Self-Fulfilling Prophecy Individuals have long been intrigued by the notion that persons’ expectations can become a reality. These are commonly referred to as self-fulfilling prophecies. Early scientific work in this area examined the Pygmalion effect-when superiors’ high expectations of their subordinates’ performance are fulfilled. Since this inception, many replication studies have examined this effect within various contexts and settings-e. g. , schools, government, and military.
Studies of the Pygmalion effect have identified that a key mechanism through which leaders’ expectations influence their followers is by raising the followers’s elf-expectations, confidence, or self-efficacy. As a widely researched and generally accepted model of motivation, self-efficacy has been defined as “people’s judgments of their capabilities to organize and execute courses of action required to attain designated types of performances’. Persons’ level of self-efficacy has been associated with individual choices, goals, level of effort, skill acquisition, emotional reactions, persistence in the face of real or perceived obstacles and pressures, and intrinsic interest. Therefore it has been found to be related to a variety of outcomes such as job search behaviors and re-employment, better negotiation role-play outcomes athletic performance and occupational life path choices. Even more powerful than the Pygmalion effect, the Galatea effect is a compelling factor in employee performance. The manager, who can assist employees to believe in themselves and in their efficacy, has harnessed a powerful performance improvement tool.
Applied as the Galatea effect, these words mean that the individual’s opinion about their ability and self-expectations about their performance largely determine their performance. If an employee thinks she can succeed, she will likely succeed. Consequently, any actions the supervisor can take that increase the employee’s feelings of positive self-worth will help the employee’s performance improve. As a future United States Coast Guard commissioned officer, I will bring our own set of personal values to the workplace.
As an Engineering Officer in the scenario I cannot avoid responsibility for our ethical atmosphere. In order for to prepare the crew for the TACT training I would have a meeting all the member within my department and brief them on the task that we needed to be fully ready and capable to training at the highest level possible. After meeting with my department I would meet with the other department heads from the unit to discuss a plan on how the unit could prepare for the TACT training. I would recommend conducting two training section a day and having members rotate different position to let the members get use to being in different situation, because during a real life emergency incidents can happen and people may have to assume leadership positions regardless of their pay grade. By giving everyone within the unit an equal opportunity to enhance their leadership and follower ship traits, I believe this would instill confidence for the unit to be success in the TACT training and as a result the unit would not only earn the Battle ‘E’ award for their performance but also set the tone other training assignments..