Task-Related Helping Implications for an Integrated Theory of Helping - Research Proposal Example

Analysis of Self-Reported Motives for Task-Related Helping Implications for an Integrated Theory of Helping Analysis of Self-Reported Motives for Task-Related Helping Implications for an Integrated Theory of Helping Background The concept paper presents a detailed discussion of a research proposal on work-related assistance and the motives that underlie the same among employees. Conduction of the research to establish such causes require a practical analysis of the apparent motives and the statement of possible findings from the intended research. Notably, presentation of the concept paper to any interested organization should win adequate support for the research. The concept paper entails description of the research, topic discussion, problem identification, and assessment of previous research methods, statement of objectives and specifications of the resources, time, and other research requirements. In addition, a conclusive summary coherently justifies the research as well. Research Description Investigations of motives behind work-related assistance require both quantitative and qualitative studies. Quantitative study is a systematic and empirical research that investigates the observable occurrences and compares them with mathematical, statistical and computational techniques. As aforementioned, quantitative study will explore comprehensive antecedent motives that underlie task related interpersonal support. The research is supposed to take place at Doraville Georgia where a population of 250n employees will engage in the study. Random sampling and distribution of samples by age ranging from 25-50 years is the most appropriate sampling technique. With such a simple, a single observation during data collection through interviews is possible. Quantitative study also entails excellent identification of variables, data collection, and analysis. The alternative hypothesis for the study notes that antecedent motives influence work relationships and support while the null hypothesis states that antecedent motives do not affect work relationships and support. On the other hand, qualitative study could also investigate the motives behind work-related assistance. Such research will utilize similar sample as that of the quantitative study. The purpose of the research is also consistent due to similar research questions. The phenomena of the study include employee work interrelationships and self-support motives. For both approaches, data collection methods include interview. The most important part of research is the identification of population for study and sampling to facilitate the study within the time allocated. On the other hand, effective data collection demands dedications and proper formulation of the study objectives. Topic Discussions Some of the rationales for assisting each other at work simply team culture for helping or social norm acceptance. Other rationales acknowledge interdependency between the co-worker and the benefactor as the two parties work on a common goal (Taber & Deosthali, 2013). Some benefactors recognize the implication or significance of assisting co-workers with their jobs. In addition, another rationale would be an altruistic desire to contribute to the performance of the organization. An elaborate discussion of the reasons mentioned above is necessary before the description of the complete research proposal. The reasons are fundamental guidelines in the research and not only suitable for formulation of objectives but also for confirmation of results. Assistance of colleagues is a common practice and a team culture in most companies. Almost all cultures approve of helping other as a show of meekness and acceptance of others in the society. Most organizations allow for consultation and systems that are considerate of new employees. Group norms elaborate citizenship behavior that arise and exist for a long time due to cycles of interactions among work groups, individuals, and their managers. Upon the establishment of a group norm of helping, it encourages the performance of helping behaviors among individuals. Benefactor-recipient interdependency is a primary rationale for assisting other in an organization. Interdependency is dependent on excellent work relationships. Apart from the professionalism, it is also important that workers interact as social beings. However, the benefactor-recipient interdependency provides a secure platform for gaining assistance from other that one have previously supported. Interdependence exists between units, departments, and individuals. Intuitively, the performance of one unit affects other as well. Besides, each unit contributes to the overall performance of the company. Therefore, most employees are compelled to assist others to not only create an excellent rapport but also improve the collective results of the company. In cyclic production, the products of a one system could be a resource for the next one, therefore, is advisable to perfect such products for efficiency in the next step. Employees will help others in a previous production unit to get the best resources that are the product from the previous units. The organizational commitment or identification is implicit in motives for assisting co-workers. Some organizations identify as social work platforms and demand that their employees show commitment in assisting external and internal partners. Psychological bonds within the organization motivate people to assist one another and perfect the image of the company. Problem Identification In a company where work is dynamic, interdependent, and complex, ensuring organizational effectiveness demands that the environment facilitate assistance of one another by the employees. The research identifies personal self-perceived motives for assisting co-workers that have work related problems. The research should define interpersonal helping and relate it to organizational citizenship behavior. Apparently, identification of the types of assistance that employees offer one another is equally important (Taber & Deosthali, 2013. The research must evaluate the response to problems that face employees and the effectiveness of the primary contributors to solutions to such challenges. Altruism or interpersonal helping is voluntary and aims at the accomplishment of individual; tasks. The research should estimate and confirm the level of objection to such volunteer activities. Apparently, not all employees find it easy to seek help or assist others. Therefore, it is important to investigate the behavior of employees and implicate each behavior in work relationships and the tendency to engage in other works that are not part of an individual’s job description. In brief, the primary problem that the research aims at solves eliciting the motives behind interpersonal assistance at workplaces. In addition, it is also imperative to investigate the factors that hinder altruism. Such elements could be stringent organizational policies or poor working relationships. Some organizations have boundaries that seclude each unit from another therefore elimination interdependence. In such cases, each worker is limited to their job descriptions (Ning & Porter, 2014). Other policies such as confidentiality also impede altruism. For example, some jobs demand security clearance and does not welcome engagement of other employees below the particular job description. The research must investigate such factors and rationalize them through comparative analysis with the benefits of interpersonal helping. Poor work relationships are the primary hindrance of altruism. Assessment of Previous Research In the past, researchers established work-related helping behaviors through larger survey. It involved giving respondents four-item related assistance scale and completion of the same by the sampled employees. Such a research solely focused on task-related helping and not personal helping therefore selecting items from the existing scales that are relevant to that focus. The purpose of the items was to provide a behavioral definition of work-related helping that offer guidance for the respondents as they note their rationales for participating in such behaviors. Averaging of the four items quantifies task-related helping. The process utilized an extensity scale from one to five with the former representing not at all and the latter largely representing (Hem et al., 2014). The scale notes the level of participation in altruism and characterizes respondents for easy data analysis and discussion. The above research present accurate results that are not only easy to analysis but also easy to interpret. In addition, it simplifies data collection due to the presentation of the research question in the form of close-ended questionnaire. It is time friendly and convincing for both the research team and the respondents. On the other hand, it has several challenges such as limitation of respondents to a scale of one to five. Close-ended questions do not give respondents room to explain their selections. For instance, in case several factors facilitated altruism in a respondent, it is difficult to reflect the same in the questionnaire. Moreover, the information is subjective to the respondents’ experience and could be bias. A quantitative analysis also focused on job attitudes and perceived work environments to investigate the motives interpersonal helping at workplace. The study measure overall job satisfaction and organizational commitment. There exist numerous several potential attitude antecedents of assisting behavior. However, the research opted to assess the elements mentioned above that are variables with significant correlation. The assessment deserves organizational commitment using a seven-step scale that describes the worker’s emotional dedication to the organization. Under perceived work environment, the research investigated organizational justice, job motivation potential, group cohesiveness, and leader-member exchange. The result was an integration of findings from each factor. The above research was objective due to specification of factors under investigation. Such specification enabled the researchers to focus and get adequate information that can inform on the previous speculations. Unfortunately, the limitation to a few factors is a challenge, as it does not give a correct reflection of the objectives of the study. The study focuses on the overall motives for altruism and not a selected few. Therefore, the research was not a complete study. In addition, the incomplete findings are not appropriate in the confirmation of the hypotheses. Objectives The first objective of the research is to justify the theories of helping behavior. Theoretical implications of the study will be drawn from different categories of the research. The categories include the differentiation of the identified motives and the influence of each on the level of assistance of co-workers. Besides, it is worth noting the implication after considering the whole collection of motives. The use of the research primarily focuses on the explanation of the existing behavioral theories and their interconnection with the rationales for helping (Grant, 2012). The researchers, therefore, will focus on the development of an integrated theory that can explain the totality of motives behind interpersonal task-related helping. The research also aims at eliciting the significance of task-related helping in the organization. Irrespective of motives, assisting co-workers has benefits to the respective participants and the company as well. It boosts work relationships through the creation of interdependence. Employees join to pursue common goals or to facilitate other individual’s goals, there is harmony and unity in the organization. Moreover, interpersonal task-related helping improves the overall performance of the company. As aforementioned, collective participation in activities particularly in a cyclic production process makes the system efficient. Interpersonal task-related helping improves individual personality and reinforces morals in the organization. Another possible objective for the study is to identify the ways by which organizations integrate task-related helping in their system. Some companies, for instance, have policies that specify when an employee is supposed to step in a different position to offer assistance. The research should investigate such policies and study the general responses of the sampled employees to them. It is imperative to note whether such laws influence volunteer assistance. At the same time, it is also important to identify whether organizations encourage interpersonal task-related helping. Such could be through observation of the management skills and, motivation to employees to perform joint tasks. The research should also identify the significance of help and knowledge linkages in altruism. The application of help linkages is evident when an employee does something that affect the outcome of a colleague without directly implicating themselves (Deery et al., 2014). Help linkages are all-important in the investigation of motives for supportive actions in any organization. Knowledge linkages exist through the sharing of job-related knowledge that is useful to other employees. The kind of information that employees share with one another elicit reasons for agreeing to share the particular knowledge in the first place (Grodal et al., 2015). For instance, an employee that willingly shares positive ideas that has positive impact on economic growth and wellness of other employees have remarkable attitude dedicated towards promotion and growth of the organization. On the other hand, ulterior motives could drive an individual to contribute towards the downfall of the organization through sharing of negative and confidential information or ideas that hinder business. Resources for the research The research will take an atypical approach that entails direct questioning of employees to explain their motives behind helping others. Therefore, it does not have requirements except for a large research team that can for part of the interviewers. In addition, there should be a team to categorize the altruistic reasons given by the employees (Deery et al., 2014). The research has no intense data analysis since the results ate self-explanatory and the raw information can confirm the alternative hypothesis. On the other hand, the research requires a reliable financial source to cover transport, interview allowance and exemplary additional expenses (Taber & Deosthali, 2013). The research will also require secondary sources of information such as previous research that have intensively investigated altruism in companies. Such could be case studies that give directives for the research and allow the researchers to predict the results and reflect the same on the hypotheses. Summary The research will apply a simple introspection procedure that identifies and categorizes self-reported motives workers feel when willing to offer extra assistance to their colleagues. A summary of the motives below denotes the expected findings from the study. Indeed, the research will be resourceful should it elicit all the predications in an objective way within the time of the investigation. Most employees relate altruism to contribution to the organization or a particular team. Indeed, majority of workers who appreciate interpersonal helping argue that it promotes the organization and encourages teamwork as well (Deery et al., 2014). As already mentioned in the topic discussion, teamwork under proper management establishes and sustains several competitive advantages in a company. The ability of an organization to instill a task-related helping culture in workers is itself a co-competency. Personal values are likely to be the second most frequent motive for helping others at work. Assisting others offer individuals opportunities to express their beliefs, values and personality trait. Notably, interaction with other colleagues draws both positive and negative judgment (Grant, 2012). Supportive individuals are popular and have principles that show positive personality traits and acceptance for fellow employees. Interestingly, some employees also believe in recommendations from other and respond to the judgment from their environment. In such cases, they strive to be altruistic noted as human and friendly. Other possible expectations could be contingent helping, job responsibility, and reciprocity. For supervisors, helping junior employees is inevitable. A supervisor takes responsibility for any mistakes in their unit and, therefore, engages in assisting other as part of perfecting their duties. Moreover, it offers them the opportunity to nurture an immature labor for sustainability of the business (Taber & Deosthali, 2013). On the other hand, some employees will assist others hoping to get the same help in the future. Such a motive is strategic and secure. In conclusion, there are numerous motives for altruism. Irrespective of the category of the motive, assisting of colleagues at workplace is all-important in developing individual skills and growing an organization. The research, therefore, should identify and criticize all the motives and provide recommendations for integration of such motives in organizations. Notably, it is imperative to conduct a follow-up research to confirm the findings of the current research as well. References Bachkirova, T. (2012). The Role of the Self and Identification with An Organization As Factors Influencing Work-Related Stress: Implications For Helping. Counselling Psychology Quarterly, 25(1), 49-62. Deery, S. J., Iverson, R. D., Buttigieg, D. M., & Zatzick, C. D. (2014). Can Union Voice Make A Difference? The Effect Of Union Citizenship Behavior On Employee Absence. Human Resource Management, 53(2), 211-228. Doi:10.1002/Hrm.21549 Grant, A. M. (2012). Giving Time, Time After Time: Work Design And Sustained Employee Participation In Corporate Volunteering. Academy Of Management Review, 37(4), 589-615. Grodal, S., Nelson, A. J., & Siino, R. M. (2015). Help-Seeking and Help-Giving As an Organizational Routine: Continual Engagement In Innovative Work. Academy Of Management Journal, 58(1), 136-168. Doi:10.5465/Amj.2012.0552 Hem, M. H., Halvorsen, K., & Nortvedt, P. (2014). Altruism and Mature Care: Some Rival Moral Considerations in Care Ethics. Nursing Ethics, 21(7), 794-802. Doi:10.1177/0969733014521094 Ning, L., Kirkman, B. L., & Porter, C. H. (2014). Toward A Model of Work Team Altruism. Academy Of Management Review, 39(4), 541-565. Doi:10.5465/Amr.2011.0160 Taber,T, And Deosthali, K.(2013). “Analysis of Self-Reported Motives for Task-Related Helping: Implications for an Integrated Theory of Helping.” Business Psychology Journal. Vol. 29:343–366. Toegel, G., Kilduff, M., & Anand, N. (2013). Emotion Helping By Managers: An Emergent Understanding of Discrepant Role Expectations and Outcomes. Academy Of Management Journal, 56(2), 334-357. Doi:10.5465/Amj.2010.0512 Read More