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Collectivism vs individualism cultures in the workplace essay
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Introduction
The term autonomy refers to accountability, authority and responsibility. Job autonomy and independence is the freedom which allowed to an employee in his/her job. Job autonomy and independence not only gives an employee a greater job responsibility but also a higher level of job satisfaction. People want freedom in their life either it is job or personal life so when employees have been awarded with job autonomy and independence so they perform better in their jobs and they feel fully satisfied. Job autonomy and independence increases decision making authority in employees primary work tasks. This also motivates employee to perform better and encourages employees to the high job satisfaction, lower absenteeism and turnover. It also saves organization from negative outcomes.
Research
Psychologists at California State University done a research on job autonomy and independence, they gave two task to the participants first one was boring task and second one was interesting but difficult. The findings showed that participants performed better on interesting task rather than on boring task because they worked according to their own interest in the task so “working on something interesting resulted better performance”. Researchers believed that workers who feel free in their choices are more productive because they work according to their own interest and choice so they did not feel tired or dissatisfied with their jobs.
Advantages and disadvantages of job autonomy and independence
Job satisfaction
In job autonomy and independence employees can decide how they will work and fulfill their tasks according to their own methods, higher levels of autonomy results in high job satisfaction. In...
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... good for the employees who work in the organization but also good for the organization’s efficiency and performance. Employees need autonomy and independence which increase their performance and motivation level. Management should invest in programs and trainings for employees which increase job autonomy and independence. When management organize the work they should always keep in mind people’s autonomy because when people feel that they have autonomy they give better outcomes which are good for any organization’s efficiency and success. However too much autonomy can also have a negative impact on organization because it would create laziness in employees and also supervisors would not feel any authority on their employees, management should take care when increasing more of it. So job autonomy is very much important for organizations.
What autonomy does is it helps stimulates an atmosphere of self-improvement in a community rather than people being dependent on others. Besides not using people as mere means O’Neill believes in helping develop others’ ends so that they can be independent.
...e mother left him to explore on his own to learn lessons about what is around him, such as the fire. Although he will get hurt once, he will learn from the experience. Even when it comes to social structure person autonomy can work out well. In the example of the Burmese novices, one can ask and ensure with the one in power or knowledge, but a person does not need to follow what he or she has been told to do. It is not a command but a suggestion and warning. Thus, personal autonomy can be practiced when it comes to work. A person does not have to be fully on his own to be individual. In both the child and work example, the child and workers are supported. Although they are left to do things on their own, the mother and the monk are there when help is required.
Autonomy is the free-will, and/or the independence of the individual to act without guidance from another factor. Competence is having the ability or confidence to perform efficiently. For instance, a competent employee needs little motivation from his/her superior when compared to someone who is incompetent of his/her position. Lastly, relatedness is a need for companionship, or an emotional connection. Employees need to have a common ground and something to relate to their immediate supervisor, this causes workers to feel more equal and comfortable. By maximizing each of these three psychological needs, the individual becomes more self-determined and motivation improves, as well as the reward appears more
Using the concepts of flow from Csikszentmihalyi, these authors hypothesized that by experiencing flow at work would create a positive leadership role, which would eventually lead to a great satisfaction in their job (Smith, Koppes, and Vodanovich). When a person is satisfied with their job, they are more likely to be organized and perform to their greatest capability. Some researchers have attempted to use flow to measure the relationship between the usage of flow and the attitudes of the employees while doing their job. The more an employee uses flow in their day-to-day work life, the happier the employee will be in the well-being of life (Fullagar and Kelloway). Using psychological flow in everyday work life has been proven to be extremely beneficial in creating a happy employee that is satisfied with the work that he or she is doing. Researcher Bakker has said that while experiencing flow, a person should feel an intense feeling of accomplishment and fulfilment, just while performing the task that they are expected to do everyday in their jobs (Bakker). Contrary to Csikszentmihalyi’s definition of flow, researcher Bakker (2008) defines “flow as the experience of complete absorption, enjoyment, and intrinsic motivation.” This definition is different from Csikszenmihalyi’s because of Bakker’s lack of focus on one specific task at hand. Csikszenmihalyi’s definition of flow is more precise for completing a task that requires stress as to where Bakker’s is a broad sense of satisfaction when completing any task. Having many different researchers offer their perspective of psychological flow is
Autonomy, also referred to as self-determination, is defined as freedom of choice or accepting responsibility
Affective Autonomy emphasizes the individual’s independent pursuit of affectively positive experience (pleasure, exciting life, varied life) (Smith & Schwartz, 1997). Schwartz (1999) redefined Affective Autonomy as a cultural emphasis on the desirability of individuals independently pursuing affectively positive experience.
“The degree to which individual decision-making is valued is much lower. This can be seen in terms of caring for workers and their families, establishing workplace harmony, and exhibiting control toward employees.
The concept analysis of autonomy will be analyzed according to the Walker and Avant method of concept analysis. Walker and Avant (2005) present a strategy for analyzing concepts in a comprehensive manner to present new theories and a common definition for different concepts. The current as well as historical meaning is an important aspect to analyze the concept of autonomy, as one must understand how one simple four syllable word grew into such a powerful concept. Definitive attributes drawn from the concept mapped for future use as well as case study as outlined by Walker and Avant (2005). The necessary attributes are then plugged into model, borderline, related and contrary cases so that full concept involvement and understanding is determined. Antecedents as well as consequences of the concept are also discussed for positive and negative connotations can clarify the meaning of the concept of autonomy. Finally the empirical referents of actual phenomena can be realized as Walker and Avant (2005) strive to explain and simplify the concept analysis.
...use to help theorise the extent to which different kinds of workers have different capacities to exert power and agency over their own lives.
This class has enlightened me to many topics that make up the subject of organizational behavior. However, there is one topic that has gained my attention, and that is Autonomy. Autonomy gained my attention because it is when management lessens its controls on the way employees complete their tasks, sometimes even allowing employees to do their jobs without any supervision at all. Autonomy is interesting to me because it is breaking the traditional mindset of micromanaging and that it was the only way to improve productivity.
Delegation is the method of giving decision-making authority to lower-level employees. For the process to be successful, a worker must be able to obtain the resources and cooperation needed for successful completion of the delegated task. Empowerment of the workforce and task delegation is closely interrelated. Empowerment occurs when upper-level employees share power with lower-level employees. This involves providing the training, tools and management support that employees need to accomplish a task. Thus, the employee has both the authority and the means to accomplish the work. Even though authority can be delegated, responsibility cannot; the person who delegates a task is held responsible for its success in the end. Thus the assigned worker is liable for meeting the goals and objectives of the assignment (Camp 2006).
With the modern corporate world, work enables employees to recognize contemporary economic process as well as individuals to sense responsibility as individual achievements. (McGann, et al 2016) However, this to encourage individuals risk taking and taking autonomy over their lives. Although the employment and working condition are significant in the modern corporate work as individual well-being and quality of life is
Based off of the gratification an individual contains towards their work is job satisfaction. The productivity could either be positive or negative while the relationship between the productivity and satisfaction may not be consistent. There are multiple internal and external factors of job satisfaction that can impact the behavior of an employee and engagement over time. The way the worker’s attitude concerning their field effects the performance they perform on a daily basis. One who is satisfied with the job they maintain, succeed at what they do. “It is therefore imperative for a company to understand the attitude of its workers and measure the job satisfaction of its employees, as job satisfaction is essential for productivity” (L. Bradshaw
December 2009). Researchers from various organizations unequivocally agree that managers can use an employee’s intrinsic motivation to gain the maximum output from that employee as well as support the employee in achieving his personal career goals as stated by (George N. Root III 2016). According to (Thomas, K) managers should help their employees understand self-management process that involves four steps to increase intrinsic motivation. Those steps may perhaps be nominated as a sense of meaninglessness, of choice, of competence and as a sense of progress. One of the successful strategies that managers can take into consideration is to clearly define strategic visions and goals set by an organisation. Moreover, by providing a broad vision of a company, managers demonstrate a warm sense of meaningless for an employee that makes him feel like there is an opportunity for him to accomplish something of real value, something that matters in the big picture as said by (Thomas, K 2009). In addition, Managers should make employees feel like their job is a choice, not a requirement in order to encourage employees to demonstrate intrinsic willingness to perform better. Nevertheless, some organisations emphasize that managers can experience numerous issues in increasing intrinsic motivation. For instance, an intrinsically motivated employee will only be able to do the particular task depending on “interesting, challenging, and has personal meaning based on the satisfaction they receive from performing the activity itself” (Giancola, 2014, p. 25). Essentially managers would face issues with increasing an employee’s performance when an extremely vital task has been assigned to the employee that has no interest in undertaking the given task. Although In my mind,
Employee empowerment can be described as giving employees' accountability and ability to make choices about their work without managerial authorization. Good managers are expected to assist employees to improve job success by supporting, training, leading and giving advice. Employee empowerment can increase employees' motivation, job satisfaction, and loyalty to their companies. The power that managers comprise should now be shared with employees with confidence, assertion, inspiration, and support. Work decisions and the ability to control an individual’s amount of work are now being relied upon at lower-level management positions (Fragoso, 1999). Groups of empowered employees with little or no supervision are now being formed and these groups are being called self-managed teams. These groups can now solve work problems, make choices on schedules and operations, learn to do other employees’ jobs, and are held accountable for the quality of their finished products.