Consider for a moment a midlevel manager, Fatima, who seems to be doing well. She’s consistently making her required benchmarks and goals, she has built successful relationships with colleagues, and senior management has identified her as having “high potential.” But she isn’t satisfied in her job. She’d be interested in understanding how her organization can use social media in marketing efforts at all levels of the organization, for example, but her job doesn’t allow her to work on this idea. She wants to quit and find something that better suits her passions, but in her economic situation this may not be an option. So she has decided to proactively reconfigure her current job. Fatima is part of a movement toward job crafting, which is the process of deliberately reorganizing your job so that it better fits your motives, strengths, and passions. So how did Fatima craft her job? 

She first noticed that she was spending too much of her time monitoring her team’s performance and answering questions, and not enough time working on the creative projects that inspire her. She then considered how to modify her relationship with the team so that her activities incorporated her passion for social media strategies with the team’s activities more centered on developing new marketing. She also identified members of her team who might be able to help her implement her new strategies and directed her interactions with these individuals toward her new goals. 

As a result, her engagement in her work increased, and she developed new ideas that were recognized and advanced within the organization. In sum, she found that by actively and creatively examining her work, she was able to shape her job into one that is truly satisfying. As you may have noted, Fatima exhibited a proactive personality—she was eager to develop her own options and find her own resources. Proactive individuals are often selfempowered and are therefore more likely to seek workable solutions when they are not satisfied. Research leads us to believe that Fatima will be successful in her customized job and that she will experience increased well-being. To the extent possible, all employees should feel encouraged to be proactive in creating their best work situations. 

Questions 

1. Should organizations work to create jobs that are satisfying to individual employees? 

2. Are the principles of job crafting described here relevant to your job or studies? Why or why not? 

3. Are there any potential drawbacks to the job-crafting approach? If so, how can they be minimized?