Organizational Citizenship Behavior

“Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB)plays very important role for the better functioning of
any organization, defined… as behavior that (a) is something extra beyount the basic job
description, (b) is without any compensation, and (c) is for the betterment to the organization”
(Lambert, S.J., 2006, p. 503-525).  

Another writer explains Organizational Citizenship Behavior as follows:-

“organizational citizenship behavior is behavior that, although not a part of job of employee, but
play a very important role for the functioning of organization” (Lee and Allen, 2002, p 132). 

Global competition highlights the importance of innovation, flexibility, responsiveness, and

Cooperativeness for long-term organizational success. Innovative and spontaneous behaviors
Vitality is revealed in protecting organization in an ever-chancing environment. As a necessity,
Organizations will become more dependent on employees who are willing to contribute effective
Organizational functioning, regardless of their formal role requirements. Employee behaviors’
Like citizenship behaviors’ become more important and even crucial for organization’s survival.

Organizational Citizenship Behavior (organizational citizenship behavior) is something which is

very different from the usual job performance .if some individual is not involved in this behavior
he is not held responsible or liable by the organization but ultimately it is for the betterment of
the organization.

Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (organizational citizenship behavior s) are the personal

choice of the employees he is not paid for this behavior. Organizational citizenship behaviors
are having a very positive and clear impact on the functioning of organization. Organizational
citizenship behaviors are often considered a subset of employees’ conditions and their
evaluation on their job

One of the most important thing is to consider is organization loyalty if an employee is loyal with
his or her organization he will work beyond his responsibilities and without any reward so its is
the responsibility of the employer to create this spirit among the employees . Ultimately it is for
the betterment of the organization. Organizational citizenship behavior is discretionary behavior
that is not part of an employee formal

Organizational Citizenship Behavior has a major impact on the effective functioning of

organization. Therefore organizational citizenship behavior can be construed as the social
lubricant of the organizational machinery. Organizational citizenship behavior to be an extra-
role behavior i.e. it is any behavior not officially required by the organization, rather its practice
depends solely on the consent of employee as a consequence of the organizational
environment. organizational citizenship behavior makes the impact on organization
effectiveness; organizational citizenship behavior should have a particular impact on the overall
effectiveness of organizations by adding to the social framework of the work environment.
World is becoming a global village .things are getting advanced day by day. Today
organizations are facing the fierce competition due to the flow of intense awareness and
knowledge. In order to cosset the competitive advantage the organizations have to make pace
with the increasing change and for this high commitment from employees are needed .so
basically Organizational commitment is significantly associated with the organizational
citizenship behavior as its construct. And Training and development plans of individuals can be
supportive for the organizational objectives if there is a clear sense of direction

Review of selected literature related to Organizational Citizenship

Behavior

Few studies have shown that organizational citizenship behavior have very strong link with
individuals and organizational performance .there are number of variables associated with
Organizational Citizenship Behavior .Like most behaviors, organizational citizenship behavior
are probably multi-determined. That is, there is no one single cause of organizational citizenship
behavior. Theoretical frameworks for all other classes of organizational behavior, from job
performance to turnover to absenteeism, include multiple sources of causation. It makes sense
to apply the same rationale to organizational citizenship behavior. Relaxing the "single cause"
parameter will keep the search for determinants of organizational citizenship behavior from
becoming narrow in focus and exclusionary in conceptualization.

1. Organ (1988)
Explains in his study that organizational citizenship behavior in employees s
lead to a more efficient organization. It will bring new and positive changes in
organization. In Organ’s explanation, effective functioning of organization not only new
employees are attracted but goodwill of company in the market also increases the most
important thing is that the customer beliefs about the company product and service also
changes..

Organ (1988) identified five categories of organizational citizenship behavior:

(1) altruism – during job employees will help each other (2) courtesy -- guideline to other people
about their work if thy are doing it wrong (3) conscientiousness -- Extra work done by
employees not included in job description, (4) sportsmanship -- complain about different
matters (5) civic virtue -- work for the welfare and betterment of organization

Organizational citizenship behavior offers a different rationale for many relationship. Helping
coworkers (Altruism) makes the work system more productive because ultimately every worker
is working for the betterment of organization .employees are giving many cost effective ideas
which are increasing efficiency. So this is basically the organization who are providing
opportunities’ to their employees to create spirit in themselves and being a citizen of
organization the are more loyal to the organization.

2. Smith (1983)
Conducted the first research on the antecedents of Organizational
Citizenship Behavior, finding job satisfaction to be the best predictor. After 17 years of
research, job satisfaction is still the leading predictor of organizational citizenship
behavior .This is problematic because, descriptively, job satisfaction is in and of itself a
challenging outcome sought by organizational managers? The resulting implications are
restricted to suffice that organizational citizenship behavior is likely when workers are
satisfied. There are just as many questions regarding the antecedents of job satisfaction
as there are questions about the antecedents of organizational citizenship behaviors

3. Organ & Ryan (1995)

Motivation is another observation for understating organizational
citizenship behavior . Three motive paradigms are often researched. Viewing
organizational citizenship behavior from these three motive paradigms, one can more
easily account for the various approaches taken in prior organizational citizenship
behavior research. The altruistic path is covered quite well with the affiliation motive and
part of the achievement motive, but the darker side is more clearly understood from the
power motive. It is easy to see why organizational citizenship behavior may correlate
with ratings of performance and why.

This motive-based view also helps make sense of the disparate findings of research seeking
personality correlates of organizational citizenship behavior. A wide variety of personality traits
have been examined in research but results have been disappointing, as the only consistent
correlation emerging is between the "big five" trait of conscientiousness and the organizational
citizenship behavior dimension of the same name. By viewing organizational citizenship
behavior as caused by multiple motives, one can see that different personality traits could
predict organizational citizenship behavior depending on the citizen's motive. It is possible,
however, that there are indirect outcomes of organizational citizenship behavior that are related
to the employees' motives. For example, if organizational citizenship behaviors are exhibited for
power motives, supervisors may reinforce such behaviors with extrinsic rewards, promotions, or
more visible assignments. Supervisors may be oblivious to such motives, seeing only the
observable behaviors. Coworkers, on the other hand, may see the behaviors from a different,
more political viewpoint. As the power-oriented citizen gains support for such behaviors from
above, other employees can become discouraged and disengaged, not wanting to "play politics"
to get ahead. The resulting outcome may be a culture of distrust, gossip, complaints, or subtle
conflict, eroding cohesion and team building in the unit. Finally, the affiliation-oriented citizen
may perform organizational citizenship behavior to such a degree that the employee-employer
relationship becomes dysfunctional. Similar to the concept of co-dependence in personal
relationships, the dysfunctional relationship may cause more harm than good for the work
environment. Motive-based theories of behavior suffer from lack of research methodologies that
can validly measure the constructs. It may be necessary to approach research from an
attribution point of view. That is, instead of asking subjects about their own motives, seek the
opinions and perceptions of coworkers as to the motives of the target person. Such a research
strategy may also begin to reveal the indirect effects of motive-based organizational citizenship
behavior. Since organizational citizenship behavior has a strong role in effectiveness measures
in organizations, their importance cannot be denied.

4. (Blau, 1964)

There are many social theories related to organizational citizenship

behavior. This study bases their hypothesis on social exchange theory to test
organizational support. According to Blau (1964), relationships can be defined in
different ways it can be economic or social. In economic exchange the terms and
conditions are clear; there is no clear rules and regulation. .the timing of return depends
on that person who has major role in achieving it. There is no proper way or guarantee
that you will be compensated so if there is no proper way parties must cooperate with
each other. So that relation creates some value for both the parties. So it is social
exchange which will create feeling between the parties.

When you are working somewhere you have both kinds of relationships economic and social.
When you are involve in economic relationship employee will only get which is mentioned on the
contract so it is basically contractual relationship .and when you are involved in social
relationship employees will get not only contractual rights but so many other favors’.

Dimensions of organizational citizenship behavior

McClelland (1961) argued that organizational citizenship behavior can be best understood when
organizational citizenship behavior is viewed as motive based Behaviors. McClelland’s work
suggested that all people have some degree of achievement, Affiliation and power motives. The
achievement motive pushes people to perform in terms of a Standard of excellence, seeking the
accomplishment of a task, challenge, or Competition. The affiliation motive pushes people
toward establishing, maintaining, and restoring Relationships with others. The power motive
pushes people toward status and situations in which they can control the work or actions of
others. Organizational citizenship behavior was described
By Organ as having two basic dimensions—altruism and generalized compliance. Altruism is
helping behavior directed at specific individuals. When individuals have specific problems, need
assistance, or seek help, altruistic people go the extra mile in assisting them. The other class of
citizenship behavior is generalized compliance, which is a more impersonal conscientiousness:
doing things “right and proper” for their own sake rather than for any specific person.
Organizational participants’ behavior far surpasses any enforceable minimum standards;
workers willingly go far beyond stated expectations. In attempting to further define
organizational citizenship behavior . A few researchers have been successful in identifying four
categories of organizational citizenship behavior , but the weight of the factor analytic evidence
suggests a two-factor structure.

1) Benefits to the organization in general, such as volunteering to serve on committees

(organizational citizenship behavior ).
 2) Benefits directed at individuals within the organization, such as altruism and
interpersonal helping (organizational citizenship behavior).

More recently, Skarlicki and Latham (1995)examined organizational citizenship behavior

in a university setting; their data also supported a two-factor structure, (organizational
and interpersonal) could be referred as organizational citizenship behavior .In two
separate factor analytic studies, DiPaola and Tschannen-Moran (2001)found that there
are not five separate dimensions of the construct, or even two for that matter, but rather
that one dimension captures all aspects of organizational citizenship behavior . In other
words, both benefits to the organization (helping the organization) and benefits to the
individual helping individuals) combine into a single, bipolar construct. Since Organ
(1988) introduced the concept of organizational citizenship behavior into organizational
research, it has tended to be conceptualized in terms of positive contributions to the
colleagues and to the organization, which implies an active positive contribution. Yet the
operationalization of organizational citizenship behavior reveals a different picture.
There are two types of citizenship behaviors exist in the organizational citizenship
behavior measures:

(1) Active positive contributions or commissions (e.g., helping others)

(2) Avoiding to engage in behaviors that are harmful to others or to one’s organization
(e.g., not abusing others’ rights).

This latter behavior that tends to be labeled as omission is a passive behavior that is
based on the moral rule “Do no harm,” or more specifically “Do no harm through action”
(Baron, 1998)[40]. Discussion on dimensions of organizational citizenship behavior is
carried further for a through conceptualization of organizational citizenship behavior by
investigating the various antecedents of organizational citizenship behavior . For this
purpose the researchers attempted to examine various antecedents of organizational
citizenship behavior pronounced by different scholars of this field. Finally, a revised set
of antecedents triggering organizational citizenship behavior is presented

Antecedents of organizational citizenship behavior

A wide range of employee and organization variables are investigated to find organizational
citizenship behavior in different positions (Podsakoff et. al, 2000). The search for a host of
reliable predictors of organizational citizenship behavior has been increasing during the last two
decades, during this time span the researchers tried to figure out various enabling factors of
organizational citizenship behavior, with varying degrees of predictive merit:

Organ conducted the first research on the antecedents of organizational

citizenship behavior, finding job satisfaction to be
The best predictor. After two decades of research, job satisfaction is still the leading predictor of
organizational citizenship behavior
 This is problematic because, descriptively, job satisfaction is in and of itself a
Challenging outcome sought by organizational managers. The resulting implications are
restricted to suffice that organizational citizenship behavior is likely when worker are satisfied.
Many scholars believe job satisfaction is too broad a construct for the accurate prediction of
organizational citizenship behavior.

Variables considered by employees

This section considers the various individual and organization variables to be involved in
organizational citizenship behavior.

1. Job satisfaction and organizational commitment

Job satisfaction has been found to
have a positive Relationship with job performance and organizational citizenship behavior.
This in turn has a significant influence on employees’ absenteeism, turnover, and
psychological distress. Peoples who are satcified with their jobs want to be involved in
Organizational Citizenship Behavior .and further people who are satcified from their job
deceased propensity to search for another job, and a decreasing propensity to leave. Along
with job satisfaction, affective organizational commitment is frequently cited antecedent of
organizational citizenship behavior. Affective commitment is conceptualized to maintain
membership in the organization. Because affective commitment those behaviors (i.e.
discretionary behaviors)

2. Role perceptions
Role perceptions are related to organizational citizenship behavior. And if
er look at other side clearity in role is positively related to performance. However both things
can effect employee behavior which in tern effect organization, which is related to
organizational citizenship behavior , it is likely that organizational citizenship behavior is
mediated by satisfaction.

3. Leader behaviors and Leader-member exchange

Leadership has very strong impact on employee's to engage in organizational citizenship

behavior. However, to follow only specific rules many researchers found that that relationship
between leader and employee , that counts . The leader member exchange is basically the
relationship between higher management and employees. Another leadership variable positively
related to organizational citizenship behavior is the leaders' contingent rewards behaviors, .
Leadership behaviors may also influence organizational citizenship

4. Fairness perceptions
It is basically related to feeling of employees that weather employees
are treated well in the organization or they have no rule in the betterment of organization.
Either employees are involved in the decisions making process or not and they are assigning
the major responsibilities or not so it is the responsibility of the organization to provide working
environment to employees so that they cannot perceive all those things

5. Individual dispositions
Personality has many dimensions some peoples personality has a
positive impact on organization and some has negative impact on Organizational Citizenship
Behavior. Organizational citizenship behavior does not seem to depend on personality traits
such. The fact that organizational citizenship behavior is conceptualized as a Set of behaviors’
affected by the thinking of the peoples on the working area that’s why personality variables are
not used in the study of organizational citizenship behavior so personality of individuals have a
clear impact on the organization.

6. Motivational theories
Recent research using motivation to measure an individual's
disposition has renewed interest in examining Organ's model proposing that an individual's
motives may relate to his or her organizational citizenship behaviors Penner, etal explored the
impact of personality and motivation on organizational citizenship behavior . Since no previous
research had used motivation to predict organizational citizenship behavior, they developed
their propositions from the volunteerism research.
Recently a new typology of motivation sources was proposed by
Leonard, Beauvais, and Scholl. The researchers proposed five sources of motivation measured
include internal process, perception, own concept, and goal recognition. Barbuto et al. argued
that though the motivational theories work as antecedents for organizational citizenship
behavior, but the researchers cautioned that an individual’s sources of motivation could have an
impact on his or her level of organizational citizenship behavior. As individual progress upward
in an organization, motivational theories tend to be less Applicable as antecedent.

7. Employee age
The proposition that younger and older worker may view work and self in
fundamentally different ways is not new. Wagner and Rush (2000) pointed out that early years
(20-34) are the years of establishment and settling down; later years (35-55) are strong sense of
self and location vis-à-vis life and work. The authors argued that younger employees coordinate
their needs with organizational needs more flexibly; by contrast, older employees tend to be
more rigid in adjusting their needs with the organization. Therefore, younger and older workers
may differ in their orientations toward self, others, and work. These differences may lead to
different salient motives for organizational citizenship behavior among younger and older
employ

Summary

Now we have discussed organizational citizenship from various dimensions and we came to
know that it plays very important role for the success of an organization but most important thing
to consider is that either this concept is that much practical that different organizations will
provide opportunities and environment that employees can work beyond their roles and duties.

Organizations that have such employees outperform those that don’t. As a result, some
human subject studies are concerned with organizational citizenship behavior as a dependent
variable.
Achievement, affiliation, and power are not new ideas, but the application
of these motives to the study of OCB does provide a new lens through which to view OCB.
Much research is still needed to validate the ideas expressed.
As defined by Organ (1988), OCB reflects a “good soldier syndrome” which
is so necessary for the prosperity and good functioning of every organization. It means doing a
better job, making an effort above and beyond formal requirements, and filling the gap between
procedures and regulations on the one hand, and dynamic reality on the other. OCB is usually
perceived as exerting exceptionally good behaviors for the sake of the organization and
informally supporting its members. To date, and as far as we could find, no study has
investigated the meaning. Obviously, such behaviors are important to private organizations
since they affect their competitiveness and profitability must be committed to increasing OCB
among their paid employees. Thus, OCB represent a powerful element of free-will conduct,
most relevant in third-sector organizations, which highlight values of voluntary personal actions
especially among paid employees. Consequently it is interesting to examine how OCB is
manifested in interpersonal relationships within work units of the non-profit sector.
Organizational citizenship is not included in the job description of the
employees (Robbins,1996). Successful organizations need employees who will do more than
their usual job duties and provide performance that is beyond expectations. In short, in order to
reach that goal, fill full employee’s job satisfaction, understand they motivation and create
suitable work environments are most important thing in management reality.

So organizations came to know the importance of this area of organizational

behavior and taking steps to provide circumstances to their employees that they can work
beyond their responsibilities. But still there are lots of areas where there is a need of research to
be done and there is a need of practical implication of this concept
ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR PROJECT
“ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP BEHAVIOR”

SUBMITTED BY

ATIQ-UR-REHMAN

1400027

ALI RAZA

1400037

ATIF JAVID

1400043

Raheem baksh

1400028

DATE
16-JUNE-2010