On the virtues of staying 'inside of the box': Does organizational citizenship behavior detract from performance in Taylorist jobs?

In the past several years, increasing emphasis has been placed on the role of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) as an important aspect-of job performance. OCB is defined as employee behavior that contributes to organizational performance, but that is not formally specified as an aspect of the job. While OCB is likely to be an important element in the performance of most jobs, it is suggested that there are a sizeable number of jobs where OCB is neither desired nor encouraged. These jobs are described as being 'Taylorist' in recognition of Frederick Taylor's work advocating strict employee adherence to pre-specified job procedures. Several features are described that distinguish Taylorist jobs where OCB is likely to be harmful rather than beneficial. Implications that Taylorist jobs have with regard to employee selection are also discussed, and two empirical studies are described that illustrate how Taylorist jobs differ from jobs were OCB is more valued in terms of the relationships found between employee characteristics and job performance. Specifically, it appears that several candidate characteristics that one would theoretically expect to be negatively associated with OCB are positively associated with performance and tenure in Taylorist jobs.