This post is based on a blog that I recently read by one of my peers Armanzhan Ayan titled “Managing the Talent”. Armanzhan argued that due to factors such as globalization of labor, it is harder for organizations to attract and keep talented labor.

In the blog Armanzhan quotes the Senior Vice President of GOOGLE who states that in order for employees to stay motivated and organizations to keep their talented labor they have to provide their employees with meaning in their work and allow them to shape the environment. Chapter 5, Motivation In Action brings up a similar theory called “The Job Characteristics Model” which states that one of the dimensions for employees to be motivated in a work environment is task significance1. While I agree with the Senior Vice President of GOOGLE, assuring high task significance is important for motivating and keeping talented employees, I believe it is not the most significant factor. If we examine the Motivating Potential Score we can see that the level of autonomy and feedback received in a job contribute more to motivation than task significance. Consequently, I believe that a better recommendation to organizations is to focus on the autonomy and feedback factors in order to motivate employees.

The work environment is too complicated to be examined with only one lens. Apart from characteristics that are mentioned in “The Job Characteristics Model” there are also specific needs that have to be considered when evaluating motivation and the ability to attain talented employees. The needs of employees is a critical factor which I believe is missing from the discussion presented in the blog. In order to expand on this I will use Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs presented in Chapter 4, Theories of Motivation1. Every employee has different needs and in order for them to remain motivated, the employer should provide them with the ability to satisfy their dominant need. It is important to recognize that for organizations such as GOOGLE most employees would be motivated by higher level needs than in other organizations, nonetheless, they need to strive towards it. By having the ability to satisfy their need employees will remain focused on the task and strive to achieve it. This will then lead to the efficiency and larger output mentioned by Armanzhan at the end of his blog.

In conclusion, both aspects of job characteristics and employee’s needs are necessary for an organization to attract and motivate talented employees. While both aspects are important I would like to finish off with a quotation that resonates with me: “People join companies but they leave managers”. An interesting additional analysis on the acquirement and motivation of new talent would be the role of management.

Works Cited:

  1. Langton, Robbins, Judge, Organizational Behaviour, 7th edition.