This week I have been asked to reflect on how leaders create meaning in a work place. I think this question is making a few assumptions. The biggest assumption is that the people within an organization are at point where they are able to meet their basic needs and are thus searching for new meaning. As Maslow's hierarchy of needs tells us there are several basic needs that must be met. A greater number of people are experiencing income insecurity as costs are outpacing wages. Additionally, the income gap is widening at an unprecedented pace. These economic indicators are meaning more and more people are increasingly worried about security and even physiological needs as they struggle to make ends meet. To ask how one creates meaning in this environment is a bit intellectually dishonest. I feel that as academics we too often postulate on how the world should be rather than how it is. So to answer the question, in order to create meaning we have to provide an environment where meaning can be an added value as opposed to environments where meaning is expected to replace living. When creating environments for meaning to be an added value a manager must see to it that workers are not worried about the first two levels of Maslow's hierarchy which are physiological and security. They do this by providing certain benefits such as health insurance, (in America at least, every other first world nation provides this to all the people not just the percentage of the population lucky enough to have coverage) fair wages, and other benefits designed to aid employees in meeting these needs. This isn't always the case as for many worker in service industry fields these benefits and wages are not available and the US is rapidly heading in that direction. So creating meaning becomes an academic exercise rather than a reality. No one cares if their ability to flip a burger or clean a hotel room has "meaning" if they can't afford food or housing. As studies have shown that raising the minimum wage has little effect on employment and a small affect on prices; to add to this meaning we have to change the way we view labor. This is a societal change that I am not sure the US will make and it is one of the reasons the nation is falling behind in quality of life for its citizens.
Be all that as it may and assuming we solve all of those problems, we move into step two. Managers create meaning by providing a vision, mission, or shared culture that employees can internally quantify. As noted in prior discussions, Southwest Airlines created a culture and vision where people believed in providing safe, friendly, affordable, and efficient air travel to their customers. In doing so they were able to attract and retain employees that were willing to work for below average industry wages until the company was able to attract enough market share to thrive. As I've mentioned, people need to have certain needs met before they are able to share in a vision and find meaning. However, once those needs ARE met people search for satisfaction within themselves and what they do. A great deal of a person's sense of self-worth and identity is tied into their job. Think about meeting new people, within the first few minutes someone will ask "What do you do?" People need to feel proud of their accomplishments and their contributions to society.
As we know, people are motivated by different things and I think the question assumes that all people are needing to find meaning. I respond negatively to charismatic leaders though I appreciate a transformational one. Others might be the opposite. A manager's approach to leadership is tied in with creating meaning. I chose charismatic and transformational leaders as I feel those are the two types of leaders that are able to best create meaning for their workers. Through their vision and efforts they allow others to believe in what they do. There is a caveat to this and it speaks to the second assumption; the target needs to be amenable to finding meaning. For some, work is a means to an end. They find meaning in giving, or nature, or any other activity not related to the work place. That doesn't mean that they don't appreciate a clear vision but that they don't attach personal meaning to their work. There is a difference in enjoying what you do and finding meaning in what you do.
To say that everyone needs to find meaning in their work to truly excel in their work is incorrect. Meaning has to come from within. If a manager can convince, through whatever means, a person welding in a water-filled ditch that their work will better society or have a meaning for others AND the target has a personality that desires to attach meaning to their work (or can be convinced) than the added value of meaning will enhance the person's work experience. Otherwise the attempt to create meaning may fail.
I do believe that managers, especially transformational ones, should attempt to create an added value of meaning to the work-place. It has positive repercussions for the employees and the organization as happy employees are productive employees. Even if the attempt to create meaning passes over a few the overall affect will be a net gain.
No comments:
Post a Comment