Management Question

Colquitt
LePine
Wesson

Organizational
Behavior

Improving Performance and
Commitment in the Workplace
Seventh Edition

JASON A. COLQUITT

University of Notre Dame

JEFFERY A. LEPINE

Arizona State University

MICHAEL J. WESSON
Auburn University

Final PDF to printer

ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
Published by McGraw-Hill Education, 2 Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121. Copyright © 2021 by
McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part
of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a
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Some ancillaries, including electronic and print components, may not be available to customers
­outside the United States.
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 LWI 24 23 22 21 20
ISBN 978-1-260-57150-9
MHID 1-260-57150-5
Cover Image: Zabotnova Inna/Shutterstock

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mheducation.com/highered

coL71505_fm_ise.indd

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11/26/19 01:25 PM

Dedication
To Catherine, for being my companion in life’s adventures. And
for Cameron, Riley, and Connor, for supplying many of the most
meaningful moments of those adventures.
–J.A.C.
To Marcie, Izzy, and Eli, who support me and fill my life with meaning
and joy.
–J.A.L.
To Liesl and Dylan: Their support in all I do is incomparable. They
are my life and I love them both. To my parents: They provide a
foundation that never wavers.
–M.J.W.

About the Authors

JASON A. COLQUITT

©Wright Photography

Jason A. Colquitt is an Eminent Scholar in the Department of Management & Organizations
at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business. He previously taught
at the University of Georgia and the University of Florida. He received his PhD in
management from Michigan State University and earned his BS in psychology from Indiana
University. He has taught organizational behavior and human resource management at
the undergraduate, master’s, and executive levels and has also taught research methods at
the doctoral level. He has received awards for teaching excellence at the undergraduate,
master’s, and executive levels.
Jason’s research interests include organizational justice, trust, and personality. He has published more than 40 articles on these and other topics in Academy of Management Journal,
Academy of Management Review, Journal of Applied Psychology, Organizational Behavior and
Human Decision Processes, and Personnel Psychology. He served as editor-in-chief for Academy
of Management Journal and has served on a number of editorial boards, including Academy
of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Administrative Science Quarterly,
Journal of Applied Psychology, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, and
Personnel Psychology. He is a recipient of the Society for Industrial and Organizational
Psychology’s Distinguished Early Career Contributions Award and the Cummings Scholar
Award for early to mid-career achievement, sponsored by the Organizational Behavior division of the Academy of Management.
Jason enjoys spending time with his wife, Catherine, and three sons, Cameron, Riley, and
Connor. His hobbies include playing basketball, playing the trumpet, watching movies, and
taking long walks with his family.

JEFFERY A. LEPINE

Courtesy of Jeffrey A. LePine

iv

Jeffery A. LePine is the PetSmart Chair in Leadership in the Department of Management
at Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business. He received his PhD in organizational behavior from the Eli Broad Graduate School of Management at Michigan State
University. He also earned an MS in management from Florida State University and a BS in
finance from the University of Connecticut. He has taught organizational behavior, human
resource management, and management of groups and teams at the undergraduate and graduate levels. He has also delivered courses to doctoral students in research methods, metaanalysis, scale development, organizational behavior, and human resource management. He
received the Outstanding Doctoral Professor Award from the W.P. Carey School of Business
for his teaching and mentoring of doctoral students and his work as PhD program director.
Jeff’s research interests include team functioning and effectiveness, individual and team
adaptation, citizenship behavior, voice, employee engagement, and occupational stress. He
has published more than 40 articles on these and other topics in outlets such as Academy
of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Journal of Applied Psychology,
Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Personnel Psychology, and Journal of
Management. He has served as associate editor of Academy of Management Review and Journal
of Applied Psychology. He has also served on the editorial boards of Academy of Management
Journal, Academy of Management Review, Journal of Applied Psychology, Organizational

About the Authors

v

Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Personnel Psychology, Journal of Management, Journal
of Organizational Behavior, and Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology. He
is a recipient of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology’s Distinguished
Early Career Contributions Award and the Cummings Scholar Award for early to midcareer achievement, sponsored by the Organizational Behavior division of the Academy
of Management. He was also elected to the Executive Committee of the Human Resource
Division of the Academy of Management. Prior to earning his PhD, Jeff was an officer in the
U.S. Air Force.
Jeff spends most of his free time with his wife, Marcie, daughter, Izzy, and son, Eli. He
also enjoys playing guitar, hiking and mountain biking, working on his collection of classic
Pontiacs, and serving as the caretaker of his family’s desert hideaway, called the Goat Farm.

MICHAEL J. WESSON

Michael J. Wesson is Professor of Management in Auburn University’s Raymond J. Harbert
College of Business. He received his PhD from Michigan State University’s Eli Broad Graduate
School of Management. He also holds an MS in human resource management from Texas
A&M University and a BBA from Baylor University. He was previously on faculty at Texas
A&M University. He has taught organizational behavior and human resource management–
based classes at the undergraduate, graduate, executive, and doctoral levels. He has received
awards for teaching excellence both at the college and university levels. He is currently chair
of the management department at Harbert.
Michael’s research interests include organizational justice, leadership, organizational
entry (employee recruitment, selection, and socialization), person–organization fit, and compensation and benefits. His articles have been published in journals such as Journal of Applied
Psychology, Personnel Psychology, Academy of Management Review, and Organizational Behavior
and Human Decision Processes. He has served on several editorial boards and has been an ad
hoc reviewer for many others. He is active in the Academy of Management and the Society
for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Prior to returning to school, Michael worked
as a human resources manager for a Fortune 500 firm. He has served as a consultant to the
automotive supplier, health care, oil and gas, and technology industries in areas dealing with
recruiting, selection, onboarding, compensation, and turnover.
Michael spends most of his time trying to keep up with his wife, Liesl, and son, Dylan.
He is a self-admitted food and wine snob, supporter of the performing arts, and a college
sports addict.

Courtesy of Michael J. Wesson

Preface

Why did we decide to write this text? Well, for starters, organizational behavior (OB) remains
a fascinating topic that everyone can relate to (because everyone either has worked or is
going to work in the future). What makes people effective at their job? What makes them
want to stay with their employer? What makes work enjoyable? Those are all fundamental
questions that organizational behavior research can help answer. However, our desire to write
this text also grew out of our own experiences (and frustrations) teaching OB courses using
other texts. We found that students would end the semester with a common set of questions
that we felt we could answer if given the chance to write our own text. With that in mind,
Organizational Behavior: Improving Performance and Commitment in the Workplace was written to answer the following questions.

DOES ANY OF THIS STUFF REALLY MATTER?
Organizational behavior might be the most relevant class any student ever takes, but that
doesn’t always shine through in OB texts. The introductory section of our text contains two
chapters not included in other texts: Job Performance and Organizational Commitment. Being
good at one’s job and wanting to stay with one’s employer are obviously critical concerns
for employees and managers alike. After describing these topics in detail, every remaining
­chapter in the text links that chapter’s content to performance and commitment. Students
can then better appreciate the practical relevance of organizational behavior concepts.

IF THAT THEORY DOESN’T WORK, THEN WHY IS IT IN THE TEXT?
In putting together this text, we were guided by the question, “What would OB texts look
like if all of them were first written now, rather than decades ago?” We found that many
of the organizational behavior texts on the market include outdated (and indeed, scientifically disproven!) models or theories, presenting them sometimes as fact or possibly for the
sake of completeness or historical context. Our students were always frustrated by the fact
that they had to read about, learn, and potentially be tested on material that we knew to be
wrong. Although historical context can be important at times, we believe that focusing on
so-called evidence-based management is paramount in today’s fast-paced classes. Thus, this
text includes new and emerging topics that others leave out and excludes flawed and outdated
topics that some other texts leave in.

HOW DOES ALL THIS STUFF FIT TOGETHER?
Organizational behavior is a diverse and multidisciplinary field, and it’s not always easy to
see how all its topics fit together. Our text deals with this issue in two ways. First, all of the
chapters in our text are organized around an integrative model that opens each chapter. That
model provides students with a road map of the course, showing them where they’ve been
and where they’re going. Second, our chapters are tightly focused around specific topics and
aren’t “grab bag–ish” in nature. Our hope is that students (and instructors) won’t ever come
across a topic and think, “Why is this topic being discussed in this chapter?”

vi

Preface

DOES THIS STUFF HAVE TO BE SO DRY?
Research on motivation to learn shows that students learn more when they have an intrinsic
interest in the topic, but many OB texts do little to stimulate that interest. Put simply, we
wanted to create a text that students enjoy reading. To do that, we used a more informal, conversational style when writing the text. We also tried to use company examples that students
will be familiar with and find compelling. Finally, we included insert boxes, self-assessments,
and exercises that students should find engaging (and sometimes even entertaining!).

NEW AND IMPROVED COVERAGE
• Chapter 1: What Is Organizational Behavior?—This chapter now opens with a wraparound
case on Levi’s. The case describes the company’s new initiative focused on improving
worker well-being in supplier factories. In particular, it discusses the tension between
improving supplier conditions in a top-down manner dictated by Levi’s and a bottom-up
manner that empowers the particular factories.
• Chapter 2: Job Performance—This chapter features a new wraparound case on Accenture,
which describes how and why the company’s view of performance has changed from
“performance management” to “performance achievement.” Accenture abandoned formal evaluations and rankings and replaced them with an app that provides employees
immediate feedback. Our OB at the Bookstore feature has been changed to Treating
People Well. This book describes benefits of civility in the workplace and outlines practices that employees can use to develop positive relationships that inspire trust and cooperation. The chapter includes new material on prosocial counterproductive behavior.
This new material is supplemented with our new OB on Screen feature, Molly’s Game,
which provides an interesting example of well-intentioned behavior that nevertheless is
counterproductive and potentially detrimental to the organization.
• Chapter 3: Organizational Commitment—Lyft serves as the wraparound case in this edition, spotlighting the things the company does to build loyalty on the part of its drivers.
The case also describes Lyft’s efforts to build a fleet of driverless cars and how those
efforts might undermine the commitment levels of its human drivers. The OB on Screen
feature is now Baby Driver, which illustrates how a lack of affective commitment to one’s
work can lead to withdrawal. The OB at the Bookstore feature is now Digital Minimalism,
which lays out a philosophy for dealing with the digital distractions and commitments
that often encourage withdrawal in the workplace.
• Chapter 4: Job Satisfaction—This chapter’s wraparound case now highlights Activision
Blizzard, the creator of games like World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, and Guitar Hero.
Activision Blizzard does a number of things to keep its employees satisfied, including
promoting from within, encouraging learning and development, and creating a culture
of voice. The case also focuses on satisfaction levels among gaming employees, given the
interesting but grueling nature of the work. The OB on Screen selection is now Ocean’s 8,
which illustrates how intrinsically satisfying the job of a private investigator can be, especially when the subject is a stolen diamond necklace. The OB at the Bookstore selection
is now Alive at Work, which describes the “seeking system”-—a neural network in the brain
that is pivotal to employee interest and anticipation. That system is key to understanding
the drivers of job satisfaction.

vii

viii

Preface

• Chapter 5: Stress—Goldman Sachs is now featured in the wraparound case for this
chapter. Goldman Sachs is one of the largest and most successful investment banking,
securities, and investment management companies in the world, and its employees
experience a tremendous amount of stress. The case describes how the company uses
resilience training to proactively combat stress. Our OB on Screen feature has been
changed to First Man. The film provides insight into how NASA test pilot and astronaut
Neil Armstrong coped with work and nonwork stressors. Resilient is now our OB at the
Bookstore feature. The author describes 12 strengths that people can build to become
more resilient to stress. The chapter includes new material on the concept of recovery.
In this discussion, we outline how individual differences in recovery influence the stress
process. We also describe forms of recovery that are more effective than others and
highlight the importance of sleep to the recovery process.
• Chapter 6: Motivation—This chapter now opens with a wraparound case on Delta. The
case describes the turnaround Delta made, from bankruptcy to one of America’s most
admired companies. Much of that turnaround can be credited to how Delta motivates
its employees, including its use of high base pay and generous profit sharing. The OB
on Screen feature focuses on pay equity using Battle of the Sexes, where Billy Jean King
tries to persuade the organizer of a tennis tournament to pay the women’s champion
as much as the men’s. The OB at the Bookstore focuses on Payoff, which lays out one
potential equation for motivation. In particular, the book extolls the virtues of the
intrinsic aspects of such an equation-—including concepts like achievement, purpose,
and progress.
• Chapter 7: Trust, Justice, and Ethics—Salesforce serves as the wraparound case for the
revised chapter. The San Francisco–based supplier of software to businesses has grown
rapidly and espouses values like trust, equality, innovation, and growth. The case focuses
on how Salesforce fosters its trust and equality values and how it measures its performance as it does so. A Star Is Born is now the OB on Screen selection for the chapter.
The film illustrates how an amateur singer/songwriter comes to trust a more established
artist, as he takes an interest in her career and ability.
• Chapter 8: Learning and Decision Making—Slack Technologies and the effect of its instant
messaging system on the information processing and decision making of its clients
serves as the wraparound case in this edition. The case describes how Slack potentially
increases productivity through the decreased use of in-person meetings. Of course, the
risk is whether employees can manage the information flow effectively. A new OB at the
Bookstore feature highlights the best-selling Principles: Life and Work by Ray Dalio and
his desire to push “radical transparency” and “idea meritocracy” as the way for employees
and companies to make better decisions. The chapter also includes a number of research
updates as well as several new company examples such as Accenture and KitchenAid.
• Chapter 9: Personality and Cultural Values—This chapter’s wraparound case is now focused
on Marriott. The case describes the company’s hiring philosophy of “hire friendly, train
technical.” It also describes the use of personality testing to screen for traits like friendliness. Black Panther is the chapter’s OB on Screen selection, with the film examining the
cultural values of the fictional nation of Wakanda. The OB at the Bookstore selection

Preface

is now The Four Tendencies, which describes a new personality taxonomy that classifies
individuals as an Upholder, Questioner, Obliger, or Rebel. In practice, those distinctions
largely depend on how conscientious and agreeable individuals are.
• Chapter 10: Ability—This chapter’s wraparound case now features the U.S. Marine Corps.
The case describes some of the abilities needed by Marines. It also examines how the
Marine Corps is struggling to fill new positions in cybersecurity with Marines who have
the requisite abilities. The Laws of Human Nature is our new OB at the Bookstore feature.
The author of this book describes the importance of emotional abilities and outlines
ways in which these abilities may be developed. The new movie for our OB on Screen
feature is Phantom Thread. This film provides a vivid example of emotion regulation, an
important facet of emotional intelligence.
• Chapter 11: Teams: Characteristics and Diversity—This chapter now includes in-depth coverage of an increasingly popular trend in organizations, multiple team membership. We
discuss trade-offs and implications of this work arrangement to employees and managers.
Our new OB on Screen feature for this chapter discusses the movie Avengers: Infinity
Wars, which provides a vivid example of the formation and development of a new team.
Biased is now discussed in our OB at the Bookstore feature. The author of this book
describes how, despite good intentions, people have hidden biases and prejudices that
influence perceptions, thoughts, feelings, and behaviors and how this process often
unfolds in ways that create disadvantages for certain groups of people. The discussion is
highly relevant to the material we present on team diversity.
• Chapter 12: Teams: Processes and Communication—This chapter includes a new wraparound case featuring Google. The company created an elite team called “Project Zero”
to identify bugs in the code of other company’s software and to work with these other
companies so that the bugs get fixed. The case provides a good example of how various
team processes play out. The OB on Screen feature now centers on the movie Mission:
Impossible-—Fallout. This film illustrates effective coordination and suggests factors
that may foster this important team process. Our OB at the Bookstore feature has been
changed to Extreme Teams. This book addresses the challenge of achieving process gains
in light of potential process losses.
• Chapter 13: Leadership: Power and Negotiation—This chapter features a new wraparound
case on GlaxoSmithKline’s CEO Emma Walmsley. As the first female CEO of a major
pharmaceutical company, Walmsley effectively helped to lead a major joint venture with
Novartis. The case details Walmsley’s stepping in as CEO and leading in a different
way from her predecessor. The chapter has been updated with new research and some
new company examples, including Uber. The new OB on Screen feature uses The Post
to illustrate what might lead one to use various forms of power to get things done. The
best-selling Dare to Lead by Brené Brown is the new OB at the Bookstore feature, which
focuses on how good leaders approach conflict through vulnerability.
• Chapter 14: Leadership: Styles and Behaviors—The chapter begins with a new wraparound
case featuring the unique visionary and yet unexpected style of Spotify CEO Daniel Ek.
The opener and case help to highlight a different style of leadership and why it works for
some but causes issues for others. A new OB at the Bookstore feature highlights Jocko

ix

x

Preface

Willink and Leif Babin’s best-selling The Dichotomy of Leadership, a book that highlights
the need for leaders to be able to switch styles regularly in order to be effective. The new
OB on Screen is The Darkest Hour, which highlights Winston Churchill during World
War II and what many consider to be one of the speeches highest in transformational
leadership ever given.
• Chapter 15: Organizational Structure—Mattel is the focus of this chapter’s new wraparound case that highlights the company’s continual restructuring through four CEOs in
four years, the supposed reasons for these changes, and the effect that that restructuring
is having on employees. A number of updated company examples include W.L. Gore,
Macy’s, and HP/Hewlett-Packard Enterprise. A new OB on Screen features Aquaman,
which illustrates how organizational structure affects chain of command even in the far
reaches of Atlantis.
• Chapter 16: Organizational Culture—This chapter has a new wraparound case that focuses
on HBO (and parent company TimeWarner) and its purchase by AT&T. The case spotlights the differences in the cultures at the two companies and how these differences
lead to different results and the specific actions of their employees. The case questions
whether HBO can continue as a creative force in the industry in the presence of AT&T’s
quest for efficiency and profits. The OB at the Bookstore feature now highlights Daniel
Coyle’s The Culture Code, a book that describes how groups create strong cultures, primarily through the use of psychological safety. A number of new and updated company
examples, such as Hilton, Stripe, Patagonia, and Nestlé, have been added.

Acknowledgments
An enormous number of persons played a role in helping us put this text together. Truth be
told, we had no idea that we would have to rely on and put our success in the hands of so
many different people! Each of them had unique and useful contributions to make toward the
publication of this text, and they deserve and thus receive our sincere gratitude.
We thank Michael Ablassmeir, our executive editor, for his suggestions and guidance on
the last four editions, and John Weimeister for filling that same role with earlier editions. We
are thankful to both for allowing us to write the text that we wanted to write. Thanks also
go out to Kelly Pekelder, our product developer, and Allison Marker, our product coordinator, for keeping us on track and being such a pleasure to work with during this revision. We
also owe much gratitude to our marketing manager, Debbie Clare. We also would like to
thank Melissa Leick, Egzon Shaqiri, and Shawntel Schmitt at McGraw-Hill, as they are the
masterminds of much of how the text actually looks; their work and effort were spectacular.
A special thanks also goes out to Jessica Rodell (University of Georgia) and Megan Endres
(Eastern Michigan University) for their assistance with our CONNECT content.
We would also like to thank our students at the undergraduate, master’s, and executive
levels who were taught with this text for their constructive feedback toward making it more
effective in the classroom. Thanks also to our PhD students for allowing us to take time out
from research projects to focus on this effort.
Finally, we thank our families, who gave up substantial amounts of time with us and put up
with the stress that necessarily comes at times during an endeavor such as this.
Jason Colquitt
Jeff LePine
Michael Wesson

xi

Text Features: OB Insert Boxes
OB On Screen
This feature uses memorable scenes from recent
films to bring OB concepts to life. Films like A Star
Is Born, Black Panther, The Post, Darkest Hour, Baby
Driver, and Ocean’s 8 offer rich, vivid examples that
grab the attention of students.

AF archive/Alamy

“Very comprehensive. Well laid-out. Interesting. Good mix
of theoretical material and practical insights.”

OB At the Bookstore
This feature links the content in each chapter to
a mainstream, popular business book. Books like
Payoff, Resilient, The Dichotomy of Leadership, and
The Culture Code represent the gateway to OB for
many students. This feature helps them put those
books in a larger context.

©Roberts Publishing, Inc.

xii

OB Assessments
This feature helps students see where they
stand on key OB concepts in each chapter.
Students gain insights into their personality, their emotional intelligence, their style
of leadership, and their ability to cope with
stress, which can help them understand
their reactions to the working world.

Shutterstock/iChzigo

“The material presented in this chapter is well balanced.
Again, the tables, charts, and figures help to organize the
material for students.”

OB Internationally
Changes in technology, communications,
and economic forces have made business
more global and international than ever.
This feature spotlights the impact of globalization on the organizational behavior
concepts described in this text. It describes
cross-cultural differences in OB theories,
how to apply them in international corporations, and how to use OB to manage cultural
diversity in the workplace.

NAMAS BHOJANI/Associated Press

xiii

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xv

Additional Resources

PowerPoint® Presentation Slides
The PowerPoint presentation slides are designed to help instructors deliver course content in a
way that maintains students’ engagement and attention. The slides include a Notes section that
offers specific tips for using the slides (and the text). The Notes also provide bridges to many of
the resources in the Instructor’s Manual, including innovative teaching tips and suggestions for
using OB on Screen. Finally, the PowerPoints also include bonus OB Assessments for instructors
who want additional assessments for their teaching.

Instructor’s Manual
Prepared by Jason Colquitt, this manual was developed to help you get the most out of the text
in your own teaching. It contains an outline of the chapters, innovative teaching tips to use with
your students, and notes and answers for the end-of-chapter materials. It also provides a guide for
the assessments in the text and suggestions for using the OB on Screen feature. The manual also
contains additional cases, exercises, and OB on Screen selections from earlier editions of the text,
giving you extra content to use in your teaching.

xvi

Brief Contents

PART 1 Introduction to Organizational

PART 4 Group Mechanisms 333

CHAPTER 1 2

Teams: Characteristics and Diversity

Behavior 1

What Is Organizational Behavior?
CHAPTER 2 26

Job Performance
CHAPTER 3 58

Organizational Commitment

PART 2 Individual Mechanisms 89
CHAPTER 4 90

Job Satisfaction
CHAPTER 5 122

Stress

CHAPTER 6 160

Motivation

CHAPTER 7 192

CHAPTER 11 334

CHAPTER 12 374

Teams: Processes and Communication
CHAPTER 13 410

Leadership: Power and Negotiation
CHAPTER 14 442

Leadership: Styles and Behaviors

PART 5 Organizational Mechanisms 481
CHAPTER 15 482

Organizational Structure
CHAPTER 16 510

Organizational Culture
INTEGRATIVE CASES 543
GLOSSARY/SUBJECT INDEX 552

Trust, Justice, and Ethics

NAME INDEX 569

CHAPTER 8 228

COMPANY INDEX 582

Learning and Decision Making

PART 3 Individual Characteristics 261
CHAPTER 9 262

Personality and Cultural Values
CHAPTER 10 302

Ability

xvii

Table of Contents

PART 1 Introduction to Organizational
Behavior 1

CHAPTER 1 2
What Is Organizational Behavior?

What Is Organizational Behavior? 4
Organizational Behavior Defined 4
An Integrative Model of OB 5
Does Organizational Behavior Matter? 7
Building a Conceptual Argument 8
Research Evidence 10
So What’s So Hard? 12
How Do We “Know” What We Know About Organizational
Behavior? 14
Summary: Moving Forward In This Book 18

TAKEAWAYS 21
KEY TERMS 21
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 21
CASE 22
EXERCISE 23
ENDNOTES 24

CHAPTER 2 26
Job Performance

Job Performance 28
What Does It Mean to Be a “Good Performer”? 30
Task Performance 30
Citizenship Behavior 34
Counterproductive Behavior 37
Summary: What Does It Mean to Be a “Good Performer”? 42
Trends Affecting Performance 43
Knowledge Work 43
Service Work 43
Application: Performance Management 44
Management by Objectives 44
Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales 45
360-Degree Feedback 46
Forced Ranking 46
Social Networking Systems 47

xviii

TAKEAWAYS 48
KEY TERMS 48
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 49
CASE 49
EXERCISE 50
ENDNOTES 51

CHAPTER 3 58
Organizational Commitment

Organizational Commitment 60
What Does It Mean to Be “Committed”? 61
Types of Commitment 61
Withdrawal Behavior 67
Summary: What Does It Mean to Be “Committed”? 73
Trends Affecting Commitment 75
Diversity of the Workforce 75
The Changing Employee–Employer Relationship 77
Application: Commitment Initiatives 78

TAKEAWAYS 79
KEY TERMS 80
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 80
CASE 81
EXERCISE 82
ENDNOTES 83

PART 2 Individual Mechanisms 89
CHAPTER 4 90
Job Satisfaction

Job Satisfaction 92
Why Are Some Employees More Satisfied
Than Others? 92
Value Fulfillment 92
Satisfaction With The Work Itself 96
Mood and Emotions 102
Summary: Why Are Some Employees More Satisfied
Than Others? 107
How Important Is Job Satisfaction? 107
Life Satisfaction 109
Application: Tracking Satisfaction 111

Table of Contents

TAKEAWAYS 113
KEY TERMS 114
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 114
CASE 114
EXERCISE 115
ENDNOTES 116

CHAPTER 5 122
Stress
Stress 124

Why Are Some Employees More “Stressed” Than Others? 125
Types of Stressors 126
How Do People Cope with Stressors? 129
The Experience of Strain 132
Accounting for Individuals in the Stress Process 135
Summary: Why Are Some Employees More “Stressed”
Than Others? 138
How Important Is Stress? 139
Application: Stress Management 141
Assessment 141
Reducing Stressors 142
Providing Resources 143
Reducing Strains 144

TAKEAWAYS 147
KEY TERMS 148
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 148
CASE 148
EXERCISE 149
ENDNOTES 151

CHAPTER 6 160
Motivation
Motivation 162

Why Are Some Employees More Motivated Than
Others? 163
Expectancy Theory 163
Goal Setting Theory 169
Equity Theory 172
Psychological Empowerment 176
Summary: Why Are Some Employees More Motivated
Than Others? 179
How Important Is Motivation? 180
Application: Compensation Systems 182

TAKEAWAYS 184
KEY TERMS 184
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 185
CASE 185
EXERCISE 186
ENDNOTES 187

xix

CHAPTER 7 192
Trust, Justice, and Ethics

Trust, Justice, and Ethics 194
Why Are Some Authorities More Trusted Than Others? 195
Trust 195
Justice 200
Ethics 207
Summary: Why Are Some Authorities More Trusted
Than Others? 214
How Important Is Trust? 214
Application: Social Responsibility 216

TAKEAWAYS 217
KEY TERMS 218
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 218
CASE 219
EXERCISE 220
ENDNOTES 221

CHAPTER 8 228
Learning and Decision Making

Learning and Decision Making 230
Why Do Some Employees Learn to Make Decisions
Better Than Others? 230
Types of Knowledge 231
Methods of Learning 231
Methods of Decision Making 237
Decision-Making Problems 242
Summary: Why Do Some Employees Learn to Make
Better Decisions Than Others? 247
How Important Is Learning? 249
Application: Training 250

TAKEAWAYS 251
KEY TERMS 251
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 252
CASE 252
EXERCISE 253
ENDNOTES 254

PART 3 Individual Characteristics 261
CHAPTER 9 262
Personality and Cultural Values

Personality and Cultural Values 264
How Can We Describe What Employees Are Like? 264
The Big Five Taxonomy 264
Other Taxonomies of Personality 276
Cultural Values 277
Summary: How Can We Describe What Employees
Are Like? 282

xx

Table of Contents

How Important Are Personality and Cultural Values? 282
Application: Personality Tests 285

TAKEAWAYS 289
KEY TERMS 290
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 290
CASE 291
EXERCISE 292
ENDNOTES 292

CHAPTER 10 302
Ability
Ability 304

What Does It Mean for an Employee to Be “Able”? 306
Cognitive Ability 307
Emotional Ability 311
Physical Ability 315
Summary: What Does It Mean for an Employee
to Be “Able”? 319
How Important Is Ability? 320
Application: Selecting High Cognitive Ability
Employees 321

TAKEAWAYS 324
KEY TERMS 325
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 325
CASE 325
EXERCISE 326
ENDNOTES 327

CHAPTER 12 374
Teams: Processes and Communication

Team Processes and Communication 376
Why Are Some Teams More Than the Sum of Their
Parts? 376
Taskwork Processes 377
Teamwork Processes 383
Communication 386
Team States 389
Summary: Why Are Some Teams More Than the Sum
of Their Parts? 392
How Important Are Team Processes? 392
Application: Training Teams 395
Transportable Teamwork Competencies 395
Cross-Training 396
Team Process Training 396
Team Building 397

TAKEAWAYS 398

KEY TERMS 398
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 399
CASE 399
EXERCISE 400
ENDNOTES 402

CHAPTER 13 410
Leadership: Power and Negotiation

Leadership: Power and Negotiation 412
Why Are Some Leaders More Powerful Than Others? 412

PART 4 Group Mechanisms 333

Acquiring Power 412

CHAPTER 11 334
Teams: Characteristics and Diversity

Power and Influence in Action 421

Team Characteristics and Diversity 336
What Characteristics Can Be Used to
Describe Teams? 337
Team Types 337
Variations Within Team Types 340
Team Interdependence 344
Team Composition 348
Summary: What Characteristics Can Be Used
to Describe Teams? 356
How Important Are Team Characteristics? 357
Application: Team Compensation 358

TAKEAWAYS 359
KEY TERMS 359
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 360
CASE 360
EXERCISE 361
ENDNOTES 363

Using Influence 417
Negotiations 426
Summary: Why Are Some Leaders More Powerful
Than Others? 429
How Important Are Power and Influence? 429
Application: Alternative Dispute Resolution 429

TAKEAWAYS 432
KEY TERMS 432
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 433
CASE 433
EXERCISE 434
ENDNOTES 435

CHAPTER 14 442
Leadership: Styles and Behaviors

Leadership: Styles and Behaviors 444
Why Are Some Leaders More Effective Than Others? 446
Leader Decision-Making Styles 447
Day-To-Day Leadership Behaviors 452

Table of Contents

Transformational Leadership Behaviors 456
Summary: Why Are Some Leaders More Effective
Than Others? 461
How Important Is Leadership? 464
Application: Leadership Training 466

TAKEAWAYS 467
KEY TERMS 467
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 468
CASE 468
EXERCISE 469
ENDNOTES 470

PART 5 Organizational Mechanisms 481
CHAPTER 15 482
Organizational Structure

Organizational Structure 484
Why Do Some Organizations Have Different Structures
Than Others? 484
Elements of Organizational Structure 485
Organizational Design 491
Common Organizational Forms 493
Summary: Why Do Some Organizations Have Different
Structures Than Others? 499
How Important Is Structure? 500
Application: Restructuring 502

TAKEAWAYS 503
KEY TERMS 503
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 504
CASE 504
EXERCISE 505
ENDNOTES 506

xxi

CHAPTER 16 510
Organizational Culture

Organizational Culture 512
Why Do Some Organizations Have Different Cultures
Than Others? 512
Culture Components 512
General Culture Types 516
Specific Culture Types 516
Culture Strength 519
Maintaining An Organizational Culture 523
Changing An Organizational Culture 526
Summary: Why Do Some Organizations Have Different
Cultures Than Others? 528
How Important Is Organizational Culture? 529
Application: Managing Socialization 531

TAKEAWAYS 533
KEY TERMS 534
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 534
CASE 534
EXERCISE 535
ENDNOTES 536

INTEGRATIVE CASES 543
GLOSSARY/SUBJECT INDEX 552
NAME INDEX 569
COMPANY INDEX 582

Organizational
Behavior

Improving Performance and
Commitment in the Workplace

1
P A R T

INTRODUCTION TO
ORGANIZATIONAL
BEHAVIOR

CHAPTER 1

What Is Organizational Behavior?

CHAPTER 2

Job Performance

CHAPTER 3

Organizational Commitment

1

What Is Organizational
Behavior?
ORGANIZATIONAL
MECHANISMS

Organizational
Culture

Organizational
Structure
INDIVIDUAL
MECHANISMS
GROUP
MECHANISMS

Job
Satisfaction

Leadership:
Styles &
Behaviors

INDIVIDUAL
OUTCOMES
Stress

Leadership:
Power &
Negotiation

Job
Performance
Motivation

Teams:
Processes &
Communication

Teams:
Characteristics &
Diversity

Organizational
Commitment
Trust, Justice,
& Ethics

Learning &
Decision Making

INDIVIDUAL
CHARACTERISTICS

Ability

Personality &
Cultural Values

LEARNING GOALS
After reading this chapter, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5
1.6

2

What is the definition of “organizational behavior” (OB)?
What are the two primary outcomes in studies of OB?
What factors affect the two primary OB outcomes?
Why might firms that are good at OB tend to be more profitable?
What is the role of theory in the scientific method?
How are correlations interpreted?

LEVI’S

A

ssume you’re playing a game called “guess the company” with the following description. The company
was founded in 1853 in San Francisco. It was one of
the first to desegregate its employees and one of the first
to support same-sex marriage. It’s also been a leader on
the environmental front, particularly in making its products
more free from chemicals. What companies might you have
guessed (especially without the benefit of the photo on this
page)? Probably not Levi Strauss, or any other company in
the apparel industry. After all, apparel companies are often
associated with sweatshops, poor labor conditions, and outdated management principles.
Levi’s has always been a different kind of apparel company, however. When it began moving garment production
outside the United States in the 1990s, it created a Terms
of Engagement (TOE) document for all of its suppliers. The
document had more stringent expectations than the local
labor laws that the suppliers were subject to. Levi’s was
also active in using its compliance teams to inspect adherence to the TOE. That combination of formalized expectations and active compliance checking became something
that was copied by other big players in the apparel industry,

Sorbis/Shutterstock

including Nike and Adidas. Two decades after the creation
of the TOE, however, the company is taking the next step.
What is that next step, exactly? It’s an initiative called
Improving Worker Well-Being, and it’s playing out in 42
Levi’s suppliers that employ 140,000 people across 72
factories. The initiative is focused on increasing the health
and happiness of the workers employed by Levi’s suppliers. Explains Kim Almedia, the head of the program, “This
is about creating a culture that embraces well-being.” Why
focus on well-being explicitly? One reason is that increases
in health and happiness should translate into more productive employees and lower rates of absenteeism and turnover. Another reason is that such efforts should be appealing
to potential Levi’s recruits and customers. Employees have
choices about where they work—especially in strong economies. Meanwhile, the internet has given customers access
to more apparel choices than ever before. “This goes way
beyond making a profit,”* explains CEO Chip Bergh. “We
are demonstrating there is an opportunity for companies to
redefine their role in society, and that’s good for business.”*
*Levi Strauss & Co.

3

4

CHAPTER 1

What Is Organizational Behavior?

WHAT IS ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR?
Before we describe what the field of organizational behavior studies, take a moment to ponder this
question: Who was the single worst coworker you’ve ever had? Picture fellow students who collaborated with you on class projects; colleagues from part-time or summer jobs; or peers, subordinates,
or supervisors working in your current organization. What did this coworker do that earned him
or her “worst coworker” status? Was it some of the behaviors shown in the right column of Table
1-1 (or perhaps all of them)? Now take a moment to consider the single best coworker you’ve ever
had. Again, what did this coworker do to earn “best coworker” status—some or most of the behaviors shown in the left column of Table 1-1?
If you found yourself working alongside the two people profiled in the table, two questions
would be foremost on your mind: “Why does the worst coworker act that way?” and “Why does
the best coworker act that way?” Once you understand why the two coworkers act so differently,
you might be able to figure out ways to interact with the worst coworker more effectively (thereby
making your working life a bit more pleasant). If you happen to be a manager, you might formulate plans for how to improve attitudes and behaviors in the unit. Such plans could include
how to screen applicants, train and socialize new organizational members, manage evaluations
and rewards for performance, and deal with conflicts that arise between and among employees.
Without understanding why employees act the way they do, it’s extremely hard to find a way to
change their attitudes and behaviors at work.

1.1
What is the definition of
“organizational behavior”
(OB)?

ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR DEFINED
Organizational behavior (OB) is a field of study devoted to understanding, explaining, and ultimately improving the attitudes and behaviors of individuals and groups in organizations. Scholars

TABLE 1-1

The Best of Coworkers, the Worst of Coworkers
THE BEST

THE WORST

Have you ever had a coworker who usually acted this way?

Have you ever had a coworker who usually acted this way?

Got the job done, without having to be
managed or reminded

Did not got the job done, even with a great
deal of hand-holding

Adapted when something needed to be
changed or done differently

Was resistant to any and every form of
change, even when changes were beneficial

Was always a “good sport,” even when
bad things happened at work

Whined and complained, no matter what
was happening

Attended optional meetings or functions to
support colleagues

Optional meetings? Was too lazy to make it
to some required meetings and functions!

Helped new coworkers or people who
seemed to need a hand

Made fun of new coworkers or people who
seemed to need a hand

Felt an attachment and obligation to the
employer for the long haul

Seemed to always be looking for something else, even if it wasn’t better

Was first to arrive, last to leave

Was first to leave for lunch, last to return

The Million-Dollar Question:
Why do these two employees act so differently?

CHAPTER 1

What Is Organizational Behavior?

5

in management departments of universities and scientists in business organizations conduct
research on OB. The findings from those research studies are then applied by managers or consultants to see whether they help meet “real-world” challenges. OB can be contrasted with two
other courses commonly offered in management departments: human resource management and
strategic management. Human resource management takes the theories and principles studied in
OB and explores the “nuts-and-bolts” applications of those principles in organizations. An OB
study might explore the relationship between learning and job performance, whereas a human
resource management study might examine the best ways to structure training programs to promote employee learning. Strategic management focuses on the product choices and industry characteristics that affect an organization’s profitability. A strategic management study might examine
the relationship between firm diversification (when a firm expands into a new product segment)
and firm profitability.
The theories and concepts found in OB are actually drawn from a wide variety of disciplines.
For example, research on job performance and individual characteristics draws primarily from
studies in industrial and organizational psychology. Research on satisfaction, emotions, and team
processes draws heavily from social psychology. Sociology research is vital to research on team
characteristics and organizational structure, and anthropology research helps inform the study
of organizational culture. Finally, models from economics are used to understand motivation,
learning, and decision making. This diversity brings a unique quality to the study of OB, as most
students will be able to find a particular topic that’s intrinsically interesting and thought provoking to them.

AN INTEGRATIVE MODEL OF OB
Because of the diversity in its topics and disciplinary roots, it is common for students in an organizational behavior class to wonder, “How does all this stuff fit together?” How does what gets
covered in Chapter 3 relate to what gets covered in Chapter 13? To clarify such issues, this textbook is structured around an integrative model of OB, shown in Figure 1-1, that’s designed to
provide a roadmap for the field of organizational behavior. The model shows how the topics in the
next 15 chapters—represented by the 15 ovals in the model—all fit together. We should stress that
there are other potential ways of combining the 15 topics, and Figure 1-1 likely oversimplifies the
connections among the topics. Still, we believe the model provides a helpful guide as you move
through this course. Figure 1-1 includes five different kinds of topics.
INDIVIDUAL OUTCOMES The right-most portion of the model contains the two primary outcomes of interest to organizational behavior researchers (and employees and managers in organizations): job performance and organizational commitment. Most employees have two primary goals
for their working lives: to perform their jobs well and to remain a member of an organization that
they respect. Likewise, most managers have two primary goals for their employees: to maximize
their job performance and to ensure that they stay with the firm for a significant length of time. As
described in Chapter 2, there are several specific behaviors that, when taken together, constitute
good job performance. Similarly, as described in Chapter 3, there are a number of beliefs, attitudes, and emotions that cause an employee to remain committed to an employer.
This book starts by covering job performance and organizational commitment so that you can
better understand the two primary organizational behavior goals. Our hope is that by using performance and commitment as starting points, we can highlight the practical importance of OB topics. After all, what could be more important than having employees who perform well and want
to stay with the company? This structure also enables us to conclude the other chapters in the
book with sections that describe the relationships between each chapter’s topic and performance
and commitment. For example, the chapter on motivation concludes by describing the relationships between motivation and performance and motivation and commitment. In this way, you’ll
learn which of the topics in the model are most useful for understanding your own attitudes and
behaviors.
INDIVIDUAL MECHANISMS Our integrative model also illustrates a number of individual
mechanisms that directly affect job performance and organizational commitment. These include

1.2
What are the two primary
­outcomes in studies of OB?

1.3
What factors affect the two
primary OB outcomes?

6

CHAPTER 1

FIGURE 1-1

What Is Organizational Behavior?

Integrative Model of Organizational Behavior

ORGANIZATIONAL
MECHANISMS

Organizational
Culture

Organizational
Structure
INDIVIDUAL
MECHANISMS
GROUP
MECHANISMS

Job
Satisfaction

Leadership:
Styles &
Behaviors

INDIVIDUAL
OUTCOMES
Stress

Leadership:
Power &
Negotiation

Job
Performance
Motivation

Teams:
Processes &
Communication

Teams:
Characteristics &
Diversity

Organizational
Commitment
Trust, Justice,
& Ethics

Learning &
Decision Making

INDIVIDUAL
CHARACTERISTICS

Ability

Personality &
Cultural Values

job satisfaction, which captures what employees feel when thinking about their jobs and doing
their day-to-day work (Chapter 4). Another individual mechanism is stress, which reflects employees’ psychological responses to job demands that tax or exceed their capacities (Chapter 5). The
model also includes motivation, which captures the energetic forces that drive employees’ work
effort (Chapter 6). Trust, justice, and ethics reflect the degree to which employees feel that their
company does business with fairness, honesty, and integrity (Chapter 7). The final individual
mechanism shown in the model is learning and decision making, which deals with how employees
gain job knowledge and how they use that knowledge to make accurate judgments on the job
(Chapter 8).

CHAPTER 1

What Is Organizational Behavior?

INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS Of course, if satisfaction, stress, motivation, and so forth
are key drivers of job performance and organizational commitment, it becomes important to
understand what factors improve those individual mechanisms. Two such factors reflect the
characteristics of individual employees. Personality and cultural values reflect the various traits
and tendencies that describe how people act, with commonly studied traits including extraversion, conscientiousness, and collectivism. As described in Chapter 9, personality and cultural
values affect the way people behave at work, the kinds of tasks they’re interested in, and how
they react to events that happen on the job. The model also examines ability, which describes
the cognitive abilities (verbal, quantitative, etc.), emotional skills (other awareness, emotion
regulation, etc.), and physical abilities (strength, endurance, etc.) that employees bring to a job.
As described in Chapter 10, ability influences the kinds of tasks an employee is good at (and
not so good at).
GROUP MECHANISMS Our integrative model also acknowledges that employees don’t work
alone. Instead, they typically work in one or more work teams led by some formal (or sometimes
informal) leader. Like the individual characteristics, these group mechanisms shape satisfaction, stress, motivation, trust, and learning. Chapter 11 covers team characteristics and diversity—
describing how teams are formed, staffed, and composed, and how team members come to rely
on one another as they do their work. Chapter 12 then covers team processes and communication—
how teams behave, including their coordination, conflict, and cohesion. The next two chapters
focus on the leaders of those teams. We first describe how individuals become leaders in the first
place, covering leader power and negotiation to summarize how individuals attain authority over
others (Chapter 13). We then describe how leaders behave in their leadership roles, as leader
styles and behaviors capture the specific actions that leaders take to influence others at work
(Chapter 14).
ORGANIZATIONAL MECHANISMS Finally, our integrative model acknowledges that the
teams described in the prior section are grouped into larger organizations that themselves affect
satisfaction, stress, motivation, and so forth. For example, every company has an organizational
structure that dictates how the units within the firm link to (and communicate with) other units
(Chapter 15). Sometimes structures are centralized around a decision-making authority, whereas
other times, structures are decentralized, affording each unit some autonomy. Every company
also has an organizational culture that captures “the way things are” in the organization—shared
knowledge about the values and beliefs that shape employee attitudes and behaviors (Chapter 16).
SUMMARY Each of the chapters in this textbook will open with a depiction of this integrative
model, with the subject of each chapter highlighted. We hope that this opening will serve as a
roadmap for the course—showing you where you are, where you’ve been, and where you’re going.
We also hope that the model will give you a feel for the “big picture” of OB—showing you how all
the OB topics are connected.

DOES ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR MATTER?
Having described exactly what OB is, it’s time to discuss another fundamental question: Does it
really matter? Is there any value in taking a class on this subject, other than fulfilling some requirement of your program? (You might guess that we’re biased in our answers to these questions,
given that we wrote a book on the subject!) Few would disagree that organizations need to know
principles of accounting and finance to be successful; it would be impossible to conduct business
without such knowledge. Similarly, few would disagree that organizations need to know principles
of marketing, as consumers need to know about the firm’s products and what makes those products unique or noteworthy.
However, people sometimes wonder whether a firm’s ability to manage OB has any bearing
on its bottom-line profitability. After all, if a firm has a good-enough product, won’t people buy it

7

8

CHAPTER 1

What Is Organizational Behavior?

OB Internationally
Changes in technology, communications, and economic forces have made business more global
and international than ever. To use Thomas Friedman’s line, “The world is flat.” The playing field
has been leveled between the United States and the rest of the world. This feature spotlights the
impact of globalization on the organizational behavior concepts described in this book and covers
a variety of topics.
CROSS-CULTURAL DIFFERENCES. Research in cross-cultural organizational behavior has illus-

trated that national cultures affect many of the relationships in our integrative model. Put differently, there is little that we know about OB that is “universal” or “culture free.”
INTERNATIONAL CORPORATIONS. An increasing number of organizations are international in

scope, with both foreign and domestic operations. Applying organizational behavior concepts in
these firms represents a special challenge—should policies and practices be consistent across locations or tailored to meet the needs of the culture?
EXPATRIATION. Working as an expatriate—an employee who lives outside his or her native

c­ ountry—can be particularly challenging. What factors influence expatriates’ job performance and
organizational commitment levels?
MANAGING DIVERSITY. More and more work groups are composed of members of different

cultural backgrounds. What are the special challenges involved in leading and working in such
groups?
Sources: T.L. Friedman, The World Is Flat (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002); and H. Aguinis and C.A. Henl,
“The Search for Universals in Cross-Cultural Organizational Behavior.” In Organizational Behavior: The State of the Science,
ed. J. Greenberg (Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 2003), pp. 373–411.

regardless of how happy, motivated, or committed its workforce is? Perhaps for a time, but effective OB can help keep a product good over the long term. This same argument can be made in
reverse: If a firm has a bad-enough product, isn’t it true that people won’t buy it, regardless of how
happy, motivated, or committed its workforce is? Again, perhaps for a time, but the effective management of OB can help make a product get better, incrementally, over the long term.
Consider this pop quiz about the automotive industry: Which two automakers were rated tops
in car technology by J.D. Power in 2016? BMW was one—can you guess the other? The answer is
Hyundai (yes, Hyundai).1 The study focused on entertainment, connectivity, navigation, collision
avoidance, driving assistance, and convenience. The South Korean automaker has come a long
way since comedian Jay Leno likened a Hyundai to a bobsled (“It has no room, you have to push
it to get going, and it only goes downhill!”).2 Today its Sonatas and Elantras are built in an very
modern factory in Montgomery, Alabama. The factory employs 3,000 workers and pays $17 per
hour as an entry-level wage.3 Much of Hyundai’s turnaround can be credited to the company’s
increased emphasis on quality. Work teams devoted to quality have been expanded eightfold, and
almost all employees are enrolled in special training programs devoted to quality issues.4 Hyundai
represents a case in which OB principles are being applied across cultures. Our OB Internationally
feature spotlights such international and cross-cultural applications of OB topics in each chapter.

BUILDING A CONCEPTUAL ARGUMENT
Of course, we shouldn’t just accept it on faith that OB matters, nor should we merely look for
specific companies that appear to support the premise. What we need instead is a conceptual
argument that captures why OB might affect the bottom-line profitability of an organization. One
such argument is based on the resource-based view of organizations. This perspective describes
what exactly makes resources valuable—that is, what makes them capable of creating long-term

CHAPTER 1

What Is Organizational Behavior?

profits for the firm.5 A firm’s
resources include financial
(revenue, equity, etc.) and physical (buildings, machines, technology) resources, but they also
include resources related to
organizational behavior, such
as the knowledge, ability, and
wisdom of the workforce, as
well as the image, culture, and
goodwill of the organization.
The resource-based view suggests that the value of resources
depends on several factors,
shown in Figure 1-2. For example, a resource is more valu- Dave Martin/Associated Press
able when it is rare. Diamonds,
oil, Babe Ruth baseball cards, and Action Comics #1 (the debut of Superman) are all expensive
precisely because they are rare. Good people are also rare—witness the adage “good people are
hard to find.” Ask yourself what percentage of the people you’ve worked with have been talented,
motivated, satisfied, and good team players. In many organizations, cities, or job markets, such
employees are the exception rather than the rule. If good people really are rare, then the effective
management of OB should prove to be a valuable resource.
The resource-based view also suggests that a resource is more valuable when it is inimitable,
meaning that it cannot be imitated. Many of the firm’s resources can be imitated, if competitors
have enough money. For example, a new form of technology can help a firm gain an advantage for
a short time, but competing firms can switch to the same technology. Manufacturing practices can
be copied, equipment and tools can be approximated, and marketing strategies can be mimicked.
Good people, in contrast, are much more difficult to imitate. As shown in Figure 1-2, there are
three reasons people are inimitable.

FIGURE 1-2

What Makes a Resource Valuable?

Rare

Inimitable

History

Numerous
Small
Decisions

Socially Complex
Resources

Resource
Value

9

Hyundai’s emphasis on
work teams and training
has increased the quality
of its cars, like these models built in its Montgomery,
Alabama, plant.

10

CHAPTER 1

Microsoft opened its first
retail stores in 2009,
including this one in
Mission Viejo, California.
The look and feel of
Microsoft’s stores are very
similar to Apple’s retail
outlets.

What Is Organizational Behavior?

HISTORY People create a
­history—a collective pool of
experience, wisdom, and knowledge that benefits the organization. History cannot be bought.
Consider an example from the
consumer electronics retailing industry where Microsoft,
taking a cue from Apple,
launched its first retail store in
Scottsdale, Arizona, in 2009.6
The company hoped that the
stores would give it a chance
to showcase its computer software, along with its hardware
Mark Boster/Contributor/Getty Images
and gaming products. Microsoft
continues to face an uphill climb in the retail space, however, because Apple had an eight-year head
start after opening its first store in 2001, in McLean, Virginia.7 Microsoft’s position on the “retail
learning curve” was therefore quite different, meaning that it had to grapple with many of the same
issues that Apple had resolved years earlier.
NUMEROUS SMALL DECISIONS The concept of numerous small decisions captures the
idea that people make many small decisions day in and day out, week in and week out. “So
what?” you might say, “Why worry about small decisions?” To answer that question, ask
yourself what the biggest decisions are when launching a new line of retail stores. The location of them maybe, or perhaps their look and feel? It turns out that Microsoft placed their
stores near Apple’s, and mimicked much of their open, “Zen” sensibility. Said one patron,
“It appears that the Microsoft Store in Mission Viejo is dressed up as the Apple Store for
Halloween.”8 Big decisions can be copied; they are visible to competitors and observable by
industry experts. In contrast, the “behind the scenes” decisions at the Apple Store are more
invisible to Microsoft, especially the decisions that involve the hiring and management of
employees. Apple seems to understand the inimitable advantage that such decisions can create. One article in Workforce Management included features on the top human resources executives for 20 of the most admired companies in America.9 Interestingly, the entry for Apple’s
executive was cryptic, noting only that the company “keeps its human resources executive
shrouded in secrecy and refuses to respond to any questions about HR’s contribution to the
company’s most admired status.”
SOCIALLY COMPLEX RESOURCES People also create socially complex resources, like culture,
teamwork, trust, and reputation. These resources are termed “socially complex” because it’s not
always clear how they came to develop, though it is clear which organizations do (and do not) possess them. One advantage that Apple has over Microsoft in the retail wars is the unusual amount
of interest and enthusiasm created by products like the iPhone, AirPods, and Apple Watch.
Those products have an “it factor” that brings customers into the store, and Apple itself sits atop
Fortune’s list of 50 most admired companies in the world.10 Competitors like Microsoft can’t just
acquire “coolness” or “admiration”—they are complex resources that evolve in ways that are both
murky and mysterious.

1.4
Why might firms that are
good at OB tend to be more
profitable?

RESEARCH EVIDENCE
Thus, we can build a conceptual argument for why OB might affect an organization’s profitability:
Good people are both rare and inimitable and, therefore, create a resource that is valuable for
creating competitive advantage. Conceptual arguments are helpful, of course, but it would be even
better if there were hard data to back them up. Fortunately, it turns out that there is a great deal of
research evidence supporting the importance of OB for company performance. Several research
studies have been conducted on the topic, each employing a somewhat different approach.

CHAPTER 1

What Is Organizational Behavior?

One study began by surveying executives from 968 publicly held firms with 100 or more employees.11 The survey assessed so-called high performance work practices—OB policies that are widely
agreed to be beneficial to firm performance. The survey included 13 questions asking about a
combination of hiring, information sharing, training, performance management, and incentive
practices, and each question asked what proportion of the company’s workforce was involved in
the practice. Table 1-2 provides some of the questions used to assess the ­high-performance work
practices (and also shows which chapter of the textbook describes each particular practice in
more detail). The study also gathered the following information for each firm: average annual
rate of turnover, productivity level (defined as sales per employee), market value of the firm,
and corporate profitability. The results revealed that a one-unit increase in the proportion of the
workforce involved in the practices was associated with an approximately 7 percent decrease in
turnover, $27,000 more in sales per employee, $18,000 more in market value, and $3,800 more in
profits. Put simply, better OB practices were associated with better firm performance.
Although there is no doubting the importance of turnover, productivity, market value, and profitability, another study examined an outcome that’s even more fundamental: firm survival.12 The study
focused on 136 nonfinancial companies that made initial public offerings (IPOs) in 1988. Firms that
undergo an IPO typically have shorter histories and need an infusion of cash to grow or introduce
some new technology. Rather than conducting a survey, the authors of this study examined the prospectus filed by each firm (the Securities and Exchange Commission requires that prospectuses contain honest information, and firms can be liable for any inaccuracies that might mislead investors). The
authors coded each prospectus for information that might suggest OB issues were valued. Examples
of valuing OB issues included describing employees as a source of competitive advantage in strategy
and mission statements, emphasizing training and continuing education, having a human resources
management executive, and emphasizing full-time rather than temporary or contract employees. By
1993, 81 of the 136 firms included in the study had survived (60 percent). The key question is whether
the value placed on OB predicted which did (and did not) survive. The results revealed that firms that
valued OB had a 19 percent higher survival rate than firms that did not value OB.

TABLE 1-2 Survey Questions Designed to Assess HighPerformance Work Practices
SURVEY QUESTION ABOUT OB PRACTICE

COVERED IN CHAPTER

What is the proportion of the workforce whose jobs have
been subjected to a formal job analysis?

2

What is the proportion of the workforce who are administered attitude surveys on a regular basis?

4

What is the proportion of the workforce who have access to
company incentive plans, profit-sharing plans, and/or gainsharing plans?

6

What is the average number of hours of training received by
a typical employee over the last 12 months?

8, 10

What is the proportion of the workforce who have access to a
formal grievance procedure and/or complaint resolution system?

7

What proportion of the workforce are administered an
employment test prior to hiring?
What is the proportion of the workforce whose performance
appraisals are used to determine compensation?

9, 10
6

Source: Adapted from M.A. Huselid, “The Impact of Human Resource Management Practices on Turnover, Productivity,
and Corporate Financial Performance.” Academy of Management Journal 38, pp. 635–72. Academy of Management.

11

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TABLE 1-3

The “100 Best Companies to Work For” in 2019

1. Hilton

25. Cheesecake Factory

49. T-Mobile US

2. Salesforce

26. Deloitte

57. Nationwide

3. Wegmans

28. SAP America

60. SAS Institute

4. Workday

31. Marriott

61. Accenture

6. Cisco

32. Hyatt

62. Goldman Sachs

7. Edward Jones

34. EY

70. Atlassian

10. Boston Consulting

36. KPMG

78. Kronos

12. Publix

39. Capital One

89. Four Seasons

13. American Express

42. Dropbox

95. FedEx

14. Quicken Loans

44. PricewaterhouseCoopers

96. Activision Blizzard

22. Adobe

45. Genentech

97. Delta

24. Intuit

46. REI

100. Patagonia

Source: M.C. Bush and S. Lewis-Kulin., “The 100 Best Companies to Work For.” Fortune, March 15, 2017.

A third study focused on Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” list, which has appeared
annually since 1998.13 Table 1-3 provides some highlights from the 2019 version of the list. If the
100 firms on the list really do have good OB practices, and if good OB practices really do influence firm profitability, then it follows that the 100 firms should be more profitable. To explore
this premise, the study went back to an earlier version of the list and found a “matching firm” for
those companies that were included.14 The matching firm consisted of the most similar company
with respect to industry and size in that particular year, with the added requirement that the
company had not appeared on the “100 Best” list. This process essentially created two groups of
companies that differ only in terms of their inclusion in the “100 Best.” The study then compared
the profitability of those two groups of companies. The results revealed that the “100 Best” firms
were more profitable than their peers. Indeed, the cumulative investment return for a portfolio
based on the “100 Best” companies would have doubled the return for the broader market.

SO WHAT’S SO HARD?
Clearly this research evidence seems to support the conceptual argument that good people constitute a valuable resource for companies. Good OB does seem to matter in terms of company
profitability. You may wonder then, “What’s so hard?” Why doesn’t every company prioritize
the effective management of OB, devoting as much attention to it as they do accounting, finance,
marketing, technology, physical assets, and so on? Some companies do a bad job when it comes to
managing their people. Why is that?
One reason is that there is no “magic bullet” OB practice—one thing that, in and of itself, can
increase profitability. Instead, the effective management of OB requires a belief that several different practices are important, along with a long-term commitment to improving those practices.
This premise can be summarized with what might be called the Rule of One-Eighth:
One must bear in mind that one-half of organizations won’t believe the connection between
how they manage their people and the profits they earn. One-half of those who do see the
connection will do what many organizations have done—try to make a single change to solve
their problems, not realizing that the effective management of people requires a more comprehensive and systematic approach. Of the firms that make comprehensive changes, probably

CHAPTER 1

What Is Organizational Behavior?

OB At the Bookstore
This feature spotlights bestselling business books that complement the content of each chapter.
Drawing a bridge from our chapters to these books lets you see how the titles at the bookstore
complement the concepts in our integrative model of OB.
HOW TO HAVE A GOOD DAY
by Caroline Webb (New York: Brown Business, 2016).
We’re living in a golden age of behavioral science, where every passing week seems to deliver fresh insights into the way we think, feel,
and act. Neuroscientists, psychologists, and economists are busy
unraveling the important mysteries of our time, questions like: “How
can I conquer my inbox?” “Why do perfectly reasonable people get
their wires crossed?” “What would it take for me to stop procrastinating right now (or later today, or tomorrow)?” Scientific research has
ever more to say in answer to these sorts of pressing questions.*
With those words, Webb highlights the potential of scientific
research for several different corners of our integrative model of OB.
An economist by trade, Webb also spent time doing in-depth reading
of research in psychology and neuroscience. The book then applies
a “neuro-psycho-economic” perspective to a number of different
questions—questions relevant to any employee or manager.
Roberts Publishing Services
For example, Webb describes research on priorities and productivity that echoes some of what we’ll cover in our Motivation and
Job Performance chapters. Studies on relationships and influence complement the content in
our Teams and Leadership chapters. Her coverage of thinking research reflects aspects of our
Learning and Decision Making chapter. Finally, her focus on resilience and energy supplements
our discussions of Job Satisfaction and Stress. In all of those sections, Webb pauses to explain
scientific principles while highlighting specific studies and experiments.
What happens if we successfully bring to bear all of this scientific knowledge in our working
lives? Well, according to Webb, such efforts will result in more good days at work—and fewer bad
days. “We have more room to maneuver than we realize,”* she argues. “The secret lies in learning
some of the science explaining how the brain works, and why people behave the way they do . . .
Grasp these essentials, and it becomes far clearer how to bring the best out of ourselves and others.
And that puts us in a much stronger position to create the kind of day we really want to have.”*
*Source: HOW TO HAVE A GOOD DAY by Caroline Webb (New York: Brown Business, 2016).

only about one-half will persist with their practices long enough to actually derive economic
benefits. Because one-half times one-half times one-half equals one-eighth, at best 12 percent
of organizations will actually do what is required to build profits by putting people first.15
The integrative model of OB used to structure this book was designed with this Rule of One-Eighth
in mind. Figure 1-1 suggests that high job performance depends not just on employee motivation but
also on fostering high levels of satisfaction, effectively managing stress, creating a trusting climate,
and committing to employee learning. Failing to do any one of those things could hinder the effectiveness of the other concepts in the model. Of course, that systemic nature reveals another reality
of organizational behavior: It’s often difficult to “fix” companies that struggle with OB issues. Such
companies often struggle in a number of different areas and on a number of different levels. For more
discussion about why firms struggle to manage their people, see our OB at the Bookstore feature,
which appears in each chapter to showcase a well-known business book that discusses OB concepts.

13

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What Is Organizational Behavior?

HOW DO W E “KNOW” WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT
ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR?
Now that we’ve described what OB is and why it’s an important topic of study, we now turn to
how we “know” what we know about the topic. In other words, where does the knowledge in this
textbook come from? To answer this question, we must first explore how people “know” about
anything. Philosophers have argued that there are several different ways of knowing things:16

• Method of experience: People hold firmly to some belief because it is consistent with their own
experience and observations.

• Method of intuition: People hold firmly to some belief because it “just stands to reason”—it
seems obvious or self-evident.

• Method of authority: People hold firmly to some belief because some respected official, agency,

or source has said it is so.
• Method of science: People accept some belief because scientific studies have tended to replicate
that result using a series of samples, settings, and methods.

1.5
What is the role of theory in
the scientific method?

Consider the following prediction: Providing social recognition, in the form of public displays
of praise and appreciation for good behaviors, will increase the performance and commitment
of work units. Perhaps you feel that you “know” this claim to be true because you yourself have
always responded well to praise and recognition. Or perhaps you feel that you “know” it to be true
because it seems like common sense—who wouldn’t work harder after a few public pats on the
back? Maybe you feel that you “know” it to be true because a respected boss from your past always
extolled the virtue of public praise and recognition.
However, the methods of experience, intuition, and authority also might have led you to the
opposite belief—that providing social recognition has no impact on the performance and commitment of work units. It may be that public praise has always made you uncomfortable or embarrassed, to the point that you’ve tried to hide especially effective behaviors to avoid being singled
out by your boss. Or it may seem logical that social recognition will be viewed as “cheap talk,”
with employees longing for financial incentives rather than verbal compliments. Or perhaps the
best boss you ever worked for never offered a single piece of social recognition in her life, yet her
employees always worked their hardest on her behalf. From a scientist’s point of view, it doesn’t
really matter what a person’s experience, intuition, or authority suggests; the prediction must be
tested with data. In other words, scientists don’t simply assume that their beliefs are accurate; they
acknowledge that their beliefs must be tested scientifically.
Scientific studies are based on the scientific method, originated by Sir Francis Bacon in the 1600s
and adapted in Figure 1-3.17 The scientific method begins with theory, defined as a collection of
assertions—both verbal and symbolic—that specify how and why variables are related, as well as the
conditions in which they should (and should not) be related.18 More simply, a theory tells a story and
supplies the familiar who, what, where, when, and why elements found in any newspaper or magazine
article.19 Theories are often summarized with theory diagrams, the “boxes and arrows” that graphically depict relationships between variables. Our integrative model of OB in Figure 1-1 represents one
such diagram, and there will be many more to come in the remaining chapters of this textbook.
A scientist could build a theory explaining why social recognition might influence the performance and commitment of work units. From what sources would that theory be built? Well,
because social scientists “are what they study,” one source of theory building is introspection.
However, theories may also be built from interviews with employees or from observations where
scientists take notes, keep diaries, and pore over company documents to find all the elements of a
theory story.20 Alternatively, theories may be built from research reviews, which examine findings
of previous studies to look for general patterns or themes.21
Although many theories are interesting, logical, or thought provoking, many also wind up
being completely wrong. After all, scientific theories once predicted that the earth was flat and
the sun revolved around it. Closer to home, OB theories once argued that money was not an effective motivator and that the best way to structure jobs was to make them as simple and mundane
as possible.22 Theories must therefore be tested to verify that their predictions are accurate. As

CHAPTER 1

FIGURE 1-3

What Is Organizational Behavior?

The Scientific Method
THEORY

VERIFICATION

HYPOTHESES

DATA

shown in Figure 1-3, the scientific method requires that theories be used to inspire hypotheses.
Hypotheses are written predictions that specify relationships between variables. For example, a
theory of social recognition could be used to inspire this hypothesis: “Social recognition behaviors on the part of managers will be positively related to the job performance and organizational
commitment of their units.” This hypothesis states, in black and white, the expected relationship
between social recognition and unit performance.
Assume a family member owned a chain of 21 fast-food restaurants and allowed you to test this
hypothesis using the restaurants. Specifically, you decided to train the managers in a subset of the
restaurants about how to use social recognition as a tool to reinforce behaviors. Meanwhile, you
left another subset of restaurants unchanged to represent a control group. You then tracked the
total number of social recognition behaviors exhibited by managers over the next nine months
by observing the managers at specific time intervals. You measured job performance by tracking
drive-through times for the next nine months and used those times to reflect the minutes it takes
for a customer to approach the restaurant, order food, pay, and leave. You also measured the commitment of the work unit by tracking employee retention rates over the next nine months.
So how can you tell whether your hypothesis was supported? You could analyze the data by
examining the correlation between social recognition behaviors and drive-through times, as well as
the correlation between social recognition behaviors and employee turnover. A correlation, abbreviated r, describes the statistical relationship between two variables. Correlations can be positive
or negative and range from 0 (no statistical relationship) to 1 (a perfect statistical relationship).
Picture a spreadsheet with two columns of numbers. One column contains the total numbers of
social recognition behaviors for all 21 restaurants; the other contains the average drive-through
times for those same 21 restaurants. The best way to get a feel for the correlation is to look at a
scatterplot—a graph made from those two columns of numbers. Figure 1-4 presents three scatterplots, each depicting different-sized correlations. The strength of the correlation can be inferred
from the “compactness” of its scatterplot. Panel (a) shows a perfect 1.0 correlation; knowing the
score for social recognition allows you to predict the score for drive-through times perfectly. Panel
(b) shows a correlation of .50, so the trend in the data is less obvious than in Panel (a) but still
easy to see with the naked eye. Finally, Panel (c) shows a correlation of .00—no statistical relationship. Understanding the correlation is important because OB questions are not “yes or no”
in nature. That is, the question is not “Does social recognition lead to higher job performance?”
but rather “How often does social recognition lead to higher job performance?” The correlation
provides a number that expresses an answer to the “how often” question.
So what is the correlation between social recognition and job performance (and between social
recognition and organizational commitment)? It turns out that a study very similar to the one

1.6
How are correlations
interpreted?

15

CHAPTER 1

Job Performance

Three Different Correlation Sizes

(a) r = 1.00

Social Recognition Behaviors

Job Performance

FIGURE 1-4

What Is Organizational Behavior?

(b) r = .50

Social Recognition Behaviors

Job Performance

16

(c) r = .00

Social Recognition Behaviors

described was actually conducted, using a sample of 21 Burger King restaurants with 525 total
employees.23 The correlation between social recognition and job performance was .28. The restaurants that received training in social recognition averaged 44 seconds of drive-through time nine
months later versus 62 seconds for the control group locations. The correlation between social
recognition and retention rates was .20. The restaurants that received training in social recognition had a 16 percent better retention rate than the control group locations nine months later.
The study also instituted a financial “pay-for-performance” system in a subset of the locations and
found that the social recognition effects were just as strong as the financial effects.
Of course, you might wonder whether correlations of .28 or .20 are impressive or unimpressive. To understand those numbers, let’s consider some context for them. Table 1-4 provides some
notable correlations from other areas of science. If the correlation between height and weight is
only .44, then a correlation of .28 between social recognition and job performance doesn’t sound
too bad! In fact, a correlation of .50 is considered “strong” in organizational behavior research,
given the sheer number of things that can affect how employees feel and act.24 A .30 correlation
is considered “moderate,” and many studies discussed in this book will have results in this range.
Finally, a .10 correlation is considered “weak” in organizational behavior research. It should be
noted, however, that even “weak” correlations can be important if they predict costly behaviors
such as theft or ethical violations. The .08 correlation between smoking and lung cancer within 25
years is a good example of how important small correlations can be.
Does this one study settle the debate about the value of social recognition for job performance and organizational commitment? Not really, for a variety of reasons. First, it included
only 21 restaurants with 525 employees—maybe the results would have turned out differently if
the study had included more locations. Second, it focused only on restaurant employees—maybe

CHAPTER 1

TABLE 1-4

What Is Organizational Behavior?

17

Some Notable Correlations

CORRELATION BETWEEN . . .

R

SAMPLE SIZE

Height and weight

.44

16,948

Ibuprofen and pain reduction

.14

8,488

Antihistamines and reduced sneezing

.11

1,023

Smoking and lung cancer within 25 years

.08

3,956

Coronary bypass surgery and 5-year survival

.08

2,649

Source: Robert Hogan, “In Defense of Personality Measurement: New Wine for Old Whiners.” Human Performance 18, 2005,
pp. 331–41.

A study of Burger King
restaurants revealed
a correlation between
social recognition—
praise and ­appreciation
by ­managers—and
­employees’ performance
and commitment. Such
studies contribute to the
growing body of organizational behavior knowledge.

Wilfredo Lee/Associated Press

there’s something unique about such employees that makes them particularly responsive to
social recognition. Third, it may be that the trained locations differed from the control locations
on something other than social recognition, and it was that “something” that was responsible
for the performance differences. You may have heard the phrase, “correlation does not imply
causation.” It turns out that making causal inferences—establishing that one variable really does
cause another—requires establishing three things.25 First, that the two variables are correlated.
Second, that the presumed cause precedes the presumed effect in time. Third, that no alternative
explanation exists for the correlation. The third criterion is often fulfilled in experiments, where
researchers have more control over the setting in which the study occurs.
The important point is that little can be learned from a single study. The best way to test a theory
is to conduct many studies, each of which is as different as possible from the ones that preceded
it.26 So if you really wanted to study the effects of social recognition, you would conduct several
studies using different kinds of samples, different kinds of measures, and both experimental and
nonexperimental methods. After completing all of those studies, you could look back on the results
and create some sort of average correlation across all of the studies. This process is what a technique
called meta-analysis does. It takes all of the correlations found in studies of a particular relationship

18

CHAPTER 1

What Is Organizational Behavior?

and calculates a weighted average (such that correlations based on studies with large samples are
weighted more than correlations based on studies with small samples). It turns out that a metaanalysis has been conducted on the effects of social recognition and job performance. That analysis
revealed an average correlation of .21 across studies conducted in 96 different organizations in the
service industry.27 That meta-analysis offers more compelling support for the potential benefits of
social recognition than the methods of experience, intuition, or authority could have provided.
Indeed, meta-analyses can form the foundation for evidence-based management—a perspective that
argues that scientific findings should form the foundation for management education, much as they
do for medical education.28 Proponents of evidence-based management argue that human resources
should be transformed into a sort of R&D department for managing people.29 Notes one advocate, “In
R&D, you go into the laboratory, you experiment and you keep up with the research that others do. . . .
Can you imagine walking into the R&D lab at a pharmaceutical company, asking the chief chemist
about an important new study and having him respond that they don’t keep up with the literature on
chemistry?” Verizon Business, the Basking Ridge, New Jersey–based unit of Verizon Communications,
is one example of a company that is moving toward evidence-based management. The company notes
that the dollars spent on human resources issues demand more than an intuition-based justification for
new plans. More informed decisions come from running systematic experiments in smaller units of an
organization, making greater use of internal data, hiring PhDs with relevant expertise, and pursuing
collaborations with academics. Such practices form the foundation for the use of analytics as a tool
for management, with analytics defined as the use of data (rather than just opinion) to guide decision
making.30 For a look at how analytics is used in the world of sports, see our OB on Screen feature,
which appears in each chapter and uses well-known movies to demonstrate OB concepts.

SUMMARY: MOVING FORWARD IN THIS BOOK
The chapters that follow will begin working through the integrative model of OB in Figure 1-1,
beginning with the individual outcomes and continuing with the individual, group, and organizational mechanisms that lead to those outcomes. Each chapter begins by spotlighting a company
that historically has done a good job of managing a given topic or is currently struggling with a
topic. Theories relevant to that topic will be highlighted and discussed. The concepts in those
theories will be demonstrated in the OB on Screen features to show how OB phenomena have
“come to life” in film. The OB at the Bookstore feature will then point you to bestsellers that discuss similar concepts. In addition, the OB Internationally feature will describe how those concepts
operate differently in different cultures and nations.
Each chapter ends with three sections. The first section provides a summarizing theory diagram that explains why some employees exhibit higher levels of a given concept than others. For
example, the summarizing theory diagram for Chapter 4 will explain why some employees are
more satisfied with their jobs than others. As we noted in the opening of this chapter, knowledge
about why is critical to any employee who is trying to make sense of his or her working life or any
manager who is trying to make his or her unit more effective. How often have you spent time trying to explain your own attitudes and behaviors to yourself? If you consider yourself to be an introspective person, you’ve probably thought about such questions quite a bit. Our OB Assessments
feature will help you find out how reflective you really are. This feature also appears in each
chapter of the textbook and allows you to gain valuable knowledge about your own personality,
abilities, job attitudes, and leadership styles.
The next concluding section will describe the results of meta-analyses that summarize the relationships between that chapter’s topic and both job performance and organizational commitment.
Over time, you’ll gain a feel for which of the topics in Figure 1-1 have strong, moderate, or weak
relationships with these outcomes. This knowledge will help you recognize how everything in OB
fits together and what the most valuable tools are for improving performance and commitment
in the workplace. As you will discover, some of the topics in OB have a greater impact on how
well employees perform their jobs, whereas others have a greater impact on how long employees remain with their organizations. Finally, the third concluding section will describe how the

CHAPTER 1

What Is Organizational Behavior?

OB On Screen
This feature is designed to illustrate OB concepts in action on the silver screen. Once you’ve
learned about OB topics, you’ll see them playing out all around you, especially in movies.
MONEYBALL
You don’t put a team together with a computer, Billy. . . . Baseball isn’t just numbers; it’s not science. If it was, then anybody could do what we’re doing. But they can’t because they don’t know
what we know. They don’t have our experience and they don’t have our intuition.*
With those words, Grady Fuson (Ken Medlock) tries to show Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) the error
of his ways in Moneyball (Dir. Bennett Miller, Columbia Pictures, 2011). Billy is the general manager of the Oakland Athletics (A’s). After losing to the New York Yankees in the playoffs, Billy’s
been forced to trim a payroll that is already a third of what the Yankees pay. To the angst of his
head scout Grady, Billy turns to Pete Brand, aka “Google boy,” a recent hire with a degree in economics from Yale. Pete is well versed in “sabermetrics”—the scientific search for objective baseball
knowledge begun by Bill James, with a nod to the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR).

Columbia Pictures/Photofest

The film, based on the Michael Lewis bestseller,31 shows how science can complement experience and intuition. For example, Pete’s advanced analytics showed that “on-base percentage”—a
statistic dependent not just on hits but also on walks—was a more valid indicator of a player’s value
than the home runs emphasized by traditional scouts. Ironically, the success of Moneyball caused
a number of baseball teams to hire “sabermetricians,” erasing some of the advantages that Billy’s
approach had given Oakland.32 Indeed, the use of advanced analytics has taken hold in other
professional sports, most notably the National Basketball Association.33 Hopefully evidence-based
management will allow organizational managers to do what sports managers are doing—test their
theories of success with data.
*Source: Moneyball

content of that chapter can be applied, at a specific level, in an actual organization. For example,
the motivation chapter concludes with a section describing how compensation practices can be
used to maximize employee effort. If you’re currently working, we hope that these concluding sections will help you see how the concepts you’re reading about can be used to improve your own
organizations. Even if you’re not working, these application sections will give you a glimpse into
how you will experience OB concepts once you begin your working life.

19

20

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What Is Organizational Behavior?

OB Assessments
This feature is designed to illustrate how OB concepts actually get measured in practice. In many
cases, these OB assessments will provide you with potentially valuable insights into your own attitudes, skills, and personality. The OB assessments that you’ll see in each chapter consist of multiple survey items. Two concepts are critical when evaluating how good the OB assessments are
reliability and validity. Reliability is defined as the degree to which the survey items are free from
random error. If survey items are reliable, then similar items will yield similar answers. Validity
is defined as the degree to which the survey items seem to assess what they are m…
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