Human Agency
Human Agency is the ability of people to make helpful conscious choices and to act upon them.
Feel free to continue reading. If you'd prefer, you'll find a free PDF download of the complete Human Agency paper at the bottom of this page.
Why Does It Matter
Human Agency reflects the extent to which people feel able to exercise judgement, responsibility and initiative within an organisation.
Yet many organisations unintentionally constrain Human Agency through culture, systems, structures, leadership behaviours and fear, limiting access to one of their most under-utilised resources.
As a result, people may not always exercise the judgement, responsibility and initiative they are capable of.
What Constrains This Human Agency Resource?
Human Agency is not simply the ability to choose. It is the ability to respond consciously to the choices available to us.
Yet our responses are often influenced by fear, uncertainty, assumptions and the structures within which we operate.
The more aware we become of these influences, the greater our ability to respond consciously rather than react automatically.
A Different Way of Understanding Organisations
The only thing an organisation truly has that cannot be copied is its people — and how they behave together.
If Human Agency reflects the extent to which people are able to exercise judgement, responsibility and initiative, then understanding the factors that influence behaviour becomes critically important.
Arbitrium offers a different way of exploring those influences.It begins with a set of principles.
How Can The Human Agency Resource Be Improved?
Human Agency can be strengthened when people and organisations become more aware of the factors influencing behaviour, decision-making and action.
Greater awareness enables people to respond more consciously to the choices available to them, strengthening Human Agency across the organisation.
Arbitrium was developed to create a safe environment where that awareness can grow through a shared language of emotional understanding.
Explore Human Agency in Greater Depth
For those who wish to explore Human Agency in greater depth, a downloadable paper is available.
It traces the historical development of Human Agency, explores its contemporary understanding, and considers its implications as one of the most under-utilised resources within organisations.
You may download the paper now, or continue your journey by exploring the Principles that underpin the Arbitrium Philosophy.