Relational Job Design and the Motivation
Academy of Management Review 2007, Vol. 32, No. 2, 393–417.
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RELATIONAL JOB DESIGN AND THE MOTIVATION TO MAKE A PROSOCIAL DIFFERENCE
ADAM M. GRANT University of Michigan
This article illustrates how work contexts motivate employees to care about making a positive difference in other people’s lives. I introduce a model of relational job design to describe how jobs spark the motivation to make a prosocial difference, and how this motivation affects employees’ actions and identities. Whereas existing research focuses on individual differences and the task structures of jobs, I illuminate how the relational architecture of jobs shapes the motivation to make a prosocial difference.
Why do I risk my life by running into a burning building, knowing that at any moment . . . the floor may give way, the roof may tumble on me, the fire may engulf me? . . . I’m here for my community, a community I grew up in, a community where I know lots of people, a community that knows me (firefighter; International Firefighters’ Day, 2004). On my bad days I feel I have wasted three years working here in the ghetto. . . . You can work four days straight, sixteen hours a day . . . until your eyes start falling out. . . . we charge one-tenth of what a lawyer would normally charge. . . . It’s just physically too much—and emotionally. . . . You’re aware of the suffering of your client. . . . You know the pressure he’s under. It makes you all the more committed. We don’t help them only with their legal problems. If they’re suffering from a psychological problem we try to hook them up with a psychiatrist. . . . You get to know them intimately. We’re very close. . . . The people I work with here are my life (inner-city
Copyright of the Academy of Management, all rights reserved. Contents may not be copied, emailed, posted to a listserv, or otherwise transmitted without the copyright holder’s express written permission. Users may print, download, or email articles for individual use only.
RELATIONAL JOB DESIGN AND THE MOTIVATION TO MAKE A PROSOCIAL DIFFERENCE
ADAM M. GRANT University of Michigan
This article illustrates how work contexts motivate employees to care about making a positive difference in other people’s lives. I introduce a model of relational job design to describe how jobs spark the motivation to make a prosocial difference, and how this motivation affects employees’ actions and identities. Whereas existing research focuses on individual differences and the task structures of jobs, I illuminate how the relational architecture of jobs shapes the motivation to make a prosocial difference.
Why do I risk my life by running into a burning building, knowing that at any moment . . . the floor may give way, the roof may tumble on me, the fire may engulf me? . . . I’m here for my community, a community I grew up in, a community where I know lots of people, a community that knows me (firefighter; International Firefighters’ Day, 2004). On my bad days I feel I have wasted three years working here in the ghetto. . . . You can work four days straight, sixteen hours a day . . . until your eyes start falling out. . . . we charge one-tenth of what a lawyer would normally charge. . . . It’s just physically too much—and emotionally. . . . You’re aware of the suffering of your client. . . . You know the pressure he’s under. It makes you all the more committed. We don’t help them only with their legal problems. If they’re suffering from a psychological problem we try to hook them up with a psychiatrist. . . . You get to know them intimately. We’re very close. . . . The people I work with here are my life (inner-city