chapter 4 OCB Flashcards
remember the concepts and names
define conceptualisation of performance.
Katz and Kahn (1978) developed a basic way to partition job performance
Joining and staying with the organisation
Meeting or exceeding standards of performance prescribed by organisational roles (in-role performance)
Innovatively and spontaneously going beyond prescribed roles to perform such actions as
Cooperating with others
Protecting the organisation from harm
Offering suggestions for improvement
Representing the organisation favourably
define task performance.
Task Performance
Consist of activities that directly transform raw materials into goods and services that the organisation produces
Selling merchandise
Teaching in school performing surgery
Selling newspaper
Includes other activities that service and maintain the technical core by,
Replenishing the supply of raw materials
Supervising
Coordinating activities
Any staff functions that enable the technical core to function effectively and efficiently
Nurses who look after patients before and after surgery
School principals, oversee school operations
Task performance has a direct relation to technical core by either executing its technical processes or maintaining and servicing its technical requirements
define contextual performance
Support broader organisational, social and psychological environment in which the technical core must function
5 categories of contextual performance Borman and Motowidlo (1993)
Volunteering to carry out task activities that are no in-role (formally part of the job)
Persisting with extra enthusiasm when necessary to complete own-task activities successfully
Helping and cooperating with others
Following organisational rules and procedures even when it is personally inconvenient
Endorsing, supporting and defending organisational objectives
Definition of OCB
Definition
Organ (1988)
Behaviour that is discretionary, not directly or explicitly recognized by the formal reward system, and that in aggregate promotes the effective functioning of the organisation…the behaviour is not an enforceable requirement of the role of job description…the behaviour is a matter of personal choice
Graham (1991)
Defines unequivocal specification of behaviour that is ‘extra-role’. Boundaries of in-role and extra-role and presents OCB not as a complement to task performance but rather as a ‘global measure of individual behaviour at work’
Operationalising
Bateman and Organ (1982) began by enumerating a list of employee behaviours that managers typically appreciate but are ill equipped and demand
Thus, a key influencing factor on the conceptualisation of OCB was to fill the gaps left by traditional performance measures
5 dimensions of OCB
Five Dimensions of OCB (Bateman and Organ, 1983)
Conscientiousness
Punctuality in attendance, use of work time and adherence to rules
Show of self-discipline
Altruism
Helping behaviour
Voluntary action, e.g colleague not present at work
Sportsmanship
Putting up with minor inconveniences
Prepared to do work even though it is not idea to one-self
Courtesy
Consulting people who may have been affected by decisions or at the very least informing other people in advance of such actions
Civic virtue
Keeping up with happenings in the organisation
what are the 3 dimensions of OCB
Graham’s (1991) definition of OCB
Draws on political theory to conceptualise OCB. He believes that OCB is a global measure of individual behaviour at work
Obedience
The individual’s respect for rules and policies and includes for example, conscientiousness at work, not wasting organisational resources
Loyalty
Embodies allegiance to and promotion of the organisation and includes for e.g,
Representing the organisation in a favourable manner
Defending the organisation when employees criticise
Participation (3 dimensions)
Social participation
Participation in the form of interpersonal and social contact
Involves non-controversial forms of participation, such as, attending meetings and interactions with others
Advocacy participation
Innovation and the challenge of status quo
In search of improvements in the organisation all the time
Behaviours that involve innovation, making suggestions for change and reflecting a willingness to be controversial
Functional participation
Focus on activities that involve individual self-development and work activities that add value to the organisation
who are the beneficiaries of OCB? OCBO and OCBI?
OCB that benefited organisation (OCBO)
Behaviours that benefit the organisation as a whole
Conscientiousness, civic virtue and sportsmanship
OCB that benefited individuals (OCBI)
Behaviours that benefit specific individuals in the workplace and indirectly contribute to the organisation
Altruism and courtesy
Consequences of OCB for organisation?
These consequences were recognised long before the term OCB was introduced (Barnard,1938 and Kahn 1978)
Podsafkoff, Ahearne and Mackenzie (1997) tested whether OCB actually improved effectiveness in the paper mill. They found that,
Helping behaviour (altruism) and sportsmanship had a significant effect of performance quantity
Helping behaviour (altruism) had a significant effect of performance quality
Overall, ¼ of the variance in quantity and 1/5 of the variance in quality was accounted for by OCB
Walz and Niehoff (1996) investigated the relationship between OCB and effectiveness in restaurants. They found that,
Different dimensions of OCB positively relates to different organisational effectiveness
Overall, the empirical evidence that exist, supports a link between OCB and Organisational performance
This is important as when effectiveness of the organisation improves, this also means that the organisations enjoys cost savings
However, we do not know why OCB affects organisational performance
Some potential explanations
OCBs may help co-worker productivity
(Gouldner 1960), norm of reciprocity, help others who have helped us
Experienced workers help new workers productivity increases quality and quantity improve
OCB may help managerial productivity
If employees exhibit sportsmanship behaviour, managers are freer to devote their time on other activities rather than dealing with trivial issues
Supervision of staff is reduced
OCB may enhance organisation performance
The five dimensions of OCB itself allows more positive relationship between employees and thus, in turn enhances cooperation among staff and productivity
Consequences of OCB for individuals
Consequences of OCB for individual
Evidence has suggested that OCB in employees are considered during performance evaluation (MacKenzie, Podsakoff and Fetter, 1991; Motowildo and Vanscotter, 1994)
Promotion of the individual is also considered (Park and Sim, 1989)
Why might OCB influence managerial evaluations of performance?
Norm of reciprocity
If managers feel the positive effects of OCB from employees, they will tend to return the favour and rate their performance positively
OCB behaviours are distinctive
OCB is not an in-role, hence when managers evaluate employees, they tend to be more likely to infer that employee is a high performer
Association
If manager believes that OCB and performance is positively correlated, they will tend to rate that particular employee higher
Antecedents of OCB (Why people engage in OCB)
Personality/individual differences
Research on personality tend to focus on conscientiousness and agreeableness which affects OCB
Organ and Ryan (1995) found that conscientiousness does have a positive effect on OCB
However, the link between personality and OCB is weakly supported
Personality affects work attitudes which affects whether employee engages in OCB
Personality Work attitudes Engagement in OCB
Strong link between work attitudes and engagement in OCB
Weak link between personality and engagement in OCB
Cultures/upbringing affects whether individual will exhibit OCB, some evidence (Moorman and Blakely,1995)
Individualistic – self-interest in reaching goals
Collectivistic – work together a group to achieve goals
Individualistic will tend to lookout for themselves more often, whereas collectivistic behaviours tend to embrace working together
Collectivistic behaviours exhibit more OCB
what is Social exchange constructs
Job satisfaction
Definition: a ‘pleasurable emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job or job experiences’ – Locke (1976)
Folger and Knovsky, 1989 explains job satisfaction as the actual expectations vs the met expectations
Organ (1990) argues that the relationship between OCB and job satisfaction may be heavily affected by the ‘sizable fairness component in responses to satisfaction scales’
Job satisfaction OCB
The link is affected by fairness component and satisfaction scale
Moorman (1991) study the role of fairness and outcomes in relation to job satisfaction in predicting OCB
Fairness and outcomes Job satisfaction
Studied this linkage to determine whether OCB is engaged
Concluded that: when perceptions of fairness are measured separately from job satisfaction, job satisfaction was not related to OCB
Overall conclusion: job satisfaction slightly affects organisational justice and it is this that is predicting why employees engage in OCB
what is meant of Perceived Organisation support
Employee’s perspective on organisation’s commitment to them as individuals (Eisenberger, Huntington, Hutchison and Sowa, 1986)
How is POS measured?
A series of statements is asked and if individual agrees with most of them, they feel that they are valued by the organisation
If organisation treats the employees properly, and they feel valued, base of norm of reciprocity, employees will in return,
Work harder to achieve goals
Increase in commitment
There is some empirical evidence demonstrating that when organisations have human resource practice that recognition of employee contributions (job security, autonomy, training) it will lead to employees perceiving support from organisation
how is committed related to organisation?
Commitment of employee OCB
Employees who feel emotionally attached to the organisation will have a greater motivation or desire to make a meaningful contribution to the organisation (Meyer and Allen,1997)
Commitment is related to discretionary behaviour
Another reason is some employees define OCB as part of their job
Narrow Job definition: defines OCB as falling outside of their job
Broad Job definition: defines OCB as traditional aspects of their job
According to Morrison (1994)
Organisational commitment causes employees to define their responsibilities more broadly and thus committed employees are more likely to engage in what others may see as OCB
O.C broad job definition OCB behaviour
Conclusion: highly committed employees will gage in OCB regardless of whether they define OCB as in-role or extra-role
what are the 2 types of Organisational commitment?
Walton (1991), two approach in shaping employees attitudes and behaviour
Control approach – force employee to follow rules and reward base on output
Commitment approach – shapes employees behaviour by forging psychological links between organisation and employee goals
Three forms of organisational commitment
Affective commitment
Psychological commitment to organisation
Stay because they want to
Continuance commitment
Cost associated with leaving the organisation
Stay in the organisation because they need to i.e scholarships
Normative commitment
Moral obligation to remain in organisation
Stay because they feel they should
Consequences of organisational commitment
Therefore, it is important for organisations to influence employee behaviours
When employees are emotionally attached to the organisations, they will engage in OCB that will benefit the organisation
Positive relationship between affective commitment and attendance at work
No relationship between continuance and normative commitment and attendance at work to be found
