Briefly explain the importance of the individual mechanisms that feature in the integrative model of organizational behavior. Give an example for each.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Student answers and examples will vary but should demonstrate understanding of the integrative model of organizational behavior and the individual mechanisms involved. A sample answer follows.

Several individual mechanisms directly affect job performance and organizational commitment. These include job satisfaction, which captures what employees feel when thinking about their jobs and doing their day-to-day work. For example, people who complain about the lack of creativity in their jobs are expressing a low level of job satisfaction. Another individual mechanism is stress, which reflects employees' psychological responses to job demands that tax or exceed their capacities. For example, employees who become ill because of job stress reflect this mechanism. The integrative model also includes motivation, which captures the energetic forces that drive employees' work effort. For instance, an increase in pay can result in an increase in employee motivation. Trust, justice, and ethics reflect the degree to which employees feel that their company does business with fairness, honesty, and integrity. For example, if employees find out their employer supports dishonest business practices, then the employees could lose their trust of the company. The final individual mechanism shown in the model is learning and decision making, which deals with how employees gain job knowledge and how they use that knowledge to make accurate judgments on the job. For example, employers who offer job training programs deal with this mechanism.