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the behavior’s antecedents and consequences are determined. Why are employees
absent? More importantly, what is happening when an employee is absent? If the
behavior is being unintentionally rewarded, we may expect these to reinforce
absenteeism behavior. For example, suppose that absences peak each month on the

days when a departmental monthly report is due, meaning that coworkers and
supervisors must do extra work to prepare the report. To reduce the frequency of
absenteeism, it will be necessary to think of financial or social incentives to follow
positive behavior and negative consequences to follow negative behavior. In step 4,
an intervention is implemented. Removing the positive consequences of negative
behavior may be an effective way of dealing with the situation, for example, starting
the monthly report preparation a few days earlier, or letting employees know that if
they are absent when the monthly report is being prepared, their contribution to the
report will be submitted as incomplete until they finish it. Punishments may be used
in persistent cases. Finally, in step 5 the behavior is measured periodically and
maintained. Studies examining the effectiveness of OB Mod have been supportive of
the model in general. A review of the literature found that OB Mod interventions
resulted in an average of 17% improvement in performance. [25]
Figure 14.13 Stages of OB Modification

Based on information presented in Stajkovic, A. D., & Luthans, F. (1997). A
meta-analysis of the effects of organizational behavior modification on task
performance, 1975-1995. Academy of Management Journal, 40, 1122–1149.
Job Design
Many of us assume that the most important motivator at work would be pay.
Yet, studies point to a different factor as the major influence over worker motivation:
Job design. How a job is designed has a major impact on employee motivation, job
satisfaction, commitment to organization, as well as absenteeism and turnover. Job
design is just one of the many organizational design decisions managers must make
when engaged in the organizing function.
The question of how to properly design jobs so that employees are more
productive and more satisfied has received managerial and research attention since
the beginning of the 20th century.
Scientific Management and Job Specialization
Perhaps the earliest attempt to design jobs was presented by Frederick Taylor
in his 1911 book Principles of Scientific Management. Scientific management
proposed a number of ideas that have been influential in job design. One idea was to
minimize waste by identifying the best method to perform the job to ensure

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