Work Design and Stress - Stephen P Robbins Meenakshi Upadhyay, Academician,UDCJ

Work Design The way tasks are combined to create individual jobs, the degree of flexibility employees have on their jobs, and the presence or absence of organisational support systems all have a direct influence on employee performance and satisfaction Meenakshi Upadhyay, Academician,UDCJ

Task Characteristics Theories Requisite task attributes theory The Job characteristics model Social Information Processing Model Meenakshi Upadhyay, Academician,UDCJ

Requisite task attributes theory The task characteristic approach began with the pioneering work of Turner and Lawrence in the mid-1960s They developed a research study to assess the effect of different kinds of jobs on employee satisfaction and absenteeism Meenakshi Upadhyay, Academician,UDCJ

They predicted employees would prefer jobs that were complex and challenging; that is, such jobs would increase satisfaction and result in lower absence rates Meenakshi Upadhyay, Academician,UDCJ

They defined job complexity in terms of six task characteristics:  Variety  Autonomy  Responsibility  Knowledge & Skill  Required social interaction  Optional social interaction Meenakshi Upadhyay, Academician,UDCJ

The Job characteristics model Turner and Lawrence’s requisite task attributes theory laid the foundation for what is dominant framework for defining task characteristics and understanding their relationship to employee motivation, performance and satisfaction: Hackman and Oldham’s job characteristics model Meenakshi Upadhyay, Academician,UDCJ

According to JCM, any job can be described in terms of five core job dimensions, defined as follows: ◦Skill Variety: The degree to which the job requires a variety of different skills and talents ◦Task identity: The degree to which the job requires completion of a whole and identifiable piece of work Meenakshi Upadhyay, Academician,UDCJ

Task significance : The degree to which the job has a substantial impact on the lives of work of other people Autonomy: The degree to which the job has a substantial freedom, independence, and the discretion to the individual in scheduling the work and in determining the procedures to be used in carrying it out Meenakshi Upadhyay, Academician,UDCJ

Feedback: The degree to which carrying out the work activities required by the job results in the individual obtaining direct and clear information about the effectiveness of his or her performance Meenakshi Upadhyay, Academician,UDCJ

CharacteristicsExamples Skill Variety High varietyThe owner-operator of a garage who does electrical repair, rebuilds engines, does body work, and interacts with customers Low varietyA bodyshop worker who sprays paint eight hours a day Task Identity High identityA cabinetmaker who designs a piece of furniture, selects the wood, builds the object, and finishes it to perfection Low identityA worker in a furniture factory who operates a lathe to make table legs Task Significance High significanceNursing the sick in a hospital intensive care unit Low significanceSweeping hospital floors Autonomy High autonomyA telephone installer who schedules his or her own work for the day, and decides on the best techniques for a particular installation Low autonomyA telephone operator who must handle calls as they come according to a routine, highly specified procedure Feedback High feedbackAn electronics factory worker who assembles a radio and then tests it to determine if it operates properly Low feedbackAn electronics factory worker who assembles a radio and then routes it to a quality control inspector who tests and adjusts it Examples of High and Low Job Characteristics

Social Information Processing Model The fact that people respond to their jobs as they perceive them rather than to the objective jobs themselves is the central thesis here The SIP model argues that employees adopt attitudes and behaviors in response to the social cues provided by others with whom they have contact. These could be coworkers, supervisors, friends, family members, or customers Meenakshi Upadhyay, Academician,UDCJ

People can look at the same job and can evaluate it differently It has been proved by studies that employee motivation and satisfaction can be manipulated by such subtle actions as a coworker or boss commenting on the existence or absence of certain job features: difficulty, autonomy and challenge Meenakshi Upadhyay, Academician,UDCJ

Work Redesign Job Rotation: The periodic shifting of a worker from one task to another. Job Enlargement: The horizontal expansion of jobs. Job Enrichment: The vertical expansion of jobs. Meenakshi Upadhyay, Academician,UDCJ

Guidelines for Enriching a Job E X H I B I T 7–2 Source: J.R. Hackman and J.L. Suttle, eds., Improving Life at Work (Glenview, IL: Scott Foresman, 1977), p. 138.

Alternative Work Schedule Options Compressed Workweek: The most popular form of the compressed workweek is four 10-hours days. The program was conceived to allow workers more leisure time and shopping time, and to permit them to travel to and from work at non-rush-hour times Meenakshi Upadhyay, Academician,UDCJ

Flextime: It is a scheduling option that allows employees, within specific parameters, to decide when to go to work For e.g. exclusive of a one-hour lunch break, the core may be 9 A.M. to 3 P.M., with the office actually opening at 6 A.M. and closing at 6 A.M. Meenakshi Upadhyay, Academician,UDCJ

Job Sharing: It allows two or more individuals to split a traditional 40-hour-a- week job Telecommuting: It refers to employees who do their work at home on a computer linked to their office Meenakshi Upadhyay, Academician,UDCJ