“Meaningfulness

related to
Organizational
Behaviour”

Areesha Noor
BS-IAS-53-R-F18
Meaningfulness

 The meaningfulness of work is defined as the

importance of the purposes of work in
people's view of life and attitudes. 
 Fundamental psychological need.
 Qualities of Meaningful Work

 brings out an employee’s authentic self

 taps into the talented parts of its employees
 connected to the personal and professional lives of employees
 fix problems that humanity has
 positive impact on the well-being of humans
 associated with an important virtue or personal value
 builds supportive relationships and a sense of community among
people.
 employees can sense the impact of their work every day
 builds supportive relationships
Dimensions of Meaningfulness

Meaningfulness in • ‘Feeling that one is receiving a return on investments of oneself

work in a currency of physical, cognitive, or emotional energy’

Meaningfulness at • Reflects the subjective assessment of ‘where do I belong?

work • It is a perceived organizational identity and external prestige

• Signifies the perception that one is contributing to something

Transcendence 'greater' than oneself
• It indicates a feeling of contributing to the common good
 Meaningfulness of work, Employee engagement and
Affective commitment
 Meaningfulness of work is the positive and significant contributions of the job to
one’s life, and the satisfaction that an individual derives from their job.

Employee is recognized as an organizational initiative that should ensure

Employee
Engagement organizational profitability and success
Engagement

Affective
Affective is an employee’s emotional attachment to the organization
Commitment
Commitment
 Meaningfulness for
Employees

 Meaningfulness, for employees, is

about finding a connection to humanity
through their work.
 Companies can promote this by
establishing a culture of ethics, morals,
and corporate social responsibility.
How Organizations Can Create Meaningful
Work?

● Well designed and high-quality jobs

● Facilitative leaders, cultures, policies

and practices

● High-quality relationships in the

workplace

● Access to fair employment

How Employers Can Help in
Finding Meaningful at Work?

● Offering frequent validation

● Connecting employees’ jobs

● Creating a strong sense of community

● Encouraging continuous learning

 Theoretical
Frameworks to
Explain the
Concept of
“Meaningfulness
at Work”

Malaika Tabassum
BS-IAS-5-R-F18
 An early attempt to map the terrain of
meaningfulness.

Caused by a set of psychological states that mediate

relationships between three job design features—
Hackman and skill variety, task significance, and task variety.
Oldham’s Job
Characteristics
Model
Leading to engagement and psychological
empowerment.
 Hackman and Oldham’s Job
Characteristics Model

Factors which lead to one experiencing meaningfulness in work:

Individual’s perception of their work’s importance

Observing the positive outcomes that their work is creating for others

Feeling empowered and creative as a result of job tasks

Workplace Spirituality Framework

 Employees’ inner lives nourished by

meaningful work that takes place in the
context of community
 Individuals’ spiritual needs for an inner
life, meaningful work, and community
to be met in an organisation
 Encompasses cognitively meaningful
tasks
 Work that creates a sense of joy
 Connects workers to a larger good and
to things viewed by the worker as
important in life.
 Humanities
Framework
 Striving to find meaningfulness in life
through one’s professional endeavours
 Comprises objective and subjective
features
 Autonomy, freedom, and social
recognition; common objective features
Arises from coherence across four domains:
 Unity with others
 Expressing oneself
 Serving others
 Developing and becoming oneself.
  Eudaimonic psychological state

Positive Comprising three facets:

The subjective sense of positive meaning individuals derive
Psychological from their work
(Eudaimonic)  The link between meaningfulness in work and in the
individual’s wider life
Framework  The desire to make a positive impact
 Dependent on individuals’ judgment that their work is
significant and worthwhile.
 Occupation-specific
Framework

 Meaningfulness within the

context of particular
occupations
 Correspondingly developed
bespoke definitions of
meaningfulness that are
relevant to those occupational
contexts
Meaningfulness
Practice In
Developed
Nations

SYEDA AYSHA TEHREEM

Bs-IAS-3-R-F18
 Employees are likely to adopt a transactional
attitude to their employer.

They might leave simply because they get a better

Why pay offer.

developed
nations A failure to understand the deep-seated need for
meaning may lead to a dissatisfied workforce
bother?

Employees who focus on their own package of pay

and conditions lose sense of altruism and team
spirit.
Minimize the  Organizations should also consider how they can minimize the
aspects of work that People describe as ‘meaningless’
aspects of work  Alternatively explain better to employees why certain activities
that People are important.
 such tasks that are repetitive, administrative, bureaucratic and
describe as not clearly connected with the core purpose of the role lead to
frustration
‘meaningless’
 Build and maintain work environments

Organizations should
Enhance High-quality
create a context in Build and maintain
relationships in the
which meaningfulness work environments
workplace.
can be achieved.
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS OF
MEANINGFULNESS IN THE
DIFFERENT ORGANIZATIONS OF
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES

THE COCA-COLA COMPANY

“One Company. One Team. One Passion.”
What do they offer?
 The challenge of meaningful work
 Offers constant opportunities to develop
world-class skills
 A unique culture where people convert their
passion into action.
 A culture where our people are truly
dedicated to living our values.
 Sony

According to Sony,
“The positive relationship between an
employee and an organization determines
the degree of meaningfulness”
 Sony has culture of working with fun
 ensures that people working in the
organization should enjoy their work
 ensures that the targets of Sony can be
achieved within the prescribed time
“A Place for You to Innovate”
Meaningfulness in
Developing
Countries

Ammara Ashraf
Bs-IAS-25-R-F18
 “Where your talents and the needs of the
world cross, there lies your vocation”
Aristotle

Power of
Purpose for In a research, employees pointed out few
developing attributes of a purpose driven organization.
countries

Provide a way to make an impact, care

about doing the right thing, be perceived as
making a difference etc.
Research analysis of
developing countries

 INDONESIA
 Work engagement and job
satisfaction were positively
associated with meaningful work;
perceived stress was negatively
associated with meaningful work.
 Together, PsyCap and work
meaningfulness also can
significantly give a positive
impact to work engagement by
65.1%
Research analysis of
developing countries

 INDIA
 Outcomes of meaningful
work, Blue collar
Employees India
 Work meaningfulness in
Indian work environment
Research analysis of
developing countries

 PAKISTAN
 For lower engagement
levels in the banking
employees of Pakistan, job
resources including
supervisor support,
coworker support and
meaningful work can be of
considerable value.
Organizations in developing countries

• committed to serving humanity especially

Al- Khidmat vulnerable and orphans without any kind of
Pakistan discrimination to contribute in their well-being of
health, education…

PepsiCo India • “winning with purpose”

Indo Food • “caring for our people”

Indonesia
 Outcomes of
meaningfulness and
variables of
organizational
behavior
Rabia Ahmed
Bs-IAS-35-R-F18
 Use of Personal Strengths and Employee’s
Performance

Organizational Citizenship Behavior and

discretionary effort
Outcomes and
Variables Organizational commitment and personal
linkage between employee and work

High level of employee morale and low level

of emotional exhaustion
 Meaningful work and Employee well
being

Corporate social responsibility and

Outcomes and role of intrinsically motived
Variables employees in overcoming challenges

Purpose in business and customer

satisfaction and organization’s
profitability
 Conclusion

 Meaningfulness is subjective.
 Every employee has different
personality
 Cognitive valuation
 Meets employee’s personal standards
 Generates positive organizational
outcome
Conclusion

 Beyond financial security

 Purpose in business
 Relating to tasks as human beings
 Bridging the gap between work
and personal life
THANK
YOU!