Laufbahntheorien und Berufswahlmodelle

Introduction

• Work is often defined as a purposeful, conscious human activity that creates a usable value and is socially determined. This means that unpaid activities, such as studying or doing housework, can also be considered work if they are purposeful, conscious, and have a use.

Lottery Experiment

• The lottery experiment asks what people would do if they won a million euros in the lottery. Results indicate that about 30-35% of people would quit their jobs, 40% would continue working under different conditions, and 25-30% would continue working as usual.

Human Models and Leadership

• Various human models influence leadership.
  • Economic Man: People are irresponsible and motivated only by material incentives.
  • Social Man: Social interactions at work are crucial for productivity.
  • Self-Actualizing Man: Individuals strive for autonomy and self-realization.
  • Complex Man: People have diverse needs that change throughout their lives.

Hawthorne Studies and Hawthorne Effect

• The Hawthorne studies, conducted in the 1920s and 1930s at Western Electric, revealed that worker productivity increased when they knew they were being observed. This is known as the Hawthorne effect.

Forms and Dimensions of Division of Labor

• Division of labor can take various forms.
  • Personnel division of labor: Specialization in various professions.
  • Internal division of labor: Different departments within a company.
  • Inter-enterprise division of labor: Different companies perform separate steps of work.
  • Regional and international division of labor: Specialization by region or country.
• Potential problems associated with the division of labor include monotony, alienation, and dependence on others. The "disuse hypothesis" suggests skills atrophy if not used.

Occupational Choice Models

• Holland's RIASEC model identifies six personality types (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional) that influence career choices. A good match between personality and career leads to greater satisfaction and performance.
• Super's career development model outlines five life stages: growth, exploration, establishment, maintenance, and decline, reflecting the evolving nature of careers.

Career Planning Model

• Abele's model integrates career and personal life, emphasizing expectations, goals, actions, and the influence of gender on career development.

Action Regulation Theory

• An action is a purposeful, conscious activity arising from the interplay of will and reason. It encompasses both physical and mental activities.
  • Sequential completeness: An action involves all necessary steps, from planning to execution to monitoring.
  • Hierarchical completeness: An action incorporates various cognitive stages from simple routines to complex problem-solving.
  • Different regulation levels: Different levels of cognitive processing are involved, ranging from automatic actions to conscious decision-making.

Errors and Error Management

• Errors are deviations from standards, rules, or goals. They differ from failures (not achieving a goal, despite correct procedures) and deliberate violations.
  • The definition of errors includes slips (unintentional errors at the sensorimotor level), rule errors (incorrect application of rules), and knowledge errors (deficiencies in knowledge).

Organizational Concepts

• Organization: A structured social group pursuing a long-term goal.
• Participation Intensity and Levels: Participation ranges from minimal information giving to full involvement in decision-making.
  • De Jure: Formal, legally mandated participation.
  • De Facto: Actual, informal participation.
• A key distinction is between direct and indirect participation: direct is when the worker is involved, indirect is via representatives like a union, a member of staff council etc. These actions act on behalf and in the best interests of the workers, in the first instance.

Organizational Democracy

• Organization Democracy: Involves employee inclusion in decision-making within an organization.
• Key aspects and benefits of using the democratic process. Benefits of fairness and inclusion include better decision outcomes, higher employee morale, and stronger organizational commitment from employees.

Equity Theory

• Equity theory examines perceived fairness in the ratio of inputs (effort, skills) to outputs (rewards, recognition). Imbalances in these ratios can lead to feelings of unfairness.
• Fairness issues in organizations can be addressed by using the concepts of distributive fairness (fair distribution of outcomes), procedural fairness (fair procedures in making decisions), and interactional fairness (respectful treatment and communication).
• Key drivers of high morale and retention in any organisation.

Motivation

• Motivation, from a definition perspective, is the direction, intensity, and persistence of human behavior. It encompasses the choice of action, the effort expended, and the persistence in pursuing a goal. The different aspects are:
  • Intrinsic Motivation: Driven by enjoyment or satisfaction derived from the activity.
  • Extrinsic Motivation: Influenced by external factors, such as rewards or punishments.
  • Motivation theories have a focus on the importance of individuals' needs and desires in influencing their work behaviours and choices.
  • Criticisms:
    • Some theories are overly simplistic, ignoring individual differences and situational influences.
    • There needs to be specific application in theories to achieve tangible impact, a theoretical study should be benchmarked against the practical application of the theory, to validate the theory
• Three central motives include achievement (striving for excellence), power (seeking influence), and affiliation (desire for relationships)

Job Characteristics Model

• This model posits that certain job characteristics (autonomy, variety, significance) influence worker motivation, satisfaction, and performance.

Flow

• Flow is a state of deep immersion and focus where individuals are completely engaged in their work. It occurs when the demands of the task match the individual's skills.

Emotions and Work

• Emotions are complex and can be states (temporary moods) or traits (permanent dispositions).
• Emotions at work can be influenced by a number of internal and external influences, such as the effort put in by the person or the task complexity etc., this will determine the output, if the output is achieved then the individual experiences a good feeling of happiness and achievement.
  • Surface acting requires masking true feelings to match required emotional displays.
  • Deep acting involves modifying internal emotional states to match required displays.
  • Emotional dissonance: A conflict between felt and expressed emotions.

Work-Family Conflict

• Work-family conflict occurs when the demands of work interfere with family life and vice versa.
  • Time-based conflict: Insufficient time to fulfill responsibilities in both spheres.
  • Strain-based (stress-based) conflict: Stress from one domain adversely impacts the other.
  • Behavior-based conflict: Behaviors appropriate at work are inappropriate at home, or vice versa. This can manifest in terms of negativity, irritability and impatience etc., and can cause friction

Effort-Recovery Model

• This model emphasizes the cyclical nature of effort and recovery in relation to work performance. The model highlights the importance of recovery time for maintaining motivation, energy, and avoiding exhaustion and the burnout phenomenon.

Diversity in Teams

• Diversity in teams can enhance performance by introducing a variety of perspectives and information. However, it can also create conflicts if not effectively managed.
• Diverse teams can perform poorly if they don't have effective group processes.
• Teams can be characterized as having a 'high' or 'low' diversity profile.

Health-Promoting Leadership

• Health-promoting leadership should focus on role modeling good health habits, provide support, and design work environments conducive to well-being.

Aging and Work

• The physiological and cognitive changes associated with age can influence work performance.
  • Compensation: Using different strategies to cope with age-related declines.

Psychological Contract

• An implicit agreement between employers and employees regarding their expectations and obligations.
  • Transactional contract: Focuses on short-term exchanges and specific outcomes.
  • Relational contract: Emphasizes long-term relationships and mutual trust.

Leadership Styles

• The traits model of leadership suggests there are certain characteristics that are associated with effective leadership
• The Great Man Theory posits that leaders are born, not made.
• Transactional Leadership involves rewarding or punishing behaviors.
• Transformational Leadership inspires and motivates followers, fostering high performance

Abusive Supervision and Trickledown Effect

• Abusive supervision involves aggressive, hostile leadership acts; the effect can be damaging to other staff, including the subordinate staff.

Newer Theories of Leadership

• Newer leadership theories emphasize the importance of ethical conduct, authentic leadership, and servant leadership.
• Servant Leadership: Focuses on meeting the needs of subordinates.
• Ethical Leadership: Focuses on maintaining high standards of conduct.
• Authentic Leadership: Focuses on aligning actions with values and developing trust

Job Enrichment and Job Enlargement

• Job Enrichment involves increasing the depth of a job by giving more responsibility and autonomy.
• Job Enlargement involves increasing the breadth of a job by adding more tasks.