Motivation and Job Design in the New World of Work

The area of job design has generated substantial theoretical and empirical interest in the twentieth century as a key contributor to individual motivation and performance at work. A key conclusion from the job design literature is the need to take into account the changing contingencies in the work environment, in order to more fully understand the effect of job design in this changing environment. Although job design has been shown to have an important effect on employee motivation, attitudes, and behavior, the rapid and dramatic changes in the work environment during the latter decades of the twentieth century raise a timely question about the role of job design in the twenty-first century, which this article discusses.