Tag Archives: S. J.

Want to increase performance? Take a look at Psychological Capital

Reply

Topic: Performance, Talent Management, Human Resource Management
Publication: Personnel Psychology (SUMMER 2011)
Article: Psychological capital and employee performance: A latent growth modeling approach
Authors: Peterson, S. J., Luthans, F., Avolio, B. J., Walumbwa, F. O., & Zhang, Z.
Reviewed by: Alexandra Rechlin

You’ve probably heard about human capital being related to performance, but what about psychological capital? Human capital refers to the skills and knowledge that employees possess which are relevant to the organization. Psychological capital, however, is a higher-order construct consisting of efficacy (confidence), hope, optimism, and resilience. The study described in this article explores the variability of psychological capital within individuals and the relationship between psychological capital and performance.

Over a period of seven months, the authors assessed 179 financial advisors’ levels of psychological capital along with objective and subjective measures of performance. They found that participants’ levels of psychological capital changed over time, providing further evidence that psychological capital can be developed. The level of psychological capital was also significantly related to both the objective and subjective measures of performance; that is, performance increased as psychological capital increased, and performance decreased as psychological capital decreased. The authors also found support for psychological capital influencing performance, as opposed to performance influencing psychological capital.

This study indicates that if you want to improve employees’ performance, it is important to consider psychological capital. Organizations may want to consider including psychological capital development as part of a development and performance management program. How?  Training programs aimed at increasing psychological capital have already been developed and tested for both online and traditional workshop delivery. These programs help participants set goals in order to increase hope, and they teach participants to deal effectively with setbacks and create contingency plans, thereby increasing optimism. Through the use of positive feedback, vicarious learning, and modeling, training programs (and managers) can also increase employees’ efficacy.

Peterson, S. J., Luthans, F., Avolio, B. J., Walumbwa, F. O., & Zhang, Z. (2011). Psychological capital and employee performance: A latent growth modeling approach. Personnel Psychology, 64, 427-450. doi: 10.1111/j.1744-6570.2011.01215.x

human resource management,organizational industrial psychology, organizational management

Think Positive: Positive Leaders Emit Positive Results

Reply

Topic: Leadership
Publication: Personnel Psychology (WINTER 2010)
Article: An investigation of the relationships among leader and follower psychological capital, service climate, and job performance
Authors: F. O. Walumbwa, S. J., Peterson, B. J. Avolio, C. A. Hartnell
Reviewed By: Lauren Wood

Researchers over the past decade have gained much knowledge pertaining to the effects of positivity in the workplace. One variable central in this research is psychological capital (described by an individual’s degree of efficacy, hope, optimism, and resilience). In general, employees with high psychological capital cultivate positive organizational outcomes (such as work performance) as well as decrease negative work outcomes (such as counterproductive work behavior). So, what circumstances exist to promote employee psychological capital in organizations?

The current study addresses this question by examining the effects of leader psychological capital on follower psychological capital and follower performance specifically within the service sector. The results reveal a spill-over effect with leader psychological capital promoting higher levels of follower psychological capital which, in turn, resulted in an increase in follower performance. Aside from the influences of positive leadership and due to the increasing importance of the service industry, the effects of service climate (or degree to which an organization promotes customer service and customer satisfaction) were also examined.

Continue reading →

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.