What is Work Behavior | Meaning & Definition

What is Work Behavior?

Taking action to fulfill a role or responsibility is called work behavior. This includes collaborating with colleagues to complete a project, conducting an inventory to submit reports, and exhibiting behaviors.

Attitudes drive certain work behaviors, and putting qualified individuals in the appropriate position can increase employee engagement. In addition, understanding and tracking these behaviors can help employers gain insight into their team and make effective organizational changes.

How are Attitudes and Behaviors Different?

The difference between work attitude and work behavior is that attitude is an individual's internal psychological state of mind, while the behavior is an observable action.

An employee's attitude is affected by many aspects of his or her job, including the work he or she does and the co-workers. However, behavior is focused on the “DO" part of work, which relates to how employees perform and get their work done.

Attitude affects behavior, and understanding the relationship between the two can help employers understand how to create a positive working environment and foster productivity.

What Is the Importance of Understanding Work Behavior?

Understanding work behavior is important because it helps employers track and manage employee performance and engagement. By understanding and tracking employee behaviors, employers can gain insight into their teams and make effective organizational changes.

Additionally, understanding work behavior can help employers identify areas of improvement that can lead to increased productivity and job satisfaction. Understanding work behavior is also important because it allows employers to create a positive work environment, leading to higher employee morale and better customer service.

Why Do We Need to Understand Four Key Work Behaviors?

Employers can obtain more profound insight into the behaviors of their coworkers and, more significantly, determine how and where to start effective organizational changes by knowing the four major categories of work behaviors.

The four key work behaviors to understand are:

1. Job Performance

Job performance relates to how well an employee is able to perform the tasks and duties of their role. It is important to measure an employee's performance in order to evaluate their effectiveness and track their progress.

Predictors of Job Performance

How does performance affect an employee?

Cognitive ability: Having the ability to think logically and to verbalize, compute, and analyze information is crucial for achieving a task's goals.
Interpersonal relationships: Managers and teammates are more likely to increase employee performance when they are supported and treated fairly.
Stress: Unproductive stress, combined with inadequate support and resources, can result in burnout, poor quality, and low output.
Work attitudes: Also important; positive attitudes lead to positive behaviors, while negative attitudes can have a detrimental effect on performance. Feelings and exposure directly influence the performance of an employee.

2. Organizational Citizenship

Organizational citizenship behaviors are behaviors that go beyond what is expected of an employee and contribute to the overall success of the organization.

Examples of organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB) that an employee may demonstrate include:

Assisting a colleague with understanding an assignment.
Proposing ideas to management on how to optimize workflow processes.
Participating in company-wide activities.

Predictors of Organizational Citizenship

Organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) may be motivated by a variety of factors, including:

Interpersonal relationships: A positive work environment can be created by establishing good relationships with managers and coworkers.
Work attitudes: This can be a source of motivation, as employees who feel inspired by the company mission and values are more likely to display OCBs.
Age and tenure: Those with more experience may feel they have a lot to contribute.
Personality: Traits such as extraversion or conscientiousness.

3. Absenteeism

Absenteeism is when an employee fails to report to work or misses work without authorization. Absenteeism can negatively impact an employer and result in decreased productivity, higher labor costs, and customer dissatisfaction.

It is important for employers to monitor absenteeism levels and address any issues as soon as possible. Employers should also create an environment that encourages employees to come to work, such as offering flexible work schedules, paid leave, and assistance.

Predictors of Absenteeism

There are several potential causes of employee absenteeism, such as:

Illness: Illness can be a major factor, as it can render an employee unable to work.
Work-life balance issues: Family responsibilities can also lead to absences, which may require employees to take time off.
Negative attitudes: Negative attitudes, such as feeling disengaged with their role, can be a factor, as those who are not committed to their job may take more time off than those who are.
Age: Employee absenteeism rates are higher among younger employees than among their older companions based on age.

4. Turnover

When an employee leaves their job, whether freely or involuntarily, this is referred to as turnover. High employee turnover can be costly for employers, leading to increased labor costs, decreased productivity, and decreased customer satisfaction.

Employers should monitor employee turnover rates and reduce turnover, such as offering competitive salaries, providing benefits and other incentives, and creating a workplace culture that emphasizes job satisfaction.

Employers can create a productive, customer-oriented, and high-morale work environment by understanding how employees work.

Predictors of Turnover

Several factors can affect an employee turnover rate, including

Compensation: This can be a significant factor, as employees who feel they are not being paid fairly may be more likely to leave. In contrast, excessively high compensation can discourage people from leaving.
Poor workplace well-being: Feeling unsatisfied or uncared for can also lead to turnover.
Stress levels: Can also affect turnover, as roles that cause high-stress levels may influence people to seek other jobs, while a workplace that offers no challenges can create complacency.
Age and tenure: As younger employees starting out in their career may feel less attached to a company than those with dependents to support, a lack of effective onboarding can cause new hires to feel stressed and unmotivated.

What is the Effect of Personality on Work Behavior?

Even how a person reacts to situations at work is affected by their personality. Different personality traits can have different levels of influence on work behavior.

The Big Five personality traits are a widely used model for assessing and understanding an individual’s personality. These five traits include

Openness: Openness looks at how curious and creative someone is and how open they are to change.
Conscientiousness: Conscientiousness focuses on how careful and thoughtful someone is when completing tasks.
Extroversion: Extroversion looks at a person’s sociability and outgoingness.
Agreeableness: Agreeableness measures how likely someone is to be cooperative, flexible, and tolerant of others or to be calculating and critical.
Neuroticism: Neuroticism measures a person’s confidence level and ability to remain unshakeable in the face of stress.

Understanding where an employee falls on the spectrum of each trait can help employers identify suitable roles and provide appropriate support structures.

Conclusion

Understanding the different personality types in the workplace can help employers create a stronger, more balanced environment and improve the success of their employees.

Employers can create a successful and harmonious work environment by understanding each personality type's different traits and tendencies and avoiding potential pain points.