Introduction

In psychology, the term self-esteem is used to describe a person's overall sense of

self-worth or personal value. Self-esteem can play a significant role in your
motivation and success throughout your life. Employees who have a high level of
self-esteem will trust their thinking and judgement and are therefore likely to
make better decisions. Having these qualities also enables one to create more
effective interpersonal and work relationships which mean that they can
effectively contribute to the work environment around them. By Maslow’s law of
hierarchy, job titles fall under esteem needs of an employee and these needs can
create internal pressures that can influence a person's behavior. Job titles aren’t
just about what an employee does and where they belong in the hierarchy. They
convey much more about the employee’s value and sense of belonging. If an
employee was hired as a technical recruiter. But the employee handled recruiting,
hiring, onboarding, and a variety of other responsibilities. Pretty soon that title
becomes hiring manager, but additional responsibilities can make the new title
obsolete. An employee is willing to take on extra responsibility if it’s
commensurate with his/her job title. By McClelland’s Need theory, people who
are likely to be motivated by power can be effectively motivated by job titles,
they are positions of power in any organizational hierarchy. Predominantly
companies don’t think much about job titles. Most companies use job titles to
“accurately reflect the corporate hierarchy” and define clear roles to employees.
Despite these factor job titles can spur people to be more productive and attract
recruits. It is impractical to get rid of or standardize job titles, they act as positive
and negative reinforcement on employee satisfaction.

Losing out of Potential Talent

If a firm wishes to recruit a new employee is it is more likely to look at the job title
of the potential hires, at least initially. It may be that job titles are merely a
succinct statement of an employee's role and status at her current employer, but
they increase her options outside from the recruitment perspective. They convey
more information concerning the employee's ability while other factors are
otherwise only observable. When employees trying to move up in the world, the
absence of an impressive job title that stands out from the crowd is satisfactory
and therefore a potential loss for the firm. This impact on employee satisfaction
and would fail to attract more candidates.
Misalignment on Expectations & Lowered Engagement
Job descriptions give the employer and the employee a solid foundation for
performance and establish the employer’s expectations of the role. If the
description is not aligned, it can cause poor performance, eventually lower
engagement and may cause the employee to leave the organization. In this way,
job titles can also cause an employee’s performance and engagement to diminish.
The Spherion survey, conducted an online market research and data collected
found that nearly half the workforce (42%) are dissatisfied with their job title.
People take pride in their job titles and if an employee doesn’t feel proud in their
position, it can cause lower satisfaction, cause lower engagement, breakdowns in
communication, and a strain on the business. Taking the time to align the title to
the description helps the employee better understand their role in the
organization.

Inflation of conventional Job titles and new tools

A 2012 report by the Resolution Foundation, a British think-tank, found job title
inflation in the around the world to be growing, with more workers having a
“senior-sounding” job title with a middle-ranking wage. At Merrill Lynch bank the
title of ‘vice president’, can act as a signal that employee is bearing a title of high
value but according to a 2010 study by the University of Houston’s Bauer College
of Business a former vice president of the bank stated that the job title was an
“honorific earned by an individual… rather than a descriptive attached to a
specific position in the firm”.
On the other hand, at AT&T, the company had an unwritten, but widely
recognized, cultural norms that linked advancement and eligibility for upgraded
job titles to age and seniority. Even in a conventional company’s job titles are not
necessarily an indicator of value to the company.
Concepts like Creative job titles are becoming increasingly popular. Companies
like Cloudflare, a security app company have adopted this concept, the company’s
founders say this allows for more creative thinking, as ideas usually come from
those not at the top and distribute responsibility for the company’s success more
evenly. A study found that creative job titles had a significant impact on
performance. Researchers have found that fancy title isn’t always about status,
simply making up title for the fun of it can be influential on employee behavior.
Conclusion
Positive Effects on Employees

Job satisfaction
An employee's satisfaction with her job depends heavily on whether she feels the
compensation she receives sufficiently covers all the duties she performs. What
her position lacks in pay can be made up of providing a desirable job title. A title
she is proud of can help her show leadership in the workplace and give her
satisfaction each time she hands out her business card or sends an email. A
satisfied employee is productive and loyal to her company.

Workload
An employee who feels that his job title requires leadership and responsibility is
more likely to exhibit these qualities and perform his work at a level that matches
his title. A higher-status job title often means that a worker has more on his
shoulders and that more is expected of him. A person who feels he must be
productive in the workplace will often meet this requirement more readily than
someone who feels his job and title are of little importance.

Client Interaction
A customer forms a perception of an employee's competency and ability to meet
her needs by the job title she holds. A disgruntled client will often ask for a
manager even though the employee in front of her might be able to easily fix the
problem. This is due to the assumption that people with "better" job titles hold
more power. A client may take a directive or policy from a sales associate as
something that can be negotiated but may take his sales manager's words more
seriously. Smaller companies with a shorter chain of command can circumvent
this by thinking of a creative title for an associate or assistant that more
accurately reflects his abilities. A job title can allow an employee to accomplish
more with his customer.

Coworkers interaction
It is always easier for an employee to get results from people who respect her.
While the most authentic way to gain respect may be to build trust over time, this
is not always possible in a changing workplace. Often, people who don't know
each other well are put into a coworking situation. At times like these, a worker's
title can earn her at least a little respect. Other workers will assume she has the
knowledge, skills, seniority or leadership ability to have earned her title.
Coworkers may pay close attention to her work and ideas in the hopes of earning
a position like hers. This respect boosts productivity by lowering resistance to her
requests and initiatives.

Negative effects on employees

Execution Mentality
Many employees are more comfortable being told what to do. They don’t go
above and beyond that, but rather stay within the responsibilities of their job
description. According to an online workplace quiz created by Glenn Llopis Group,
one that has been taken by more than 500,000 people since 2009, employees are
most proficient at implementing the work that they are assigned to complete. The
workplace with job titles has trained and conditioned employees to do what they
are told than to think about what they do? and how they do?.

Inefficiencies
Titles restrict or restrain people from contributing beyond their job description.
Meetings abound because not all the job titles are always in the room. This slows
down progress, creating inefficiency. This also explains why so few people know
how to contribute towards solving problems that fall outside of their job
description/responsibilities. The 21st-century workplace requires us all to be
more cross-functional and live with an entrepreneurial spirit. However, when not
measured beyond the dictates of their job titles, employees remain stuck in their
silos. As such, people are not taking ownership, thus making it difficult for them
to remain relevant at work.

Politicizing the Decision-Making

Job titles make decision-making too political rather than a process for doing what
is in the best interests of the organization and its clients. Productivity wanes and
opportunity gaps widen because employees are more interested in satisfying
political agendas within the organization. When this happens it further propels
political maneuvering, especially when all the required “titles” are not ready to
commit to a decision. Job titles here influence decisions that were not the right
ones. Job titles can make people seem/feel more powerful than they are.
Wasted Potential
When someone who may be unqualified for the title holds such a position. They
fail to unleash the full potential of their employees. This traps the employee in the
in the same position and he/she cannot unleash their full potential in a workplace
environment where job titles define performance metrics. Employees are robbed
of opportunity and the company is robbed of their existing potential.

The job title may all seem like simple prefixes before an employee’s name. Except,
job titles are few words that hold great power, and may have significant impact
on the employee’s identity, creativity, behavior, and performance, due to the
psychological value the hold over an employee satisfaction. Job titles are simple
words with enormous power to stimulate or withhold employee performance and
satisfaction.

References
https://hbr.org/2016/05/creative-job-titles-can-energize-workers
https://www.spherion.com/about-spherion/in-the-news/archives/nearly-half-of-
workers-dissatisfied-with-their-job-title_148/
https://www.bauer.uh.edu/departments/finance/documents/What%27s%20in%2
0a%20Job%20Title.pdf
http://justinmberg.com/grantbergcable_amjforthcomi.pdf

https://www.inc.com/magazine/201310/jeff-haden/why-there-are-no-job-titles-
at-my-company.html
https://www.fastcompany.com/3035359/why-your-job-title-means-a-lot-more-
than-you-think