Good Work Psychology of Gainful Employment

Dominic Kamau Mwangi Lecturer – Tangaza University College Positive Psychologist. Let's chat... How does a good workplace feel and look like? Sigmund Freud

A healthy life is one in which a person has the ability to love and to work Gainful employment: Characteristics

A purpose derived Variety in duties A safe working Income for the from providing a performed environment family and oneself product or service

The companionship Positive A sense of Happiness and of and loyalty to engagement and performing well and satisfaction coworkers, bosses, involvement meeting goals and companies Gainful Employment: Work, Happiness and Satisfaction • If a person is happy at work, chances are that his or her overall satisfaction with life will be higher. • The correlation of job satisfaction with overall happiness is about .40. • Employed people consistently report being happier than their counterparts without jobs. • Performance well leads to satisfaction which leads to performing better. PERFORMING WELL AND MEETING GOALS

• Career self-efficacy: a personal confidence in one's capacity to handle career development and work related goal activities, is significantly related to both success and satisfaction with one's occupational efforts and decisions (Betz & Luzzo, 1996; Donnay & Borgen, 1999). • A high-hope boss clearly identifies achievable work subgoals, which in turn increases workers' motivation and the chances of reaching larger, organizational goals. DERIVING PURPOSE BY PROVIDING A PRODUCT OR SERVICE

• Work is an important potential source of purpose in life. • Workers need a sense that they are making a contribution to other people and to their society.

This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY. ENGAGEMENT AND INVOLVEMENT Engagement is the employee's involvement with his or her work, whereas satisfaction is employee enthusiasm at work (Harter et aI., 2002). Engagement occurs when employees' find their needs being met. Needs include: knowledge of expectations, resources to meet them, feel significant, trustworthy coworkers, chances to improve and develop (Harter et aI., 2002, p. 269). Match between the required activities and the skills and personality of the employees (Warr, 1999). • Tasks that are sufficiently varied result to satisfaction. • People ought to have as much VARIETY IN JOB variety and stimulation as possible in their work DUTIES • Repetitious and tedious tasks and inflexible schedules lead employees to become demoralized and lose their motivation. • A reasonable wage will help workers be more at peace. INCOME FOR • Financial freedom plays a large FAMILY AND role in people's major decisions. SELF • Balance between pursuit of money and maintenance of family ties. COMPANIONSHIP AND LOYALTY TO COWORKERS AND BOSSES: FRIENDS AT WORK Sharing of suffering and triumphs; forming bonds. Sense of community at a given workplace is a contributing factor to happiness and satisfaction. If you have a "best friend" at work, you are likely to have fewer accidents, increased safety, more engaged customers, and increased achievement and productivity. People with a best friend at work are seven times more likely to be psychologically and physically engaged on the job (Rath, 2006). SAFE WORK ENVIRONMENTS

• Perceived safety of the workplace was one of the most robust predictors of employee satisfaction (Harter et al., 2002) • Physical safety. • Psychological safety. Those individuals who are deeply aware of how they think and behave and are perceived by others as being aware of their own and others' values/moral Authentic Bosses perspective, knowledge, and strengths; aware of the context in which they operate; and who are confident, hopeful, optimistic, resilient, and high on moral character. (Avolio et al., 2004) Authentic Bosses

1. They provide clear goals and job duties to employees. 2. They are not just friends to employees but can deliver corrective feedback so that it is heard. 3. They are genuine and authentic in their interactions with everyone. 4. They are ethical and demonstrate moral values in their interactions with people. 5. They are honest and model integrity. Authentic Bosses

6. They find employee talents and strengths and build on them. 7. They trust workers and facilitate their employees' trust in them. 8. They encourage diverse views from employees and can take feedback about themselves. 9. They set high but reasonable standards for employees and for themselves. • Which main characteristics of an Pause a while... authentic boss do you find most lacking in your experience? • Do you have these characteristics yourself? • Turns out, good employees have the above characteristics too. • When a boss has these characteristics, they play a huge role in employees' productivity and happiness at work. Assets Exercise

• List your assets that can and do help you be better at your job. • List the debits that might be an obstacle to better performance and satisfaction at your job. Capital at Work: New Perspectives.

Dimensions of Positive Psychological Capital. (Luthans & Youssef, 2004) High Hope Companies

• No one, including management, was greatly feared by employees. • There was a level playing field where everyone had an equal chance to succeed. • Advancement and benefits were linked to effort expended. High Hope Companies

• The lowest person in the organization was treated with the same respect as every other employee, including management. • The first priority of management was to help the employees to do the best job possible. • There was open, two-way communication between employees and management. High Hope Companies

• Employee feedback was solicited and viewed as a means of making the company better. • As many decisions as possible were given to the employees who were doing the particular work. • Employees were included in the setting of company goals. High Hope Companies

• Employees were given responsibility for finding solutions to problems. • Whether it was solving a problem or trying a new idea, employees were given the responsibility for implementing the changes. • The objective was to establish enduring relationships with customers instead of to accomplish a given sales objective. Practical Pointers Positive Affect: Gratitude Meetings Connection: we mirror & experience what we see (team building, sharing of personal experiences). Engagement: strengths match, sharing success and triumph stories. Meaning: show people how their work has an actual impact in real world. Beyond goals: enjoy the process, align goals to values, skills and interests. Rewards: breaks, walks, small incentives, a smile and encouragement. Dominic Kamau Mwangi Email: [email protected] www.kamaumwangi.co.ke