Social scientists refer to that feeling of being capable and competent to act effectively to orchestrate an outcome as self-efficacy. Self-efficacy will tend to increase with the increase in gratitude. When that happens that employee begins to feel good about himself or herself more and more. This is what translates into happiness and its attendant positive benefits. Gratitude from others, in this sense therefore, is a gauge—a very positive measure of the performance of especially customer-handling employees.
There has even been a link drawn between gratitude and corporate social responsibility. In a report published in the February 2007 edition of the Journal of Business Ethics, researchers found that employees who felt hope and gratitude were more likely to be more concerned about employee and societal issues. The title of that report was “On the Relationship of Hope and Gratitude to Corporate Social Responsibility”.
It is crucial, at this juncture, to state that researchers differentiate between several categories of gratitude. In a study published in the December 2012 online edition of the Psychology journal, researchers differentiated between individual gratitude and institutional gratitude. Individual gratitude can further be divided into dispositional gratitude and state gratitude. The report was titled “Predicting Job Satisfaction: Contributions of Individual Gratitude and Institutionalized Gratitude”.
Dispositional Gratitude refers to the natural tendency of some people to notice and appreciate things in life. These are the people who see the glass as half full rather than half empty. They tend to see the sunny side of life. They take positive lessons from past events in their life. They are markedly different from individuals who only see the negative things in life.
State Gratitude, on the other hand, refers to the gratitude that is triggered by a certain event or by a gratitude intervention such as a letter of appreciation or a gift. It is the kind of gratitude that can have an effect on anybody. The one might not to be naturally disposed to feelings of gratitude but we all love to be appreciated and our efforts acknowledged.
Institutionalized Gratitude refers to a workplace culture wherein gratitude is expressed and reinforced regularly. Organisational or institutionalised gratitude occurs in organisations where the people, policies and practices of the organisation are deployed to constantly reinforce the feeling of gratitude within the organization. These are the organisations where gratitude is treated as a real resource that can be leveraged to achieve organisational goals.
From the above, it is clear to see how the feeling of gratefulness can have a very positive effect on the performance of employees, especially on those at the front line. The December 2012 Psychology journal study showed that dispositional, state and institutional gratitude have a positive effect on job satisfaction. It was however found that state and institutional gratitude had the capacity to suppress an individual’s dispositional gratitude. When at work, the actions of the organisation and the other players within the work environment tend to have a lot of influence on the feelings of individuals.
However, the fact remains that, state gratitude is still a very important factor in job satisfaction. Business managers must therefore use every little opportunity they get to regularly put employees in a mood of gratitude. In all, an attitude of gratitude must be seen for what it truly is—a very important asset for the organisation.
Institutional Gratitude is a very good approach that any business should adopt. It is important to recognise that Institutional Gratitude goes way beyond employees of the organisation showing gratitude to each other and to customers. It is about an organisation putting in place the right systems and structures that really encourage gratitude within the organisation.
The advantage of Organisational Gratitude is that because it is supported by the Management, it is more longer-lasting. It is also effective because coming from the organisation and not the individual means that it is also going to involve a lot more employees. Having an entire workforce involved in something tends to carry more weight than if it is coming from just a few individuals or just a single unit or department. It has even been suggested that there are times when an individual may not experience state or dispositional gratitude. However, the culture of gratitude that is created by organisational gratitude can lead to increased job satisfaction for the individual.
One of the easiest forms of Organisational Gratitude is in the development of human capital plans of the organisation. This is why some businesses have started adding training and one-on-one coaching in gratitude as part of their training agenda for their staff. These businesses are training staff to be more grateful for what they have in life.
This is crucial because there is always the possibility of having some employees who have become so emotionally hardened due to past experiences. These are employees who will come to work dutifully every day and perform their duties religiously. However, deep in their hearts, all is not well with them. There are things that might be eating them up. They might not say anything but deep down, they might have a lot to say.
There are studies that seem to suggest that there are individuals who, by their nature, easily see the good things in life. These individuals are able to see the good things in their life without any problem, it is just the way they are. However, there are those others who only see the negative side of things. These are those who will not see anything good around them. This latter group are those that might need all the help they can get in seeing the good around us and to be grateful for it.
These are those that would benefit from such training the most. It would help them open up and talk about what might be bothering them. After they have emptied out what they have kept inside for a long time, they can be led to appreciate what they really have going for them. There are many people who have so much to be thankful for but for one reason or another, they tend not to value what they have. Gratitude training can help these people see things differently.
As with many things that happen in the workplace, the gratitude revolution takes on a different momentum if it is initiated from the top. When top management opens a well of gratitude, its effects quickly cascades down the entire organisation. When the highest-placed individual on the organisational ladder shows openly shows appreciation to those in the organisation, the culture of gratitude becomes a lot easier to evolve within the organisation.
One big boss who really understood the power of appreciation was the former Chief Executive Officer of American canned food giant, Campbell Soup. In the decade he spent at the helm of the company, Douglas R. Conant wrote more than 30,000 thank you notes to his employees. On a regular basis, he and his executive assistants will scan through his mail and the company’s internal communication network, looking for stories and news about employees who were making a difference in the company. He will then send handwritten notes to these individuals, expressing his gratitude to them. You can imagine what something as small as a note from the big boss will do to the morale of the staff. As a matter of fact, this is what might have contributed to the increase in productivity and profitability of Campbell Soup during Conant’s tenure as Chief Executive.
Some organisations are also taking the importance of gratitude within the work environment to different heights. One company set up a Gratitude Wall, where employees post statements of gratitude. That is a very inexpensive way to initiate a revolution of gratitude and appreciation within the organisation. This can be particularly useful for those employees who will not be too comfortable openly sharing their personal feelings.
Another way organisations can get a spirit of gratitude running through the entire workplace is to hold regular gratitude gatherings—meetings in which employees would be encouraged to share moments during the work that they are grateful for. If someone had surmounted a seemingly impossible challenge, sharing the encounter will generate a sense of gratitude within the work space. Placing these meetings at the end of a particularly busy and stressful week could do wonders for the morale of staff. Staff would walk away into the weekend feeling refreshed.
Closely related to the above interventions is the promotion of Weekly Gratitude Lists among employees. As the name implies, these are lists of all the things that the employee is grateful for. There is a Chinese firm that combines the Gratitude Lists with weekly meditation sessions and according to reports, this intervention has had positive effects on the level of job satisfaction among employees.
All in all, organisations that seek to increase the job satisfaction among its employees should put in place gratitude interventions, interventions that have been properly thought through with buy-in from the rank and file of the organisation.
In a time, when competition grows by the minute, literally, it becomes much more important for businesses to make use of any single advantage they can get. Having a band of employees who are ready to put in more to ensure that customers go away from a transaction very satisfied is an invaluable advantage for any business. If it has been shown that employees feel grateful when they benefit from gifts, assistance, kindness, help, favours, and support from others, then this is exactly what business managers and leaders should provide. It is important that staff are appreciated for their efforts. This will ensure that they do their very best on the job.
The importance of gratitude to the fortunes of organisations has been found to hold true, irrespective of the kind of organisation. From not-for-profits all through to the most profit-oriented firms, gratitude has been found to help change the internal temperature of the organisation. If for nothing at all, I believe, gratitude is just a right attitude to have. As people, we just do not appreciate what we have enough. If we do, we will be able to put gratitude to work for us.
