LEARNED HELPLESSNESS AS A PREDICTOR OF EMPLOYEE OUTCOMES - AN APPLIED-MODEL

In order to be competitive, organizations are finding ways to become m ore efficient and effective. One key component in this process is huma n resources. In an effort to encourage employees to work to their pote ntial, organizations have installed a variety of human resource plans designed to make employees responsible for their behavior. However, ma ny of these plans fail. One possible reason for their failure is that the employees are not capable of understanding the link between effort and performance. Individuals who fall into this category are consider ed learned helpless. To better understand why some individuals cannot link effort and performance, a model is presented that depicts how ind ividuals become learned helpless, and the potential organizational con sequences of learned helplessness. Testable propositions are derived f rom the model.