We propose that employees craft their jobs by changing cognitive, task, and/or relational boundaries to shape interactions and relationships with others at work. These altered task and relational configurations change the design and social environment of the job, which, in turn, alters work meanings and work identity. We offer a model of job crafting that specifies (1) the individual motivations that spark this activity, (2) how opportunities to job craft and how individual work orientations determine the forms job crafting takes, and (3) its likely individual and organizational effects.

http://csinvesting.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Crafting-a-job.pdf

Crafting a Job: Revisioning Employees as Active Crafters of Their Work

The meaning of employee engagement is ambiguous among both academic researchers and among practitioners who use it in conversations with clients. We show that the term is used at different times to refer to psychological states, traits, and behaviors as well as their antecedents and outcomes. Drawing on diverse relevant literatures, we offer a series of propositions about (a) psychological state engagement; (b) behavioral engagement; and (c) trait engagement. In addition, we offer propositions regarding the effects of job attributes and leadership as main effects on state and behavioral engagement and as moderators of the relationships among the 3 facets of engagement. We conclude with thoughts about the measurement of the 3 facets of engagement and potential antecedents, especially measurement via employee surveys.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/0517A938DBEDA2E0BE2FBE27A9DDC4DB/S175494260000002Xa.pdf/div-class-title-the-meaning-of-employee-engagement-div.pdf

The Meaning of Employee Engagement

Proactive Behavior in Organizations

This article reviews the literature on organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and its dimensions as proposed by D. W. Organ (1988) and other scholars. Although it is assumed that the behavioral dimensions of OCB are distinct from one another, past research has not assessed this assumption beyond factor analysis. Using meta-analysis, the authors demonstrate that there are strong relationships among most of the dimensions and that the dimensions have equivalent relationships with the predictors (job satisfaction, organizational commitment, fairness, trait conscientiousness, and leader support) most often considered by OCB scholars. Implications of these results are discussed with respect to how the OCB construct should be conceptualized and measured in the future.

The nature and dimensionality of organizational citizenship behavior: a critical review and meta-analysis.

We propose that interdependence in a work context determines to what extent work roles are embedded within a broader social system and, further, that uncertainty determines whether work roles can be formalized or whether they emerge through adaptive and proactive behavior. Cross-classification of task, team member, and organization member behaviors with proficiency, adaptivity, and proactivity produced nine subdimensions of work role performance. Ratings from 491 supervisors from 32 organizations and self-ratings from employees in two organizations (n's = 1,228 and 927) supported the proposed distinctions. Self-reports of proactivity were positively correlated with two external measures of proactivity.

/pdf/a-new-model-of-work-role-performance-positive-behavior-in-1qr8pefuqx.pdf

A new model of work role performance: Positive behavior in uncertain and interdependent contexts

Personal initiative, a concept akin to entrepreneurship and organizational spontaneity, was compared in East and West Germany. Differences were hypothesized to be the results of occupational socialization, particularly of work control and complexity, rather than of a selection effect. A representative longitudinal study was conducted in the East and a cross-sectional study in the West. Lower initiative at work was found in the East; control and complexity affected changes in initiative. The results speak for socialization and against selection.

Wolfgang Kring

Papers

Personal Initiative At Work: Differences Between East and West Germany