Chapter 12
CONTROL AND JOB DESIGN
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Control
• Control - the function of regulating events,
actions, outcomes, or other relevant aspects
according to preferred standards, plans,
objectives, or other chosen referents
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Control
Figure 12.1
• This basic model is called the negative feedback loop because it reduces discrepancies
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
TOTE model
Figure 12.2
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
TOTE model
Figure 12.3
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Control
The necessary elements of control in any context are:
• The goal - desired state
• Feedback - relevant information about the current state
• Discrepancy detection - comparison of the desired and
actual states
• Action - initiated to reduce any detected discrepancy
Discrepancy amplifying loops - positive feedback loops
also exist
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
CONTROL IN ORGANIZATIONS
• Prospective control - proactive alignment of
resources in ways that maximize the likelihood
of achieving intended objectives
• Reactive control - actions taken to bring
activities in line with targets and expectations
• Authority - legitimate power vested in
managers based on their position and role in
an organization
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Control in organizations
Two often opposing aspects to the existence of control:
• Basis of order and predictability in operational activity
• Control is restrictive, lacks flexibility, and can be manipulative and greedy
with regard to the abolition of personal freedom
Huczynski and Buchanan (1991) control has a number of
connotations:
• Physical
• Economic
• Psychological
A fourth connotation is that of:
• Political perspectives
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
APPROACHES TO
ORGANIZATIONAL CONTROL
• Ouchi (1979, 1980) three organizational control strategies bureaucratic control, market control, and clan control
• Use determine by:
– performance ambiguity which refers to the ease and clarity
with which the value of activities or outcomes can be assessed
– Goal incongruence, the second factor, is the degree of
alignment between individual and organizational goals
• Bureaucratic control - based on bureaucratic organizational forms
• Market control - used at the unit level and based on profit/cost
centres
• Clan control - based on social influence on behaviour
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Ouchi’s organizational control
strategies
Table 12.1
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Control – other perspectives
• Panoptic control - based on prison design which allows all inmates
to be observed without them being aware when it actually takes
place
• Concertive control - based on the social control exercised by groups
on their members
• Output control - direct measurement of the outputs produced
• Behavioural control - direct observation during work performance
• Input control (or clan control) – used where work outcomes are not
measurable and where work performance cannot be observed
• Paradox of control - control can lead to unintended consequences
particularly in ethical decision
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
MEANS OF ORGANIZATIONAL
CONTROL
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Managerial and supervisor behaviours
Skill
Organizational structure
Hierarchy and authority
Social control and socialization
Technology
Reward, punishment and reinforcement
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Informal supervisory control
behaviours
Table 12.2
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
MEANS OF ORGANIZATIONAL
CONTROL
• Clegg and Dunkerley (1980) – Vicious cycle of control – the
downward spiral of tighter control leading to negative employee
behaviours leading to tighter control
Figure 12.4
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Technology and control
Table 12.3
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Behaviour modification
Figure 12.5
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Job design
• Job design - the way in which tasks are
grouped, assigned and structured in
organizations at the level of individual jobs
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Work study
• Scientific management
• One best way
• Division of labour
•Work study
• Method Study
• Work measurement
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Work Study
Figure 12.6
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Ergonomics
A multi-disciplinary approach to considering how people
can best conduct specific work tasks, including:
• The human-machine interface
• Maximal efficiency with minimal effort and stress
• Athropometric profiles of human beings
• Physiology and biomechanics
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Job analysis
Two main approaches to job analysis:
• Functional job analysis:
•Employee activities relevant to data, people and other
jobs.
•The methods and techniques used by the worker.
•The machines, tools and equipment used by the worker.
•What outputs are produced by the worker.
• Position analysis questionnaire:
• Sources of information necessary to the job.
• Decision making associated with the job activity.
• Physical aspects associated with the job.
• Interpersonal and communication necessary to the job.
• Working conditions and their impact on the job.
• Impact of work schedules, responsibility etc.
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Job analysis and job effectiveness
Figure 12.7
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Job analysis
• Job analysis is used to support activities such as:
• Resourcing and HR planning
• Training
• Career development and succession planning
• Payment and remuneration level
• Provision of job descriptions and job evaluation
schemes
• Performance evaluation
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Approaches to designing jobs
Simplification and job
engineering
Job rotation
Job enlargement
Job enrichment
Hackman & Oldham’s model:
• Skill variety
• Task identity
• Task significance
• Autonomy
• Feedback
The model applies only to individuals that have high growth-need
strength – those with an intrinsic interest in developing themselves,
learning new and applying their existing skills, and taking responsibility
and build identity through work
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Job characteristics approach to job
enrichment
Figure 12.8
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning
Job Design
Social-information processing model Salancik and Pfeffer
(1978):
• Recognizes the role of socially constructed reality of work
• Highlights the role of social information in determining the effects
of the design of a job on the holder
• The way in which workers experience the nature of their job and
subjectively interpret information about it
• Such interpretations are influenced by others as well as by the
past behaviour of the person themselves
For use with Organizational Behaviour and Management
by John Martin and Martin Fellenz
1408018128© 2010 Cengage Learning