How do you create a motivating work environment? - Chapter 7

This chapter discusses how an organization can create a motivating work environment by linking specific tasks to a job ('job design') and fulfilling general goals and personal goals ('goal setting') for the employees.

What are early approaches to job design?

Job design is the process of connecting specific tasks to specific jobs and deciding which techniques, tools, and procedures must be used to fulfill a certain task. Task design influences the motivation of the employees, the amount of effort they will show and how much they want to contribute to the organization. If the motivation is very high, this is beneficial for the organization because the efficiency of the organization increases.

Motivating employees to be interested in the organization may be increased by one of the three following methods. One of those ways is scientific management, devised by Taylor. With scientific management, attempts are made in various ways to increase the motivation of the employees and the efficiency of the organization. For this purpose, all sorts of procedures have been developed that increase the performance of the employees by means of 'job simplification' and 'job specialization.' 'Job simplification' is breaking up a job into smaller and identifiable tasks. 'Job specialization' is the assignment of small and simple tasks to the employees.

Time and motion studies are conducted. In these studies, the exact amount of time it takes and how you can best perform a specific task is measured.

The most common way to motivate an employee within scientific management is still to pay the employee.

For example, scientific management has made the mass production of affordable cars possible. Scientific management has, however, had a few serious drawbacks, starting with the emphasis on the extrinsic motivation of employees. In addition, employees feel that they have no control, they feel part of a big machine and they no longer have the possibility to learn or develop. Is money enough to motivate people?

Due to the fact that there were many disadvantages associated with scientific management, two procedures were devised that would make conditions more pleasant for employees, namely 'job enlargement' and 'job enrichment'. With job enlargement the number of tasks the client must perform is increased. It is true that these tasks are of the same level of difficulty and that the employee has the same amount of responsibility. This is also called horizontal job loading. The idea is that you become more intrinsically motivated when you have more tasks.

Job enrichment is a supplement to job enlargement. By means of 'job enrichment' the employee is given more responsibility and therefore the employee has more control. This is also called vertical job loading. Job enrichment is mainly based on Herzberger's Motivator-Hygiene Theory. This theory says that an employee is mainly motivated and satisfied if he has a certain form of autonomy and is also responsible for their performance. The following four ways are the most common ways for employees to enrich jobs: let employees plan their own schedule, let them decide for themselves how to do their job, have them check their own work and let them learn new skills.

Job enlargement and job enrichment are both aimed at increasing intrinsic motivation but this does not mean that both procedures ensure that the organization will be cheaper or work more efficiently. In any case, they ensure that the employees will be more satisfied and that, for example, there is less absenteeism.

What is the Job Characteristics Model?

A later job design approach is the Job Characteristics Model. This approach to the task design process focuses on identifying traits that make the job intrinsically motivating and the consequences of this particular property. According to Hackman and Oldham, employees who are intrinsically motivated say they feel good when they perform at a certain level. This, in turn, means that they want to continue to perform at this level. So it is a process of self-reinforcement.

According to the Job Characteristics Model, each job has five core dimensions that influence the intrinsic motivation of the employees:

1. Variation in skill; this means which skills and talents a person needs to be able to fulfill a particular job.

2. Task identity; to what extent someone works on one thing from the beginning to the end.

3. Task significance; the extent to which the job affects your own life and that of others within or outside the organization. The employee will be more satisfied and have a better feeling about himself if the job he/she has is important.

4. Autonomy; this refers to the extent to which the employee's job offers freedom and independence in planning and how the work is carried out.

5. Feedback; the amount of clear feedback the job provides to the employee about his/her performance. Getting clear feedback has a positive influence on intrinsic motivation.

The higher a job scores on each dimension, the greater the degree of intrinsic motivation. How much the employee experiences these five core dimensions (i.e subjective) ultimately indicates to what extent the employee is intrinsically motivated.

Job crafting is the process whereby employees change the tasks that may jeopardize their jobs, their vision of their jobs and who they are in contact with while carrying our these jobs. In this way, they try to make their work more attractive and meaningful and try to increase their intrinsic motivation.

Hackman and Oldham have developed a questionnaire (Job Diagnostic Survey) to measure employee's perceptions of every core dimension of their job. With this questionnaire, the potential motivation for a job can be calculated which gives the 'motivating potential score' ('MPS'). Table 7.2 in the book shows how the five aforementioned dimensions are measured.

The five core dimensions contribute to three important psychological states that determine how the employee responds to the job's interpretation: the experience that the work is meaningful, experience responsibility for the work results and knowledge of the results.

The psychological conditions are expressed in four important outcomes for employees and their organizations: high intrinsic motivation, good job performance, high satisfaction on the job and, finally, low absenteeism and staff turnover.

Individual differences between employees also play a role in the reactions to a specific task design. Three individual differences have been found that influence the relationships between the core dimensions and psychological conditions and the relationships between the core dimensions and the results. The nature of these relationships depends on the ' growth-need strength', knowledge and skills, and the satisfaction with the working conditions of the individual employee.

The growth-need strength is the degree of importance that the employee places on the contributions of their job to his/her personal growth and development. Furthermore, employees need a certain level of knowledge and skills so that they can perform their job in a correct and effective manner. If this knowledge is not available, the intrinsic motivation and job satisfaction will suffer. Finally, the employee 's perceived satisfaction with their working conditions is mainly related to satisfaction with the extrinsic outcomes.

Research has shown that not only individual differences but also cultural differences influence the relations between the core dimensions and psychological states. Cultural differences can also influence the relationship between psychological states and performance.

A lot of research has been done into the different components of the job characteristics model and it must be concluded that modest support has been found for the model.

What is the Social Information Processing Model?

The last form of task design is the Social Information Processing Model (Pfeffer & Salancik). This model is based on the idea that information from other people and information about the employee's past behavior affects the perceptions of the employee and therefore also his/her reaction to the task design. The model wants to explain how two different people with the same job can have a different motivation level and different levels of satisfaction:

• Role of the social environment; the social environment in this context is everyone with whom the employee is or comes into contact with for his/her work. This social environment provides the employee with information on which aspects of the task design and rewards should be taken into account, or which aspects are of importance. In addition, the social environment also provides information about how the employee should assess at his/her performance. How the social work environment feels depends on the employee and also on what kind of employee they are. A temporary agency worker will find a different working environment and other aspects of interest than a permanent employee.

• Role of past employee behavior; the past employee's behavior has many implications for how the employee evaluates his own behavior and performance now, their level of intrinsic motivation and their level of satisfaction, especially when the behavior has been chosen and it has cost certain personal sacrifices.

Here is a brief summary and overview of task design models;

• Scientific management; job simplification and job specialization with the goal of maximizing performance.

• Job enlargement and job enrichment; increasing simple tasks so that intrinsic motivation is increased.

• Job Characteristics Model; it specifies the dimensions of jobs, which lead to a higher intrinsic motivation.

• Social Information Processing Model; the central issue here is how employees see their job and according to this model, it depends on the social environment and past behavior.

What are organizational goals?

Organizational goals describe the main goals of the organization: what the organization stands for and what the organization seeks to accomplish.

The social identity theory explains how and why organizational goals can contribute to the motivation of the employees in the organization. According to this theory, people tend to divide themselves and others into social categories such as members of a certain group (e.g. a religious group, a political party or an organization). If people identify with an organization, they will see themselves as a member of the organization. This membership of the organization is a way in which they see themselves. Secondly, it ensures that employees keep their perspective on the goals of the organization, even if they're completing annoying or frustrating work. Their destination will then be the connection with their organization.

What is the goal-setting theory?

A goal is what a person tries to achieve through his/her behavior. The goal-setting theory focuses primarily on identifying the different types of goals that are most effective in producing a high level of motivation and achievement and also why these goals have these effects.

Which goals lead to high motivation and performance? Specific goals lead to better performance, in contrast to vague targets or no goals. Difficult goals lead to higher motivation and performance than (somewhat) easy goals. So if a goal is specific and difficult, it leads to higher performance and motivation.

How is it possible that goals influence the level of motivation and performance? By aiming for a certain goal, employees will show more commitment. In addition, they devise plans to fulfill the goals. Employees can also continue further if they encounter obstacles on the way to their goal. Finally, the employees take a much more focused approach with the adoption of a goal and therefore pay much more attention to what is really important.

There are, however, a few boundaries within the goal-setting theory. In fact, a difficult and specific goal does not lead to higher motivation and performance if employees do not have the skills and knowledge to work at such a high level. It is also the case that when employees are given a difficult task they must focus all their attention on the goals. The achievement of goals can also prevent a great deal of creativity, especially when creating a new product.

Management by objectives (MBO) is a goal-setting process in which a manager records goals with his/her boss and evaluates the extent to which the previously agreed goals have been achieved. This is done in three steps. The first step is the actual determination of the goal; what is the goal and how much time is given to it? The second step is the implementation of the goals. Here the manager can decide for himself how the goals should be achieved. Finally, there is the step of the evaluation.

Both task design and goal setting focus on how to motivate employees so that they want to commit themselves to the organization.