1.5 Performance of Individuals and Groups

Individual-level performance relates to tasks individuals perform in their job (referred to as in-role performanceThe things that you have to do as part of your job and its job description.), and those things that add value but are not part of a formal job description. These “extras” are called extra-role performance, or organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs)Voluntary behaviors employees perform to help others and benefit the organization.. Generally, in-role performance relates to productivity and quality dimensions associated with certain standards that you must meet to do your job. In contrast, OCBs can be understood as individual behaviors that are beneficial to the organization and are discretionary, but not directly or explicitly recognized by the formal reward system. Here, we outline a number of examples commonly cited as OCBs. 

Altruism is a helping behavior that refers to voluntary actions that help others with work problems such as instructing new hires how to use equipment or helping coworkers catch up with work backlogs. Not wasting time (the average American worker wastes 6 hours watching March Madness at work yearly) is an example of altruism as an OCB.

Interpersonal helping is a helping behavior that focuses on assisting coworkers in their jobs when such support is needed. 

Courtesy is a helping behavior that includes gestures that facilitate the prevention of problems such as touching base with someone before committing to actions that will affect them or providing advance notice to someone in regards to scheduling. 

Peacemaking is a helping behavior that refers to actions that help prevent, resolve, or mitigate unconstructive interpersonal conflict.

Cheerleading is a helping behavior that refers to the use of encouraging and reinforcing words and gestures with coworkers.

Sportsmanship is a citizen-like posture of tolerating the inevitable inconveniences and impositions of work without complaining or grievance. 

Organizational loyalty refers to identification with and allegiance to the organization as a whole, transcending the parochial interests of individuals, work groups, and departments.

Representative behaviors include defending the organization against threats, contributing to its good reputation, and cooperating with others to serve the interests of the whole.

Organizational compliance (or obedience) refers to an orientation toward organizational structure, job descriptions, and personnel policies that recognizes and accepts the necessity and desirability of a rational structure of rules and regulations. Obedience may be demonstrated by a respect for rules and instructions, punctuality in attendance and task completion, and stewardship of organizational resources. 

Individual initiative (or conscientiousness) involves a pattern of going beyond minimally required levels of attendance, punctuality, housekeeping, conserving resources, and related matters of internal maintenance. 

Civic virtue involves responsible, constructive involvement in the political process of the organization, including not just expressing opinions, but reading one’s mail, attending meetings, and keeping abreast of larger issues involving the organization.

Self-development includes all the steps that workers take to voluntarily improve their knowledge, skills, and abilities so they are better able to contribute to their organizations. Examples include seeking out and taking advantage of advanced training courses, keeping abreast of the latest developments in one’s field, or even learning a new set of skills to expand the range of one’s contributions to an organization. 

A groupA collection of individuals who interact with each other such that one person’s actions have an impact on other members. is a collection of individuals. Group-level performance focuses on both the outcomes and process of collections of individuals, or groups. In some cases, individuals might be expected to work on their own agendas in the context of a group. Groups might also consist of project-related groups, such as a product group or an entire store or branch of a company. The performance of a group consists of the inputs of the group minus any process loss that results in the final output. Examples of group performance outcomes include the quality of a product and the ramp-up time to production or the sales for a given month.

What is the difference between a group and a team? A collection of people is not a team, though they may learn to function in that way. A teamA cohesive coalition of people working together to achieve mutual goals. is a cohesive coalition of people working together to achieve the team agenda (i.e., teamwork). Being on a team is not equal to total subordination of personal agendas, but it does require a commitment to the vision and involves each individual directly accomplishing the team’s objective. Teams differ from other types of groups in that members are focused on a joint goal or product, such as a presentation, completing in-class exercises, discussing a topic, writing a report, or creating a new design or prototype. Moreover, teams also tend to be defined by their relatively smaller size. For example, according to one definition, “A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they are mutually accountable.”

The purpose of assembling a team is to accomplish bigger goals that would not be possible for the individual working alone or the simple sum of many individuals’ independent work. Teamwork is also needed in cases where multiple skills are needed or where buy-in is required from certain key stakeholders. Teams can, but do not always, provide improved performance. Working together to further the team agenda seems to increase mutual cooperation between what are often competing factions. The aim and purpose of a team is to perform, to get results, and to achieve victory in the workplace and marketplace. The very best managers are those who can gather together a group of individuals and mold them into an effective team.

Managers need to understand the compatibility of individual and group performance, typically with respect to goals and incentives. What does this mean? Looking at goals first, there should be compatibility between individual and group goals. For example, do the individuals’ goals contribute to the achievement of the group goal or are they contradictory? Incentives also need to be aligned between individuals and groups. A disconnect between these is most likely when individuals are rewarded for action that is not consistent with the goal. For example, the contracts of many professional athletes have been criticized for rewarding individual statistics (such as individual scoring) instead of group goals such as team wins. Finally, firms need to be careful to match their goals with their reward structures. For example, if the organization’s goal is to increase group performance but the firm’s performance appraisal process rewards individual employee productivity, then the firm is unlikely to create a strong team culture.