Cognitive cause maps permit a topological investigation of the complexity of organizational events and behaviors. Because cognitive cause maps are believed to be ordered according to a givens-means-ends schema, they contain information about an individual's motivation structure. In a work setting an individual engages in several different acts. Each of these acts is pushed by an occasion and pulled by an outcome. In this model, the greater the push and pull on an act relative to other acts, the greater the tendency to engage that act. This model was tested in a university mailing center. Subjects (N=35) were mailing service employees who completed surveys on attributes of supervision, coworkers, the work itself, the individual, and job behaviors. Results generally supported the push-pull model of organizational behavior. The model and study results address three concerns of organizational scientists. First, the model recognizes that behavior and cognition in organizations is multidimensional, variable, and integrated. Second, the model suggests how the patterning and content of a cognitive cause map may covary with, and predict, patterning in behavior. Third, the study analysis presented a strategy permitting both idiographic and nomothetic interpretation of behavior and cognition in organizations. Several tables and figures are included. (ABL)