SAS MINI- CASE STUDY:

Factors that have the strongest influence on work behavior and how SAS manage each
factor

Factors that have the strongest influence on behavior include; Job performance, Organizational
Citizenship, Absenteeism, and Turnover. Every company has its way of managing these factors,
but SAS Institute, a business analytics software and service company, is a perfect example on
how to manage these factors in order to improve work behavior of its employees. SAS has been
known to be special since “employees enjoy working there”. The Institute has managed to
maintain its workforce and profitability even in the recession period by managing these factors in
the following ways;

i. Job Performance refers to the level to which an employee successfully fulfills the factors
included in the job description. In many cases, companies create Key Performance
Indicators (KPI) in order to track job performances. Some of the factors used to measure
the performance include; quality or quantity of the work done, speed or accuracy at
which the work is performed, or even the overall effectiveness of the employee. The
results always determines whether an employee is given pay rise, bonuses, promotion,
more responsibility, or even lay off. SAS, as an analytical software company, understands
the need to track and enhance job performance of it its employees. First, the company
employs employees with high cognitive abilities who can work on complex projects.
CEO Jim Goodnight understands and opines that every person thrives at doing significant
things which they have the ability to perform, and knowing that their work is valuable.
Therefore, he ensures that employees are of cognitive ability to perform their jobs well
and they take pride of ownership in the work before, knowing that their products should
be world class and are to be used all over the world. Second, the company understands
the benefits of organizational justice and interpersonal relationships and with that in
mind, it strives to create an environment where all employees feel well treated, and
thereby reciprocate. SAS does this by removing unnecessary barriers in terms of policies,
rules, and meetings that may otherwise hinder productivity. It is also notable that the
company has remained profitable despite its generous perks meaning that they have had
high performance that maintain a good bottom line. Third, Managers are also encouraged
to regularly give constructive feedbacks to the employees and support them, leading to
high job performance. The company also makes sure that employees have all the
resources that they might need to perform their jobs. Finally, the salaries are also
competitive and this makes the employees feel valuable so they really want to stand to
the task and perform well.
ii. Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (OCB) refers to voluntary behaviors that
employees perform to help other employees and not for their benefits, but for the benefits
of the organization as a whole. This smooth, conducive and willingness to extend help
may include; showing a new employee how to operate a machine, helping them in their
work in order to adjust fast, and raising suggestion to the management, and so on. SAS
has created an environment where employees feel to be part of the company has
 capitalized on organizational justice to its workers in order to eliminate stressors that may
impede the performance. For example, SAS has treated its employees well such that even
in bad economic times when every other company is laying off workers, they have
maintained their position of no- layoff. This has created trust, positive job attitude and
work behavior since workers always feel the urge to reciprocate in the best way possible
by performing their duties well, extending their help to other employees, and expressing
their suggestion for improvement to the management through surveys.

iii. Absenteeism is the unscheduled absence from work. This may have become a problem
and create negative impact on the company operations as it is sometimes be compelled to
look for a contingent worker in the last minute to cover for an employee who is absent.
Absenteeism may be caused by illness, stress, work life balance such as attending family
events, or sometimes withdrawal due to poor work attitude that is attributed to low job
satisfaction or low organizational commitment. SAS understands that health is wealth,
and the wellbeing of their employees means more wealth to the employees and the
company. Therefore, the company has placed measures in place to tackle this problem,
such as by putting the employees’ health fast. The company has health and fitness
facilities such as gym, athletic field, tennis, swimming pool, basketball, racquetball courts
on its campus. The company provides cover that extend to the employees dependents, as
they are away that the health of the employee’s dependent affect the employees that in
turn affect productivity, so they have to do the best cushion them by providing the cover
to the dependents too. They also provide sick leave to the employees and also encourage
them to work reasonable hours so that they can go home and have enough time for
themselves, their family, and the beloved ones. In one of the interviews, Mr. Goodnight
had also mentioned that the only thing he would have changed about his past would be;
not working as much and that he would spend more time with his kids. This concurs with
another important statement: “People want a life with money, not money without life”
(Crowley, 2013).
iv. Turnover refers to employees quitting their jobs, and this can have either negative or
positive impact on the company’s operations and performance depending on which
employee is leaving. When an under-performing employee leaves, this can have a
positive impact on the company as the morale of the remaining employees may increase
and the company may get an opportunity to employee a more productive worker. When a
high-performing employee leaves, the company is likely to suffer from lower
productivity, and time recruiting and training new employees. To manage this, the
company has always used generous approach in terms of the good perks to retain its
employees. It also conducts regular employee satisfaction survey, in which they are able
to collect feedback about the work environment and organization culture, the perks, and
the general employee feeling about the organization. With these, they can carefully think
and plan about the future perks. SAS also has a friendly atmosphere whereby managers
and colleagues can always help when an employee is tired or stressed, they always can
take some time in a break room or elsewhere in the campus. “I’m never gonna leave SAS,
just bury me here. I’m just gonna stay here forever!” (Dyck, Neubert, 2009, p. 356).
I agree with these SAS efforts in managing the above factors. The approaches and policies cover
the fundamentals of a wellbeing of its employees in terms of health and wealth and social aspect.
The good perks in terms of salary, health cover to both employees and their dependents, fitness
facility, and encouragement to work reasonable hours are vital to every employee and contribute
to their general well-being that translates to a positive work behavior. I believe that SAS is a
leader in providing a suitable working style that promotes positive work behaviors by their
employees who feel indebted by the company and therefore give it all in return in terms of
productivity, and, therefore; every company should reconsider their approaches on working style
and emulate SAS (especially by removing the barrier and stereotype that long working translates
to better performance), and adapt suitable working case that fit the personal style of their
employees. Besides, I agree that much focus should be on employees as they are highly
determines the success or failure of the company.

References

i. Bruno Dyck, Mitchell Neubert. (2009). Management: Current Practices and New