Employee Behaviour

Employee behaviour is “the pattern of actions by the members of an organization that directly or indirectly influences the organization’s effectiveness.” It encompasses everything from showing up and doing the job to going above and beyond — or actively harming the organization.

graph TD
    A[Employee Behaviour] --> B[Performance Behaviours
Direct job tasks]
    A --> C[Organizational Citizenship
Going beyond the job]
    A --> D[Counterproductive Behaviours
Harming the org]

    B --> E[Simple: assembly line
worker attaching parts]
    B --> F[Complex: researcher
seeking a breakthrough]

    C --> G[Helping newcomers
learn the ropes]
    C --> H[Staying late to help
a manager meet a deadline]

    D --> I[Absenteeism & Turnover]
    D --> J[Theft & Sabotage]
    D --> K[Bullying & Harassment]

How It Appears Per Course

ADMN 201

Employee behaviour is the foundation of Chapter 9. Understanding what drives behaviour — and how to shape it — is a core managerial skill. Motivation theories and leadership approaches are ultimately tools for producing more of the first two behaviour types and less of the third.

The Three Pillars

1. Performance Behaviours

Actions directly involved in performing a job. Complexity varies enormously:

• Simple: An assembly-line worker following a defined sequence
• Complex: A research scientist working toward an undefined breakthrough

2. Organizational Citizenship

Behaviours that benefit the organization in indirect ways, beyond the strict job description. A “good organizational citizen” voluntarily contributes to the broader team and culture.

• Helping a newcomer navigate the organization
• Staying late to help a colleague meet a deadline
• Mentoring, sharing knowledge, volunteering for extra tasks

These behaviours are hard to mandate — they emerge from job satisfaction, trust, and positive culture.

3. Counterproductive Behaviours

Actions that hurt organizational performance. These carry high financial and emotional costs:

• Absenteeism: Repeated unscheduled absences
• Turnover: Voluntary exits (expensive to replace experienced workers)
• Theft and fraud: Direct financial harm
• Sabotage: Intentional damage to products, systems, or processes
• Workplace bullying and harassment: Damages culture, morale, and legal standing

Individual Differences

No two employees behave the same way, because no two people are the same. Key dimensions:

• Personality: The relatively stable set of psychological attributes distinguishing one person from another
• Attitudes: Beliefs and feelings about specific situations, ideas, or people (includes job satisfaction and organizational commitment)
• Emotional Intelligence (EQ): Self-awareness, emotion management, self-motivation, empathy, and social skills — linked to leadership effectiveness and team cohesion

Managers cannot ignore individual differences. A single motivation strategy or leadership style will not work uniformly.

Cross-Course Connections

MotivationTheories — motivation theories explain what drives performance vs. counterproductive behaviour LeadershipApproaches — leadership style shapes the quality of all three behaviour types PsychologicalContract — a broken psychological contract is one of the most common triggers for counterproductive behaviour and turnover

Key Points for Exam/Study

• Three types: Performance, Organizational Citizenship, Counterproductive
• Organizational citizenship cannot be mandated — it emerges from culture and satisfaction
• Counterproductive behaviours are expensive: absenteeism, turnover, theft, bullying
• Individual differences (personality, attitudes, EQ) mean there’s no one-size-fits-all approach
• EQ (emotional quotient) is increasingly linked to effective leadership

Open Questions

• How do organizations systematically encourage organizational citizenship without making it feel compulsory?
• Is EQ trainable, or is it mostly stable like personality?