Motivation and Job Design: Key Concepts in Organizational Behavior

This paper discusses the key concepts related to motivation and job design in organizational behavior. It emphasizes the importance of meaningful work and motivation in driving employee performance, and the responsibility of managers to design jobs that engage and motivate employees. The paper also explores the job characteristic model and the role of empowerment and training in job design.

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“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
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management to offer rewards according to the performance so that employees can be motivated
towards the activities of the company (Shields et al., 2015).
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).
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(Source: Archives, 2017).
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).
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).
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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).
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
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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).
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.
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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.
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