Perceived Organisation Support - What is it?
Be a Supportive Employer
Perceived Organisation Support - What is it?
Be a Supportive Employer
Perceived Organisational Support (POS) shows the employees’ awareness of being valued and appreciated by the organisation for their contribution and their mental state. With a certain high level of POS, multiple positive outcomes for the company can be achieved through enhancing the commitment and positive attitude of the employees.
Sources of Perceived Organisational Support - (1) Fairness
Fairness is a commonly studied factor in the research of POS. It can be divided into three types:
- Distributive justice (i.e the fairness of resource distribution)
- Procedural justice (i.e the fairness of the decision-making process for distribution)
- Interactional justice, and it can divided into two subtypes: a) Information justice (i.e the fairness of information access); b) Interpersonal justice (i.e respect from others)
Among these three types of justice, procedural justice played the most essential role in associating with POS, followed by distributive and interactional justice, since it is generally a controllable factor for the organisation. For example, it concerns about the transparency, consistency and employees’ involvement in decision making process.
Sources of Perceived Organisational Support - (2) Leader Support
Apart from fairness, the favourable treatment provided by the organisation unit (e.g coworker, supervisor, etc.) is perceived to be the embodiment of the organisation to some degree, and it helps employees’ build Perceived Organisation Support. Different studies reported various forms of supportive leadership perceptions:
- leader-member exchange (LMX)
- perceives supervisor support
- transformational leadership (e.g caring and concern for employees)
It can be defined as a downward reciprocation behaviour that the supervisor has a tendency to repay the favourable treatment to subordinates. For example, if one supervisor perceives being supported by the organisation or their upper manager, they may pass on the favourable treatment to their subordinates. To put it in other words, the LMX relationship between a supervisor and subordinate is greater when a supervisor has an ideal relationship with the organization. Therefore, supervisors’ POS is related to subordinate’s positively.
Sources of Perceived Organisational Support - (3) Human Resources Practice and Work Condition
Ample Human Resources practice and ideal work conditions bring positive regard for employees, thus enhancing their Perceived Organisation Support. Human resources practices, such as personalized developmental opportunities and family supportive practices, can be very effective in providing further motivation and goals.
Moreover, work condition features, including job enrichment and role stressors, are significantly related to Perceived Organisation Support. Particular working conditions, such as autonomy and decision-making participation not only indicate trust and affirmation for the organisation to the employees, but also effectively increase one’s involvement and commitment. The repeated communication of their value and effort contributed to the building of perceptions of organizational support.
Outcomes of Perceived Organisational Support - (1) Orientation toward the work
In terms of the attitude of employees, Perceived Organisational Support helps boosting the working motivation of the employees by creating a sense of commitment and engagement.
1. Organisational Commitment
Employees with high POS are more likely to have a higher level of affective commitment and normative commitment, which indicates the motivation of working together based on the shared value and sense of indebtedness.
2. Work Engagement
A high level of POS produces greater intrinsic interest and motivation in work, which positively improves the job engagement and organization engagement of employees.
3. Trust
POS lead to a higher level of employee trust in the organisation, thus keeping a positive orientation toward the organisation.
Outcomes of Perceived Organisational Support - (2) Behavioural Outcomes
Perceived Organisational Support also plays a role in encouraging innovation, employees tend to be more willing to make attempts and give out new ideas under the support of supervisors.
1. Creativity
POS produces a free and open environment for innovative ideas without worrisome.
2. Safety
There is a negative association between POS level and accident occurrence. That said, a higher POS level means fewer workplace accidents would happen.
3. Acceptance
Since POS played an essential role of reducing stress in avoiding failure, employees are more willing to accept new and novel methods (e.g new technology) at work.
Outcomes of Perceived Organisational Support - (3) Employee well-being
As aforementioned, perceived organisational support help enhance one’s sense of approval, affiliation and competence, thus fulfilling the socioemotional need. High job satisfaction is found positively with improved employees’ physical and psychological health by reducing emotional exhaustion and stressors.
Conclusion
Offering Perceived Organisational Support is a great approach to produce a positive impact on the productivity of the organisation and the relationship between supervisors and subordinates, even among the whole company. The relationship between Perceived Organisational Support and diverse attitudinal, behavioural outcomes and well-being has been confirmed. By introducing fairness, leader support and human resource practices, the common goal and team successes can be promoted through social exchange and self-enhancement.
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