Chapter 13
Job and Workplace Design
Organizational Behaviour
Dave Ludwick, P.Eng, MBA, PMP
What makes a good job?
• Thinking about your career so far, what has been your best
job? Why?
• How about worst job? Why?
• What are the patterns?
Organizational Behaviour
Dave Ludwick, P.Eng, MBA, PMP
Job Characteristics Model
• Hackman and Oldham developed the Job Characteristics
Model (JCM) to try to determine what makes a good job
• They considered 5 elements of a job
– Skill Variety – the variety of skills required for the job
– Task Identity – the completion of a whole identifiable piece of
work
– Task Significance – the degree of impact the job has on the lives
and work of others
– Autonomy – Amount of freedom, independence, discretion in the
job
– Feedback – amount of info about the effectiveness of performance
Organizational Behaviour
Dave Ludwick, P.Eng, MBA, PMP
Lets rate 3 Jobs with the JCM
Physician
Software
Developer
Skill Variety
Task Identity
Task Significance
Autonomy
Feedback
Total
Organizational Behaviour
Dave Ludwick, P.Eng, MBA, PMP
Executive
Assistant
Job Characteristics Model
• Combining the 5 elements with these 3 psychological
states predicts an employees motivation
– Experienced Meaningfulness – the more meaningful a job is, the
more the employee sees the job as important and worthwhile
– Experienced Responsibility – the more autonomy a job has, the
more personal responsibility is felt by the employee
– Knowledge of Results – feedback helps employees know whether
they are performing effectively
• Motivating Potential Score (p. xxx) – an equation that
calculates a job’s motivating characteristics and shows
how it can be altered to improve motivation
• Lets try the exercise (p 521)
Organizational Behaviour
Dave Ludwick, P.Eng, MBA, PMP
Gung Ho!
• Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles put these 3
psychological states into their book Gung Ho!
– The Spirit of the Squirrel – Worthwhile Work fulfills God’s plan
for the forest
– The Way of the Beaver – Employees are in control of achieving
their goal, which fulfills God’s plan for the Beaver
– The Gift of the Goose – Employees cheer each other on, which
provides feedback and encouragement, God’s gift to each other
Organizational Behaviour
Dave Ludwick, P.Eng, MBA, PMP
Job Design
• Job Design is how tasks are arranged to form a job
• A job is a set of tasks performed by one person. The more
tasks a job has, the greater the skills required
• Building an enjoyable job out of an existing one should
consider these 3 ideas
– Job Rotation
– Job Enlargement
– Job Enrichment
Organizational Behaviour
Dave Ludwick, P.Eng, MBA, PMP
Job Design
• Job Rotation
– Also known as cross-training
– Temporarily rotating employees onto other jobs at the same level,
which are somewhat related or connected to their original job
– This provides benefits to the organization in that it expands the
trained base of employees for a set of jobs
– It also reduces reliance on any one individual for a specific job
– Also provides improved motivation, variety, reduces boredom and
expands an employees skill set. This is an especially useful tactic
in highly specialized work environments
– Some costs are that job rotation does increase training costs, and
may create some disruption
Organizational Behaviour
Dave Ludwick, P.Eng, MBA, PMP
Job Design
• Job Enlargement
– Involves expanding the job horizontally (within the same job
context), by increasing the number and variety of tasks in a job
• Example: A receptionist is originally responsible for answering the
phone and creating guests at the front door, but is then made
responsible for booking boardrooms and audio/visual equipment
– With more tasks covered by an individual, the number of
employees can be reduced
Organizational Behaviour
Dave Ludwick, P.Eng, MBA, PMP
Job Design
• Job Enrichment
– Job enrichment involves expanding the job vertically, such that the
employee’s responsibility includes the planning, execution and
evaluation of the role in its entirety
– Workers can then do a more complete aspect of a task (such as
building a complete product or providing a complete service),
increasing the degree to which they identify with a task, the
significance of the task and the feedback they receive from the
complete outcome
Organizational Behaviour
Dave Ludwick, P.Eng, MBA, PMP
Workplace Design
• Popular lists such as Canada’s Top 50 Best Places to Work
are an annual competition for companies to show case their
workplace to prospective employees
• Top companies have very little difference between them
• Generally, they all feature listening to employees, flextime,
communicating about business, subsidized meals, and
diversity in work force as benefits
• The Best companies support a learning career, career
development, and have strong training programs with some
tangible financial (usually matching programs)
contribution
• Top companies use regular 360 Degree reviews to provide
objective performance appraisals
Organizational Behaviour
Dave Ludwick, P.Eng, MBA, PMP
Workplace Design
• One of the most popular features top companies offer these
days is flexibility
• While once only offered in knowledge-oriented
organizations, flexibility is surfacing in a number of wasy
in more companies
• Flexibility shows up in the form of:
–
–
–
–
Flexible work schedules (with established core hours of operation)
Compressed work weeks
Job sharing
Telecommuting
• Many families opt to have one person work 4 days a week
on reduced salary to accommodate home interests and
obligations
Organizational Behaviour
Dave Ludwick, P.Eng, MBA, PMP
Job Sharing
• Job Sharing allows an organization to draw on the talents
of more than one person at the price of one.
• Job sharing also provides flexibility to job owners, making
a meaningful career an option when full-time employment
is not possible
• Similarly for employers, job sharing may give access to
talent that is otherwise unavailable due to other
commitments
Organizational Behaviour
Dave Ludwick, P.Eng, MBA, PMP
Telecommuting
• Telecommuting is defined as when employees do their
work away from the main office at least2 days a week
• Telecommuting suits independent jobs, routine jobs,
mobile activities and knowledge jobs
• Telecommuting is a great way to remain productive by
avoiding office chit chat
• But, employees can miss out on decision making that gets
made around the water-cooler – out of sight out of mind
• Some telecommuters also indicate that the isolation can be
too much. Thus where possible, employees should visit
the office regularly
Organizational Behaviour
Dave Ludwick, P.Eng, MBA, PMP
Workspaces
• Workspace design often refers to the physical design of the
work area within a building
• Office size has traditionally been a status symbol, but with
recent cost cutting, stats say office sizes have dropped 25
to 50%
• Office arrangement refers to the amount of space between
employees
– Influences the amount of socialization, conversation, formality and
openness
• Feng Shui – a Chinese system for arranging a person’s
surroundings to build harmony and balance
– Goal is to build and balance chi, the life force
– Considers office location, layout, desk position, water, plants and
flowers in designing a workspace
Organizational Behaviour
Dave Ludwick, P.Eng, MBA, PMP
Hotelling
• Hotelling refers to the concept where employees do arrive
at the main office daily, but do not own a specific spot to
work.
• Offices, desks, conference rooms are booked in advance
• Hotelling combined with telecommuting helps employers
reduce office costs
• Email and cell phones ensure people stay in touch
Organizational Behaviour
Dave Ludwick, P.Eng, MBA, PMP
Developing Careers
• Career – the evolving sequence of a person’s work
experience, regardless of success, failure paid or unpaid
• Organizations benefit from a defined career development
program because they help to ensure the right people will
be available to meet future needs
• Career development is not a defined plan for the employee
as it was 25 years ago.
– Rather it now takes the form of giving the employee time and
financial support so they can acquire skills to direct their own
career
Organizational Behaviour
Dave Ludwick, P.Eng, MBA, PMP
Suggestions for Career maintenance
• Maintain employability with a good continuous work
history
• Have a fall back position where possible
• Know your skills
• Market yourself, keep your eyes open
• Act Type A but be Type B
• Stay culturally current, be in the know
• Be a compelling communicator
• Manage your finances and have a rainy day reserve
• Be capable of rewarding yourself
• Be self-aware, but also be a team player
Organizational Behaviour
Dave Ludwick, P.Eng, MBA, PMP
Developing your own Career Plan
• Step 1: Sit back, relax, and think about where you are, what
you are doing, who you are in 30 years
• Step 2: What would it take (financially, spiritually, physical
health, educationally, relationship-wise) to get there?
• Step 3: Do you currently have the necessary means through
which to get there? If yes, great, continue on.
• Step 4: If not, what does a life plan look like (with milestone
posts every 5 years) that helps you track to achieve this goal?
• Concerns (also known as whinings):
– I can’t predict what will happen to me over 30 years, so I can’t plan
– My interests and goals may change over 30 years, so there is no sense
in a plan
Organizational Behaviour
Dave Ludwick, P.Eng, MBA, PMP
Vocation/Purpose vs. Job
• For many people, a job is:
– a source of income
– a place of belonging
• For more of us, it needs to be:
– A place where we fulfill ourselves
– A place where achieve fulfill our role in the universe
– A place where we act out our part in this great plan
• What if your job was your purpose? What if you could
pick the job so it was not just an income source but also
fulfilled your vocation?
– Things would be simpler, decisions would be easier, because your
choices would be made in the light of your purpose
Organizational Behaviour
Dave Ludwick, P.Eng, MBA, PMP
Thinking it over…
•
•
•
•
How do you benefit by NOT taking action?
How do you suffer by NOT taking action?
How do you benefit by taking action?
How do you suffer by taking action?
• Breakdown goal into successive goals
• Breakdown skills/experience into successive requirements
• Breakdown skills/experience requirements into a timeline and plan
• Anything you can conceive and believe you can achieve can be achieved
• With every idea God provides an equivalent means by which to achieve it.
• Chapter 14
Organizational Behaviour
Dave Ludwick, P.Eng, MBA, PMP