Page 291 - Fundamentals of Management Myths Debunked (2017)_Flat

290 Part 4 • Leading
What Are the Goals of Organizational Behavior?
employee productivity
A performance measure of both work efficiency The goals of OB are to explain, predict, and influence behavior. Managers need to be
and effectiveness
able to explain why employees engage in some behaviors rather than others, predict how
absenteeism employees will respond to various actions and decisions, and influence how employees
The failure to show up for work behave.
turnover SIX important employee behaviors that managers are specifically concerned with
Voluntary and involuntary permanent withdrawal explaining, predicting, and influencing include the following:
from an organization

organizational citizenship (1) Employee productivity—a performance measure of both work efficiency and
behavior effectiveness. Managers want to know what factors will influence the efficiency and
Discretionary behavior that’s not part of an effectiveness of employees.
employee’s formal job requirements, but that (2) Absenteeism—the failure to show up for work. It’s difficult for work to get done
promotes the effective functioning of the
organization if employees don’t show up. Studies have shown that the total of all major types of
absences cost organizations an average 35 percent of payroll, with unscheduled absences
job satisfaction costing companies around $660 per employee per year. Although absenteeism can’t be
1
An employee’s general attitude toward his or her job
totally eliminated, excessive levels have a direct and immediate impact on the organiza-
workplace misbehavior tion’s functioning.
Any intentional employee behavior that is (3) Turnover—the voluntary and involuntary permanent withdrawal from an organiza-
potentially harmful to the organization or individuals
within the organization tion. It can be a problem because of increased recruiting, selection, training costs,
and work disruptions. Just like absenteeism, managers can never eliminate turn-
over, but it is something they want to minimize, especially among high-performing
employees.
(4) Organizational citizenship behavior—discretionary behavior that’s not part of an
employee’s formal job requirements, but which promotes the effective functioning of
2
the organization. Examples of good OCB include helping others on one’s work team,
volunteering for extended job activities, avoiding unnecessary conflicts, and making
constructive statements about one’s work group and the organization. Organizations
need individuals who will do more than their usual job duties and the evidence indicates
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that organizations that have such employees outperform those that don’t. However,
Job satisfaction is an important concern of drawbacks to OCB arise if employees experience work overload, stress, and work-
managers at Gilead Sciences, a biopharma- family conflicts. 4
ceutical firm that develops new medicines
for HIV/AIDS and other unmet medical (5) Job satisfaction—an employee’s general attitude toward his or her job. Although job
needs. Highly satisfied employees like satisfaction is an attitude rather than a behavior, it’s an outcome that concerns many
research scientist Darryl Kato, shown here, managers because satisfied employees are more likely to show up for work, have higher
are essential to Gilead in achieving its goal of
improving the lives of people who suffer from levels of performance, and stay with an organization.
life-threatening diseases. (6) Workplace misbehavior—any
intentional employee behavior
that is potentially harmful to the
organization or individuals with-
in the organization. Workplace
misbehavior shows up in organi-
zations in four ways: deviance,
aggression, antisocial behavior,
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and violence. Such behaviors
can range from playing loud
music just to irritate coworkers,
to verbal aggression, to sabotag-
ing work, all of which can create
David Paul Morris/Bloomberg/Getty Images a better understanding of how four
havoc in any organization.
In the following pages, you’ll get

psychological factors—employee at-
titudes, personality, perception, and
learning—can help managers predict
and explain these six employee
behaviors.