Organizational Behavior

Organizational Behavior

Part A

Psychological Empowerment

Psychological Empowerment advocates the methodology of causing intrinsic motivation. It is a self induced or influenced cognitive state of mind when a person motivates himself by looking at his contribution making a larger impact. Studies has proved that people who are intrinsically motivated work more hard and perform exceptionally well then the people who are extrinsically motivated, for example, by monetary incentives, promotions etc.

Instilling psychological empowerment is important for managers and especially for human resource managers in developing more productive work force. The self guided and motivated work force will need less supervision, more moral support and will achieve more success. The psychological empowerment is strengthened by the reinforcement of four beliefs, as follows (Oladipo, 2011):

Meaningfulness

Meaningfulness in work is one of the sustainable causes of motivation. Meaningfulness refers to the value of goal, task or purpose, assessed in comparison to one's own standards or ideals. The alignment of the worth of the work with the personal values of the work create a inherent motivation which compels the individual to work with high level of motivation and show empowerment of its actions.

Self-Determination

It refers to the intrinsic motivation caused by the person's inherent abilities which he believes can make him excel in the life or work. It is strengthened by the psychological need of the person to achieve its self set goals. A manger can harness this self-determination by emphasizing the alignment of the organizational goals to the intrinsic goals to ensure that employee excels in his goals by achieving organizational goals.

Competence

The confidence and self efficacy to take on new challenges, the ability to adapt to new environments and being proactive all are part of cognitive competence. Competence provides a person motivation and strength to with stand change, stay determined and focus to the task. The competence is sometimes explored in potential worker and he is made to recognize his talent to generate motivation. This leads to self empowered individuals who a psychologically empowered.

Impact

Extrinsic benefits offered for a work being carried out is a source of motivation but it will seek a higher motivation through increments and incentives as well explained by Maslow Hierarchy of Needs. On the contrary, the employee will be motivated for a very long time if there is understanding and belief that his work no matter how small or big it may seem, is for a higher cause and makes more contribution to the society at large. A factory worker will be timely motivated by piece rate compensation package, but he will be internally motivated if it is coupled with a strong belief that with every unit he makes will bring profitability to the company, which they will share with the rest of the workers, in turn prosperity finding its way into the homes of the people. The work should have a strong meaning/purpose and should be worthy to the people carrying it out.

Five Dimensions of Big Five

Following are the personality dimensions of big five (Kozlowski, 2012):

Conscientiousness

This dimension deals with propensity ...