Job fulfilment is the precursor for job satisfaction. Given
that more than 50 percent of a 24 hour day and more than 80 percent of the
wakeful part is spent on the job or job related activities, job satisfaction is
a must for peace in life. Deriving fulfilment on the job is essential for pace
in life, therefore. Job fulfilment cannot be defined in terms of either title
or compensation. It is more in terms of doing what one enjoys and what one’s
natural aptitudes and talents play for, and finally the impact one makes
through one’s job on the people and organization. In some cases, job fulfilment
occurs immediately while in some case, it takes years to happen. In most cases,
what was fulfilment at the start gets overwhelmed by greater accomplishments
later in life but in some cases, the later day’s greater successes trigger
greater satisfaction from the initial fulfilments too.
For a teacher, for example, job fulfilment occurs when he or
she is able to coach his class to high scores in examinations. The real job
fulfilment, however, comes when the teacher sees his students occupying high
positions and becoming successful in life. The teacher, in the process, starts
getting more fulfilled from the teaching process, the long term implications of
students getting high scores, and their bringing credit to the teacher and the
alma mater in the years to come. Today’s competitive landscape pressures
executives for immediate performance, much like examination results, and
ingrains a mind-set of seeking immediate fulfilment through rewards and
recognitions. While there is nothing wrong in this (except for the accumulation
of stress), the flip side is that executives, no longer, are able to await and
relish the long term results from the seeds they sow.
Jobs make careers
Most advertisements for recruitment no longer emphasize the
job; they speak of careers. Most recruiters emphasize how careers can be built
up through the position in question. A company that lays attention on talent
mapping and succession planning can, indeed, assure a fulfilling career through
a series of fulfilling jobs. Such companies are characterized by their
frontline executives growing to occupy CXO positions eventually. It is,
therefore, unnecessary and even misplaced to distinguish between jobs and
careers. If jobs make careers for individuals, and both mean fulfilment for
them, it is important to realize that companies also have their own jobs and
careers to fulfil for the society. In fact, it is only within the aegis of a
company that individuals can find fulfilment. While individuals can find jobs in any
company, successful or not so successful, they can find careers only in
successful companies or making not so successful companies successful with
their jobs.
Like individuals, companies also have jobs to perform and
careers to make. A company has a job to do in terms of delivering the products
and services. However, the company also has a career to make (even if it is
somewhat inappropriate to describe so) in terms of maintaining a continuity of products
and services that are ever more beneficial to the customer. Just as an
individual gets to change a job in search of fulfilment or career, companies
also get to churn their products and services (and even employees) in their
quest for a “career” in the business landscape. While these similarities are
easy to appreciate, the interplay between jobs and careers as well as
individuals and companies (in permutations and combinations thereof) is not
understood by either the individuals or the companies. Perceptive business
leaders and human resources leader not only appreciate this interplay but work
in partnership to address this complex issue.
Defining fulfilment
Many people see and seek fulfilment in terms of how their
talents impact the jobs that they carry out. One is apt to make statements such
as “I completed my assigned project which was appreciated by my boss” or “I
made a presentation that the audience liked”. Fulfilment through such feelings
and perceptions is misplaced. True fulfilment occurs when the job impacts
positively and meaningfully others in the organization and one feels invested
in the company’s future through the job one is performing. Again, it is not a
matter how many people one leads but it does matter how much interaction one is
able to have with other relevant internal and external stakeholders. True fulfilment
also occurs when one is able to experience, on a first hand basis, the results
of one’s work.
Typically jobs (especially in mature established
organizations) tend to stay static while talents (as defined by a combination
of education and experience) may improve. Fulfilment becomes elusive when jobs
trail competencies. There would also be cases when jobs (especially in
turnaround situations or sunrise industries) require new skills while talents
(as required by new requirements) remain static. In this case also, where
skills trail job challenges, fulfilment becomes elusive. Fulfilment, on the
whole, is a dynamic concept which can work only when jobs, as they are
designed, manned and performed, lead to growth of businesses. This is not
merely a human resources responsibility but the responsibility of the entire
leadership team of a company at one level. It is also, more importantly, the responsibility
of the individuals themselves at another level.
Economic view
It is impossible to discuss job fulfilment without
considering an economic viewpoint. Typically, companies extract consumer surplus
when they market their products or services at prices higher than costs. Consumer
surplus obviously varies based on the product-market segments. In a similar
fashion, companies seek to derive (‘extract’ could be a negative word, here!)
employee surplus by deriving higher value from their services than the salaries
paid to them. The laws of growth and competition not only legitimize the
relevance of consumer surplus and employee surplus but also seek to reduce
consumer surplus per product or service. Companies try to counter this by
maximizing employee surplus but this may not always be feasible in a
skill-scarce and talent-constrained economy. The only way this riddle of
economic fulfilment is solved is through sustainable and profitable growth.
The economics of fulfilment for individuals, in their twin
roles as customers and employees, and for companies, in their multiple roles as
producers and sellers, and as employers and optimizers are important. Growth economics,
in fact, is a bubble. Population demographics is a reality. The bubble has to
be sustained to meet the reality. Unless economic growth stays continuous and
consistent, social fulfilment becomes elusive. When viewed in this perspective,
job fulfilment can never be a matter of individual joy or disappointment, and
not even of job design and talent deployment. It is a matter of finding
business and economic solutions for challenges of growth. Job fulfilment occurs
when the role of an individual is appreciated by the role designers and the
individual is able to appreciate the role as part of a larger socio-economic
paradigm.
Cruise or exploration?
When this socio-economic perspective is understood, frontline
executives as well as their employers start assessing objectively whether job fulfilment
is a matter of immediacy and surety as a highway cruise is, or is a matter of
uncertainty with sporadic abundance as oil exploration is. The answer is rather
simple. The concept of a career highway, however desirable it is, is rather a
desire than reality in organizations. There are far too many variables in the
process of interactions of individual-business-environment that there can never
be a pre-set path. It is unclear, for example, if the conventional synthetic
medicines will be dominant a decade hence or biologic medicines or genetic
engineering would be dominant. Taking the example of automobile industry, the
future automobile could be a digital machine. Career highways based on current
business models and current skill-sets could be misleading.
On the other hand, job fulfilment is more like oil
exploration. Not every field, whether on-shore or offshore, offers potential
for oil, and not every field with potential for oil ends up providing an
unending gush of oil. Job fulfilment for aspirant executives arises from a
process of identifying the right companies and persevering with their job roles
and career paths with grit. As with exploration, the operating circumstances
tend to be challenging but when the right role is struck, the rewards could be
plenty. Like oil exploration, exploration of job fulfilment tends to be a
combination of hardware, soft skills and the entire organization working
together. While the simile may seem extended, the underlying concept that job
fulfilment is a larger enterprise-wide challenge is a reality. Does the
individual have an easy path then?
Aligned fulfilment
The solution for job fulfilment lies in aligned fulfilment
between the company and the employees. The company must have a larger purpose
and mission which must have the buy-in of the employees. The company and the
employee must have a clear view of how the dynamics of industrial competition
would impact the economics of consumer surplus and economic surplus. Just as
the company feels justified in deriving a consumer surplus based on the
perceived value of its products and services to the company, the employee must
feel a broader purpose in providing the employee surplus to the company. A good
job for a competent person pays well. A great job which is derived from a sense
of purpose for the company and covers its employees inclusively leads to fulfilment
for them as well as the company.
Posted by Dr CB Rao on November 8, 2015
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