Week 6: Grant, Parker & Collins (2009) Getting credit for proactive behaviour: Supervisor reactions depend on what you value and how you feel

Question 1

Joanna and Nick work together. They are both not so happy with how the new work processes are organized in the times of remote working during Covid-19 pandemics. Joanna is mainly concerned with the fact she is constantly overworking; she proposed a plan for improvement during the meeting without hiding her irritation. Nick is mainly worried that new colleagues in the team are not feeling involved and proposed some enhancements via email directly to the manager. Based on the article by Grant, Parker, and Collins (2009), which statement is true?

a. Joanna is more likely to get a higher performance rating than Nick for her proactive behavior
b. Both Nick and Joanna have equal chances of getting a high-performance rating
c. For both Nick and Joanna, managers are not likely to appreciate their proactive behaviors.
d. Nick is more likely to get a higher performance rating than Joanna for his proactive behavior.

Answer 1

d.

Question 2

Grant, Parker, and Collins (2009) focused in their research on 4 specific aspects of proactivity. Which are those?

a. Voice, job crafting, innovation, helping
b. Voice, rational issue-selling, taking charge, helping
c. Voice, job crafting, taking charge, helping
d. Voice, rational issues-selling. Innovation, feedback-seeking

Answer 2

b.

Question 3

The purpose of this article is to explain what?

Answer 3

when supervisors reward proactivity with higher overall performance evaluations

or in other words, under what circumstances supervisors give credit for proactive behaviours

Question 4

What theory do the authors lean on?

Answer 4

attribution theory (week 5)

Question 5

The attribution theory relates to what thought process and ultimately evaluates what?

Answer 5

regards how people unconsciously observe and interpret situations or behaviours of others

can evaluate whether someones actions are caused internally (under someones control) or externally (forced by the situation) based on distinctiveness, consensus and consistency of the behaviour

Question 6

Grant et al. argue that ___ and ___ are an indication for how an employees behaviour is perceived by the supervisor.

Answer 6

values and mood

Question 7

Prosocial values is deliberately doing…

Or in other words…

Answer 7

good with good intentions

showing behaviour that deliberately benefits others, rather than helping another person by accident or proxy

Question 8

Affect refers to the ___ and ___ employees express.

Negative affect is doing ____ and feeling ____. Negative affect are moods and emotions with an unpleasant ____ or ____ tone.

Answer 8

mood and emotions

good, bad, valence, hedonic

Question 9

Proactive behaviour is shown in four ways. Employees who display these offer valuable contributions to the company.

Name those four behaviours.

Answer 9

1. voice (speaking up)
2. rational issue selling (convincing to pay attention to specific issues)
3. taking charge (exercising initiative)
4. helping (efforts to give assistance)

Question 10

Findings:
1. proactive behaviour is positively associated to higher ____. An employees _____ moderates this relationship.

2. the higher an employees ____, the higher the chance that proactive behaviour will translate into positive ____.
3. Another moderator is ____. Meaning, the stronger the ____, the ___ proactive behaviour will be reflected in positive performance reviews.

Answer 10

1. performance evaluations, prosocial values
2. prosocial values, performance evaluations
3. negative affect; negative affect, less

Question 11

Which variables play similar roles in supervisors reaction to the four different proactive behaviours?

Answer 11

negative affect

prosocial values

Question 12

Grant, Parker and Collins’ research suggests that it will be valuable for supervisors to…, even when…

Answer 12

create cultures, climates, norms and reward systems that encourage proactive behaviour, even when they are based on negative affect and self-serving values

Question 13

Grant et al. also suggest that employees may benefit from the knowledge that…

Answer 13

expressing weak prosocial values and high negative affect may prevent supervisors from appreciating their proactive behaviour

Question 14

Expressing weak prosocial values and high negative affect may prevent supervisors from appreciating their proactive behaviour.

Name one argument for giving this information to your team and one against it

Answer 14

pro: this knowledge may motivate employees to express their values and emotions more carefully
con: it may also motivate employees to search for jobs, occupations, industries and organisational cultures in which self-serving values and negative affect are accepted and encouraged which provides a better fit for their values and affective tendencies

Question 15

Name two limitations of this article.

Answer 15

1. did not directly measure supervisors perceptions of attributions for employees proactive behaviours
2. did not explicitly test whether and how employees values and affect were reflected in their actual track records of behaviours