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Influences on Employee
Behavior Chapter 2
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Learning Objectives Identify the major external and internal factors that influence employee behavior Describe two primary types of outcomes that result from behavior and tell how they may influence future behavior. State how a supervisor’s leadership and expectations can affect employee behavior Recognize that impact of co-workers and organizations have on employee behavior. Define motivation and describe the main approaches/theory to understanding motivation at work. Discuss how knowledge, skill, ability, and attitude influences employee behavior
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A Major Purpose of Human Resource Development The goal of Human Resource Development interventions is to assist employees and organizations in attaining their goals. By changing employee behavior through training and other incentives However, to change any behavior, we must first understand the factors that cause employees to behave the way they do. Armed with this knowledge, we can more accurately diagnose performance problems, understand what makes effective performance possible, and design HRD programs to foster the behavior we want.
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Model of Employee Behavior/factors/environment Forces that influence behavior: External to the employee: External environment (economic conditions, laws and regulations, etc.) Work environment (supervision, organization, coworkers, outcomes of performance) Within the employee: Motivation, attitudes, knowledge/skills/abilities (KSAs)
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The External Environment
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Major Categories of Employee Behavior Behaviors central to performing one’s job (often called task performance)
Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) is
a person's voluntary commitment within an organization or company that is not part of his or her contractual tasks.
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Economic conditions: refer to the state of the economy in a country or region. They change over time in line with the economic and business cycles, as an economy goes through expansion and contraction Technological change: is the invention of technologies. Labor market: is the place where workers and employees interact with each other. In the labor market, employers compete to hire the best, and the workers compete for the best satisfying job. A labor market in an economy functions with demand and supply of labor. Laws & Regulations: A principle, rule, or law designed to control or govern conduct. A governmental order having the force of law. Labor union: is an organization intended to represent the collective interests of workers in negotiations with employers over wages, hours, benefits and working conditions.
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Outcomes: Outcomes occur as a result of a given employee behavior. Outcomes can be personal or organizational in nature. Personal outcomes are those that have value to the individual, such as pay, recognition, and emotions. Organizational outcomes are things valued by an organization, such as teamwork, productivity, and product quality. Supervision: An immediate supervisor plays an important role in the employee’s work life, delegating tasks and responsibilities, setting expectations, evaluating performance, and providing (or failing to provide) feedback, rewards, and discipline. Performance expectations: If supervisors (or trainers) expect good performance, their behavior may aid and encourage their subordinates (or trainees) to raise their own self- expectations, increase their efforts, and ultimately perform well. The opposite can happen if supervisors or trainers expect poor performance. Leadership is the use of non-coercive influence to direct and coordinate the activities of a group toward accomplishing a goal. 8 The Organization: The organization itself can influence employee behavior through its reward structure, culture, and job design. Reward structure focuses on • the types of rewards an organization uses (material, social); • how rewards are distributed (e.g., equally to all, relative to each individual’s contribution, or on the basis of need); and • the criteria for reward distribution (results, behavior, or nonperformance issues, such as seniority or tenure).
Further, rewards include not only tangible things, such as
financial bonuses and plaques, but also intangible things, such as recognition and acceptance. Reward systems should ideally provide the outcomes desired by members of the organization.
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An organization’s culture can also have a strong effect on individual behavior. Organizational culture is a set of values, beliefs, norms, and patterns of behavior that are shared by organization members and that guide their behavior. Individuals who understand an organization’s culture are better able to accurately interpret organizational events, know what is expected of them, and behave in appropriate ways in new or unfamiliar situations. Job design is the development and alteration of the components of a job (such as the tasks on performs, and the scope of one’s responsibilities) to improve productivity and the quality of employee work life. Coworkers and Teams: Coworkers, and especially team members, can exert a strong influence on an employee’s behavior. Werner & DeSimone (2006) 10 For example, if an employee behaves in a way that coworkers value, they may reward or reinforce that behavior by offering friendship and recognition. Similarly, coworkers may choose to react to behavior they disapprove of by withholding desired outcomes or punishing the employee through insults, ostracism, or threats. Norms are informal rules for appropriate behavior established within work groups, can serve as guidelines for appropriate behavior, if the employee chooses to comply. Group dynamics influence the way an employee may behave when interacting in a group. Teamwork both amplifies the importance of coworkers’ influences on individual behavior and brings other dynamics to the forefront. Two teamwork issues are trust and cohesiveness. Werner & DeSimone (2006) 11 Motivation Motivation is one of the most basic elements of human behavior. Motivational theories attempt to explain how effort is generated and channeled. “Psychological processes that cause the arousal, direction, and persistence of voluntary actions that are goal-directed”.
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Motivation Characteristics Pertains to voluntary behavior Focuses on processes affecting behavior such as: Energizing—the generation or mobilization of effort Direction—applying effort to one behavior over another Persistence—continuing (or ceasing) to perform a behavior An individual phenomenon- People have unique needs, desires, attitudes, and goals.
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Motivation Theories Understanding motivation is critical to HRD. The success of many HRD programs and processes depends in part on whether the individual is motivated to participate, learn, and use what is learned to improve performance. Motivation theories are useful in diagnosing the cause of performance problems and often serve as the basis for designing or choosing HRD programs to remedy those problems.
Need-Based Theories Underlying needs, Theories: such as needs for Maslow’s hierarchy of survival, safety, needs theory power, etc., are what Alderfer’s existence, drives motivation relatedness, and growth (ERG) theory Herzberg’s two-factor theory
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Need Activation-Need Satisfaction Process
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Werner & DeSimone (2006) 18 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Self-Actualization Needs Esteem Needs Belonging & Love Needs
Safety Needs Survival Needs
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Physiological. Includes hunger, thirst, shelter and other bodily needs. Safety. Security and protection from physical and emotional harm. Social. Affection, belongingness, acceptance, and friendship. Esteem. Internal factors such as self-respect, autonomy, and achievement and external factors such as status, recognition, and attention. Self-actualization. Drive to become what we are capable of becoming; includes growth, achieving our potential, and self-fulfillment. Werner & DeSimone (2006) 20 Objection
Research does not validate it.
Maslow provided no empirical substantiation
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Cognitive Theories Expectancy theory Goal-setting theory Social learning theory Equity theory
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Expectancy Theory A theory that says that the strength of tendency to act in a certain way depends on the strength of an expectation that the act will be followed by a given outcome and on the attractiveness of that outcome to the individual. Given by Victor Vroom.
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Expectancy Theory In more practical terms, employees will be motivated to exert a high level of effort when they believe it will lead to a good performance appraisal; that a good appraisal will lead to organizational rewards such as bonuses, salary increases, or promotions; and that the rewards will satisfy the employees’ personal goals.
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This theory focuses on three relationships
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Effort–performance relationship. The probability perceived by the individual that exerting a given amount of effort will lead to performance. Performance–reward relationship. The degree to which the individual believes performing at a particular level will lead to the attainment of a desired outcome. Rewards–personal goals relationship. The degree to which organizational rewards satisfy an individual’s personal goals or needs and the attractiveness of those potential rewards for the individual.
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Criticism Some critics suggest it has only limited use and is more valid where individuals clearly perceive effort– performance and performance–reward linkages. Because few individuals do, the theory tends to be idealistic. If organizations actually rewarded individuals for performance rather than seniority, effort, skill level, and job difficulty, expectancy theory might be much more valid. However, rather than invalidating it, this criticism can explain why a significant segment of the workforce exerts low effort on the job. Werner & DeSimone (2006) 27 Goal Setting Theory A theory that says that specific and difficult goals, with feedback, lead to higher performance. Research on goal-setting theory in fact reveals impressive effects of goal specificity, challenge, and feedback on performance. Feedback guides behavior Self-generated feedback Three factors influence the goals– performance relationship: goal commitment, task characteristics, and national culture.
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Criticism Goals related to performance undermine adaptation and creativity because people become too focused on outcomes and ignore changing conditions. Some authors argue that goals can lead employees to focus on a single standard and exclude all others. Consider the narrow focus on boosting short-term stock prices in many businesses—it may have led organizations to ignore long-term success and even to engage in such unethical behavior as accounting fraud or excessively risky investments.
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Social Learning Theory Bandura proposes that outcome and self-efficacy expectations affect individual performance
Outcome expectation (similar to the concept of
“instrumentality” in expectancy theory) is a person’s belief that performing a given behavior will lead to a given outcome.
Self-efficacy can be defined as “people’s judgments of their
capabilities to organize and execute courses of action required to attain designated types of performances. It is concerned not with the skills one has but with judgments of what one can do with whatever skills one possesses.”
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Equity Theory A theory that says that individuals compare their job inputs and outcomes with those of others and then respond to eliminate any inequities.
(salary levels, raises, recognition)
(effort, experience, education, competence)
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Equity Theory
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Criticism Some of these propositions have been supported, but others haven’t. First, inequities created by overpayment do not seem to significantly affect behavior in most work situations. Apparently, people have more tolerance of overpayment inequities than of underpayment inequities or are better able to rationalize them. It’s pretty damaging to a theory when half the equation falls apart Second, not all people are equity sensitive. Werner & DeSimone (2006) 33 A Non-cognitive Theory Reinforcement theory e.g., behavior modification Positive reinforcement refers to increasing the frequency of a behavior by following the behavior with a pleasurable consequence Negative reinforcement increases the frequency of a behavior by removing something un-pleasurable after the behavior is performed Extinction seeks to decrease the frequency of a behavior by removing the consequence that is reinforcing it Punishment seeks to decrease the frequency of a behavior by introducing an adverse consequence immediately after the behavior
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Behavior Modification Principles for controlling employee behavior: Positive Reinforcement Negative Reinforcement Extinction – decrease occurrences by eliminating reinforcement that causes the behavior Punishment – introduce an adverse consequence immediately after behavior
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A Specific Example Sleeping in Class: 1. Warning 2. Leave class and explain to the Assistant Dean why you were asked to leave Too often – you are dropped from the class Question: Is this positive or negative reinforcement, and why?
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Internal Factors That Influence Employee Behavior Motivation Attitudes Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs)
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Attitudes A person’s general feelings of favor or disfavor towards something Feelings towards a person, place, thing, event, or idea Tend to be VERY stable and hard to change Attitudes are important in training – e.g., does the trainee intend to use the training or ignore it?
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Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs) Abilities – general capacities related to the performance of specific tasks Skills – combines abilities and capacities, generally the result of training Knowledge – understanding of the factors or principles related to a specific subject HRD programs mostly focus on changing skills and knowledge