Organizational citizenship behavior and transformational leadership effectiveness

1 Organizational Behavior The role of organizational behavior in organizations is of particular importance in today’s organizational climate. As different types of leaders and followers from around the world merge into organizational teams, understanding the impacts of organizational behavior as well as expectations associate with it can be helpful in providing support that organizations need to succeed. This paper will examine three articles that examine the role of organizational behavior and present three different findings that can be used to help organizational leaders better effect the type of behavior they seek to achieve in the workplace. The study by Mackenzie, Podsakoff, and Podsakoff (2011) examines the role of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) in influencing organizational effectiveness. Specifically, the researchers look at affiliation-oriented and challenge-oriented OCB. The difference between the two forms is that the former is based on a worker’s affiliation or relationship with a group, while the latter is based on the worker’s relationship with a specific task. Mackenzie et al. (2011) study the “main and interactive effects that challenge-oriented and affiliation-oriented OCBs have on organizational effectiveness through their impact on workgroup task performance” (p. 559). The research method employed by Mackenzie et al. (2011) was to survey 150 limited-menu restaurants and obtain data on the relationship between the business’s two forms of OCBs and how those forms attributed to workgroup task performance. Business performance levels were also measured by examining sales, profit, and employee turnover. The findings of the study showed that challenge-oriented OCBs had a more positive effect on workgroup task performance—but only to a certain point, and beyond that point, the enabling conditions had to be in place for that form of OCB to be effective. The enabling condition that made the difference was for the organization to also have in place a high level of affiliation-oriented OCB. In conclusion, the study showed the challenge-oriented OCB and affiliation-oriented OCB are not mutually exclusive and that the latter can be helpful in supporting the former to enable the organization to achieve success. The study by Belschak, Hartog, and Kalshoven (2015) examines the impact that transformational leadership can have on followers who demonstrate Machiavellian tendencies. Specifically, the study focuses on whether leadership can effectively influence this type of follower to be more engaged in the showing the sort of behaviors that the organization wants to see followers demonstrate—for example, challenge-oriented OCB. The research method used by Belschak et al. (2015) consisted of conducting two multi-source field studies to test the hypotheses, using a moderation mediation model and surveying workers and leaders in the field. The study found that transformational leadership is able to moderate Machiavellianism in employees and orient them more towards displaying the type of challenging organizational citizenship behavior desired by the company. The study also found that job independence and transformational workplace motivation also helps to moderate Machiavellian behavior in employees. The study by Ford, Wang, and Eisenberger (2017) focused on moral emotions in the workplace, how they are mediated, and what their place in organizational behavior is. The study examined daily diary reports of 54 employees over 421 days. The researchers developed short measures of organization-directed anger and gratitude in two pre-study trials. They found that organizational support made a difference in whether a work experienced chronic anger or gratitude toward the organization. In other words, the more helpful that supervisors were to workers, the less likely workers were to have negative emotions which translated into negative workplace behavior. The less helpful that supervisors were, the more likely workers were to have negative feelings and display negative behavior within the organization. The three articles are similar in the fact that each highlights the importance that organizational behavior plays in organizations’ success. The study by Mackenzie et al. (2011) is similar to the study by Belschak et al. (2015) in the sense that both focus on challenge-oriented organizational behavior to show that this is an approach that can produce positive results for an organization. The difference between the two is that Mackenzie et al. (2011) focus on how affiliation-oriented OCB can support challenge-oriented OCB, while Belschak (2015) focuses on how transformational leadership style can facilitate the development of challenge-oriented OCB. Both, however, indicate that OCB is important in supporting organizational success. The study by Ford et al. (2017) focuses on the same themes but does so by exploring the impact of organizational behavior on worker emotions and vice versa. The study shows that when supervisors display helpful, healthy attitudes, workers follow suit and organizational behavior and OCB as a whole improve, which in turn improves the organization’s morale and ability to produce positive results. Thus, the three studies essentially reinforce the main ideas of one another, though each adopts a unique approach to the role of organizational behavior in organizations. Other researchers have showed the same support for these findings as well: Schyns and Schilling (2013) showed that workplace behavior is mediated by leadership attitudes, and Anand, Ashforth and Joshi (2005) showed that organizational behavior plays a significant role in organizations especially when it comes to accepting or tolerating unethical principles from leaders on down to workers. The theories uncovered and supported by all of these studies show that in order for organizational behavior to reflect positively on the organization and lead to organizational success, the behavior must be supported by good leadership, strong affiliations, and challenge-oriented organizational citizenship behavior. In terms of applying these findings in an actual organization, it is crucial to recall that, as in nursing where evidence-based practice is routinely advocated by nursing professionals and nursing educators (Ubbink, Guyatt & Vermeulen, 2013), so too in business is the scholar-practitioner concept useful in applying research to practice. As Herbert (2010) notes, “the zeal of scholarly work, when placed within the confines of practice, will sustain the flames of learning, even as one moves through change” (p. 33). In other words, the more that one applies what one learns in the academic world to the real world of practice, the more likely one is to further continue to develop one’s education, as it becomes evident that it has a practical utility and place in real world organizations. The scholar-practitioner concept is one in which the scholar-practitioner can be seen as a “change agent” who incorporates new developments in research into the methods of practice; the scholar-practitioner is one who delineates the “interplay between theory and practice, which enables them to recognize the ubiquity of their interactions with others” (Herbert, 2010, p. 34). Scholar-practitioners are able to take the information they encounter through research and apply it accordingly to the real world where these findings are meant to be implemented. The theories and findings of Mackenzie et al. (2011), Belschack et al. (2015) and Ford et al. (2017) can all be applied within an actual organization in alignment with the scholar-practitioner concept in the following way: 1) Organizational citizenship behavior can be augmented by aligning challenge-oriented OCB with affiliation-oriented OCB to further the aims of the organization and enable it to be more successful in the pursuit of its goals. 2) Workers who display negative or manipulative attitudes and behaviors can be transformed by transformational leadership style to demonstrate behaviors that are more acceptable and in line with organizational desires. 3) Leaders who show support for workers and give them positive feedback, encouragement and assistance can have a good effect on organizational behavior and thereby facilitate the organization’s objectives. Each of these three concepts can be implemented in any actual organization. The theory of OCB being supported by challenge- and affiliation-oriented behavior, along with the theory of leadership affecting workplace behaviors, translates into practice in terms of developing the organizational culture. In both cases, the organizational culture is the bedrock or foundation for behavioral cues. If the culture is one that supports or allows or looks the other way when corruption is evident, the organizational behavior of workers will reflect this problematic condition. If the culture is one that promotes and rewards and even incentivizes workers to be good employees, to uphold ethical principles, and to engage with their work in a manner that is positive for the organization and its aims, the workers will be more aligned with the type of behavior that is conducive to success. By focusing on the organizational culture at the ground floor level and implementing a policy or code of conduct that addresses specifically how employees, workers, leaders, managers and all stakeholders are expected to conduct themselves in accordance with identified and defined principles and ethics that reflect community and social values, the organization is sure to enhance organizational behavior, which in turn will positively affect the organization’s success. The research shows that the role of organizational behavior in organizations is critical to organizational success and that without positive and dedicated organizational behavior, organizations cannot achieve the aims and objectives they set out to achieve. The behavior of workers and leaders dictates the behavior of the organization. The findings of the research can easily be implemented in the real world. Leaders can take part in crafting and implementing an organizational culture that supports the development of positive organizational behavior. Workshops, training, and education are all essential tools that can assist in this process. However, it starts with leadership: leaders must take the initiative in providing workers with the support they need. Servant leadership and transformational leadership would facilitate this directive and the followers of these leaders would reciprocate the good will by manifesting a positive organizational behavior that benefits the organization as a whole. This organizational behavior would consist of both challenge- and affiliation-oriented OCB, both of which could be supported by the organization by way of incentives offered to workers who want to help build and strengthen the workplace culture through extra-dedication and commitment to solving workplace problems and assisting the organization in overcoming obstacles. Submitting to a Scholarly Journal A journal that would be an appropriate place to submit this article to would be the Journal of Organizational Behavior, published by Wiley. It is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal that focuses specifically on organizational behavior as a subject and is thus perfectly suited to the type of article written here. I chose this journal because it specifically applies to the subject of the article and the article specifically applies to the focus of the journal. In order to submit to the journal, there are specific instructions that should be followed. The journal has an online submission and peer review system that authors must use in order to submit articles. Articles must be submitted in .doc, .rtf., .ppt or .xls format. The article must be written in English and formatted in 12-point type, with font in either Times, Helvetica or Courier. 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