Cooperative Behaviours
The Problem of Cooperation:
- cooperation is necessary for organised
groups Aspects of Cooperation:
❖ in order for goals to be achieved - involves two or more people
Cooperation - form of helping involves
- based on more/less equal relationships
more than just two agents, designed to
- implies a common interdependence
alleviate a structural problem in society
- efforts are directed towards a common
- implies a common interdependence goal
- cooperative efforts aid others and oneself - the goal benefits all involved
- a sustained and ongoing effort to tackle a
problem which can be achieved either directly or indirectly
Social Dilemmas:
What is cooperation related but not equal to?
-two fundamental components
- prosocial behaviour
1.each individual receives a higher
- altruism
payoff for not cooperating
- helping
2.all individuals are better off if they
- social dilemmas
cooperate than if they defect
-the public transport dilemma
❖ if you use a car you are better off, faster and independent
❖ but, if too many people do this then there are many traffic jams and environmental
issues
Cooperation in Organisations:
- the bank case study
❖ each unit has been given individual tasks in order to achieve higher overall effectivity
❖ the possibilities included both individual choice and collective outcome
1. if I work hard —> I may have to help the other unit
2. if I work slow —> I may receive help later on
3. if everybody works hard —> everybody leaves early
4. if everybody works slow —> everybody leaves late
❖most people decided to work slow in the morning, consequently everybody had to leave
late and tasks were not well achieved
,❖immediate costs of the individual are preferred over the collective benefits
- organisations are not successful because people do their jobs but because the workers
do a variety of activities in addition to their jobs
❖ these helpful activities have been termed Organisational Citizenship Behaviour
- organisational effectiveness is based on resolving the dilemma of employee citizenship
❖ if an employee does more than expected —> collective benefits but individual costs
❖ one worker might free ride by preforming no OCB at all
❖ how much extra work can a worker do without being exploited?
Cooperation as Part of Job Performance:
- it is mandatory
- required by norms or rules
In-role behaviour - activities that
Conceptual problem:
either support or directly contribute to
- the definition of mandatory vs discretionary is
the transformation of the
ambiguous and depends on each organisation
organisation’s inputs to outputs
❖ eg. arriving on time —> may be mandatory some
- it is also discretionary
places, but in others it is just important that the
- related to OCB
job is done, no matter when
Extra-role behaviour - activities that
supported the social and psychological
contact in which the organisations’ technical core was embedded
- both in-role and extra-role behaviour equal job performance
Organisational Citizenship Behaviour:
- being a good employee
- behaviours that this type of employee displays
- studies on OCB have increased remarkably
❖military psychology, organisations,
communities and economics
❖66% have been published in the last 20 years
-father of OCB is Organ
OCB - behaviour that is discretionary, not
directly or explicitly organised by the formal
rewards system, and in the aggregate,
promotes the efficient and effective functioning of the organisation
, - Organ realised that the word discretionary is ambiguous, so he changed the definition to:
“Contributions to the maintenance an enhancement of the social and psychological context that
support task performance.”
- he later returned the word discretionary to the definition
“Discretionary contributions that go beyond the strict description and that do not lay claim to
contractual recompense from the formal reward system”
Aspects of OCB: Related terms:
- individual behaviour - prosocial behaviour
- discretionary - contextual performance
- not directly organised by the formal reward - organisational citizenship performance
system - extra-role behaviour
- often promotes the efficient functioning of the - organisational spontaneity
organisation - civic organisational behaviour
Forms of OCB:
- helping behaviour: altruism, courtesy, Helping - voluntary helping others with, or
peacekeeping and cheerleading preventing the occurrence of, work-related
- sportsmanship problems
- organisational compliance -useful not only for employees but for the
- civic virtue work atmosphere
- individual initiative
Components of Helping
Altruism Courtesy
help others who have been absent takes steps to try and prevent problems
help others who have heavy workloads does not abuse the rights of others
helps orient new people even though it is tries to avoid creating problems for
not required coworkers
helps people with work-related problems considers the impact of his/her actions on
coworkers
, Compliance - behaviours indicating that employees accept and adhere to the rules,
regulations and procedures of the organisation
- attendance at work is above the norm
- does not take extra breaks
- obeys company rules and regulations even when no-one is watching
- is one of most conscientious employees
- believes in giving an honest day’s work for honest day’s pay
Civic virtue - behaviour indicating that employees take an active interest in the life of their
organisation
- attends meetings that are not mandatory, but are considered important
- attends functions that are not required, but help the company image
- reads and keeps up with organisation announcements, memos etc.
- keeps abreast of changes in the organisation
Sportsmanship - a willingness to tolerate the inevitable inconveniences and impositions of
work without complaining, they maintain a positive attitudes
- consumes a lot of time complaining about trivial matters
- focuses on what’s wrong
- makes “mountains out of molehills”
- always finds fault with what the organisation is doing
- the classic “squeaky wheel” that always needs greasing
Individual initiative - voluntary acts of creativity and innovation designed to improve
one’s task or the organisation’s performance
- frequently come up with new ideas
- suggest work improvement ideas
- suggest changes to unproductive rules
- change the way I work to improve efficiency
OCB Dimensions
OCB-I OCB-O OCB-CH
toward other individuals toward the organisation toward proactivity and
improvement
helping others exemplary work ethic suggesting new ides
passing along information promotes image of challenging current
to others organisation processes
- OCB-I and OCB-O are directed towards maintaining organisational functioning
The Problem of Cooperation:
- cooperation is necessary for organised
groups Aspects of Cooperation:
❖ in order for goals to be achieved - involves two or more people
Cooperation - form of helping involves
- based on more/less equal relationships
more than just two agents, designed to
- implies a common interdependence
alleviate a structural problem in society
- efforts are directed towards a common
- implies a common interdependence goal
- cooperative efforts aid others and oneself - the goal benefits all involved
- a sustained and ongoing effort to tackle a
problem which can be achieved either directly or indirectly
Social Dilemmas:
What is cooperation related but not equal to?
-two fundamental components
- prosocial behaviour
1.each individual receives a higher
- altruism
payoff for not cooperating
- helping
2.all individuals are better off if they
- social dilemmas
cooperate than if they defect
-the public transport dilemma
❖ if you use a car you are better off, faster and independent
❖ but, if too many people do this then there are many traffic jams and environmental
issues
Cooperation in Organisations:
- the bank case study
❖ each unit has been given individual tasks in order to achieve higher overall effectivity
❖ the possibilities included both individual choice and collective outcome
1. if I work hard —> I may have to help the other unit
2. if I work slow —> I may receive help later on
3. if everybody works hard —> everybody leaves early
4. if everybody works slow —> everybody leaves late
❖most people decided to work slow in the morning, consequently everybody had to leave
late and tasks were not well achieved
,❖immediate costs of the individual are preferred over the collective benefits
- organisations are not successful because people do their jobs but because the workers
do a variety of activities in addition to their jobs
❖ these helpful activities have been termed Organisational Citizenship Behaviour
- organisational effectiveness is based on resolving the dilemma of employee citizenship
❖ if an employee does more than expected —> collective benefits but individual costs
❖ one worker might free ride by preforming no OCB at all
❖ how much extra work can a worker do without being exploited?
Cooperation as Part of Job Performance:
- it is mandatory
- required by norms or rules
In-role behaviour - activities that
Conceptual problem:
either support or directly contribute to
- the definition of mandatory vs discretionary is
the transformation of the
ambiguous and depends on each organisation
organisation’s inputs to outputs
❖ eg. arriving on time —> may be mandatory some
- it is also discretionary
places, but in others it is just important that the
- related to OCB
job is done, no matter when
Extra-role behaviour - activities that
supported the social and psychological
contact in which the organisations’ technical core was embedded
- both in-role and extra-role behaviour equal job performance
Organisational Citizenship Behaviour:
- being a good employee
- behaviours that this type of employee displays
- studies on OCB have increased remarkably
❖military psychology, organisations,
communities and economics
❖66% have been published in the last 20 years
-father of OCB is Organ
OCB - behaviour that is discretionary, not
directly or explicitly organised by the formal
rewards system, and in the aggregate,
promotes the efficient and effective functioning of the organisation
, - Organ realised that the word discretionary is ambiguous, so he changed the definition to:
“Contributions to the maintenance an enhancement of the social and psychological context that
support task performance.”
- he later returned the word discretionary to the definition
“Discretionary contributions that go beyond the strict description and that do not lay claim to
contractual recompense from the formal reward system”
Aspects of OCB: Related terms:
- individual behaviour - prosocial behaviour
- discretionary - contextual performance
- not directly organised by the formal reward - organisational citizenship performance
system - extra-role behaviour
- often promotes the efficient functioning of the - organisational spontaneity
organisation - civic organisational behaviour
Forms of OCB:
- helping behaviour: altruism, courtesy, Helping - voluntary helping others with, or
peacekeeping and cheerleading preventing the occurrence of, work-related
- sportsmanship problems
- organisational compliance -useful not only for employees but for the
- civic virtue work atmosphere
- individual initiative
Components of Helping
Altruism Courtesy
help others who have been absent takes steps to try and prevent problems
help others who have heavy workloads does not abuse the rights of others
helps orient new people even though it is tries to avoid creating problems for
not required coworkers
helps people with work-related problems considers the impact of his/her actions on
coworkers
, Compliance - behaviours indicating that employees accept and adhere to the rules,
regulations and procedures of the organisation
- attendance at work is above the norm
- does not take extra breaks
- obeys company rules and regulations even when no-one is watching
- is one of most conscientious employees
- believes in giving an honest day’s work for honest day’s pay
Civic virtue - behaviour indicating that employees take an active interest in the life of their
organisation
- attends meetings that are not mandatory, but are considered important
- attends functions that are not required, but help the company image
- reads and keeps up with organisation announcements, memos etc.
- keeps abreast of changes in the organisation
Sportsmanship - a willingness to tolerate the inevitable inconveniences and impositions of
work without complaining, they maintain a positive attitudes
- consumes a lot of time complaining about trivial matters
- focuses on what’s wrong
- makes “mountains out of molehills”
- always finds fault with what the organisation is doing
- the classic “squeaky wheel” that always needs greasing
Individual initiative - voluntary acts of creativity and innovation designed to improve
one’s task or the organisation’s performance
- frequently come up with new ideas
- suggest work improvement ideas
- suggest changes to unproductive rules
- change the way I work to improve efficiency
OCB Dimensions
OCB-I OCB-O OCB-CH
toward other individuals toward the organisation toward proactivity and
improvement
helping others exemplary work ethic suggesting new ides
passing along information promotes image of challenging current
to others organisation processes
- OCB-I and OCB-O are directed towards maintaining organisational functioning
