Chapter 2: Performance and Commitment

Copyright © 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill/Irwin

Performance and Commitment

• Job performance is the value of the set of employee behaviors that contribute, either positively or negatively, to organizational goal accomplishment.» Includes behaviors that are within the control of the

employees.

• Organizational commitment is the desire on the part of an employee to remain a member of the organization.

• A “Good Performer”» Task performance» Citizenship behavior» Counterproductive behavior

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Task Performance

• Task performance includes employee behaviors that are directly involved in the transformation of organizational resources into the goods or services that the organization produces.» Routine task performance involves well-known

responses to demands that occur in a normal, routine, or otherwise predictable way.

» Adaptive task performance, or more commonly “adaptability,” involves employee responses to task demands that are novel, unusual, or, at the very least, unpredictable.

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Job Analysis

• Many organizations identify task performance behaviors by conducting a job analysis.» A list of all the activities involved in a job is generated.

– Observation, interview, questionnaire

» Each activity on this list is rated by “subject matter experts” according to things like the importance and frequency of the activity.

» The activities that are rated highly in terms of their importance and frequency are retained and used to define task performance.

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Occupational Information Network

• The Occupational Information Network (or O*NET) is an online database that includes, among other things, the characteristics of most jobs in terms of tasks, behaviors, and the required knowledge, skills, and abilities (http://online.onetcenter.org/).» Task information from the database should be

supplemented with information regarding behaviors that support the organization’s values and strategy.

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Citizenship Behavior

• Voluntary employee activities that may or may not be rewarded but that contribute to the organization by improving the overall quality of the setting in which work takes place.» Interpersonal

– Helping, courtesy, sportsmanship

» Organizational – Voice, civic virtue, boosterism

• Relevant in virtually any job, regardless of the particular nature of its tasks, and there are clear benefits of these behaviors in terms of the effectiveness of work units and organizations.

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Interpersonal Citizenship Behavior

• Behaviors that benefit coworkers and colleagues and involve assisting, supporting, and developing other organizational members in a way that goes beyond normal job expectations.» Helping involves assisting coworkers who have

heavy workloads, etc.» Courtesy refers to keeping coworkers informed about

matters that are relevant to them.» Sportsmanship involves maintaining a good attitude

with coworkers, even when they’ve done something annoying.

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Organizational Citizenship Behaviors

• Behaviors that benefit the larger organization by supporting and defending the company, working to improve its operations, and being especially loyal to it. » Voice involves speaking up and offering constructive

suggestions for change.» Civic virtue requires participating in the company’s

operations at a deeper-than-normal level» Boosterism means representing the organization in a

positive way when out in public, away from the office, and away from work.

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Counterproductive Behaviors

• Counterproductive behaviors are employee behaviors that intentionally hinder organizational goal accomplishment.» Property deviance refers to behaviors that harm the

organization’s assets and possessions.» Production deviance is also directed against the

organization but focuses specifically on reducing the efficiency of work output.

» Political deviance refers to behaviors that intentionally disadvantage other individuals rather than the larger organization.

» Personal aggression refers to hostile verbal and physical actions directed toward other employees.

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Property and Production Deviance

• Property Deviance» Sabotage represents the purposeful destruction of

physical equipment, organizational processes, or company products.

» Theft represents another form of property deviance and can be just as expensive as sabotage (if not more).

• Production Deviance» Wasting resources is the most common form of

production deviance, when employees use too many materials or too much time to do too little work.

» Substance abuse is the abuse of drugs or alcohol before coming to work or while on the job.

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Political Deviance and Personal Aggression

• Political Deviance» Gossiping is having casual conversations about other

people in which the facts are not confirmed as true.» Incivility represents communication that is rude, impolite,

discourteous, and lacking in good manners.

• Personal Aggression» Harassment occurs when employees are subjected to

unwanted physical contact or verbal remarks from a colleague.

» Abuse occurs when an employee is assaulted or endangered in such a way that physical and psychological injuries may occur.

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Counterproductive Behavior, Cont’d

• There is evidence that people who engage in one form of counterproductive behavior also engage in others. » Represent a pattern of behavior rather than isolated

incidents

• Counterproductive behavior is relevant to any job. It doesn’t matter what the job entails; there are going to be things to steal, resources to waste, and people to be uncivil toward.

• It is often surprising which employees engage in counterproductive behavior.

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Organizational Commitment

• Organizational commitment influences whether an employee stays a member of the organization (is retained) or leaves to pursue another job (turns over).

• Employees who are not committed to their organizations engage in withdrawal behavior, defined as a set of actions that employees perform to avoid the work situation— behaviors that may eventually culminate in quitting the organization.

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Types of Commitment

• Affective commitment is a desire to remain a member of an organization due to an emotional attachment to, and involvement with, that organization.» You stay because you want to.

• Continuance commitment is a desire to remain a member of an organization because of an awareness of the costs associated with leaving it. » You stay because you need to.

• Normative commitment is a desire to remain a member of an organization due to a feeling of obligation. » You stay because you ought to.

• Focus of commitment refers to the various people, places, and things that can inspire a desire to remain a member of an organization.

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Affective Commitment

• Employees who feel a sense of affective commitment identify with the organization, accept that organization’s goals and values, and are more willing to exert extra effort on behalf of the organization.» The erosion model suggests that employees with fewer bonds

will be most likely to quit the organization.» The social influence model suggests that employees who have

direct linkages with “leavers” will themselves become more likely to leave.

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Continuance Commitment

• Continuance commitment exists when there is a profit associated with staying and a cost associated with leaving.

• Tends to create a more passive form of loyalty.» Increases to continuance commitment

– Total amount of investment (in terms of time, effort, energy, etc.) an employee has made in mastering his work role or fulfilling his organizational duties.

– Lack of employment alternatives2-16

Normative Commitment

• Normative commitment exists when there is a sense that staying is the “right” or “moral” thing to do.

• The sense that people should stay with their current employers may result from personal work philosophies or more general codes of right and wrong developed over the course of their lives.

• Build a sense of obligation-based commitment among employees» Create an obligation that the employee is in the

organization’s debt» Becoming a particularly charitable organization

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Withdrawal Behaviors

• Exit is an active, destructive response by which an individual either ends or restricts organizational membership.

• Voice is an active, constructive response in which individuals attempt to improve the situation.

• Loyalty is a passive, constructive response that maintains public support for the situation while the individual privately hopes for improvement.

• Neglect is a passive, destructive response in which interest and effort in the job declines.

• Taken together, the exit–voice–loyalty–neglect framework captures most of the possible responses to a negative work event.

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Task Performance and Organizational Commitment

• Stars possess high commitment and high performance and are held up as role models for other employees.

• Citizens possess high commitment and low task performance but perform many of the voluntary “extra-role” activities that are needed to make the organization function smoothly.

• Lone wolves possess low levels of organizational commitment but high levels of task performance and are motivated to achieve work goals for themselves, not necessarily for their company.

• Apathetics possess low levels of both organizational commitment and task performance and merely exert the minimum level of effort needed to keep their jobs.

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Psychological Withdrawal

• Psychological withdrawal consists of actions that provide a mental escape from the work environment. (“warm-chair attrition”)» Daydreaming occurs when an employee appears to be working but

is actually distracted by random thoughts or concerns. » Socializing is verbal chatting about non-work topics that goes on in

cubicles and offices or at the mailbox or vending machines. » Looking busy is the intentional desire on the part of the employee

to look like he or she is working, even when not performing work tasks.

» Moonlighting is using work time and resources to complete something other than their job duties, such as assignments for another job.

» Cyberloafing is using Internet, e-mail, and instant messaging access for their personal enjoyment rather than work duties.

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Physical Withdrawal

• Physical withdrawal consists of actions that provide a physical escape, whether short term or long term, from the work environment.» Tardiness is the tendency to arrive at work late (or

leave work early). » Long breaks involve longer-than-normal lunches,

soda breaks, coffee breaks, and so forth that provide a physical escape from work.

» Missing meetings occurs when employees neglect important work functions while away from the office.

» Absenteeism occurs when employees miss an entire day of work.

» Quitting is voluntarily leaving the organization.2-21

Psychological and Physical Withdrawal, Cont’d

• Independent forms model of withdrawal argues that the various withdrawal behaviors are uncorrelated with one another, occur for different reasons, and fulfill different needs on the part of employees.

• Compensatory forms model of withdrawal argues that the various withdrawal behaviors negatively correlate with one another—that doing one means you’re less likely to do another.

• Progression model of withdrawal argues that the various withdrawal behaviors are positively correlated: The tendency to daydream or socialize leads to the tendency to come in late or take long breaks, which leads to the tendency to be absent or quit.

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