Individual Competitiveness and Good Communication Foster Positive

Psychosocial Work Condition

Psychosocial Work Conditions are an important part of interpersonal and social interactions. Definitively, the psychosocial working environment is a summative term that covers the work of an individual and its overall impact on employee, the interaction among people in the workplace, external and internal organizational conditions, and organizational culture. It pertains to the social and interpersonal interactions that determine employee development and behavior in the workplace. A positive and supportive psychosocial work environment is beneficial to fostering employee satisfaction in an occupational setup (Jacobs, Hellman, Markowitz, & Wuest, 2013) and, consequently, employee productivity. Effective communication and feedback mechanism between novel employees and their equals, for instance, is crucial for cultivating the integration of interpersonal support and work routine among employees. Such integration improves the efficiency of work processes as well as the well-being of employees (Awan & Tahir, 2015). Donald et al. (2005) concluded that psychological well-being and commitment to the organization were strong predictors of performance.

People’s characteristics and psychosocial environments are innately interconnected through shared impacts and perceptions instead of being separated into diverse constructs. Through their experiences, individuals influence others around them in the workplace though behaviors that resonate with their unique perceptions of the situation. For example, affable individuals foster warm reciprocal relations whereas aggressive individuals foster argumentative communication and tend to be highly competitive in nature (Sadler & Woody, 2003). Depending on the context, individuals with both affable and aggressive traits have an influence on the environment in which they work. However, many factors influence the working conditions in an organization. Interpersonal communication and competitiveness, for instance, are major influencers of behavior within an organizational environment. Every function and activity in the workplace includes some form of communication – whether direct or indirect. Consequently, most businesses put high importance on interpersonal communication. 

Work Conditions

Most businesses fail to recognize the significance of quality working environment as a determinant of employee motivation and job satisfaction and, thus, face a wide range of challenges related to employee turnover, productivity, and commitment to the underlying organizational goals cause. Ideally, such organizations are inherently week and unable to introduce lean products and services to create a competitive edge (Aiken, Clarke, & Sloane, 2002). Employees are an essential element of the process of achieving the vision and mission of an organization. It is inherently imperative for employees to meet an organization’s performance criteria to ensure both efficiency and the quality of work. Achieving this goal requires employees to have an ideal working environment that enables them to work autonomously, freely, and interactively without problems that may undermine their ability to maximize their potentials and perform well.

Many fundamental work factors are crucial for determining satisfaction as well as how employees experience the value or significance of their work. Factors such as autonomy of work, interesting tasks, and relationships with colleagues impart the most positive impact on the attractiveness of work among employees. The management practices, protocols, and operational procedures used in the organization have significant impacts on the level of significance employees associate with their work. The creation of an ideal work environment in an organization affords valuable opportunities for increasing employee motivation, commitment, and productivity. Better work conditions are profitable (Nuse, 2016).

The achievement of business goals hinges mainly on the nature of the interactions between the employees. Therefore, a favorable working environment is critical to the performance of employees. An ideal working environment includes key factors such as job security, motivation, employee safety, good relations among employees, incentives for recognizing good performance, and inclusion in the decision-making process (Raziq & Maulabakhsh, 2015). There are many reasons for businesses to improve their work environments including fostering employee pride and belief in the organization, preventing a host of negative consequences, keeping costs low by improving the level of happiness among employees, and building a supportive culture that promotes employee and organizational growth.

Competition

Employee competition in the workplace is an innate element of most workplaces (Steinhage, Cable, & Wardley, 2017). Whether openly or otherwise, most organizations create and promote a dynamic in which workers compete among themselves for bonuses, promotions, and recognition. Therefore, competition is an inevitable element of work because every employee endeavors to outperform other employees for rewards and recognition. Ultimately, an employee’s personal ambitions and competitiveness suffice as fundamental drivers of performance. Notably, such competition among employees presents many benefits and challenges to organizations.

On one hand, a competitive work environment offers some competitive advantages. Some research studies have suggested that competition can serve as a source of motivation for employees (Kilduff, Elfenbein, & Staw, 2017), making them more determined and dedicated to achieve the desired results (Scott & Cherrington, 1974). The present literature also suggests that competition augments psychological and physiological activation that prepares the mind and body for increased input and effort and bolsters performance. Therefore, apart from fostering employee motivation and development, a healthy workplace competition helps employees increase efficiency, productivity, focus, and productivity.

The presence of several contenders aiming for similar achievements and goals such as salary increases or promotions compels employees to be diligent, work-oriented, and focused on the achievement of the goals or mission at hand (Lau & Kleiner, 2014). Employees become more focused when there is need to compete for a reward. Therefore, competition makes employees work harder toward achieving a goal. Healthy competition is an effective motivator because it inspires, stimulates, and helps keep workers excited and committed to their work, creating a sense of urgency that motivates employees to identify or create opportunities for growth and development. It can also improve an employee’s self-esteem.

On the other hand, unhealthy competition among employees can promote a toxic culture of high turnover and discouragement of employee morale. Negative workplace competition can result in a pressure-packed workplace environment where interpersonal conflicts among employees are commonplace. Notably, such competition can undermine the quality of work, create personal rivalries, and undermine individual self-esteem. Similarly, in addition to job insecurity and the unrelenting demand for better outcomes, unhealthy workplace competition can increase the stress levels among employees (Lau & Kleiner, 2014). Long working hours, more assignments, and the constant demand for peak performance increase employee stress levels. Stress among employees can have adverse impacts on efficiency and productivity. Dysfunctional competition stifles progress because employees typically compete against each other instead of collaborating on work tasks. In such an environment, employees become quite reluctant to create, promote, or share ideas with other staff.

Good Interpersonal Communication

Interpersonal communication refers to the process of sharing information and common understanding from between two people, which is very crucial for organizational effectiveness (Singh, 2014). It offers a means of reaching others with thoughts, ideas, values, and facts (WIlson, 2005) and influencing them to change their ideas and thoughts (Sethi & Seth, 2009). Effective communication skills, as well as interpersonal skills, are important for the survival and growth of an organization. Performance – at the individual and unit level – hinges significantly on the efficiency of information flow among employees and between managers and employees. Efficient communication is particularly critical in today’s culturally dynamic workplace (Marepalli, 2015). Effective interpersonal communication in the workplace depends on many elements – or skills – including decision making and problem solving, listening, assertiveness, verbal and non-verbal communication, and negotiation skills.

In any social interaction, an effective communication typically precipitates from the interpersonal behavior of complementarity or reciprocity of the parties involved. Based on this theory, the Interpersonal Circumplex Model is used to precisely predict the optimal maintaining rate of a personal relationship between two people – the sender and the recipient (Xue & Zhao, 2011). The IPC model is organized into two dimensions – agency and communication – that represent needs, interpersonal problems, traits and values. Agency refers to being individuated and is characterized by control, status, dominance, and power while communion refers to the connection between organizational parties and involves the aspect of love, friendliness, unity and affiliation. The two dimensions are further classified into eight variables including dominant, friendly-dominant, friendly, friendly submissive, submissive, hostile-submissive, hostile, and hostile-dominant. The IPC model explains the interrelationships between individuals at the workplace, and can be used to assess social support behaviors, interpersonal self-efficacy, values, motives, and impact.

Figure 1: Interpersonal Circumplex Model

 Interpersonal communication plays four major roles in today’s multicultural business environment. One, it enables employees to understand the underlying organizational goal as well as the need to achieve the goal through concerted employee efforts. Two, interpersonal communication enables employees to understand the stakeholder and client requirements and balance their unique demands (Marepalli, 2015). Three, it creates an opportunity to identify new prospects in the business environment and formulate strategies for achieving the organizational goals. Lastly, it fosters collaboration with teams and other organizational units to achieve the mission and vision of the organization.

Boyd et al., (2010) suggest that an effective interpersonal communication with colleagues may alleviate stress associated with perceived adverse work conditions created by undue competition among workers. In addition, good interpersonal communication can reduce the negative impact of demands arising from the nature of the job such as burnout because the employees feel emotionally supported. This in turn fosters better work output, job satisfaction, and organizational effectiveness (Boyd et al., 2010). Good interpersonal communication is a useful resource for augmenting performance by increasing motivation among employees. When implemented correctly, interpersonal communication becomes a buffer against the adverse impact of communication breakdowns and barriers on the performance outcomes (De Clercq, Dimov & Belausteguigoitia, 2014).

Competitiveness and Interpersonal Communication

Effective interpersonal communication fosters equally effective and strong associations among employees. Indeed, employees working together ought to have a special, common bond in order to deliver their best. Thus, interpersonal skills and the strong bonds they foster in workgroups create an ideal environment where positive competition among employees thrives. A combination of competitiveness and effective interpersonal communication creates an environment where inclusive and participative decision making takes place, employees are motivated, and work processes are effective. It also creates an organizational culture where misunderstandings and confusions are minimized leading to less conflicts. While competitiveness among employees can promote interpersonal conflicts resulting from broken communication links, competition is not always negative and can also be crucial for resolving conflicts and fostering interpersonal relationships among employees (University of Minnesota, 2013).

Objectives and Hypothesis

This study seeks to examine the correlation between individual competitiveness and interpersonal communication and how they interact to influence work conditions. To achieve this objective, it is hypothesized that individuals who competently use the communion approach to communication perceive work conditions to be more positive and enabling compared to those who are less humble. Secondly, it is hypothesized that individuals who are comparatively less competent and use the agency approach to communication perceive work conditions to be more positive compared to those who are humbler.