1

Psychological Capital

Christopher Newcombe

October 13, 2016

Frank Scarpone

MGT/312
 2

Psychological capital can be defined as mental and emotional states of individuals that

are of prime importance, meaning that rather focusing on the weaknesses of our psychological

states attention should be given to the attributes of mental strings that allow for success and

mental stability. Psychological capital or site Has four factors which are hope, efficacy,

resilience and optimism. These can be remembered by simply making hero into an acronym

where H is for hope E is for efficacy R is for resilience and O is for optimism. Each of these

attributes are based on an individual's perception and much like DNA perceptions are unique to

every individual. These attributes are essential to a person success with in their life and all of

them must be combined together to allow for a well-balanced perception and motivate oneself.

Hope is the desire of a positive outcome of a goal, efficacy is having the confidence in your

ability to produce the outcome you hope for. Resiliency will be imperative in achieving the goal

that has been set, through creativity, insight, initiative, and morality, challenges can be overcome

to allow for success. Lastly we must remain optimistic that what we hope for will come to

fruition. Unlike economical capital or social capital psychological capital is intrinsic and can be

developed through research, mindfulness, and practice. Assessing your individual psycap can

help to determine your strengths and weaknesses. By knowing your strengths strategies can be

developed to allow for advancement in your career. However, knowing your psychological

capital isn't everything you must also find motivation to progress in your career. Motivation is

required to drive us to achieve goals but ironically setting goals can increase our motivation and

when motivated job performance can likewise increase. McGregor's theory X and theory Y,

Maslow's hierarchy of needs, and Herzberg's theory of motivation are examples of motivational
 3

theories that have been developed to assist in determining what factors help to motivate

individuals best. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivators can also be determined to help drive us to

achieve our desired goal.

After a self-assessment of my psychological capital levels I mostly agree with the results

but have some discrepancies with the high levels of efficacy and hoops in my results. The results

of my resiliency and optimism seem quite accurate as I am often told I am very resourceful, and

my job requires a considerably high level of improv and creativity in order to accomplish my

tasks. I am also always optimistic of the future and always see bad situations as merely

temporary and never of permanence. I slightly disagree with my efficacy level and that I am

somewhat indecisive and not always confident of my abilities in certain situations, this however

does not pertain to my job which I am always confident in the way I've determined to perform

my tasks. The result I most disagree with is my high level of hope for I rarely expect the result I

desire or expect but again this does not pertain to my current job for the fact that it is essential to

be 100% hopeful of acquiring the desired results of my performance. To elaborate a little further

my current job is high-risk and requires nothing but under percent confidence resilience hope and

optimism for any other level could potentially result in serious damage or injury to myself or

others. However, when it comes to my future career development and my life outside of my

current job I lack hope and confidence contrary to what my results imply.

Utilizing my high level of resilience, I can develop strategies in order to help advance my

career. One possibility would be to consider the potential adversities that can present themselves

and use my resiliency to develop ways to avoid the adversities. A treat of someone with high
 4

resilience is creativity and the ability to improvise so tasks that I find mundane and procrastinate

I can create ways to make the tasks more exciting for myself to inhibit procrastination ultimately

allowing for better quality performance of my tasks. By using my resilience as a preventative I

can allow myself to advance in my career better than if I am to wait for bad circumstances in

which I will need to be resilient in order to overcome and move on from I can also use resiliency

to help develop sub goals of my ultimate goals making the tasks of the goal more appealing in

turn allowing myself to be more motivated to complete the sub goals which will produce higher

quality outcomes. Also setting small goals will allow me to feel more accomplished

consequently resulting in having more hope for future outcomes of goals I have set. This strategy

of using my resilience and setting goals at a more achievable level will help to increase my job

performance and motivates me to reach bigger goals. The key to successfully achieving any goal

is being motivated to do what is necessary to produce the desired outcomes. By examining

theories that have been developed it can be better understood what factors help to motivate and

what will discourage.

Research into what motivates individuals has been a part of psychology for some time

and more recently it has been examined much deeper. Initially it is best to understand and

intrinsic motivators and extrinsic motivators which are essentially the rewards that drive us to

achieve our goals. Intrinsic motivators are rewards that come from within an individual such as

the feeling of accomplishment or painting a beautiful portrait, simply it is the drive to do

something because it is what you desire. Extrinsic motivators for external rewards such as

recognition, trophies, paychecks, bonuses, etc. and it is motivators that are more often sought

after but told much less value then intrinsic motivators. Hers Berg's theory of motivation
 5

elaborates on these two motivators with in the workplace by dividing them into two categories of

hygiene factors and motivator factors. Hygiene factors include such things as company policies

level of supervision, salaries, status, security, among other things these according to Hertzberg

result in dissatisfied employees diminishing motivation to perform well. Motivator factors

include such things as recognition of a job well done, responsibilities of an individual, growth of

an individual within a company, and the work that is performed in itself can be a motivator. By

examining this it can be determined that tangible rewards such as paychecks for a special parking

spot are less likely to motivate individuals then being recognized for work performed or even

being given more responsibility can be more motivating to individuals then the paycheck itself.

The level of motivation that employees have is also directly related to how they are treated by

managers which is what McGregor's theory X and theory Y discuss. Theory X is the idea that

managers need to control workers threaten them with punishment and force them to do their jobs.

This is because some managers believe workers dislike work avoid it as best as they can and

prefer to be directed. Theory X suggests that motivating employees can be done through fear and

money and punishment is desired over reward. Theory Y is the contrary to theory X where

reward is desired over punishment and managers are less controlling because they believe

workers enjoy their work and do not need constant direction. The most well-known motivational

theories is Maslow's hierarchy of needs which describes five particular needs that all individuals

require for motivation. The theory is described in a pyramid scheme where the lowest levels

must be fulfilled before the higher levels can be. The lowest level is psychological needs such as

food, water etc. second is job security third is social acceptance fourth is self-esteem and at the

highest tier is self-actualization. These concepts and theories are meant to help us determine the
 6

best way to motivate employees in order to increase job performance and the overall

environment within a workspace.

From our psychological capital to our desires we all require motivation in order to

acquire and reach our goals we desire. Our perceptions of what's important and our individual

desires all very from individual to individual but the constant remains that we are all motivated

by our need to survive by obtaining food and water and other such factors. We are all motivated

by our desire to be stimulated and relax while avoiding boredom and stresses in our life. Above

all it can be determined that our ultimate motivator is to have a sense of belonging and feel that

we are an asset within our workplace. With this said by simply recognizing each other's

contributions we can motivate better than any paycheck will ever be capable of doing