Organizational Behavior: Essentials for Improving Performance and Commitment

Colquitt, LePine, and Wesson's Organizational Behavior: Essentials for Improving Performance and Commitment in the Workplace represents the most up-to-date perspective on Organizational Behavior (OB) on the market today. Many students leave their OB courses asking questions like: "Does any of this stuff really matter?", "How does all this stuff fit together?", "If that theory doesn't work, why is it in the book?", and "Does this stuff have to be so dry?" Those questions will never be asked if Colquitt Essentials is used. The author team has written a text that highlights the importance of course topics while organizing them around an integrative model of OB. The text is also contemporary, omitting outdated and disproven models that remain in other texts. Most important to students, the text is written in an approachable, conversational tone, with features that students actually want to read. Colquitt Essentials is the complete package in a condensed, unique, and visually stimulating format, all without losing the integrity and level of quality we've come to expect from this author team. This text stands out from the competition for four key reasons:

A Focus on Performance and Commitment. Being a good performer and working for an employer that inspires commitment are critical concerns for employees and managers alike. Colquitt Essentials takes a unique approach by devoting Chapter 2 to job performance and organizational commitment. Once these two key outcomes have been spotlighted, all of the remaining chapters are linked back to them, illustrating the importance of the chapter topics to performance and commitment.

An Integrative Model of OB. The table of contents is organized around an integrative model, described in Chapter 1, that provides a roadmap for the course, showing students how all of the chapters fit together. Unlike many OB texts with many editions behind them, Colquitt Essentials avoids being "grab-baggish" in nature with what seem to be randomly placed topics. The positioning of every topic makes sense, and it's easy for students to understand how the topics they are studying fit into the bigger picture.

Contemporary Content. When creating the book, the author team asked themselves what OB texts would look like if all of them were first written in 2008. Many OB texts include outdated and disproven models, just to maintain continuity with earlier editions. Such content frustrates students, who don’t understand why they should learn theories that are not valid. Colquitt Essentials omits such theories, devoting more space to contemporary topics that are useful for employees and managers.

Features that Students Want to Read. Each chapter includes special insert box features like OB on Screen, OB in Sports, OB for Students, and OB Internationally that help "bring OB to life" for the reader. Many of these features have been praised by students for their ability to demonstrate OB content in a fun and appealing manner. Colquitt Essentials also uses an informal style that students enjoy reading, while focusing on company examples that students find interesting (Google, Netflix, Best Buy, Four Seasons, eBay, and others).

Michael J. Wesson is an associate professor in the management department at Texas A&M University's Mays Business School. He received his PhD from Michigan State University's Eli Broad Graduate School of Management. He also holds an MS in human resource management from Texas A&M University and a BBA from Baylor University. He has taught organizational behaviour and human resource management–based classes at all levels but currently spends most of his time teaching Mays MBAs, EMBAs, and executive development at Texas A&M.

Michael's research interests include organizational justice, goal-setting, organizational entry (employee recruitment, selection, and socialization), person–organization fit, and compensation and benefits.

Jeffery A. LePine is the PetSmart Chair in Leadership in the Department of Management at Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business. He received his PhD in Organizational Behavior from the Eli Broad Graduate School of Management at Michigan State University. He also earned an MS in Management from Florida State University and a BS in Finance from the University of Connecticut. He has taught organizational behavior, human resource management, and management of groups and teams at undergraduate and graduate levels.

Jason A. Colquitt is the William H. Willson Distinguished Chair in the Department of Management at the University of Georgia's Terry College of Business. He received his PhD from Michigan State University's Eli Broad Graduate School of Management, and earned his BS in Psychology from Indiana University. He has taught organizational behavior and human resource management at the undergraduate, masters, and executive levels and has also taught research methods at the doctoral level. He has received awards for teaching excellence at both the undergraduate and executive levels.