Implementing Work Flexibility And Incentives: A JD-R Approach - Thrive Consultancy

How can the use of the Job demand Resources theory (JD-R) benefit the organization Thrive consultancy?

What implementation strategy can the organization Thrive consultancy adopt for the effective implementation of the Job demand Resources theory (JD-R) within its workplace?

Background of Thrive Consultancy

The process of experimentation has become a common part of the business world and it is seen that the various organizations experiment with different methods or strategies to find the right kind of strategy which can help them to improve the performance of the concerned organization (Howard, Turban and Hurley 2016). However, at the same time it is seen that the implementation of ineffective strategies or the ones that are being implemented without taking into effective consideration the perspective or the needs of the employees can adversely the prospects of the concerned organization (Malik, Butt and Choi 2015). Thus, it becomes all the more important for the organizations to take into effective consideration the needs or the requirements of the employees at the time of the formulation and also the implementation of these methods or strategies. This report will discuss about the implementation of the “work flexibility and incentives” within the organization Thrive consultancy from the perspective of the “Job demand Resources theory (JD-R)”.

The organization “Thrive consultancy” has been in business for more than 15 years and boosts of more than 50 employees. The organization is known for the consultancy services that it provides in the three spheres, namely, Human Resource, Strategic Planning and Advertisement or marketing. The services provided by the concerned organization in these sphere are not intended to improve the existing policies used by the various organizations related to these three aspects but at the same time to offer better models to them which can help them to improve the prospects of their business in a significant manner.

The organization under discussion here has recently implemented a policy within their workplace which requires all the employees to work as a fixed timing, namely, Monday to Friday from 9-5pm. This policy was implemented by the concerned organization with the hope of improving the productivity of the organization. Furthermore, the concerned organization at the same time limited the amount of resources that were provided to the employees like coffee, biscuits, milk, tea and others. These changes are difficult for the employees to accept since for the past 15 years they have been used to work in flexible shift timings as per their job roles and also to enjoy the additional perks provided by the company. Thus, it is seen that the policy under discussion here instead of enhancing the performance level of the employees is adversely affecting the morale of the employees and thereby their performance.

Policy Implementation and its Impact on Employees’ Performance

The overall performance level of the employees of an organization depends on the various factors like the organizational culture of the concerned organization, the kind of motivation. It is provided to the employees, the gratification of the needs of the employees, the shift timings of their work, the kind of incentives and perks that are being provided to them and others (Bellé 2015). Furthermore, at the same time it is seen that unlike the traditional times, the needs of the employees have undergone a significant amount of change and thus money is no longer the chief gratification factor or the motivation factor for the employees (Nyberg, Pieper and Trevor 2016). In addition to this, the employees of the present times are even concerned about the shift timings and also the kind of incentives as well as perks that are being offered to them (Kuvaas et al. 2015).

In the present times it is seen that the traditional concept of shift or work timings which stretched from 9-5 pm has lost its significance because of the diverse job roles that the individuals need to perform and also because of the round the clock services that the employees need to offer to the customers (Kuvaas et al. 2015). It is pertinent to note that because of this particular fact the employees often need to work for much longer hours in order to complete the tasks which have been allocated to them and also to provide much more effective services to the customers (Ismail, Halim and Joarder 2015). It is precisely here that the concept of work flexibility becomes very important since it provides the opportunity to the employees to work as per the job roles that have been assigned to them rather than the shift timings which have been allocated to them. Furthermore, at the same time it is seen that this particular process considerably reduces the stress of the employees related to the aspect of their shift timings but also enables them to work in a much better manner as per the requirements of the business (Ismail, Halim and Joarder 2015). Moreover, the effective usage of this particular process by a particular organization enables it to motivate the employees to work in a much better manner by making them realize the fact that the concerned organization is willing to take into effective consideration their needs as well as requirements.

The individual job performance of the employees affects the overall performance of the concerned organization in significant manner. It is true that money is an important motivational factor for the various employees and helps in a significant manner to help them perform in a much better manner (Galea, Houkes and Rijk 2014). However, in the present times it is seen that the needs of the employees has changed in a significant manner and the urge or the need to get recognized has gained prominence in the recent times. In this particular context the incentives becomes since they help in the fulfillment of this particular need of the employees (A?ral?, Ta?k?n and Ünal 2017). Furthermore, it is also seen that in addition to the monetary incentives and the perks which are provided to the employees the various kinds of perks like the office facilities have at the same time gained prominence. In this particular context mention needs to be made about the coffee, tea and other kinds of food items that are being provided to the employees becomes important (Galea, Houkes and Rijk 2014). This is important since it not only helps the organizations to cater to some of the basic needs of the employees but at the same time motivates them to perform better through the fulfillment of their basic needs. Thus, it can be said that the concepts of work flexibility and incentives have become important in the particular context of the contemporary business world.

Factors Affecting Employees’ Performance

The “Job demand Resources theory (JD-R)” is a recent development within the business world yet within a very short the theory or the model has been able to gain a significant amount of prominence and is being widely used by the various organizations of the present times (Bakker and Nishii 2016). This theory is related to the aspect of the occupational stress that the various employees face and states that the level of occupational stress felt by a particular employee is directly related to the imbalance between the entities of the demands of the employees and the resources that they have at their disposal for the fulfillment of those demands (Woerkom, Bakker and Nishii 2016). Furthermore, the fulfillment of these demands is important since they not only motivate the employees in a positive manner to perform in a much better manner but at the same time reduce the amount of occupational stress felt by the employees as well (Woerkom, Bakker and Nishii 2016). This in turn is important since it not only enhances the job satisfaction level of the employees but at the same time enhances their loyalty towards the concerned organization as well. Furthermore, at the same time it is seen that both of these factors are important from the context of the performance level of the employees (Bal and Lange 2015).

Figure 1: Job demands-resource model

Source: (Bakker and Nishii 2016)

The effective usage of this particular theory or model is likely to help the organization “Thrive consultancy” to overcome or mitigate the issues that they are facing at the current moment. For example, within the organization under discussion here it is seen that the resources of coffee, tea, biscuits, milk and others are some of the basic requirements or the demands of the employees and they in turn help the employees to perform in a much better manner through the fulfillment of the needs of the employees. Thus, through the effective utilization of this particular theory or model it is likely that the concerned organization would be able to fulfill the basic demands of the employees which will in turn reduce the occupational stress of the employees and thereby enhance their performance level.

In the light of the various benefits that the theory or the model under discussion here is likely to provide to the organization, the management team of the organization Thrive consultancy has decided to use this particular model or theory within their workplace. The research objectives for the same is given below-

• To find the manner in which the use of the Job demand Resources theory (JD-R) is likely to benefit the organization Thrive consultancy
• To find the best possible manner through the use of the Job demand Resources theory (JD-R) can be integrated within the workplace of the organization Thrive consultancy.

Importance of Work Flexibility and Incentives

The procedure of the study followed the exploratory research design that allow the research to collect data without having any predetermined hypothesis. It allows the research to explore the study about employee perception and workforce maintenance. This report follows the qualitative analysis procedure to come up with the unlimited conclusion. Qualitative analysis is a rational analysis process for non-numerical data and information that allows the research to examine the interview or secondary data findings. To execute the qualitative analysis procedure the responses of the participants have been taken into account while developing a thematic based analysis with appropriate graphical and tabular representation of the result. In this analysis, the focus is the key factors that affect the working experience of the employees. Six employees are interviewed through a semi structured interview session. The questions are mainly developed to collect the feedback regarding the job satisfaction, impact of motivational reword and changes needed in office premises and system.

The following table represents the numerical expression of respondent’s choices during the interview session. He participants were also asked rate the factors that were replaying depending on their impacts and essentiality in rotational environment.

Participants	satisfaction	changes in office	change in system	motivational reword
p1	6	8	4	5
p2	10	10	8	4
p3	9	8	6	9
p4	9	9	5	8
p5	10	10	7	7
p6	6	10	6	7

Table 1: Ratings of all participants

Source: (created by author)

Fig 2.Graph on relationship between the variables involved

Source: (created by author)

From the above graph and its data trend-lines the common inclination of most of the participants can be found. It has been found that, about making changes in office most of the respondents voice similar opinion that makes the data trend-line more flat. Similarly, changes in system received similar kind of response where no high fluctuation of rating has been found. However, motivational reword the fluctuation of rating is higher than the previous two points. At the same time, data trend-line of job satisfaction also displayed a fluctuated response or rating.  It makes it clear that the process of motivation and increasing job satisfaction is not clear for every employee. However, it is the duty of the employer to find out most appropriate motivational reword for the employees and components for job satisfaction. In the following section will analyse the responses with respect to the average rating and their answers.

Findings
Discussion topic	Average answers	Ratting of essentiality out of 10
Job satisfaction	Moderate to high level happy	8/10
Required changes in office	Printing machine, coffee machine	7/10
Required changes in system	Flexible work schedule	6/10
Motivational reword	Low to moderate level	7/10

Table 1: Average rating and responds of the participants  

Source: (created by author)

As per the findings from interview data, it has been observed that job satisfaction is the most essential factor for the employees. Along with that most of the employees also voiced about the recognition and rewording system. All the employees have replied by saying motivational reword is the second most essential factor after job satisfaction. They have bee also asked about any changes need. Most of the employees replied that they want the Printing machine and coffee machine to be changed or repaired. In terms of changing the system, most of the employees replied that they need a more flexible work schedule, which will allow them to be more enthusiastic about their productivity.

Job Demand Resources theory (JD-R)

Conclusion

The literature review and the analysis of the data clearly indicates that the organization Thrive consultancy is likely to benefit in a significant manner through the effective usage of the concept of work flexibility and incentives and also the Job demand Resources theory. For example, the effective usage of the concept of work flexibility and incentives will not only enable the concerned organization to motivate the employees to perform in a much better manner but at the same time would help the concerned organization to concerned organization to offer the kind of opportunities to them which will help them to attain the level of self-actualization. In addition to these, the organization at the same time by providing flexible shift timings will enable the employees to maintain a balance between their professional and personal lives in a much effective manner and also to handle the work related stress or burnout in a better manner. One of the major focuses of the organization under discussion here is to improve the performance level of the employees so as to gain a larger amount of revenue and it is likely that the effective usage of these concepts are going to help in the achievement of this particular goal.

The use of the Job demand Resources theory (JD-R) within the framework of the concerned organization would help the organization to meet the individual demands of the employees and also to provide them the kind of resources which will help them to fulfill these demands in a better manner. This is important since this particular aspect is once again related to not only to the aspects of employee satisfaction, employee loyalty and in turn to the performance level of the employees. Thus, it is likely that the use of this particular theory or model is likely to help the concerned organization to not only improve the performance level of the employees but also to resolve the issues that they are facing at the current moment.

To conclude, the needs as well as the demands of the employees of the present times have undergone a significant amount of change in the present times. This particular change is manifested in the demands of the employees in terms of the shift timings as well as the various kinds of perks. Furthermore, at the same time it is seen that the nature as well as the volume of work that the employees within the domain of the present day organizations need to perform have made it important for the organizations to take into effective consideration the entity of flexible shift timings. In addition to these, at the same time it is seen that the various kinds of perks as well as incentives also motivates the employees to perform in a much better manner. Moreover, the use of Job demand Resources theory (JD-R) has also gained a significant amount of prominence in the present times since it helps the organizations to fulfill the demands of the employees and also to provide them the kind of resources which will help them to work in a much better manner.

Research Objectives

References 

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