THE MEANING OF WORK AT VARIOUS ORGANIZATIONAL LEVELS

This study examined differences in the Meaning of Work among three levels in Israeli organizations: employees, supervisors, and managers. The Meaning of Work has been conceptually defined in terms of five major domains: work centrality, societal norms about working, valued work outcomes, work goals, and work role identification. Autonomy emerged as the single most important variable to distinguish among organizational levels. Additional variables found to be related to people's position in the organization were job satisfaction, educational level, gender, and economic orientation. These findings were discussed and suggestions were made regarding implications for organizations.