ABSTRACT
In the present chapter, I argue that the problem of interpersonal cooperation begins with the basic elements of giving and receiving. Every member of an organization has to occupy the roles of giver and receiver at some point or another. Indeed, people “slip in and out of these roles every day and, in some cases, multiple times in the course of the same day” (Flynn & Adams, 2009, p. 404). But despite the fact that giving and receiving assistance are relatively mundane experiences, the differences between the two psychological mindsets are anything but mundane. Givers and receivers attend to, and respond to, similar information in social exchange in highly dissimilar ways, which can lead their exchange relations to fracture or fail to take root.
