Motivation is considered to be the single most important element in the work productivity of an employee. In fact, both the quality and the quantity of the work done depends on the motivation which is derived from occupational well-being. All public and private organizations need a motivated workforce to extract maximum utility. All managers, policymakers, and employees have realized that occupational well-being affects human functioning and job performance. Job Demand-Resources theory is used here to determine how working conditions motivate the employee and how the employee determines his working conditions. In the present age, there is ample knowledge related to psychosocial factors that contribute to job stress or job performance of the employee and the organizational behavior. When viewed through job demands and resources, one can predict which factors can enhance the well-being and job performance of the employee. Organizational life is composed of several levels such as organization, team, and individual, and they influence one another over time. Therefore, there exist stable and dynamic properties of occupational well-being. It is also important to understand the significance of leader and employee behaviors and their effect on employee motivation and job performance.
With the evolution of mankind, human activities have become more complex and diverse. Therefore, the working conditions are different for each organization. However, this complexity can be simplified using the JD-R model by classifying all job conditions into two. The first is job demands which include the facet of work like workload, the complexity of tasks, and conflicts. At the same time, job resources are the aspects that help employees to deal with the demands and achieve their goals. They both have a unique and independent effect on employee motivation and job performance. For instance, if the daily workload of job demand is leading the employee to chronic exhaustion, it may cause a physical health problem. In contrast, job resources act as a buffer by providing employees with basic needs and a positive work environment and, therefore, mitigate the negative influence of job demands. Job resources also provide a means for the employee to handle the job demands. This is, however, imperative that job resources must match the job demands. Furthermore, the personal resources of employees play a significant role in managing job demands. It includes employees’ optimism, self-efficacy, and skills. Hence, a good balance in job demands and job resources keeps the employee motivated and enhances job performance.
The important aspect of the JD-R model is that employees demotivate/motivate their own job performance. It was considered that employees passively react to the stimuli they receive. But the modern studies show that employees play an active role in creating their work conditions. The theory states that an employee can influence his job in one of two ways. If the employees are stressed and influence their work surrounding negatively, they can induce a potentially harmful loss cycle of job demands and strain. The theory of conservation of resources (Hobfoll) proposed that some people who lack various resources like a home, time, money, or knowledge are more susceptible to losing more resources. It assumed that each resource is related to the other in a web-like arrangement and losing one would cause to lose another resource. This would lead to psychological stress and can significantly demotivate the employee. The employee who is already suffering, in turn, can cause more mistakes and can lose their enthusiasm in the long run. Ultimately, strained employees can self-undermine themselves, and they can develop a behavior that can create obstacles and undermine job performance.
In comparison, if employees are able to engage in their work positively, they are likely to induce again cycle of job resources and work engagement. For instance, task-level job resources like craftsmanship, pride in workability, and positive feedback induced work engagement and better job performance. This work engagement results in personal work initiatives. Therefore, it has a positive impact on future job resources. Moreover, there is a close relationship between work engagement and mental health. A good mental state can enhance work engagement which contributes positively to job performance. The theory also states that there is a reverse causal effect between personal resources and work engagement to job resources. Employees who are more enthusiastic, self-confident, and optimistic can relatively more job resources to others over time. Therefore, motivated employees can initiate gain cycles, and they can perform in a better way.
Human resource (HR) practices such as security of tenure, proper training, decentralized decision-making, active communication/feedback, and sharing of financial information are positively related to employees’ work engagement and job performance. These practices are essential to keep the motivation level of the employees along with improving their psychological health. Moreover, HR practices indirectly enhanced organizational productivity through better management of job resources and increased job productivity, therefore. As organizations are based on several stakeholders, their interaction also determines the employee’s motivation and job performance. Therefore, scientists distinguish between different organizational levels ranging from the leader, the team, and the individual.
Transformational leadership theory states that effective leaders can inspire their followers to accomplish the set goals. They exploit their personal strengths by using motivation, consideration, and intellectual stimulation. Effective leaders provide healthy job resources and challenging job demands. In this way, leaders influence the organization’s motivation, and thereby, they can increase employee work engagement and job performance. Wholesome team interaction between co-workers, supervisors, and teamwork engagement is crucial for job performance. Employees are more proactive, and they improve their job demands and resources if they work in teams. The interaction between an organization’s leader, team, and individual is explicit. Employee motivation is higher when they collectively believe that the upper hierarchy takes good care of their health, safety, and finances.
To conclude, employee motivation is a decisive factor in determining job performance. Prevailing job demands and job resources are responsible for employee motivation and job performance. Employees are also susceptible to entering into positive or negative cycles depending upon the conditions. The well-being of employees motivates them to influence their job demands/resources. Effective role of leader, healthy team-interaction and individual’s well-being are the significant triggers of employee motivation and job performance.
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