How Managers Should Design Jobs To Create Meaningful And Motivating Work

Key Concepts Related to Motivation and Job Design

“Meaningful work drives people to perform. Motivation that is intrinsically driven results in higher performance”

In this paper the discussion will be made on the key concepts related to motivation, as it has been seen that if employees are motivated then they can give best towards the activities. Also, as stated in the above statement that  by meaningful work it can be easy to drive the people to perform but it is also important for the employees to be motivated so that positive results can be attained. Also, in the workplace it has been seen that it is the responsibility of the managers to design jobs that engage the employees to create meaningful and motivating jobs. By this also it can be stated that it is the responsibility of the managers to focus on designing of jobs so that employees can feel motivated towards the assigned activities.

 The manager has the responsibility to design the job in a proper manner but employees are also responsible to engage themselves in the activities of the company. If the employees are motivated towards their work then they can be easily engaged. But employees can only be motivated if the individuals find their work important and purposeful (Buckingham & Goodall, 2015).

So, in the first phase the discussion will be made on the thesis statement related to “meaningful work can affect the overall performance of the employees”. Also in this there are various concepts which will be explained. In the next phase of the paper the discussion will be made on the thesis statement related to “Job design is considered as the function of the manager to engage employees”.  

According to the mentioned statement it is true that meaningful work can affect the entire performance of the employees. If the work which is assigned to the employee is according to their interest then it can be easy for them to complete it which directly impacts the entire performance level. But on the same time it has also been seen that motivation is also important for the employees so that they can complete their activities with dedication. So, it can be stated that employees should be given meaningful jobs which enhances the motivation to work. According to many researchers it has been stated that motivation of the employees can be enhanced by focusing on intrinsic factors related to rewards. It is important for the top management to offer rewards according to the performance so that employees can be motivated towards the activities of the company (Shields et al., 2015). 

Intrinsically-Driven Motivation and Employee Performance

But with rewarding the employees the managers should also focus on assigning the activities in which the employees are interested. The managers of the company should assign the jobs also by analyzing the capability of the employees. It has been seen that employees will not be interested the job if they don’t have the capability to perform it. So, it is necessary to assign the meaningful to the employees so that they can feel motivated and also productivity can be enhanced in a proper manner (Lazaroiu, 2015).

For instance: if employee has the knowledge of technical field but if the activities of sales department are given then it can negatively affect the performance. Also it will not motivate the employees towards the meaningful work. Therefore, it is necessary to assign the job in which the employees have interest as it can help to complete it with efficiency and dedication.  

Also according to the thesis statement mentioned above it has been stated that to design a job is the basic function of the manager. The managers should focus on designing of jobs for the employees. To design a job it has been seen that it is important for the mangers to focus on the capability of the employees so that jobs can be designed in a proper manner. Also job designing should be considered so that efficiency of the employees towards work can be enhanced. To support the second thesis, it is important to focus on the theory related to job characteristic model. This model is the popular model that focuses on job design in context to motivation.  In this model there are five factors which can help to enhance the overall performance of the employees. This model relates to the model skill variety which is important for the person so that proper utilization of the skills can be made which can help to achieve best results (Demerouti, Bakker & Gevers, 2015).

The first factor in this model is related to task identity that emphasizes on completing the overall task but it can only be done if the employee is motivated towards the work. In this context if the employee of the company is performing the part of the sales then it can be considered as the low identity but if the entire work is managed by the employee of the sales department then it can come under the high task identity as the entire work is managed by the employee (Miner, 2015).

The Importance of Job Design in Enhancing Productivity

Task significance also focuses on the individual job. A worker who cleans the floor of the of the on daily basis can consider his job as low significance but a person who is employed in a home to clean the floor can consider the work as the important job. It has been analyzed that feelings of the employees in context to the environment can assist in boosting the overall importance of a person.

The next factor is related with Autonomy in which the emphasis is given on the overall degree of freedom of an individual. Also, it has been examined that if autonomy is there towards the activities then it can be simple to motivate the employees. The employees who are autonomous can select what they want and it can also be efficient towards their activities (Serhan, Tsangari & Business, 2015).

The next part also emphasizes on the process of feedback. Feedback is concerned with the degree that can help the individual to learn more about the activities when instruction or feedback is given by their supervisors. It can be seen that connection between the feedback and performance concerned to job is confusing. It has been investigated that motivation is also necessary for the employees if comparison is made with feedback. It is important to motivate the employees through feedback (Mone & London, 2018). 

So, it has been analyzed that job characteristic model can focus on the employee experience. It can be seen that emphasis is given on the activities which are meaningful but it also emphasizes on motivating the employees. Also this model emphasizes on enhancing the satisfaction level of the customers and also improves the performance of the employees (Nuttin, 2014). 

So, it is important for the managers to focus on this model so that activities can be turned into meaningful activities and also employees can be satisfied with it. It has also been seen that there are many researchers who said that these aspects can be meaningful and it is important in the attitude of the employee and behavior (Judge, Weiss, Kammeyer-Mueller & Hulin, 2017).

So, it can be stated that it is necessary for the managers to emphasize on this model so that goals can be accomplished in a proper manner but it is necessary for the managers to focus on assigning the job according to the capability of the employees.

Also, it has been seen that empowerment is also considered as a concept which emphasizes on job designing. It has been seen that this method is considered to assist the idea related to autonomy. Empowerment helps to remove the conditions that can help the people to be powerless (Dillahunt, Bose, Diwan & Chen-Phang, 2016).

Task Identity, Task Significance, Autonomy, and Feedback

If focus is given on the concept of empowerment it has been seen that workers plays a great role in making decisions if they are capable enough to complete the assigned activities.  If right decisions are taken into consideration then it can be simple to remove the issues that take place in the workplace. Therefore, it is necessary for the managers to focus on creating positive environment in the workplace so that employees can feel motivated at the time of doing the activities of the company. When focus is given on the activities done by the motivated employees it has been analyzed that positive outcome can be achieved.  The workers who are empowered can emphasize on the work which is meaningful (Mäkikangas & Demerouti, 2017).

Empowerment can also help the employees to give their best towards the activities of the company. Through this it can be simple to consider innovative activities which can also bring good results in context to the activities of the company. Employees can be motivated by considering the concept of empowerment but it can only be given if managers implement it in a proper manner. If the workers of the company are not empowered then it can create difficulty to maintain responsibility and accountability in the workplace (Reeve, 2014).  Therefore, it can be stated that empowerment of the employees can be taken into consideration in context to selecting and training so that it can be simple to attain growth and success.

It can be analyzed that when designing of jobs take place then it is necessary for the managers to provide training to the managers so that employees can perform in a proper manner. Training can assist the employees to feel good and also give knowledge to the employees to complete their activities. But it can be seen that it is important for the managers to emphasize on training the employees so that working pattern of the company can be improved. It will also affect the activities which are completed by the employees. With the help of training the employees can easily analyze the steps that should be taken into consideration so that growth can be attained in the market (Stephens & Carmeli, 2017).

By considering the process of motivation it has been seen that designing of job is considered as one of the important factor. By considering this it can be easy to allocate the task to the people in the company. By focusing on the capabilities it can be seen that employees are assigned that activities which help to balance the entire process of productivity in the workplace (Taylor, 2014).

Empowerment as a Concept for Job Design

It is also important for the managers to focus on theory of motivation so that employees can be satisfied with the job. Satisfaction towards job is also one of the important factors related to motivation. But for this it is important for the manager’s to design the job by considering the motivation theory.  Motivation theory that can be considered by the managers is related with Maslow Theory that focuses on the needs of the employees and if these basic needs are satisfied then employees can be motivated and can perform better towards the activities of the company. Maslow theory is necessary to be considered as it can give positive impact on the employees of the company but if it not considered then it can also affect the morale and productivity level of the company (Zhao, Ghiselli, Law & Ma, 2016).

So, by emphasizing on the entire discussion of the paper it can be stated that managers should emphasize on the theories or model related to Maslow theory or job characteristic model so that it can be simple to for the employees to improve the entire performance of the employees. It is also necessary for the managers to focus on designing the job according to the capacity of the employees but many times the manager’s design the jobs without focusing on the capability of the employees.

So, it can result in the negative outcome also but to achieve positive outcome it is necessary for the employees to assign the job according to the qualification and capability and also by creating meaning towards the job. If the employees are assigned meaningful work then it can maintain the performance of the employees and also motivation is considered as the factor that can help to maintain the overall performance of the employees in the workplace.

References

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