Part III
C H A P T E R S E V E N
Interpersonal Behavior
in the Workplace:
Conict, Cooperation,
Trust, and Deviance 7
Lecture Outline
Psychological Contracts: Our Expectations
of Others
Types of Psychological Contracts
E”ects of Psychological Contracts
Trust in Working Relationships
Calculus Based Trust
Identi$cation Based Trust
Swift Trust
Developing Trustworthiness
Organizational Citizenship Behavior:
Prosocial Behavior That Goes Beyond
Formal Job Requirement
Forms of OCB
Why Does OCB Occur?
Does OCB Really Matter?
Suggestions for Promoting OCB
Cooperation: Providing Mutual Assistance
Cooperation Within Organizations
Cooperation Between Organizations:
Interorganizational Alliances
Competition: The Opposite of
Cooperation
Conict: The Inevitable Result of
Incompatible Interests
Types of Conict
Causes of Conict
Consequences of Conict
Managing Conict Through
Negotiation
Deviant Organizational Behavior
Whistle Blowing: Constructive
Workplace Deviance
Cyberloa$ng
Workplace Aggression and Violence
Employee Theft
This chapter explores the continuum of prosocial to
deviant interpersonal behavior in the workplace.
Three types of psychological contracts are at work in
organizations. Transactional contracts typically have
an economic focus, are short in duration and have a
well-de$ned scope. Relational contracts are based
on friendship and the parties have a long-term
perspective. Balanced contracts are a combination
of the other two. Trust is an important component of
relationships. Di”erent forms of trust characterize
the psychological contracts. Calculus-based trust
(based on deterrence) is associated with
transactional contracts. Identi$cation-based trust is
associated with relational contracts. Swift trust
occurs as a set of collective perceptions develops
among members of temporary groups.
Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) consists of
acts that go beyond one’s formal job requirements.
Cooperation and competition are behaviors at
opposite ends of the continuum. However, people do
have mixed motives and engage in both behaviors
simultaneously. Cooperation can be promoted within
an organization through the reciprocity rule and
reward systems that support cooperation among
workers. Competition is inevitable and companies
need to assess whether they are encouraging
negative forms of competitive behavior among
workers. Conict is caused by many factors. Conict
can, however, have bene$cial e”ects by surfacing
problems. Deviant behavior in organizations
includes workplace aggression, workplace bullying,
cyberloa$ng and employee theft. Minimizing deviant
organizational behavior requires organizations to
articulate clear polices, role model desired behavior,
and communicate the costs to other members of the
organization.
©2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall 33
ANNOTATED OUTLINE
1. PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTRACTS: OUR EXPECTATION OF OTHERS
Psychological contracts – a person’s perceptions and expectations about
the mutual obligations in an employment relationship
A. Types of psychological contracts
1. Time frame
2. Performance expectation
a. Transactional contracts
1. Economic focus
2. Brief time span
3. Unchanging nature
4. Narrow and well designed in scope
b. Relational contracts
1. Non-economic in focus
2. Long-term
3. Dynamic over time
c. Balanced contracts
1. Combination of both
B. E”ects of psychological contracts
1. The three types of psychological contracts have contrasting
e”ects for individuals and organizations.
2. TRUST IN WORKING RELATIONSHIPS
Trust – reects one person’s degree of con$dence in the words and actions of
another
A. Calculus-based trust
1. Calculus-based trust – based on the use of threats and
deterrents
B. Identi$cation-based trust
1. Identi%cation-based trust – based on accepting and
understanding another person’s wants and desires
a. Familiarity
b. Shared experience
c. Reciprocal disclosure
d. Ful$lled promises
e. Demonstrations of non-exploitation and vulnerability
C. Swift trust
1. Swift trust – trust that occurs as a set of collective perceptions
develops among members of temporary groups
a. Outcomes are interdependent
b. Time constraints exist
c. Group members focus on task and professional roles
d. A trust broker is in place
D. Developing trustworthiness
1. Trustworthiness develops most strongly when the following
three factors are combined:
a. Ability – refers to one’s knowledge and capacity to
perform various tasks
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b. Benevolence – refers to the inclination to be
considerate and to demonstrate concern and support
c. Integrity – people with high levels of integrity adhere to
moral and ethical principles
2. Leaders are considered especially trustworthy when they are
high in ability, benevolence, and integrity.
3. Trust can be promoted by:
a. Always meeting deadlines
b. Following through as promised
c. Sharing personal values and goals with others
d. “Walking the talk”
e. Giving people a chance to express themselves
f. Making sure that people know about you
3. ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP BEHAVIOR: PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR THAT GOES
BEYOND FORMAL JOB REQUIREMENTS
Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) – refers to actions that exceed
the formal requirements of one’s job.
A. Forms of OCB
1. OCB-I is directed toward individuals
2. OCB-O is directed toward organizations
B. Why does OCB occur?
1. The more people believe that they are being treated fairly by
the organization, the more they trust its management and the
more willing they are to go the “extra mile” to help out if
needed.
C. Does OCB really matter?
1. OCB is an unoHcial part of the job and not part of core task
behavior; however, most people believe that because it is
important to the success of the organization, it should account
for 30-50% of workers’ formal performance ratings.
D. Suggestions for Promoting OCB
1. Be a model of helpful behavior
2. Demonstrate courtesy
3. Make voluntary functions worth attending
4. Don’t complain
5. Demonstrate conscientiousness
6. Don’t stand on ceremony
7. Treat employees fairly
4. COOPERATION: PROVIDING MUTUAL ASSISTANCE
Cooperation refers to situations in which two or more individuals, teams, or
organizations work together toward some common goal.
A. Cooperation within organizations
1. The reciprocity principle
a. Reciprocity – the tendency to treat others as they have
treated us
2. Personal orientation
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a. People can be categorized into four groups in terms of
their natural predispositions toward working with or
against others:
1. Competitors – primary motive is doing better
than others
2. Individualists – focused on maximizing own gain
3. Cooperators –maximizing joint outcomes
4. Equalizers – minimizing di”erences between self
and others
Self-Assessment Exercise Assessing Your Personal Orientation Toward
Others
Students should consider the following upon completion of the exercise.
1. What did the exercise reveal about you?
2. Were you surprised at what you learned?
3. Do you tend to maintain the same orientation most of the time, or are there
occasions in which you change from one orientation to another? What do you think
this means?
3. Organizational reward systems
a. Companies inadvertently create reward systems that abuse
b. Team-based rewards – portion of an individual’s
B. Cooperation among organizations: inter–organizational alliances
1. It can be bene$cial to work together with another company to
a. Partnering with suppliers
b. Research and development partnerships
C. Competition: the opposite of cooperation
1. Why don’t $rms cooperate all the time? Because some goals can’t be
2. Competition – a pattern of behavior in which each person, group, or
organization seeks to maximize its own gains
have mixed motives
5. CONFLICT: THE INEVITABLE RESULT OF INCOAPTIBLE INTERESTS
Con2ict ― process in which one party perceives another party has taken or
A. Types of conict
1. Substantive con2ict ― di”erent viewpoints or opinions with respect
2. A”ective conict ― clashes of personalities or interpersonal tension
3. Process conict ― controversies about how work groups are going to
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B. Causes of conict
1. Grudges
2. Malevolent attributions
3. Destructive criticism – negative feedback that angers the recipient
C. Consequences of conict: both good and bad
1. Negative consequences
a. Yields strong negative emotions
b. Stressful
c. Interferes with productivity
d. Communication problems emerge
2. Positive consequences
a. Improve the quality of organizational decisions
b. May bring problems out into the open
c. May motivate people to appreciate others’ positions more fully
d. May encourage people to consider new ideas
D. Managing conict through negotiation
1. Negotiation (or bargaining) refers to the process in which two or
more parties in dispute with each other exchange o”ers, countero”ers,
2. Outcomes must be win-win solutions – everyone wins
3. Tips for negotiation win-win solutions
a. Avoid making unreasonable o”ers
Winning
Practices
Settling Disputes Quickly and Inexpensively Out of Court:
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Use Winning Practices Case for class discussion ADR (mediation and arbitration).
6. DEVIANT ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
Deviant organizational behavior – actions on the part of employees who
A. Whistle blowing: constructive workplace deviation
1. Whistle blowing refers to the disclosure by employees of illegal,
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2. Employees may engage in whistle blowing in order to “get even” with a
3. Whistle blowers can be targets of retaliation by their organizations
B. Cyberloa$ng: deviant behavior goes high-tech
1. Cyberloa%ng – use of the company’s e-mail and/or Internet facilities
2. Cyberloa$ng is costly for organizations, but monitoring e”orts have not
C. Workplace aggression and violence
1. Workplace aggression – any e”orts by individuals to harm others
2. Three major categories of workplace aggression
a. Incivility and bullying – behaviors demonstrating a lack of
3. Causes of workplace aggression
a. Perceived unfairness
D. Employee theft
1. Employee theft – organizations lose more goods and money from
their own employees than they do customers
a. Why do employees steal?
1. Troubled (debt, addiction, gambling, etc)
2. See coworkers stealing
3. Not stealing goes against the informal norms of work
groups
4. Want to “even the score”
You Be the Consultant Suggested Answers
1. What possible causes of the problem would you consider and why?
Student answers will vary. Key points are presented in bullet form.
2. Assuming that these causes are real, what advice would you oer about how to
eliminate the problem?
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3. How might various tactics aimed at reducing con!ict be used to resolve the problems
identi”ed in the workplace?
Negotiation or bargaining could be used to resolve the problems and $nd
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