What Makes Work Meaningful

Abstract

Most organizations nowadays have the required resources and should offer an appropriate culture to provide each employee with the opportunity and context to develop the feeling of meaningful work. The managers and organizational leaders should be the first to recognize and perceive the work they do as being important. In this article, we examine the current development of the study of the nature, causes, and consequences of meaningful work, and we offer ideas of research opportunities regarding the interface of organizational perspectives on performing and providing meaningful work.

Full text

Studies in Business and Economics no. 12(2)/2017
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DOI 10.1515/sbe-2017-0020
WHAT MAKES WORK MEANINGFUL
GRAMA Blanca
Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Romania
TODERICIU Ramona
Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Romania
Abstract:
Most organizations nowadays have the required resources and should offer an
appropriate culture to provide each employee with the opportunity and context to develop the
feeling of meaningful work. The managers and organizational leaders should be the first to
recognize and perceive the work they do as being important. In this article, we examine the
current development of the study of the nature, causes, and consequences of meaningful work,
and we offer ideas of research opportunities regarding the interface of organizational
perspectives on performing and providing meaningful work.
Key words: meaningful work, convincing, productive, dedicated, work motivation, job
satisfaction.
1. Introduction
Meaningful work refers to the perception that the job role and responsibilities
are noteworthy, valuable and serve some purpose; it is basically the evaluation of the
individual about the work, its purposefulness and importance (Ahmed et. al. 2016,
Rosso, Dekas & Wrzesniewski, 2010). Rosso et al. (2010) posit “the fact that work has
a particular meaning does not necessarily determine that it is meaningful”, elaborating
on this observation by noting “meaningfulness refers to the amount of significance
something holds for an individual.’’ This is because they should be the first to
implement the necessary changes before expecting change from the rest of the
organization and the staff (Chalofsky & Krishna, 2009). The aim of this change is
developing a deep-seated interest for the activity at the work place, based on the
satisfaction of the person for the work itself and their perception of how well they can
do the job. All these lead to devoting oneself to higher levels of motivation and to
perceiving work as meaningful. The research on the concept of meaningful work is
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accelerating due to the fact that organizational scientists have realized that meaningful
work can potentially induce more convincing, productive and dedicated workforce
(Setger & Dik, 2009).
2. Overview of the concept
Meaningful work is generally defined as the value of work goals seen in
relation to an individual’s own ideals and passions, and, specifically, as work that
“gives essence to what we do and brings fulfillment to our lives” (Chalofsky, 2003, p.
74).
Bailey & Madden (2015) defined the meaningful work as arising “ when an
individual perceives an authentic connection between their work and a broader
transcendent life purpose beyond the self”.
Moreover, meaningful work represents the clear understanding and grasp of
the purpose, sense, value, direction, logic and justification of the work performed by an
individual (Chalofsky & Krishna, 2009). The literature on the construct has underlined
its importance in predicting critical employee outcomes such as work motivation, job
satisfaction, and organizational commitment (Chalofsky & Krishna, 2009; Littman-
Ovadia & Steger, 2010; Arnold et al., 2007; Steger, Dik & Duffy, 2012). Moreover, a
wide range of studies have analyzed the concept in relation to the general well-being
factors such as intrinsic motivation, organizational citizenship behavior, satisfaction
with life (Steger, Dik, & Duffy, 2012; Littman-Ovadia & Steger, 2010), and
organizational ethics (Michaelson et al., 2014).
The concept of meaningful work has been of significance for organizational
scientists since the mid 20th century, when numerous studies were aimed at exploring
the significance of work for people. Moreover, research on work motivation (Gagné &
Deci, 2005) has also outlined that when people view the work to be meaningful, it
enhances their value and contribution respectively. People who feel their work is
meaningful report greater well-being (Arnold et al., 2007), view their work as more
central and important (Harpaz & Fu, 2002), and report greater job satisfaction (e.g.,
Kamdron, 2005). People who feel their work serves a higher purpose also report
greater job satisfaction and work unit cohesion (Sparks & Schenk, 2001).
Asik-Dizdar and Esen (2016) have critically considered outlining how sense-
making is important and have shown that when individuals make sense of their work
and see their work to be meaningful, it enhances their work well-being and
performance. (Ahmed et al. 2016). Michaelson et al., 2014, has examined job crafting
and attempts to build a community via the management or creation of specific types of
organizational cultures, ideologies, or identities.
The factors required for developing the feeling of meaningful work could be
described as perceiving the self as a whole, which means that the person feels
complete, has a self awareness on an emotional and spiritual level and recognizes and
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develops their potential. Moreover, the work itself must be perceived in a certain
manner – including attributes such as the ability to perform the work, creativity,
learning, continuous development, performance, autonomy and control over own work
(Chalofsky & Krishna, 2009). In addition to these, the feeling of balance is,
nonetheless, required; this implies stability, harmony between work and personal life,
between the working self and the personal self. None of these factors can exist by itself
and none is more important than the others. The concept of meaningful work requires
the synergy between all the elements above (Chalofsky & Krishna, 2009).
The most comprehensive model of meaningful work stemmed from the
business and management fields. Lips-Wiersma (2002) developed her initial model
based on findings from a qualitative research study exploring work meanings of 16
spiritually oriented people. The model was subsequently refined through additional
research including a large-scale action-research project spanning six years across five
Western countries (Lips-Wiersma & Morris, 2009). Their holistic model of meaningful
work proposes four sources of meaningful work: 1) Self-developing and becoming, 2)
Unity with others, 3) Expressing full potential, and 4) Serving others. Meaningful work
arises from a combination of these four sources and also requires a balance or
harmony among them. For example, if an individual serves the others to the point of
damaging his or her own well-being, the sense of meaningfulness declines. Moreover,
participants experienced the strongest sense of coherence of their meaningfulness
experience when they could see all four sources of meaning in a full, comprehensive
picture.
Figure 1: The Four Elements of the Meaningfulness Ecosystem
(Apud Bailey&Madden, 2016)
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Based on our interviews and a wider reading of the literature on
meaningfulness, Bailey&Madden, 2016, present (fig.1) the four elements that
organizations can address that will help foster an integrated sense of holistic
meaningfulness for individual employees. Building an ecosystem that is conductive to
meaningfulness makes sense in the post-crash era with is focus on values beyond the
profit motive. Organizations that succeed in this are more likely to attract retain and
motivate the employees and to create workplaces where human beings can thrive
(Bailey&Madden, 2016).
The study of Arnod and his collaborators (2007) is a typical example of the fact
that the perception of an individual is important in declaring that one’s work is
meaningful and valuable. The study shows that the effects that a transformational
leader has over the well-being and satisfacton of the employees are indirect, because
the influence that is exerted over the employees stems from the concept of meaninful
work from both social and personal perspective. A manner of conceptualization and
practical illustration of meaninful work is, actually, the finding of significance and
reason in the work performed by the individual. This may lead to considering that the
typically humanistic values have a significant influence over the probability of finding
meaning in the activity on the job, in the day-to-day work. In the same context, it
seems that most of the understandings and conceptualizations of meaninful work stem
from the physical and pshychological well-being and are emotions that can be more
transitory than the level of wellbeing, and, unfortunately, there are too many potential
influences that have a positive or negative effect on them.
This theme has received a great focus especially in the past decade, as many
of the current articles aim to study transformational leadership, which clearly
demonstrates the positive effects over motivation and performance. Arnold et al.
(2007) have shown in the two studies that investigated the relationship between this
type of leadership and the psychological well-being, that the effects of the influence of
the transformational leader over the employees take place, at least in this case,
through a psychological mechanism. In a nutshell, the employees of an organization
that work under the coordination of a transformational leader will benefit from the
feeling and experience of meaninful work, with great personal, social and professional
significance – this is, in itself, the mechanism that leads to the effect of this type of
leadership, which is psychological well-being. Arnold et al.(2007), have focused their
interest on a study that measured well-being with reference to experiencing positive
emotions, and, in the general context of the concept, the general well-being and mental
health of the employees. Their conclusion was that the perception of the employees
that their work is significant on a professional and personal level (“meaningful work”) is
one of the reasons for the manner in which the subordinates of a transformational
leader reach a psychological state of well-being and satisfaction in life.
Therefore, the perception according to which work is meaningful plays an
important role in the full understanding of this positive relationship between
transformational leadership and psychological well-being. The results of the Keller
study (2006) underline the connection between the charismatic leadership and team
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performance. All these lead to the conclusion that the main charactersitic of a
transformational leader, which is charisma, is a character trait with a substantial effect
on group performance; work teams are highly influenced by this characteristic and can
rise beyond the personal level of professional expectancy. In a study by Steger & Co
(2012), the individuals that scored average and high on the survey measuring
meaningful work have also reached high scores in other evaluations that measured
concepts such as: well-being, personal satisfaction, intent of leaving the organization,
personal motivation, absenteeism and organizational involvement. The perception of
an individual according to which own work is meaningful and valuable form a social
and personal point of view leads to an increased satisfaction at the workplace and a
strong engagement in the organization.
Steger et al., (2012) examined the employees working in a university in the
United States. The study found that individuals that perceived work to be meaningful
scored significantly high in work engagement; the study concluded that employees
sensing meaningfulness with work is of critical nature especially when it comes to
fostering their well-being at work. Fairlie (2011a) in his study on employees from a
company in North America has highlighted that meaningful work predicted work
engagement more than any other employee outcomes. Ahmed (2016) refers to Oliver
and Rothmann (2007), who examined employees working in a MNC in South Africa.
The study found that meaningful work is an important job resource in accordance to
the resource theory (Hobfoll, 2001) and a significant indicator of work engagement.
The authors suggested that meaningful work can have a varied impact on employees`
well-being at work, through which they can maintain high work connectivity. Moreover,
Stringer and Broverie (2007) have also reported similar findings. Rothmann and Buys
(2011) have also reached the conclusion that meaningful work can influence work
engagement. The authors reported significant work engagement amongst the
employees who reported higher meaningfulness in their work. A current study by
Ahmed et. al. proposes that meaningful work can be of acute importance particularly
for predicting work engagement (Ahmed et. al. 2016). More importantly, the study of
Ahmed, 2016, considers the recommendations of past researchers and encourages
further research regarding the relation between meaningful work and work
engagement.
Lips-Wiersma et.al. 2016, analyzed the importance of meaningful work and
determined the frequency by which it is experienced in blue-, pink-, and white-collar
occupations. The authors’ data suggests that white-collar workers placed more
importance than blue-collar workers on expressing full potential and serving others.
The frequency of experiencing meaningful work differed across the three groups with
white-collar workers experiencing higher levels of unity with others, expressing full
potential, and serving others; however no significant differences were found for
developing the inner self.
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3. Conclusions
We can, therefore, conclude that meaningful work defines the way in which a
person balances their activity at the workplace and their personal life and not the
importance of work for which an individual receives a salary. Balance, harmony and
synergy of purposes, values, relationships and activities that we perform daily, as well
as the things that we perform with responsibility and involvement matter the most and
are the only ones that can develop and define what is called meaningful work. Thus,
meaningful work refers to the degree in which a person sees their own work as being
significant, important for themselves and the society; meaningful work is a fundamental
human need. Moreover, it represents the clear knowledge and understanding of the
purpose, intention, value, direction and logic behind the work of the individual
(Chalofsky & Krishna, 2009). Recently and as a result of the more recent focus on the
subjective aspects of meaningful work, effort has been made to more carefully focus
on measuring the experience of meaningful work per se, as opposed to the conditions
from which meaningful work arise (Lips-Wiersma et.al. 2016).
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