1. Jobs and the Design of Work
Jobs and
the Design
of Work
Chapter 14
Organizational Behavior
Nelson & Quick
6th edition

2. Job Compared to Work
Job - a set of specified work and task activities that engage an individual in an organization
Organizational position – a job in relation to other parts of the organization
Career – a sequence of job experiences over time
Work – mental or physical activity that has productive results
Meaning of Work - the way a person interprets and understands the value of work as part of life

3. Six patterns used to define work
A – value comes from performance. Accountability is important
B – provides positive personal affect and identity
Six patterns used to define work
D – physical activity
directed by others and performed in a workplace
C – profit accrues to others by work
performance –strenuous, compulsive
F – activity constrained to specific time periods; no positive affect through
its performance
E – generally unpleasant –
physically & mentally
strenuous activity

4. Job Characteristics Scientific Theory Management Traditional
Job
Characteristics
Theory
Scientific
Management
Traditional
Approaches to
Job Design
Job
Enrichment
Job Enlargement/
Job Rotation

5. Emphasizes work simplification (standardization and the narrow, explicit specification of task activities for workers)
Scientific
Management
Undervalues the human capacity for thought and ingenuity
Allows diverse groups to work together
Leads to production efficiency and higher
profits

6. different specialized tasks or activities
Job Enlargement - a method of job design that increases the number of activities in a job to overcome the boredom of overspecialized work
Job Rotation - a variation of job enlargement in which workers are exposed to a variety of specialized jobs over time
Cross-Training - a variation of job enlargement in which workers are trained in
different specialized tasks or
activities
Job Enlargement/
Job Rotation

7. Job Enrichment - designing or redesigning jobs by incorporating motivational factors into them
Emphasis is on recognition, responsibility, and advancement opportunity
Job
Enrichment

8. Job
Characteristics
Theory
Job Characteristics
Model -
a framework for
understanding
person-job fit through
the interaction of core job
dimensions with critical psychological
states within a person
Job Diagnostic Survey (JDS) - the survey instrument designed to measure the elements in the Job Characteristics Model

9. Job Characteristics Model
Critical
psychological
states
Core job
dimensions
Personal &
work outcomes
Skill variety
Task identity
Task significance
High internal
work motivation
High-quality
work performance
High satisfaction
with the work
Low absenteeism
and turnover
Experienced work’s
meaningfulness
Experienced
responsibility
for work’s outcomes
Autonomy
Knowledge of work
activities’ results
Feedback
Employee
growth-need
strength
J.R. Hackman and G.R. Oldham, “The Relationship Among Core Job Dimensions, the
Critical Psychological States, and On-the-Job Outcomes,” The Job Diagnostic Survey: An
Instrument for the Diagnosis of Jobs and the Evaluation of Job Redesign Projects, 1974.
Reprinted by permission of Greg R. Oldham. 2

10. Five Core Job Characteristics Motivating Potential Score
Five Core Job Characteristics Motivating Potential Score
MPS =
Skill
variety
Task
identity
significance
x [Autonomy] x [Feedback] 3 +

11. Core job dimensions stimulate psychological states
Employee
growth-need
strength
The higher the growth-need strength, the more favorable response to jobs with high MPSs
Core job dimensions stimulate psychological states
Experienced meaningfulness of the work (degree to which employee experiences the job as worthwhile)
Experienced responsibility for work outcomes (degree to which employee feels personally accountable)
Knowledge of results (degree to which employee understands his/her effectiveness on the job)

12. Engagement - the expression of oneself as one performs in work or other roles
Full engagement requires the strategic management of one’s energy in response to the environment
Human spirit’s response
to job characteristics and
work design features
Equally
Important
Design of work

13. Social Information Processing (SIP) model
Social Information Processing (SIP) model
SIP Model - a model that suggests that the important job factors depend in part on what others tell a person about the job
Four premises
1) people provide cues to understanding
the work environment
2) people help us judge our jobs
3) people tell us how they see our jobs
4) people’s positive & negative feedback
help us understand our feelings about our jobs

14. Interdisciplinary Approach
Mechanical
Perceptual Motor
Motivational
Ergonomics - The science of adapting work and working conditions to the employee or worker 14

15. Motivational Approach
Outcomes of Various Job Design Approaches
Decreased training time
Higher utilization levels
Lower error likelihood
Less mental overload
Lower stress levels
Higher job satisfaction
Higher motivation
Greater job involvement
Higher job performance
Lower absenteeism +
Motivational Approach +
Mechanistic Approach - -
Lower job satisfaction
Lower motivation
Higher absenteeism
Increased training time
Lower personnel utilization
Greater chance of errors
Greater chance of mental
overload and stress 3

16. Perceptual Motor Approach
Outcomes of Various Job Design Approaches
Less physical effort
Less physical fatigue
Fewer health complaints
Fewer medical incidents
Lower absenteeism
Higher job satisfaction
Lower error likelihood
Lower accident likelihood
Less mental stress
Decreased training time
Higher utilization levels
Biological Approach
Perceptual Motor Approach + + - -
Lower job satisfaction
Lower motivation
Higher financial costs
because of changes
in equipment or
job environment 3

17. International Perspectives on the Design of Work
The Japanese Approach
Emphasizes strategic
level
Encourages collective and cooperative working
arrangements
Emphasizes lean production
Using committed employees with ever-expanding responsibilities to achieve zero waste, 100% good product, delivered on time, every time
Photos courtesy of Clips Online, © 2008 Microsoft Corporation

18. International Perspectives on the Design of Work
The German Approach
Previously, Technocentric - placing technology and engineering at the center of job design decisions
Recently, Anthropocentric - placing human considerations at the center of job design decisions
Photos courtesy of Clips Online, © 2008 Microsoft Corporation

19. International Perspectives on the Design of Work
The Scandinavian Approach
encourages high degrees of worker control
encourages good social support systems for workers
Photos courtesy of Clips Online, © 2008 Microsoft Corporation

20. assignment to disciplines
Problem areas &
assignment to disciplines
Technical, anthropo-metric, & psychophysical
problems
Technical, physiological, & medical problems
Economical &
sociological
Sociopsychological &
economic problems
Levels of
Evaluation of
human work
Practicability
Endurability
Acceptability
Satisfaction
Scientific approaches
of labor sciences
View
from
natural
science
Primarily
oriented to
individuals
to groups
cultural
studies
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. Reprinted by permission.

21. Work Design and Well-Being: To increase control in work organizations
Work Design and Well-Being: To increase control in work organizations
Give workers the opportunity to control aspects of work & workplace
Design machines and tasks with optimal response times and/or ranges
Implement performance-monitoring systems as source of worker feedback

22. Work Design and Well-Being: To reduce uncertainty
Work Design and Well-Being: To reduce uncertainty
Provide employees with timely and complete work information needed
Make clear and unambiguous work assignments
Improve communication at shift change time
Increase employee access to information sources

23. Work Design and Well-Being: To manage conflict
Work Design and Well-Being: To manage conflict
Use participative decision making to reduce conflict
Use supportive supervisory styles to resolve conflict
Provide sufficient resource availability to meet work demands, thus preventing conflict

24. Contemporary Issues in Design of Work
Contemporary Issues in Design of Work
Telecommuting - employees work at home or in other locations geographically separate from their company’s main location
Alternative work patterns
Job Sharing - an alternative work pattern in which there is more than one person occupying a single job
Four day work week
Flextime - an alternative work pattern that enables employees to set their own daily work schedules

25. Contemporary Issues in Design of Work
Contemporary Issues in Design of Work
Technology at work
Virtual Office - a mobile platform of computer, telecommunication, and information technology and services
Technostress - the stress cause by new and advancing technologies in the workplace
Task Revision - the modification of incorrectly specified roles or jobs
Skill development

26. Performance Consequences of Role Behaviors
Role Characteristics
Standard Role
Behavior (meets expectations)
Extra Role
Behavior (beyond expectations)
Counter Role
Behavior (differs from expected)
Excellent performance
(organizational
citizenship and
prosocial behavior)
Correctly Specified Role
Poor performance
(deviance, dissent, and grievance)
Ordinary good
performance
Excellent performance
(task revision and
redirection, role
innovation)
Incorrectly Specified
Role
Very Poor
Performance
(bureaucratic zeal)
Poor performance
Counter-Role Behavior - deviant behavior in either a correctly or incorrectly defined job or role
Republished with permission of Academy of Management, PO Box 3020, Briar Cliff Manor, NY “Task Revision:
A Neglected Form of Work Performance,” (Table), R. M. Straw & R. D. Boettger, Academy of Management Journal, 1990, Vol. 33.
Reproduced by permission of the publisher via Copyright Clearance Center, Inc.0 26

27. The Distinguishing Feature of Job Design in the Future
Flexibility
Photos courtesy of Clips Online, © 2008 Microsoft Corporation

28. Chapter 14: Reflect & Discuss
Reality Bites Video Clip
What to Watch for and Ask Yourself
Assess the proposed job using the core job characteristics of the Job Characteristics Model. Is each job characteristic high or low?
Do you expect the job described by Wienderdude (David Spade, uncredited) to induce high levels of internal work motivation and work satisfaction? Why or why not?
Would you expect the work context (working conditions, supervision, co-workers) to positively or negatively affect a person’s motivation and satisfaction?
Reality Bites
Four Generation X’ers meet life’s realities after their college graduation. Life’s realities play cruel tricks on them as they continue developing together. Lelaina Pierce (Winona Ryder) records their reality interactions in an almost endless documentary video. Ben Stiller, in his directorial debut with this film, tries to make penetrating observations on this generation’s growth, development, and shared life expectations.
This scene from Reality Bites is the “Wienerdude” segment that appears about one-third of the way through the film. Lelaina, her class’s valedictorian, desperately seeks a job after her termination as a TV morning show production assistant. She has had three unsuccessful job interviews before the one shown in this scene at a local Wienerschnitzel. Just before this scene Lelaina asked her mother (Susan Norfleet) for a loan. Lelaina’s mother noted that times are hard and Lelaina should perhaps find a job at a fast food restaurant. The film continues with Lelaina trying to escape her depression by chain smoking cigarettes, watching mindless television programs, and talking to a psychic telephone partner (voiced by Amy Stiller).
What to Watch for and Ask Yourself
Assess the proposed job using the core job characteristics of the job characteristics theory. Is each job characteristic high or low?
Do you expect the job described by Wienderdude (David Spade, uncredited) to induce high levels of internal work motivation and work satisfaction? Why or why not?
Would you expect the work context (working conditions, supervision, co-workers) to positively or negatively affect a person’s motivation and satisfaction? 28