Personal initiative

PI is developed as a performance outcome within the action (regulation) theory tradition. While PI is consistently linked to higher work performance and innovativeness of individuals, it also interacts with other types of constructs of intrinsic motivation. The PI concept was used to create an effective training tool, which is now being used to help thousands of entrepreneurs and organisations in developing countries to improve their businesses. == Climate ==

PI Climate refers to formal and informal organizational practices which guide and support a proactive, self-starting, and persistent approach toward work. Studies have shown that individual personal initiative is related to idea generation, entrepreneurial success, and innovation implementation behavior. There may be higher uncertainty with new production systems leading to unexpected problems and barriers that need to be overcome; PI climate helps here to avoid production breakdowns. For firm performance there is an interaction between process innovation and climate for personal initiative - climate for personal initiative functions as a moderator. Organizations that display a work environment characterized by personal initiative have a higher chance of promoting the effectiveness of process innovations. == Facets of PI ==

PI suggests a model for training with action sequence goal setting, information gathering and prognosis, plan development and execution, plan monitoring, and feedback processing. The facet theory of PI depicted in the table provides a general concept of active performance from an action theory perspective. Every step of the action sequence can be supported by PI. == Training entrepreneurs ==

PI was used to create an effective training tool for entrepreneurs and micro-businesses in developing countries to improve their effectiveness. Participants learn ways to set themselves apart from other businesses, as well as to anticipate problems, overcome setbacks, improve opportunity planning skills, and do other long-term planning. Not every experiment on PI training was successful, however the impact of personal initiative training was higher in a large randomised controlled filed experiment than Traditional Business training. == Consequences ==

Positive outcomes Higher PI workers benefit positively in their careers via several avenues including: • Increased innovativeness in their goals, clearer career plans, and a higher degree of execution in these goals and plans. • Increased employability. • Increased career proactivity, initiative, and progression. • Increased and continuous education resulting in individuals being able to work more effectively. Potentially negative outcomes PI can also have negative outcomes for employees. Showing PI can be harmful on different levels: for the employees themselves, for teammates, and for the entire organization. If management expects employees to be proactive, it may burden employees with extreme aspirations. On the organizational level, high PI among employees may reduce the possibility of the organizations to control and to socialize members of the organization. == References ==