Conclusions and Recommendations

The twenty-first century work environment has changed more in the last 10 years than it has in the previous 100 years. Leaders of organizations should be providing the tools to managers to allow structured autonomy creating a competitive organizational edge. There is an advantage to supply employees the right tools to adjust their work to maintain or increase their level of motivation and satisfaction. This new environment is one in which the employees can self-monitor their own satisfaction and performance, and independently or collectively influence necessary change. The advantage to management is that this process shifts the burden of tactical management from the manager to the individual. As a result, this self-assessed and self-managed task environment will provide the time and the opportunity for leaders to lead and managers to manage from a more strategic perspective without being mired in the tactical execution details.

It is recommended that the systems, which need to be put in place, not be rigid, but nurturing to support an open and continually improving environment, in which all levels of an organization share assumed responsibility. "The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers" (Hackman & Johnson, 2000, p. 90). Leaders that provide the tools for success create role-model behaviors for others to emulate on their on road to becoming leaders.

Creating a work environment that employees can understand, self-monitor, and influence the task-type mixture that is aligned with their TQ will raise the level of employee motivation and satisfaction. This can translate into improved great place to work scores and should lead to higher levels of productivity. "Do not try and change yourself - you are unlikely to succeed. Work to improve the way you perform" (Drucker, 1999, p.68). The process for this improvement is as follows: 1) Use the TQ assessment tool to determine individual's ideal TQ, 2) Assess your actual current and ongoing work conditions and, 3) Align your tasks split to match your individual preferred TQ at and individual level or through shared and rebalanced tasks at the group level. If used at the group level, improved group satisfaction should be achieved. Understanding the balance of task types that motivates you and allow your internal rhythm to regulate the timing, sequence, and duration of these tasks to create a high motivation environment can be a win-win situation for both you and your organization.

Employees want to do a good job; managers and leaders need to give employees the tools so that they can understand their own motivations and a method for them to track their own performance. Application of TQ can allow the employees to make quick adjustments, satisfying their own intrinsic motivations without high levels of management overhead or involvement. This process change can unburden managers from the need to micromanage, and it expands the manager's available time to focus on more strategic long-term leadership activities for the organization. "Nothing can grow in a self-sustaining way unless there are reinforcing processes underlying its growth. Therefore, thinking strategically about initiating, sustaining and spreading fundamental management innovations over time requires appreciating the reinforcing process that could cause such growth" (Senge, Kleiner, Roberts, Ross, & Smith, 1999, p.42). Leaders should maintain a focus on providing and supporting the tools for individuals so that they can independently do the right things right on a daily basis.

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