Background/Introduction:
In recent years the economic environment of the world become much competitive, organizations want to protect themselves as well as to lead that particular industry, for that the survival of organizations is to deliver something new with more features on continuous bases, organizations have to be more innovative, that is to apply the best solution which fulfill customer new requirements, implicit needs, existing industry needs or current market requirements. That is consummate through nominal and valuable products, services, ideas, and technologies. But for that organizations have to engage their employees in innovation because without engaging employees departments, scientists, researchers can do nothing as the studies illustrates that innovation is not just the duty of scientists, specialists, either the organizations have to encourage and expand the innovational aptitude of their employees, if they want to be at the high position (Dorenbosch L, Marloes L, Engen V, Verhagen M).
For that just innovation is not enough, either organization have to develop innovative work environment so that each and every employee can contribute towards innovation as illustrated in research that each single employee’s dealings and proceedings are of critical magnitude and significance for permanent innovation development as well as enhancement (Jong D et al, 2010).
The factors that affect employee innovative work behavior and cause of innovation have been explored using different researches and frameworks. According to Super, guidance to career and choosing career and then its development is process of mounting and executing person’s self-concept which leads to mental growth that causes in innovation. (Leung A S, 2008).
There are five stages of a person’s life, the first two stages of that theory are of Growth and Exploration where a person needs career counseling and the fourth stage of that theory is Maintenance where the employee is self-actualized (Retrieved online from Super’s theory). Career counseling provides employees with the break to identify career goals and to craft plans within the background of organizational realities.
Studies explore that there is a positive relation between career development and innovation. But how can we get the career development, we can achieve it by getting career counseling and self-actualization of employees.
Most of the organizations are fail to produce innovative products, because employees have no career counseling at organizations, at college levels, as well as employees are unable to get the higher level of Maslow’s Hierarchy theory of needs that is self-actualization.
- To aware the employees of career counseling
- To aware the organizations of career counseling
- To get the innovative working environment
- Employees can engage in innovative environment to get higher level of innovation
LITERATURE REVIEW
Innovation and Innovative Work Behavior:
The benefit of innovation for organizational growth and success is globally acknowledged, employee innovative work behavior particularly is a more beneficent advantage that helps organization to succeed in vibrant corporate environment (Richard A. Woodman, 2010), as stated by the UK’s Prime Minister Tony Blair, “creativity and innovation are at the heart of a successful business” from this statement we can conclude that for businesses its vital that their employees must adopt creativity and innovative work behavior to achieve the organizational goals (Kerrie L. Unsworth et al, 2003), creativity and innovativeness are often used in exchange, difference is that creativity is development of ideas and innovation is idea execution (Mark Reuvers et al, 2008).
The innovation brought about by employees is directly linked to the overall organizational innovativeness; employees show innovative work behavior because either it is part of their job or prompt to intentional innovative work behavior (Nadin Dorner, 2102). The creation and production of fresh ideas and their application is said to be innovation and generation of a valuable idea is the first stage of innovation (Sussane G. Scott et al, 1994), thus a complex behavior involving actions linked to the generation of fresh concepts and the comprehension and solicitation of these new concepts is said to be innovative work behavior (Richard A. Wooodman, 2010).
Career Counseling:
Ever since the year 2000 the definition and scope of Counseling has changed to a broader concept and is defined as “A systematic helping process based on the principle of psychology used by the professional counselor to help clients in handling their development, challenges in modern living and mental disorders”(See Ching Mey et al, 2009). Career Counseling help employees in manipulating their potencies and capacities and help in eluding disparities among individual skills, goals and over all organizational prospects (Robert C. Merchant, Jr).
While Career Counseling is based on those people who are seeking occupational, educational or career guidance by a counselor who help in making clear objectives and goals for themselves as quantified by See Ching Mey et al, 2009, “Career counseling deal with people who are seeking, vocational, academic and career advice. The counselors help evaluate students' abilities, aptitude, interests and personalities to develop realistic academic, vocational and career goals”.
Career counseling help in understanding one’s own potential and abilities and in recognizing the future opportunities of career (Sohail Ahmed et al, 2014). Now a days employees can not solely rely on employers for their career growth and development i.e. the responsibility of career relies on the person on job, and ever changing environment thus compels an individual for a prolonged career counseling for survival as narrated by Anneleen Forrier et al, “They emphasize that careers become less predictable and that individuals can no longer fully rely on their employer to offer them a career.
The person, and no longer the organization, is in charge of the career. This changing career context provides new challenges to career counseling. Several journalists agree that lifelong access to career counseling becomes a necessity.”
Self-Actualization:
The term self-actualization was first of all devised by Kurt Goldenstien (1934) and then it was advanced by Maslow in his work on motivational theories and is a progressive mental concept. Self-actualization rests on the top of the Maslow’s pyramid of “hierarchy of needs” (1943) and can be defined as “that a person judging his/her abilities and potential and performing the best which is based on personal inner potentials (Itai Ivtzan,).”
An organization depends on the innovative work behavior of employees for financial development and is an attribute which organizations always want in their employees. Self-actualization is one of the globally accepted personality attributes, through the help of which a person can enhance his/her performance to a specific level and a high level of self-actualization keeps the employee motivated until he or she achieve the set objectives.
Self-actualized personalities have higher levels of belief in their ability to develop innovative goods, methods and hence work as an innovative worker. Self-actualization is a concept that defines the assurance of one’s own belief in his/her skills and attributes and is defined as “The belief in one’s capabilities to perform a particular behavior and successfully execute certain actions to attain goals.” (Rachna Kumar et al).
Linking Career Counseling and Self Actualization to Innovative Work Behavior:
Different aspects of a personality are enhanced due to career counseling and have influence on Professional abilities, self-actualization, skills and compliance to innovative expertise. One of the important process is self-actualization which allows a person to know his/her proficiency and act accordingly to achieve the set goals by adopting latest technology showing innovative work behavior, and thus helping in improving the overall organization performance as now a days only those organizations survive who accept innovation and show innovative behavior. Career counseling helps in development of individuals, employers and the society and effective career counseling will enhance individual performance and in turn helping in enhancing the whole organization and that’s why it’s important to have a counseled workforce with innovative behavior so that change can be handled (Cedefop, Panorama Repot, 2008).
Creating an environment having vulnerable culture, translucent and inclusive dialogue is both useful for the employer and the employee and for this purpose the employee is required to get career counseled so that he can develop abilities and skills to cope with the ever changing innovative environment by learning and training throughout the life time career thus benefiting both him/herself and the whole organization i.e. a self-actualized counseled person is always innovative and show innovative work behavior due extensive career counseling and understanding of one’s own abilities as affirmed by Mihai Jigao, in Career Counseling: Compendium of Methods and Techniques, 2007 “European policies in the lifelong learning field reconfirm the essential importance of information, counseling and guidance services in the process of “facilitating the access to the education and continuing training offer” and of supporting the positive entering of social and professional life for young people and adults. In this sense it is necessary to create a culture of open, transparent, comprehensible dialogue resulting in a practical gain for both the clients and the employers. At the same time, these services must be provided insistently and persuasively so that any person should have the opportunity of learning and training throughout their lifetime and benefit from equal opportunities on the labor market (special attention should be given to groups threatened by social and job exclusion), stimulate social cohesion, encourage private initiative and assist the improvement of beneficiary’s lifestyle.”
The vital role of self-actualization in the setting of innovation has been highlighted by researchers from a communal intellectual standpoint, the person who is not self-actualized face considerable barriers due to change and innovation in work and due to this reason it’s important for the employees to indulge innovative work behavior In themselves so that one can survive in the constantly changing environment by demonstrating innovative work behavior as stated by Nadin Dorner “First, from a social cognitive perspective, scholars have underscored the pivotal role of self-efficacy in the context of innovation. Since change and innovation in a work role may involve both uncertainties about future outcomes as well as possible resistance from others affected by the change, the individual who does not possess a reasonable amount of self-efficacy faces considerable barriers.”
According to Maslow’s work (1943,1954), Those personalities who are independent who do not hesitate in doing something new are self-actualized personalities, they look for new ideas, innovativeness and adopt innovative work behavior based on the ideas generated and those are not bounded by the opinions of others because they are self-actualized and are confident on their own innate abilities as stated by Itai IVTZAN, “Maslow (1943, 1954) describes key facets to be detachment from societal influences, autonomy and independence; an individual who is not bound by the expectations and opinions of others, but rather acts upon his/her own will. The self-actualized also approaches life with an attitude of “newness or appreciation of old experiences as if they were new”.
In modern day work Innovation and innovative work behavior both are very influential in the dynamic environment of organizations for their survival and success and those employees show innovative work behavior that are career counseled and self-actualized (Yuan Feirong et al, 2010).
Identified Variables:
In this study Innovative Work Behavior which depends on Self-actualization and career counseling by this we mean that Innovative Work Behavior is Dependent variable which depends on Self-actualization and Career counseling thus showing that Self-actualization and Career counseling are Independent variables.
Hypothesis:
H1: Career Counseling and Self-actualization positively influence Innovative Work Behavior.
H2: Career counseling positively influence self-actualization
H3: Career counseling positively influences Innovative Work Behavior.
H4: Self-actualization positively influences Innovative Work Behavior.
References
- Hartog D D, Jong D J(2010) Measuring Innovative Work Behavior, 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd,23-36
- Leung A S (2008) the big five career theories, International Handbook of Career Guidance Springer Science + Business Media B.V. 2008, 115-132
- Retrieved from http://www.careers.govt.nz/educators-practitioners/career-practice/career-theory-models/supers-theory/ .
- Yuan Feirong et al (2010) Innovative Behavior in the workplace: The role of Performance and Image outcome Expectations, 17-3-14 Academy of Management Journal 2010, Vol. 53, No. 2, 323–342.
- Scott Sussane G et al, (1994) Determinants of Innovative Behavior: A Path Model of Individual Innovation in the workplace, Academy of Management Journal 1994. Vol. 37. No, 3. 580-607.
- Unsworth L Kerrie et al, (2003), Promoting a Proactive and Innovative Workforce for the new Workplace, Wiley and Sons 2003.
- Cede fop, (2008), Career development at work A review of career guidance to support people in employment , Cede fop Panorama series; 151 Official Publications of the European Communities, 2008.
- Kumar Rachna, Investigating the effects of self-efficacy on innovativeness and the moderating impact of cultural dimensions, Journal of International Business and Cultural Studies.
- Jigau Mihai, (2007) Career Counseling: Compendium of Methods and Techniques.
- Dorner Nadin, (2012), Innovative Work Behavior: The Roles of Employee Expectations and Effects on Job Performance.
- Ahmed Sohail et al, (2014), Career Selection Behavior: Individual Perceptions and Counseling Effectiveness for Career Roles, ISSN 2090-4304 Journal of Basic and Applied Scientific Research.
- Ivtzan Itai, Self-Actualization: For Individualistic Cultures Only, Department of Psychology University College London.
- Forrier Anneleen, Career Counseling in the New Career Era: A Study about the Influence of Career Types, Career Satisfaction and Career Management on the Need for Career Counseling.
- Mey Ching See, (2009), Innovations in Counseling Seminar International Dalam Rangka Kongres XI dan Konvensi National XVI 15-17 November 2009 Anjuran: Asosiasi Bimbingan dan Konseling Indonesia (ABKIN).
