Organizational Behavior
MBA B600
Class 1
What is Organizational Behavior?
• The study of how people think, feel, and act; together
and in groups
• We will learn:
– Why do some people get promoted even though they are
not very smart or productive?
– How can you motivate someone to work harder?
– How can you make decisions that are fair to everyone?
– Why do employees lie, cheat, or steal? Can you tell if they
are lying? How should you confront them?
– What makes a good negotiator? How can you get a better
deal?
– What makes a good leader? What makes a fantastic leader?
Why is Organizational Behavior
useful?
• If you know why most people behave a
certain way, then you can predict what
certain individuals will do
• Implement your best ideas
– accounting, finance, marketing, operations, etc.
• Accelerate your career learning curve
What is the difference between OB
and HR (Human Resources)?
Performance = ability x motivation
• HR focuses on improving employees’ ability
(e.g., training, selection, assessment,
recruitment…)
• OB focuses on getting the best work from your
employees
• Both are useful if you would like to be a manager
• If your company has an HR department, they can
offer you guidance on HR issues (e.g., legal)…
but your company will assume you know OB
What’s this course like?
• Evidence-based management
– Similar to evidence-based medicine
– Uses up-to-date research findings
– Use underlying principles to help us make better
decisions
• Why don’t we just focus on what managers at
certain companies do (e.g., Google?)
– Sometimes a company that looks like a good example
to follow… turns out to not be so good after all (e.g.,
RIM).
– What worked for them in the past won’t necessarily
work now
– What works for them won’t always work for YOU
What do we get to do in this class?
• In class
– Less and less lecturing as the term goes on
– More and more simulations, exercises, minicases, discussions, etc.
– Prepare to deal with ambiguity, be a manager
• Participation, Assignments, Homework,
Final Exam
Provide me with a photo and name card:
Name on Class List:
Harriet S. Smith Cholmondeley
Prefer to be called:
Siobahn Cholmondeley
Pronounced:
“Shi-VON Chum-lee”
Class:
Tuesdays, 2:30 to 5:30
Undergraduate degree:
Electrical Engineering (math minor)
Work experience:
Ten years at Initech (TPS manager)
How to find me…
• Contact info:
– Email: connell@mcmaster.ca
– profs.degroote.mcmaster.ca/business/connell/2012_B600.html.
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Office phone: 525-9140 x 23954
Office: DSB 418 / RJC 222
Office hours: Tuesdays 1:00 - 2:30 or by appointment
Skype is ok too (email me in advance)
• Classes
– Tuesdays
– Wednesdays
2:30
2:30
RJC 214
RJC 214
– 3 other sections taught by Dr. Yousofpourfard
Amount of participation
Participation (5%)
Excellent!
Thanks!!
Why do some people not
Participate very much?
Uh oh…
What about the
Dunning-Kruger effect?
Insightfulness
One-Page Reports (5 x 2%)
• Work by yourself or with a friend
• Choose five articles in your courseware
• Answer the following five questions:
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What is the article saying?
What do I agree with?
What do I disagree with?
What else should the author(s) have included?
What is my overall recommendation?
One-page Reports
• Purpose:
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Get a different perspective than the textbook
Sharpen your critical thinking and writing skills
Prepare for your final project
Avoid being dependent on consultants and
others to tell you what approaches are best
One-Page Reports
• I can send you the article the week before it is due.
Make sure I have your usual email address.
• You might prefer to use the courseware
• IF you don’t like one of the articles (they are all
very different)
– Wait and do another one (you only have to do 5)
– Find another article to summarize and submit instead
(check with me first but I will probably say ok)
• One of the “articles” is actually two TED talks:
you have to do both
• The schedule is in the last page of your course
outline
Project 1 (20%)
• Interview someone with an interesting job
• Identify 3 OB concepts, and explain how
your subject is an example of these
• See course outline for marking scheme and
more specific details
– Sample questions to ask
– Sample email to contact the potential
interviewee
Project 2 (30%)
• Evaluate a popular management book
• Read any book about how to be a good manager
• I will assign you to a group
– 3 ideas in the book: discuss if they are accurate from
an OB perspective
– Bibliography: Include at least ten different sources,
other than the course notes or textbook.
• See course outline for marking scheme and details
• Report (15%) + Outline (5%) + Presentation (5%)
+ Self-Assessment (5%)
Final Exam: 35%
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December – date TBA
all material covered in the course
NO multiple choice
We will do some practice questions together
beforehand
Questions?
Performance
Question
• When it comes to employees’ productivity,
the only thing that really matters is whether
or not they do what’s in their job
descriptions.
– True? False?
– What do you think?
– Why?
Desirable Employee Behaviors
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Less absenteeism
Lower turnover
Less “counterproductive” behavior
More “organizational citizenship” behavior
Individual Exercise
• Think back to your favorite job.
– Did you ever do something particularly helpful
for your organization, that wasn’t really in your
job description?
– What did you do? Why?
– Write down a short description of what it was
(choose something you don’t mind sharing)
Organizational Citizenship
Behaviors (OCBs)
• Discretionary behaviour that is not part of
an employee’s formal job requirements
BUT improve the context where the work
takes place
– Entirely up to the employee if they do it or not
– May or may not be implicitly rewarded
– Must be intended to help the organization or its
members
Loyal Boosterism
• Positively representing the organization to
outsiders
– Defends the organization when other
employees or outsiders criticize it
– Actively promotes the organization’s products
and services to potential users
• Focus: the organization
Civic Virtue
• Participates in the company’s operations
above-and-beyond the expectations
– Attending all voluntary meetings and functions
– Keeping up with all organizational
announcements and news that affects the
company
– Perfect attendance even when he/she has a
legitimate reason for being absent
• Focus: the organization
Voice
• Speaks up to offer constructive suggestions
for change
– Tries to change bad policies or procedures
– Encourages other colleagues to speak up
– For issues that may have serious consequences,
expresses opinions honestly even when others
may disagree
• Focus: the organization
Interpersonal Helping
• Helps co-workers in their jobs when such
help is needed
– Goes out of his/her way to help co-workers
learn new tasks
– Helps coworkers who have heavy workloads
– Voluntarily helps new employees settle into the
job
• Focus: Individuals within the organization
Courtesy
• Is mindful about how his/her behavior
affects other people’s jobs
– Keeps coworkers informed about relevant
matters
– Tries to avoid creating problems for coworkers
– Does not exercise every right at the expense of
others’ rights.
• Focus: Individuals within the organization
Sportsmanship
• Maintains a good attitude with coworkers
– Avoids complaining even when annoyed by
something (e.g., not a squeaky wheel)
– Doesn’t make a big deal about trivial problems
– Tries to focus on the positive side as well as
possible problems in the company
• Focus: Individuals within the organization
Questions?
Group Activity
• Form groups of 4 people
• Classify each person’s earlier OCB as
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Sportsmanship
Courtesy
Interpersonal Helping
Voice
Civic Virtue
Loyal Boosterism
• Choose your best example; be prepared to
report back to the class
Benefits of worker OCBs
• Firm performance
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Job descriptions can’t be exhaustive
Cooperation vs. compliance
Enhance workers’ productivity (esp. teams)
Decrease turnover
Alert organization to opportunities and threats
• Enhance managers’ productivity
Impression Management
• The process by which individuals attempt to
control the impression others form of them
• Looking good instead of doing good
– 5 different dimensions
– Different than OCBs
• Not altruistic
• Not always positive
• Goal is to benefit the perpetrator, not the
organization or its members
Ingratiation
• Individuals seek to be viewed as likable
– “I do personal favors for other people in the
organization to show them that I am friendly”
• Waxing your boss’s car, buying people presents
– “I compliment other workers so that they will
see me as likeable”
• “Have you lost weight?, you’re a great golfer!”
• Advantages? Disadvantages?
Self-promotion
• Individuals seek to be viewed as competent
– “I let other workers know that I am a valuable member
of the organization”
• “I am so great. I did this and this and this. You wouldn’t last
five minutes without me… “
– “I talk proudly about my past accomplishments that
might help the organization to be successful”
• “I am really good at this. I went to Harvard. I won the Nobel
prize in economics… I also have a Fields medal… I’m an
Olympic triple jump champion… blah blah blah…”
• Advantages? Disadvantages?
Exemplification
• Individuals seek to be viewed as dedicated
– “I try to appear like I have been very busy
working on my tasks”
• e.g., conveying urgency and importance
– “I let others know that I have been putting in a
lot of effort into my work”
• e.g., bragging, pretending to be at work
• Advantages? Disadvantages?
Supplication
• Individuals seek to be viewed as in need of
assistance
– “I pretend not to understand how to do some
things in order to avoid having to work on
undesirable tasks”
• e.g., note-taking, coffee-making
– “I act like I know less than I really do so that
other workers will help me out.”
• Advantages? Disadvantages?
Intimidation
• Individuals seek to appear dangerous or
threatening
– “I let other workers know that I am not willing
to be pushed around or dictated to.”
• Can be related to body language, choice of
language, tone, etc.
– “I speak strongly or forcefully to get other
group members to agree to do things the way I
think they should be done”
• Advantages? Disadvantages?
Outcomes of impression
management
• Workers
– May be rewarded (goal attainment)
– May be punished (targets react with disdain)
• Managers
– Difficulty accurately measuring attitudes and
behaviors of subordinates
– Interpersonal conflict between subordinates
Questions?
Mortgage Broker Mini-Case:
Who gets promoted?
• Allan: high performer, comes early to meetings,
always friendly, helps other employees, never
complains, says nice things about the company to
outsiders, works hard to improve performance.
• Bob: average performer, sometimes comes in late,
makes fun of other employees, always complains,
tries to avoid boring tasks, acts like some work is
beneath him, slow to reply to emails, and gets
defensive when his performance is corrected.
Mortgage Broker Mini-Case
• Conrad: average performer, nice, brings in coffee
for everyone on Fridays, always dresses
professionally, tells you how hard he is working,
never complains, tells you about the good things
he told your boss about you, says that he wants to
be just like you.
• David: average performer, friendly, complains
sometimes, other employees seek his help, wants
to go on an expensive training course, is
sometimes late to work, some complaints from
clients about professionalism.
Summary
• As a manager you will need to distinguish
between behaviors that help your organization and
behaviors that only look that way.
• OCBs will improve the organization’s
performance (and yours as a manager) and are an
implicit criterion for promotion
• The rest of the course will help you to increase
your subordinates’ OCBs (and decrease the less
positive behaviors).
Next Class
• First one-page report homework is due
*** Remember to bring your nameplate
AND your photo card***
I will be using your photo card to assign
you to a group!!!
Course Texts
• Colquitt, LePine, Wesson & Gellatly
(2010). Organizational Behaviour:
Improving Performance and Commitment in
the Workplace. 1st Canadian edition,
McGraw-Hill Ryerson.
• Courseware
– Contains all the readings for the homework
assignments, in a convenient format
– If unavailable, buy a “rain check”