The Relationship Between Person-Organization Fit, Innovative Work Behavior, And Exploratory Projects: A Case Study Of UAE Space Agency

Person-Organization Fit (P-O fit)

Discuss about the Person-Organization Fit Research.

Scholarly research suggests that employees and organizations work best when they share similar values, interests, and when their needs are aligned. The manifestations of this alignment are what results in Person-Organization fit (P-O fit) which represents employee retention, commitment, and satisfaction. Person-Organization fit (P-O fit) is a concept that can be used to examine how an employee interacts with his subordinates, supervisors, and other co-workers. This is why Person-Organization fit (P-O fit) is important in terms of teamwork where communication and co-operation depend on the alignment of needs and values for project execution. This paper will research the roles and functions of exploratory projects and the relationship between Person-Organization fit (P-O fit), Innovative Work Behavior (IWB). The paper will also investigate the impact of the Attraction-Selection-Attrition (ASA) theory as a mediator of the relationship between the variables.

This research Study will be based on a Case Study of UAE Space Agency to test the validity of the principles mentioned and proposed which is the relationship between Person-Organization fit (P-O fit), Innovative Work Behavior (IWB), and the roles and functions of exploratory projects. The study will explore UAE Space Agency’s history of exploratory projects to identify how the concept of Person-Organization fit (P-O fit) related to Innovative Work Behavior (IWB) in the success of the organization’s exploratory team projects.  The UAE Space Agency was created in 2014 with the goal of fostering, developing, and regulating a universal space center in the UAE through investments, partnerships, space research, and exploration. The agency has launched four commercial satellites since its inception which were part of a transfer program with South Korean Satrec Initiative.

The research will be an analysis of correlations on how the UAE Space Agency’s employees utilized Person-Organization fit (P-O fit), and Innovative Work Behavior (IWB) for successful exploratory projects that led to the launching of four satellites as well as how the agency is improving the concepts for their success in future exploratory projects. Also, based on the Attraction-Selection-Attrition theory, this research will seek to answer how the agency is able to recruit employees, and partners that share the same values and interests with the organization. The research will also try to answer if consolidation of the agency’s culture was in any way impacted by Person-Organization fit (P-O fit), and Innovative Work Behavior (IWB).

The purpose and objective of this research paper are to identify if employees are attracted to organizations that have attributes, values, and interests that are similar to theirs. The other objective is to identify how organizations are able to select employees with skills, knowledge, and abilities that are more likely to consolidate with the attributes of existing employees for effective team-work. The overall objective of the paper is to make people understand the concept of Person-Organization fit (P-O fit) and its critical importance in the HR department as a tool and methodology for employee recruitment and retention. The paper will finally analyze how Person-Organization fit relates to effective opportunity exploration, idea generation, idea promotion, to its implementation in Innovative Work Behavior (IWB).

1. What is the relationship between Person-Organization fit (P-O fit) and Innovative Work Behavior (IWB)?
2. What are exploratory projects and what are the roles and functions of employees in these projects?
3. What is the impact of the Attraction-Selection-Attrition (ASA) theory as a mediator of Person-Organization fit (P-O fit) and Innovative Work Behavior (IWB)?

Innovative Work Behavior

Person-Organization Fit (P-O fit). The Person-Organization is about the match between a person's values ??and the values ??and characteristics of the entire organization where he/she is employed. Since everyone has a different degree attributing importance to the different values ??will attract people to various organizations. According to (Tom, 2011), individuals will be the most successful in organizations sharing the same personality traits. A lot of research about the PO fit follows the attraction-selection-attrition (ASA) model that states that people are attracted and will remain in organizations sharing the same values ??and preferences as they make it possible for them to reach their goals and become their needs (Schneider, Schneider, Goldstein, & Smith, 2012). If the organization's values ??do not match the employees' values ??and preferences, they will leave the organization. Employees with a high P-O fit will create a relationship with their organization and define themselves in terms of their organization. This will lead to greater organizational involvement and satisfaction of the needs of the employee.

Innovative work behavior is considered to be the intentional creation, introduction, and application of new ideas in a role, group or organization that aim to improve the role, performance, group or organization (Farr & West, 2013). According to (Bruce and Scott, 2014), innovative work behavior consists of the following three tasks: idea generation, idea promotion and idea realization. As the innovation process can be considered as discontinuous activities (Kanter, Schroeder, Scudder, Polley & Van de Ven, 2013), individuals will be expected to be involved in a combination of these three behaviors at any time (Bruce & Scott, 2014). The innovative process begins with idea generation. This consists of producing new and useful ideas that can be passable in each domain (Amabile, Conti, Coon, Lazenby, & Herron, 2016; Kanter, 2004). Reasons that lead to the generation of new ideas can be: solving perceived work-related problems and anticipating new trends (Drucker, 2013). For example, an employee who is frustrated by losing documents may think of a new storage system. When someone has invented a new idea, he or she will spread the idea and seek support for this idea. Here you can consult friends, colleagues or even the employer. They can have the power to implement the idea (Galbraith, 2015; Kant, 2004). This dimension of innovative work behavior is called idea promotion. Here the employee will tell the idea of ??the new storage system to colleagues.

Exploratory Projects

The last task consists of the idea of ??realization. The idea is being realized and this may involve producing a prototype or model of innovation. This prototype can be applied in the role of work, group or in the overall organization (Kanter, 2004, p.45). Here, the new storage system will be implemented. An example of the context of the exploratory project of innovative behavior may be that an employee establishes an internet forum to share information with each other. Idea generation is the employee who thinks of an idea to communicate more easily with the classmates. In idea promotion, the employee presents his idea to some classmates and is looking for people who want to cooperate. Then the forum is started and this calls the idea realization.

Improvements through innovation will lead to the more effective functioning of the organization and will also provide social psychological benefits. There will be a better fit for the individual worker or group of individuals between the job demands and the resources of the employee, which will lead to greater job satisfaction and more efficient international communication. Innovative work behavior should serve as a problem-focused coping strategy that is used by employees to deal with intensive tasks. (Burke & Belcourt, 2004; Fokman & Lazarus, 1984; Hansen & Parasuraman, 2015). Job demands are defined as psychological stressors such as having to work fast and hard, delivering great physical efforts, experiencing high work pressure or having to perform a lot of work in a short period of time (Karasek, 2016). These job demands will, in turn, generate a state of arousal with the employee (Bunce & West, 2014; Karasek, 2014; Karasek & Theorell, 2014). According to the P-E fit theory, this arousal will trigger the employee to handle coping strategies so that they can adapt themselves to the intensive tasks.

In most team projects about fit, a good P-E fit is associated with positive outcomes. For example, the ASA model suggests that employees are attracted to organizations characterized by a high degree of fitness and that employee leave organizations where there is misconduct (Schneider, 2015, p.67). A P-E misfit is thus associated with negative outcomes. Stress, course, course of progress, lower job satisfaction and performance reduction are all negative outcomes of a P-E misfit (Kristof-Brown et al, 2005). In this exploratory project employees try to shed some light on the theory of ASA. Attempts will be made to find that in certain situations, experiencing a misfit can also lead to positive outcomes. The employee is considered to be a proactive being that will use behavioral strategies to turn this mood into a fit. Thus, it is assumed that a misfit will encourage the employee to improve his current situation. As a result, he will act proactively to address the situation. This process will eventually lead to a better fit. Subsequently, the Work Adjustment Theory of (Dawis and Lofquist, 2015) states that when experiencing a misconduct, the individual or the organization will change or the way in which he or she behaves in that organization. Usually, the organization does not change because it co-determines why an individual chooses an organization. It would be otherwise difficult for individuals to select an organization that suits them or they should constantly adapt to changing organizational features. Employees can pass this to the exploratory projects context. There are not many alternatives to changing organization. This allows you to switch vertically from supervisory to freelance, either horizontally from one supervisory to another or from one supervisory to another. This switchover takes a lot of time and sometimes results in a backlog. This indicates that employees will first change their own attitude and behaviors to address the misfit. This is also supported by empirical research.

Impact of Person-Organization fit on Innovative Work Behavior in Exploratory Projects: UAE Space Agency Case Study

The conceptualization and measurement of the Person-Organization Fit are dependent on two crucial factors (Caplan, 2015, p.125). First, both the organization and the person must be considered together and the corresponding units of measurement must be used in the analysis. For example, the measurement units used to estimate the properties of both the person and the organization must be scaled in the same way so that a direct comparison is possible. Secondly, the characteristics of the person and the organization will be measured so that they match appropriately. If the needs of the individual are mapped, the tools offered by the organization must be measured in the same way (Caldwell, Chatmen & O'Reilly, 2014).

When the individual skills are measured, the corresponding organizational requirements must be mapped. Time, effort and money are spent to get a diploma. However, a large proportion of the employees fail to complete their first year successfully. According to the figures from the Flemish government of the exploratory projects year 2007-2008, the pass rate for the Faculty of Psychology and Project teams Sciences is approximately 64%. The average exploratory project success at Ghent Supervisory is approximately 60%. The first year at the supervisory or freelance is important for many reasons. There is both a major learning process and a cognitive development. Employees must acquire new difficult learning material and also learn to deal with new complex situations within the exploratory projects context. During the first year, there will be a basis for the rest of exploratory projects success. Working at the supervisory or freelance is an experience that offers many opportunities for employees to develop, both at personal and professional level. For a lot of employees, this new learning environment is a major adaptation that ensures that a development process continues. Each employee has its own "range" of demographic, personal and exploratory projects characteristics and experiences. These traits affect various aspects of their exploratory projects career. How the employee feels in his team projects can have a big impact on his / her motivation, performance and satisfaction. It is important to exploratory project which factors will contribute to the employee's success in his team projects as well as the factors that will facilitate the adjustment process.

Measuring Instruments

The study has used an Arabian-language questionnaire that was compiled using the various variables and their scales. This measuring instrument was selected because of the already proven strengths of previous research. Below are the credibility (Cornbrash’s alpha) of the recorded variables of this research. Then a factor analysis is performed to investigate the internal structure of each measuring instrument. The factor analysis was a principal axis factoring with a varimax rotation.

Attraction-Selection-Attrition (ASA) Theory as a Mediator of the Relationship between the Variables

The D-A misfit was measured using Cable & De Rue's questionnaire (2002). This questionnaire was adapted to the project teams’ context instead of the working context. Job items are answered both in terms of the requirements and the 'abilities' to find out the D-A misfit. Each item therefore contains both components. The part of the 'demands' peels to the required skills required to accomplish a particular activity while the part of the "abilities" will examine its own competence regarding the execution of that activity. The items that meet the DA are: "There is a very good match between my training and my personal skills.", "My own skills are well adapted to the requirements of my field of study." And "My personal skills today ensure a good match with the requirements my expectations expect from me ". Each item was asked to rate it on a scale of 1 (not at all) to 7 (very much). The D-A items apply, the higher the score, the better the fit. The lower you score, the greater the misfit. The factor analysis showed a one-factor structure with a reliability of .91.

The study has used the statistical analysis method of linear regression to test the different hypotheses. After the analysis was carried out, the F-test was further examined. There, the ΔR² indicated whether the addition of model predictors offers added value over the original model. Subsequently, the non-standardized regression coefficients b of the recorded predictors were also studied. In order to minimize the multicollinearity between the main effects and the interaction term in the moderated regression analyzes, the variables were centered first to create the interaction term. With the total sample size of this study (N = 555) and a statistical power of .80, a small effect size (f²) of .014 could be observed (which approximately corresponds to an increase of .014 for R2) for the linear relations regression. In the case of the moderated regression equation, when using the same alpha, an effect of .80 could be observed with a power of .80. These effect sizes were calculated using the statistical tool G * Power 3.1.2. The results will be discussed in the text below.

The exploratory analysis

From the tested hypotheses in this study, there appear to be no significant Relationships are found from the D-A misfit and the S-V fails with innovative work behavior. In the literature, it is found that a P-E lacks meaningful relationships exhibits many variables, including proactive behavioral strategies. Thus, Devloo found (2008) in his thesis research at the UGent has a significant effect on the extent Misfit plays a significant role in the increasing use of proactive behavioral strategies ("seeking feedback"). Make sure it's interesting to investigate whether other proactive behavioral strategies have an impact on the D-A misfit and the S-V misfit an explorative analysis is performed. An exploratory analysis is based on existing data at hand and will test new hypotheses that were not originally investigated. The discovery of the new relationships seeks to add value to this research, thus attempting to deepen the hypotheses already tested. Attempts are being made to track certain patterns from the data collection. Here again, the data analytical method of regression analysis is used again. It is predicted to find significant relationships with personal initiative, creative self-efficacy and learning orientation as a dependent variable in the analyzes because these are proactive behavioral strategies. Need for closure is expected to show no significant relationships because NFC is considered a stable personality line that will not change by changing the context.

Conclusion

The purpose of this study was to examine the differential impact of the S-V misfit and the D-A misfit on dealing with proactive behavioral strategies such as innovative work behavior among UAE Space Agencies. Furthermore, it is investigated under what circumstances this relationship is strengthened. In this way, an effort is made to contribute to the existing fit literature. The literature focuses on the positive effects of experiencing a fit. This also followed the ASA model of Schneider (2015), stating that a fit between the person and the job leads to positive consequences and a misconduct to negative consequences such as more stress, more turnover, and less satisfaction. The current study takes a unique view by saying that the experience of a misfit can lead to positive purposes because it actively addresses its environment rather than taking a passive role. The study uses both types of fit, both the 'demands' -' abilities'fit and the 'supplies' - values'fit (Krist or, 2016). The measurement is based on the Cable & DeRue questionnaire (2002) questionnaire, where the experienced D-A fit and the S-V fit match. The starting point of this study is the assumption that in a situation of misconduct, the effect of proactive behavior (innovative work behavior) will increase. Furthermore, the influence of the four moderator variables (target orientation, Need for Closure, Personal Initiative, and Creative Self-Efficacy) was studied, which, according to the hypotheses, would have an enhancing effect on direct relationships.

A number of important implications are identified from this research. One finding is that the P-E fit is a concept that affects many variables such as greater self-confidence and better academic performance (Roberts & Robins, 2004). Therefore, having a fit is an important construct that needs to be promoted. In this research, a direct relationship is found between the D-A fit and the S-V fit with a number of proactive behavioral strategies (personal self-efficacy, personal initiative, learning orientation). UAE Space Agency can try to promote their creative self-efficacy, personal initiative and learning orientation with their UAE Space Agency in such a way as to perceive a better P-E fit. This research tries to demonstrate that a college or university is more than a "knowledge factory" but also influences a much wider spectrum of personal and professional self-perceptions, competencies, attitudes, skills, and values ??of the UAE Space agency. Encouraging proactive behavioral strategies with their UAE Space Agency can lead to various positive outcomes.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it can be said that no evidence has been found in this study for the predicted hypotheses. After performing an exploratory analysis, a number of P-E relationships were found. The study shows that there is still a lot of potential in this research domain, but the P-E fit has relationships with proactive behavioral strategies. Furthermore, the results show no differential impact of the different types of fit. The D-A fit and the S-V fit have a direct relationship with the same dependent variables (creative self-efficacy, personal initiative, learning orientation) and this relationship also points in the same direction. The results are in line with the ASA model of Schneider (2015) where, in a situation of misconduct, one uses less proactive behavioral strategies.

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