HBR Guide to Motivating People (HBR Guide Series)

CHAPTER 13

How to Motivate Employees to Go Beyond Their Jobs

by Mark C. Bolino and Anthony C. Klotz

Every day, employees make decisions about whether they are willing to go the extra mile in ways that contribute to their organization’s success. These are important decisions because, as research by Nathan Podsakoff and colleagues in the Journal of Applied Psychology shows, when employees are willing to go beyond their formal roles by helping out coworkers, volunteering to take on special assignments, introducing new ideas and work practices, attending non-mandatory meetings, putting in extra hours to complete important projects, and so forth, their companies are more efficient and effective. As a result, a critical task for successful managers ...