write a reply to the following discussion, please add new information.
Exploring Employee Engagement, Globalization, and Christian Worldview and Discussion Replies: Exploring Job Design, Staffing, and Christian Worldview, include a references section, and be sure to have in-text citations for the following sources:
• At least 1 citation from Valentine: Human Resource Management.
• At least 1 citation from Hardy: The Fabric of this World: Inquiries into Calling, Career Choice, and the Design of Human Work.
• At least 1 citation from a related scholarly journal.
This discussion post will discuss Hardy’s conceptualization of vocation and the “divine economy” and how it connects to employee engagement and retention constructs. Two examples of constructs will be discussed in this discussion posting. The discussion posing will then discuss two related human resource practice implications for strategically recruiting and selecting employees. The discussion will conclude with some closing remarks.
The “Divine Economy” and Employee Engagement/Retention
Hardy’s “divine economy” is defined as everyone being created to serve others and be served by others, ensuring that everyone does God’s will using work as a tool to ensure that people care for each other. People have different dimensions in their lives and have many vocations pertaining to each dimension of life (Hardy, 1990). Martin Luther, in his doctrine of vocation, stated that there are two types of vocation. There is a spiritual sphere, and a temporal sphere of vocation and people are not limited to the spiritual sphere (Cummings, 2018). Luther felt that both spiritual and temporal callings were equal and responding to those callings was an act of obedience and worship to God whether it was a spiritual calling or a calling to a specific vocation (Cummings, 2018). Luther and Hardy appear to be in line with God’s teachings regarding work as The Lord tells us that whatever we do, we should work it with all our hearts as we are working for the Lord and not human masters (The Scofield Study Bible: New International Version, 2004, Colossians 3:23). Despite this, only one-fifth of American workers see their work as a spiritual calling (Ecklund et al., 2020).
Human resources should take the approach that they are stewards of the employees in their charge. It is the responsibility of human resources to ensure that employees feel connected to the workplace (Valentine et al., 2020). Job design is a way to connect employees to the workplace. The Hackman and Oldham model identify five characteristics to enhance motivation potential which are skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback (Valentine et al., 2020). The desired outcome of incorporating these design characteristics are performance motivation and satisfaction (Valentine et al., 2020). If a worker is satisfied and motivated, then high performance should be the result that should make the employee feel connected to the workplace.
Many factors influence people to leave a company. Workers of different age groups may place value on distinct factors. Generation X tends to prefer more work-life balance, while generation Y are more socially connected through technology, have a strong relationship orientation, value immediate feedback, and timely recognition of contributions (Naim & Lenka, 2018). As generation Y needs immediate gratification, one way for human resources to stay current with the needs of the employees would be the conducting of employee surveys. This would allow human resources to pivot based on the responses and cater to workers of generation Y and other age groups to ensure that there is a balance to satisfy employee needs of all ages.
Strategic Employee Recruiting and Selection
One way to recruit employees is the use of gamification. Gamification uses game thinking and software to engage potential employees to solve problems (Valentine et al., 2020). Gamification leverages peoples’ natural desire to achieve and compete (Valentine et al., 2020). These games could be online or incorporated into job fair activities. This is especially useful in hiring software developers as the game will identify the candidate’s ability to solve problems give potential employers insight into the candidate’s creativity.