It helps us to learn what any employee looks from the job.

Psychological States: The following three psychological states are postulated as critical in affecting a person’s motivation and satisfaction on the job:

• Experienced meaningfulness: The person must experience the work as generally important, valuable, and worthwhile.
• Experienced responsibility: The individual must feel personally responsible and accountable for the results of the work he or she performs.
• Knowledge of results: The individual must have understanding, on a fairly regular basis, of how he or she is performing on the job.

The more these three conditions are present, the more people will feel good about themselves when they perform well.

This model postulates that internal rewards are obtained by individuals when then learn (knowledge of results) that they personally (experienced responsibility) have performed well on a task that they care about (experienced meaningfulness). These internal rewards are reinforcing to the individual, and serve as incentives for continued efforts to perform well in the future. When the persons do not perform well, they do not experience a reinforcing state of affairs, and may elect to try harder in future so as to regain the rewards that good performance brings. The net results is a self-perpetuating cycle of positive work motivation powered by self-generated rewards, that is predicted to continue until one or more of the three psychological states is no longer present – or until the individual no longer values the internal rewards that derive from good performance. Job Dimensions: There are five job dimensions which contribute to experienced meaningfulness, experienced responsibility and knowledge of results. The following three dimensions contribute to experienced meaningfulness: Skill variety: The degree to which a job requires a variety of different activities in carrying out the work, which involve the use of a number of different skills and talents of the person. When a task requires a person to engage in activities that challenge or stretch his or her skills and abilities, that task almost invariably is experienced as meaningful by the individual. When a job draws upon several skills of an employee, that individual may find the job to be of very high personal meaning – even if, in any absolute sense, it is not of great significance or importance. Task identity: The degree to which the job requires completion of a “whole” and identifiable piece of work – that is, doing a job from beginning to end with a visible outcome. Task significance: The degree to which the job has a substantial impact on the lives or work of other people – whether in the immediate organization or in the external environment. When individuals understand that the results of their work may have a significant effect on the well-being of other people, the experienced meaningfulness of the work usually is enhanced. Autonomy: The degree to which the job provides substantial freedom, independence, and discretion to the individual in scheduling the work and in determining the procedures to be used in carrying it out. (This dimension contributes to experienced responsibility.) Feedback: The degree to which carrying out the work activities required by the job results in the individual’s obtaining direct and clear information about the effectiveness of his or her performance.  (This dimension contributes to knowledge of results.) The author works as Leadership Coach, and helps senior executives to be effective leaders. He can be reached at Shital@GrowthCatalystIndia.com.