The employee-employer relationship is so complex with its love-hate, need-them-but-they-are-annoying-but-also-sometimes-enjoy-being-with-them dynamic that it can perhaps only be compared to a marriage. Let us look at the similarities. It is a partnership of equality. Sometimes it begins with an online advertisement, sometimes with a chance meeting. Both parties have to typically go through multiple potential partners before they find the right fit in terms of values, beliefs, interests and personalities. Disagreements on financial matters can ruin the relationship at any stage. There are committed, long-term partnerships and there are fickle ones with forever-hopping partners as well. There are societal norms that dictate how this relationship should work. There is a formal contract in place, terminating which involves lots of painful paperwork. However, the relationship is much more than the terms and conditions that regulate it, especially when both parties are happy with it.
What constitutes this extra component in a marriage might be different for every couple (love, affection, ‘spark’). In an employment relationship, it is something described by the most overused phrase in resumes and job postings: ‘Going the extra mile’. What managers mean when they talk about employees going the extra mile is not just working overtime or doing their core technical duties in increased volumes. It is the small things employees voluntarily do for their co-workers or for the company. It is part of the psychological contract hidden between the lines of the legal one.
The academic term for this is Organizational Citizenship Behavior, or OCB. It is any behavior of an employee that is not expected by their job description and cannot be explicitly rewarded, but that benefits the organization in some way. The essence of citizenship behavior is that the employee acts like a citizen of the company.
According to Dennis Organ, who originally came up with this concept, there are five types of behaviors that count as Organizational Citizenship Behavior. Let us briefly look at each. The first two types are basic good-employee qualities:
1) Helpfulness:This is when an employee helps their co-workers, assists supervisors and trains or mentors subordinates.
2) Compliance: This is a measure of discipline, or how strictly the employee follows rules. Punctuality is an example of Compliance. When someone lacks punctuality, it is not enough grounds to fire them; but someone being punctual adds value.
3) Civic Virtue: This is mainly participation in the governance of the organization; equivalent to voting and political participation in a country. This also includes any voluntary duties similar to that of a citizen towards their country, e.g. maintaining reputation of the organization outside or being frugal with company resources.
4) Sportsmanship: The core of sportsmanship is prioritizing the team’s interests over your own. It involves behaviors like tolerating inconveniences caused by teammates and following team decisions even when you personally disagree with them.
5) Courtesy: This final type of behavior is an extension of the first behavior, i.e. Helpfulness, because it involves anticipating potential conflicts and taking active steps to prevent them. It also involves helping someone before it is needed; for instance, double-checking your work for errors before passing it on to your colleague to make their life easy.
How does it help you to know all of this? If you are an employee, you may want to check where you stand on being a good citizen and try to climb up on that ladder, since OCB is linked with multiple positive outcomes for working individuals, e.g. higher job satisfaction and higher productivity. If you are an employer, you may want to assess your current and potential employees on OCB and encourage these behaviors in the office, because OCB is known to help with: a) bettering customer service, b) reducing attrition rates, and – the holy grail of the business fraternity – c) increasing the revenues!
Now, we can probably guess that employees cannot be forced to be good citizens. We also cannot tie formal reward or appraisal systems with such behaviors because they fall outside of requirements of the assigned role. So, one might wonder how they can increase the level of OCB in their organization. Continuing the marriage analogy, this is also a collaborative effort and requires give-and-take. But the good thing is that OCB has been proven to be trainable.
When the spark is kept alive by both partners, there is positive influence on every element in the relationship. Citizenship Behavior benefits every unit and process in the organization- from the front-line to the bottom line. To learn what you can do to enhance OCB in your team, read our next blog here.
(For workshops and training contact The Secret Ingredient http://www.tsimentalhealth.com/corporate-connect)
About the Author:
Adwaita, is a psychologist and PhD scholar with experience in design and delivery of psychometric assessments, 360 degree feedback surveys, and other HR tools. She has worked with clients from various industries to provide elegant solutions for recruitment, promotions and leadership identification. She provides services in tool construction, research consultancy, content writing and translation, with a focus on social sciences. Strong analytical skills, clinical exposure and diverse industrial experience make her an excellent assessor and consultant with a holistic perspective.
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