Effect of Peer Pressure on the Level of Employee's Engagement in Hail University - Essay Example

The Effect of Peer Pressure on the Level of the Employees Engagement in Hail Saudi Arabia (Women Branch) Task The Effect of Peer Pressure on the Level of the Employees Engagement in Hail University- Saudi Arabia (Women Branch) Framework Research Questions What effect do these variables have on employee engagement? What extent of peer pressure is comfortable for the organization? What strategies does the organization have to take in order to promote positive employee engagement? Variables Dependent Variables Level of Employee Engagement Employee engagement generally refers to a positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind characterized by displays of vigor, dedication, and absorptions of the employee in their job tasks. Engaged employees do not feel emptiness or burnout while doing their jobs. While vigor refers to high levels of energy and mental resilience during work, dedication is strong involvement in one’s work and the experience of enthusiasm and fulfillment. Independent Variables Active Peer Pressure Peer influence refers to the level of influence that a peer group, observers, as well as other individuals exert on another individual or group in order to encourage others to change their values, attitudes, or behaviors so that they may be in conformity with the norms and practices of the group. As such, active peer pressure refers to the explicit offer from an external force to join or be part of a group and verbal criticism following in the event of refusal to join the group. Active peer pressure affects employee engagement by forcing these employees to be part of a group, and as such, create an atmosphere that develops social cohesion and appropriate employee engagement. Positive peer pressure encourages active employee engagement whilst negative peer pressure discourages active employee engagement. Passive Peer Pressure Passive peer pressure capitalizes on the independent personal desires of an individual or an employee to fit into a given group, or to adopt both the values and practices of other groups or members of the organization. Passive peer pressure may either encourage or discourage employee engagement depending on its nature. For instance, an employee who wants to be part of the executive team may adopt that peer pressure to grow and develop him or herself through active employee engagement in order to get recognition from the management, and as such, create a good name for a promotion to the executive team. Moderating Variables Mental Strength Mental strength refers to the collection of attributes within and individual that allows the person to persevere through difficult times or circumstances without losing confidence, such as standing against peer pressure and upholding their own morals and beliefs. Supervisory Assistance This is assistance from a person with a higher authority within the organization, which enables and encourages an individual employee to overcome their problems and fears, as concerning issues related to pressure from peers. Control Variables Education of Employee Optimism Autonomy Organizational Culture Mediating Variables Mediating variables help to explain how or why the independent variables affect the dependent variables the way they do. For example, in this case, Performance Appraisal (Mediating variable) can be the reason why peer pressure (Independent variable) causes employee engagement (Dependent variable) to vary from one employee to another. In this study, the mediating variables may include: Performance Appraisal Performance appraisal is a strategic goal that enables the organization to assess its workers and appraise them according to their performance, by recognizing hard work and success, while punishing laziness and laxity at the work place. Through performance appraisal, an organization gets to know the level of performance of its workers, evaluate their input towards productivity and reward them for their good work. Performance appraisal is a development-oriented goal because it enables the organization to analyze the performance strategies of the employees, and as such, determine the productivity of the organization. By enhancing the performance of each employee in the organization, analyzed through appropriate performance appraisals, the organization is keen to achieve its projected goals and objectives, thereby making the tool an appropriate concept for development-oriented goals of the organization. Consequently, it also enables the organization to recognize employees who are working hard in the institution and promote, give them a salary raise, or other bonuses. This also encourages employees to work much harder since they get the attention of the management. It reduces peer pressure, as employees will want to stand out of a group rather than belong to a certain group so that they can get recognition from the organizations, such as standing out of the ordinary. Affect (Employee Emotions - Employee Mood) Affect is very strong in determining the effect of peer pressure within an organization. An employee will want to stay where their emotions and moods get the necessary accommodation as deserved, and as such, will either join groups or stay out of groups depending on their emotions and their personal moods. Emotional stability creates an enabling environment for employees to discharge their duties diligently and as such in an effort to enhance the productivity of the organization. Employees with a positive mood towards their work and the organization perform their duties more diligently as opposed to employees who have negative moods. This will also have a great effect on the effect of peer pressure within the organization. Theory Suggestions Social Learning Theory This theory originated from Albert Bandura while he was researching modeling and limitation (Fedman, 1993). The theory postulates that behavior learnable at the cognitive level by observation of what people around a person are doing. According to Bandura, people can imagine themselves in the same situations as other, working in the same way and achieving the same outcomes. Once the individual learns the behavior, then he or she can take different actions depending on the outcomes of the behavior. For instance, it is possible to reinforce the outcomes if they are desirable or it to punish these outcomes if they turn out to be undesirable. Social leaning theory is a psychological theory largely developed from the operant conditioning theory. The later theory bases on the concepts of motivation, reinforcement and punishment. In Bandura’s explanation of self-learning theory, self-reinforcement or external reinforcement influence motivation. In this study, the theory is applicable in the discussion of the effect of peer pressure on employee engagement on the same principles laid down by Bandura. Employees in all organizations learn from others by observing their actions and asking questions among other things. Some of the things they learn from others may be helpful towards improving work engagement while others may not. It is therefore imperative to reinforce the traits that are good for work engagement among the employees through different types of motivation, either from fellow employees or from the organization. On the other hand, traits negative to motivation are punishable. References Amy. (2013). Personal Hygiene Issues Stump Workers. The Chicago Tribune. February 24, 2013. Retrieved from: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-02-24/features/ct-sun-0224-amy-20130224_1_hygiene-retainer-placement-agency Bakker, A. B. & Demerouti, E. (2007). The Job Demands-Resources Model: State of the Art. 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