Organizational citizenship notes
From Barnard (1938). (Cited in Borman & Motowidlo, 1993)
-- (From Motowidlo, p. 75): "Barnard notes the importance of the “informal organization,” cooperative
efforts in organizations, and the need for organization members to be willing to contribute in these cooperative efforts."
-- JA: The informal org as hidden culture
-- (From Barnard, 1938)
-- Rather than being used to extract a definition of the informal organization, this is probably most useful, as Borman and Motowidlo (1993) have done, as an example of a fundamental early antecedent of organizational citizenship, but we can go a step further and acknowledge that it was part of his "theory of cooperative systems and organizations." (p. 123).
-- "By informal organization I mean the aggregate of the personal contacts and interactions and the associated groupings of people that I have just described." (p. 115)
-- "Now it is evident from this description that informal organization is indefinite and rather structureless, and has no
definite subdivision. It may be regarded as a shapeless mass of quite varied densities, the variations in density being a result of external factors affecting the closeness of people geographically or of formal purposes which bring them specially into contact for conscious joint accomplishments. These areas of special density I call informal organizations, as distinguished from societal or general organization in its informal aspects. Thus there is an informal organization of a community, of a state. For our purposes, it is important that there are informal organizations related to formal organizations everywhere." (p. 115).
-- "Informal organization, although comprising the processes of society which are unconscious as contrasted with those of formal organization which are conscious, has two important classes of effects: (a) it establishes certain attitudes, understandings, customs, habits, institutions; and (b) it creates the condition under which formal organization may arise." (p. 116)
-- "(a) The most general direct effects of informal organization are customs, mores, folklore, institutions, social norms and ideals — a field of importance in general sociology and especially in social psychology and in social anthropology." (p. 116).
-- " (b) Informal association is rather obviously a condition which necessarily precedes formal organization." (p. 116).
-- "The important consideration for our purposes, however, is that informal organization compels a certain amount of formal organization, and probably cannot persist or become extensive without the emergence of formal organization." (p. 117)
-- "This is not to deny, but to reaffirm, that the attitudes, institutions, customs, of informal society affect and are partly expressed through formal organization. They are interdependent aspects of the same phenomena—a society is structured by formal organizations, formal organizations are vitalized and conditioned by informal organization. What is asserted is that there cannot be one without the other. If one fails the other disintegrates." (p. 120).
-- "Formal organizations arise out of and are necessary to informal organization; but when formal organizations come into operation, they create and require informal organizations." (p. 120).
-- (The part Borman and Motowidlo, 1993, were referring to about cooperation): "It seems not easily to be recognized without long and close observation that an important and often indispensable part of a formal system of cooperation is informal." (p. 121).
-- -- "In fact, informal organization is so much a part of our matter-of-course intimate experience of everyday association, either in connection with formal organizations or not, that we are unaware of it, seeing only a part
of the specific interactions involved." (p. 122).
-- He summarizes the purpose of the chapter as "to show (I) that those interactions between persons which are based on personal rather been to show than on joint or common purposes, because of their repetitive character become systematic and organized through their' effect upon habits of action and thought and through their‘ promotion of uniform states of mind; (2) that although the number of persons with whom any individual may have interactive experience is limited, nevertheless the endless-chain relationship between persons in a society results in the development, in many respects, over wide areas and among many persons, of uniform states of mind which crystallize into what we call mores, customs, institutions; (3) that informal organization gives rise to formal organizations, and that formal organizations are necessary to any large informal or societal organization; (4) that formal organizations also make explicit many of the attitudes, states of mind, and institutions which develop directly through informal organizations, with tendencies to divergence, resulting in interdependence and mutual correction of these results in a general and only approximate way; (5) that formal organizations, once established, in their turn also create informal organizations; and (6) that informal organizations are necessary to the operation of formal organizations as a means of communication, of cohesion, and of protecting the integrity of the individual." (p.
123).
-- All of this, he writes completes the presentation of his "theory of cooperative systems and organizations." (p. 123).
-- "Informal organizations are found within all formal organizations, the latter being essential to order and consistency, the former to vitality. These are mutually reactive phases of cooperation, and they are mutually dependent." (p. 286).
-- JA: This may not actually fit here because it's more about cooperation and informal orgs than it is org cit. Putting also under LOA notes. "Such a story calls finally for a declaration of faith. I believe in the power of the cooperation of men of free will to make men free to cooperate; that only as they choose to work together can they achieve the fullness of personal development; that only as each accepts a responsibility for choice can they enter into that communion of men from which arise the higher purposes of individual and of cooperative behavior alike. I believe that the expansion of cooperation and the development of the individual are mutually dependent realities, and that a due proportion or balance between them is a necessary condition of human welfare. Because it is subjective with respect both to a society as a whole and to the individual, what this proportion is I believe science cannot say. It is a question for philosophy and religion." (p. 296).
-- (JA: The informal org is necessary to maintain the authority that produces orders. Why individuals have a vested interest in maintaining the authority of the org, but only if the orders are in the zone of indifference. "Since the efficiency of organization is affected by the degree to which individuals assent to orders, denying the authority of an organization communication is a threat to the interests of all individuals who derive a net advantage from their connection with the organization, unless the orders are unacceptable to them also. Accordingly, at any given time there is among most of the contributors an active personal interest in the maintenance of the authority of all orders which to them are within the zone of indifference. The maintenance of this interest is largely a function of informal organization. Its expression goes under the names of “public opinion,” “organization opinion,” “feeling in the ranks,” “group attitude,” etc. Thus the common sense of the community informally arrived at affects the attitude of individuals, and makes them, as individuals, loath to question authority that is within or near the zone of indifference." (p. 169)
-- (JA: How the informal org is dependent on authority). "The necessity for this is not merely that specific communications cannot otherwise be attended to. It is at least equally that the informal organization disintegrates very quickly if the formal “line of authority” is broken. In organization parlance, “politics” runs riot. Thus, if an office were vacant, but the fact were not known, an organization might function for a considerable time without serious disturbance, except in emergency. But if known, it would quickly become disorganized." (p. 180).
From Katz (1964). (Cited in Borman & Motowidlo, 1993)
-- "The patterned activity which makes up an organization is so intrinsically a cooperative set of interrelationships, that we are not aware of the co-operative nexus any more than we are of any habitual behavior like walking. Within every workgroup in a factory, within any division in a government bureau, or within any department
of a university are countless acts of co-operation without which the system would break down. We take these everyday acts for granted ..." (p. 132).
-- Note the story of the salt babies and how the mistake was accidentally discovered by someone who broke a rule and put the stuff in his coffee.
Katz & Kahn ('78). I saw it but don't seem to have noted it in any of the file names. Check index if I haven't found it by the time I'm finished with those pdfs. (K & K rereffed in Borman & Motowidlo, '93).
From Barnard (1938). (Cited in Borman & Motowidlo, 1993)
-- (From Motowidlo, p. 75): "Barnard notes the importance of the “informal organization,” cooperative
efforts in organizations, and the need for organization members to be willing to contribute in these cooperative efforts."
-- JA: The informal org as hidden culture
-- (From Barnard, 1938)
-- Rather than being used to extract a definition of the informal organization, this is probably most useful, as Borman and Motowidlo (1993) have done, as an example of a fundamental early antecedent of organizational citizenship, but we can go a step further and acknowledge that it was part of his "theory of cooperative systems and organizations." (p. 123).
-- "By informal organization I mean the aggregate of the personal contacts and interactions and the associated groupings of people that I have just described." (p. 115)
-- "Now it is evident from this description that informal organization is indefinite and rather structureless, and has no
definite subdivision. It may be regarded as a shapeless mass of quite varied densities, the variations in density being a result of external factors affecting the closeness of people geographically or of formal purposes which bring them specially into contact for conscious joint accomplishments. These areas of special density I call informal organizations, as distinguished from societal or general organization in its informal aspects. Thus there is an informal organization of a community, of a state. For our purposes, it is important that there are informal organizations related to formal organizations everywhere." (p. 115).
-- "Informal organization, although comprising the processes of society which are unconscious as contrasted with those of formal organization which are conscious, has two important classes of effects: (a) it establishes certain attitudes, understandings, customs, habits, institutions; and (b) it creates the condition under which formal organization may arise." (p. 116)
-- "(a) The most general direct effects of informal organization are customs, mores, folklore, institutions, social norms and ideals — a field of importance in general sociology and especially in social psychology and in social anthropology." (p. 116).
-- " (b) Informal association is rather obviously a condition which necessarily precedes formal organization." (p. 116).
-- "The important consideration for our purposes, however, is that informal organization compels a certain amount of formal organization, and probably cannot persist or become extensive without the emergence of formal organization." (p. 117)
-- "This is not to deny, but to reaffirm, that the attitudes, institutions, customs, of informal society affect and are partly expressed through formal organization. They are interdependent aspects of the same phenomena—a society is structured by formal organizations, formal organizations are vitalized and conditioned by informal organization. What is asserted is that there cannot be one without the other. If one fails the other disintegrates." (p. 120).
-- "Formal organizations arise out of and are necessary to informal organization; but when formal organizations come into operation, they create and require informal organizations." (p. 120).
-- (The part Borman and Motowidlo, 1993, were referring to about cooperation): "It seems not easily to be recognized without long and close observation that an important and often indispensable part of a formal system of cooperation is informal." (p. 121).
-- -- "In fact, informal organization is so much a part of our matter-of-course intimate experience of everyday association, either in connection with formal organizations or not, that we are unaware of it, seeing only a part
of the specific interactions involved." (p. 122).
-- He summarizes the purpose of the chapter as "to show (I) that those interactions between persons which are based on personal rather been to show than on joint or common purposes, because of their repetitive character become systematic and organized through their' effect upon habits of action and thought and through their‘ promotion of uniform states of mind; (2) that although the number of persons with whom any individual may have interactive experience is limited, nevertheless the endless-chain relationship between persons in a society results in the development, in many respects, over wide areas and among many persons, of uniform states of mind which crystallize into what we call mores, customs, institutions; (3) that informal organization gives rise to formal organizations, and that formal organizations are necessary to any large informal or societal organization; (4) that formal organizations also make explicit many of the attitudes, states of mind, and institutions which develop directly through informal organizations, with tendencies to divergence, resulting in interdependence and mutual correction of these results in a general and only approximate way; (5) that formal organizations, once established, in their turn also create informal organizations; and (6) that informal organizations are necessary to the operation of formal organizations as a means of communication, of cohesion, and of protecting the integrity of the individual." (p.
123).
-- All of this, he writes completes the presentation of his "theory of cooperative systems and organizations." (p. 123).
-- "Informal organizations are found within all formal organizations, the latter being essential to order and consistency, the former to vitality. These are mutually reactive phases of cooperation, and they are mutually dependent." (p. 286).
-- JA: This may not actually fit here because it's more about cooperation and informal orgs than it is org cit. Putting also under LOA notes. "Such a story calls finally for a declaration of faith. I believe in the power of the cooperation of men of free will to make men free to cooperate; that only as they choose to work together can they achieve the fullness of personal development; that only as each accepts a responsibility for choice can they enter into that communion of men from which arise the higher purposes of individual and of cooperative behavior alike. I believe that the expansion of cooperation and the development of the individual are mutually dependent realities, and that a due proportion or balance between them is a necessary condition of human welfare. Because it is subjective with respect both to a society as a whole and to the individual, what this proportion is I believe science cannot say. It is a question for philosophy and religion." (p. 296).
-- (JA: The informal org is necessary to maintain the authority that produces orders. Why individuals have a vested interest in maintaining the authority of the org, but only if the orders are in the zone of indifference. "Since the efficiency of organization is affected by the degree to which individuals assent to orders, denying the authority of an organization communication is a threat to the interests of all individuals who derive a net advantage from their connection with the organization, unless the orders are unacceptable to them also. Accordingly, at any given time there is among most of the contributors an active personal interest in the maintenance of the authority of all orders which to them are within the zone of indifference. The maintenance of this interest is largely a function of informal organization. Its expression goes under the names of “public opinion,” “organization opinion,” “feeling in the ranks,” “group attitude,” etc. Thus the common sense of the community informally arrived at affects the attitude of individuals, and makes them, as individuals, loath to question authority that is within or near the zone of indifference." (p. 169)
-- (JA: How the informal org is dependent on authority). "The necessity for this is not merely that specific communications cannot otherwise be attended to. It is at least equally that the informal organization disintegrates very quickly if the formal “line of authority” is broken. In organization parlance, “politics” runs riot. Thus, if an office were vacant, but the fact were not known, an organization might function for a considerable time without serious disturbance, except in emergency. But if known, it would quickly become disorganized." (p. 180).
From Katz (1964). (Cited in Borman & Motowidlo, 1993)
-- "The patterned activity which makes up an organization is so intrinsically a cooperative set of interrelationships, that we are not aware of the co-operative nexus any more than we are of any habitual behavior like walking. Within every workgroup in a factory, within any division in a government bureau, or within any department
of a university are countless acts of co-operation without which the system would break down. We take these everyday acts for granted ..." (p. 132).
-- Note the story of the salt babies and how the mistake was accidentally discovered by someone who broke a rule and put the stuff in his coffee.
Katz & Kahn ('78). I saw it but don't seem to have noted it in any of the file names. Check index if I haven't found it by the time I'm finished with those pdfs. (K & K rereffed in Borman & Motowidlo, '93).
References
Barnard, C.I. (1938). The functions of the executive. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Borman, W. C., & Motowidlo, S. J. (1993). Expanding the criterion domain to include elements of contextual performance. In N. Schmitt, W. C. Borman, & Associates (Eds.), Personnel Selection in Organizations (pp. 71-98). San Francisco: JosseyBass.
Katz, D., & Kahn, R. L. (1978). The social psychology of organizations. New York: Wiley.
Barnard, C.I. (1938). The functions of the executive. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Borman, W. C., & Motowidlo, S. J. (1993). Expanding the criterion domain to include elements of contextual performance. In N. Schmitt, W. C. Borman, & Associates (Eds.), Personnel Selection in Organizations (pp. 71-98). San Francisco: JosseyBass.
Katz, D., & Kahn, R. L. (1978). The social psychology of organizations. New York: Wiley.