CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.0              BACKGROUND OF STUDY

One of the most persistent topics of human interest appears to be the pursuit of wellbeing or ‘’happiness’’ (Russell, 1930). According to World Health organization (2001), psychological well being is a state in which an individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and ale to make a contribution to his or her community’’. In this positive sense, effective functioning in the community and self realization of one’s abilities defines an individual’s well being. According to Myers (1992), psychological well being is the global evaluation of one’s life as a whole, thus psychological well-being can be said to be how people evaluate their lives. According to Diener (1997), these evaluations may be in the form of cognitions or in the form of affect. The cognitive part of information is based on the appraisal of one’s life. That is, when a person gives conscious evaluative judgments about one’s satisfaction with life as a whole. The effective part is a hedonic evaluation guided by emotions and feelings such as frequency with which people experience pleasant / unpleasant moods in relation to their lives. The assumption behind this is that most people evaluate their lives as either good or bad, so they are normally able to offer judgments.

Psychological well-being is considered as a balance between positive and negative effect. Positive sustainable well-being does not require individuals to feel good all the time, the experience of painful emotions (e.g. grief, disappointments) is a normal part of life and managing this part of life and managing these negative emotions is essential for long-term well being. However, psychological well being is compromised when negative emotions are extreme or very long lasting and interfere with a person’s ability to function in his or her daily life. The concept of functioning effectively involves one’s mental capabilities and development of one’s potential, having some control over one’s life, (example working towards valued goals) and experiencing positive relationship. It is the subjective feeling of contentment, happiness, satisfaction with life experiences and of one's role in the world of work, sense of achievement, utility, belongingness, and no distress, dissatisfaction or worry etc

Organizational theorists have long term recognized the intensive lust in both human and financial terms attributable to employee dysfunctional psychological well-being (George, 1992). Psychological well-being of workers in the work place is in part a function of helping employees do what is naturally right for them by freeing them to do so through behaviour that influence employee engagement and therefore that increases the frequency of work input by the employee. Absence of depression, trauma in the well being of an employee is a major factor that improves quality performance, productivity etc and therefore business effectiveness and profit. Where an individual or employee’s well being reduces, so typically does his or her performance and effectiveness. Across a team of entire organization, if a staff’s well-being is undermined, many key organizational performance factors can be negatively impacted leading to reduced productivity, increased mistakes and errors, conflicts among colleagues, poor customer service or even job terminations.

Psychological well-being understood as an individual’s personal evaluations about their experiences of emotional tension, depression, anxiety, somatic symptoms, and skills to cope with adverse situations (Goldbery, Ryff & Singer, 1997). Therefore, the less psychological pain and positive cognitive evaluations of events, the more self-fulfilling and involved the individual is in his / her job. The feeling of being happy and satisfied comes because one is doing something which involves the uses of one’s abilities and talents (Merriam Webster, 1990). Also the feeling of having a purpose in life and connection with others in the work environment help boost one’s psychological well-being. When individuals feel as though they have purpose, they feel like they belong and matter in the work environment thereby increasing their commitment and involvement in the job they do. Work is pervasive and influential part of the individual and the community’s well-being it affects the quality of an individual’s life and his / her mental psychological health, thus affecting productivity. The psychological well-being of employees in their work place affects job involvement, turnover rates, appearance rate, and the individual’s commitment to the organization. The ability to promote well-being rather than endanger strains is of benefit not only to the employee’s bottom line, but to the organization.

            Again, when employees are given the appointment to use their initiative, extend their thinking and explore the normal boundaries, they are able to establish their true capabilities or potentials and as such contribute to the objectives of the organization. Sadly some individuals explore what they cannot do (the negative) instead of on what can be done (positive) (Strumpfer & killerman, 2002). The experience of stressors in the work environment may influence the psychological well-being of such employee.

            Psychological well-being deals with people’s feelings and their day to day life (Bradbern, 1969; Campbell, 1976). This feelings may vary from negative ones (like depression, anxiety, dissatisfaction) etc to positive ones like (elation, satisfaction) etc. It is a subjective feeling of contentment, happiness of satisfaction with life experiences and of one’s role in the world to work. Diener,  Lucas and Smith, (1999) conceptualized psychological  well-being as a board construct compassing four specific & distinct components including; Pleasant or positive well-being (e.g.; Joy, elation, happiness, mental health ), Unpleasant effects of psychological distress (e.g. guilt, shame, sadness, anxiety, anger, stress, depression etc),  Life satisfaction/global evaluations of one’s life and  Domains of situation satisfactions (e.g. work, family leisure, health).

Human behavior plays a significant role in maximizing organizational effectiveness, regardless of development; job involvement has been defined as an individual’s psychological identification or commitment to his/her job. (Kanungo,1982). It is the degree to which one is cognitively preoccupied with, engaged in and concerned with one present job (Paullay, Heidich S.  & Ryff C.,1994). Any effort to maximize effectiveness requires a higher degree of job involvement (Elankumaran, 2004). This is to say that job involvement is an important motivational variable for any organization. It can also be defined as the internalization of values about the goodness of an individual’s work (Lodahl & Kejner, 1965).

According to Chightai (2008), job involvement has two basic principles; first, internalization of a positive work ethics that is reflected in a high sense of duties towards one’s job and secondly the job is so designed that it satisfy the intrinsic needs of the workers. When these two conditions are met, the worker is likely to identify him/herself with the job both cognitively and emotionally. More so, job involvement is a two way arrow, one pointing at the individual and the other pointing at the characteristics of the job that satisfies the need of the worker which motivates him to be more involved in the job. A realistic view of job involvement is a function of personality for highly involved employees; their job seems inexorably connected to their diverse identities, interests and life goals as well as the satisfaction that they can derive from performing their job duties effectively.   They feel more competent and successful at work, believing that their personal and organizational goals are compatible and tend to attribute positive work outcome.

 On the other hand, some people exhibit less variability in other efforts than others because the inherent differences in the unique characteristics of every employee (personality). Individuals, who possess certain personality traits e.g. internal locus of control, are to be predisposed to become job involved. The knowledge of this helps to provide a means to determine why an employee appears more or less involved in the work and mangers could avoid choosing inappropriate staffs as well as coordinate diverse employee activities to maximize productivity, efficiency and effectiveness.

In the words ofLodahl and Kejner (1965), job involvement is how much work performance affects self esteem. In other words it reflects how individuals internalize how well they do their work and the importance of the assessment on one’s self worth. They asserted that an individual with high job involvement is someone whose work is psychologically important and consequently mean that he/she is very affected by everything that happens at work. From an organizational perspective, it has been regarded at the key to unlocking employee motivation and increasing performance, personal growth, productivity and satisfaction. It contributes importantly to the organizational effectiveness, productivity and morale by engaging employees deeply in their work and making it a meaningful and fulfilling experience.

The worker’s evaluation about their experiences of depression, anxiety, and skills to cope with adverse situations affects his/her degree to which they are cognitively preoccupied with and concerned with the job at hand. Job involved individuals find work meaningful and challenging even at complex tasks, employing a variety of skills and use to the completion of their work. They are satisfied and thus fully involved their job which they find intrinsically satisfying. Individuals who are not or less involved in their work view their work as unfulfilling but necessary way to make money.

Organizational commitment is defined as the degree of an individual’s relations and experience as a sense of loyalty towards one’s organization (Meyer & Allen, 1990). In addition to loyalty, organizational commitment encompasses an individual’s willingness to extend efforts in order to further an organization’s goals and the degree of alignment the organization has with the goals and values of the individual (Porter, Steers, Mowday & Boulian, 1974). According to Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2013), organizational commitment refers to the extent to which an employee develops an attachment and feels a sense of allegiance to his / her employer. Often times, organizational commitment of an employee s dependant on the level of emotional attachment with the organization the individual is identified with, and then there is a tendency of the employees’ organizational commitment to be stronger. This means that the emotional attachment that one forms in the organization helps to build a stronger and a powerful commitment.

            According to Allen and Myer, (1996), organizational commitment is a psychological link between an employee and his /her organization that makes it less likely that the employee will voluntarily leave the organization. Organizational commitment is related to job satisfaction, since both factors deals with the nature of workers emotional reactions to work. But organizational commitment is viewed to be more stable than satisfaction. This is because commitment is applied to the entire organization while satisfaction is applied to the specific job. Organizational commitment can be viewed in terms of the work ethics of the individual and the intensity of participation by the individual in the organization where he/she is identified. This concept can determine the level of commitment to an organization. However, the concept {work ethics and intensity of participation } can be directed by several variables such as age, culture, emotions, personality traits, desires and individual differences among other factors can be present to a certain degree in many situations.

            Organizational commitment is viewed based on attitudinal perspective embracing identif

You either get what you want or your money back. T&C Apply

Talk to us right now: (+234)906-451-7926 (Call/WhatsApp)

---