Productive and Counterproductive Behaviors

Productive and Counterproductive Behaviors

Businesses are like machines. They need to be checked for issues and tuned up regularly. Many different factors can cause issues for a business but some factors are a bigger determinate. Employees, for example, are one of a business’ biggest assets and also one of the biggest liabilities when determining success. An employee’s success is determined by his or her behavior. Productive and counterproductive behaviors influence employee productivity and efficiency which in turn affect the business and its success.

Productive Behavior

As defined by Jex & Britt, productive behavior is the behavior an employee exhibits that helps an organization reach its goals and objectives (Jex & Britt, 2008, p. 96). For an organization this is defined when the business begins to see a return on the investment that was made when the employee was hired. The three determining factors behind productive behavior are job performance, organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), and innovation. Job performance is critical when looking at productive behavior because not only does it analyze the actual performance of duties, but the behaviors of the employee when performing the duties. One such behavior is organizational citizenship behavior. OCB is those behaviors exhibited by an employee that are not required under the job description or that are not rewarded. This includes helping co-workers or befriending a new employee. Organizational citizenship behavior reflects positively on the work environment. The final determining factor is innovation. Innovation represents an idea the employee may have that furthers the goals of the business. This can be streamlining a current process or finding a way to cut costs. Hiring creative people helps foster innovation and innovation keeps a business competitive.

Counterproductive Behaviors

Counterproductive behaviors are behaviors that are in direct contrast to the goals of the organization. Such...