Ds. Carlson et Km. Kacmar, LEARNED HELPLESSNESS AS A PREDICTOR OF EMPLOYEE OUTCOMES - AN APPLIED-MODEL, Human resource management review, 4(3), 1994, pp. 235-256
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.