{"id":5971,"date":"2022-02-17T10:32:43","date_gmt":"2022-02-17T10:32:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tcjg.de\/empowerment-needs-a-psychological-component"},"modified":"2022-04-14T06:42:03","modified_gmt":"2022-04-14T06:42:03","slug":"empowerment-needs-a-psychological-component","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tcjg.de\/en\/empowerment-needs-a-psychological-component\/","title":{"rendered":"Empowerment needs a psychological component"},"content":{"rendered":"

28.02.2022<\/p>\n

We are already in the middle of the New Work era. The problem with New Work is that the focus is usually on structural measures. For example, working hours are quickly cut and hierarchical levels removed. Not too seldom, however, this does not have the desired effect and leads to identity problems, politicisation and complexity problems instead of motivation and increased performance.<\/p>\n

What is missing here? The view<\/span> from within.<\/span><\/h3>\n

Surprisingly, our research is quite a bit ahead of our economy here. As early as 1949, Harry Harlow experimented with laboratory monkeys on this topic. In the experiment, the monkeys were asked to solve a motor task (see illustration).<\/p>\n

\"\"

Source: Pink, D. H. (2015): Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Riverhead Books, New York.<\/p><\/div>\n

At that time (and to some extent still today), the idea was: what drives us are either (1) our biological urges or (2) carrots and sticks. In other words, rewards and punishment. Things got interesting when the monkeys showed interest in the task even before the experiment started. And not only interest… they solved the task without any incentives.<\/p>\n

This gave rise to a new theory: there is a third drive. A drive from within. Triggered by doing and trying the thing itself. Later, it was realised that people also have this drive, called intrinsic motivation: people want to expand their abilities on their own.<\/p>\n

Great. Is it possible to activate this intrinsic motivation in our employees? One way to do this is through psychological empowerment<\/a>. That is, empowerment needs a psychological component.<\/p>\n

Intrinsic motivation through psychological empowerment<\/span><\/h3>\n

The term “empowerment”, referring to the empowerment of employees – mostly in the course of democratisation in the company – is unfortunately often quickly pushed aside as a buzzword. What has been problematic in implementation so far is that in the context of empowerment only the structural component (e.g. the removal of hierarchical levels) has been considered.<\/p>\n

However, in recent years we have learned from Gretchen Spreitzer<\/a> and extensive research based on her findings: people interpret their environment individually. That is, removing one level of hierarchy has a liberating effect on one person, while others lose an important point of orientation as a result. A broader view, the interpretation on a psychological level, is essential here to enable the empowerment of employees. In this context, there are four work-related perceptions that shape our role and thus the shaping of our possibilities for psychological empowerment:<\/p>\n

\"The-four-facets-of-psychological-empowerment\"

Source: The Company Journey Guides GmbH<\/p><\/div>\n

People who feel psychologically empowered experience their work as meaningful (significance<\/strong>). They feel confident in their work tasks (competence<\/strong>). They perceive autonomy (self-determination<\/strong>) and are convinced that their work can make a difference (influence<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

Here, the perception of psychological empowerment is based on a high expression of each facet. If one facet is low, the construct loses stability.<\/p>\n

Why we should engage more with psychological empowerment<\/span><\/h3>\n

The concept of psychological empowerment has already been examined in numerous studies and research papers. What is particularly exciting is that there are numerous correlations with benefits for employees but also for the organisation as a whole.<\/p>\n

On the employee side:<\/p>\n