Most employees understand that their primary duty is to do the work that is assigned to them, stay away from behaviors that could be deemed troublesome, and deliver work that is acceptable and beneficial to the organization. Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) is an evolving concept concerning how and why people contribute positively to their organizations beyond defined work roles.The study of OCB engages fundamental questions analyzing the circumstances in which individuals “go the extra mile” in the workplace.OCB refers to anything that employees choose to do, spontaneously and of their own accord, which often lies outside of their specified contractual duty. In other words, it is optional. OCB may not always be directly and formally recognized or rewarded by the company,through salary increments or promotions. Finally. OCB must ‘promote the effective functioning of the organization’.
In 1988, Organ wrote the formative definition that OCB is “individual behaviour that is discretionary, not explicitly recognized by the formal reward system, and that in the aggregate promotes the effective functioning of the organization”.
The type of Organizational citizenship behavior can be identified as either OCB towards individual and OCB towards Organization or in the 5-factor model (Organ, 1988) they are Altruism: (being helpful) Courtesy: (being polite and courteous; prevent conflict) Conscientiousness: (doing more than just the minimum; attention to detail (prevent/ minimize error)) Civic Virtue: (showing interest and involvement(e.g. keeping up to date) with the organization; defend organizational policies and practices) Sportsmanship: (tolerating less-than-ideal conditions; accepting of changes and performs requests without complaints). Altruism and courtesy have been grouped into individual-directed behaviour (OCB-I), while the last three are organization-directed behavior (OCB-O).Some kind of OCBs towards co-workers include giving lifts home, suggesting ways to improve a colleague’s work, or even loading paper into the communal printer.OCBs directed towards the organization as a whole include helping to recruit appropriate people to specific tasks, making suggestions to improve the workplace facilities, or doing unpaid overtime. These behaviors are therefore desirable but difficult to cultivate within typical organizational structures.
OCB should be outside the individual’s formal role within the organization, therefore not formally rewarded. Nevertheless, if an individual demonstrates OCB, it could leave a positive impression on supervisors that would ultimately lead to workplace benefits, such as increased pay or a promotion. One of the crucial elements of OCB is the fact that although it is often recognized and rewarded by managerial staff, employees do not necessarily make the connection between performing OCB and reward gain (especially OCB-I or altruism and courtesy-related behaviors).
About the Author.
Ms Aiswarya Srinivasan, Counseling Psychologist & HR and do not expect rewards (Organ, 1997). Given that OCB has such a significant impact on the productivity and efficiency of the organization, and workers do not expect to be compensated for their efforts, OCB should be considered an efficient way of improving organizational profitability and reducing costs. At the same time, it increases employee performance and wellbeing, as cooperative workers are more productive, and OCB enhances the social environment in the workplace.
