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When we think about citizenship, perhaps of a country, a state, or a town, we often consider the opportunities, rights, and privileges extended to us as citizens. Citizens also have obligations, such as paying taxes and abiding by laws. Merriam-Webster’s definition of citizenship includes “membership in a community” and “the quality of an individual’s response to membership in a community.”

According to organizational behavior and industrial psychology researchers, citizenship extends to organizations, too. Organizations provide the tools, resources, information, systems, and processes to allow employees to be successful. There are also expectations that employees perform the tasks and outcomes required by their jobs and follow certain rules. Some members of organizations go further than their job requirements, doing things for the betterment of the organizational community and the people who work there. These actions are called organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs).

What Are Organizational Citizenship Behaviors?

Examples of OCBs are volunteering to take on a project, helping a coworker who is overwhelmed, offering to onboard and train new employees, setting up for company events, cleaning up a common area, staying positive and respectful when there are technology glitches, handling meeting logistics, or making sure the printer has paper.

Author and professor Dennis W. Organ identified the following categories of organizational citizenship behaviors in his 1988 book Organizational Citizenship Behavior: The Good Soldier Syndrome:

• Altruism, or helping coworkers

• Courtesy, or being polite and considerate

• Sportsmanship, or the absence of negative behavior when things don’t go as planned

• Conscientiousness, or levels of discipline that extend beyond job requirements

• Civic virtue, or constructive input, positively representing the organization outside of work and creating a sense of camaraderie and community

Organizational citizenship behaviors are individual, voluntary, and come from an individual’s personal desire to help. They are not usually rewarded through formal systems like promotions, raises, or bonuses.

Why Is Organizational Citizenship Important?

Organizational citizenship can make the day-to-day work experience more pleasant and positive. It can boost morale, enhance a sense of meaning and purpose, and build connection and community among employees. Some of these things are hard to achieve in a virtual work world, making organizational citizenship behavior even more important.

Research indicates that there are measurable results when employees are good organizational citizens, including improved organizational and team performance, reduced costs, lower levels of turnover and absenteeism, and fewer counter-productive behaviors, such as tardiness, theft, fraud, harassment, workplace bullying, or sabotage.

How Can You Promote Organizational Citizenship Behavior?

Keep in mind that OCBs are voluntary, outside the scope of a person’s job duties, and performed because the individual wants to make things better. If we use this definition, employers may not be able to require organizational citizenship, but they can encourage, recognize, and reinforce OCBs. Here are a few suggestions.

• Encourage leaders to demonstrate OCBs. Simple greetings, helping with company events, and planning so employees can anticipate upcoming deadlines can go a long way toward showing others the things that can make an everyday difference.

• Keep the organization’s values front and center. In many cases, OCBs may easily reflect or connect to organizational values. Create opportunities to discuss the values and how they might show up in what people say and do.

• Focus on recognition. Recognition can be as straightforward as a departmental email or message to the individual or the whole team. It can be shout-outs in meetings or company newsletters. There are formal recognition programs as well. Some organizations invite team members to nominate others for citizenship behaviors. Often the company will define them and ask nominators to be specific. Nominated employees can earn points or be entered into a lottery to win company swag or prizes.

Final Words of Caution

When the employer sets the expectation, directly or indirectly, that going above and beyond is required, good organizational citizens are ripe for burnout and job creep. According to an article in the University Times at the University of Pittsburgh, “Job creep is defined as pressuring employees to deliver more than the normal requirements of their jobs. The employer gradually increases requirements for employees, and behavior that was previously discretionary becomes increasingly expected or taken for granted by the employer.”

There are team members who go above and beyond much of the time. To help them avoid burnout and resentment, savvy managers may coach these employees that it’s OK to step back and let someone else step up.

If an organization chooses to include discretionary behavior in performance reviews that are tied to pay increases, OCBs may again start to look like requirements.

Do you want to build a culture where people and organizations thrive? Check out Employers Council leadership and professional development training and our organizational development consulting services. Contact us at (800) 884-1328 or by email at info@employerscouncil.org to learn more.