A hybrid simulation model of helping behavior

Companies in a variety of industries rely on their employees to work together effectively in teams to achieve their objectives. However, finding ways to encourage collaborative behavior to optimize a team's performance is often challenging. In particular, managers would like to be able to increase the likelihood that team members decide to help each other, in the event of workload imbalances. In this paper, a hybrid simulation (ABM-DES) model has been developed to investigate how workers' predisposition to altruistic tendencies, an important personality factor, influences their willingness to help their co-workers on a production task. Model inputs were derived from experimental data, including participants' personalities, perceptions, and decisions regarding whether or not to help team members complete a task. Simulation results suggest that highly altruistic individuals are more likely to help their co-workers.