Essay Example on Gig Economy: New Way of Working for the 21st Century.

Introduction

In the last few years, the economy has moved towards the gig economy, with a majority of citizens opting for the new system. The gig economy can be defined as a free market system that is characterized by temporary positions in organizations and contracts where workers are independent and often hired for some short-term engagements. The term gig is a slang term used to mean "a job for a certain time." In the US, examples of gig economy include workers in the freelancers, project-based employees, independent contractors, part-time, or temporary hires. The trend towards achieving a full gig economy by Intuit predicted that 40 percent of Americans would be self-employed workers by 2020 (Healy, Nicholson, and Pekarek, 2017). As such, it is essential to understand the number of forces behind the rise in short-term projects and other jobs. For instance, the advancement in technology and the digital age shifting workshops to mobile has encouraged working from anywhere. In essence, the digital era has been able to decouple job and location. That means that workers can select among temporary projects and assignments around the world. At the same time, the employees can choose the best person suited for the responsibility for the project in question from the large pool of laborers in a given area and time. In the gig economy, organizational concepts such as reward-based motivation and cognitive, ethical decision making are overly different. Therefore, the objective of this document is to examine how such concepts apply differently in the gig economy than in traditional organizations.

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Reward-Based Motivation

Motivation in an organization is a significant factor in enhancing the success of the organization. Motivation enables employees to keep working for higher productivity and thus improving effectiveness and the efficiency of the organization and thus helping it reach its goals, both short and long-term goals. This is in contrast to the unmotivated employees in an organization who, in most cases, disturb organizational activities either by failing to complete their tasks or by disrupting other workers in the same organizations. As such, managers must understand the power of reward systems that help to influence the behaviors of the employees positively (Murayama, 2018). Rewards can be described as the positive outcomes an employee gets after completing his tasks. The prizes are often aligned with the organizational objectives, and when an employee achieves goals, he or she is rewarded.

Rewards are either intrinsic or extrinsic. Intrinsic rewards referrers to the intuition of a person that pushes his interests to achieve the results. Motivation, in this case, does not come from the promises of others. On the other hand, extrinsic motivation comes from the organization, and it is external, and therefore and others often drive employees, promises for a reward drive him/her after achieving a specific goal. In essence, extrinsic rewards are tangible rewards, unlike intrinsic motivation, which is self-administered.

With technology making it easier for people to connect with the prospective group of workers, the potential upsides of the gig economy upside are now apparent for both the employees and the organization. Somehow, the gig economy sounds like a win-win, since workers often enjoy the increased flexibility and empowerment of being their boss. As such, they tend to give up some degree of security and structure in their lives due to the worry resulting from the flexibility they signed up for. As such, they are more prone to individualistic approaches to work and be disinterested in protecting the organizational brand they gig for, which ultimately puts the organization at risk. The flexibility of the gig economy is its biggest strength yet its biggest weakness, which therefore calls for the need to motivate workers in the gig economy. Assuming that the gig economy will continue rising, companies need to manage gig workers by establishing positive relationships with the same way they develop a positive relationship with their consumers/customers. In essence, when employees feel a more reliable connection between their work and the organization, they are more likely to engage and invest more in the company and therefore help in achieving its goals. The following are some of the ways that can be used in motivating employees in the gig economy

Valuing and Respecting the workforce

Employees working on contracts often want to feel valued and compensated for the work and the contributions they make to the company. Giving gaggers and opportunity to progress their status, for instance, through rating them, offering them badges, giving them titles concerning the volume of work is a significant method of creating incentives as well as enhancing a sense of achievement. In reality, people value the opportunity to feel recognized, elite, and therefore putting such a mechanism can help them feel valued to the company and thus enabling them to be more productive.

Create A Sense of Belonging

Human beings crave a sense of belonging and camaraderie, which often miss in the gig economy jobs. Therefore, there is a need for managers to foster a sense of belonging and community; managers need to impose techniques that can help bring employees closer to the organization and allow them to feel being a part of it (Graham, Hjorth, and Lehdonvirta, 2017). For instance, the sense of belonging can be established by allowing employees and the general online community to interact and share ideas with the organization. Allowing them to work while interacting and participating in the corporate environment makes them feel drawn closer to the organization and therefore assisting in building commitment and engagement. As such, it's essential to work towards the implementation of techniques that can bring employees closer and thus fostering commitments and engagement.

Provide Meaning and Structure

Companies often tend to focus on communicating about the strategy of the company to the permanent employees, which therefore assist in offering direction to them. It is equally important to note that the gig workers also admire knowing about the context of the company strategy and the course of the company (Manyika, 2016). It, therefore, essential for the company to ensure that they communicate the company mission, vision, and purpose to all employees, including the gig workers. The reality is, gig workers equally require a story that can motivate them and make them feel special to share of their contribution with their families and friends. To gig workers, the story offers them the meaning and the motivation to stay focused on their work. As such, managers in the organization should strive to communicate about a company plan, strategy, mission, and vision to the gig workers in motivating them to work towards the common goals.

Cognitive Ethical Decision Making

Cognitive, ethical decision making in an organization refers to the process of coming up with amicable solutions or addressing the problem of a situation encompassing a business. Most individuals view decision making to be the backbone of the managerial activities since it helps in moving operations timely and rightly.

The traditional method of decision making in a company goes through various stages that need managers to be careful in analyzing the situation at hand (Caviola, Mannino, Savulescu, and FaulmAller, 2014). The Cognitive, ethical decision-making process involves the following stages,

• collecting the information regarding a specific solution,
• identifying the various alternatives that can be used in addressing the situation,
• evaluating the disadvantages and the advantages of a decision,
• selecting the best alternative
• making the decision
• assesses effects or the impacts it has on the organizational processes and activities.

The tremendous growth in the gig economy simply indicates that there is a need for managers to be more considerate by involving the gig workers in their decision making. In reality, they should tailor their management styles to cover both the permanent and the gig workers. It is a crucial step because it helps with the information on various challenges facing the company on all aspects; for instance, issues affecting the gig workers affect their productivity and therefore affect the richness of the company (Caviola et al., 2014). As a result, the company end up failing to realize it is producing limited production from both permanent and gig workers

As a manager in the gig economy, it is, therefore, essential to involve all workers in the cognitive, ethical decision making due to the enormous contributions they offer to the progress of the company. Involving the gig workers in decision making is a significant step because it helps in evaluating or maintaining on how the company should restructure its activities. In simple terms, restricting the company means coming up with a more improved and redefined way of doing things that will make it simple to communicate and collaborate while executing tasks. As such, employees either permanent workers or gig works can tailor their services for a common goal

Employees are working as gig workers, often making their own decision based on the nature of the work on hand. Primarily, they have the freedom to make various decisions that suits them based on the prevailing circumstances. Sometimes, such workers might be forced to make a decision that only suits them and therefore end up jeopardizing primary company operations. Therefore, managers should strive to teach employees the cognitive, ethical decision-making process that can be useful in addressing situations without risking the organization. In essence, the managers should always keep a clear and constant line of communication with the gig workers to encourage them to see advice from other workers or the organizational administration and therefore helping in making a decision that suits the employees and the company. As such, the following are some of the advantages of involving gig workers in cognitive, ethical decision making or allowing them to make the best decision when faced with a challenging situation.

Productivity

Allowing gig workers to take part in decision making helps them make the best decision when challenged by a troublesome circumstance. As such, they often take or make decisions that are aimed at addressing the situation while enhancing the well-being of a company through continuous productivity. Further, it helps in employees' motivation by trusting their decision and helping them feel that they are a part of the company (De Stefano, 2016). As a result, employees can build upon their productivity through such motivation. At the end of it all, the companies benefit due to the increased production

Achievement of Goals

The role of decision making in any given company is to ensure that the company's progress is not affected. The decision is often conducted to help the company move in the right direction. Generally, when the right and the most accurate decisions are taken, the organization can continue uninterrupted. As such, involving gig workers in decision making or allowing them to make personal decisions is essential because it helps steer the company forward towards the achievement of its goals.

Proper Utilization of Resources

Organizational gig workers often are allowed to make their personal decisions in various situations that affect them. However, this freedom does not guarantee that they should make decisions that jeopardize company resources, for instance, money and other materials of the company (De Stefano 2016). In essence, all company resources should be utilized with minimum wastages to enhance the flow of company operations. Therefore...