Employees Perceptions Of The Current Incidence And Causes Of Tobephobia In Their Working Environment

Abstract

In any organization, there are definite signs of the fear of failure, which impacts negatively on the organizations culture and consequently inhibits the employees outputs. Managing human resources becomes a challenge in any organization because of the employees achievement gap between job expectations and job outcomes. Motivational research on achievement situations avers that while some individuals have an achievement orientation, others can be imbued with a fear of failure orientation in their working environment. Studies over the past seven decades indicate that the fear of failure is a multifaceted form of avoidance motivation that can be linked to an acute emotional sensitivity when individuals fail to meet expectations. This failure-avoidant motive could result from a fear of change within ones environment. When this fear is associated with educational deficits within the environment, then the result is that individuals would experience the effects of tobephobia (TBP). In this study, TBP is defined as the fear of failure experienced by employees, such as teachers in their schools because of them lacking the professional competencies to achieve planned educational outcomes.

A multi-respondent survey design was used in this quantitative study, which focused on teachers perceptions of the current incidence and causes of TBP in their working environment. The findings of this study confirm that TBP is not a myth, but a harsh reality affecting teaching and learning outcomes. As the findings of this exploratory study also strongly suggest, employers must not be complacent and evasive by ignoring problems that fester within their organizations.