4e Nelson/Quick ©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Chapter 14 Jobs and the Design of Work

©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Learning Outcomes  Differentiate between job and work  Discuss the traditional approaches to job design  Identify and describe alternative approaches to job design  Identify and describe contemporary issues facing organizations in the design of work 2

©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Job  Set of specified work and task activities that engage an individual in an organization  Not the same as organizational position, career, and work  Work: Mental or physical activity that has productive results 3

©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Six Patterns of Work Value comes from performance and for which a person is accountable Pattern A Provides a person with positive personal affect and identity Pattern B Activity from which profit accrues to others by its performance and can be done in various settings Pattern C Physical activity directed by others and performed in a working place Pattern D Physically and mentally strenuous activity Pattern E Activity constrained to specific time periods that does not bring positive affect through its performance Pattern F 4

©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Scientific Management  Emphasizes work simplification  Work simplification: Standardization and the narrow, explicit specification of task activities for workers  Jobs have limited number of scientifically-designed tasks  Elements focus on the efficient use of labor to the economic benefit of the firm 5

Work Simplification Pros Allows workers of diverse backgrounds to work together Leads to production efficiency and to higher profit Cons Undervalues the human capacity for thought and ingenuity Dehumanizes the work force by treating labor as a means of production 6

©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Job Enlargement  Increases the number of activities in a job to overcome the boredom of overspecialized work  Variations  Job rotation: Exposes a worker to a variety of specialized job tasks over time  Cross-training: Workers are trained in different specialized tasks or activities 7

©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Job Enrichment  Designing or redesigning a job by incorporating motivational factors into it  Increases the amount of job responsibility through vertical loading  Recommends increasing the recognition, responsibility, and opportunity for achievement 8

©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Figure Job Characteristics Model SOURCE: J. R. Hackman and G. R. Oldham, “The Relationship Among Core Job Dimensions, the Critical Psychological States, and On-the-Job Outcomes,” in The Job Diagnostic Survey: An Instrument for the Diagnosis of Jobs and the Evaluation of Job Redesign Projects (New Haven, Conn.: Department of Administrative Services, Yale University, 1974). Reprinted by permission of Greg R. Oldham. 9

©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Job Characteristics Inventory (JCI)  Measures core job characteristics  Considers structural and individual variables affecting the core job characteristics and the individual  Similarity with JDS - Person-job fit approach  JCI versus JDS  Variety scales have different effects on performance  Autonomy scales have different effects on employee satisfaction 10

©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Engagement  Expression of oneself as one performs in work or other roles  Psychological conditions affecting employees’ engagement in work  Meaningfulness  Safety  Availability 11

©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Social Information Processing (SIP) Model  Emphasizes the interpersonal aspects of work design  Based on following premises  People provide cues we use to understand the work environment  People help us judge what is important in our jobs  People tell us how they see our jobs  People’s positive and negative feedback helps us understand our feelings about our jobs 12

©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Ergonomics  Adapting work and working conditions to the employee or worker  Develops an interdisciplinary framework for the design of work  Allows the job designer to consider trade-offs and alternatives among the approaches based on desired outcomes 13

©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Lean Production and Sociotechnical Systems  Lean production: Using committed employees with ever expanding responsibilities to achieve:  Zero waste and 100 percent good product  On time delivery every time  Sociotechnical systems (STS): Giving equal attention to technical and social considerations in job design 14

©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Figure Hierarchical Model of Criteria for the Evaluation of Human Work SOURCE: H. Luczak, “‘Good Work’ Design: An Ergonomic, Industrial Engineering Perspective,” in J. C. Quick, L. R. Murphy, and J. J. Hurrell, eds., Stress and Well-Being at Work (Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association, 1997). Copyright ©1997 by the American Psychological Association. Reprinted with permission. 15

©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Table Adjusting Work Design Parameters 16

©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Emerging Issues in the Design of Work 17 Telecommuting Working in other locations separate from the company’s main location Helps achieve a better fit between the needs of an employee and the organization’s task demands Alternative work patterns Job sharing: More than one person perform job Four-day workweek Flextime: Enables employees to set their own daily work schedules

©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. Contemporary Issues in the Design of Work 18 Virtual office: Mobile platform of computer, telecommunication, and information technology and services Drawbacks Lack of social connection Technostress: Stress caused by new and advancing technologies in the workplace Skill development Technical and interpersonal skills are important Work design must recognize the importance of incumbent skills and abilities to meet the demands of the work