Beyond the competency frameworks-conceptualizing and deploying employee strengths at work

Abstract

Purpose With growing stress at work, the need for scholars to focus on humanizing organizations is pressing. Scholars agree five factors lead to humanizing organizations. This study dwells upon one factor – employee strengths at work (ESAW) – problematizes, identifies the gap in its conceptualization, deploys critical social systems theory and reconceptualizes the construct of ESAW by taking key contextual factors into consideration. Thereafter, this study aims to develop a conceptual model and makes propositions related to the mediating effects of ESAW on the association of leadership style and employee performance. Design/methodology/approach Aimed at contributing to humanizing organizations, this conceptual study problematizes the construct of competency and the trait-based conceptualization of strengths in identifying gaps in the construct of competency for humanizing organizations. Next, the study deploys the technique of construct mixology for evolving the new construct of ESAW. To empirically test ESAW in the field, the authors deploy the critical social systems theory and develop a conceptual model. Further, drawing upon the conceptual model and the extant literature, the authors develop many propositions for enabling future research. Findings The study develops a new construct of ESAW that holds the promise of contributing to humanizing organizations. By embedding the current trait-based conceptualization of employee strengths to the context of the organization, the new five-factor construct of ESAW is indigenous to the field of organization science, hence, has a higher relevance. The study develops a conceptual model and makes propositions for empirically testing the new construct in the field that future researchers may focus upon. Research limitations/implications There is a compelling need for humanizing organizations. This conceptual study attempts to bring back the focus of researchers on humanizing organizations, within the framework of the market-driven economy. The new construct of ESAW has huge potential for theory-building and empirical testing. Practical implications Deployment of ESAW will contribute to humanizing organizations. The construct of ESAW is relevant to practice as it has evolved from the domain of organization science, unlike the earlier trait-based conceptualization of strength that emerged in personality psychology. Practitioners can deploy the construct of ESAW and achieve the two seemingly conflicting objectives of enabling employee well-being while also ensuring superior performance. Social implications Any contribution toward humanizing organizations forebodes increasing the social capital and the personal well-being of employees. If employees are happy at work, their productivity increases. As per the broaden and build theory of Fredrickson, higher well-being and productivity at work creates a spiral of positivity that transcends the working life of an employee. Hence, the study has huge social implications at times when the social fabric is stretched because of multiple demands on an employee. Originality/value Constructs developed in other fields and adopted in organization science have less relevance than those evolved in the domain of organization science. Past deficient conceptualization and practices persist unless scholars logically challenge it an alternative and improved conceptualization provided. The new construct of ESAW uses the method of construct mixology after unravelling the assumptions that impedes humanizing organizations.

Systemic coaching for higher effectiveness

“…Most of the earlier studies make use of either strength-use by employing the scale developed by Govindji and Linley (2007) or make use of the propriety instruments of Gallup (Rath, 2007) or the character strengths (Peterson and Seligman, 2004) that identifies the dominant trait-based strengths in a person. This study has a higher relevance for organizational behavior as it makes use of the concept of employee strengths at work that conceives of strengths as a dynamic interaction of personal traits and contextual variables (Bhatnagar, 2020;Bhatnagar et al, 2020).…”

“…Identifying the strengths and weaknesses of a coachee forms one of the important aspects to coach; while the traditional focus was working on the weakness of the coachee, 70% of coaches make use of strengths-based coaching (Executive Coaching Survey Summary, 2020). Bhatnagar et al (2020) contend that the current conceptualizations of employee strengths adopt a trait-based approach that is borrowed from personality psychology and applied in the context of organizations, thereby having less relevance for organizational behavior (Oswick et al, 2011). Consequently, they conceptualize employee strengths as a higher-order construct by incorporating personal, as well as contextual factors and constituting five factors, namely, potential deployment, person-job fit, managerial sensitivity, quick learning and personal gaiety at work (Bhatnagar et al, 2020).…”

“…Further, as a trend, many coaches employ a strengths-based approach and borrow the concept of strengths that have emerged in the domain of personality psychology, hence has less relevance (Oswick et al, 2011). This study fills the gap in the literature by delineating specific systems variables, demonstrating a systemic coaching approach, employing a conceptualization of employee strengths that considers traits and situational factors (Bhatnagar et al, 2020) and making use of validated instruments that lend objectivity in diagnosis. Furthermore, this study employs the radical humanistic research paradigm and the ecosystem theory for guiding the study.…”

“…Enablement by manager and deployment of individual talents, skills, knowledge, experience and its alignment with the requirement of the job, leading to prompt assimilation and personal gaiety at work (Bhatnagar et al, 2020) 14-item scale (Bhatnagar, 2020) 6…”

In pursuit of happiness at work: exploring the role of psychological capital and coping in managing COVID-19 stress among Indian employees

“…Howard and Gould (2000) consider employee happiness as inextricable from the actual business of the organizations and thus advocate for the need to consider it as a business goal. The crucial role of employee happiness at the workplace has been underscored in the literature owing to its beneficial outcomes for both the employee and for the organization (Fisher, 2010; Wright and Huang, 2012; Bhatnagar et al , 2020). These outcomes, for individual employees, include increased productivity (DiMaria et al , 2020; Oswald et al , 2015; Rego and Cunha, 2008), job satisfaction (Martínez-Martí and Ruch, 2017), employee engagement (Robertson and Cooper, 2010) and physical health in terms of cardiovascular health (Wright et al , 2009).…”