Organizational Behaviour Assignment
Individual Behaviour in a Workplace
The Office
Mudit Chhabra
Student number: 7362981
MBAB 5P04 Section 6
26th September 2022
I have watched The Office twice and liked it as it has always tickled my funny bone. The office has
diverse characters who share very few similarities within them, which creates an opportunity to
understand those characters and displays the classification of individual behavior in the workplace as
every individual in the show has a different set of personality, values, self-concept, perceptions, stress,
and emotions, which are affected by motivation, ability, and role perception for them to behave in a
certain way than the others.
The main Characters of the show are as follows:
Michael Scott: The regional manager of the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin is a happy-go-lucky
person. He ensures to create a friendly environment in the office environment and is easily distracted
from work. However, he is a brilliant salesman.
Dwight Schrute: One of the sincerest and dedicated hard workers I have ever seen. He is always looking
out for opportunities to grow and wants to become the manager of the Scranton branch.
Jim Halpert: He doesn’t care about work as he is not passionate about sales. His focus and attention are
always to do pranks on Dwight which are interesting to watch.
Pam Beesly: While working as a receptionist at Dunder Mifflin, Pam Beesly is unsatisfied with his role.
She
Oscar Martinez: A gay Mexican accountant who is very bright and intelligent is mostly annoyed by the
people, especially by Michael with their nuisances.
There are many more characters in the show who have good contributions in the show.
The Office revolves around the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin Paper company. Dunder Mifflin
deals in the manufacturing and distribution of paper supplies for Office and school needs. This show is
a situational comedy where we get to see the crazy fun side of the employees who are unique in their
way. The regional manager of the Scranton branch is Michael Scott who lives in his fantasy world. He
is an optimistic person and takes most things for granted. He considers himself the Best Boss in the
world since he believes that he cares about his employees and treats them as his family. However, he
doesn’t always decide in favor of them but tends to put his personal needs as a priority. 7 departments
within the branch report to Michael. Those departments are Sales, Quality Assurance, Accounting,
Supplier Relations, Customer Relations, Warehousing, and Human Resources. The sales team consists
of Dwight Schrute, Jim Halpert, Phyllis, and Stanley. They do not share good harmony and there is
always a sense of competition among them. The accounting team consists of three individuals who are
Kevin, Angela, and Oscar. They try to work as a team, but they try to keep limited communication
within themselves. The warehousing team mostly spends their time in the Warehouse and does not
communicate with white-collar workers much, but they seem to have a good understanding within
themselves, and they seem to share a friendly bond among themselves in the department as compared
to the others. The rest of the departments have only 1 employee within themselves.
Most of the episodes display various events, festivals, and situations that arise in an office environment.
They also capture the essence of the dynamics within the groups and how the individuals behave in
certain conditions. There were various moments in the whole series where a viewer can observe the
nature of the characters and predict how they would react in a certain situation. The show consists of 9
seasons with around 24 episodes in each season and every episode runs for at least 20 minutes.
Individual Behaviour in a Workplace
In an organization, every individual has different personalities, values, self-concepts, perceptions,
stress, emotion, and attitudes that cause them to have a set of behavioral patterns. Individual Behaviour
in a workplace can be classified into 5 types:
1. Maintaining attendance
2. Task Performance
3. Joining/Staying with the company
4. Organizational Citizenship
5. Counter-productive behaviors
Maintaining attendance: Being regular in showing up at the office and avoiding unprecedented leaves
from the workplace is crucial for the organization to achieve its goals and avoid heavy workloads.
Commonly, employees may have other obligations or preferences to be absent from the workplace.
Meanwhile, some individuals want to be present in the workplace and ignore their other obligations.
So, Absenteeism and Presenteeism vary from individual to individual. The reason can be understood
from the show as well. For Example, Michael Scott in the show spends most of his time out of the
office. Even during office hours, he tries to distract himself and others from work and run personal
errands. The reason behind this is that he is not serious most of the time and focuses on his personal life
more than his work life. On the other hand, Dwight, who prioritizes his work over anything, is always
present at the workplace. He mentions in one of the episodes that he never takes a sick leave. The reason
behind this is that Dwight is self-motivated and wants to grow and achieve success in his professional
life. So, the main cause behind absenteeism and presenteeism can be understood by realizing the
motivation of the employees. Michael who is in a manager position feels comfortable in his current
position and does not have higher career aspirations as compared to Dwight Schrute.
Analyzing the character Dwight Schrute to understand his attendance behavior
1. Personality: A person of confidence and sheer dedication striving to succeed.
2. Values: He takes laws very seriously and acts as a law enforcer, even without any responsibility
to do so. For example, He acts as a volunteer Sheriff’s deputy.
3. Self-concept: Dwight describes himself as “Three words: hard working, alpha male &
jackhammer.” Dwight may not have a complex self-concept but has clarity about his selfconcept.
4. Perceptions: Dwight perceives work differently than the others. He does not care about his worklife balance and wishes to become the branch manager of Dunder Mifflin.
5. Emotions: Dwight lacks control over his emotions especially when it comes to anger.
6. Stress: Dwight’s performance does not get affected even in stressful situations. He sets apart his
life problems separate from his work.
7. Motivation: Dwight is a self-motivated individual and can be motivated through recognition and
appreciation for his performance. He is persistent, intense, and knows the direction for success.
8. Ability: He is equipped with both learned capabilities and natural aptitudes which help him in
excelling in his tasks.
9. Role Perception: He puts himself out to get more roles and responsibilities. There is a sense of
ambiguity in his role because he does not want to be limited.
Task Performance: “Task performance refers to the individual’s voluntary goal-directed behaviors that
contribute to organizational objectives” (Steven McShane, Kevin Tasa, Sandra Steen, 2021, p.21).
According to M.A. Griffin, A. Neal, and S.K. Parker M.A. Griffin, A. Neal, and S.K. Parker(2007),
There are three types of task performance: proficient, adaptive, and proactive( p.327-47)

Proficient task performance: An individual who exceeds the work expectations and goes out
of his/her way to deliver exceeding the standards. A perfect example of this would be again
Dwight Schrute, a character with sheer dedication who goes out of his way to provide
excellent results. In one of the episodes, he challenges himself to the e-commerce website
of Dunder Mifflin and exceeds the sales of overall sales made by the site just through his
hard work and excellent selling techniques.

Adaptive task performance: Employees who are flexible after a change in the work
environment or their responsibilities are considered adaptive task performers. In the show, I
noticed that Jim Halpert could adjust to the change in his work environment as in one of the
seasons he is relocated to a different branch, and this relocation does not affect his
performance and ensures satisfactory results. He also accepts the opportunities and
additional responsibilities well when he is asked to co-manage with Michael for a few
episodes. However, Andy Bernard who also gets relocated to another branch cannot adjust
in his initial days and behaves aggressively.

Proactive task performance: Employees who come up with new ideas and innovate existing
work structures to make existing business processes more efficient are regarded as Proactive
task performers. Darryl who works at the warehouse in one of the episodes shares his ideas
to map the operation cycle in the warehouse to improve efficiency and approaches higher
management. He is even recognized for his efforts for the welfare of the business by
promoting him.
Analyzing the character Jim Halper to understand why he is an adaptive task performer
1. Personality: Jim Halpert is emotionally stable and open to new experiences. He may not be an
extrovert, but he maintains a healthy relationship with everyone in the office.
2. Values: He is family oriented, helpful, and an honest person.
3. Self-concept: He has a highly complex clear self-concept because he plays many roles i.e., a
father, husband, friend, employee, co-manager, etc.
4. Perceptions: Jim perceives work as a little part of his life. He gives more importance to his
relationships with clients, colleagues, bosses, etc.
5. Emotions: Jim has low activation of positive emotions and is relaxed, content and calm.
6. Motivation: He has high expectations from himself and is open to new experiences.
7. Ability: Jim has high capabilities which he shows in one of the episodes
Joining/Staying with the company: “Employee participation and employee retention are
interdependent as both result in either high productivity or exceptionally poor productivity” (Khalid, K.
& Nawab, S., 2018). It is also crucial for the organization to retain its employees because obtaining new
talent frequently is expensive. Having superior human capital gives an organization an edge over its
competitors. Employees' loyalty decides whether they will stick with the organization for a long time.
In the show, we could not see many individuals leaving the organization quite often because these
characters are important to the story. However, there have been few instances or behavioral indications
by a few characters who don’t seem loyal and looking out for opportunities outside the organization.
For instance, Jim Pam Beesly is working in this organization because she does not have any other better
opportunity. I feel that given a chance she would leave this organization immediately. On the other
hand, Dwight Schrute portrays himself as loyal to the organization as he sticks to the organization for
almost all 9 seasons even, though he was not being promoted, a promotion which was long due. The
organization needs to provide opportunities to grow professionally and personally if they wish to reduce
the employee attrition rate.
Analyzing the character Pam Beesly to understand why she may leave the company if given a chance
1. Personality: Pam is an extrovert, observant, organized, and open to new experiences.
2. Values: Like Jim, she also values her relationships.
3. Self-concept: Pam has very less clarity on self-concept as she changes her career a lot of times
(receptionist, art student, salesperson, office administrator)
4. Perceptions: She sees her work as boring and wishes to change her career.
5. Emotions: She does not have much control over his anger in one of the episodes she hits Michael.
6. Stress: Pam is sensitive and gets affected by stressful situations negatively
7. Ability: As an art enthusiast, Pam is often recognized for her aesthetic nature.
Organizational Citizenship: Organizational Citizenship Behaviours are forms of collaboration among
employees within an organization where employees help each other contributing to a positive
environment. There are various ways employees can help each other, apart from learnings related to
work by giving psychological aid. In the show, there are a plethora of moments where someone goes
the extra mile to help others during difficult hardships. One such wholesome moment in which Angela
who works in the accounting department is facing hardships in her personal life is when she discovers
her husband whom she is married to for 2 years turns out to be gay. She feels lost because she wants to
move out and find herself a place. Oscar, who does not get along with Angela often, immediately offers
her to invite to stay for a few days until she finds a new place. Such gestures build a strong relationship
between two individuals as they give a sense of belongingness. Such a feeling of belongingness creates
harmony among employees, and thus results in strong retention rates within an organization if practiced
throughout. Another such moment captures a viewer’s heart when two major competitors in the Sales
department (Jim & Dwight) collaborate when they had to acquire an important sale. During the process,
they teach each other some of their sales techniques. Teamwork and collaboration enhance the
productivity of the employees and create a positive work environment.
Analyzing the character Oscar Martinez to understand why he involves in organizational citizenship
behavior
1. Personality: Oscar is a calm, compassionate, kind, composed, and highly intelligent individual.
2. Values: His core values include kindness, empathy, and integrity.
3. Self-concept: Oscar is highly consistent with his less complex self-concept.
4. Perceptions: Oscar perceives his work seriously and does most of the work for his department.
5. Emotions: Oscar expresses and puts importance on his emotions.
Counter-productive behaviors: “CWBs are voluntary behaviors that have the potential to directly or
indirectly harm the organization or its stakeholders” (Rotundo & Sackett, 2002). It is very important to
address such kind of behavior for the organization to maintain order and safety at the workplace.
Counter-productive work behavior may include a variety of intentional or unintentional practices, such
as provoking conflicts, pestering co-workers, wandering off from recommended work practices (for
example, by taking shortcuts that degrade job quality), stealing, undermining work, and squandering
resources. Such behaviors need to be taken seriously and appropriate measures are taken to maintain a
safe and healthy environment in the organization. There are plenty of such behaviors from most of the
characters in the show. In the very first episode, Jim pranks Dwight by putting Dwight’s stapler into
Jell-O. When Dwight complains to Michael about how annoyed he is by Jim, Michael takes it as a joke
and lets it go, encouraging Jim to do more pranks on Dwight. Creed Bratton, who works in Quality
assurance spends most of his time playing Solitaire and does not even remember which department he
works in and what responsibility he has. Also, in one of the episodes, Michael had to run for a personal
errand, and the whole office decided to do office Olympics instead of working. After Michael came to
know about this, he takes no action but feels bad that he missed the fun. However, in later seasons, when
Jim becomes the co-manager, he acts against Ryan who constantly distracts other employees and
relocates his office cabin.
Analyzing the character Michael Scott to understand why he has counter-productive work behavior
patterns
1. Personality: Michael Scott is a friendly, overly enthusiastic, playful individual.
2. Values: He has a constant need to be liked by people and he thrives on attention.
3. Self-concept: Michael has a highly complex self-concept with very less clarity and consistency.
4. Perceptions: He does not perceive work seriously and puts more emphasis on doing
counterproductive activities in the office
5. Emotions: Michael is an emotionally sensitive individual and cannot keep his emotions in
balance.
6. Stress: Michael does not react well to stressful situations and tries to disrupt everyone’s work if
he feels stressed.
7. Role Perception: Michael is clear about his role, but he does not adhere to his responsibilities.
References
1. Khalid, K., & Nawab, S. (2018). Employee participation and employee retention in view of
compensation. SAGE Open, 8(4), 215824401881006.
https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244018810067
2. McShane, S. L., Steen, S., & Tasa, K. (2021). Canadian organizational behaviour. McGrawHill Ryerson.
3. Rotundo, M., & Sackett, P. R. (2002). The relative importance of task, citizenship, and
counterproductive performance to global ratings of Job Performance: A policy-capturing
approach. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(1), 66–80. https://doi.org/10.1037/00219010.87.1.66
4. M.A. Griffin, A. Neal, and S.K. Parker, “A New Model of Work Role Performance: Positive
Behavior in Uncertain and Interdependent Contexts,” Academy of Management Journal 50,
no. 2 (2007): 327–47