Working Person

When we think of the term working person the first thing that comes in our mind is an individual
who is performing a particular job in an organizational setting, for a particular sum of money, at
a particular position. The job could be in the form of manual labor, or managerial work. This
individual has a set of duties to perform and expectations to fulfill. We aim to discuss the factors
which can influence an individual in fulfilling these duties and expectations in an efficient and
effective way, and which may further lead him to a successful career. There are some internal
factors which drive a persons behavior towards achieving his career goals and performing better
than the other individuals, as well as there are some external factors which may play a great role
in his achievements. There are also certain factors which increases the job satisfaction level in
the employees and those which motivate him to increase his level of participation in the
organization, and not just progress in his own career. In this essay we are going to highlight some
models and frameworks which influence a persons behavior and in turn his performance in the
organization. These include the MARS Model and other motivational theories which influence
the performance of employees.
In order to get a better understanding of the factors which influence individuals behavior and
performance in an organization, we could first look at the MARS Model, the diagrammatic
representation of which has been included in the appendix Figure 1. This model is based on four
factors, namely motivation, ability, role perception and situational factors. (McShane, 2014) This
model tells us that out of the four factors mentioned in the model, if any one of them is absent in
an individual the performance of the individual will deter. (McShane, 2014) On the basis of the
model we can imply that motivation, ability, role perception and situational factors are very
important in determining the behavior an individual will show in an organization. By further
discussing these four factors we would determine in which ways they influence the behavior of
an individual. The first factor to look at is motivation.
Motivation could be described as something which directs our behavior, a motivated person
would be termed as a goal oriented person. (McShane, 2014) Another way to define motivation
would be to say that it is the extent to which we are ready to strive for the achievement of that
goal. (McShane, 2014) Motivation is further divided into two factors, namely intensity and
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persistence. Intensity is the level of drive the person has in himself for the attainment of the goal,
whereas persistence could be explained as the amount of time till which he could strive to
achieve that goal. (McShane, 2014)This explains us that people who have not set goals for
themselves in the organization or have lost the interest to achieve those goals are less motivated
or not motivated to achieve their goals, hence they would perform lower than those who are goal
directed and have the zeal to the achieve those goals. Furthermore we could also analyze that
people who lack the drive and the interest in the goals are less motivated and less likely to
achieve those goals. Likewise employees who give up on their goals quickly and leave the tasks
allocated to them are termed as less motivated, it could be said by this definition that such
employees are less likely to finish those tasks or achieve those goals set by the organization.
The second factor which is there in the MARS model is ability. Ability could be branched into
two things, firstly the talents an individual possesses and is naturally good at and secondly the
things he has learned over the course of time. (McShane, 2014) We could elaborate on this by
saying if an individual is naturally good at a particular job and he ends up in that profession his
behavior towards that job and in the organization would be very positive, for instance if a person
is naturally gifted to be a good artist and if he lands up to be a graphic designer, he would hold a
very positive attitude towards his job because of the confidence he has on his skills, likewise if a
person has learned some skills and has to implement those skills on his job, because of the
confidence he has in himself he would be better able to deliver to that organization and his
performance would be better than those who are not aware of the skills needed.
Coming on to the third factor of the MARS model which is role perception, role perception is
term which is used to define how well the employees working in the firm understand the duties
they are expected to perform. (McShane, 2014) This influences the behavior and performance of
individuals because only that individual who has clear knowledge about all his duties and the
way they need to be performed, can deliver them. In simpler terms an employee who knows the
expectations from him would be able to fulfill those expectations.
The fourth and last factor of the MARS model which could shape an individuals behavior are
the situational factors. Situational factors are any factors which cannot be controlled by the
employee, these could be the economic conditions or the physical work conditions. (McShane,
2014) If the employee does not like the working conditions of his workplace or does not feel
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comfortable in working in that particular environment, this would affect his performance in a
negative way. (McShane, 2014) Likewise if the economic conditions are unfavorable in the
region he is working, because of stress it would affect his attitudes and performance negatively.
Motivation could also be influenced by other factors which can be explained by Vrooms through
of expectancy. According to the theory the level of motivation could be influenced by three
factors, namely expectancy, instrumentality and valence. (Lee, 2007)
The first factor in this theory is expectancy, which could be explained as the expectation the
employee holds, as to whether his input would result in a positive outcome or not. According to
workplace scenario, it could be said that if the employee holds a positive expectation that the
task which has been allocated to him would be successfully accomplished by him, he would be
more motivated to perform that task. (Lee, 2007)
The second factor in this expectancy theory is instrumentality. Instrumentality refers to
perception of the employee that if he successfully completes the task, he would get the desired
rewards. Which means if an employee desires a raise in income, he would aim to complete the
task with more vigor he thinks this would result in increase in his income. Otherwise he would
lose interest in his task. (Lee, 2007)
The third factor of this theory is outcome. Outcome is defined as the importance the individual
gives to the results of the task. This could be explained in the workplace scenario as, if an
individual is promised a vacation if he completes a task but that individual desires a raise in his
income from his job. He would not be motivated to complete the job because he does not give
that much importance to the reward which has been promised to him. Hence his work
performance would decrease. (Lee, 2007)
Recent studies have also found that job satisfaction also influences the behavior of employees.
Job satisfaction is defined as how an individual thinks and feels about his job. (Smith, 2013) A
study by M.M Petty emphasizes on the relationship between job satisfaction and individual
performance. This study has shown that there is a positive relationship between job satisfaction
and individual performance, which means that the higher the satisfaction level of an individual
the higher would be his performance level in the organization. (M. M. Petty) This study further
states that this satisfaction level also depends on the job level of employees, which means that
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the higher the level of job, the greater the rewards attached to the job and the higher the
satisfaction level of employees. (M. M. Petty) From this study we could state that if an individual
is satisfied with his job and the rewards he is getting from that job, his performance in the
organization would be better than those who are not satisfied with their job and the rewards
which they are getting. Another study which helps us better understand the relationship between
motivation and job performance states that, the likelihood of a person succeeding in a particular
job or task depends on the how motivated he is to perform that task, for example if a person is
eager to perform a job, the chances of him completing that job and duties increases. (Chung,
1968) Thus there is a positive relationship between an individuals performance and the level of
motivation. (Chung, 1968) Another study points out a new factor which influences motivation,
which is rivalry. This study states that people who had rivals present showed greater level to
motivation to perform their duties than those who did not have any rivals present, this greater
level of motivation goes on to increase their level of performance on their job. (Kilduff, 2014)
From this study we could state that rivalry should be there in the organization so that it could
positively influence the motivation level of employees and in turn their performance. Another
point of view that should be kept in mind to increase the motivation level of employee is that, the
changes occur in employee needs and wants, the rewards they would expect, as and when their
skills and capabilities would change. (Chen, 2008)
When discussing about job performance and motivation of employees, job engagement is a
concept which needs to be considered. Job engagement could be defined as the level of interest,
involvement and willingness of an individual to perform a job. (Downey, 2009). It has been
found out that if employees are given opportunities to enhance their skills and given training on
their jobs their level of job engagement increases which in turn increases their performance level.
(Edward Mone, 2011) It also points out that employees also need motivation from their
employers to increase their job engagement. (Edward Mone, 2011) These factors combined
increase the job engagement of employees, as the feel more connected to the organization and
hence are more eager to perform better for the organization and for their own career. Another
important factor which needs to be kept in mind when organizations wish to increase job
engagement is their organizational trust, which means how the society views the organization on
the issue of corporate citizenship. (Lin, 2010)This would mean that if the organization is
fulfilling all the responsibilities which have been placed on them by shareholders, and the society
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holds a positive image of it, the individual working in the organization would feel proud to be
part of it and in turn his job engagement would increase, which would have a positive impact on
his performance.
Managers should start giving importance to the behavior employees in their organization as this
has a direct impact on the performance of the organization as a whole. Steps should be taken to
increase the motivation level, satisfaction level and job engagement level of employees, so that
they work towards their individual goals and the goals of the organization in a better way. Such
strategies

Bibliography
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Chung, K. H. (1968). Developing a Comprehensive Model of Motivation and
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Downey, A. J. (2009). Job Engagement in Organizations: Fad, Fashion, or Folderol?
Journal of Organizational Behavior, 30(1), 141-145.
Edward Mone, C. E. (2011). Performance Management at the Wheel: Driving
Employee Engagement in Organizations. Journal of Business and Psychology,
26(2), 205-212.
Kilduff, G. J. (2014). Driven to Win: Rivalry, Motivation, and Performance. Social
Psychological and Personality Science, 5(8), 944-952.
Lee, S. (2007). Vroom's expectancy theory and the public library customer
motivation model. Library Review, 56(9), 788-796.
Lin, C.-P. (2010). Modeling Corporate Citizenship, Organizational Trust, and Work
Engagement Based on Attachment Theory. Journal of Business Ethics, 517531.
M. M. Petty, G. W. (n.d.). A Meta-Analysis of the Relationships between Individual Job
Satisfaction and Individual Performance. The Academy of Management
Review, 712-721.
McShane, S. O. (2014). Organisational Behaviour Emerging Knowledge and global
Insights (4th ed.). McGraw Hill Australia.
PSmith, V. (2013). Sociology of Work : An Encyclopedia. SAGE Publications, Inc.
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Appendix

Figure 1

Nubairah Mushtaq, s284609, PRBM022, Melbourne ATMC Campus