Using Organizational Science Research to Address U.S. Federal Agencies’ Management & Labor Needs

Abstract

Employee performance often moves in lockstep with job satisfaction. Using the 2015 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey we have identified important and common management and labor needs across more than 80 federal agencies. Drawing on the vast trove of organizational science research that examines the effects of organizational designs and processes on employees’ and organizations’ behaviors and outcomes, we offer specific evidence-based interventions for addressing employee dissatisfaction or uncertainty that breeds lackluster performance, managerial shortcomings, and needed supports. Our intervention and policy recommendations have the synergistic goals of improving employee well-being, employee productivity, agency performance, and agency innovation, all resulting in increased efficiency and effectiveness, which benefit the taxpayer. Our top recommendations directly target the goals of improving employee motivation through engagement, empowerment, and embeddedness; enhancing the employees’ voice; and fostering both internal and across-agency cooperation, communication, and collaboration. These recommendations are general enough to apply across diverse government agencies yet specific enough to yield results in discrete agency units.