Making a Difference at Work

People want to feel that they are making a
difference, especially when it comes to the jobs they do.

When workers are aware that their work makes a difference to
others—even in small ways—their job satisfaction rises. So
does their productivity.

The interesting thing is that the measures bosses often take to
boost productivity among workers have a dampening effect on worker
satisfaction, and steps taken to boost worker morale tend to lessen
productivity. It's rare to find something that boosts both morale
and productivity at the same time.

Adam Grant, an organizational psychology doctoral student at the
University of Michigan, thought that researchers could find ways to make
workers more productive and happier at the same time. He conducted
several experiments and field studies to look at a variety of workers
from fire fighters to telemarketers.

He found that feeling that your work had a positive impact on
others made a difference both to people's job satisfaction and
productivity.

One surprise: Of 60 fire fighters studied, 10 actually hoped they
could fight more fires so they could have a greater impact on people.
Among the telemarketers, those who believed their work had a positive
impact on others were more satisfied with their jobs and actually had
more sales per hour.

"Most work makes a difference in someone's life in some
way, or else the job wouldn't exist," Grant says. "We
found that something as minor as showing people the client who benefited
from the work made them care more. Just seeing that person, not even
talking to him, could make them care more about what they were
doing."

Some people get instant feedback and know immediately how their
work impacts others. Doctors, teachers and performers are in this group.
When they do something appreciated by the people they serve, job
satisfaction soars.

In one experiment Grant conducted, students were asked to improve
the cover letter on another student's job application. One group
was told the student didn't really need a job. Another group was
told the student really needed help finding a job.

Some of the students in each group briefly saw the student in
person. The others saw only his picture. The group that saw the student
and knew he needed the job made 25 percent more changes in the cover
letter and spent more time working to improve it than did the
others.

Says Grant: "Even in a job like packing paper clips, if you
understand how people are helped by what you do, how you make a
difference to them, you will be motivated to care more about what you are
doing."