"Employees always perform better when given a say in determining the boundaries of their roles within a company."

There is an opinion that employees always perform better when their tasks used as a basis for determination of their roles within a company.

I agree with this opinion in general, but I would like to present to your attention some exemptions of this rule. For better understanding of the concept, let's see what factors influence of the employees performance? The most important factors are the following: the amount of money compensation, the career perspectives and the climate withing the working team. In case if employee knows that the result if his work will determine his role within company, what means his weight in the collective and his position, he is motivated to improve his performance. But let's admit that this way of employees motivation is challenging for the company which is not in the stage of the constant growth. So, it is a good but rather short term strategy. Roles within a company will be determined at some point and this stimulus will disappear. Of course, the company can changes the roles of its employees from time to time but it will not only increase costs on staff trainings but also crate the atmosphere of anxiety what can actually constrain motivation level.

I would like to provide an example. In Ernst and Young after the results of every year the employees who met or exceeded management expectations get promotion. The level of management expectations is standard and staffs know them in advance. Actually this means that doing every single task employees of Ernst and Young are aware that they will be evaluated and promoted according to results of their work. So, they should always perform better because the result of the work determines their roles within the company. Auditors are motivated to get a higher position, respect of their colleagues and bonuses. But do you really think that it is possible to perform better all the time? Even if we admit the fact that there is always a place for improvement, what is the size of the improvement? What is the difference between two consequent tasks performed? Is always the next one better than previous? If yes, how much better? As I know from my own experience, there is no gradual improvement until infinity. The results of several projects within a year can be different. Work results can be determined by other factors like health condition, family considerations, team building. And in case of a constant process of evaluation most of auditors are not able to consider this factor as a prevalent. Even the formal evaluation process with calculation of all the KPIs (key performance indicators) can be understood by employees like a formality.

So, I think that employees do preform better when the task they are completing determines their roles within a company. But I think that this policy strategy of the raise of motivation should not be abused. yes, it works in short term, but in long term it becomes just an additional and time consuming formality.