The Humanistic Theory of Carl Rogers Research Paper

The Humanistic Theory of Carl Rogers - Research Paper Example Both Maslow and Rogers believed that feelings and emotions should be a part of education, identifying two different types of learning namely cognitive and experience. Cognitive involves memorization, acquisition of vocabulary, formulas, and the like while experience is the application as a result of learning. With his extensive experience as a psychotherapist, Rogers applied the concept of humanistic approach in the education process and developed the method of teaching central to the learner. Along with this line, he formulated a hypothesis that a person can facilitate another person’s learning but cannot directly teach another individual. This point to the importance of what the student does but not that of a teacher. Another hypothesis of the theory is the relevancy of the learning to the students wherein the student only learns things which enhances the self. Rogers also identified that the learning environment should be free of threats but rather friendly teaching environ ment for learning to take place (Zimring, 1999). Today, the humanistic theory is used in the different educational settings to include adult learning and training and is found to be successful. However, in situations where its application becomes a failure, the attitude of the administrators and teachers interfere with its effectiveness. Description of Humanistic Theory Carl Rogers learning theory considers several elements in learning. One is the relevance of the education to the learner. In the excerpt from the study conducted by Blanton (1998), she found out that students are motivated to learn if they know the learning activity benefits them. Students who understand the purpose of any educational activity learns better and could retain the information. Comparatively, students who do not find teaching related to their purpose are not motivated to go on with their studies. Relevance is very important in adult learning because their intention of pursuing their education is towards self-actualization either in their work or for personal enhancement of their knowledge and skill. The capability to learn however has to be supported with the provision of the right environment if the person is to bring out his full potentials. The humanistic theory also identified the involvement of feelings, ideas, and intention to come into play. This element points that the individual has to be taught including all factors influencing learning and not only a part of it. With this, the traditional teacher-centered style of teaching is shifted to the learner for him to be involved in his learning process to acquire the first-hand experience. To humanistic view, this is more significant than the mastery of academic contents since the learner will not only benefit at the present but uses the acquired and retained knowledge and skill in the future. This theory also focuses on learning which is self-initiated to achieve personal fulfillment. The student has to develop the ability to t ake charge of his learning without relying so much on others to him what he needs to know every time. Students have to take upon themselves the responsibility to look for information and learn it.

Why might a healthy psychological contract amonst its employees be Assignment

Why might a healthy psychological contract amonst its employees be important to an organisation's effectiveness - Assignment Example This concept has been widely discussed by the scholars lately and showed to have certain impact on the overall performance of an organization. However, in order to determine why a healthy psychological contract among the employees is important to an organization’s effectiveness, it is necessary to build a clear definition of what a psychological contract is first of all. Defining psychological contract Since the concept is relatively new, the scientists are still arguing on what exactly psychological contract is. The classical definitions state that psychological contract is either â€Å"the perceptions of both parties to the employment relationship, organization and individual, of the reciprocal promises and obligations implied in that relationship† (Guest and Conway, 2002, p.1) or â€Å"an individual’s belief in mutual obligations between that person and another party such as an employer† (Rousseau and Tijoriwala, 1998, p.679). A quite similar definition have Hall and Moss (1998), who claim that psychological contract consists of the mutual expectations in the employer-employee relationship. So, in general it seems that the concept of psychological contract is more related to employees, because organizations, as employers, cannot have any beliefs or expectations. People are the ones who have them. Therefore, in short it can be said that a psychological contract might be described as an unwritten agreement between upper management and employees, that outlines how both parties see and understand their cooperation. Importance of healthy psychological contract to organization’s effectiveness It is rather well-know that a happy and satisfied employee is a good worker. Consequently, good employees that show loyalty and devotion to their companies must have all their needs met and, thus, be happy. This is, according to Cyril van de Ven (2004), one of the major goals of psychological contract. It reduces employees’ insecurity regarding their jobs. Since it is physically impossible to state all the aspect of employee-employer relationships in a written contract, the psychological contract helps by means of filling the gaps of the official one. The psychological contact, consequently, helps employees to evaluate and measure their obligations to the company and those of the organization to employees. So, if an employee believes that both parties fulfill their obligations, he or she is likely to show positive behaviors that contribute to the quality of his or her job performance. Another important function of psychological contract is giving employees the feeling that they have some power over events within the organization (Anderson and Schalk, 1998). This means that with the help of psychological contract employees percept the interrelation of roles and events as something they have agreed upon and have control over. As a result, even their self-esteem gets higher. So, if the psychological contract does n ot get broken, the employee will feel secure in the job. In addition, he or she will be performing well, thus fulfilling own obligations on the contract, in response to the company’s fulfilling its obligations on the psychological contract. Consequently, when employees perform their jobs well the organization in general becomes more effective. A Healthy psychological contract ensures that employees are satisfied with their jobs, loyal to the organization, have adequate work-family balance, and feel fair treatment form the side of the employer. As a result the company gets reduced employee turnover and absenteeism, as well as improved individual and organizational performance. Employers’ influence on the state of the psychological contract Employers, in their turn, should take all the possible measures