INTRODUCTION

Human beings have evolved through several biological and social evolution stages from hunters and gatherers to today’s corporate world (Abric, 2008). In this corporate society working is the same as having a job, and people work for others without direct control over the organisation’s aims and objectives. People are given a specific task to perform for which they get paid; that is where an individual is caught between the manager’s role and motivations. For decades social scientists have been trying to give other dimensions to work than the economic factors. Therefore, recently, there has been a shift towards more individual-centred research regarding the integration of work in an individual’s life (Boeskens, Nusche, & Yurita, 2020). It is generally termed “meaning of Work” or “giving a meaning to the work and its place”. Teaching is one of the suitable professions for women in Pakistan. It is preferred over any other profession due to lesser working hours, lesser interaction with the opposite gender and easy accessibility to the schools (Lewis & Sheppard, 2006).

Moreover, there is no prerequisite qualification for adopting this profession in Pakistan; thus, women quickly opt for it. Most of the teachers in Pakistan are by chance and not by choice. Similarly, teaching for men is not a very likable profession, so the male teachers, especially at the school level, are in the minority. Hence, finding out about the meaning of work for the teachers would indicate the causes and solutions of the problems arising from the situation. Meaning of work has been identified as explaining the essential indicators of the motivation behind any professional duty (Gill, 1999). Hence, finding out about the motivational factors would lead to recommendations for improvement in the environmental factors. Likewise, this research attempts to explain the meaning of work for teachers. Hence it explores what it means for teachers to teach or what motivates them to come to classrooms. The research in this area would help identify the distinctive and usual factors altering the level of motivation for secondary school teachers in the Pakistani context. The results from this research would be beneficial in reviewing both the internal and external changes required in the school system for achieving progressive outcomes. It would be helpful for the teachers to reflect upon their practices through making meanings of their motivation. Similarly, the responses from the teachers would be beneficial for the administrators in future decision-making.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Humans, being the social creatures, not only find working a part of their economic need; but it also fulfills their social and psychological needs.Harpaz and Fu (2002) explain that work can provide self-esteem and social interaction and identity their status. Social Psychology gives importance to the psychological factors to the meaning of work, and it provides the individual’s psychological needs closely linked to social, ethical, and cultural values. Social Psychology gives importance to the psychological factors to the meaning of work, and it provides the individual’s psychological needs closely linked to social, ethical, and cultural values. On the other hand, sociology emphasises the individual’s social identity and self-worth. Whereas, Pignault and Houssemand (2021), in their research, to confirm the Morin’s Scale (Morin, 2003), validate the contribution of success and recognition, the usefulness of work, respect dimension of work, the value from and through work, and remuneration as contributing factors in defining the meaning of work for people.

Teachers are an essential part of any society, and the meaning of work for the teachers requires research. Teachers have an essential function of educating society, making it possible to have different work motives other than the economic function. The need to investigate the meaning of work for the teachers is crucial to understanding their motivation and what keeps them working despite mostly underpaid jobs.Tirri (2019) describes that a purposeful teacher has a long-term moral commitment to teaching that is meaningful personally and benefits students, colleagues and society. There have been minimal studies on this topic worldwide, especially in the Pakistani secondary school context, that emphasise the protective role of meaningful work, even though it may impact the well-being of the employees (Clauss, Hoppe, Schachler, & O’Shea, 2020). Thus, this research investigated the meaning of the work and its value for secondary school teachers in Pakistan.

People have a different view of meaningful work, and they give different values to intrinsic and extrinsic motivation (Beadle & Knight, 2012). Researchers have defined meaningful work in different ways. The meaningfulness of work can be defined as the degree of energy worth spending on demands by the work (Korotkov, 1998). Quintanilla and Wilpert (1991) defined work meaning as teachers’ perception about their work, their needs and their expectations from work. This meaning of work forms a component of society by influencing the individual’s actions and the society’s nature. Wresniewski, Dutton, and Debebe (2003) defined the meaning of work as the understanding, and the worth of the work performed by the people as work doesn’t only have the economic factors attached to it. Numerous studies show work has no meaning other than earning a living. In their study,Morse and Weiss (1955) showed that work is also a means to avoid boredom, have a sense of achievement, and place in society.

Similarly, (Kuusisto & Tirri, 2021), in an attempt to find purposeful teachers in their community, identified hedonistic factors as one of the primary reasons behind the meaning of a teacher’s work. Meaningful work is about the described work and role and how people adjust and adapt their lives according to the work culture and environment (Chalofsky & Cavallaro, 2013). Analysis of the same term from a different perspective, as given by Minkkinen, Auvinen, and Mauno (2020), the meaningfulness of work infuses life among the workers; thus, it is fundamental to find the true meanings of work. Chalofsky and Krishna (2009) further elaborate that the meaning of work depends on its purpose, values, and work relationships that develop during the work life. Organisational and Social Psychology has a deep interest in knowing what makes and shapes the feelings and behaviours of the people in different working groups and cultures. There has been a lot of interest in this field during the decade. Does the meaning of work remain the same or change constantly? According to Harpaz and Fu (2002), in a dynamic organisation, the meaning of work changes rapidly and constantly for people. One of the main reasons for this is people’s socialisation, the introduction of new technologies, and the enhanced quality of the work (Quintanilla & Wilpert, 1991). Efforts have been underway to understand and study these changes, which can predict the behaviour of the employees and the possible consequences. According to Brief (2003), these studies and discussions on the changes in the meaning of work will help us understand the value of work in an individual’s life and determine how it varies and rises. Therefore, there have been different attempts at operationalising the meaning of life, and researchers have taken a keen interest in exploring the different aspects of work. The sense of meaningfulness has been linked with positive outcomes of employees (Hu & Hirsh, 2017).

The research related to the meaning of work includes the functions of work (Morse & Weiss, 1955), the structure of the work and its meanings (Andersson, 1992), the analysis of word meanings (Gill, 1999), the changing structure and the environment of the workplace (England, 1991; Harpaz & Fu, 2002), and the meaning of work in various cultures (Snir & Harpaz, 2006). It also involves investigating the social interactions that shape the meaning of work (Teurlings, 2008) and the relationship constructed between the factors of the meaning of work and its effect on an individual’s mental health and the workplace (Morin, 2008). 

Researchers have argued that the meaning of work changes from country to country, and it also depends on ideological factors as well. For example, the researchers have found that the former soviet workers emphasised social aspects and contributions to the meaning of work as it aligns with the socialist ideology (England, Ruiz-Quintanilla, & Maimer, 1995). Nevertheless,Kuchinke, Ardichvili, Borchert, and Rozanski (2009) found that the workers in Poland and Germany had a stronger preference to work even if they didn’t need to work for a living than the Russians. Chalofsky and Cavallaro (2013) raised the more important question: should we take meaningful work in isolation or be part of a meaningful life? A meaningful workplace contributes to meaningful work and a psychologically safe environment (Steenkamp & Basson, 2013). In a nutshell, people perform meaningful work when they contribute to a greater purpose and social benefit (Steger, Littman-Ovadia, Miller, Menger, & Rothmann, 2013).

Another way to understand the meaning of work in individuals is by understanding the fundamental values and their associated work. The individuals might view work as an opportunity to get a status, security of a job or any other reward as it influences their decisions and evaluations (Abric, 2008). Individualism leads to providing an identity to the teacher. According to Castells (2007), the identities provide meaning for the stakeholders and the individual. It is created by the stakeholders and built throughout the process of work. In such a situation, a teacher’s identity is only created if the dominant institution embodies it and develops their work’s meaning based on that embodiment process. The identities are “strategically activated by contingencies, struggles and are permanently discovered and reconstructed in action” (Mendes, 2002). The identity helps build the individual work values and undergoes a continuous reconstruction process. It is also vital to understand the theory of fundamental individual values while studying work and its meaning based on four work values—intrinsic, extrinsic, social, and prestige (Ros, Schwartz, & Surkiss, 1999). The work values define the work goals of the individual and their behaviour. The work values refer to what the individual wants out of his work. According to Ros et al. (1999), the orientation of an individual towards work indicates the ideas of the people and their priorities. Personal Development, pleasant climate, security and material are the main dimensions of work values and goals (Harding, Phillips, & Fogarty, 1986). Andersson (1992) discussed that the meaning of work in an individual’s life, their goals of work, and the societal norms of their context defines their identity.

There have been minimal studies on the meaning and functions of work in the life of teachers. In the Pakistani context very, few have touched upon the topic. Therefore, this qualitative study focuses on the private sector secondary school teachers in Karachi, Pakistan and involves the description of the meaning of work by the teachers, why they continue the teaching profession, what is the function of work in their life and what changes can be made to make work-life more meaningful. It is based on the work of Demirkasimoglu (2015), which was developed by utilising the main work ofMorse and Weiss (1955) and by the later works of England et al. (1995).

METHODOLOGY

Data Analysis

The interviews were analysed using narrative analysis. At first, the transcribed interviews were coded in two stages. The initial stage consisted of generating standard codes or factors. The second stage consisted of generating a more focused code which was then converted into significant themes to be interpreted by the researchers. The narrative analysis consisted of interpreting the participants’ experiences to identify and give proper meaning to their everyday work (Tsoukas & Hatch, 2001).

Table 2 shows the transcribed interviews divided into four main aspects, which give meaning to work in a teacher’s life. The four main aspects were the economic meaning of work, psychological meaning of work, changes that make work more meaningful and reasons why work loses its meaning.

The four aspects of meaningful work provided a more focused meaning to work and were then converted into a thematic map. The thematic map is provided in Table 1.

Table 2: Initial coding by the researchers along with their respective respondents

Meaning and function of work	Economic meaning	Psychological meaning	Reason why work lost its meaning	Changes that can make work more meaning full	Respondent
Love sharing knowledge and learning	Independence in terms of finance	Independence and identity	Lack of appreciation personal issue interference	Teaching approaches and methodology	R1, R2, R3, R5, R9
Mental health	Yes, it has connections	Give us charm	Lack of resources and time management	Parent’s contribution and teaching resources	R7, R5, R9, R17
Sharing knowledge, mental and physical health	No connection	Passion productivity and progress	Lack of appreciation	Parent’s respect	R11, R7, R8, R16, R7, R9
Dream is promotion of teaching	Good earning	Relaxation and passion	Management not supportive	Teachers’ opinion given importance	R3, R12, R15, R2, R5, R16, R17
Passion	Job satisfaction and salary	Innate human behavior and identity	Do not get due increment	Learn and apply new teaching techniques	R7, R4, R13, R1, R14
Passion and satisfaction	Financial factors	Source of satisfaction	Discriminatory behavior of management	More teaching resources provided	R2, R5, R18

FINDINGS

DISCUSSION

Almost all of the participants in the study affirmed that they would continue working even if they possessed enough money for their living. However, many said they would like to switch to some other more respectable profession. The teachers wanted to continue teaching only because of the love and care for their students, similar to the study by (Hargreaves et al., 2007), who observed that teaching is an exciting profession as it gives one a chance to influence others’ life. On the contrary, some teachers in the current study thought that they would not continue teaching because of the low payrolls thus, it makes the profession unsatisfactory (Kuusisto & Tirri, 2021). The stated finding is again consistent with the study conducted by (Hargreaves et al., 2007). The perception of meaningful work has positive associations with happiness (Wingerden & Stoep, 2017), psychological well-being, work engagement and job satisfaction (Johnson & Jiang, 2017).

(Morse & Weiss, 1955) stated that one of the main reasons to continue working in the same field or organisation might be the money, whereas the desire or want to work might not be the same. It was also reflected in the current study where many teachers claimed that they would not continue teaching but would do some job which would be more respectable or prestigious in the society. This finding is similar to Pignault and Houssemand (2021) study, which stated remuneration as one of the significant factors behind work. Moreover, a few male participants said that it would be suitable for them and their families if they opt for some other esteemed job. In their research, Quintanilla and Wilpert (1991) discovered that people in working-class professions wish for more honourable and unrestricted jobs. Thus, middle-class respondents aspire for revered occupations. Similarly, Minkkinen et al. (2020) found that meaningful work is the key for professionals to continue working. Meaningful work is also associated with overall life satisfaction (Hu & Hirsh, 2017), indicating that meaningfulness in work also impacts other domains of work.

Psychological functions of work that highlight the sense of achievement and being involved in some productive or meaningful activity are the significant sub-themes quoted by the participants. However, some participants consider teaching as a stressful profession, yet many acknowledge the role of work in providing a sense of accomplishment to them. Similarly, many teachers affirm that being involved in some productive work is a healthy source of their mental well-being. This finding is analogous to Demirkasimoglu (2015). This is quite contrary that any stressful work with low social stature in society (according to some) can be a source of satisfaction. Analysing together, the meaning of work is multidimensional or can be stated as enigmatic.

Another exciting discovery is the similarity betweenTummers and Knies (2013) and the current study. The participants in both cases declare the uncooperative behaviour of management to be responsible for their demotivation. Teachers think they should be considered and welcomed in policy making and all significant decisions related to the institution.

The majority of the teachers in the current study complained about the deterioration of teaching’s image and teaching as a profession in the prevailing society. This indicated that consideration of teachers’ opinion, policies, increase in their payrolls and enhancement in resources (as mentioned by some participants in answer to the question of significant changes) would not only be a source of teachers’ betterment but would also help in elevation of the deteriorated status of the profession asDemirkasimoglu (2015) elaborated that majority of the participants claimed that the status of teachers has depreciated due to the changes in the education system which are shaped by the educational policies which in return gives the teachers, a feeling of uncertainty.

CONCLUSION

The study indicates some crucial findings related to the work-life realities of teachers who perceive work as a noble progressive work. Yet, they encounter demotivation from school management, parents and sometimes children. Nevertheless, most teachers confirmed that they would continue working in the educational set-up even if it is not teaching. Although another significant finding was that most participants regarded teaching as meaningful, productive and progressive work, they feel that they are not paid due respect (Wingerden & Stoep, 2017). The situation is further declining concerning the image of teaching in society.

Furthermore, teachers think their work can become more exciting if they are appreciated, and their monetary gains are considered. It is found that teachers would work more enthusiastically if their opinions were given importance. Thus, work’s economic, psychological, and social aspects have multidimensional structures (Teurlings, 2008). It is recommended that a more comprehensive and longitudinal study should be conducted to understand the meaning of work for Pakistani teachers. The findings also imply that the management of the schools should provide a respectful environment to the teachers and work on the image building of the teachers in the society. It is also suggested that the school’s policy should also be reviewed, and proper reflective practices should be encouraged so that the administration can give due acknowledgment to these hardworking teachers. This study can be utilised to collect further data relevant to the discussed domain, enabling identifying more crucial flaws in the education system in the Pakistani context. The study also directs towards the importance of teacher’s image building and conducive work environment; thus, a follow-up study should be conducted to understand the school environment and develop strategies to enhance the quality of teaching and learning in Pakistani schools.