Chapter 11
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Chapter 11 – Helping, Cooperation and conflict in Organizations
There are three processes that relate to the extent to which individuals, groups or organizations work with or against each other.
1. Prosocial behavior:
actions that benefit others within an organization
usually without requiring anything obvious or immediate in return
plays an important role in organization effectiveness
altruism = actions by one person that benefit one or more other under conditions in which the donor expects nothing in return
pure altruism is very rare
But people do engage in prosocial behavior and its common
Organizational Citizenship Behavior:
actions by organization members that exceed the formal requirements of their job and are therefore above and beyond the call of duty
Three components:
1. exceed the role of requirements
2. discretionary in nature (performed voluntarily)
3. not recognized by the formal reward structure
Many dont agree with the last component
Some believe certain forms of prosocial behavior are recognized
These behaviors are called organizational spontaneity: prosocial behavior that may or may not be recognized by the formal reward structure
Five categories of OCB behavior:
1. Altruism
2. Conscientiousness: go beyond requirements (e.g. attendance, breaks, rules)
3. Civic virtue: participation in and concern about life of org.
4. Being a good sport: tolerate less than ideal circumstances
5. Courtesy: prevent interpersonal problems with others
Factors affecting the occurrence of OBC behavior
Trust: the belief among employees that they will be treated fairly by their organization and by their immediate supervisor
the more employees believe that their supervisors decisions follow principles of distributive and procedural fairness, the greater their trust in the persons
the greater the trust, the greater their willingness to engage in prosocial behavior
employees perceptions about the breadth of their jobs: what is Ðin role and what is Ðextra role
the more broadly employees define their jobs, the more likely they are to engage the actions often viewed as involving OCB
employee perceptions of punishment:
the more employees perceive punishment as fair, and under their control, the greater their tendency to engage in OCB.
Effects if OCB
3 ingredients in org. effectiveness: recruit and retain excellent employees, employees must carry out the required jobs, they must engage in innovative spontaneous activity beyond formal job requirements
Difficult to measure how effective OCB is
Willingness to engage in OCB contributes to org. commitment and job satisfaction
Leads people to make positive comments about their organizations better reputation hiring better employees
Therefore, OCB does contribute to organization overall effectiveness
Whistle Blowing
Telling about illegal/immoral activity by other employees to people who can do something about it
Can call it prosocial action (depending on the motivation behind it) because in many instances it can protect health, safety, or economic welfare of others
Whistle blowers are often punished for their actions – battle to prove their point
Ontario – only province with legislation to protect them
Most whistle blowers are motivated to correct the wrong doings of others
2. Cooperation
involves mutual, two-way assistance in which individuals/groups/org. provide benefits to each other
work together to attain shared goals
very common because allows to accomplish more than if they were working alone
cooperation cannot develop in certain situations because the goals sought by the individuals or groups involved cannot be shared
competition: a process in which individuals or groups seek to attain desired goals at the expense of others seeking the same goals
Individual factors and cooperation
factors that affect the tendency to cooperate function through impact on individuals
influence the perceptions and reactions of specific persons and shape decisions about whether to cooperate or compete
1. Reciprocity:
The tendency to treat others as they have treated us
When others act in a competitive/cooperative manner, we usually respond the same way
Therefore, to ensure cooperation, it needs to be started: once ppl cooperate, the process should continue