differences are much smaller when we take into account educational and economic differences. 6. Jobs differ in the demands they place on intellectual abilities. a. The more complex a job in terms of information-processing demands, the more general intelligence and verbal abilities will be necessary to perform successfully. b. Where employee behavior is highly routine and there are few or no opportunities to exercise discretion, a high IQ is not as important to performing as well. 7. Interestingly, while intelligence is a big help in performing a job well, it doesn’t make people happier or more satisfied with their jobs. C. Physical Abilities 1. Though the changing nature of work suggests intellectual abilities are increasingly important for many jobs, physical abilities have been and will remain valuable. 2. Research on hundreds of jobs has identified nine basic abilities (see Exhibit 2-3) needed in the performance of physical tasks. 3. Individuals differ in the extent to which they have each of these abilities. D. The Role of Disabilities 1. The importance of ability obviously creates problems when we attempt to formulate workplace policies that recognize diversity in terms of disability status. 2. As we have noted, recognizing that individuals have different abilities that can be taken into account when making hiring decisions is not problematic. 3. However, it is discriminatory to make blanket assumptions about people on the basis of a disability. V. IMPLEMENTING DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES A. Diversity management makes everyone more aware of and sensitive to the needs and differences of others. 1. Diversity is much more likely to be successful when we see it as everyone’s business than if we believe it helps only certain groups of employees. B. Attracting, Selecting, Developing, and Retaining Diverse Employees 1. One method of enhancing workforce diversity is to target recruiting messages to specific demographic groups underrepresented in the workforce. a. This means placing advertisements in publications geared toward specific demographic groups; recruiting at colleges, universities, and other institutions with significant numbers of underrepresented minorities, and forming partnerships with associations like the Society for Women Engineers or the Graduate Minority Business Association. 1) The selection process is one of the most important places to apply diversity efforts. a) Managers who hire need to value fairness and objectivity in selecting employees and focus on the productive potential of new recruits. b) Fortunately, ensuring that hiring is bias-free does appear to work. Where managers use a well-defined protocol for assessing applicant talent and the organization clearly prioritizes nondiscrimination policies, qualifications become far more important in determining who gets hired than demographic characteristics. 2) Organizations that do not discourage discriminatory behavior are more likely to see problems. 3) Similarity in personality appears to affect career advancement. a) Those whose personality traits are similar to those of their co-workers are more likely to be promoted than those who personalities are different. 4) In collectivistic cultures, similarity is more important for predicting advancement, whereas in individualistic cultures, similarity to peers is more important. 5) Research shows that all managers prefer an organization that values diversity. 2. Diversity in Groups a. In some cases, diversity in traits can hurt team performance, whereas in others it can facilitate it. 1) Whether diverse or homogenous teams are more effective depends on the characteristic of interest. a) Demographic diversity (in gender, race, and ethnicity) does not appear to either help or hurt team performance in general. b) Teams of individuals who are highly intelligent, conscientious, and interested in working in team settings are more effective. 2) Groups of diverse individuals will be much more effective if leaders can show how members have a common interest in the group’s success. 3) Transformational leaders (who emphasize higher-order goals and values in their leadership style) are more effective in managing diverse teams. 3. Effective Diversity Programs a. Effective, comprehensive workforce programs encouraging diversity have three distinct components. 1) First, they teach managers about the legal framework for equal employment opportunity and encourage fair treatment of all people regardless of their demographic characteristics. 2) Second, they teach managers how a diverse workforce will be better able to serve a diverse market of customers and clients. 3) Third, they foster personal development practices that bring out the skills and abilities of all workers, acknowledging how differences in perspective can be a valuable way to improve performance for everyone. 4) Most negative reactions to employment discrimination are based on the idea that discriminatory treatment is unfair. 5) Regardless of race or gender, people are generally in favor of diversity-oriented programs, including affirmative action, if they believe the policies ensure everyone a fair opportunity to show their skills and abilities. a) Research shows that organizations that provide diversity training were not consistently more likely to have women and minorities in upper management positions than organizations that did not. b) While these results might seem surprising, experts have long known that one-shot training sessions without strategies to encourage effective diversity management back on the job are not likely to be effective. 6) Researchers suggest that diversity experiences are more likely to lead to positive adaptation for all parties if: a) the diversity experience undermines stereotypical attitudes, b) the perceiver is motivated and able to consider a new perspective on others, c) the perceiver engages in stereotype suppression and generative thought in response to the diversity experience, and d) the positive experience of stereotype undermining is repeated frequently. 7) Organizational leaders should examine their workforce to determine whether target groups have been underutilized. 8) If groups of employees are not proportionally represented in top management, managers should look for any hidden barriers to advancement. a) They can often improve recruiting practices, make selection systems more transparent, and provide training for those employees who have not had adequate exposure to certain materials in the past. VI. IMPLICATIONS FOR MANAGERS A. Understand your organization’s antidiscrimination policies thoroughly and share them with your employees. B. Assess and challenge your stereotype beliefs to increase your objectivity. C. Look beyond observable biographical characteristics and consider the individual’s capabilities before making management decisions. D. Fully evaluate what accommodations a person with disabilities will need and then fine-tune the job to that person’s abilities. E. Seek to understand and respect the unique biographical characteristics of your employees; a fair but individualistic approach yields the best performance. VII. SUMMARY Discussion Questions 1. Describe the two main levels of diversity. Give an example for each. Answer: Surface-level diversity is reflected in demographics like age, race, and gender. It can lead employees to perceive one another through stereotypes and assumptions. Over the course of a relationship, this type of diversity becomes less important. Deep-level diversity is reflected in an individual’s personality and values. This type of diversity becomes more important over the course of a relationship. Examples will vary. Ensure the key ideas of superficial differences versus fundamental deeper differences are clearly stated. Two Main Levels of Diversity: 1. Surface-Level Diversity: • Description: Observable characteristics such as age, gender, race, and ethnicity. • Example: A company has a workforce with employees of different genders and ethnic backgrounds. 2. Deep-Level Diversity: • Description: Differences in underlying attributes such as values, beliefs, and personality traits. • Example: Team members have diverse perspectives and problem-solving approaches, leading to varied work styles and attitudes toward collaboration. 2. What is the role of stereotypes in an organization? Answer: Employees use stereotypes to make assumptions about groups of people based on surface-level diversity. Instead of considering individual characteristics, an individual may assume everyone in a group is the same. This type of behavior can lead to unfair and potentially harmful discrimination in an organization. 3. List and describe key biographical characteristics. How are they relevant to OB? Answer: Age, gender, race, disability, and length of service are some of the more important biographical characteristics. Other biographical characteristics include tenure, religion, sexual orientation, and gender identity. It is important to understand how biographical characteristics influence employee productivity, absence, turnover, deviance, citizenship, and satisfaction. For example, compared to younger workers, older employees are less likely to quit their jobs, have lower rates of avoidable absence, and are often more productive. 4. Define intellectual ability. What is the relevance of intellectual ability to OB? Answer: Intellectual ability is the thinking, reasoning, and problem-solving ability needed to perform mental activities. The seven most frequently cited dimensions that make up intellectual ability are number aptitude, verbal comprehension, perceptual speed, inductive reasoning, deductive reasoning, spatial visualization, and memory. People with higher levels of intellectual ability are more likely to emerge as leaders of groups, attain higher levels of education, and earn more money. In the workplace, their skills are valuable, especially for jobs that require high levels of information processing, because these jobs require higher levels of intellectual ability. Keep in mind, though, that the correlation between intelligence and job satisfaction is about zero. 5. Compare and contrast intellectual and physical ability. Answer: Ability refers to an individual’s current capacity to perform the various tasks in a job. Intellectual abilities are the abilities needed to perform mental activities, while physical abilities refer to the basic abilities needed to perform physical tasks. Jobs that involve intellectual ability place a premium on thinking, reasoning, and problem-solving skills. Jobs that demand physical abilities use any of nine basic skills: dynamic strength, trunk strength, static strength, explosive strength, extent flexibility, dynamic flexibility, body coordination, balance, and stamina. 6. How can organizations effectively manage diversity? Answer: Diversity management makes everyone more aware of and sensitive to the needs and differences of others. Diversity programs are more likely to be successful when more individuals believe that they are likely to benefit from the program. Diversity programs that are comprehensive are more likely to be successful, whereas one-shot efforts tend to be less effective. Successful diversity management also requires ongoing commitment across all levels of the organization. Diversity management should be incorporated in group management, recruiting, hiring, retention, and development practices. Exercises 1. Self-analysis. What is your position on diversity in the workplace? How would you describe your attitude toward diversity? Be detailed in your analysis. 2. Web Crawling. Find and present an online article on diversity in a country other than the United States. What commonalities are exposed and what differences are shown to exist? 3. Teamwork. In small groups meet and discuss diversity. Ask each group to prepare a list of metrics designed to measure progress in an organization toward diversity management. Each group should develop metrics to measure progress for both short-term and long-term objectives, and each group should develop metrics for upper-, middle-, and lower-level employees. Then, as a class, discuss the metrics -each group has developed. Look for the common ideas and discuss why they are important. Next, explore the lists for each employee level and discuss how and why they should be different. 4. Analyzing Your Organization (Cumulative Project). Ask students to brainstorm three diversity scenarios that could be encountered in an organization. For example, one scenario could involve two individuals who are up for a promotion. One is a white male, the other a Hispanic woman. The team making the decision is led by a white male. The team promotes the white male. Then, ask students to meet with different members of their organization to discuss their views on the scenarios and how they perceive how the situation was handled. Students should try to meet with as diverse a group of individuals as possible, perhaps including individuals of different ages, races, genders, and so on. What conclusions can be drawn from these responses regarding the effectiveness of their organization’s diversity management program? Keep in mind that this could be a very sensitive task, and instructors should review the need for anonymity and sensitivity in situations such as these. Suggested Assignments 1. In 2012, Diversity Inc. recognized eight companies for their efforts at diversity management. Divide the class into small groups and ask each group to go to the following website: http://www.diversityinc.com/diversity-events/2012-special-awards-what-makes-these-8-companies-best-at-diversity-management/ 2. Ask each group to watch the clips of the award recipients and identify the common themes on successful diversity management. How has each award recipient approached diversity management? 3. After the small group work, have the students write up the findings and the potential impact of those general findings for the firms involved. Discuss the lessons that can be learned from these organizations. Chapter 3 Attitudes and Job Satisfaction Chapter Overview This chapter examines attitudes, their link to behavior, and how employees’ satisfaction or dissatisfaction with their jobs affects the workplace. Chapter Objectives After studying this chapter, the student should be able to: 1. Contrast the three components of an attitude. 2. Summarize the relationship between attitudes and behavior. 3. Compare and contrast the major job attitudes. 4. Define job satisfaction and show how we can measure it. 5. Identify four employee responses to dissatisfaction. Suggested Lecture Outline I. INTRODUCTION A. In this chapter, we look at attitudes, their link to behavior, and how employees’ satisfaction or dissatisfaction with their jobs affects the workplace. II. ATTITUDES A. Attitudes: evaluative statements—either favorable or unfavorable—concerning objects, people, or events. They reflect how one feels about something. 1. Attitudes are complex and the rationale behind them may not be obvious. To fully understand attitudes, we must explore their fundamental properties or components. B. What Are the Main Components of Attitudes? 1. There are three main components of attitudes (Exhibit 3-1): a. Cognitive. The statement “My pay is low” is the cognitive component of an attitude—a description of or belief in the way things are. b. Affective. Affect is the emotional or feeling segment of an attitude and is reflected in the statement “I am angry over how little I’m paid.” Finally, affect can lead to behavioral outcomes. c. Behavior. This describes an intention to behave in a certain way toward someone or something—to continue the example, “I’m going to look for another job that pays better.” d. Viewing attitudes as having three components—cognition, affect, and behavior—is helpful in understanding their complexity. Keep in mind that these components are closely related, and cognition and affect in particular are inseparable in many ways. e. Exhibit 3-1 illustrates how the three components of an attitude are related. 2. In organizations, attitudes are important for their behavioral component. If workers believe, for example, that supervisors, auditors, bosses, and time-and-motion engineers are all in conspiracy to make employees work harder for the same or less money, it makes sense to try to understand how these attitudes formed, their relationship to actual job behavior, and how they might be changed. C. Does Behavior Always Follow from Attitudes? 1. While attitudes may seem to be directly causal, Leon Festinger argued that attitudes follow behavior. People, he claimed, change what they say so it does not contradict what they do. a. Cognitive Dissonance. Leon Festinger called situations where attitudes followed behavior cognitive dissonance. Festinger’s theory is that dissonance between what they say and what they do makes people uncomfortable and that they will take whatever actions they can to reduce that discomfort, such as changing their attitudes or behaviors. 1) Cognitive Dissonance: refers to any incompatibility that an individual might perceive between two or more attitudes, or between behavior and attitudes. 2) According to Festinger, the level of effort that is put forth to reduce the dissonance depended on three moderating factors: a) Importance. The importance of the elements creating the dissonance modifies the level of effort. The greater the importance, the more effort will be expended to reduce the dissonance. b) Degree of influence. If a person feels he or she has some measure of control over the elements, more effort will be expended. However, if the elements are felt to be outside of the person’s control, little effort will be made to reduce dissonance. c) Rewards. What reward is there to keep or remove the dissonance? These rewards can affect the motivation toward making changes. People who are rewarded well for living with high dissonance tend to feel less pressure to remove the dissonance. (“I should be home with my family, yet I need to work long hours in this job. However, the salary is so high that I cannot leave. At least I can now afford to send my kids to a private school.”) d) The moderating factors suggest that just because some individuals experience dissonance, they are not necessarily moved toward reducing it. 3) Research has generally concluded that people do seek consistency among their attitudes and between their attitudes and their behavior. importance of the elements creating it and b) the degree of influence we believe we have over them. c) A third factor is the rewards of dissonance; high rewards accompanying high dissonance tend to reduce the tension inherent in the dissonance. 2. Moderating Variables. The most powerful moderators of the attitude-behavior relationship are: a. Importance. Important attitudes reflect fundamental values, self-interest, or identification. The greater the importance, the stronger the link between attitude and behavior becomes. b. Correspondence to Behavior. The more closely the attitude and the behavior are matched, the stronger the link between them. c. Accessibility. The easier an attitude is to recall, the stronger the link. The more frequently an attitude is expressed, the more accessible it is and therefore the stronger its link becomes to behavior. d. Social Pressures. Exceptional social pressures can override personal attitudes and may have a stronger relation to behavior than do the attitudes. This subservience of personal attitude to social pressure is often found in organizations. e. Personal Direct Experience. Predictions of behavior tend to be more accurate when the person whose behavior is being predicted has some experience regarding the situation. D. What Are the Major Job Attitudes? 1. There are three important attitudes toward work that OB has traditionally studied: job satisfaction, job involvement, and organizational commitment. There are two other work-related attitudes that are attracting attention: perceived organizational support and employee engagement. a. Job Satisfaction. A positive feeling about one’s job resulting from an evaluation of its characteristics. b. Job Involvement. The degree to which people identify psychologically with their jobs and consider their perceived performance level important to self-worth. c. Psychological Empowerment. Employees’ beliefs in the degree to which they influence their work environment, their competence, the meaningfulness of their job, and the perceived autonomy in their work. d. Organizational Commitment. A state in which an employee identifies with a particular organization and its goals and wishes to maintain membership in the organization. 1) A positive relationship appears to exist between organizational commitment and job productivity, but it is a modest one. a) A review of 27 studies suggested the relationship between commitment and performance is strongest for new employees, and considerably weaker for more experienced employees. b) Research also shows that employees who feel that their employers do not keep their promises to them feel less committed, and are consequently less creative. c) And, as with job involvement, the research evidence demonstrates negative relationships between organizational commitment and both absenteeism and turnover. 2) Research confirms the theory that employees who are committed are less likely to engage in work withdrawal even if they are dissatisfied because they feel a sense of loyalty or attachment to the organization. e. Perceived Organizational Support (POS). The degree to which employees believe the organization values their contribution and cares about their well-being. 1) Organizations are considered supportive when they: a) Fairly provide rewards, b) Give employees a voice in decision making, and c) Provide supervisors who are seen as being supportive. 2) Research suggests employees with strong POS perceptions are more likely to have higher levels of organizational citizenship behaviors, lower levels of tardiness, and better customer service. a) Though little cross-cultural research has been done, one study found POS predicted only the job performance and citizenship behaviors of untraditional or low power-distance Chinese employees—in short, those more likely to think of work as an exchange rather than a moral obligation. f. Employee Engagement. An individual’s involvement with, satisfaction with, and enthusiasm for, the work he or she does. 1) Conditions that can increase engagement include: a) Opportunities to learn new skills, b) Important and meaningful work, and c) Positive interactions with coworkers and supervisors. 2) Highly engaged employees have a passion for their work and feel a deep connection to their company; disengaged employees have essentially checked out—putting time but not energy or attention into their work. 3) The concept is relatively new and still generates active debate about its usefulness. a) One review of the literature concluded, “The meaning of employee engagement is ambiguous among both academic researchers and among practitioners who use it in conversations with clients.” b) Another reviewer called engagement “an umbrella term for whatever one wants it to be.” 4) Recent research has demonstrated that engagement is distinct from job satisfaction and job involvement, and that it incrementally predicts job behaviors after we take these traditional job attitudes into account. g. Are These Job Attitudes Really All That Distinct? 1) If people feel deeply engaged by their job (high job involvement), isn’t it probable they like it (high job satisfaction)? Won’t people who think their organization is supportive (high perceived organizational support) also feel committed to it (strong organizational commitment)? a) Evidence suggests these attitudes are highly related, perhaps to a troubling degree that makes one wonder whether there are useful distinctions to be made among them. b) There is some distinctiveness among attitudes, but they overlap greatly for various reasons, including the employee’s personality. (1) If you as a manager know someone’s level of job satisfaction, you know most of what you need to know about how that person sees the organization. (2) Recent research suggests that managers tend to identify their employees as belonging to one of four distinct categories: enthusiastic stayers, reluctant stayers, enthusiastic leavers, and reluctant leavers. III. JOB SATISFACTION A. As mentioned earlier, this attitude is one of the oldest and most critical attitudes examined in OB studies. B. Measuring Job Satisfaction. 1. Our definition of job satisfaction—a positive feeling about a job resulting from an evaluation of its characteristics—is clearly broad. Jobs require interacting with co-workers and bosses, following organizational rules and policies, meeting performance standards, living with less than ideal working conditions, and the like. An employee’s assessment of his satisfaction with the job is thus a complex summation of many discrete elements. 2. There are two widely used approaches to measuring this attitude: a. Single Global Rating Method. This method uses responses to a single question about the job to determine job satisfaction. Surprisingly, this simple method seems to be a more accurate measure of job satisfaction than the more complex summation method. b. Summation Score Method. This method identifies key elements in the job and asks for the employee’s feelings about each element. Respondents’ answer on a standardized scale and their responses are tallied to create an overall job satisfaction score. 3. Is one of these approaches superior? Intuitively, summing up responses to a number of job factors seems likely to achieve a more accurate evaluation of job satisfaction. a. Research, however, doesn’t support the intuition. This is one of those rare instances in which simplicity seems to work as well as complexity, making one method essentially as valid as the other. b. The best explanation is that the concept of job satisfaction is so broad, a single question captures its essence. c. The summation of job facets may also leave out some important data. Both methods are helpful. d. The single global rating method isn’t very time consuming, thus freeing time for other tasks, and the summation of job facets helps managers zero in on problems and deal with them faster and more accurately. C. How Satisfied Are People in Their Jobs? Research shows satisfaction levels vary a lot, depending on which facet of job satisfaction you’re talking about. 1. As shown in Exhibit 3-2, people are, on average, satisfied with their jobs overall, with the work itself, and with their supervisors and co-workers. 2. However, they tend to be less satisfied with their pay and with promotion opportunities. 3. It’s not really clear why people dislike their pay and promotion possibilities more than other aspects of their jobs. 4. While the concept appears relevant across cultures, there are still cultural differences in job satisfaction. 5. Exhibit 3-3 shows that Western cultures tend to have higher levels of job satisfaction than Eastern cultures. 6. This may be because people in Eastern cultures tend to value negative emotions more than do Westerners. D. What Causes Job Satisfaction? 1. Interesting jobs that provide training, variety, independence, and control satisfy most employees. a. A strong relation exists between how well people enjoy the social context of their workplace and how satisfied they are overall. Interdependence, feedback, social support, and interaction with co-workers outside the workplace are strongly related to job satisfaction even after accounting for characteristics of the work itself. 2. Pay, once above a given level, does not increase satisfaction. While money may be a motivator, it does not necessarily make people happy—at least once they have enough to live comfortably. 3. Job satisfaction is not just about job conditions. Personality also plays a role. Research has shown that people who have positive core self-evaluations—who believe in their inner worth and basic competence—are more satisfied with their jobs than those with negative core self-evaluations. E. The Impact of Satisfied and Dissatisfied Employees on the Workplace. 1. There are consequences both when employees like their jobs and when they dislike them. 2. The Exit-Voice-Loyalty-Neglect Framework. This model is helpful in understanding the consequences of dissatisfaction. The framework has four responses that differ from one another along two dimensions: constructive/destructive and active/passive. a. Exit. This response involves directing behavior toward leaving the organization. It includes both looking for a new job, as well as resigning. b. Voice. This response involves actively and constructively attempting to improve conditions. Includes making suggestions and union activities. c. Loyalty. This response involves passively, but optimistically, waiting for conditions to improve. It involves trusting the organization and its management to “do the right thing.” d. Neglect. This response involves passively allowing conditions to worsen. Includes chronic absenteeism, reduced effort, and increased error rate. 3. This model includes both typical performance variables and constructive behaviors that allow individuals to tolerate unpleasant situations. F. Job Satisfaction and Job Performance. 1. Satisfaction and productivity research data for the organization as a whole, shows that more satisfied employees tend to be more effective than organizations with fewer satisfied employees. G. Job Satisfaction and Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (OCB). 1. It seems logical to assume job satisfaction should be a major determinant of an employee’s organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). a. Satisfied employees would seem more likely to talk positively about the organization, help others, and go beyond the normal expectations in their job. b. They might go beyond the call of duty because they want to reciprocate their positive experiences. 2. Consistent with this thinking, evidence suggests job satisfaction is moderately correlated with OCBs; people who are more satisfied with their jobs are more likely to engage in OCBs. 3. Fairness perceptions help explain the relationship. Those who believe their co-workers support them are more likely to engage in helpful behaviors, whereas those who have antagonistic relationships with co-workers are less likely to do so. 4. Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (OCB). Discretionary behaviors that contribute to organizational effectiveness but are not part of an employee’s formal job description. H. Job Satisfaction and Customer Satisfaction. 1. Satisfied employees increase customer retention and loyalty because satisfied employees tend to be upbeat and helpful. I. Job Satisfaction and Absenteeism. 1. There is a weak-to-moderate negative relationship between job satisfaction and absenteeism, meaning that as employees increase in job satisfaction they are marginally less likely to skip work. 2. This relationship is moderated by other variables, such as the number of sick days employees can take. J. Job Satisfaction and Turnover. 1. The relationship between job satisfaction and turnover is stronger than between satisfaction and absenteeism. 2. The satisfaction–turnover relationship also is affected by alternative job prospects. a. If an employee is presented with an unsolicited job offer, job dissatisfaction is less predictive of turnover because the employee is more likely leaving because of “pull” (the lure of the other job) than “push” (the unattractiveness of the current job). b. Similarly, job dissatisfaction is more likely to translate into turnover when employment opportunities are plentiful because employees perceive it is easy to move. Finally, when employees have high “human capital” (high education, high ability), job dissatisfaction is more likely to translate into turnover because they have, or perceive, many available alternatives. K. Job Satisfaction and Workplace Deviance. 1. Workplace deviance, or employee withdrawal, can take many forms, including, unionization attempts, substance abuse, theft, lollygagging, and tardiness. 2. These behaviors are indicators of a broader syndrome called deviant behavior in the workplace. 3. Such deviance can be considered a cry for help, where workers wish for increased job satisfaction but do not get it and “act out” in response. 4. Managers should attack the source of the problem—dissatisfaction—rather than try to control the different responses to that dissatisfaction. L. Managers Often “Don’t Get It.” 1. While there is much evidence that job satisfaction can affect organizational outcomes, many managers still are unconcerned about the job satisfaction of their employees or they falsely believe employee satisfaction is high. 2. Job satisfaction must be a managerial priority and managers must measure it to manage it. IV. IMPLICATIONS FOR MANAGERS A. Pay attention to your employees’ job satisfaction levels as determinants of their performance, turnover, absenteeism, and withdrawal behaviors. B. Measure employee job attitudes objectively and at regular intervals in order to determine how employees are reacting to their work. C. To raise employee satisfaction, evaluate the fit between the employee’s work interests and the intrinsic parts of the job to create work that is challenging and interesting to the individual. D. Consider the fact that high pay alone is unlikely to create a satisfying work environment. E. Keep in mind… 1. Individuals have many kinds of attitudes about their job. 2. Most employees are satisfied with their jobs, but when they are not, a host of actions in response to the satisfaction might be expected. 3. Job satisfaction is related to organizational effectiveness. V. SUMMARY A. Contrasted the three components of an attitude. B. Summarized the relationship between attitudes and behavior. C. Compared and contrasted the major job attitudes. D. Defined job satisfaction and showed how we can measure it. E. Identified four employee responses to dissatisfaction. Discussion Questions 1. Describe the three components of an attitude. Give an example for each. Answer: Cognition: what a person thinks about an object, person, or event. Affective: the emotional overlay to the cognitive thought. It expresses how we feel about that object, person or event. Behavior: the actual or intended behavior brought about by the first two components of attitude. It is what we will do about that object, person, or event. Examples will vary. Ensure the key ideas of thinks, feels, and does are clearly stated. Attitudes consist of three components: 1. Cognitive Component: This involves beliefs or thoughts about an object or issue. Example: Believing that exercise is beneficial for health. 2. Affective Component: This relates to feelings or emotions towards an object or issue. Example: Feeling happy and energized when thinking about going for a run. 3. Behavioral Component: This refers to the actions or behaviors exhibited towards an object or issue. Example: Regularly going to the gym or participating in fitness classes. These components work together to form a person’s overall attitude. 2. What is the relationship between attitudes and behavior? Answer: Leon Festinger believed that attitudes followed behavior due to cognitive dissonance. The negative feelings aroused when actions were not aligned with words caused the expressed attitudes to change. More commonly, recent research has shown that behavior follows attitudes. Therefore, it is important for managers to understand employee attitudes so they may better predict behavior. 3. Compare and contrast the job attitudes discussed in this chapter. Answer: Job satisfaction is how an employee feels about the job. Job involvement is closely related to psychological empowerment, and describes how much a person “buys into” their job based on the job’s worth to that person and how much control the employee has over the job itself. Organizational commitment is similar to job involvement, but it shows how strongly the employee identifies with the organization rather than with just the job. These three are the traditional attitudes studied by OB. Two additional attitudes are perceived organizational support (which measures how much an employee trusts the organization) and employee engagement, which measures how deeply involved the employees feel they are in their work. All of these attitudes may in fact be measuring the same basic underlying attitude toward work. To varying degrees, each of these attitudes positively affects job performance and organizational outcomes. 4. How can managers increase job satisfaction and what are the organizational consequences when there are high or low levels of job satisfaction? Answer: Job satisfaction can best be increased through the design of the work itself. Work that is challenging and interesting will lead to increased job satisfaction. Other factors that increase job satisfaction are good supervisors and co-workers, the ability to promote and to a lesser extent, pay. Pay only increases satisfaction to the point where a comfortable lifestyle is reached, after that point pay ceases to increase job satisfaction when pay is increased. High job satisfaction is linked to better organizational outcomes: lower turnover and absenteeism, higher customer satisfaction, and fewer instances of workplace deviance. Low levels of job satisfaction result in opposite effects. 5. List and describe the four employee responses to dissatisfaction. Answer: This involves the Exit-Voice-Loyalty-Neglect Framework. The framework provides the four responses to employee dissatisfaction. Exit: involves directing behavior toward leaving the organization, includes both looking for a new job, as well as resigning. Voice: involves actively and constructively attempting to improve conditions, includes making suggestions and union activities. Loyalty: involves passively, but optimistically, waiting for conditions to improve. It involves trusting the organization and its management to "do the right thing." Neglect: involves passively allowing conditions to worsen, including chronic absenteeism, reduced effort, and increased error rate. 6. Is job satisfaction a global concept? Answer: It appears to be. While the concept itself is global, there are still cultural issues involved in its expression. Western cultures tend to have higher levels of job satisfaction, perhaps due to the emphasis in the West toward positive emotions and individual happiness. Exercises 1. Self-analysis. What are your attitudes toward the workplace? How would you describe your level of job satisfaction, and why? Be detailed in your analysis. 2. Web Crawling. Find and present an online article on job satisfaction in a country other than the United States. What commonalities are exposed and what differences are shown to exist? 3. Teamwork. In small groups meet and discuss attitudes. As a warmup, work backward from behaviors you have evidenced in the past to what your attitude was toward that object, person, or event at that point in time. Then as a group, discuss how your attitudes changed toward various objects, persons, or events as the result of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center of 9/11. Prepare a list of the most commonly changed attitudes held by the group. Discuss how these attitudes were expressed in behaviors. Share your findings with the class. 4. How Have Attitudes in the Work Environment Changed? The purpose of this exercise is to explore the difference in work-related attitudes across generations. The students will develop an interview instrument and use it to interview three to five people who are clearly in different age categories (i.e., work cohorts). a. Put students into small groups. In the group, brainstorm questions for a short interview regarding job satisfaction and attitudes toward work. b. As a class discuss the questions and ideas and narrow them to a list of five to ten questions, something that could be administered in an oral interview in thirty minutes. c. Each group should assign one member to each of the following cohorts. i. Workers who grew up influenced by the Great Depression and entered the workforce from the mid-1940s through the late-1950s. ii. Employees who entered the workforce during the 1960s through the mid-1970s were influenced heavily by John F. Kennedy. iii. Individuals who entered the workforce from the mid-1970s through the mid-1980s reflect the society’s return to values that are more traditional but with far greater emphasis on achievement and material success. iv. Generation X has been shaped by globalization, the fall of communism, MTV, and the digital revolution. d. The interviewer should identify an individual and conduct an interview using the questionnaire created in class. Students might consider scouting the local McDonald’s or Wal-Mart. These types of businesses hire across the age spectrum, making it easier to find candidates to interview. Be careful to request permission to perform interviews on business properties. Otherwise you may be in violation of local laws. e. Groups should meet and consolidate their information into a report, either a ten-minute oral or a three-to-five page written report. As part of their report, they should discuss the practical implications of any attitudinal trends they discovered among the cohorts. f. Groups should present and discuss their findings in class. 5. Analyzing Your Organization (Cumulative Project). For this part of the project, students are asked to analyze employee attitudes and assess how well those attitudes are perceived by supervisors. This is potentially a very sensitive task, and instructors should review the need for anonymity and sensitivity in situations such as these. Break the class back down into small groups (use the same groups as in the last assignment or create new ones to increase the diversity of opinion) and have the group brainstorm 5-10 statements regarding work attitudes based on the descriptions in the text. For instance, they may create “I take a lot of meaning from my work” as a measurement of job involvement. As a class, select the best statements for each of the five job attitudes described in the text. Create a questionnaire with these five questions answered using a modified five-point Likert scale (Very True, Somewhat True, Neutral, Somewhat Untrue, Very Untrue). Assign point values to each of the Likert Values (1-5 works best). Have the students ask five workers at random to answer the survey. Ensure their privacy to get honest responses. Gather the surveys but do not show them to anyone else at the organization. Give a survey, marked “supervisor,” to the supervisors and ask them to mark where they believe their average employee would be on the scales. Tell the supervisors that the purpose of this survey is NOT to judge that individual supervisor’s ability to assess the employees but to see if the average perceptions are different between workers and supervisors. Have the small group average the point values of the employee responses and of the supervisor responses. Compare the two. Discuss the following issues: 1. How close were the supervisor’s perceptions to reality? 2. What issues may have concerned employees when they took the survey? 3. What issues may have concerned the supervisors regarding the survey? Suggested Assignments 1. Discuss the small group findings of the cumulative case (No. 5 above) in class. Build up student understanding of the importance of perception in OB and management based on the survey results. 2. After the small group work, have the student write up the findings and the potential impact of those general findings in the firm the student is examining (it is strongly suggested that the student NOT directly compare the employees of the firm with the supervisor of the firm to prevent potential problems). Instructor Manual for Essentials of Organizational Behavior Stephen P. Robbins, Timothy A. Judge 9789332587984, 9780133920819, 9780133973013, 9781292090078, 9781292090184, 9780134523859, 9780132968508