Organizational Citizenship Behaviour Traits: HR Perspective

Written by: Dr.Gandham Sri Rama Krishna

Published in Personnel Today, Kolkata, Quarterly Journal of  NIPM, October-December, 2014, Vol.XXXV, No.3, PP. 19-25. ISSN: 0970-8504.  

Abstract

Every person must be a responsible citizen in the society for development in this competitive world.  In the same way employees in the organisations must be citizen of the organisation for its growth and development. Employees must also exhibit their talent by their behaviour in going beyond the normal requirements in his role this behaviour is termed as  Organizational Citizenship Behaviours. It  is a workplace behavior that exceed one’s basic job requirements. Employees exhibit certain behaviours by going beyond the normal call of duty. Unless and until employees engage in the positive way and their behaviour will contributes to the organizational success. Organizational citizenship behaviour is employees’ extra efforts in the organization and it is discretionary acts by the employees. Organizational citizenship behaviours may come in the forms of loyalty, organizational compliance and organizations benefits.  Job satisfaction, and organizational commitment are some of the organizational citizenship behaviours.

Introduction   

In today's competitive and turbulent environment, it is imperative for organizations to build employee commitment to spur growth. Nowadays employees are exhibiting a certain behavior by going beyond the normal requirements of the role. Employees are very much interested in earning more income by doing something work. It is the duty of the employer to create healthy environment, so that the employees can perform their duties in an innovative way. This behaviour is termed as Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (OCB) and it has been found to meaningfully contribute to organizational growth   with increasing technological advantages. Innovation has become a part of competitive advantage.  

Organ (1988), defines OCB as “individual behavior that is discretionary, not directly or explicitly recognized by the formal reward system, and that in the aggregate promotes the effective functioning of the organization.Organizational Citizenship Behaviour is employee behaviours that although not critical to the task or job, serve to facilitate organizational functioning.  

Organizational citizenship behavior is referred as set of discretionary workplace behaviours that exceed one’s basic job requirements. They are often described as behaviours that go beyond the call of duty.  Employees exhibit certain behaviors by going beyond the normal call of duty. These behaviors are called Organizational Citizenship Behaviours (OCB) and they contribute significantly to an organization's growth. When employers design roles for employees within an organization, the latter are not only motivated, but they also show high preference to OCB. Organizational Citizenship extent to which an employee’s voluntary support and behaviour contributes to the organization’s success.  (Organ,et al., 1995). Jobs have moved away from a clearly defined set of tasks and responsibilities and have evolved into much more ambiguous roles. Without a defined role, it quickly becomes difficult to define what is discretionary.

Organizations could not survive or prosper without their members behaving as good citizens by engaging in all sorts of positive behaviours. Organizational citizenship behaviour has been defined as a multi-dimensional concept that includes all positive organizationally  relevant behaviours of organisatinal members including traditional in-role behaviours, organizationally pertinent extra-role behaviours, and political behaviours, such as full and responsible organizational participation(Van Dyne, et.al., 1994).  

Positive employee voluntary behaviours like acting cooperatively, suggesting ways to improve the product, and promoting a positive climate. Organ,(1988) termed as OCB are manifested by the activities directed toward other members in the workplace or the organization, and may include helping co-workers, communicating new and critical information, maintaining a conscientious attitude toward the work environment, actively participating in decision processes and discussions. The main three types of behaviours are required for high organizational effectiveness: (i) people must join and remain in the organization (employee retention rate); (ii) employees must stick to the in-role behaviour which is performed in accordance with formal role descriptions; and (iii), extra-role behaviour which goes beyond the formal requirements of the role must be practiced (Katz & Kahn, 1966). The in-role behaviour expected of an employee is usually codified in job description or role requirement. However, for increased organizational effectiveness, the employees must also practice the extra-role and engage in cooperative behaviour which goes beyond what is stated in their role descriptions. OCB is a term used to describe such extra-role and employee cooperation.

The benefits of OCB is often recognised and rewarded by managerial staff, employees do not necessarily make the connection between performing OCB and reward gain and do not expect rewards (Organ, 1997). Given that OCB has such a significant impact on the productivity and efficiency of the organisation, and workers do not expect to be reimbursed for their efforts. OCB should be considered an efficient way of improving organisational profitability and reducing cost and lowering rates of absenteeism and employee turnover. At the same time it increases employee performance and wellbeing, as cooperative employees  are more productive, and OCB enhances the social environment in the workplace. OCB can enhance productivity (helping new co-workers; helping colleagues meet deadlines) OCB can free up resources like autonomous, cooperative employees give managers more time to clear their work; helpful behaviour facilitates. OCB can attract and retain good employees, through creating and maintaining a friendly, supportive working environment. OCB can create social capital, better communication and stronger networks facilitate accurate information transfer and improve efficiency.

Organisational Citizenship(OC) and Corporate Citizenship(CC)

The HR management literature have investigated the notion of citizenship from an organizational perspective with the organizational citizenship behaviours (OCB) construct, and from a social perspective with the notion of corporate citizenship (CC). While OCB focuses on the efforts undertaken by employees to behave as good citizens within their organization, CC designates the initiatives undertaken by businesses to act responsibly in society.

OCB as short-term behaviours: employees help their organization by displaying behaviours such as being punctual, not taking extra-long breaks, or helping someone in need of immediate assistance.   Graham’s (1991) indicators of OCB reflect “loyalty and participation dimensions have longer term effects”. Loyalty builds support for the organization among important external constituency groups and participation may help the organization adapt to its environment and may lead to changes in the organizational structure. Since the organizational structure and image are involved, these behaviours have much longer term implications and results than those proposed by Organ (1988).

The behaviours characterizing good CC have been investigated under various labels: corporate social responsibility and corporate citizenship. Businessmen have the obligation to pursue desirable policies in terms of societal objectives and values.  Businesses have the economic responsibility of being profitable and by producing goods and services that society wants. They have to follow the rules of behaviour considered as appropriate by legal and ethical   responsibilities. Firms are also expected to participate in the improvement of society beyond the minimum standards set by the economic, legal and ethical responsibilities.

Citizenship describes the status of belonging somewhere and it implies both rights and responsibilities (Graham,1991). OCB could be positioned as the organizational equivalent of citizen responsibilities and CC as citizen responsibilities of companies. Therefore, both OCB and CC call for behaviors of helpfulness dedicated to serve the common good and aimed at enhancing the quality of life in the community in which actors evolve. These behaviors can take the form of an active participation and involvement in the local environment, facilitating decisions for betterment, showing an interest in common affairs, helping others and respecting their rights. Furthermore, citizenship is based on the ideal of a constructive partnership between citizens and their community. (Swanson, 2001)

 Organizational Citizenship Behaviour and its Antecedents

Organizational citizenship behaviour is employees’ extra efforts which are not officially required by the organization and discretionary acts by employees (Kohan,2003). The two major components of OCB are compliance, which indicates employees’ intention to follow the organizational rules, and altruism, which means employees’ voluntary behaviours to help others and to work more. (Organ,1995).

Job attitudes, task variables, and various types of leader behaviours appear to be more strongly related to OCBs than the other antecedents. Job satisfaction, perceptions of fairness, and organizational commitment were positively related to citizenship behaviours. In addition to the four major categories of antecedents: employee characteristics, task characteristics, organizational characteristics, and leadership behaviours. Organizational citizenship behaviours come in a variety of forms such as loyalty, helping others, and organizational compliance and organizations benefit employees who are willing to contribute their efforts and abilities to the organizations even though that is not officially required of them. This contribution of organizational citizenship behaviour to organizations has received much attention in the business area (Todd, 2003).

Dimensions of OCB

Graham (1991) proposes a four dimensional OCB model. The dimensions are: (a) interpersonal helping; (b) individual initiative; (c) personal industry; and (d) loyal boosterish.

Further to Organ's and  Podsakoff identified five major categories of OCB— such as;(i) Altruism refers to the voluntary behaviours. It occurs when one employee aids another employee in completing his/her task under unusual circumstances. (ii) Conscientiousness refers to the extent of behaviours to which someone is punctual, high in attendance and goes beyond normal requirements or expectations.    (iii) Courtesy refers to behaviours that are aimed at preventing future problems. (iv) Civic virtue involves support for the administrative functions of the organization. It consists of those behaviours that are concerned with the political life of the organization, for example, attend meetings and express one's opinions in implementing a new policy. Civic virtue refers to employees’ commitment to the organization as a whole (Ackfeldt, 2005).  (v) Sportsmanship refers to maintaining a positive attitude by employees even when things go wrong or when there are minor setbacks, and their willingness to give up personal interests for the good of the organization by, for example, not complaining about trivial matters or not finding fault with other employees.

Organisational citizenship behaviour is a term that encompasses anything positive and constructive that employees do, of their own volition, which supports co-workers and benefits the company. Typically, employees who frequently engage in OCB may not always be the top performers (though they could be, as task performance is related to OCB), but they are the ones who are known to ‘go the extra mile’ or ‘go above and beyond’ the minimum efforts required to do a merely satisfactory job.(Deww Zhang,2011) Presently  organisations will benefit from encouraging employees to engage in OCB, because it has been shown to increase productivity, efficiency and customer satisfaction, and reduce costs and rates of employee turnover and absenteeism (Podsakoff, et.al, 2009).

The traditional measures used as valid predictors of OCB include; job satisfaction, employee engagement, organizational commitment, motivation and the level of trust between an employee and his/her co-workers and supervisors. An umbrella term ‘morale’ has been coined to cover job satisfaction, perceived fairness, affective commitment and leader consideration and moral correlates with OCB.(Organ et al., 2006).

·        Job Satisfaction & OCB: Job satisfaction is the employees’ response on their work itself and work environment and is caused when one’s need is satisfied at the workplace. Regarding the definition of job satisfaction, Hopkins (1983) defined it as ‘the fulfilment or gratification of certain needs that are associated with one’s work’.

Locke (1983), who defined job satisfaction as a pleasure of positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one's job experience. Thus, understanding job satisfaction of employees is an important organisational goal.

The most consistent and strongest relationships were between OCB and satisfaction with supervision and promotions. Though OCB is a spontaneous initiative taken by staff. The correlations between OCB and job satisfaction is approximately 0.4 (Organ, 1988). There is empirical evidence for the widely-held belief that satisfied employees perform better, but this is correlation, not causal. However, certain types of performance – primarily those related to citizenship behaviour – will be affected by job satisfaction. Think of employees who are cooperative with their superiors and colleagues, willing to make compromises and sacrifices and are ‘easier to work with’, employees who ‘help out with the extra little things’ without complaining – these behaviours are all encompassed within OCB.

It is commonly accepted that job satisfaction is a contributing factor to the physical and mental well-being of the employees; therefore, it has significant influence on job-related behaviours such as productivity, and employee relations (Becker,2004).  

·        Organizational Commitment & OCB: Organizational commitment has been defined as an attitude involving employee loyalty to the organization with those individuals who are committed being willing to contribute something of themselves to their organization.(Smith & Hoy, 1992) Organizational commitment generally involves the internalization of organizational goals and values and to exert effort beyond that normally required in the interest of these goals and values. (Jans N.A,1989)

·        Employee Engagement & OCB: This could be because employees who engage in OCB are simply liked more and perceived more favourably or it may be due to more work-related reasons such as the manager’s belief that OCB plays a significant role in the organisation’s overall success, or perception of OCB as a form of employee engagement due to its voluntary nature (Organ et al., 2006). Since OCB is beneficial in every organisation, it is important to consider the factors which affect engagement in OCB in the workplace. The OCB have been broadly categorized into three areas: personality/trait, attitudinal, and leadership/group factors. The influence of personality on tendency to exhibit OCB is minimal; however it does mean that some staff will be more naturally inclined towards engaging in OCB than others. The other two categories are more promising, in that attitudes can be cultivated and leadership and group characteristics can be altered to facilitate staff engagement in OCB.

·        Performance and OCB: Most of the research on the relationship between organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and performance has been conducted at the individual level. The effects on employee performance are threefold. Firstly, employees who engage in OCB tend to receive better performance ratings by their managers (Podsakoff et al., 2009). Regardless of the reason, the second effect is that a better performance rating is linked to gaining rewards – such as pay increments, bonuses, promotions or work-related benefits.

OCB may not always be directly and formally recognized or rewarded by the company, through salary increments or promotions for example, though of course OCB may be reflected in favourable supervisor and co-employee ratings, or better performance appraisals. In this way it can facilitate future reward gain indirectly. Finally, and critically, OCB must ‘promote the effective functioning of the organisation’.

HRM practices enhance employee performance by providing greater intrinsic motivation and opportunity to perform through higher levels of perceived job influence and discretion. OCB also encompasses organizational-related acts such as working overtime without remuneration, or volunteering to organise office-wide functions. OCB has been shown to have a positive impact on employee performance and wellbeing, and this in turn has noticeable flow-on effects on the organisation.

Currently, OCB is conceptualized as synonymous with the concept of contextual performance. While this reflects the flexible nature of employees’ roles in the modern workplace, and acknowledges the fact that employees do get recognized and rewarded for engaging in OCB. OCB has often been compared to contextual performance. It consists of four dimensions: persistence of enthusiasm, assistance to others, rule and proscribed procedure following, and openly defending the organizations objectives (Borman, 1993).

Contextual performance is defined as non-task related work behaviors and activities that contribute to the social and psychological aspects of the organization. OCB and contextual performance share their defining attributes as they both consist of behaviors other than those needed to perform the routine functions of the job. Both also require that these behaviors contribute to the overall success of the organization. Additionally, they also agree on the theme that these behaviors are discretionary and each employee chooses the amount and degree to which they will perform them. However, while contextual performance and OCB share a good part of their content domain, there are some important differences between the two constructs. One of the main requirements of OCBs is that they are not formally rewarded, which is not the case for contextual performance. OCBs may at some point encourage some sort of reward, but that these rewards would be indirect and uncertain. Also, contextual performance  does not require that the behavior be extra-role, only that it be non-task. The differences between contextual performance and OCB are slight and easy to miss, however, they do exist.

Prosocial organizational behavior(POB)

The concept of organizational citizenship behaviour appeared over two decades ago in the field of organizational behaviour. OCB has also been compared to prosocial organizational behaviour (POB). POB is defined as behaviour within an organization that is aimed at improving the welfare of another person (Brief & Motowidlo,1986). The important distinction here is that this type of behavior, unlike OCB, can be unrelated to the organization. Thus, someone exhibiting prosocial behaviour could be helping a co-employee  with personal matter.

Similarly to OCB, this concept emerged in response to the realization that only looking at job specific work behaviors ignored a significant portion of the job domain. Originally, experts in this field focused only on activities that directly supported the output of the organization. Organizational citizenship behaviours as “individual behavior that is discretionary, not directly or explicitly recognized by the formal reward system, and that in the aggregate promotes the effective functioning of the organization.

Extra-Role Behaviour(ERB),is defined as “behavior that attempts to benefit the organization and that goes beyond existing role expectations” (Organ et al., 2006). While similar in many aspects, there do some important differences between OCB and ERB. These two interesting concepts are a part of ERB that are not included in OCB: whistle blowing  and principled organizational dissent.  

Encouraging OCB in the Workplace

The extent to which employees exhibit OCB is a function of ability, motivation and opportunity and promoting better relationships between supervisors and staff, and among staff in general.

These are some other tips to encourage OCB in the organizations; (a) Office social environment – a working environment that promotes or is conducive to employees demonstrating OCB. Encouraging staff to attend office functions or office-wide birthday lunches. (b) Supervisor awareness – training or educating management about OCB will make them more aware of employee. They may choose to include OCB in their performance appraisals, their own informal reward system to encourage OCB. (c) Hiring practices – though the impact of personality on OCB is small, an outgoing, attentive, enthusiastic employee with a positive outlook and ‘can do’ attitude will be more inclined to engage in OCB.                   (d) Habituatio -  if  OCB is rewarded regularly, you may find that OCB levels will rise across the organisation over time.  (e) Organizational Loyalty – may enhance the organization’s ability to attract good talent, self-development behavior may reduce organizational training expenses and improve work effectiveness.  (f)Leader behaviors – also appear to play a key role in determining OCBs. Other behaviors, like providing an appropriate model, may influence OCBs directly through social learning processes, because the leader models various types of citizenship behaviors. Still other leadership behaviors, such as contingent reward behavior, may have a direct impact on citizenship behaviors in workplace. (g) Cross-Cultural Context – may affect the strengths of the relationships between citizenship behavior and its antecedents and consequences for example, the moderating effects; and  the mechanisms through which citizenship behavior is generated, or through which it influences organizational success.  

Social Exchange Perspective

Social exchange provided a mechanism for the intuitive link between attitudes and performance. The relationship between an organization and its employees may be conceptualized as involving ‘Economic exchange’ or ‘Social exchange’. Economic exchange is based exclusively on a specific contractual relationship, requiring specific performance of contractual obligations, with no expectation of performance beyond the specified terms of the contract. Social exchange, however, involves imperfectly specified terms and a norm of reciprocity, such that discretionary benefits provided to the exchange partner are returned in a discretionary way in the longer term (Blau, 1964).  

Employment relationships may be seen as having the characteristics of social exchange. For example, organizational justice has been seen as providing the employer’s side of such an exchange, with employees reciprocating through high levels of discretionary OCB (Moorman, 1991).   

Other organizational inputs into the employment relationship have also been considered in a social exchange context. Wayne (1997) considered the quality of leader– member exchange as an input into a social exchange, and terms of employment may also be seen in this way.  

Conclusion

Job designing is very important to make jobs more work modules. Organizations should look at enriching roles for completeness rather than adding more responsibility to the employees who may term disparate. The employer by capturing employees’ expectations in terms   of responsibilities and employee empowerment by creating and alignment between organizational objectives and employees expectations. The employees should feel autonomy in discharging their duties and it will have direct bearing on productivity of employees. Autonomy leads to conscientiousness which will lead the higher engagement of employees to the organization. This is coupled with other  job characteristics at higher levels, will give rise to good organisational citizens.

Among the internal factors, the organizational citizenship behaviour traits are found to impact positively and organisational ability to create an innovation will be replicated in other departments of the organization. Both intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction are important variables in predicting the citizenship behaviours that can benefited. Therefore, priority should be given to both intrinsic and extrinsic variables that will encourage employees to be more spontaneous and willing to achieve the organisational goals even though they exceed their formal duties and responsibilities. OCB should be actively encourage for good performance and well being which will reflect in reduced costs and increased profitability  at the organizational levels.  

Corporate Citizenship (CC) designates the initiatives undertaken by businesses to act responsible in the society. Organisations must build employee commitment for its growth. The organizations must create a positive environment for the employees so that the behaviours will contribute to improve the quality of product and promote a positive work culture. Employees must join an organization not for the job sake but for involvement in the achievement of goals and values of the organization. It will show a positive impact on employee performance and wellbeing. OCB is one of the ways improving organizational profitability and reduce in the costs and lowering rates of absenteeism and employee turnover.  

Reference

• ·        Ackfeldt. A.L & Coote LV (2005), A study of OCB in a retail sitting, Journal of Business Research 58(2), 151-159, doi:10,1016/S0148-2963(3), 00110-3.

Coping Strategies for Burnout

Coping Strategies for Burnout

Written by: Dr. Gandham Sri Rama Krishna

Published in the International Journal of Research in Management Studies, Westwind Publishing House, Mumbai, October, 2014, Vol. 2 Issue.3, PP.49-54. ISSN: 2321-4864. 

Abstract

Burnout is the gradual process by which a person, in response to prolonged stress and physical, mental and emotional strain, detaches from work and other meaningful relationships. The result is lowered productivity, cynicism, confusion and a feeling of being drained, having nothing more to give.  Burnout is a state of fatigue or frustration brought about by devotion to a cause, way of life or relationship that failed to produce the expected reward. It may be defined as the total depletion of physical and mental resources caused by excessive striving to reach an unrealistic work-related goal. Burnout may be the result of unrelenting stress. Burnout, on the other hand, is about not enough. Being burned out means feeling empty, devoid of motivation and beyond caring. Individuals experiencing burnout often don’t see any hope of positive change in their situations.

Introduction

Burnout is a psychological term for the experience of long-term exhaustion and diminished interest. Burnout is a state of emotional, mental, physical exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. It occurs when you feel overwhelmed and unable to meet constant demands. As the stress continues, you begin to lose the interest or motivation that led you to take on a certain role in the first place.

If someone suffers burnout, they exhaust themselves at an early stage in their life or career because they have achieved too much too quickly. Burnout is the gradual process by which a person, in response to prolonged stress and physical, mental and emotional strain, detaches from work and other meaningful relationships. The result is lowered productivity, cynicism, confusion and a feeling of being drained, having nothing more to give. 

Maslach and Jackson first identified the construct ‘Burnout’ in 1970’s and developed  a measure that weighs the effects of emotional exhaustion and reduced sense of personal accomplishment. The Maslach burnout inventory uses a three dimensional description of exhaustion, cynicism, and inefficacy (Maslach, Jackson, 1996). The term burnout in psychology was coined by Herbert J. Freudenberger in his 1974, which describes a protagonist suffering from burnout. He opined that burnout is “a demon born of the society and times we live in and ongoing struggle to invest our lives with meaning.” He observed burnout is a state of fatigue or frustration brought about by devotion to a cause, way of life or relationship that failed to produce the expected reward. It may be defined as the total depletion of physical and mental resources caused by excessive striving to reach an unrealistic work-related goal (Freudenberger, 1980). 

Another description in New York Magazine calls burnout, “a problem that’s both physical and existential, an untidy conglomeration of external symptoms and personal frustrations” (alistpart.com). The burnout is frequently associated with people whose jobs demand close relationships with others under tension-filled circumstances. The dangerous part of burnout is that it is contagious. A highly cynical and pessimistic burnout victim can quickly transform an entire group  into burnouts. It is, therefore, important to put out the fires early (V.S.P.Rao, 2007).  

Maslach and Leiter, defined the antithesis of burnout as engagement. Engagement is characterized by energy, involvement and efficacy, the opposites of exhaustion. They postulated that burnout occurs when there is disconnect between the organization and the individual with regard to what they called the six areas of work life: workload, control, reward, community, fairness, and values (Maslach, Leiter, 1997).

Tracy describes, burnout as “a general wearing out or alienation from the pressures of work” (Tracy, 2000). Understanding burnout to be personal and private is problematic when it functions to disregard the ways burnout is largely an organizational issue caused by long hours, little down time, and continual peer, customer, and superior surveillance. 

The Difference between Stress and Burnout

            Burnout may be the result of unrelenting stress. Burnout, on the other hand, is about not enough. Being burned out means feeling empty, devoid of motivation, and beyond caring. Individuals experiencing burnout often don’t see any hope of positive change in their situations. If excessive stress is like drowning in responsibilities, burnout is being all dried up (helpguide.org).

            How the stress is processed determines how much stress is felt and how close the person is to burnout. One individual can experience few stressors, but be unable to process the stress well and thus experience burnout. Another person, however, can experience a significant amount of stressors, but process each well, and avoid burnout. How close a person is to a state of burnout can be determined through various tests. (allbusiness.com)

            Burnout doesn’t happen without stress. Although burnout is primarily a work-related illness caused by an imbalance in an individual’s personal goals, ideals, and needs as related to their job, stresses and factors outside the workplace can also contribute to the problem by wearing down emotional defenses.

Many theories of burnout include negative outcomes related to burnout, including;

·        Job functions like performance and output,

·        Health related outcomes like increases in stress hormones, coronary heart disease, circulatory issues, and

·        Mental health problems like depression, alienation, frustration etc.

Herbert Freudenberger and Gail North have theorized that the burnout process can be divided into twelve phases;

·        Working harder

·        Obvious behavioural changes

·        The compulsion to prove oneself

·        Displacement of conflicts

·        Withdrawal

·        Denial of emerging problems

·        Neglecting their needs

·        Revision of values

·        Depersonalization

·        Inner emptiness

·        Burnout syndrome 

·        Depression

Stages of Burnout

There are four stages of burnout;

• Physical, mental and emotional exhaustion. Maybe you are still holding it together at work.
• Shame and doubt. Perhaps this scenario is familiar.
• Failure, helplessness and crisis.
• Cynicism and callousness. In response to that prolonged feeling of insecurity or vulnerability (stessdoc.com).  

Symptoms of Burnout

            Some of the symptoms of burnout include: chronic fatigue, anger at those making demands, self-criticism for putting up with demands; negativism and irritability; a sense of being besieged; and hair-trigger display of emotions. The burnout victim is generally unable to maintain an even keel emotionally. The victim may burst out often and express his rage and hostility in totally inappropriate circumstances.

Think of the early symptoms of burnout as warning signs or red flags that something is wrong that needs to be addressed. If you ignore them, you’ll eventually burnout. Other symptoms include;

• You’re exhausted all the time
• Feeling tired and drained most of the time
• The majority of your day is spent on tasks you find either mind-numbingly dull or overwhelming
• Every day is a bad day.
• Frequent headaches, back pain, muscle aches, lowered immunity, feeling sick a lot
• Caring about your work or home life seems like a total waste of energy. 
• Sense of failure and self-doubt.
• Isolating yourself from others.
• Loss of motivation. You feel like nothing you do makes a difference or is appreciated. 
• Increasingly cynical and negative outlook
• Procrastinating, taking longer to get things done.
• Using food, drugs or alcohol to cope.
• Taking out your frustrations on others
• Skipping work or coming in late and leaving early. Withdrawing from responsibilities.  

Causes of burnout

            There are many causes of burnout, in many cases, burnout stems from job. But anyone who feels overworked and undervalued is at risk for burnout. 

• Lack of recognition or rewards for good work
• Overly demanding job expectations
• Working too much, without relaxing and socializing
• Taking on too many responsibilities, without enough help from others.
•  Not getting enough sleep
• Lack of supportive relationship
• Pessimistic view of yourself and the society
• Perfectionist tendencies; nothing is ever good enough   

Consequences of Burnout

Burnout brings with it many losses, which can often go unrecognized. Unrecognized losses trap a lot of your energy. It takes a tremendous amount of emotional control to keep yourself from feeling the pain of these losses. When you recognize these losses and allow yourself to grieve them, you release that trapped energy and open yourself to healing 

If constant stress has you feeling disillusioned, helpless, and completely worn out, you may be suffering from burnout. When you’re burned out, problems seem insurmountable, everything looks bleak, and it’s difficult to muster up the energy to care-let alone do something about your situation. The unhappiness and detachment burnout causes can threaten your job, your relationships and your health. But burnout can be healed. You can regain your balance by reassessing priorities, making time for yourself and seeking support. 

Burnout reduces your productivity and saps your energy, leaving you feeling increasingly helpless, hopeless, cynical and resentful. Eventually, you may feel like you have nothing more to give. Most of us have days when we feel bored, overloaded, or unappreciated. If you feel like this most of the time, however, you may be flirting with burnout.

Burnout can also cause long-term changes to your body that make you vulnerable to illnesses like colds and flu. Because of its many consequences, it’s important to deal with burnout right away (helpguide.org).

Coping Strategies

            There are a variety of ways that both individuals and organizations can deal with burnout.

• A better connection on workload means assuring adequate resources to meet demands as well as work life balances that encourage employees to revitalize their energy.
• A better connection on values means clear organizational values to which employees can feel committed.
• A better connection on community means supportive leadership and relationships with colleagues rather than discord.
• Resolving these discrepancies requires integrated action on the part of both the individual and the organization (Maslach, Schaufeli, 2001). 
• Resting proves to be very effective. This may include a temporary reduction of working hours and slowly rebuilding the endurance of the individual.
• Many of the remedies related to burnout are motivated not from an employee’s perspective, but from the organization’s perspective.
• Despite that, if there are benefits to coping strategies, then it would follow that both organizations and individuals should attempt to adopt some burnout coping strategies.
• Some programmes included counseling and psychological services for employees. There are organizations that still utilize employee assistance programmes today, but the popularity has diminished substantially because of the advent of stress management training.
• Employees can cope with the  problems related to burnout and stress by focusing on the causes of their stress. Various therapies, such as Neurofeedback therapy, claim to assist in cases of burnout. This type of coping has successfully been linked to reductions in individual stress.
• Appraisal based coping strategies deal with individual interpretations of what is and is not a stress inducing activity. There have been mixed findings related to the effectiveness of  appraisal based coping strategies.
• Social support has been seen as one of the largest predictors toward a reduction in burnout and stress for workers. Creating an organizationally supportive environment as well as ensuring that employees have supportive work environment do mediate the negative aspects of burnout and stress (allbusiness.com).

Prevention Techniques

While individuals can cope with the symptoms of burnout, the only way to truly prevent burnout is through a combination of organizational change and education for the individual (Maslach, Leiter, 1997). Organizations address these issues through their own management development, but often they engage external consultants to assist them in establishing new policies and practices supporting a healthier work life. 

W.S.Paine suggested four techniques to reduce burnout. These are:

·        Identification: This is the analysis of the incidence, prevalence and features of burnout in individuals, workgroups and subunits in an organization.

·        Prevention: Serious attempts should be made to prevent burnout process before it begins through employee wellness programmes.

·        Mediation: This involves procedures for slowing, halting or reversing the burnout process.

·        Remediation: Techniques are designed for persons who are already burned out or are rapidly reaching the end stages of this process.

Tips for Preventing Burnout. These are:

• You need to force yourself to slow down or take a break. Cut back whatever commitments and activities you can. Give yourself time to rest, reflect, and heal.
• Creativity is a powerful antidote to burnout. Try something new, start a fun program, or a favorite hobby.
• Start the day with a relaxing ritual. Spend at least ten minutes meditating.
• Adopt healthy eating, exercising and sleeping habits. Sleep gives our brains a chance to work out problems and process the information we’ve absorbed throughout the day.
• Set boundaries. Don’t overextend yourself.
• Learning how to manage stress can help you regain your balance.
• Turn to your loved ones for support. Simply sharing your feelings with another person can relieve some of the burden.
• Take time to think about your hopes, goals, and dreams.
• Changing jobs or changing careers. Changing departments learn a new skill, or simply focus more on the things you’re good at and that make you happy. 
• Take a proactive approach – rather than a passive one.
• If burnout seems inevitable, take a complete break from work. Go on vacation.
• Seek counsel and support from family, friends, and peer members or consider more formal coaching, possibly through a local business network or wellness center.
• Spending time with family, friends or your personal interests may provide the fulfillment you don’t get at work.

When you’re burned out, you know it. You can feel it and taste it, but in order to get past, it you have to acknowledge it and fight to restore your internal equilibrium. Stop, decompress, communicate, and focus. That process often begins with a look inward to learn what gives your life balance, such as family, friends, personal interests, and hobbies – the things that counterbalance your life on the web of human relations. 

References

1. Dierendonck,D., Schaufeli,W.B., Buunk, B.P(1998), The Evaluation of an Individual Burnout Intervention Program: The Role of Inequity and Social Support, Journal of Applied Psychology, 83: 392-407.
2. C.Maslach, S.E.Jackson (1981), The Measurement of Burnout, Journal of Organisational Behaviour.
3. Herbert J. Freudenberger, Geraldine Richelson(1980), Burn-Out: The High Cost of High Achievement, 0-385-15664-2.
4. Maslach, C., Jackson, S.E, and Leiter, M.P(1996), Burnout Inventory: Manual. Palo Alto: Consulting Psychologists Press.
5. Maslach, C. and Leiter, M.P(1997), The Truth about Burnout. New York. Jossey-Bass.
6. Maslach, C., Schaufeli,W.B., Leiter, M.P (2001), Job Burnout, Annual Review of Psychology, 52: 397-422.
7. Tracy,S (2000), Becoming a Character for Commerce Emotion, Management Communication Quarterly, 14.113.
8. Ulrich Kraft (2006), Burned Out, Scientific American Mind, June-July, PP.28-33.    
9. V.S.P.Rao (2007), Human Resource Management, Excel Books, New Delhi. PP.659-661.
10. W.S.Paine (1982), Job Stress and Burnout, Beverly Hills, Calif, Sage Publications. 

Websites:

1. www.allbusiness.com
2. www.helpguide.org
3. www.stressdoc.com
4. www.alistapart.com

Women Workers as Human Resource in Agriculture

               Women Workers as Human Resource in Agriculture  

Written by: Dr. Gandham Sri Rama Krishna
Published in Journal of Indian Economic Panorama, New Delhi, July, 2014, Vol.24, No.2. PP.15-17.

                 In this article, an attempt is made to examine the role of agriculture in Indian economic development, its share in the national income,  agriculture  as an unorganised sector and characteristics  of the agricultural women workers.   

Role of agriculture in economic development

      In India agriculture contributes to the economic development  by providing food  for sustenance, raw materials for industries and exports to earn valuable  foreign exchange. Moreover, it creates employment opportunities for the rural workers. Eighty per cent of the  population live in villages, with nearly 58.4 per cent  of them  depending  on agriculture.  Agriculture forms  the backbone of the Indian economy.  In spite of industrialisation, agriculture still holds a place of pride in India. 

               India is one of the important developing countries where the role of agriculture is very crucial for sustaining and promoting economic development, as a vast segment of its population depends on it for its livelihood. Agriculture is more a way of life in India than a business.  The significance of agriculture in the economy can be explained by examining its  role in agriculture under different heads.

·   Agriculture as a source of  livelihood

               The agriculture sector provides livelihood  to nearly 58.4  per cent of the work force which contributes nearly 26 per cent of gross domestic product and accounts  for  about 18 per cent share of the total value of the country’s  exports.  It supplies the bulk of wage - goods required by the non-agricultural sector and raw material  for  a large  section of industry.  Per capita net availability of  food grains went up to a level of 467 grams per day in 1999-2000 as compared to that of 395 grams  in the early fifties.  There  are three main crop seasons, namely, kharif, rabi and summer.  Major kharif crops  are rice, jowar,  maize, cotton, sugarcane, sesame and groundnut. Major rabi crops are wheat, jowar, barley,  gram, linseed,  rapeseed  and mustard.  Rice, maize and groundnut  are grown in summer season also.

                Agriculture  has a greater  role in economic development  in less developed countries like India as it  provides livelihood to the vast  majority  of people.  The agricultural  provides livelihood to about three-fourths of the Indian population.  According to the 2001 census, in India 58.4 per cent of  total workers depend on agriculture for sustenance.   Among  rural women  39.4 per cent are employed in agriculture  as workers.  This  fact reflects the  importance of agriculture relative to other sectors of the economy.

·   Agriculture and Industrial Development

               Being  the largest supplier  of the necessities of life, raw materials and consumer of industrial products, agriculture  plays a very important  role in many  dimensions  for the  industrial development. Cotton textile, sugar,  jute etc.,  industries depend on agriculture directly.  There are many other industries which depend  on agriculture in  an  indirect manner.  Many of our small-scale and cottage  industries like  handloom weaving, oil crushing, rice husking etc.,  depend upon agriculture for their raw materials. It has been  estimated that  the industries which draw their raw material from the  agriculture sector contribute nearly 50 per cent  of the income  generated in the manufacturing sector in India.

·   Agriculture and rural development

        Rural  development means developing the rural  economy so as to raise the standard of living of the rural people who are poor and require to be uplifted (Giriappa,1976).  As  a concept, thus, rural development connotes overall development  of rural  areas with a view to improve the  quality of life of the rural people. In   this sense, it is a comprehensive and multidimensional concept and encompasses the development  of agriculture and allied activities like village and cottage industries, crafts,   socio-economic  infrastructure, community  service  and facilities and above all human  resources in the rural areas. Rural  development  is a strategy  to enable a specific group of people  - poor and rural women  and men,  to get for themselves and their children more of what they  want and need.  

               Agriculture is  one  of the  major  occupations in unorganised sector. It has characteristic  features like the  contract between farmers and workers, long hours of work,  low skills, discrimination in wages, casual nature  of employment, lack of social security, lack of minimum facilities, lack of job security, lack of legal protection etc.    (SurekhaRao, 2000).

               According to the Second Agricultural Labour Enquiry Committee (1956-1957), made the definition more broad and viewed agricultural  worker to include not only worker employed in crop production but also engaged in allied activities like, animal husbandry, poultry, dairy etc., Thus several more categories of workers were brought within the scope of the term ‘Agricultural Worker’ in the second enquiry.

      Employment in agriculture is mostly seasonal with varying  intensities depending  upon regional characteristics  and crop-pattern. This  seasonal activity is followed by slack period, the duration of which varies from  region to region. During slack season agricultural workers have to seek alternative sources of employment. Migration is another distinct  feature. In busy seasons, agricultural workers emigrate  from regions where workers are relatively abundant to regions where they are scarce.

Women in agriculture

               Women constitute about 50 per cent of the human resources of every society, are greater instruments in the development of human resources than men. They not only can enter into any profession and economic activity but also remain as mothers and caretakers of potential human resources – children. Human resources especially women power need to be assigned key role in any developmental strategy. Trained and educated on sound lines, they become an asset in accelerating economic growth and in ensuring social change in desired directions, as education develops basic skills and abilities and fosters a value system conducive to national development goals (Kaushik, 1996).

“Nature gave women too much power:

The  law gives them too little”

                   Women human resource may be interpreted as a resource to be recognised and appreciated, and which has to treated  as a human one, and  not like other material resources. It assumes that women are a great asset, and can contribute a great deal to the achievement of national goals. This positive view of women as an asset with the unlimited potential is the core concept of the human resource. They have immense potential for growth, which can be developed through appropriate and systematic efforts.  It is also realized that participation of agricultural women is necessary to enhance the resource and the more the nation invests on its women the greater the return.  Women’s participation in all development efforts is necessary so that they can involve themselves and contribute to the development of the nation and its people. Women should operate  with values as human beings as well as contribute to these values by creating tradition and culture of respecting people as human beings.  

Impact of globalisation  on women in the agriculture sector of India

       In India, the aim of the economic reforms package initiated in 1990’s with liberalisation, privatsation and globalisation as its hallmark, is to improve the quality of life of people especially the economically poor particularly women. But it is a paradox that with all the constitutional  safeguards, legal provisions and developmental efforts, Indian  women by and large have been suffering socially, economically and politically.

               In the rural  informal sector, women have been  doing the agricultural and pre-agricultural  activities involving drudgery  like transplanting,  paddy seedlings by long hours of standing and bending  in the slush in the  field, winnowing and drying of grains, weeding and inter-culture in the standing  crops and sharing the  responsibilities for caring of cattle. All these farm activities relate to subsistence of agriculture. But women do not have the employment status,   since their work is dependent upon those  who own, control and manage agricultural activities.

               The impact of globalisation to this segment of agriculture women has been negative in many areas;

·        The  export augmentation  as the core of liberalisation adversely  affects livelihood  of women in coastal  tracts where shrimp farming  is practiced besides polluting ground water.

·        Modernisation of agriculture through technological  inputs affects employment opportunities of women farm workers in partial or in full. The net result has been migration of women to urban areas on a temporary, seasonal or permanent basis.

·        The free play of Multi National Corporations has a direct impact on the health and living of women  through pollution, degradation  of natural resources, depletion of soil, coastal and marine resources.

                   In sum, feminisation  of rural poverty has become a significant problem of globalisation. (Nasurudeen, 2001).

Women workforce in India and Andhra Pradesh

               According to the Census of India (2001),   majority of women workers are employed in the rural areas. Amongst rural women workers, 58.4 per cent are employed in agriculture  as workers. Among the women workers in the urban areas, 80 per cent are employed in unorganized sectors like household industry, petty trades and services, building and construction, etc.

·   Agricultural sector in Andhra Pradesh

      Andhra Pradesh  covers an area of  2,75,045 sq km, and state population as on 1 March 2001 stood at 7,57,27,541.  Agriculture is the main occupation of about 39.6 per cent of the people  in Andhra Pradesh. Rice is a major  food crop  and staple food of the state contributing about 80 per cent of the food grain production. Other  important crops are jowar, bajra, maize, ragi, small  millets, pulses, castor, tobacco, cotton and sugarcane. Forests cover 23 per cent of the state’s area. Important forest products are teak, eucalyptus, cashew, casuarinas, bamboo  etc. Net area irrigated through all irrigation sources during 1999-2000 was 43.84 lakh hectares.

The State of Andhra Pradesh came into existence through  the fusion of three regions - Coastal Andhra, Rayalaseema  and Telangana   with diverse physio-geographical,  socio-economic and political background that had conditioned their economic and agricultural development.

            The Coastal region consisting of nine districts viz.,  Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, East Godavari, West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam and Nellore.  It has fertile delta land formed by the three major rivers, — the Godavari, Krishna and Penna. Most of the paddy and other important food and commercial crops are grown in this area.

           The Rayalaseema region comprising of four districts of Anantapur, Cuddapah, Kurnool and Chittoor,  is long known as the stalling ground of famines. The  soil is rocky and unyielding;  the rainfall is scanty and uncertain. The region is scarcely populated.

        Telangana  region comprises of ten Telugu-speaking districts — Mahaboobnagar,  RangaReddy, Hyderabad, Medak, Nizamabad,  Adilabad, Kareemnagar, Warangal, Khammam and Nalgonda of former Hyderabad state. Except the city of Hyderabad, the economy  of the entire region has  remained  stagnant and undeveloped  due to centuries of feudal rule. The  land is mostly dry and its agriculture  is confined to growing some dry crops with the help of tank irrigation.

·   Role of agriculture in A.P.State economy

               The State of Andhra Pradesh is essentially an agricultural state where more than 39.6 per cent of the population depend upon agriculture and the contribution of agriculture to state’s income is nearly 50 per cent. An attempt is made in this sub-section to study the specific ways in which agriculture is playing a vital role in the economy of Andhra Pradesh.

               The agricultural  sector meets the increasing need for foodgrains on account of   increase in population of the state and also the need for increase in the level of income. If the supplies of these goods are not sufficient, the  prices go up jeopardising  the very process of development of the state.   Agriculture is the major source   for the development  of non-agricultural sectors like industry and services. Agriculture can help the state a great deal in adding a crop or two within the existing crop pattern and that too with little incentives and with perhaps no additional capital investments.

               An increase in production and productivity in agriculture will create more jobs and raise the volume of work   in agriculture as well as in industry. Thus employment  opportunities can be increased for larger number than before in the state. Further, expansion of agriculture will  improve the levels of  income of rural people in the state and change their life styles in addition to  stimulating industrial growth.(Siva Rama Krishna ,1995)

·        Workforce  profile in Andhra Pradesh 

                 The percentage of total workers increased from 45 in 1991   to 45.8 in 2001   in Andhra Pradesh (Census of India 2001). The increase has occurred both in men and women workers. However, the percentage of increase is more among men   than women workers. Among men   the increase is 0.9 per cent  and in women 0.6 per cent. In terms of percentages the increase may appear insignificant but the absolute numbers are more impressive. In Andhra Pradesh, the absolute number of workers has increased by more than 49 lakhs (49,01,469) which is not a small number. At this juncture  it may be pertinent to state that when the decadal  population growth rate is around 13.86 per cent, the growth rate of workers is 16.36 per cent. During the decade the number of men workers grew by more than 30 lakhs (30,14,805) and women workers increased by 18.87 lakhs (18,86,664).

                  In India, the State of Andhra Pradesh occupies the first place with the highest number of agricultural women workers where 73,86,920 women are found employed in various occupations accounting for 56.2 per cent of the total women workers of the country (in terms of absolute number A.P. is in the first place.  But in terms of percentage agricultural women workers to the total women workers of the country, Bihar is ahead of A.P.).  The other states that follow A.P. in the order are Maharashtra (63,62,152), Uttar Pradesh (52,75,689), Bihar (47,29,352).  The distribution of agricultural women worker in different states indicate certain correlations.  The incidence of agricultural women  workers is mainly linked to the agricultural land available in the area as also the limited non-farm employment opportunities.

                 The distribution of agricultural women workers based on district.  Of the 5,29,891 total women workers in West Godavari district, 75.5 per cent of them are agricultural women workers, accounting for the highest according to district.  This is followed by Krishna (71.9%); Khammam (67.8%); Guntur (67.7%); East Godavari with (66.9%) agricultural women workers, occupies the fifth place when the percentage is taken with total   women workers of each district.

Distribution of agricultural workers according to total in Andhra Pradesh

S.No.	Category of workers	Men	Women	Total
1.	Total workers	21,725,810 (62.31)	13,139,307 (37.69)	34,865,117 (100)
2.	Agricultural workers	6,431,834 (46.54)	7,386,920 (53.46)	13,818,754 (100)
3.	Percentage of Agricultural workers (men & women) to the total workers (men & women)	29.60	56.20	--

Note   :      Figures in parenthesis indicates percentage

Source :    Census of India, 2001

                 The table reveals that the total workforce in Andhra Pradesh is over 34 millions of this the men workforce constitutes 62.31 per cent whereas women workers constitute 37.69 per cent and when we consider the workforce depending on agriculture for their livelihood they form 39.60 per cent.  If we distribute the agricultural workforce in terms of men and women, the women workforce out number men, the percentages in respect of women and men agricultural workers are 53.46  and 46.54 respectively. This clearly shows that agricultural women workers are preponderant when compared to men workers.  When we examine the pattern of employment of women workers it can be noted that the women workers depending on agriculture forms the majority, accounting for 56.2 per cent of the total women workforce.

CONCLUSIONS

                India is predominantly an agricultural country with different religions and cultures.  There is a general impression that India is a country of farmer – proprietors and there are no serious labour problems in agriculture.  But in actual practice there are problems, which are of two types – social and economic.  The first has its origin in the low status of agricultural workers in the rural hierarchy, the second in the chronic lack of adequate employment opportunities. Their conditions of work depend on the prosperity of the farmer.  It is said that the agricultural workers are at the mercy of farmers.  The studies on rural labour also point out that the agricultural women workers are swelling its ranks both in absolute terms and in proportion to the total rural women workers.

               The rural agricultural women workers are often socially and culturally isolated.  They commonly lack the productive assets other than their working power which would enable them to struggle for independence and self-reliance.  They remain attached in various ways to those who have control over land and capital. They have learnt to live with apathy, injustice and have no opportunity for schooling.  They work without being recognised as workers, and throughout their lives they are expected to obey male authority.   Women’s condition as family members  and co-workers has not changed even after  12^th five year plans.  Agricultural women workers are taken for granted and there is little recognition of the importance of their contribution to economy. 

               Agricultural women workers encounter many difficulties because of their distressing and pitiable working conditions such as long working hours, low wages, inhuman behaviour and gender discrimination.

REFERENCES

1.Giriappa, S. (1976).  Urbanization and Rural Development, Studies in Rural Development.  Bangalore  : Institute for Social and Economic  Change,   .

2.Surekha Rao, K. (2000).  “Problems of Women agriculture Workers in East Godavari District (A.P.)”, Workers Education Nagpur : Quarterly Journal of Central Board for Workers Education, September, p. 39.

3.Kaushik Vijay,  Bala Rani Sharma. (1996).  Encyclopedia of Human Rights and Women’s Development. New Delhi : Sarup and Sons, Vol.1, p.1

4.Narsurudeen, P., Umamaheswari, L.  (2001). “Is Globalisation Overpowering Democracy?” The Challenge for Ecology, Economic, and Culture. India : June16 Villalanna Pondicherry..

5.Siva Rama Krishna, K.,  Ramesh, K.,  Gangadhara Rao, M.. (1995).  Human Resource Management in Agriculture, New Delhi : Discovery Publishing House, pp.40-41.

6.Census of India. (2001).  Provisional Population Totals, Paper-3 of 2001, Hyderabad : Director of Census Operations, A.P.