Achieving Success as an Employee

by Vincent J. Natoli, Jr.

The global economy is increasingly competitive and experiencing rapid change. One result of the increased competition and rapid change, is the increasingly precarious situation of employees in their jobs. Employees are experiencing relatively rapid job changes, high levels and lengthy periods of unemployment, and career changes. Because of the relatively short-term nature of employment in the contemporary economy, it behooves employees to find techniques to maximize the length and gain of their employment relationships. The purpose of this article is to provide employees, including managers, and applicants for employment with research-based strategies for maximizing the long-term benefits of their employment. These strategies, similarly, will benefit employers.

Employee Survival

Employee survival is a term I use as the employment equivalent of life-and-death in a biological system. It is based on an authoritarianism congruence between the employer and employee. Psychologists define authoritarianism as a co-variation of 3 attitudinal clusters: aggression, submission and conventionalism. An authoritarianism congruence between the employer and employee means that the employer and employee have similar behaviors in the workplace regarding aggression, conventionalism and submission. There is an authoritarianism congruence when an employee willingly submits to an employer’s conventions. There is no authoritarianism congruence when an employee does not submit to the employer’s conventions, resulting in the employer aggressing against the employee or the employee quitting, or the employee unwillingly submits. The process of employee survival and authoritarianism congruence testing begins in the recruitment stage and continues throughout the employment process.

The assessment of authoritarianism congruence between the parties starts in the recruitment stage of employment. The parties have scant and vague information about each other but the process of winnowing-out those who are perceived not to conform with each other’s conventions begins in recruitment. At the end of the recruitment process, there is a slightly better fit between the applicant and employer than there was in the beginning but the fit is still low.

The selection process begins after the recruitment process ends and a more detailed probing of each other’s authoritarianism begins. Selection involves such techniques as interviews, reference checks, personality tests and work samples. As the employer and applicant learn more of each other, they determine whether they are right for each other and whether they should pursue the employment relationship. One-way-or-another, some applicants leave the process and those remaining begin the employment relationship.

Those applicants surviving the selection process become employees and a further testing of the authoritarianism congruence between the parties begins. The process of socialization begins when the employer further informs the employee of its conventions through such programs as orientation and training. Employees not only experience the employer’s socialization, known as formal socialization, but also experience the socialization of their workgroup, known as informal socialization. Informal socialization, generally, is considered a more effective form of socialization than formal socialization and, in fact, can be contrary to formal socialization thereby sending mixed signals of appropriate workplace behavior to the new employee.

As the employee continues his employment, a conflict with the employer will eventually arise, thereby testing his submission to the employer’s conventions. As in the recruitment and selection stages, the employee must decide to willingly follow the employer’s conventions; refuse to follow the employer’s conventions and quit or be subject to discharge; or unwillingly follow the employer’s conventions and enter a state of cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance is a state of psychological tension that could create problems for the employee on-and-off the job, leading to poor job performance and other problems. If the cognitive dissonance continues and increases over time, it could lead to the employee leaving the organization.

The management literature generally shows better workplace outcomes such as increased job satisfaction, organizational commitment and tenure, and lower turnover for employees with a higher organizational fit.

Survival Strategies

The Theory of Employee Survival gives us a framework for analyzing the employment process and determining how employers and employees can use it to achieve successful outcomes.

In the recruitment and selection stages, An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Recruiter Warmth and Friendliness

Recruiter warmth and friendliness have been shown to positively influence job candidates by signaling a warm and friendly work environment, resulting in a higher applicant attraction and higher likelihood of job acceptance. Job seekers must be cognizant that they are trying to determine the organization’s conventions and how they will react to those conventions. If a job applicant relies on recruiter warmth and friendliness to the detriment of other cues regarding the organization’s conventions, he will increase the likelihood of a low authoritarianism congruence and a short job tenure.

Realistic Job Previews

A realistic job preview (RJP) is information provided to applicants about the positive and negative aspects of a job; the work environment and work requirements; and the organization, including organizational expectations. The goal of an RJP is to provide the candidate the realities of a job and not just promote its positive aspects. RJPs can take the form of frank discussions with prospective co-workers and supervisors, videos, literature, etc. Employers giving RJPs warrant greater consideration from the applicant than those not giving RJPs because they provide job seekers an increased insight into the organization’s conventions, and a greater opportunity to accept or reject the organization’s conventions and self-select out of the selection process. RJPs have been shown to reduce turnover, stress, role ambiguity and initial expectations; and lead to higher performance, job satisfaction, organizational commitment and role clarity.

Personality Tests

Many employers give to job applicants personality or personality-based tests which measure the applicant’s attitudes to potentially counter-productive behaviors such as lack of integrity, dishonesty and violence. Employers give such tests to help determine which applicants will submit to their conventions. Many applicants, in their zeal to obtain employment, provide responses to test questions they perceive the employer wants rather than their true responses. Even if the applicant guesses correctly, selects the responses the employer wants and obtains the job, there likely will be a relatively low authoritarianism congruence between the employer and employee leading to a short and unsuccessful job tenure. Providing truthful responses is likely to lead to a relatively high authoritarianism congruence with a long and successful job tenure.

Maximize Job Offers

Another strategy for increasing the likelihood of a successful long-term employment relationship by increasing the authoritarianism fit is by maximizing the number of job offers. As an applicant has more job offers from which to choose, he is more likely to find an organization in which he fits. In the case of relative newcomers to the workforce, especially, this may include broadening a job search to include different industries or non-profit and public-sector employers, as well as private-sector, for-profit employers.

SUMMARY

Success and longevity in an organization depends on an authoritarianism congruence between the employer and employee. Internal and external applicants for employment can increase the likelihood of a long and successful job tenure by striving to maximize their authoritarianism congruence with an organization with the appropriate consideration of recruiter warmth and friendliness, realistic job previews and personality tests, and by maximizing the number of job offers.

November 24, 2011