Tag Archives: K.

Predicting Burnout: Playing Well With Others Can Go a Long Way!

Reply

Topic: Burnout, Engagement
Publication: Journal of Vocational Behavior (SUMMER 2011)
Article: Social strategies during university studies predict early career work burnout and engagement: 18-year longitudinal study
Authors: Salmela-Aro, K., Tolvanen, A., Nurmi, J. E.
Reviewed by: Larry Martinez

Sure, there are days when we just don’t want to go to work.  In these times, the very thought of going in to the office can make one cringe…we feel like we need a long, isolated vacation.  In short, we’re burned out.  This is a big problem for companies, who rely on employees to be actively engaged and energetic at work.  However, it may be that some people are more or less intrinsically susceptible to burnout and disengagement at work.  That is, some people just have burnout-prone personality characteristics and thus may be unwise investments for employers.  Wouldn’t it be nice if we could figure out who these people are likely to be?  Salmela-Aro and her colleagues (2011) address this issue directly.

These authors followed 292 university students through their academic and subsequent careers (sometimes for as long as 18 years) to find personality characteristics that might predict burnout and disengagement.  Specifically, they found that social strategies used during college were indicators of later reported levels of burnout and engagement.  Social strategies include the extent to which someone is positively (optimism) or negatively (pessimism) inclined to value and approach social relationships.  So, if you have an optimistic social orientation, you are likely to 1) build relationships with coworkers who can act as resources, 2) ask for help when problems arise, and 3) have support from others when the going gets tough.  The opposite would be true for someone with a pessimistic (avoidant) social orientation. 

Continue reading →

Using performance management practices to drive employee engagement

2

Topic: Engagement, Job Performance, Job Attitudes
Publication: Journal of Business and Psychology (JUN 2011)
Article: Performance management at the wheel: Driving employee engagement in organizations
Authors: Mone, E., Eisinger, C., Guggenheim, K., Price, B., Stine, C.
Reviewed by: Alexandra Rechlin

You’ve probably heard quite a bit about employee engagement lately, and you know that you want engaged employees. However, what can you do to increase levels of employee engagement? This article discusses ways in which performance management practices can be used to drive employee engagement and provides suggestions for future research.

Many different definitions of engagement exist. In this article, engaged employees are defined as those who feel committed, involved, passionate, and empowered, and they must demonstrate those feelings in their behavior. The authors use prior research and theory to support their argument for why each of five different performance management practices can lead to increased engagement. The performance management practices described are: (1) setting performance and development goals, (2) providing ongoing feedback and recognition, (3) managing employee development, (4) conducting mid-year and end-year appraisals, and (5) building a climate of trust and empowerment.

Following any of the above performance management practices should lead to increased levels of employee engagement, but the authors note that the relevant impact of the different practices remains to be studied.

Mone, E., Eisinger, C., Guggenheim, K., Price, B., & Stine, C. (2011). Performance management at the wheel: Driving employee engagement in organizations. Journal of Business and Psychology, 26, 205-212. doi: 10.1007/s10869-011-9222-9

human resource management,organizational industrial psychology, organizational management

Implicit Assumptions and Organizational Context- A Recipe for Immoral Behavior?

Reply

Topic: Ethics
Publication: Journal of Applied Psychology
Article: Automatic ethics: The effects of implicit assumptions and contextual cues on moral behavior.
Authors: Reynolds, S. J., Leavitt, K., & DeCelles, K. A.
Reviewed By: Bobby Bullock

 

In recent years, the news has been filled with stories about organizations committing
gross violations against the environment, their stakeholders, and even the American public.  So it’s not a stretch to imagine that many people view business itself as inherently immoral.  What are the effects of such implicit assumptions about the moral nature of business?

Reynolds, Leavitt, and Decelles (2010) sought to answer questions like this in a recent study where they examined how employees’ implicit assumptions about the morality of business in general can impact day-to-day business decisions and moral behavior on the job. Their research supported the idea that organizational cues which support individual beliefs about the moral nature of business can combine to create more extreme conclusions (i.e., more immoral behavior or more moral behavior) than would be the case without such organizational cues.

Reynolds’ team found that individuals who inherently believed that business is moral (e.g., intense competition and emphasizing shareholder obligations and financial performance is okay) were much more likely to behave in an immoral fashion when their environment emphasized
success and competition On the other hand, individuals who believed that business is inherently immoral (e.g., business practices are overly aggressive and harmful) were much less likely to act immorally when similar cues were presented. However, it is also important to note that when opposite cues such as an emphasis on collaboration were presented in this study, both groups behaved morally!

  • The implications for moral behavior from this study are profound:
  • The organization holds much more influence than previously thought concerning whether or not employees behave morally or immorally
  • Although one can measure an employee’s implicit assumptions regarding their beliefs about the “morality” of business, it is the organizational culture itself that will most likely cue immoral behavior
  • Organizations should be aware of the messages that they send to their employees- if there is an extreme focus on competition and success at all costs, many people will dowhateverit takes to achieve it (hmm… sound familiar?)
  • And, according to Reynolds et al. (2010), organizations might want to take a more proactive approach to influence employee perceptions about the moral obstacles present in the complex world of business so that they may be more aware of this interaction effect

 

Reynolds, S., Leavitt, K., &
DeCelles, K. (2010). Automatic ethics: The effects of implicit assumptions and
contextual cues on moral behavior. Journal of Applied Psychology, 95(4), 752-760.