Instructor Manual Organizational Behaviour Understanding and Managing Life at Work 13th Edition By G

Instructor Manual

CHAPTER 1 ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR AND MANAGEMENT CHAPTER LEARNING OBJECTIVES After reading Chapter 1, students should be able to: LO 1.1 Define organizations and describe their basic characteristics.

LO1.2 Explain the concept and meaning of organizational behaviour.

LO1.3 Describe the goals of organizational behaviour.

LO1.4 Contrast the classical viewpoint of management with that advocated by the human relations movement.

LO1.5 Describe the contingency approach to management.

LO1.6 Explain what managers do—their roles, activities, agendas for action, and thought processes.

LO1.7 Describe the six contemporary management concerns facing organizations and how organizational behaviour can help organizations understand and manage these concerns.

CHAPTER OUTLINE AND TEACHING NOTES This first chapter introduces several basic concepts that provide students with a frame of reference upon which to integrate the more complex topics to come. It is useful to spend some time explaining just what organizational behaviour is, since students may have some difficulty in grasping the meaning of this wholly qualitative term. It is also helpful to explain the differences and relations between organizational behaviour and human resources management.

What Are Organizations?

Organizations are social inventions for accomplishing common goals through group effort. There are three important elements of this definition highlighted in the chapter.

Social inventions There is a fundamental requirement for a coordinated presence of people which is the essential characteristic of organizations as social inventions. The field of organizational behaviour is about understanding people and managing them to work effectively.

Goal Accomplishment The reason organizations exist is to achieve goals. Survival is the overriding goal of all organizations. The field of organizational behaviour is concerned with how organizations can survive and adapt to change.

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Group Effort Individuals who function in an organization must be coordinated to achieve goals efficiently. This coordination is accomplished through group effort. The field of organizational behaviour is concerned with how to get people to practise effective teamwork.

What Is Organizational Behaviour?

Organizational behaviour refers to the attitudes and behaviours of individuals and groups in organizations. The field of organizational behaviour involves the systematic study of these attitudes and behaviours.

Human resources management refers to programs, practices, and systems to acquire, develop, motivate, and retain employees in organizations. Common examples of human resources practices are recruitment and selection, compensation, and training and development. Students should be informed of how human resources management is different from organizational behaviour and how knowledge of organizational behaviour will help them understand the use and effectiveness of human resource practices as organizational behaviour provides the theoretical basis for understanding human resources management.

Why Study Organizational Behaviour?

There are three good reasons to study organizational behaviour.

Organizational Behaviour Is Interesting We see the subject matter every day, although we may not understand it completely.

Organizational behaviour is interesting because it is about people and human nature.

Organizational Behaviour Is Important Organizational behaviour is important to managers, employees, and consumers and understanding it can make us more effective managers, employees, or consumers and improve organizational effectiveness and efficiency.

Organizational Behaviour Makes a Difference Effective management and organizational behaviour can provide an organization with a competitive advantage. Today, the main factor that differentiates organizations is their workforce or human capital and the most successful organizations are those that effectively manage their employees. The main factor that differentiates organizations is their workforce and human capital or the knowledge, skills, and abilities embodied in an organization’s employees which is strongly and positively related to organizational performance and is a key determinant of firm performance competitiveness and success.

In addition to human capital, the development of social capital or the social resources

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that individuals obtain from participation in a social structure is also important for individuals and organizations.

Furthermore, there is increasing evidence that management practices and organizational behaviour not only influence employee attitudes and behaviour, but also have an effect on an organization’s effectiveness. Research shows that the best companies to work for are also among the best performing companies. Thus, organizational behaviour makes a difference in terms of good management and organizational performance and competitiveness.

How Much Do You Know About Organizational Behaviour?

Students often make the erroneous assumption that much of organizational behaviour can be explained by common sense. The problem with this assumption is that what is common sense to one person may not be to another. This suggests that common sense is no substitute for the systematic study of organizational behaviour. Management practice should be based on informed opinion and systematic study, not common sense. Some discussion of the material in the Appendix can help to show how the systematic study of organizational behaviour can improve management decision making and practice.

Students can begin to understand these concepts and the importance of systematic study by answering the six questions in the text and seeing how easy it is to make up answers that are both true and false.

Goals of Organizational Behaviour There are three goals of organizational behaviour.

Predicting Organizational Behaviour Predicting the behaviour of others is an essential requirement of everyday life. Although some prediction about future behaviour in organizations is possible because of the very regularity of much behaviour, its accuracy requires systematic study. Through systematic study, the field of organizational behaviour provides a scientific foundation that helps improve predictions of organizational events.

Explaining Organizational Behaviour A second goal of organizational behaviour is to explain events in organizations and why they occur. It is usually more difficult to explain a behaviour than to predict it, since a given behaviour may have multiple causes, and the reasons people do things tend to change over time and circumstances. The ability to understand behaviour is a necessary prerequisite for effectively managing it.

Managing Organizational Behaviour Management is defined as the art of getting things accomplished in organizations through others. If behaviour can be predicted and explained, it can often be managed. If prediction and explanation constitute analysis, then management constitutes action.

Responding to the information gathered through prediction and explanation helps to

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influence organizational behaviour. A number of technologies or interventions have been developed in a conscious attempt to make practical much of the information learned in the field. Future chapters will introduce many of these interventions to students, including pay systems and job enrichment. Students should understand that a systematic understanding of behavioural science and organizational behaviour can improve management practice and decision making. This then leads into a discussion of evidencebased management.

Evidence-based management involves translating principles based on the best scientific evidence into organizational practices. By using evidence-based management, managers can make decisions based on the best available scientific evidence from social science and organizational research, rather than personal preference and unsystematic experience.

The use of evidence-based management is more likely to result in the attainment of organizational goals, including those affecting employees, stockholders, and the public in general.

Understanding how to predict, explain, and manage behaviour is a prerequisite to accomplishing two basic managerial tasks—analysis and action. To help students understand the practical and applied use of organizational behaviour in organizations, discuss the You Be the Manager feature, Summer of Discontent. This is a good example that most students will be able to relate to about how the goals of organizational behaviour are relevant for understanding the effects of organizational actions (i.e., a new hybrid work policy) on employee attitudes and behaviours. In addition, you can also have students read the Research Focus feature on The Effects of Electronic Performance Monitoring on Employees and ask them to apply the goals of organizational behaviour to it. Ask them to describe what is being predicted, how to explain it, and how EPM is being used to manage employees’ behaviour (refer to Discussion Question 2).

Early Prescriptions Concerning Management There are two basic phases in the pursuit of the “correct” way to manage an organization to achieve its goal. Experts often call these the classical view and bureaucracy and the human relations view.

The Classical View and Bureaucracy A brief history on the evolution of management thought and background material on the classical view of management and bureaucracy will be helpful for students who have not had a previous course in management. A discussion of the work of Henri Fayol, Frederick Taylor, and Max Weber allows students to see that management practice was not, and should not, be static in a dynamic and changing environment.

The classical viewpoint advocated high specialization of labour, intensive coordination, and centralized decision making. Scientific management is Frederick Taylor’s system for using research to determine the optimum degree of specialization and standardization of work tasks. Bureaucracy is Max Weber’s ideal type of organization that included a strict chain of command, detailed rules, high specialization, centralized power, and selection and promotion based on technical competence. When describing these aspects of the classical viewpoint, make sure students realize the conflict of interest between managers and employees and then

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you can begin to discuss the human relations movement and its critique of bureaucracy.

The Human Relations Movement and a Critique of Bureaucracy The human relations movement and the Hawthorne studies allow a smooth transition to the following section where the contingency approach to management is examined. By the 1920s, criticism of the scientific approach was growing, focusing on the basic assumptions underlying scientific principles and lack of attention to motivation and human needs. The human relations view emphasized favourable treatment of employees instead of focusing solely on their output or performance.

The human relations approach is generally considered to have started with the Hawthorne Studies conducted at the Hawthorne plant of Western Electric in the 1920s and 1930s that illustrated how psychological and social processes affect productivity and work adjustment. It was discovered that the most powerful incentive for increased production was not the physical working conditions, but resulted from what came to be known as the Hawthorne effect, whereby workers felt important and appreciated when they received attention and recognition. Later studies in the plant’s relay assembly room were conducted to test the effect of other working conditions on output. The results of the studies upset the traditional concepts of industrial efficiency and discovered that worker productivity increased when they felt someone was interested in them.

After World War II, researchers and theorists such as Chris Argyris, Alvin Gouldner, and Rensis Likert took up the theme of the Hawthorne studies. The human relations movement was a critique of classical management and bureaucracy that advocated management styles that were more participative and oriented toward employee needs.

The critique of bureaucracy addressed a number of specific problems that were incompatible with human needs for growth and can lead to employee alienation from the organization and its clients, resistance to change, restriction of performance, and losing sight of the overall goals of the organization. The human relations advocates called for more flexible systems of management and the design of more interesting jobs as well as open communication, employee participation in decision making, and less rigid, more decentralized forms of control.

Contemporary Management—The Contingency Approach The concept of contingencies is important for students to understand. An essential fact is that organizations are complex entities, and accordingly, there are no simple principles that can be applied in all situations. However, what happens in organizations depends on certain critical factors. These critical factors are called contingencies. This contingency approach to management recognizes that there is no one best way to manage, and that an appropriate management style depends on the demands of the situation. The text will use a contingency framework to discuss the subject. Management approaches need to be tailored to fit the situation.

What Do Managers Do? Organizational behaviour is not only useful to aspiring managers. A good understanding is useful to consumers or anyone else who has to interact with organizations to get things

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done. This section examines what managers actually do, using research studies as a source.

Managerial Roles Henry Mintzberg conducted an in-depth study of the behaviour of managers and found a rather complex set of roles played by managers. The relative importance of these roles will vary with management level and organizational technology.

Interpersonal Roles. Interpersonal roles are those that are used to establish and maintain interpersonal relations. These include the figurehead role, leadership role, and liaison role.

Informational Roles. Informational roles are concerned with various ways the manager receives and transmits information. Roles in this group include the monitor role, disseminator role, and spokesperson role.

Decisional Roles. Decisional roles deal with managerial decision making and include the entrepreneur role, the disturbance handler role, the resource allocation role, and the negotiator role.

Managerial Activities Fred Luthans, Richard Hodgetts, and Stuart Rosenkrantz studied the behaviour of a large number of managers and compiled data on what managers actually do with their time.

They determined that managers engage in four basic activities: Routine communication. Formal sending and receiving of information.

Traditional management. Planning, decision making, and controlling.

Networking. Interacting with people outside the organization and informal socializing and politicking with insiders.

Human resource management. Motivating and reinforcing, disciplining and punishing, managing conflict, staffing, and training and developing employees.

One of the interesting findings of this research was how emphasis on these various activities correlated with managerial success. Networking proved most critical for moving up the ranks of the organization quickly. Human resource management proved most critical for unit effectiveness and employee satisfaction and commitment.

Managerial Agendas John Kotter has also studied the behaviours of successful general managers and found a strong pattern of similarities that he grouped into the categories of agenda setting, networking, and agenda implementation.

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Agenda Setting. The managers all gradually developed agendas of what they wanted to accomplish for the organization. These agendas were almost always informal and unwritten, and they were much more concerned with “people issues” and less numerical than most formal strategic plans.

Networking. The managers established a wide formal and informal network of key people both inside and outside of their organizations. This network provided managers with information and established cooperative relationships relevant to their agendas.

Agenda Implementation. The managers used networks to implement the agendas. They would go anywhere in the network for help—up or down, in or out of the organization.

The theme that runs through Kotter’s findings is the high degree of informal interaction and concern with people issues that were necessary for the managers to achieve their agendas.

Managerial Minds Other researchers have examined how managers think. Herbert Simon and Darnel Isenberg stress the role of intuition in good management. Intuition is problem identification and solving based on systematic education and experiences that enable managers to locate problems within a network of previously acquired information.

International Managers The style with which managers do what they do and the emphasis given to various activities will vary greatly across cultures because of cross-cultural variations in values that affect both managers’ and employees’ expectations about interpersonal interaction.

Geert Hofstede has done pioneering work on cross-cultural differences in values and how these differences promote contrasts in the general role that managers play across cultures.

National culture is one of the most important contingency variables in organizational behaviour. The appropriateness of various leadership styles, motivation techniques, and communication methods depends on where one is in the world.

Some Contemporary Management Concerns To conclude the first chapter, we thought it appropriate to discuss contemporary concerns such as diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), employee health and well-being, talent management and employee engagement, alternative work arrangements, corporate social responsibility, and advanced technology and the future of work. This material can be used to emphasize that organizational behaviour can be used as a tool for the challenges facing organizations today and for future issues that students will face in their careers. When discussing each of these issues, ask students what organizational behaviour has to do with them followed by a discussion of the relevance and role of organizational behaviour for managing each of the management concerns.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Several factors are influencing the demographics of the North American workforce.

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As a result, both the labour force and customers are becoming increasingly culturally diverse.

More women are entering the workforce, as are racialized people, Indigenous Peoples, and persons with disabilities. Diversity of age is also a factor. Diversity is also coming to the fore as many organizations realize that in many aspects of employment, they have not treated certain segments of the population fairly—for instance, women; members of the Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and additional people who identify as part of sexual and gender diverse communities (2SLGBTQ+) community; members of racialized groups; and persons with disabilities. Although legal pressures have contributed to this awareness, so has general pressure from customers, clients, and society especially in response to the #MeToo Movement and the increasing awareness of racial inequities in the workplace following the killing of George Floyd and the protests that followed across North America.

What does DEI have to do with organizational behaviour? Organizational behaviour has long been concerned with stereotypes, conflict, cooperation, and teamwork. These are just some of the factors that managers must manage effectively for organizations to benefit from the considerable opportunities that a diverse workforce affords. Let students know that they will learn more about workforce DEI in Chapter 3 and cultural differences in values in Chapter 4.

Employee Health and Well-Being Employees are facing increasing concerns over job security, increasing job demands, and work-related stress that have contributed to a deterioration of their physical and psychological health and well-being. Employees have become disengaged, disillusioned, and are suffering from physical and mental sicknesses. Absenteeism and employee turnover in Canadian organizations are also on the rise. Although there is no one definitive cause, increasing stress levels and poorly designed jobs are major contributors.

There has also been an increasing awareness of and concern about mental health in the workplace which became especially apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic when there was a significant decline in the overall mental health of Canadians. Even before the pandemic, one survey reported that more than half of Canadian employees and managers were struggling with a mental health problem in what some have referred to as a mental health epidemic. Since the pandemic, there has been an increase of 132 percent in mental health claims and 50 percent of full-time employees have quit their jobs for mental health reasons. Mental illness in Canada is said to be costing business billions of dollars in lost productivity and absenteeism. Mental health is the leading cause of disability in Canada, and has a huge cost on productivity and the Canadian economy.

What does a positive work environment and employee mental health and well-being have to do with organizational behaviour? Organizational behaviour is concerned with creating positive work environments that contribute to employee health and wellness.

Psychologically healthy workplaces focus on employee health and well-being while enhancing organizational performance. According to the American Psychological Association for Organizational Excellence, the practices that help to create a healthy and productive work environment include employee involvement, health and safety, employee growth and development, work–life balance, and employee recognition.

Communication is also important and is the foundation for the five psychologically healthy workplace practices.

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Mindfulness can also improve employees’ mental health and well-being. Training programs that focus on mindfulness—a state in which people are highly aware of and attentive to what is happening in the present—have been found to reduce employee stress and absenteeism, and increase employee engagement (refer to Chapter 13 for more on mindfulness training).

Another good example is a spiritual workplace or workplace spirituality. Workplace spirituality refers to workplaces that provide employees with meaning, purpose, a sense of community, and a connection to others. It is important that students understand that workplace spirituality is not about religion in the workplace but rather, providing employees with a meaningful work life that is aligned with their values, provides them with interesting work, meaning and a sense of purpose, feeling that they belong to and are part of a caring and supportive community, and a sense of connection to their work and others.

Organizations can also improve employees’ mental health and well-being by becoming a caring organization. Organizational care involves values and principles centred on fulfilling employees’ needs, promoting employees’ best interests, and valuing employees’ contributions. Organizations that care about their employees are responsive to employees’ needs, interests, concerns, and well-being. Caring for employees has a positive effect not only on employee engagement and productivity, but also on employees’ mental health.

Another important contributor to employee health and well-being is positive organizational behaviour. Positive organizational behaviour (POB) is the study and application of positively oriented human resource strengths and psychological capacities that can be measured, developed, and effectively managed for performance improvement.

The psychological capacities are known as psychological capital (PsyCap). Psychological capital refers to an individual’s positive psychological state of development that is characterized by self-efficacy, optimism, hope, and resilience. Self-efficacy refers to one’s confidence to take on and put in the necessary effort to succeed at challenging tasks; optimism involves explaining positive events in terms of personal and permanent causes, and negative events as external and situation-specific causes; hope refers to persevering toward one’s goals, and when necessary, making changes and using multiple pathways to achieve one’s goals; and resilience refers to one’s ability to bounce back or rebound from adversity and setbacks to attain success.

It is important for students to understand that each of the components of PsyCap are states or positive work-related psychological resources that can be changed, modified, and developed. In other words, they are not fixed, stable, or static personality traits. As a result, PsyCap can be developed with the use of PsyCap interventions (PCI) that focus on enhancing each of the components of PsyCap Research on POB has found that PsyCap is positively related to employee psychological well-being as well as more positive job attitudes, behaviours, and job performance, and negatively related to undesirable attitudes and behaviours such as employee anxiety, stress, and turnover intentions.

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PsyCap is also related to thriving at work. Thriving at work is a positive psychological state that is characterized by a joint sense of vitality and learning. Vitality has to do with a positive feeling of having energy and feeling alive, and learning has to do with having a sense of continually acquiring and applying valuable knowledge and skills. Thriving at work is also influenced by favourable work-related events and experiences and it is positively related to career development initiatives, job performance, leadership effectiveness, and general health and well-being. Thus, POB is an effective approach for organizations to improve employee health and well-being by developing employees’ PsyCap and thriving at work.

Talent Management and Employee Engagement A major challenge facing organizations today is talent management. A survey of senior executives from all over the world found that talent was ranked as the second most critical challenge just behind business growth. Talent management refers to an organization’s processes and practices for attracting, developing, retaining, and deploying people with the required skills to meet current and future business needs. The ability of organizations to attract and retain talent has become especially critical for organizations that are struggling to find the employees they need to compete and survive. The shortage of skilled labour is expected to get even worse in the coming years as the Baby Boomers begin to retire.

Organizations have also become increasingly concerned about employee engagement.

Work engagement is a positive work-related state of mind that is characterized by vigour, dedication, and absorption. Only one-third of workers are engaged and yet engaged workers have more positive work attitudes and higher job performance, and engagement is considered to be key to an organization’s success and competitiveness and it can have a significant impact on productivity, customer satisfaction, profitability, innovation, and quality.

What does organizational behaviour have to do with talent management and employee engagement? Organizational behaviour can help organizations make important changes in the workplace and provides the means for organizations to be designed and managed in ways that optimize talent attraction, development, engagement, retention, and performance.

This topic can generate some lively discussion in the classroom as students discuss some of the reasons why they have accepted or would accept a job as well as the reasons why they have been engaged or disengaged in a job. In addition, they can complete the work engagement experiential exercise to find out how engaged they have been in a current or previous job or how engaged they are as a student. This can then lead into a discussion of the management practices of the best companies to work for in Canada (Exhibit 1.1) and how organizational behaviour can be useful for dealing with the challenge of talent management and employee engagement. You might ask students to review the practices in Exhibit 1.1 and discuss how each practice would influence their decision to join an organization and if it would have an effect on their work engagement.

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Alternative Work Arrangements There have been substantial changes in work arrangements that are changing the structure and quality of work. Full-time, full-year permanent jobs are being replaced by alternative work arrangements such as part-time work and temporary or contract work, contingent work, or what has become known as precarious work and gig employment.

Precarious work refers to work that is risky, uncertain, and unpredictable for workers.

This is work that tends to be unstable or short-term, the pay is low or unreliable, there are no benefits, uncertain and inconsistent hours, and workers have few rights and protections. The consequences of these changes in work arrangements and precarious work include decreased trust, morale, job satisfaction, and commitment, and a negative effect on workers’ mental health and well-being. Precarious workers are more likely to work in unsafe and dangerous working conditions and to suffer the consequences of economic crises which can result in mental and physical health problems. A high percentage of workers in precarious jobs are women, immigrants, and racialized people which means that they are especially vulnerable to economic disruptions and most likely to lose their jobs.

What does organizational behaviour have to do with changing work arrangements and precarious work? The field of organizational behaviour offers many potential solutions to the problems that result from precarious work. An important objective is to ensure that all workers have equitable employment opportunities, a fair living wage, and are not exposed to dangerous and unsafe working conditions, discrimination, job insecurity, and a lack of rights and protections.

Corporate Social Responsibility Corporate social responsibility refers to an organization taking responsibility for the impact of its decisions and actions on its stakeholders. It has to do with an organization’s overall impact on society at large and extends beyond the interests of shareholders to the interests and needs of employees and the community in which it operates. CSR that involves practices aimed at the local community, the environment, and consumers is known as external CSR. Practices and activities that are focused on the internal workforce are known as internal CSR. CSR involves a variety of issues that range from community involvement, environmental protection, safe products, ethical marketing, employee diversity, safe working environments, and local and global labour practices. Ultimately, CSR has to do with how an organization performs its core functions of producing goods and providing services and that it does so in a socially responsible way.

What does corporate social responsibility have to do with organizational behaviour? It is important to emphasize to students that many CSR issues have to do with organizational behaviour such as an organization’s treatment of employees, management practices such as managing DEI, work–family balance, and employment equity.

Organizations that rank high on CSR are good employers because of the way they treat their employees and because of their management practices that promote employee wellbeing. In addition, green programs require changes in employees’ attitudes and behaviours.

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It might be worthwhile to ask students how important CSR is for them when choosing to work for an organization. Along these lines, you might note that an organization’s CSR has implications for the recruitment and retention of employees and that an increasing number of workers want to work for organizations that are environmentally friendly and rank high on CSR. To consider this in more detail, have students complete the experiential exercise on corporate social responsibility.

Advanced Technology and the Future of Work One of the most important changes and challenges facing organizations today is the adoption and integration of advanced technology in the workplace. The increasing use of advanced technology is changing many aspects of work and organizations, and it has major implications for employees and the future of work. While advanced technology can improve efficiencies and make organizations more effective and competitive, they can also result in the objectification and dehumanization (people are depicted, regarded, or treated as not human or less than human) of workers.

Two of the most important examples of advanced technology are artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics. Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to computer-assisted systems such as machine learning, automated reasoning, knowledge repositories, image recognition, and natural language processing that can improve performance and decision making. For the most part, AI involves the use of machine learning and algorithmic reasoning to interpret data and facilitate employee performance and decision making. AI can be used in many different ways and it is changing the workplace by automating and speeding up routine tasks and making organizations more efficient and effective. However, there is also a dark side of AI. Of particular concern is the dehumanization that results from performing fragmented jobs or the increasing frequency with which employees interact with AI systems (employee–AI interactions) rather than with human co-workers. This can have negative effects on employees as it socially disconnects them from work and other humans thereby depriving them of social affiliation.

Robots are embodied, automatically controlled, reprogrammable multipurpose entities that perform useful tasks for humans. While robots can be used to perform boring and repetitive tasks more efficiently than humans, they can also pose a threat to employees’ jobs and career security. While some robots replace employees or eliminate burdensome tasks such as heavy lifting, more advanced robots work side-by-side with employees (human–robot collaborations). This type of human–robot collaboration can result in negative and harmful effects to employees if the robots are not carefully integrated into the workplace. Thus, while the use of advanced technology will continue to shape the future of work, the fear is that it will also increase employees’ feelings of objectification and dehumanization and impair their mental health and well-being.

What does organizational behaviour have to do with the use of advanced technology and the future of work? The field of organizational behaviour has often been concerned with the integration of technology and innovations in the workplace. A critical factor is how to integrate advanced technology such as AI and robots so that it does not alienate and socially isolate employees and harm their health and well-being. Organizational behaviour has an important role to play when it comes to the adoption and integration of advanced technology and the future of work.

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Road Map To conclude the chapter and the first class, you can provide students with a road map of the structure of the rest of the text and the course using the model of organizational behaviour (Exhibit 1.7). In addition to pointing out the topics and chapters to be covered in the course and the text, students should know that organizational behaviour involves three levels of analysis: the individual level, the group level, and the organizational level. The model of organizational behaviour also shows that the factors in each level influence individual and group attitudes, behaviours, and performance, that each level influences the factors and processes at the other levels, and that all three levels of organizational behaviour as well as individual and group attitudes, behaviours, and performance influence organizational performance.

TEACHING TIPS If the majority of your students are taking a full business program or a number of management courses, it might be useful in discussing Chapter 1 to highlight how organizational behaviour is related to their other courses. That is, what is the function of OB in your particular curriculum, and how does it differ from other management courses? (We like to distinguish OB from basic behavioural science, introduction to management, and human resource management. We also point out relevant similarities and interfaces.) This brief exercise indicates to students that you understand the program that they are taking, and it gives them a better idea of just what to expect from your OB course in particular.

The brief vignette about AFSC at the beginning of Chapter 1 can be used to illustrate some of the subject matter that will be covered in the course. Have your students generate a list of possible reasons why the company has been named one of Canada’s and Alberta’s Top Employers. Many of the reasons and implications they offer will be relevant to subsequent chapters of the text (e.g., learning, diversity, equity, and inclusion, work arrangements, work–life balance, health and wellness, and communication). Briefly discuss their ideas and point out how these topics will be covered in greater detail later in the course. This is a good way to illustrate the broad domain of organizational behaviour and its role in making an organization a great place to work and a success.

SAMPLE ANSWERS TO DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1. Consider absence from work as an example of organizational behaviour. What are some of the factors that might predict who is likely to be absent from work? How might you explain absence from work? What are some techniques that organizations use to manage absence? Now do the same for turnover as an example of organizational behaviour.

Both reactions to the job, such as job satisfaction, and personal factors, such as age, gender, or family commitments, might predict absence from work and turnover. For example, less satisfied workers and younger workers are absent more frequently than those who are more satisfied or older. Explaining such relationships is more complicated.

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Some dissatisfied workers may be absent because they’re looking for another job, while others may be recuperating from job-related stress. Similarly, younger workers may be absent because they occupy less rewarding, lower-status roles, or because they encounter more non-work attractions than older workers. To manage absence, organizations use a variety of strategies including (1) not paying for absent days; (2) giving prizes to those with good attendance records; or (3) using sanctioning programs with visits from company nurses. Such strategies should be effective to the extent that they correspond to the reasons for the absence. Some of the reasons for turnover such as job satisfaction and organizational commitment are discussed in Chapter 4. You might inform students that the relationship between job satisfaction and turnover is far from perfect and ask them to explain why and what this means in terms of techniques to reduce turnover. You might also ask students to explain why satisfied people sometimes quit their jobs or dissatisfied people do not quit. These issues are discussed in more detail in Chapter 4. Besides increasing job satisfaction and organizational commitment, organizations can also use realistic job previews to reduce turnover (refer to Chapter 8).

2. Refer to the Research Focus: Effects of Electronic Performance Monitoring feature, and answer the following questions: (a) What is electronic performance monitoring? (b) What effect does electronic performance monitoring and its characteristics have on employees? (c) Use the information in the Research Focus to describe the goals of organizational behaviour with respect to the prediction, explanation, and management of electronic performance monitoring. a) EPM refers to the use of technological means to observe, record, and analyze information that directly or indirectly relates to employee job performance. b) The results of the study that reviewed research on EPM found that EPM was not related to performance. However, the use of EPM was positively related to stress and strain.

With respect to the characteristics of EPM, invasiveness was negatively related to work attitudes, fairness and justice perceptions, commitment, and autonomy, and positively related to privacy invasion. Invasiveness was also related to higher levels of stress and strain and to counterproductive work behaviours. Transparency was positively related to attitudes as well as fairness and justice, commitment, perceived support, and satisfaction. c) The goals of organizational behaviour are predicting, explaining, and managing organizational behaviour. This research sheds light on each of these goals with respect to the use of EPM. First, the results indicate that EPM has no effect on performance which means that we cannot predict performance from the use of EPM. However, we can predict that the use of EPM can result in higher levels of employee stress and strain. We can also predict that the use of EPM can have other negative consequences such as negative attitudes and counterproductive work behaviour. Explanation involves understanding why certain events occur. In the case of the effects of EPM on employee stress/strain and attitudes, it appears that it could be for a number of reasons such as a lack of fairness and justice and autonomy and invasion of privacy. Managing organizational behaviour has to do with getting things accomplished in organizations through others. The results of this research indicate that EPM is not the best approach for managing performance and is not an effective intervention for organizations that want to improve employee job performance. However, unless it is carefully used it can result in negative outcomes such as stress and strain, negative attitudes, and counterproductive

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d) work behaviours. This study suggests that when using EPM, it is important to consider some of its characteristics. For example, organizations should make sure that its use of EPM is not too invasive given that invasive EPM is associated with negative attitudes, counterproductive work behaviours, and greater stress and strain.

Monitoring should only involve task relevant information and limit the tracking of personal kinds of information. Employees should have some control over monitoring such as being able to turn it off during work breaks. Employees should also have periods of time throughout the work day in which monitoring is reduced or removed so employees have opportunities to rest and recover. Organizations should be transparent about using EPM by informing employees of the purpose of monitoring, how and when monitoring will occur, what data will be collected, and who will have access to it. This will minimize the negative effects of EPM on employee work attitudes. Finally, it is important to also point out that this prescription of how to use EPM to manage organizational behaviour is an example of evidence-based management, the use of principles based on the best scientific evidence of organizational practices. Failure to use EPM based on these principles is likely to lead to negative outcomes that be harmful to employees and organizations. Thus, this research and EPM in particular provides a good example of the goals of organizational behaviour and evidence-based management.

3. Use the contingency approach to describe a task or an organizational department where a more classical management style might be effective. Then do the same for a task or department where the human relations style would be effective.

The contingency approach theorizes that different conditions and situations require the application of different management techniques. Advocates of this approach say that there are no universal truths, concepts, or principles that can be applied under all conditions. A more classical style of management may be more appropriate for a professional football coach, where discipline, execution, and technical precision are of paramount importance. A human relations style may be more appropriate for the coach of a figure skater, where expression and artistry may be more important.

4. Describe how management practices and organizational behaviour can help organizations deal with the contemporary management concerns discussed in the chapter. In other words, what are some of the things that organizations can do to (a) manage local and global diversity, (b) improve employee health and well-being, (c) facilitate the management of talent and employee engagement, (d) implement fair work arrangements and equitable employment opportunities, (e) promote corporate social responsibility, and f) manage the adoption and integration of advanced technology and its effects on employees?

Organizational behaviour offers many possible solutions to address each of the contemporary management concerns. For example, an awareness of cultural differences and stereotypes can improve the management of local and global diversity. Diversity training programs can be especially effective. Understanding how the effectiveness of leadership styles and motivational practices might vary across cultures is also important.

Organizations can create a more positive work environment and improve employee

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health and well-being by creating a psychologically healthy workplace that includes employee involvement, health and safety, employee growth and development, work–life balance, employee recognition, and communication. Employee health and well-being can also be improved by creating a more spiritual and caring workplace that provides employees with interesting work that gives them meaning and a feeling of purpose, providing them with opportunities for growth and development, and being responsive to employees’ needs, interests, concerns, and well-being. Organizations can also develop programs based on positive organizational behaviour that develop employees’ PsyCap through the use of PsyCap interventions (PCI) that focus on enhancing each of the components of PsyCap. Some of the practices from organizational behaviour that can improve talent management and employee engagement can be found in Exhibit 1.1, which lists some of the management practices of the best companies to work for in Canada, such as flexible work schedules, incentive compensation, extensive training and development programs, and employee recognition and reward programs to mention just a few. Organizations should also ensure that all workers have equitable employment opportunities, a fair living wage, and are not exposed to dangerous and unsafe working conditions, discrimination, job insecurity, and a lack of rights and protections. Employees should be protected from the dangers of precarious work, and this means improving working conditions and minimizing the harmful consequences of precarious work.

Organizations can use OB practices to communicate to employees the importance of CSR and to recognize and reward employees for socially responsible behaviours such as volunteer work in the community and initiatives that make the organization more environmentally friendly. Management practices and organizational behaviour are key to creating an organization that ranks high on CSR. Organizations can help integrate advanced technology in a positive way by using AI to reduce the time it takes to complete administrative tasks in order to improve productivity, efficiency, and innovation in the workplace. Also, a recent study shows that using AI to perform the initial basic and repetitive parts of the work, leaving the subsequent higher-level and more complex problem-solving parts of a job for employees, can improve employee creativity and performance. A critical factor is how to integrate advanced technologies such as AI and robots so that they do not alienate and socially isolate employees and harm their health and well-being.

5. What are the meaning of and differences between human capital, social capital, and psychological capital, and what do they have to do with organizational behaviour?

Describe how human capital, social capital, and each of the components of psychological capital can help you in your studies and in your career.

Human capital refers to the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) embodied in an organization’s employees and includes employees’ education, training, and experience.

Social capital refers to the social resources that individuals obtain from participation in a social structure. Psychological capital refers to an individual’s positive psychological state of development that is characterized by self-efficacy, optimism, hope, and resilience. Self-efficacy refers to one’s confidence to take on and put in the necessary effort to succeed at challenging tasks; optimism involves explaining positive events in terms of personal and permanent causes and negative events in terms of external and situation-specific causes; hope refers to persevering toward one’s goals, and when

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necessary making changes and using multiple pathways to achieve one’s goals; and resilience refers to one’s ability to bounce back or rebound from adversity and setbacks to attain success. Human and social capital are important because they influence an individual’s job performance. PsyCap is important because it is related to various aspects of organizational behaviour including more positive employee attitudes, behaviours, and job performance as well as employee well-being and lower anxiety, stress, and turnover intentions. Remind students that each of the components of PsyCap are states or positive work-related psychological resources that can be changed, modified, and developed and they are not fixed, stable, or static personality traits and that both human and social capital can be developed and improved over time. Students should describe and understand that if they and employees have higher human and social capital, selfefficacy, optimism, hope, and resilience they will do better in their studies and jobs and very likely will get higher grades, have better job performance, and more successful careers. Thus, it is worth the effort to learn about human and social capital and each component of psychological capital and how they can be developed and improved.

ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 1. What are your goals in studying organizational behaviour? What practical advantages might this study have for you?

Students might report a diverse set of goals, ranging from completing a required course, to understanding others, to being more effective managers. They are less likely to cite being a more effective consumer or employee, and these possibilities can be called to their attention. Practical advantages can almost always be grouped into the three categories of improved prediction, explanation, or management of behaviour. When the practical advantage of managing behaviour is mentioned, the importance of prediction and understanding should also be underlined.

2. Describe the assumptions about organizational behaviour that are reflected in television shows, such as situation comedies and police dramas. How accurate are these portrayals? Do they influence our thinking about what occurs in organizations?

It is fairly safe to say that TV portrayals of work and behaviour in organizations are biased and/or often inaccurate. For one thing, many shows consciously downplay the working life of their characters. This means that the impact of work on individuals is also deemphasized. Secondly, the broad range of jobs in our society is not portrayed on TV. One finds few blue-collar workers, but many detectives, doctors, lawyers, and police officers. These jobs are not typical in the demands they make on workers nor in the rewards they provide to their incumbents. Finally, TV emphasizes the personality of job holders and discounts the tremendous influence of the occupational role itself. Often, the job is just a convenient setting for an interesting character. Television may contribute substantially to inaccurate occupational stereotypes and to the expectations young people develop about certain kinds of jobs.

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3. Management is the art of getting things accomplished in organizations through others. Given this definition, what are some factors that make management a difficult, or at least a challenging, occupation?

Challenges come about as a result of changes in the domestic and international world.

Specific challenges include increased global competition, the emergence of new technologies, the added challenge of diversity, changing employee expectations, and societal pressures regarding ethical behaviour. Organizational success requires effective management.

4. What is corporate social responsibility (CSR) and what does it have to do with organizational behaviour? Explain how an understanding of organizational behaviour can help organizations become more socially responsible.

Corporate social responsibility refers to an organization taking responsibility for the impact of its decisions and actions on its stakeholders and an organization’s overall impact on society at large. CSR has a great deal to do with organizational behaviour including how an organization treats its employees, the management of diversity, workfamily balance, employment equity, issues of fairness, and employee well-being.

Organizations that rank high on CSR are good employers because of the way they treat their employees and because their management practices promote the well-being of employees. CSR has implications for an organization’s reputation and financial performance and an increasing number of organizations are placing greater emphasis on CSR initiatives. An understanding of OB can help organizations become more socially responsible because it involves changing management practices as well as employees’ attitudes and behaviours. This has implications for learning, communication, rewards and recognition, motivation, values, and leadership, to name just a few OB areas. As indicated in the chapter, at Fairmont Hotels and Resorts employees volunteer to be on “green teams” that meet monthly to brainstorm environmental initiatives. The company also recognizes and rewards employees for their efforts. The program has had a positive effect on employee engagement and motivation and employees are proud to be working for an environmentally responsible organization. It is also worth noting that an organization’s CSR has implications for the recruitment and retention of employees and talent management as an increasing number of workers want to work for organizations that are environmentally friendly and rank high on CSR. 5. Why do studies of managerial behaviour reveal the importance of networking? What about human resources management? Explain the differences between these two behaviours and their importance for success.

When you examine what managers actually do, and the amount of time they spend with people, the role of networking and human resources management and their importance becomes evident. Networking consists of interacting with people outside of the organization and informal socializing and politicking with insiders. Networking has been found to be critical for moving up the ranks of the organization quickly. Human resources management involves motivating and reinforcing, disciplining and punishing, managing conflict, staffing, and training and developing employees. It is associated with unit effectiveness and employee satisfaction and commitment. Thus, both networking and

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human resources management are important managerial activities and both are associated with success; however, the meaning of success is what differs (i.e., moving up quickly for networking, and unit effectiveness and positive employee attitudes for human resources management).

6. What are some of the demands that increased workforce diversity and increased global operations make on managers? What are some of the opportunities that these trends offer to managers?

Challenges that come about as a result of changes in international operations and because of a diverse workplace both here and abroad challenge managers who must be able to cope with these changes. The ability to communicate in other languages and the ability to understand and accept subtle cultural differences are among the things that managers must be able to do. Managers who are able to successfully compete in this environment will experience greater career opportunities and the rewards that come with them.

7. What is the meaning of workplace spirituality and how is it different from religion in the workplace? What does an organization have to do to become a spiritual workplace?

Would you want to work in a spiritual workplace? Explain your answer.

Workplace spirituality refers to a workplace that provides employees with meaning, purpose, a sense of community, and a connection to others. Make sure that students understand that workplace spirituality is not about religion in the workplace and that it has nothing to do with religion at work. Some students might have difficulty understanding the difference. Therefore, it is important to emphasize that this has to do with creating a positive work environment that provides employees with meaning and a sense of purpose.

Some students might wonder why this is important. You might ask them if they would want to work in an organization that provides them with interesting work, opportunities for growth and development, meaningful relationships with others, and the opportunity to be part of a caring and supportive community. Most students will probably see these things as good to have and you can tell them that these are the makings of a spiritual workplace. It might be interesting to hear from any students who would not want to work in such a workplace and to explain why. This might further help to emphasize that a spiritual workplace is not the same as a religious workplace.

8. To demonstrate that you grasp the idea of contingencies in organizational behaviour,

consider how closely managers should supervise the work of their employees. What are some factors on which closeness of supervision might be contingent?

Closeness of supervision should be contingent on factors such as employee experience, trustworthiness, need for independence, and the importance of the project in question. Close supervision is indicated for employees with little experience, those who have not proven their trustworthiness, and those who are dependent. Looser supervision is indicated for those who are experienced, trustworthy, and independent. As project importance increases, some increase in supervision might be provided to preclude costly errors, but this itself is contingent on the other factors mentioned.

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EXTRA DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1. Discuss how the goals of the field of organizational behaviour are related to the managerial tasks of analysis and action.

2. Why is survival a goal of virtually all organizations?

3. Discuss the following statement: Organizational behaviour technologies should not be developed to control the behaviour of individuals in organizations.

4. What does the term contingency mean? Why are contingencies so central to an understanding of how organizations function?

5. Why is it important to study organizational behaviour?

6. Discuss how organizational behaviour can influence the competitiveness and success of an organization.

7. Discuss some of the contemporary concerns of management and the role of organizational behaviour in the successful management of these concerns.

8. Discuss the importance of human capital, social capital, and psychological capital for organizations and employees.

9. Define and discuss precarious work. What are the pros and cons of precarious work for employees and organizations?

SAMPLE ANSWER TO ON-THE-JOB CHALLENGE QUESTION: The Great Resignation and Stay Interviews What do you think about stay interviews? Using an organizational behaviour perspective, what effect do you think these interviews can have on employees’ attitudes and behaviour? Discuss stay interviews in terms of the goals of organizational behaviour. In other words, what can be predicted, explained, and managed as a result of conducting stay interviews? Do stay interviews make sense in terms of any of the contemporary management concerns discussed in the chapter? Do you think it is a good idea for organizations to conduct stay interviews?

Explain your answer.

Students will probably understand that stay interviews are a good idea because they invite employees to provide input and feedback about their work experiences. In effect, it represents a form of communication and invites employees to have their say about their job and the organization. As a result, it will probably help to improve employees’ attitudes and behaviours to the extent that they feel that their input and opinions are valued by the organization. Stay interviews can also be understood in terms of the goals of organizational behaviour. The organizations described in the question are clearly concerned about retaining employees and they want to find out what factors might make them want to leave the organization. In other words, they want to be able to predict employee turnover. They also want to find out the reasons why employees might be thinking of leaving the organization. That is, they want to be able to explain why employees might want to leave the organization. And perhaps most importantly, they want to know what they can do so that employees will be less likely to leave the organization. Thus, they want to manage organizational behaviour. As noted in the question, they want to know what they can do prevent the departure of high-performance employees. This might include reasons such as more responsibility, opportunities to learn, and the ability to go to a conference. Thus, stay interviews can serve several

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important functions and are likely to improve employees’ attitudes and behaviours. If organizations respond to the feedback they receive from employees they should be able to reduce the likelihood that employees will leave the organization and therefore improve retention. With respect to contemporary management concerns, stay interviews can provide information to improve employee health and well-being, be used as an important component of talent management, and improve employee engagement, Thus, for all these reasons it is a good idea for organizations to conduct stay interviews and consider them an important form of communication. Employees will respond positively to the opportunity to provide input and feedback about their job and the organization.

TEACHING NOTES FOR GOOD JOB, BAD JOB EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE This exercise is essentially self-explanatory. It makes a good “ice breaker,” and unlike some ice breakers, it is clearly tied to the content of the course. Note that it could also be used as an introduction to job satisfaction in conjunction with Chapter 4.

For the debriefing, you may want to address the following issues in addition to those noted in the exercise: 1. Is a good job simply the opposite of a bad job, or are there qualitative differences between the two?

2. Although it is possible to list dozens of good and bad qualities, are there any more basic and general dimensions being tapped here? One might be the distinction between intrinsic job qualities (e.g., interesting work) and extrinsic job qualities (e.g., high pay).

3. To what extent can good job aspects compensate or make up for bad job aspects? Can a nice boss make up for boring work?

4. What accounts for the fact that a good job for one person could be a bad job for another? (This is a good opportunity to preview need patterns and individual differences.)

5. Is there a tendency toward social desirability in the response to this exercise? That is, do people tend to describe good and bad jobs in a way that they think might elicit approval from others? (This is probably less likely when students reflect on jobs that they have actually held versus giving abstract opinions about good and bad jobs in general.)

TEACHING NOTES FOR OB IN THE NEWS EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE This exercise is meant to serve a number of purposes. For starters, it demonstrates to students that management and OB are pervasive in our world and that there are frequent examples of both in the news almost every day. A second purpose is for students to make connections between the events and information described in the article and

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organizational behaviour. At a more advanced level, this exercise is designed for students to learn how an understanding of organizational behaviour can help them understand the world in a new and more informed manner. Thus, the questions for this exercise require students to examine the article through the lens of OB and begin to see things in a new and more informed light.

Finally, this exercise provides students a way to apply the material in the chapter to an actual event or story that they have chosen to focus on. Thus, by using their article and answering the questions they can better understand what organizations are and what organizational behaviour is about; why organizational behaviour is important and how it makes a difference; the goals of organizational behaviour; and what contemporary management concerns are facing organizations.

From this exercise students should not only learn the material in Chapter 1, but they should also come to understand that learning about organizational behaviour can improve their understanding and interpretation of everyday stories and events that they read and hear about in the news.

TEACHING NOTES FOR HOW ENGAGED ARE YOU? EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE This exercise is designed for students to learn about their student and/or work engagement and to consider the factors that might be influencing it as well as the various outcomes of their level of student or work engagement. Note that you can also have students complete or revisit this exercise when you cover Chapter 13 (Conflict and Stress). In particular, the exercise will work well with the section, The Job Demands– Resources Model and Work Engagement. You might therefore focus more on various job demands and resources that might be influencing their student and/or work engagement and what the outcomes are or were in a past job in terms of burnout, stress, job attitudes, and health and well-being. Have students try to identify specific job demands and resources that might be affecting their student and/or work engagement. In addition, ask them what changes might be made to job demands and resources to improve their student and/or work engagement and outcomes.

Students should be asked to complete the UWES work engagement scale developed by Wilmar B. Schaufeli, Marisa Salanova, Vicente González-Romá, and Arnold B. Bakker prior to class. They can score and interpret their results by following the directions provided in the text. Given the link between work engagement and job performance and well-being, students are likely to be very interested in their score and what it means as a student as well as an employee.

Work engagement is a positive work-related state of mind that is characterized by vigour, dedication, and absorption. Vigour is characterized by high levels of energy and mental resilience while working, the willingness to invest effort into one’s work, and persistence even in the face of difficulties. Dedication is characterized by a sense of significance, enthusiasm, inspiration, pride, and challenge. Absorption is characterized by being fully concentrated and deeply engrossed in one’s work to such a degree that time passes quickly, and one has difficulties detaching oneself from work. The average score of a

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sample of undergraduate students on each dimension was as follows: Vigour, 3.30; Dedication 4.41; and Absorption, 3.37. The average score of a sample of employees was as follows: Vigour, 3.82; Dedication 3.74; and Absorption, 3.53.

Students can obtain their scores on each of the three dimensions of work engagement (vigour, dedication, and absorption) by calculating the average of the items for each dimension as indicated below. To obtain their overall engagement score, calculate the average of responses to all 17 questions. Scores can range from 0 to 6; higher scores indicate higher vigour, dedication, absorption, and engagement.

Vigour: Add 1, 4, 7, 10, 13, and 16 and divide by 6.

Dedication: Add 2, 5, 8, 11, and 14 and divide by 5.

Absorption: Add 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, and 17 and divide by 6.

Overall engagement score: Add all 17 items and divide by 17.

To help students understand the meaning of work and student engagement and their results, class discussion might revolve around the following issues: 1. What is work engagement? What is student engagement? What does it mean to be an engaged employee and student? What does it mean to be a disengaged employee and student?

2. How is work and student engagement relevant for organizational behaviour?

3. How might your student engagement influence your grades? How can work engagement influence employees’ job attitudes, behaviours, and job performance?

4. How might your work and student engagement influence your stress, health, and well-being?

5. Is it important for people to know about their student and work engagement?

6. What can people do to change their student and work engagement?

In terms of the discussion questions provided in the text, you might proceed as follows.

Have students form a small group with several other members of the class and discuss the following questions. Each group might then present their group results and answers for class discussion. You might first decide if students should focus on work or student engagement or both.

1. Students should compare their scores on each work engagement dimension. Which dimension is highest, and which is lowest? Ask them to also compare their results to the study findings reported in the text in which the average score of a sample of undergraduate students was as follows: Vigour, 3.30; Dedication 4.41; and Absorption, 3.37. The average score of a sample of employees was as follows: Vigour, 3.82; Dedication 3.74; and Absorption, 3.53. Do students score higher or lower than these averages? Ask them to try and explain what their scores say about their own work or student engagement.

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2. Students should present their scores on each dimension of work and/or student engagement as well as their overall work engagement score to the rest of the group.

Have each group indicate the range of group members’ scores on each dimension and overall work and/or student engagement. Each group should indicate what dimensions group members have high and low scores on and the average overall work and/or student engagement score in their group.

3. Students should explain why they think some group members have a low or high work and/or student engagement score. They should consider the factors they think account for low and high engagement scores. Why do some group members have higher student and/or work engagement scores than others? What are the things that predict student and work engagement levels? With respect to student engagement, the groups might consider the courses they are taking, how many courses they are taking, course assignments, and the course instructors. If they completed the scale for work engagement, they might consider factors such as the type of job each group member has, the type of tasks they perform, and the amount of autonomy and control they have in their job and how they perform their work. Students should try to explain and understand why some group members have higher student and/or work engagement scores than others.

Now students should consider and discuss any effects that their level of student and/or work engagement might be having on their attitudes, behaviour, and performance. If they completed the scale for student engagement, they should consider their attitudes toward their program and grades. If they completed the scale for work engagement, they should consider their job attitudes and job performance.

Among the members in their group, students should be able to determine if students with higher student and/or work engagement scores have more positive attitudes and performance.

4. Ask the groups what they have learned about themselves as a student and/or an employee and what the implications are for their attitudes, grades, and performance.

5. Finally, once students have learned about their own student and/or work engagement and considered its predictors and outcomes, ask them to explain how knowledge of their student and work engagement can help them as a student and as an employee.

Also ask them to come up with things they might do to become a more engaged student and employee and what the potential consequences are of being a more engaged student and employee. Make sure students understand how organizational behaviour can help organizations to have more engaged employees and the implications of this for employees and organizations.

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TEACHING NOTES FOR ARE YOU THRIVING AT WORK? EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE This exercise is designed for students to learn about thriving at work and to consider the factors that might be influencing it as well as the outcomes. Students should be asked to complete the thriving at work scale that was developed by Christine Porath, Gretchen Spreitzer, Chistina Gibson, and Flannery G. Garnett. They can score and interpret their results by following the directions provided in the text. Given the relationship between thriving at work and career initiative development and work outcomes, students are likely to be very interested in their score and what it means for them.

Thriving at work is a psychological state in which individuals experience a sense of vitality and learning. When people are thriving at work, they experience growth and momentum which involves a sense of feeling energized and alive (vitality) and a sense that they are continually improving and getting better at what they do (learning). Vitality and learning combine to capture the essence of thriving at work. Thus, thriving at work is the result of the joint experience of a sense of vitality and learning at work. Thriving at work enhances the health and personal development of employees and it is a way to prevent burnout.

Porath and colleagues conducted three studies to develop and test their measure of thriving at work. The average thriving at work score of a sample of undergraduate students enrolled in a business course was 5.18. Thriving at work was found to be positively related to career development initiative (e.g., setting career goals, seeking out career development opportunities), job performance, leadership effectiveness, and health, and negatively related to burnout.

Students should calculate their thriving at work score and their score on each dimension of thriving at work (vitality and learning). However, they must first subtract their responses for questions 4 and 8 from 8. Once they have converted their scores for questions 4 and 8, they can calculate their score on each dimension and their thriving at work score as indicated below. Scores can range from 1 to 7; higher scores indicate higher learning, vitality, and thriving at work.

Learning: Add 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, and divide by 5.

Vitality: Add 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10, and divide by 5.

Thriving at work score: Add all 10 items and divide by 10.

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To help students understand the meaning of thriving at work and their results, class discussion might revolve around the following issues: 1. What is thriving at work? What does it mean to be thriving at work?

2. How is thriving at work relevant for organizational behaviour?

3. How might thriving at work influence employees’ job attitudes, behaviours, job performance, and health and well-being?

4. How might your thriving at work influence your career?

5. Is it important for people to know about their thriving at work?

6. What can people do so that they are thriving at work?

In terms of the discussion questions provided in the text, you might proceed as follows.

Have students form a small group with several other members of the class and discuss the following questions. Each group might then present their group results and answers for class discussion.

1. Students should compare their scores on each dimension of thriving at work. They should note which dimension is highest and which is lowest. They should try to understand what their total score as well as their score on each dimension tells them about the extent to which they are thriving at work. They might also compare their score to the average thriving at work score in the sample of undergraduate students enrolled in a business course (5.18).

2. Each group should determine the range of group members’ scores on each dimension and note how group members’ thriving at work scores compare to that found in the study of undergraduate students (5.18). Do group members score higher or lower than 5.18? They should also take note of the dimensions that group members have high and low scores on. Do group members score higher on vitality or learning? Is there a difference? Finally, they should indicate the extent to which group members are thriving at work.

Given the differences in scores among group members, students should try to explain what factors they think account for their own low or high score on each dimension of thriving at work. They should explain why some group members have higher scores on each dimension and are thriving at work more than others. Thus, they should try to determine the factors that have contributed to their own and group members’ thriving at work scores. What are the most important predictors of thriving at work?

3. Students should now try to determine any outcomes of their thriving at work score.

They should consider what effect their thriving at work has or had on their job attitudes, behaviour, performance, and health and well-being. Do group members with higher thriving at work scores have more positive work outcomes? After considering each group member’s response, what effect does thriving at work have on group members’ job attitudes, behaviours, performance, health and well-being overall?

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4. Students should now consider what they have learned about themselves and their thriving at work. They should describe what they think are the implications of this for their job attitudes (e.g., job satisfaction, organizational commitment), job performance, health and well-being, and their career.

5. To conclude the exercise, have students describe how knowledge of thriving at work can help them in their current job, future jobs, and in their career. They should develop a plan for what they can do to improve their thriving at work and explain why it is important to do this. Make sure students understand how organizational behaviour can help organizations so that they have employees who are thriving at work and the implications of this for employees and organizations.

TEACHING NOTES FOR CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE The purpose of this exercise is for students to begin thinking more seriously about corporate social responsibility and the extent to which an organization they have worked for or currently work for is socially responsible. The Corporate Stakeholder Responsibility (CStR) Scale measures an organization’s context-specific actions and policies designed to enhance the welfare of various stakeholder groups by accounting for the triple bottom line of economic, social, and environmental performance. The scale consists of six dimensions that correspond to CSR toward six stakeholder groups: Community–oriented CSR, Natural environment–oriented CSR, Employee–oriented CSR, Supplier–oriented CSR, Customer–oriented CSR, and Shareholder–oriented CSR. Research of the development of the scale found that CStR scores were positively related to organizational pride, organizational identification, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment.

Students should complete the scale before coming to class and obtain their score on each dimension of the CStR as follows: Community–oriented CSR: Add 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 and divide by 7.

Natural environment–oriented CSR: Add 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14 and divide by 7.

Employee–oriented CSR: Add 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, and 21 and divide by 7.

Supplier–oriented CSR: Add 22, 23, 24, 25, and 26 and divide by 5.

Customer–oriented CSR: Add 27, 28, 29, 30, and 31 and divide by 5.

Shareholder–oriented CSR: Add 32, 33, 34, and 35 and divide by 4.

Total CSR: Add all 35 items and divide by 35.

The exercise can be done in small groups, or the instructor can discuss the questions as part of a class discussion of CSR. The discussion for each of the questions might proceed as follows:

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1. Students should review their scores on each dimension and determine what dimensions their organization scores particularly high or low on. As a group or class, look for any trends with regard to those dimensions that are particularly high or low.

Try to determine if there are some dimensions that organizations seem to do best and worst on.

2. Try to see if some students have organizations that excel at CSR and have very high scores and if some organizations do very poorly and have very low scores. How are these organizations different?

3. Students should consider how their organization’s CSR might be influencing their attitudes. In particular, students should think about their pride towards their organization as well as their organizational identification, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. Look for any possible relationships between CSR and these attitudes. In particular, do students with higher CSR scores have more positive job attitudes?

4. Have students think about how this exercise has informed them about their organization and the extent to which they now know something about their organization that they did not know before or had not thought about. Next, students should consider what their organization can do to improve their CSR, what dimensions in particular they should focus on, and where they need to improve. What are some of the possible implications of making such improvements?

5. To conclude the discussion, ask students to consider how knowledge of corporate social responsibility can be a factor in their search for employment and in their career.

Have they ever thought about CSR when looking for a job and will they now consider it when applying for and accepting a job? Ask students if CSR should be something they consider when searching for employment and accepting a job offer.

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TEACHING NOTES FOR THE MINIMUM WAGE HIKE CASE INCIDENT This case incident can be used to introduce students to some of the major issues and theories in organizational behaviour. The first question is designed to flesh out various topics in organizational behaviour. The second question is designed to apply the goals of organizational behaviour. The third question is designed to demonstrate how organizational behaviour can be used to develop interventions (to manage organizational behaviour) that can have a positive effect on employee attitudes and behaviours. Before discussing the questions, you might first pique student interest by asking some general questions such as: How do you think employees felt when they were told that they could no longer accept tips or have paid breaks and will have to pay for their uniforms and at least half the cost of their dental and health benefits? How would you feel if you were an employee and this happened to you? How do you think employees will respond to this?

1. What does this case have to do with organizational behaviour? What are some of the key issues that are relevant for understanding and managing organizational behaviour?

This question is designed to get students to think about some of the major topics in organizational behaviour. Ask students what the case incident has to do with organizational behaviour. The minimum wage pay hike has a lot to do with organizational behaviour, which is all about the attitudes and behaviours of individuals and groups in organizations. It is very likely that the benefit reductions made by some of the franchisees will have a negative effect on employees’ attitudes and behaviours. In particular, we might expect a decline in employees’ job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and perhaps greater intentions to quit and actual turnover. In terms of specific topics within organizational behaviour, the minimum wage hike and reduction in benefits relate to issues of perceptions, fairness, trust, values, motivation, pay, leadership, communication, decision making, power, politics, and ethics. Interestingly, in addition to the potential impact on employees, there is also evidence that the reduction in benefits had an effect on customers and Tim Hortons brand reputation. According to one survey, Tim Hortons suffered a massive drop in its reputation falling to 67th from 13th place, which is believed to be linked to the reduction in employee benefits. On a list of the top 10 companies or brands in Canada, Tim Hortons fell from number 4 in 2017 to number 50 in 2018. In general, the case incident is a good example of what organizational behaviour is all about: the attitudes and behaviours of individuals and groups in organizations and the effect of organizational practices on employee attitudes and behaviours. It is a good example of how things can go wrong when an organization lacks a clear understanding of organizational behaviour. This leads to the next question which is meant to show how a good understanding of the goals of organizational behaviour can lead to more effective programs for improving employee attitudes and behaviours.

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2. Use the three goals of organizational behaviour (prediction, explanation, and management) to explain the potential effects that the elimination of benefits might have on employees.

The goals of organizational behaviour are predicting, explaining, and managing organizational behaviour. The question is could we predict, explain, and manage the effects of the benefit reductions on employees? In general, we might first predict that an increase in minimum wage would have a positive effect on the attitudes and behaviours of employees.

That is, getting paid more will have a number of benefits for employees, and this is likely to lead to more positive attitudes and behaviours. On the other hand, the reduction in benefits is likely to minimize if not eliminate any positive benefits associated with the increase in minimum wage, and this might even lead to negative attitudes and behaviours. In terms of specific attitudes and behavours, we might predict that employees’ job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and motivation will decrease, and their intention to quit and likelihood of actually quitting will increase. In terms of explaining why this might happen, we can use several theories of organizational behaviour. Equity theory suggests that employees will consider their inputs (what they give or trade to the organization for outcomes) and outcomes (factors that an organization provides to employees in exchange for their inputs) and compare their outcome/input ratio to some other relevant person or group.

In this case, employees who have received a reduction in benefits will perceive the situation as inequitable in comparison to their situation before the minimum wage hike and when compared to employees at franchises that did not cut employee benefits. As a result, this is likely to have a negative effect on job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and motivation—all of which can lead to negative behaviours such as absenteeism, turnover, and decline in performance. Another theory that is relevant has to do with fairness perceptions.

There are several different kinds of fairness. In the case of Tim Hortons, two kinds of fairness that are particularly relevant are distributive fairness, which has to do with the outcomes that people receive and think they deserve, and procedural fairness, which is the process used to determine work outcomes. The reduction of employee benefits is likely to be perceived as unfair by employees with respect to both distributive and procedural fairness.

Finally, as indicated in the chapter, if behaviour can be predicted and explained, it can often be managed. Based on the prediction and explanation, we can now see that dealing with the minimum wage hike by reducing employee benefits will have a negative effect on employees’ attitudes and behaviour because of perceptions of inequity and unfairness. As noted in the chapter, managers often act without analysis, looking for a quick fix to problems that often result in disaster. This seems to be the case here as reducing employee benefits will not only harm employees, but it has also damaged Tim Hortons reputation and customers’ perceptions of the Tim Hortons brand.

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3. Do you agree with the actions of the franchise owners who cut employee benefits?

How can organizational behaviour help us to understand this incident and determine the best course of action?

Most students are going to see that the actions of the franchise owners to take away employee benefits was not a good idea and they will not agree with it. Clearly, taking away employee benefits because of a minimum wage hike is unfair to employees and completely undermines the increase in pay. The quote at the end of the case says it all: “…taking it out on employees is not fair and not acceptable.” As described in the previous question, the goals of organizational behaviour show the negative effects this will have on employees and the business. The goals of organizational behaviour can also help to determine a better course of action which ideally will focus on improving sales and this requires programs that motivate employees and improve their job attitudes. This might involve some kind of incentive program or recognition program that focuses on employee motivation and positive employee attitudes and behaviours.

ADDITIONAL CASE INCIDENT: MY MOTHER’S VISIT Last year, George was preparing for his mother’s first visit to Canada. George had immigrated to Canada from Haiti six years earlier. His dream was for his mother to come to Canada to meet his new family and live with them. He had been working hard and saving money for many years to pay for his mother’s airfare. Finally, everything was coming together. His mother’s flight was booked, and a big celebration was planned to mark her arrival. George had arranged to leave work at lunchtime to pick his mother up at the airport and take her to his house, where the guests would be waiting. He had spent months planning the celebration and making the arrangements.

However, when the big day arrived, George’s boss handed him an assignment and told him he was not to leave until it was completed. When George described his plans, his boss cut him off and reminded him that the organization depended on employees to do whatever it takes to get the job done: “No excuses, George. You are not to leave until the job is done!” George had to arrange for a taxi to pick up his mother, and her welcome celebration took place without him. George did not get home until late in the evening.

The guests had left, and his mother had gone to bed. George wondered why the assignment could not have waited until the next day, or why one of his co-workers couldn’t have done it.

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TEACHING NOTES FOR MY MOTHER’S VISIT CASE INCIDENT 1. What does this incident tell you about management and organizational behaviour at George’s organization?

This question is designed to get students to think about some of the major topics in organizational behaviour. For example, what type of personality does the boss have?

Why does George’s boss behave this way? Perhaps the boss has a high need for power and uses power for personal gain (personal power manager, Chapter 12). Other personality characteristics to consider might be Type A Behaviour Pattern (Chapter 13), low agreeableness (Chapter 2), or Machiavellianism (Chapter 12). The discussion could also focus on perception. You might ask students what their perception is of George’s boss, and then introduce topics such as perceptions of trust and perceived organizational support (Chapter 3) and fairness (Chapter 4). You can also discuss the leadership style of George’s boss and introduce leader behaviours such as directive, supportive, participative, reward, punishment, and leader–member exchange theory (Chapter 9). A discussion of culture can focus on what it must be like to work in George’s organization (Chapter 8). This might involve some discussion of the notion of pathological cultures (Chapter 8). The meaning of power can also be introduced (Chapter 12) by describing how George is dependent on his boss for his job as well the bases of power (Chapter 12) that his boss can use to influence George’s behaviour (e.g., legitimate, reward, and coercive).

With respect to the material in Chapter 1, you might ask students to think about the management style of George’s organization. Is the organization more like the classical view and bureaucracy or the human relations movement? Based on the behaviour of George’s boss, it would seem that this is a good example of a bureaucracy with a strict chain of command, detailed rules, regulations, and procedures ensuring that the job gets done, and the centralization of power with management. Clearly, George’s boss is not showing the kind of participative management and concern toward employee needs that is characteristic of the human relations movement. Ask students to describe what George’s boss might have done if the human relations movement was the dominant approach to management in the organization and then consider the impact of the two approaches to management on employee attitudes and behaviour.

2. How can organizational behaviour help to predict and explain the behaviour of George and his boss? What advice would you give to George and his boss in terms of managing organizational behaviour in the future?

This question can be used to describe the importance and goals of organizational behaviour. For example, George is likely to form negative attitudes toward his boss and organization as a result of this experience. The incident could lower his perceptions of organizational support as well as his job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and might also influence his behaviour. For example, he might consider quitting his job; he might decide to be absent the next time he needs time off work; he might refrain from organizational citizenship behaviours; and/or his performance might decline. In terms of the goals of organizational behaviour, George should be able to predict his boss’s future

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behaviour in similar circumstances. He might see his boss as uncaring and unlikely to consider his needs. To manage the situation, George might avoid future incidents by scheduling non-work events like his mother’s arrival at a time when his boss cannot force him to stay at work (e.g., on a Sunday or in the evening); he might find a backup at work who can cover for him; or perhaps he can make arrangements with his boss in advance and complete any work prior to the day he must be absent from work, assuming that his boss will cooperate. From the organization’s perspective, they should realize that the kind of behaviour displayed by George’s boss could have a negative effect on employees’ attitudes and behaviour, and ultimately, on the organization itself. Such behaviour could result in a high rate of turnover when the labour market becomes more favourable and a high rate of absenteeism. To ensure that employees have positive attitudes and choose to remain in the organization, the organization should implement work–family programs so employees have more flexible work schedules and should also provide support to employees to help them meet their family-related needs and obligations. More understanding of employees’ needs and a more participative leadership style on the part of George’s boss would also be a good idea. The LMX theory of leadership which is discussed in Chapter 9 might be worth noting.

3. What does this incident tell you about management and organizational behaviour?

This question provides a good opportunity to discuss the importance of management and organizational behaviour and how it affects employees and organizations. The case incident helps to demonstrate different approaches to management (classical vs. human relations movement) and how different approaches and practices can impact employee attitudes and behaviours. You might ask students to think about how the incident described in the case might influence George’s future attitudes and behaviours—how it might cause his commitment to the organization to decline, lower his work engagement, motivation, and performance, and perhaps increase his absenteeism (next time he is probably likely to just not come to work), and his likelihood of quitting. You can relate the incident to several issues in the chapter such as the reasons to study organizational behaviour, the goals of organizational behaviour, what mangers do (discuss George’s boss in terms of managerial roles and activities), and contemporary management concerns (especially creating a positive work environment and employee health and wellbeing, talent management and employee engagement, and CSR). You might also relate the case to how organizational behaviour not only makes organizations great places to work, but also makes them more successful. Finally, you can point out the importance of various topics in organizational behaviour such as leadership, communication, culture, power, and stress (i.e., work–family conflict).

ADDITIONAL CASE INCIDENT: MAYFIELD DEPARTMENT STORES As competition in the retail market began to heat up, Mayfield Department Stores realized it needed to hire more sales staff. At the same time, they also needed to motivate staff to increase sales and improve their work engagement and retention. Therefore, the company implemented a new program that they believed would increase the number of job applicants and improve employee motivation and work engagement and retain staff for longer periods of time. The program introduced a new incentive for employees that gave them a chance to win a trip to Mexico.

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Each month, employees in the department with the highest sales have a chance to win the free trip to Mexico along with $5000 in spending money. At the end of every year, the names of all employees in those departments that had the highest sales for at least one month during the year have their name entered into a draw. The more months a department has the highest sales, the more times employees have their names entered into the draw. At the end of the year, three names are then chosen to win a one-week trip to Mexico with all expenses paid, plus $5000 cash.

At first, the program was very effective for recruiting new hires and current employees were excited about the chance to win a trip to Mexico. In the first month after the program was introduced, Mayfield received more applications than in any previous month. The program also had a positive effect on employees’ motivation and work engagement as sales increased during the first three months of the program.

However, after four months, many employees began to complain about the program and wondered if they would ever be rewarded for their hard work. As a result, many of the new hires decided to quit, as well as some employees who had been with the company for years.

After six months, sales began to drop and almost all the new hires had left Mayfield.

In exit interviews, many employees complained that they did not think the program was fair and that they felt that they had been misled about the chance to win a trip to Mexico. As a result, the company decided to end the program after the first year and began to consider if they should replace it with something that might be more effective.

TEACHING NOTES FOR MAYFIELD DEPARTMENT STORES CASE INCIDENT This case incident can be used to introduce students to some of the major issues and theories in organizational behaviour. The first question is designed to flesh out various topics in organizational behaviour. The second question is designed to apply the goals of organizational behaviour. The third question is designed to demonstrate how organizational behaviour can be used to develop interventions (to manage organizational behaviour) that can have a positive effect on employee attitudes and behaviours. Before discussing the questions, you might first pique student interest by asking some general questions such as: What do you think about the incident; What do you think about the incentive program and is it a good way to attract, motivate, engage, and retain employees? Why wasn’t the program more effective and what if anything would have made it more effective? What if any effect would such a program have on your job attitudes and behaviours?

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1. What does this case have to do with organizational behaviour? What are some of the key issues that are relevant to understanding and managing organizational behaviour?

This question is designed to get students to think about some of the major topics in organizational behaviour. Simply ask students what the case incident has to do with organizational behaviour. Relevant topics that are clearly noted in the case incident include: motivation, work engagement, performance, retention, and rewards. In general, the case incident is a good example of what organizational behaviour is all about: the attitudes and behaviours of individuals and groups in organizations and the effect of organizational practices on employee attitudes and behaviours. Of course, this is a good example of how things can go wrong when an organization lacks a clear understanding of organizational behaviour. This leads to the next question which is meant to show how a good understanding of the goals of organizational behaviour can lead to more effective programs for improving employee attitudes and behaviours.

2. Use the three goals of organizational behaviour (prediction, explanation, and management) to explain what happened at Mayfield Department Stores. What is the company trying to predict and explain, and what is the company trying to manage?

This question can be used to describe the importance and goals of organizational behaviour. First, in terms of prediction, the company wants to be able to predict employee attraction, motivation, work engagement, and retention. They expect that these factors will be improved and more positive as a result of the new incentive program. As for explanation, although it is important to be able to explain why the incentive program will have an effect on employee attitudes and behaviours, the company does not really have an explanation for why it expects the incentive program to improve employee attitudes and behaviours. The company simply believes that the program will increase the number of job applicants and improve employee motivation and work engagement and retain staff. In terms of management, the incentive program represents an attempt to manage employee attitudes and behaviours. In other words, the incentive program is an example of management to increase the number of job applicants and improve employee motivation and work engagement and retain staff. However, an understanding of organizational behaviour can provide an explanation for why the intervention was not very effective. This is an opportunity to introduce some theories of organizational behaviour to your class.

First, you can introduce need theories. From a need theory perspective, the motivational effects of the program are limited. This is because the reward may not be something that will fulfill the needs of all of the employees. It might be motivational for those employees who like to travel, and in particular, would like to go to Mexico. For employees who are not interested in a trip to Mexico or don’t like to travel, the program will not be motivational.

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Second, you can introduce goal setting theory. In terms of goal setting, there are no clear goals. Employees only know that if their department has the highest sales for at least one month, they will have a chance to win a trip. However, it is not clear what “highest” actually means in terms of sales figures. Thus, from a goal setting perspective, the program does not provide employees with specific goals or any goals for that matter. What is required is some idea of what “high” means in terms of sales so that each department can set individual and department goals.

Third, you can introduce expectancy theory. From an expectancy theory perspective, it is unlikely that the program will motivate sales staff and improve sales. This is evident by looking at each component of the theory. First, it is not clear if employees will have a high expectancy that they can achieve a high level of sales. This is because it is unclear exactly what “high” actually means in terms of a sales figure, and more importantly, the focus is on department sales. Thus, while an individual might be able to improve their sales, it might not make a difference if the department as a whole does not perform at a high level. Furthermore, there are factors beyond employees’ control that will also impact sales such as the economy and the type of goods in their department. Some departments will have higher sales regardless of anything an employee does. The instrumentality component will also be low.

That is, the probability that high sales will result in the trip to Mexico is relatively low. This is because department sales must be higher than the other departments to be entered into the draw (thus an improvement in sales might not be enough if other departments do even better), and even if you do have the highest sales and are entered into the draw, you have a relatively low chance of winning the trip to Mexico because only three names will be drawn.

Thus, there is a low probability that high sales will result in a trip to Mexico. Finally, the valence of a trip to Mexico might not be attractive to all employees. To the extent it is not attractive they are unlikely to be motivated to improve their sales. This combined with the low instrumentality and low expectancy, means that the program is not likely to improve motivation or sales performance.

Fourth, you can introduce equity theory. In terms of equity theory, the program is not likely to be motivational. To begin with, because the basis of the program is department sales, all members of a department will or will not have their names entered into the draw regardless of individual performance or inputs. To make matters worse, only three people can win the trip and winning has no connection to one’s actual inputs. As a result, many employees are likely to experience inequity. In fact, given that only three employees will win, there will be many more employees who perceive inequity given that every employee who does not win is likely to question the inputs of those who do win and perceive their own inputs as similar if not greater. Thus, from an equity theory perspective, the program is not likely to be motivational or to improve sales and might actually make things worse. Individual employees will see no merit in increasing their own inputs and might actually lower them.

Finally, following a discussion of equity theory you can introduce the topic of fairness and explain the meaning of distributive and procedural fairness and the role they play in the case incident given that the employees are likely to perceive the incentive program and its outcomes as unfair and this is likely to lead to job dissatisfaction and turnover.

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Thus, organizational behaviour helps to explain why the incentive program was not very effective, and why after four months many employees began to complain about the program and many of the new hires decided to quit as well as some employees who had been with the company for years. Organizational behaviour also explains why after six months, sales began to drop and almost all the new hires quit. As noted in the exit interviews, many employees complained that they did not think the program was fair and they felt that they had been misled about the chance to win a trip to Mexico.

In summary, organizational behaviour helps to explain why the incentive program was not an effective way to increase the number of job applicants and improve employee motivation and work engagement and retain staff.

3. Why do you think the program was not very effective? What might be a more effective program for attracting, motivating, engaging, and retaining employees? Use the goals of organizational behaviour to describe a more effective program.

As indicated above, the program was not very effective for a number of reasons as suggested by several theories of motivation as well as perceptions of fairness. A more effective program would be one that corrects the problems associated with the program the company implemented. In other words, the program would be more effective by adhering to the theories of work motivation. In terms of the valence of second-level outcomes of expectancy theory, the incentive should be something that would be appealing and highly valent to all employees. This may or may not be a trip to Mexico. Second, there should be specific and challenging goals for sales levels per department. This might be based on each department’s prior sales in order not to disadvantage those departments whose sales are always lower as a function of the items they sell. This would also ensure that the expectancy component of expectancy theory is high. Third, the instrumentality component of expectancy theory should be high such that there is a high probability that the attainment of the sales goal (first-level outcome) will result in the second-level outcome. Finally, since sales are made at the department level and communication and coordination among co-workers is important, the program should focus on department sales rather than individual sales. This would avoid infighting and conflict among co-workers within a department and encourage teamwork.

Thus, if a department achieves their goal, then all members of the department are entitled to the prize not just a select few. The best way to ensure equity and fairness is for all members of the department with the highest sales to receive the prize and not just a select few that are randomly chosen. With this program, we can predict an increase in the number of job applicants who apply for a job, an improvement in employee motivation and work engagement, and an increase in the ability to retain staff for longer periods of time. Thus, the use of organizational behaviour helps to predict, explain, and manage employee attraction, motivation, work engagement, job performance, and retention.

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TEACHING NOTES FOR ALISHA BHANDARI AND LAXAR INDUSTRIES CASE STUDY The questions for this case focus on the goals of organizational behaviour and managerial roles. The case also illustrates a number of issues and topics in organizational behaviour that can also be discussed with this case such as attitudes (Chapter 4); motivation (Chapter 5); organizational culture (Chapter 8); leadership (Chapter 9); communication (Chapter 10); stress (Chapter 13); and innovation (Chapter 15). This case serves as a good way to begin a course on organizational behaviour as it shows the importance and goals of organizational behaviour and how OB can influence the effectiveness of organizations.

1. Explain the relevance and importance of organizational behaviour for the issues described in the case and the problems at Laxar Industries. What are the main issues and problems, and what do they have to do with organizational behaviour?

Organizational behaviour is at the centre of the issues and problems at Laxar Industries.

In fact, all of the problems and issues are rooted in organizational behaviour such as motivation, attitudes, communication, culture, stress, and innovation. The main issues noted in the case have to do with declining morale, motivation, and attitudes. In addition, the results of the survey of managers indicated an overall mindset of “complacency, lack of motivation, inflexibility, and a general malaise and unwillingness to be flexible to new ideas.” Some managers indicated that they were fearful of changes and had a distaste for deviating from the normal routine or anything innovative. Other problems noted in the case include a disintegration of the culture, stress and tension in many departments, resentment over a lack of promotion opportunities, and a general listlessness that could harm the company. The case also notes that several talented executives left the company and went to Laxar’s competitors noting an increasingly moribund workplace and work ethic. More generally, the company has a negative mindset and growing lack of motivation that is impacting company performance. It is also worth noting that Laxar has seen a decline in revenues over the previous two years that was due in part to the failure of two new products that damaged the company’s reputation with some of its biggest customers and also resulted in a 4 percent decline in revenues from the previous year.

This has contributed to a negative effect on company morale and confidence. As a result of the two product failures, employees are now nervous about trying new things and do not want to be responsible for any future product issues. This has also diminished the company’s can-do attitude.

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In the eyes of Alisha Bhandari, the main issues at Laxar are the following: 1. A culture of confidence that has turned into a culture that crippled innovation in which employees are quick to shoot down whatever suggestions are made or ideas floated.

2. Territorialism and an unwillingness to share important information. The way to get ahead was to make the boss look good and not do anything not asked to do.

3. A top-down refusal-to-listen approach to performance reviews. Employees also complained that they did not feel heard and are only talked to.

Communication and cooperation dried up.

4. An overall “we know best” attitude that translated into a “If we didn’t build it, it’s not good.” Some employees believed that anything not made at Laxar was not worth their attention.

5. Some employees insisted on things being done the traditional way or the way they have always done things which was stifling innovation, creativity, and enthusiasm.

Overall, this is a case in which a company is facing declining revenues that stem in large part from problems associated with organizational behaviour.

2. What are some of the areas of organizational behaviour that are described in the case and in what way do they contribute to and inform our understanding of the problems at Laxar Industries?

As noted in the response to the first question, we can understand the problems facing Laxar Industries in terms of several key topics in organizational behaviour such as motivation, attitudes, culture, communication, stress, creativity, and innovation.

Employees are lacking confidence and they have developed negative attitudes along with low morale and motivation.

3. Discuss the goals of organizational behaviour and relate them to the problems at Laxar Industries. What can be predicted and explained and how can the problems be managed to improve the situation at Laxar Industries?

The goals of organizational behaviour are predicting, explaining, and managing organizational behaviour. In the case of Laxar Industries, it now seems possible to predict that employees will not support any new ideas and will be hesitant to suggest new ways of doing things or any deviation from the traditional ways of doing things. This now seems to be the norm and can be predicted. From the information in the case, it is possible to explain why this might be happening. It seems that there is a lack of confidence among employees as a result of the two recent product failures, as well as a negative attitude toward change and innovation. As noted in the case, the company’s can-

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do attitude seems to have leaked out of the organization. While there might be other reasons for the lack of creativity and innovation, these two factors seem to be especially important. This leads to the third goal of organizational behaviour which is managing organizational behaviour—the art of getting things accomplished in organizations through others. If behaviour can be predicted and explained it can often be managed.

Given that we have some understanding of why there has been a lack of creativity and innovation and openness to new ideas, we can try to change and manage it. For example, an intervention to increase employee confidence and regain the company’s can-do attitude might be an effective way to improve creativity and innovation. In other words, we can improve employee creativity and innovation by focusing on those factors that likely lead to it, employee confidence and a positive can-do attitude. While other interventions might also be effective, a focus on improving confidence and attitudes is likely to go a long way to improving employee creativity and innovation. Such an intervention might also lead to an improvement in employee morale and motivation.

4. Discuss Mintzberg’s managerial roles and relate them to what Alisha Bhandari has to do to solve the problems at Laxar Industries. What managerial roles are most important?

Explain your answer.

Mintzberg’s managerial roles include informational roles, interpersonal roles, and decisional roles. Informational roles are concerned with the way managers receive and transmit information. Interpersonal roles involve behaviours that have to do with establishing and maintaining interpersonal relations. Decisional roles have to do with decision making. For Alisha Bhandari, the most important roles are those associated with the decisional role given that she must be able to make significant changes to the organization. In the entrepreneur role, a manager turns problems and opportunities into plans for improved changes such as suggesting a new product. The disturbance handler role has to do with dealing with problems stemming from employee conflicts and threats to resources. In the resource allocation role, the manager must decide how to deploy time, money, personnel, and other critical resources. The interpersonal role is also important, especially the leadership role given that Alisha has to mentor, reward, and discipline employees if they are going to change their attitudes. Given that things have to change at Laxar and the need to recover from the defective product stumbles, the decisional and interpersonal roles are most important for Alisha to be an effective manager, 5. Review the contemporary management concerns described in the chapter and relate them to the problems at Laxar Industries. Which concerns are especially important and what should Alisha do to address them?

The six contemporary management concerns include DEI, employee health and wellbeing, talent management and employee engagement, alternative work arrangements, corporate social responsibility, and advanced technology. The concerns that are especially important at Laxar and the ones that Alisha should address are employee health and well-being and talent management and employee engagement. First, given the concerns about the mental health of employees there should be some intervention to address this as soon as possible. Perhaps most relevant here is positive organizational

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behaviour (POB) and the need to focus on the psychological capital of employees. In this regard, it would be helpful to implement PsyCap interventions (PCI) to enhance employees’ self-efficacy, optimism, hope, and resilience. This would be especially helpful given the recent product failures and the negative effect it has had on employees.

Talent management is also important because Alisha needs to be concerned about employee turnover and she needs to implement programs to ensure employee retention.

Finally, employee engagement is also an issue because it appears that employees have become disengaged. Therefore, Alisha needs to take actions to ensure a high level of employee engagement and improve employee vigour, dedication, and absorption. A final consideration might be the use of advanced technology such as AI to facilitate future decision making about new products. AI might be able to help make decisions about products that will be successful in the future. If AI had been implemented earlier, it might have helped Laxar avoid the previous product failures.

CHAPTER 2 PERSONALITY AND LEARNING CHAPTER LEARNING OBJECTIVES After reading Chapter 2 students should be able to do the following: LO 2.1 LO 2.2 LO 2.3 LO 2.4 LO 2.5

LO 2.6 LO 2.7 LO 2.8

Define personality and describe the dispositional, situational, and interactionist approaches to organizational behaviour.

Discuss the Five-Factor Model of personality, locus of control, selfmonitoring, and self-esteem.

Discuss positive and negative affectivity, proactive personality, general selfefficacy, core self-evaluations, and the imposter phenomenon and their consequences.

Define learning and describe what is learned in organizations.

Explain operant learning theory and how to increase the probability of behaviour using positive and negative reinforcements, and explain organizational errors involving reinforcement and when to use immediate versus delayed reinforcement and continuous versus partial reinforcement.

Explain how to reduce the probability of behaviour using extinction and punishment, and explain how to use punishment effectively.

Explain social cognitive theory and discuss observational learning, selfefficacy beliefs, and self-regulation.

Describe the following organizational learning practices: organizational behaviour modification, employee recognition programs, and training and development programs.

CHAPTER OUTLINE AND TEACHING NOTES What Is Personality?

Personality refers to the relatively stable set of psychological characteristics that influences the way individuals interact with their environment. It is reflected in the distinctive way that individuals react to people, situations, and problems.

Personality consists of a number of dimensions and traits that are determined in a complex way by genetic predisposition and by one’s long-term learning history. As well, people have a variety of personality characteristics. There is no one best personality.

Personality and Organizational Behaviour Personality has a rather long history in organizational behaviour that is demonstrated by the “person–situation” debate and the dispositional, situational, and interactionist approaches. According to the dispositional approach, individuals possess stable traits or characteristics that influence their attitudes and behaviours. According to the situational

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approach, characteristics of the organizational setting such as rewards and punishment influence people’s feelings, attitudes, and behaviour. According to the interactionist approach, organizational behaviour is a function of both dispositions and the situation.

The interactionist approach is the most widely accepted perspective within organizational behaviour.

A good example of the interactionist approach is the role of personality in strong and weak situations. The role of personality in organizational settings is strongest in “weak” situations where there are loosely defined roles and few rules. In strong situations which have more defined roles, rules, and contingencies, personality tends to have less impact.

Thus, the extent to which personality influences people’s attitudes and behaviours depends on the situation.

An important implication of the interactionist approach is that some personality characteristics are useful in certain situations. According to trait activation theory, traits lead to certain behaviours when the situation makes the need for that trait salient. Thus, personality characteristics influence people’s behaviour when the situation calls for a particular personality characteristic.

As a result, managers need to appreciate the value of diversity and concentrate on achieving the right “fit” between people and positions, and exposing different employees to different management styles.

Personality Variables in Organizational Behaviour Many personality variables have been studied in organizational behaviour and found to be important for employee attitudes, behaviour, and performance including the Five Factor Model of Personality, locus of control, self-monitoring, and self-esteem.

The Five-Factor Model of Personality The “Big Five” dimensions of the Five-Factor model of personality and examples of traits are introduced as well as the kind of jobs where each trait is likely to be relevant: •

Extraversion. Sociable, talkative vs. withdrawn, shy. It is especially important for jobs that require a lot of interpersonal interaction, such as sales and management, where being sociable, assertive, energetic, and ambitious is important for success.

•

Emotional Stability/Neuroticism. Stable, confident vs. depressed, anxious. For most jobs the performance of people with low emotional stability is likely to suffer. People who score high on emotional stability are likely to have more effective interactions with co-workers and customers because they tend to be more calm and secure.

•

Agreeableness. Tolerant, cooperative vs. cold, rude. Agreeableness is most likely to contribute to job performance in jobs that require interaction and involve helping, cooperating, and nurturing others, as well as in jobs that involve teamwork and cooperation.

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•

Conscientiousness. Dependable, responsible vs. careless, impulsive. People who are high on conscientiousness are likely to perform well on most jobs given their tendency toward hard work and achievement.

•

Openness to Experience. Curious, original, receptive to new ideas vs. favouring the status quo. People who are high on openness to experience are likely to do well in jobs that involve learning and creativity given that they tend to be intellectual, curious, and imaginative and have broad interests.

These dimensions are relatively independent and hold up well cross-culturally. There is also evidence for a genetic basis to them. Research has linked the Big Five to organizational behaviour. There is evidence that each of the “Big Five” dimensions is related to job performance, employee engagement, and organizational citizenship behaviours. High conscientiousness is related to performance for all jobs across occupations and is the strongest predictor of overall job performance of all of the “Big Five” dimensions. In addition, organizations with more conscientious employees have higher organizational financial performance. The “Big Five” have also been found to be related to other work outcomes such as attendance, retention, counterproductive work behaviours, work motivation, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, life satisfaction, and career success. All of the Big Five factors are positively related to organizational commitment, with agreeableness being the factor most strongly related to commitment. High conscientiousness, extraversion, and emotional stability have been found to be positively associated with a higher income and occupational status. The Big Five are also important for group behaviours.

The Big Five personality dimensions are basic and general while those that follow are more specific.

Locus of Control Locus of control is introduced using the examples of Laurie, a hard-working, driven individual who believes that she controls her destiny, and Stan who believes that luck is what provides advancement opportunities. These two examples are used to show the differences between an external locus of control (Stan) and an internal locus of control (Laurie).

Locus of control is a set of beliefs about whether one’s behaviour is controlled mainly by internal or external forces. High “externals” see their behaviours controlled by factors like fate, luck, and powerful people. High “internals” see stronger effects on their behaviour as a consequence of self-initiative, personal actions, and free will.

Locus of control influences organizational behaviour in a variety of occupations.

Internals are more satisfied with their jobs, more committed to their organizations, earn more money, and achieve higher organizational positions. In addition, they seem to perceive less stress, cope with stress better, experience less burnout, and engage in more careful career planning. They are also less likely to be absent from work and to be more satisfied with their lives.

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Self-Monitoring Self-monitoring is the extent to which people observe and regulate how they appear and behave in social settings and relationships. Individuals low in self-monitoring are said to “wear their hearts on their sleeves.” They act like they feel and say what they think without regard to the situation. Individuals high on self-monitoring behave somewhat like actors, taking great care to observe and control the images that they project. In particular, they tend to show concern for socially appropriate emotions and behaviours, tune in to social and interpersonal cues, and respond accordingly.

Self-monitoring is related to organizational behaviour. High self-monitors tend to gravitate toward jobs that require a degree of role-playing such as sales, law, public relations, and politics. They perform particularly well in occupations that call for flexibility and adaptiveness in dealings with diverse constituencies.

In terms of work-related outcomes, high self-monitors tend to be more involved in their jobs, to perform at a higher level, and are more likely to emerge as leaders. They also experience more role stress and show less commitment to their organization. However, high self-monitors are unlikely to feel comfortable in ambiguous social settings in which it is hard to determine exactly what behaviours are socially appropriate. Dealing with unfamiliar cultures (national or corporate) might provoke stress.

Self-Esteem Self-esteem is the degree to which a person has a positive self-evaluation. People with high self-esteem have favourable self-images. People with low self-esteem tend to be more susceptible to external and social influences than those who have high self-esteem, that is, they are more plastic. This is known as behavioural plasticity theory.

People with low self-esteem tend to react badly to negative feedback—it lowers their subsequent performance and they do not react well to ambiguous and stressful situations.

Despite a possible downside to excessive esteem, organizations will generally benefit from a workforce with high self-esteem. Such people tend to make more fulfilling career decisions, they exhibit higher job satisfaction and job performance, and they are generally more resilient to the strains of everyday work life. Organizations can bolster self-esteem by providing opportunities for participation, autonomy, and interesting work which have been found to be positively related to self-esteem.

Advances in Personality and Organizational Behaviour Six more recent personality variables that are important for organizational behaviour are positive affectivity, negative affectivity, proactive personality, general self-efficacy, core self-evaluations, and the imposter phenomenon.

Positive and Negative Affectivity People who are high on positive affectivity have a propensity to view the world, including oneself and other people, in a positive light. People who are high on negative affectivity have a propensity to view the world, including oneself and other people, in a negative

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light. Positive and negative affectivity are emotional dispositions that predict people’s general emotional tendencies. PA and NA are not opposite ends of a continuum; they are independent dimensions. People who have high positive affectivity report higher job satisfaction while those with high negative affectivity report lower job satisfaction. High PA has also been found to be related to job performance, employee engagement, organizational citizenship behaviours, and creativity at work. People with high negative affectivity tend to experience more stressful conditions at work and report higher levels of workplace stress and strain. NA has also been found to be associated with more counterproductive work behaviours (e.g., harassment, physical aggression), withdrawal behaviours (e.g., absenteeism, turnover), and occupational injury. PA has been found to be a key factor that links happiness to success in life and at work.

Proactive Personality Proactive behaviour involves taking initiative to improve one’s current circumstances or creating new ones. It involves challenging the status quo. Proactive personality is a stable disposition that reflects a tendency to take personal initiative across a range of activities and situations to effect positive change in one’s environment. Individuals with a proactive personality are relatively unconstrained by situational forces and act to change and influence their environment. Proactive personality is related to a number of work outcomes including job performance, employee engagement, organizational citizenship behaviours, tolerance for stress in demanding jobs, leadership effectiveness, participation in organizational initiatives, work team performance, and entrepreneurship. People with a proactive personality have also been found to be more successful when searching for employment and to have greater career success in terms of higher salaries, more frequent promotions, and more satisfying careers.

General Self-Efficacy General self-efficacy (GSE) is a general trait that refers to an individual’s belief in their ability to perform successfully in a variety of challenging situations. It is considered to be a motivational trait rather than an affective trait because it reflects an individual’s belief that they can succeed at a variety of tasks rather than how an individual feels about themselves. Individuals with high GSE are better able to adapt to novel, uncertain, and adverse situations. Employees with higher GSE have higher job satisfaction and job performance.

Core Self-Evaluations Core self-evaluations are a multidimensional trait and a broad personality concept that consist of more specific traits that reflect the evaluations people hold about themselves and their self-worth. The four specific traits that make up a person’s core self-evaluations are self-esteem, general self-efficacy, locus of control, and neuroticism (emotional stability). Core self-evaluations are positively related to job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and job performance as well as life satisfaction and career satisfaction.

CSEs have also been found to be positively related to learning outcomes. Individuals with higher core self-evaluations perceive fewer stressors at work and experience less stress and conflict at work. People with higher core self-evaluations perceive their jobs as more

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intrinsically satisfying and have higher perceptions of fairness and support. They are also more likely to perceive and pay attention to the positive aspects of their environments.

Imposter Phenomenon The imposter phenomenon is the feeling that one’s success is due to extraneous factors rather than one’s abilities, competence, and qualifications and the fear that they will be exposed as a fraud and a failure. Although the imposter phenomenon has most often been considered a dispositional personality trait, it has also been treated as a state or a situational phenomenon.

The imposter phenomenon is most often associated with high-achieving individuals with outstanding professional and academic accomplishments. Individuals who suffer from the imposter phenomenon tend to experience high levels of emotional exhaustion, anxiety, and depression. The imposter phenomenon is related to several other personality traits such as low self-esteem, self-efficacy, core self-evaluations, and high neuroticism and it has been linked to a number of work-related outcomes. It is negatively related to job satisfaction and organizational commitment and it is also associated with stress and strain. There is some evidence that social support can reduce the negative effects of the imposter phenomenon, especially when the support comes from outside of one’s peer group.

Although personality is relatively stable, it is susceptible to change through adult learning experiences. When individuals transition into and adopt new and novel work roles they have to change their thoughts, feelings, and behaviour in order to fulfill new expectations and responsibilities. These new ways of thinking and behaving can influence personality development, and over time, lead to changes in personality traits.

What Is Learning?

Learning occurs when practice or experience leads to a relatively permanent change in behaviour potential. Practice or experience prompts learning which stems from an environment that gives feedback concerning the consequences of behaviour. Learning is a key factor for employee performance and an organization’s success.

Learning is a key factor for employee performance and an organization’s success. Many of Canada’s Top 100 Employers have a continuous learning culture where organizational members believe that knowledge and skill acquisition are part of their job responsibilities and that learning is an important part of work life in the organization.

What Do Employees Learn?

In organizations, employees learn four general types of content: practical, intrapersonal, and interpersonal skills, and cultural awareness. Practical skills refer to job-specific skills, knowledge, and technical competence required to perform one’s job. Intrapersonal skills refer to skills such as problem solving, critical thinking, and risk taking.

Interpersonal skills refer to interactive skills such as communication and teamwork.

Cultural awareness refers to the cultural norms and expectations that exist in an organization.

Operant Learning Theory Operant learning occurs when the subject learns to operate on the environment to

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achieve certain consequences. Operantly learned behaviour is controlled by the consequences that follow it. These consequences are usually contingent on the behaviour, and this connection is what is learned. Operant learning can be used to increase the probability of desired behaviours and to reduce or eliminate the probability of undesirable behaviours.

Increasing the Probability of Behaviour There are two ways to increase the probability of behaviour, both based on the concept of reinforcement. Reinforcement is the process by which stimuli strengthen behaviours. A reinforcer is a stimulus that follows some behaviour and increases or maintains the probability of that behaviour. Positive reinforcers work by their application to a situation, while negative reinforcers work by their removal from a situation.

Positive Reinforcement. Positive reinforcement increases or maintains the probability of some behaviour by the application or addition of a stimulus to the situation in question.

The stimulus is called a positive reinforcer. Whether or not something is a positive reinforcer depends on whether it increases or maintains the occurrence of some behaviour by its application.

Negative Reinforcement. Negative reinforcement increases or maintains the probability of some behaviour by the removal of a stimulus from the situation in question. It also occurs when a response prevents some event or stimulus from occurring. The removed or prevented stimulus is called a negative reinforcer.

Organizational Errors Involving Reinforcement Managers sometimes make errors in trying to use reinforcement. The most common errors are confusing rewards with reinforcers, neglecting diversity in preferences for reinforcers, and neglecting important sources of reinforcement.

Confusing Rewards with Reinforcers. Rewards can fail to serve as reinforcers when they are not made contingent on specific behaviours that are of interest to the organization.

Rewards that are not contingent on specific behaviours which an organization wishes to encourage may fail to serve as reinforcers.

Neglecting Diversity in Preferences for Reinforcers. Organizations tend to neglect diversity and individual differences in preferences for reinforcers. Thus, even rewards that are made contingent on behaviour may fail to have a reinforcing effect. Managers need to consider the possible range of stimuli under their control for their applicability as reinforcers for particular employees. This might involve giving employees some choice as there is evidence that rewards are more effective when employees can choose their rewards.

Neglecting Important Sources of Reinforcement. While concentrating on potential reinforcers of a formal nature, such as pay or promotions, managers often neglect those which are administered by co-workers or are intrinsic to the jobs being performed. Two important sources of reinforcement that managers often ignore are performance feedback and social recognition.

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Performance feedback involves providing quantitative or qualitative information on past performance for the purpose of changing or maintaining performance in specific ways.

Performance feedback is most effective when it is a) conveyed in a positive manner, b) delivered immediately after the performance is observed, c) represented visually, such as in graph or chart form, and d) specific to the behaviour that is being targeted for feedback.

Social recognition involves informal acknowledgement, attention, praise, approval, or genuine appreciation for work well done from one individual or group to another. When social recognition is made contingent on employee behaviour it can be an effective means for performance.

Reinforcement Strategies Immediate reinforcement entails reinforcing the behaviour of interest without delay after its occurrence. Delayed reinforcement entails reinforcing the behaviour of interest after some time period has elapsed since its enactment. Continuous reinforcement entails reinforcing the behaviour of interest every time it occurs. Partial reinforcement entails reinforcing the behaviour of interest only a portion of the time it occurs.

Fast acquisition of some response occurs through continuous, immediate reinforcement, while persistent learning occurs through delayed, partial reinforcement. Note that a reinforcement strategy should match the requirements of a situation. Thus, managers have to tailor reinforcement strategies to the needs of the situation and must alter strategies over time to achieve effective learning and maintenance of behaviour.

Reducing the Probability of Behaviour Two strategies to reduce the probability of learned behaviour are extinction and punishment.

Extinction Extinction refers to the gradual dissipation of behaviour following the termination of reinforcement. It is the process of doing away with a reinforcer that is maintaining some unwanted behaviour. Behaviours that are not reinforced will gradually dissipate. Note that extinction works best when coupled with reinforcement of some desired substitute behaviour. Also, behaviours learned under delayed or partial reinforcement schedules are more difficult to extinguish than those learned under continuous, immediate reinforcement.

Punishment Punishment involves the application of an aversive stimulus following some behaviour designed to decrease the probability of that behaviour. It decreases the probability of some unwanted behaviour by the application or addition of a negative stimulus to the situation in question.

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Using Punishment Effectively Punishment has some unique characteristics that limit its effectiveness in stopping unwanted behaviour. While it provides a clear signal as to which activities are inappropriate, it does not by itself demonstrate which activities should replace the punished response. Positive and negative reinforcers specify which behaviours are appropriate. Punishment indicates only what is not appropriate and only temporarily suppresses the unwanted response. Thus, it is important to provide an acceptable alternative for the punished response. Another difficulty is that punishment has a tendency to provoke a strong emotional reaction on the part of the punished individual.

Thus, managers must be sure that their emotions are under control before punishing and should avoid punishment in front of observers.

In addition to providing correct alternative responses and limiting the emotions involved in punishment, the following principles should be considered for increasing the effectiveness of punishment: • • • •

Make sure the chosen punishment is truly aversive.

Punish immediately.

Do not reward unwanted behaviours before or after punishment.

Do not inadvertently punish desirable behaviour.

Punishment can be an effective means of stopping undesirable behaviour when it is applied very carefully and deliberately. In general, reinforcing correct behaviours and extinguishing unwanted responses are safer strategies for managers than the frequent use of punishment.

Social Cognitive Theory Learning and behaviour often occur without the conscious control of positive and negative reinforcers by managers. People have the cognitive capacity to regulate and control their own thoughts, feelings, motivation, and actions. Human behaviour is not simply due to environmental influences. Social cognitive theory emphasizes the role of cognitive processes in regulating people’s behaviour. According to social cognitive theory, human behaviour can best be explained through a system of triadic reciprocal causation in which personal factors and environmental factors work together and interact to influence people’s behaviour. In addition, people’s behaviour also influences personal factors and the environment.

According to Albert Bandura, social cognitive theory involves three components: observational learning, self-efficacy beliefs, and self-regulation.

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Observational Learning Observational learning is the process of imitating the behaviour of others. It is a form of learning that occurs by observing or imagining the behaviour of others rather than by direct personal experience. With observational learning, self-reinforcement often shapes the behaviour of the learner. The best models for observing are attractive, credible, competent, and of high status. Vivid, memorable behaviour is most often imitated. The extent of observational learning as a means of learning in organizations suggests that managers should pay more attention to the process.

Self-Efficacy Beliefs Self-efficacy beliefs refer to beliefs people have about their ability to successfully perform a specific task. They are cognitive beliefs that are task specific and are the result of four sources of information: experience and success performing the task (performance mastery); observation of others performing the task; verbal persuasion and encouragement; and one’s physiological or emotional state. Self-efficacy influences the activities people choose to perform, the amount of effort and persistence devoted to a task, affective and stress reactions, and job performance.

Self-Regulation Self-regulation is the process in which people use learning principles to regulate their own behaviour. Self-regulation involves collecting self-observation data, observing models, setting behavioural goals, rehearsing the desired behaviour, and applying selfreinforcement. A key part of the process is people’s pursuit of self-set goals that guide their behaviour. When there exists a discrepancy between one’s goals and performance, individuals are motivated to modify their behaviour in the pursuit of goal attainment (a process known as discrepancy reduction). When individuals attain their goals, they are likely to set even higher and more challenging goals, a process known as discrepancy production. In this way, people continually engage in a process of setting goals in the pursuit of ever higher levels of performance. Thus, discrepancy reduction and discrepancy production lie at the heart of the self-regulatory process.

Specific self-regulation techniques include collecting self-observation data, observing models, setting goals, rehearsing, and reinforcing oneself.

Research has found that self-regulation can improve learning and result in a change in behaviour. One study found that it reduced absenteeism, and in another study, it improved the sales performance of a sample of insurance salespeople. Self-regulation programs have been successful in positively changing a variety of work behaviours and are an effective method of training and learning.

Organizational Learning Practices Organizations employ a number of practices to enhance employee learning. These practices include organizational behaviour modification, employee recognition programs, and training and development programs.

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Organizational Behaviour Modification Organizational behavior modification (O.B. Mod) involves the systematic use of learning principles to influence organizational behaviour. The example in the text describes a program to improve safe working practices. Research supports the effectiveness of organizational behaviour modification. O.B. Mod programs have also been used to improve work attendance and task performance. The effects on task performance tend to be stronger in manufacturing than in service organizations. Although money has been found to have stronger effects on performance than social recognition and performance feedback, the use of all three together has the strongest effect on task performance.

Employee Recognition Programs Employee recognition programs are formal organizational programs that publicly recognize and reward employees for specific behaviours. To be effective, a formal employee recognition program must specify (a) how a person will be recognized, (b) the type of behaviour being encouraged, (c) the manner of the public acknowledgment, and (d) a token or icon of the event for the recipient. A key part of an employee recognition program is public acknowledgment.

Peer recognition programs are formal programs in which employees can publicly acknowledge, recognize, and reward their co-workers for exceptional work and performance. With the increasing use of technology, many organizations have begun to use social recognition platforms for peer recognition.

Employee recognition programs have been found to be related to a number of individual and organizational outcomes, including job satisfaction, performance and productivity, and lower turnover. They have also been shown to be effective for improving work attendance.

Training and Development Programs Training and development programs are among the most common and important types of formal learning in organizations. Training refers to planned organizational activities that are designed to facilitate knowledge and skill acquisition to change behaviour and improve performance in one’s current job; development focuses on future job responsibilities. Training and development programs have positive effects on employees’ reactions, learning, and behaviour as well as on organizational results such as firm performance. One of the most widely used and effective methods of training is behaviour modelling training (BMT) which is a training method in which trainees observe a model performing a task followed by opportunities to practise the observed behaviours. BMT is based on the observational learning component of social cognitive theory and involves the following steps: • Describe to trainees a set of well-defined behaviours (skills) to be learned.

• Provide a model or models displaying the effective use of those behaviours.

• Provide opportunities for trainees to practise using those behaviours.

• Provide feedback and social reinforcement to trainees following practice.

• Take steps to maximize the transfer of those behaviours to the job.

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Research on behavioural modelling training has found that it has a positive effect on learning, skills, and job behaviour and the effects have been found to be greatest when trainees are instructed to set goals and when rewards and sanctions are used in the trainees’ work environment.

SAMPLE ANSWERS TO DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1. Describe a situation in which you think an employer could use organizational behaviour modification and an employee recognition program to improve or correct employee behaviour. Can you anticipate any dangers in using these approaches?

A sales manager of office equipment was concerned that employees were not keeping up on trends in the marketplace and trends in the competitors’ products. The sales manager sent around a memo stating that these issues would be discussed at the next sales meeting and asked salespeople to bring any information they had on these subjects for discussion. One brought in a relevant article from BusinessWeek and another brought in a sales brochure on a new competing product. The sales manager publicly praised these people before their materials were discussed. The following week more materials were brought in, and the sales manager continued to praise the people who brought them. Gradually, the discussion of new trends and products became an established practice due to the sales manager’s strategy of positive reinforcement. As long as OB Mod is confined to the use of positive reinforcement, it involves few problems.

However, some might object that it makes workers highly dependent on the source of reinforcement. (In such a case, self-regulation should be initiated.) An employee recognition program could also be used to recognize and reward employees who bring in the most interesting new information and ideas. At the end of the year, an award ceremony can take place in which those employees who have made the greatest contribution in keeping up with trends in the marketplace (perhaps determined by peer vote) are recognized for their efforts. The key to making it an effective employee recognition program is to specify (a) how a person will be recognized, (b) the type of behaviour being encouraged, (c) the manner of the public acknowledgment, and (d) a token or icon of the event for the recipient. As long as the program is fair and employees appreciate the recognition, there should not be any dangers. Doing this on a monthly basis, however, might eventually lose its appeal and begin to lose its impact after a few events.

2. A supervisor in a textile factory observes that an employee is violating a safety rule that could result in severe injury. What combination of reinforcement, punishment, and extinction could the supervisor use to correct this behaviour? What does social cognitive theory suggest that the supervisor do to correct the behaviour?

A combination of punishment and positive reinforcement is advisable. Noting the violation, the supervisor should reprimand the employee immediately at the workstation but out of the earshot of other employees. The goal is to punish the violation firmly but

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not to provoke strong negative emotions. Then, the supervisor should model the safe work practice and have the employee imitate the behaviour. Correct imitation should be reinforced with praise. In the following days, the supervisor should monitor the employee’s behaviour and praise safe work practices frequently. In addition to the use of observational learning, social cognitive theory also suggests strengthening the employee’s self-efficacy beliefs and self-regulation. Positive feedback, praise, and encouragement can be used when the employee exhibits safe working practices which should help to strengthen self-efficacy beliefs. The employee should also be shown how to use self-regulation for learning safe working practices by collecting self-observation data, observing other employees’ safe working practices, setting goals for safe working behaviour, rehearsing the practices, and then reinforcing themself for meeting their goals and for engaging in safe working practices.

3. Describe a job in which you think an employee recognition program might be an effective means for changing and improving employee behaviour. Explain how you would design the program and how you would use principles from operant learning theory and social cognitive theory.

An employee recognition program could be used to reinforce any behaviours that are important for an organization including employee attendance, safe working practices, customer service, or sales. What is most important is that employees are recognized for behaving in a manner that is highly desirable to the organization. To be effective, an employee recognition program should specify (a) how a person will be recognized, (b) the type of behaviour being encouraged, (c) the manner of the public acknowledgment, and (d) a token or icon of the event for the recipient. When answering this question, make sure that students provide answers to each of the components of an employee recognition program. Students will not have too much trouble indicating the behaviour to recognize.

When they do, be sure to ask them how employees will be recognized, the manner of public acknowledgment, and the token or icon of the event for the recipient. A good example of an employee recognition program that specifies each of these components is the one for improving work attendance that is described in the chapter. Be sure to also bring in principles from operant learning theory and social cognitive theory. The importance of positive reinforcement and making rewards contingent on desirable behaviour from operant learning theory is particularly relevant. In addition, observational learning from social cognitive theory can be built into the public acknowledgment such that those who are recognized serve as role models for others to learn from. The public acknowledgment can also serve as a way to strengthen the self-efficacy of recipients and observers. Praise, encouragement, and social recognition can serve as strong means for strengthening self-efficacy.

4. Do you think that organizations should base their hiring decisions on applicants’ personalities? What are the advantages and disadvantages of doing this? If an organization were to do this, what personality characteristics do you think they should focus on when assessing and choosing applicants? Be sure to consider the stability of personality traits and how they can change during adulthood.

Many organizations use personality tests as part of the selection process. The research

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evidence described in the chapter indicates significant relationships between many of the personality traits and various job attitudes and behaviours. Thus, a potential advantage is that employees with certain personality traits will have more positive attitudes and job performance. For example, given that high conscientiousness predicts performance in all jobs across occupations and is the strongest predictor of all the Big Five dimensions of overall job performance, it might be a good idea to hire employees who are high on conscientiousness. A disadvantage of basing hiring decisions on personality might be that the situation changes, and the personality trait is no longer required for a particular task or job. Another disadvantage could be a lack of diversity of perspectives if employees are hired because of a particular personality trait. The key point for doing this as suggested in the chapter is the notion of fit. That is, putting the right person in the right job, group, or organization. This follows from trait activation theory and the idea that traits lead to certain behaviours only when the situation makes the need for that trait salient. Thus, if organizations are going to base their hiring decisions on an applicant’s personality, then they must have a good understanding of the situation or job and the personality trait that is required for a particular situation or job. A good example is that extraversion is especially important for jobs that require a lot of interpersonal interaction such as sales and management. It is also important to understand that although personality traits are relatively stable, they can change over time when individuals adopt new and novel work roles such as becoming a leader. Thus, an employee might become more conscientious following a move into a leadership role.

5. Employee of the month (EOM) programs are one of the most popular forms of recognition in organizations. However, there is some evidence that such programs are not effective and can even have detrimental effects, such as sabotage and unhealthy competition. Based on the material presented in this chapter, explain why you think that the typical EOM program is not effective, and discuss how EOM programs should be designed to make them more effective.

Students will probably be familiar with EOM programs and might have worked in organizations where they were used. It might be fun to ask students if they are familiar with such programs and if they have ever worked in an organization that had them and if they were ever chosen as the employee of the month. If so, additional probes might help to determine how an employee was chosen as the employee of the month. Students might be surprised to learn that EOM programs are often ineffective. Perhaps you can ask a student who is familiar with such a program what behaviours were being rewarded and reinforced. You might then ask the class why EOM programs are often not effective in terms of leading to improved behaviour and performance. As described in the chapter, a common organizational error is confusing rewards with reinforcers. In other words, EOM programs do not make the reward contingent on specific behaviours that are of interest to the organization. In addition, the focus of EOM programs is often results rather than specific behaviours. This means that employees might engage in undesirable behaviours but achieve the results needed to be chosen as employee of the month. This could involve unethical or illegal behaviour. In some cases, it is not clear what the criteria are for being chosen as employee of the month so employees do not know what they should be doing

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and what they have to do to be chosen as employee of the month. Another problem that is unique to EOM programs is that there is usually only one employee of the month which means that other employees who are doing a great job and are good performers are not rewarded. As a result, many good performers will not be rewarded and over time their good behaviour and performance might be extinguished. It is also possible that the same few employees who are consistently the best performers will frequently be chosen as employee of the month making it difficult for other good performers to be rewarded and recognized. To make EOM programs more effective, it is important to first identify the important and desirable behaviours that the organization wants to recognize and reward.

They should then make it clear to employees what the desirable behaviours are and what the criteria are for being chosen as employee of the month. Finally, it is probably a good idea to have an “Employees of the Month” program so that all employees who meet the criteria can be rewarded and reinforced. The key as always is to identify the desirable behaviours and make sure that the reward and reinforcement is made contingent on the desirable behaviours. EOM programs should aim to reward and reinforce desirable behaviours and at the same time, avoid punishing and extinguishing desirable behaviours.

ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 1. Consider the relevance of the dispositional, situational, and interactionist approaches to your own behaviour. Describe examples of your behaviour in a school or work situation that demonstrates each perspective of organizational behaviour.

This is a good question to get students thinking about how each approach is relevant to their own behaviour in various situations. Students should be able to think of situations in which they behaved in a certain way because of their personality and dispositions. If you need to provide an example, ask students what happens when they must work on a group project and the group meets for the first time. How do they behave and how do the other members of their group behave? This is a good example of a weak situation where there are no rules or contingencies. As a result, personality is likely to have a strong effect on how people behave. For example, students who are extraverted and have high self-esteem are more likely to begin a group discussion and provide some direction. Students should also be able to provide examples of situations in which they behaved a certain way because of the situation. For example, ask students how they and other new employees behave when they first begin a new job. They will probably tell you that they try to figure out what they are supposed to do and then conform. In other words, everybody who is new basically follows what others are doing in order to stay in line. The situation is strong in terms of rules and reward and punishment contingencies and so the situation will have a strong influence on behaviour. When students provide their examples, it might be a good idea to ask them to think about whether the situation was “weak” or “strong” and how that determined whether personality or the situation was the main factor for their behaviour. Students might have a more difficult time thinking of examples of the interactionist approach. You might be able to assist them by asking them about situations in which not everybody behaved or reacted the same way. For example, if an

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Johns/Saks, Organizational Behaviour, Thirteenth Edition

instructor suddenly announces that there is going to be a test at the end of the class, some people will experience a great deal of anxiety and stress while others will not be too concerned. This is a good example of how people vary in their reactions to stressors.

People with low self-esteem or high negative affectivity might be more likely to experience a stress reaction in response to the instructor’s announcement.

2. Suppose that you are the manager of two employees, one who has an internal locus of control and another who has an external locus of control. Describe the leadership tactics that you would use with each employee. Contrast the management styles that you would employ for employees with high versus low self-esteem.

Internals are not necessarily better workers than externals. Since internals do better on more innovative and creative jobs, and externals do better in jobs that are more routine, you should place the workers in the environment where they can most excel. For instance, if you were managing the marketing department and had to produce and place a television advertisement for your company’s product, the internal locus of control individual could be placed in charge of managing the copywriting and design of advertising, while the external locus of control individual could track production schedules, cost, and procuring airtime from television stations. In terms of self-esteem, you should use negative feedback sparingly with a low self-esteem worker. Low selfesteem workers also react less well to stressful and ambiguous work situations, so you should provide clear direction and minimize stress. Since most organizations and work settings will benefit from workers with high self-esteem, you should avoid petty work rules that signal that the employees are untrustworthy.

3. Consider some examples of behaviour that you repeat fairly regularly (such as studying or going to work every morning). What are the positive and negative reinforcers that maintain this behaviour?

Studying: Positive reinforcers that might maintain studying behaviour include receiving good grades, feeling confident about mastery of subject matter, or receiving compliments from a professor. Negative reinforcers include the threat of losing a scholarship or the fear of being embarrassed in class.

Going to work: Positive reinforcers that might maintain work attendance include any rewards that the job provides, such as pay, friendly co-workers, and interesting work.

Negative reinforcers include the threat that superiors, co-workers, and family members will react negatively toward poor attendance.

4. We pointed out that managers frequently resort to punishing ineffective behaviour.

What are some of the practical demands of the typical manager’s job that lead to this state of affairs?

Chapter 2 Personality and Learning

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Many managers (especially those at lower organizational levels) command few tangible positive reinforcers to control employee behaviour. That is, they may have little real control over pay raises, promotions, and so forth. In addition, they may lack the social skills to use praise and compliments as positive reinforcers. In this case, they may perceive that punishment (for example, reprimands, docking pay) is the only available means to control employee behaviour. In addition, many managers are exceedingly busy and have many employees to supervise. They may concentrate only on poor performance or deviant behaviour. “Exceptions” are noted and punished, while routine, acceptable role performance is ignored due to time constraints.

5. Discuss a situation that you have observed in which the use of punishment was ineffective in terminating some unwanted behaviour. Why was punishment ineffective in this case? What would have made it more effective?

Punishment is most effective when it is swift, intense, and administered in a consistent, fair, and unemotional manner. In addition, it is essential that the unwanted behaviour be replaced with a desirable behaviour that can be reinforced. For an example of ineffective punishment, consider the employee who has been turning in reports that are technically accurate but poorly written and messily presented. The boss ignores the negative aspects of the reports for several weeks, and then gets angry and “cracks down,” screaming at the employee that the reports are “totally unacceptable.” The boss committed several errors: (1) delayed the punishment; (2) punished with anger; (3) didn’t explain exactly what was wrong with the reports. In this case, it is likely that the employee will become hostile, and have little notion of how to improve the reports. Punishment would have been more effective if the boss had punished the employee immediately, made sure emotions were under control, and explained to the employee what was wrong with the reports and what is considered to be acceptable. The manager might then reinforce the employee’s reports when they are better written and presented.

EXTRA DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1. How important is personality for organizational behaviour and when it is it most likely to influence employee attitudes and behaviour?

2. Distinguish between locus of control, self-monitoring, self-esteem, and general selfefficacy.

3. What do employees learn in organizations and what are some of the ways they can learn these things?

4. How can organizational behaviour modification be used to increase the productivity of civil servants?

5. Defend or refute this statement: Operant learning is unethical because it entails manipulating people to behave in a certain manner.

6. Discuss some of the ways reinforcement can be used to teach students about organizational behaviour.

7. Differentiate between punishment, extinction, and negative reinforcement, citing examples to clarify your answer.

8. What can managers do to ensure that their use of reinforcement and punishment is effective?