Organisational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB) is used to describe an employee's positive commitment, actions that are not part of his or her job description but help achieve organisational goals. It leads to actions that employees of a company carry out voluntarily to support their colleagues and to benefit the organisation.
Organisational citizenship behaviour has been associated with contributing to the wellbeing of the individual employee, and overall effectiveness of the organisation. Employees who have these behaviours do the extra mile out of personal motivation, even if the tasks are not part of the organisation’s reward system.
Content Overview
Why is Organisational Citizenship Behaviour important?
What are examples of Organisational Citizenship Behaviour?
Promoting Organisational Citizenship Behaviour In The Workplace.
Why is Organisational Citizenship Behaviour important?
It Promotes Teamwork
Employees who display organisational citizenship behaviour feel that they add value to the organisation. They are one with a team that needs to perform together to successfully achieve a common goal. They are driven to maintain better relationships with teammates and are less likely to engage in conflicts.
It Boosts Employee Engagement
Employees who have these behaviours are happy with what they do at work and proud of being part of the organisation. As such, it reduces stress, boosts their morale and they become more productive. Engaged employees are happy to be in the workplace, they put quality in the work that they do, and strive for organisational success.
They are also more likely to stay in your organisation. They cope with change during tough times, because they are dedicated and emotionally connected to your organisation.
It Translates to Better Customer Relations
Happy employees serve customers well and create better customer relationships. They know how these relationships contribute to the organisation’s goals, so they will strive to provide the best customer experience.
What are examples of Organisational Citizenship Behaviour?
Self Development
This type of behaviour is seen in employees who continuously update their skills. This improves their confidence and their ability to cope with organisational challenges, while pursuing their interests.
Helping Behaviour
This type of Organisational Citizenship Behaviour occurs when a worker decides to help his colleague without expecting anything in return. This could be done by choosing to help a co-worker finish a project even if the work does not necessarily need to be done by you.
Courtesy
When a worker is polite and treats all of his/her co-workers with respect, such a worker exhibits courtesy. This could be exhibited by keeping personal noise levels down so as not to distract other workers or saying a greeting to a coworker.
Loyalty
Loyalty is the emotional attachment of employees that makes them committed to the organisation. Loyal employees adopt the values, attitudes and beliefs of the organisation and they exert additional effort to achieve team goals.
Conscientiousness
Conscientiousness covers discipline and self-control to do what is expected of you as a worker under minimal supervision. This could be shown by coming in early to work or staying extra hours to see certain work done.
Sportsmanship
Sportsmanship is simply a worker's ability to be a good team player and stay in good spirits when things don't go as planned. It is being able to deal with unexpected situations without displaying negative behaviour. Sportsmanship could be seen in a worker refusing to complain.
Civic Virtue
Civic Virtue refers to when an employee represents his organisation in a good light within and without the workplace. Employees display this citizenship behaviour by speaking well of the organisation or communicating the organisational values through actions.
Promoting Organisational Citizenship Behaviour In The Workplace
As seen above, OCB can have great benefits to both the employees and the employer, so here are three best ways to promote OCB in your organisation:
Set the Example
Management should lead by example. A good leader exemplifies these behaviours, thus inspiring the employees to do so.
Promote citizenship behaviour by finding ways to highlight those employees who already display most or all of these behaviours within the workplace. Recognizing such workers motivates them and makes them feel valued. Recognition should be done both individually and before other employees.
Include Organisational Citizenship Behaviour In Performance Evaluations
One way that employers can improve organisational citizenship behaviours is to include these behaviours in the regular job performance evaluation. As a way to measure and encourage OCB Employers can choose to incorporate every principle of OCB in the company goals, objectives, and core values or choose to add factors like civic virtue to the evaluation process. They do not necessarily have to be named the same way: criteria such as "collaborating with other teams within the organisation" may be included.
Alternatively, employers may choose to consider these behaviours as "extra credit" to provide employees with the opportunity to earn higher than the overall scores in the evaluation process. For example, an employee's altruistic behaviours can result in a performance rating of 120%.
Improve Your Employee Selection Process
During the recruiting process, employers need to look out for OCB tendencies in their potential employees. Throughout the selection process, employers must try as much as possible to highlight the major company values. At Zappos, for example aligning with the core values of the company is crucial to become part of the team, more than competencies.
One way to do this is to provide a job description that highlights company core values and goals. It becomes easier for an employee to apply for a job because they agree with the values and objectives of the organisation.
Employers can also decide to narrow down the selection process by giving tests to measure an individual's personality and behavioural tendencies. Taking these steps will allow everyone to understand the company's vision even before they are hired. But more importantly, this will help you choose those who stand out and display these organisational citizenship behaviours.
We can help you
Here at Paul ter Wal, we can help you achieve maximum organisational citizenship behaviours with your employees.
We offer a wide range of programmes that provide companies with the opportunity to increase productivity and staff morale, increase engagement, and help individuals work more effectively within the organisation.
We have an experienced team of professionals, a custom-tailored approach to address organisational needs, and multifunctional programs that build on one another and provide you with the opportunity to improve employee engagement.
