Meaningful Work Essay

1826 Words8 Pages
Managing Customer Services HSG107 Meaningful work is essential for human wellbeing. Drawing on your reading and your own experience and expectations of work; explain how far you agree with this statement. ST10003474 In order to determine whether human wellbeing is dependant on purposeful work; this essay will discuss numerous theories; opinions and models. The following will be discussed: extrinsic and intrinsic motivation; Maslow’s hierarchy of needs; Alderfer’s hierarchy of needs; Herzberg’s two-factor theory; the expectancy theory of motivation; emotional labour; and the negative impact of meaningful work. These theories will be applied to a case study of the social housing profession to demonstrate the ideas in practice. Mullins (2010) simplifies motivation into two divisions; extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation manifests itself to be more materialistic in its thinking. For example, a person would go to work seeking rewards such as income; benefits; promotion; and a pleasant working environment. Intrinsic motivation relates to psychological factors such as seeking appreciation or recognition from others; new challenges; a sense of achievement; and to be treated well by others. It can be argued that those who work within housing do so for both extrinsic and intrinsic motives. For example; opportunities for promotion may often arise, due to the vast number of social housing organisations in existence. The belief in helping others may also be a common factor in choosing to work for social housing providers. Individuals will define meaningful work differently. Blyton & Jenkins (2007) highlight that F.W. Taylor; an engineer from the late 19th and early 20th century believed that money was the sole motivator for the worker. Taylor also stated that the worker was motivated to work slowly to generate employment for longer. However,
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