13
JOBS AND THE DESIGN OF WORK
CHAPTER SCAN
Work design is important because of the impact the design has on productivity. The job
characteristics model includes skill variety, task significance, task identity, autonomy, and
feedback as major considerations for job design. In contrast, the social information processing
model considers information from others in the organization about the work to be just as
important. Cultural values vary greatly as to the social orientation to job design. Task revision
includes innovative techniques like job sharing and flextime.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading this chapter, you should be able to do the following:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Define the term job, and identify six patterns of defining work.
Discuss the four traditional approaches to job design.
Describe the job characteristics model.
Compare the social information-processing (SIP) model with traditional job design
approaches.
Explain the interdisciplinary approach to job design.
Compare Japanese, German, and Scandinavian approaches to work.
Explain how job control, uncertainty, and conflict can be managed for employee well-being.
Discuss five emerging issues in the design of work.
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Chapter 13: Jobs and the Design of Work
KEY TERMS
The following key terms are introduced in Chapter 13.
job
work
meaning of work
work simplification
job enlargement
job rotation
cross-training
job enrichment
Job Characteristics Model
Job Diagnostic Survey (JDS)
social information-processing (SIP) model
lean production
sociotechnical systems
technocentric
anthropocentric
job sharing
flextime
virtual office
technostress
task revision
counter-role behavior
THE CHAPTER SUMMARIZED
I
THINKING AHEAD: Jobs, Work Rules, and the Airline Industry
II.
WORK IN ORGANIZATIONS
Work is the mental or physical activity that has productive results. Although work means
different things to different people, all work has common elements like organized jobs.
Work is relative. Making pottery a thousand years ago was not only work, but survival.
Today, many individuals enjoy making pottery as a hobby. Work has always been an element
of life in all societies. As we continue to have automation fulfill human tasks, some have
hypothesized that we may face the possibility of a society not based on work.
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A.
The Meaning of Work
The meaning of work differs from person to person and from culture to culture.
One recent study found six patterns people follow in defining work, and these help
explain the cultural differences in people’s motivation to work.
B.
Jobs in Organizations
Jobs are defined around an organization's structure.
III.
TRADITIONAL APPROACHES TO JOB DESIGN
Research has concluded that radical and new manufacturing designs have not necessarily led
to changes in job designs. The historical approaches to job design were designed around the
specific tasks an employee needed to perform. The design now attempts to satisfy the
workers' needs as well as the organizations' needs.
A.
Scientific Management
Scientific management advocated job specialization, and consequently, job
simplification. Work simplification is the standardization and the narrow, explicit
specification of task activities for workers. The scientific management era emphasized
efficiency. However, individuals were quickly bored with the monotony and lack of
involvement with their jobs.
B.
Job Enlargement/Job Rotation
Job Enlargement is a method of job design that increases the number of activities in
a job to overcome the boredom of overspecialization. Job rotation is the systematic
shifting of workers from one task to another over time. Although this was an attempt
at enhancing the work life, these two approaches did not change the nature of the
tasks performed. They did not produce the expected changes in the workplace.
C.
Job Enrichment
Job enrichment designs jobs by incorporating motivational factors into them. In
addition to giving employees more tasks, they are also allowed to have more freedom
and control in carrying out the tasks.
Chapter 13: Jobs and the Design of Work
D.
Job Characteristics Theory
The Hackman and Oldham model of job characteristics is a framework for
understanding person-job fit through the interaction of core job dimensions with
critical psychological states within a person. The Job Characteristics Model
includes five core job characteristics: skill variety, task identity, task significance,
autonomy, and feedback from the job itself. Unless all of the characteristics are
present, the outcome proposed may only result in short term success. The easiest
aspects to enhance are the skill variety and task identity. The Job Diagnostic Survey
(JDS) is a survey instrument designed to measure the elements in the Job
Characteristics Model. A counter to the JDS is the Job Characteristics Inventory.
Although it is not as comprehensive as the JDS, it measure core job characteristics.
Challenge 13.1 provides a short diagnostic assessment for students to complete.
IV.
ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES TO JOB DESIGN
There are four alternatives to job design, including social information processing (SIP),
interdisciplinary approach, the international perspective, and the health and well-being
approach.
A.
Social Information Processing
The social information processing (SIP) model suggests that important job factors
depend in part on what others tell a person about the job. This process helps people
construct social realities out of their jobs.
B.
Interdisciplinary Approach
This approach builds on the job design approach. There are four approaches
necessary in this model because no one approach is comprehensive enough. The four
approaches include mechanistic, motivational, biological, and perceptual/motor.
Table 13.2 summarizes the positive and negative outcomes of each job design
approach.
1.
Mechanistic Approach
The mechanistic approach is patterned after the scientific approach and has its
roots in engineering. Although there is decreased training time and less errors,
there could also be lower job satisfaction and lower motivation as a result of
this model.
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2.
Motivational Approach
The motivational approach is drawn from industrial psychology and results in
higher job satisfaction based on a higher motivation of employees.
Unfortunately there is an increased training time, and accompanying greater
chance of errors.
3.
Biological Approach
The biological approach has a high financial cost because of the necessity to
change equipment to decrease fatigue and physical effort.
4.
Perceptual/Motor Approach
Experimental psychology produced the perceptual/motor approach that lowers
accidents, error and training time. On the negative side, it also lowers job
satisfaction and motivation. Because no single approach is best, an
interdisciplinary approach that combines all four is recommended.
C.
International Perspectives on the Design of Work
Japanese work systems emphasize collective and cooperative work arrangements.
The German approach to job design originally focused on technology and engineering
but has moved to a human centered approach more recently. The Scandinavian
perspective places its emphasis on worker control and social support systems.
D.
Work Design and Well-Being
It is important to consider the effects of job design on worker health and well-being.
Worker well-being can be enhanced if redesigned jobs focus on increasing worker
control and reducing worker uncertainty.
V.
EMERGING ISSUES IN THE DESIGN OF WORK
A.
Telecommuting
Fulfilling work responsibilities from the home are telecommuting capabilities.
Notebook computers enable individuals that are traveling to complete work
responsibilities in any location.
Chapter 13: Jobs and the Design of Work
B.
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Alternative Work Patterns
Alternative work patterns allow flexibility among people and time to complete a set
of tasks. Job sharing is an alternative work pattern in which there is more than one
person occupying a single job. Flextime is an alternative work pattern through which
employees can set their own daily work schedules. A useful discussion to share with
students is the question of whether all jobs take exactly 40 hours.
C.
Technology at Work
The virtual office is a mobile platform of computer, telecommunication, and
information technology and services at the disposal of mobile workforce members to
conduct business virtually anywhere, anytime, globally. Technostress is the stress
caused by new and advancing technologies in the workplace. Studies have indicated
that all employees are affected by changing technology, even systems designers and
advocates of the changes.
D.
Task Revision
Task revision is the modification of incorrectly specified roles or jobs. Incorrect
definitions of roles may result in counter-role behavior, which is deviant behavior in
either a correctly or incorrectly defined job or role.
E.
Skill Development
One source of stress from new information technologies is the growing gap between the
skills needed for the new technologies and the skills employees have in using the
technologies. Skill development must be considered in conjunction with job design.
VI.
MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS: THE CHANGING NATURE OF WORK
VII.
LOOKING BACK: Good Relations and Job Flexibility at Southwest Airlines
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Chapter 13: Jobs and the Design of Work
CHAPTER SUMMARY


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
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Different countries have different preferences for one or more of six distinct patterns of
defining work.
Scientific management, job enlargement/job rotation, job enrichment, and the job
characteristics theory are traditional American approaches to the design of work and the
management of workforce diversity.
The social information-processing (SIP) model suggests that information from others and
the social context are important in a job.
The interdisciplinary approach draws on mechanical engineering, industrial psychology,
experimental psychology, and biology in considering the advantages and disadvantages of
job design efforts.
The cultural values and social organizations in Japan, Germany, and Scandinavia lead to
unique approaches to the design of work.
Control, uncertainty, conflict, and job/task demands are important job design parameters
to consider when designing work for the well-being of the workers.
Task revision, telecommuting, alternative work patterns, technostress, and skill
development are emerging issues in the design of work and the use of information
technology.
REVIEW QUESTIONS: SUGGESTED ANSWERS
1. Define a job in its organizational context.
A job is the link between the tasks specified for an individual to perform and the organization.
2. Describe six patterns of working that have been studied in different countries.
In Pattern A, work is valued for its performance, and the person is accountable and self-directed.
This pattern defines work as an activity of value. Pattern B people define work as an activity that
provides a positive affect and identity. It both contributes to society and is not unpleasant.
Pattern C people look at work as an activity where profits accrue to others by performance. This
category considers work strenuous and somewhat compulsive. Pattern D people define work as a
physical activity directed by others. Pattern E people see work as a physically and mentally
strenuous activity that is unpleasant. In the Netherlands, work is defined most positively and
with the most balanced personal and collective reasons for participating. In contrast, work is
least positive in Germany and Japan.
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3. Describe four traditional approaches to the design of work in America.
The mechanistic approach is similar to scientific management. The motivational approach
focuses on job satisfaction. The biological approach emphasizes interaction with physical
aspects, and is concerned with the amount of physical exertion. The perceptual/motor approach
also emphasizes interaction with physical aspects, but also considers human factors such as
ergonomics.
4. Identify and define the five core job dimensions and the three critical psychological states in
the Job Characteristics Model.
To be effective, all components of the model must be considered. They include skill variety, task
identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback. Skill variety is the degree to which the job
requires multiple skills and talents. Task identity is the completion of an identifiable piece of
work. Task significance is the degree to which the job has a substantial impact. Autonomy is
freedom and independence. Feedback is clear and direct information on job performance.
The critical psychological states are experienced meaningfulness of work (the job is valuable and
worthwhile), experienced responsibility for work outcomes (personal accountability), and
knowledge of results (an understanding of how well the person is performing).
5. What are the salient features of the social information-processing (SIP) model of job design?
Our views and reactions to the quality of our jobs is based, in part, on the perceptions we have of
what others value or dislike about our jobs. The SIP model has four salient features. First,
people provide cues that help us decipher the work environment. Second, people help us judge
what is important in a job. Third, people tell us their perceptions of our jobs. Fourth, both
positive and negative feedback from others helps us form our opinions about our jobs.
6. List the positive and negative outcomes of the four job design approaches considered by the
interdisciplinary model.
Table 13.2 provides a comprehensive summary of the outcomes of the approaches. Where the
mechanistic approach lowers job satisfaction, the motivational approach raises satisfaction. The
advantage of the mechanistic model is the training time involved in relationship to the motivation
approach. The biological approach has high job satisfaction as well, but also has high financial
costs because of requirements in new equipment. Although the perceptual/motor approach has
less likelihood of error, there is an accompanying lower job satisfaction and motivation.
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7. How do the Japanese, German, and Scandinavian approaches to work differ from one another
and from the American approach?
The Japanese culture work approach is collectivist, while the U.S. is highly individualized. For
the Japanese worker the system would emphasize strategic and cooperative working
arrangements. Americans emphasize personal identity and social benefits of work. The German
approach values the highly educated work force. The emphasis on organization lends itself to a
highly efficient hierarchical work environment. The social democratic tradition in Scandinavia
stresses social concern over efficiency. There are numerous laws supporting the rights and health
conditions of the workers.
8. Describe the key job design parameters considered when examining the effects of work design
on health and well-being.
Uncertainty in the work environment can be reduced by (1) providing employees with timely and
complete information, (2) making clear and unambiguous work assignments, (3) improving
communication, (4) increasing employee access to information sources. In addition, conflict at
work can be managed through (1) participative decision making to reduce conflict, (2) the use of
supportive supervisory styles to resolve conflict, and (3) sufficient resource availability to meet
work demands, thus preventing conflict.
9. What are five emerging issues in jobs and the design of work?
Alternative work patterns, technostress, skill development, the changing nature of work, and task
revision.
DISCUSSION AND COMMUNICATION QUESTIONS: SUGGESTED ANSWERS
1. Is there ever one best way to design a particular job?
Students may respond based on efficiency or effectiveness views.
2. What should managers learn from the traditional approaches to the design of work used in
the United States?
Scientific management helps us understand how to make jobs more efficient. Job
enlargement/job rotation aids in understanding the importance of eliminating boredom in jobs
and incorporating the need for multiple skills. Job enrichment provides knowledge about
how to make jobs more motivating. Job characteristic theory points out the features that
individuals want in a job, and links these to psychological states that are important to people.
Chapter 13: Jobs and the Design of Work
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3. It is possible for American companies to apply approaches to the design of work that were
developed in other countries?
Yes. It will be particularly important as U.S. companies interact with other countries.
NAFTA agreement proponents will see the issues of job design as important.
4. What is the most important emerging issue in the design of work?
Telecommuting has eliminated the need for many people to travel to work. Alternative work
patterns have made it easier for employees to manage work/home conflicts. Technostress is a
phenomenon related to modern technologies, and it should be minimized in any job redesign
effort. Skill development will be at a premium as employers try to minimize the gap between the
skills demanded by new technologies and the capabilities of the workers.
5. Read about new approaches to jobs, such as job sharing. Prepare a memo comparing what
you have learned from your reading to one or more approaches to job design discussed in the
chapter. What changes in approaches to jobs and job design do you notice from this
comparison?
This assignment can generate excellent class discussion as students share what they have learned
about new approaches to jobs. Students may also have personal experiences with some of these
new approaches that can add depth to the discussion. Additional discussion can focus on the
advantages and disadvantages for organizations and employees of these new approaches to job
design.
6. Interview an employee in your organization or another organization and develop an oral
presentation about how the job the employee is doing could be enriched. Make sure you ask
questions about all aspects of the employee’s work (e.g., what specific tasks are done and with
whom the employee interacts on the job).
As students present how the job could be enriched, challenge them to be specific about the actual
job they are discussing and to explain how the enrichment recommendations they made will
potentially improve outcomes for the employee and for the organization.
7. Based on the materials in the chapter, prepare a memo detailing the advantages and
disadvantages of flextime job arrangements. In a second part of the memo, identify the specific
conditions and characteristics required for a successful flextime program. Would you like to
work under a flextime arrangement?
Students should consider the advantages and disadvantages of flextime job arrangements from
both the employee’s and the organization’s perspective. Encourage any students who have
worked under a flextime arrangement to share their experience with the class.
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ETHICS QUESTIONS: SUGGESTED ANSWERS
1. Assume that a company is planning to redesign all of the jobs in one department based on the
advice of a major consulting firm. Should the company discuss the job redesign plans with
employees before implementing them? Should the employees have been consulted prior to hiring
the consulting firm?
This relates to the job characteristics model. Employees are more positive when they have task
significance. If they are not involved with job redesign it defies the concept of empowerment.
2. Assume that a company is aware of certain psychological or physical risks associated with a
job, such as respiratory problems and cancer risk associated with the installation of asbestos.
Assume also that the medical costs for workers will not be too great. Is it ethical not to warn
employees about the possible health risks? Would it make a difference if the risks were less
permanent, such as lower back tension or temporarily altered vision?
Employees must be informed about the potential health hazards of their jobs, and employers must
make every effort possible to control or eliminate such hazards. This is not only an ethical issue,
but a legal one as well. Failure to provide a safe work environment can result in compensation
awards. The permanence of the effects on worker health is not the issue.
3. Suppose that the design of a particular job exposes employees to a health or safety risk and
that redesigning the job would cost the company more than paying the medical claims if an
employee is injured or hurt. Should the company tell employees doing the job about its decision
not to redesign the job to make it safer? Is it ethical for the company not to redesign the job?
The company has an obligation to correct the situation. In addition, there are some arguments for
extending the livable environment to future generations. Workers have legal rights to learn about
significant risks.
4. Assume that a company has many older, mature workers. Rather than retrain them in new
technologies, the company wants to replace the older workers with younger ones. Should this be
allowed?
This is against the law, and is also unethical. This has been tested recently through downsizing.
One company reduced the size of the senior employees, while hiring, less expensive, younger
individuals at another site. The courts ruled in favor of the laid off workers. The law that is in
effect on this issue is the protected class, (over 40).
Chapter 13: Jobs and the Design of Work
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CHALLENGES
13.1 DIAGNOSING YOUR JOB
If student’s jobs score low in motivating potential, have them consider specific changes in the
design of the job that could improve the motivating potential. Another option would be to use as
a class example the student’s job that had the lowest motivating potential. As a class develop
specific suggestions for redesigning the job.
13.2 IS YOUR WORK ENVIRONMENT A HEALTHY ONE?
This challenge also provides an opportunity to discuss the impact unhealthy work environments
have on the people who work in them. Encourage students to share examples of the impact their
healthy or unhealthy work environment have had on them and/or on their co-workers.
EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISES
13.1 CHAOS AND THE MANAGER’S JOB
In recent years there has been a flurry of books and articles about how organizations and the way
we see them are changing. The questionnaire in this exercise is an entree into the new world of
what managers and leaders are actually doing these days in organizations. It is titled “A
Manager’s Job.” It has been administered to close to 500 MBA students and young managers,
about equally divided between men and women and for the most part between the ages of 23 an
33. About 20% of the respondents have been from countries other than the United States. To
experienced managers, the items on this questionnaire are familiar territory. Students will have
to think about it a little differently from the way that beginning managers approach it, but
regardless of level of experience, the point can still be made.
The point is a simple one: we aren’t prepared for the sort of world this questionnaire portrays.
The “culture” doesn’t prepare us: our management textbooks and classrooms don’t prepare us.
Experienced managers, however, consistently report that this questionnaire mirrors their work
environment very well.
How do respondents do on the questionnaire? One who would enjoy it very much would end up
with a 4.0 average. One who finds each item “very unpleasant for me” ends up with a zero. The
range is narrow, and no particular subpopulation of age, sex, experience, or nationality seems to
do better or worse than any other subpopulation. The average score is between 1.5 and 1.6 - a
D+/C- sort of grade. The range is between about 1.0 and 2.2.
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However, most young people are unprepared for life in such organizational worlds. They think
management and leadership are something different from this. What do they think these are?
What mythology of the managerial job do they hold?
Some myths of management that may be operating include:
1. The myth of one person called “the manager.”
2. The myth that what the leader leads and the manager manages is a single, relatively
autonomous organization.
3. The myth of control through hierarchical chain of command.
4. The myth that organizational culture is not important to organizational success.
5. The myth of some product or service as the primary output of the organization.
6. The myth that analysis and study are the most important means of understanding
organizations.
SOURCE: D. Marcic, “Option B. Quality and the New Management Paradigm,” Organizational
Behavior: Experiences and Cases, 4th ed. (Minneapolis/St. Paul: West Publishing, 1995): 296297.
13.2 A JOB REDESIGN EFFORT
Instructor's Notes:
An obvious model to use is the core job characteristics model. Students have a tendency to
consider only one or two of the characteristics. Point out that this often leads to a more
disgruntled employee than if nothing had been attempted.
ALTERNATIVE EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE
THEY WANT ME TO GO TO SINGAPORE TO BE A MANAGER!
Instructor's Notes:
Many students may be globally conscious, yet do not want to be assigned to work internationally.
This exercise aids students with a dilemma that they might encounter. Students are able to share
their concerns and anxieties while trying to remedy Joe's problems.
In addition to the previous questions, you may wish to have students spontaneously respond to
the question about how to solve his problem with his mother, his family, and his guilt at being
viewed as lacking motivation. He is living out other people's expectations, and has action
anxiety.
This is a good role play exercise. Joe can interact with his supervisor, the human resource
department, and his mother.
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THEY WANT ME TO GO TO SINGAPORE TO BE A MANAGER!
Adapted from Connie Bowman, Defense Logistics Agency
Joe Pratt is a manager for a major appliance manufacturer, Whirlwind Corp. His boss has just
informed him that in 2 months he will be sent overseas to Singapore to head up marketing for the
Washer/Dryer Division based there. His overseas assignment will last 2 years. His boss told him
that he would be part of a management team of 4 managers from Germany, Singapore, and Japan.
His boss also told him that he would send over the company's Overseas Assignment Orientation
booklet and information about housing. If he had any other questions prior to his departure, Joe
should call his boss or the Human Resource department.
After the conversation with his boss, Joe didn't know what to think. He hadn't expected an
overseas assignment. He has never been overseas and his boss didn't say anything about training.
An overseas assignment was not really appealing to him and he could never understand why
anyone would want to spend time living anywhere but the U.S.. He was also worried about what
his family would think, since his mother was a senior manager in another city.
Joe had secured the position without her assistance, yet he realizes that he has benefited by
having such a visible name connected with her success. Joe is confused. He wanted to make a
career with this company, but wonders if he has the motivation necessary. In addition, he doesn't
want to disappoint his parents, since they, no doubt, will be thrilled with the advancement
opportunity.
1. If you were Joe's supervisor, what information about job enrichment could you provide Joe?
2. What information about how jobs are viewed in Japan that would benefit Joe in Singapore?
3. What other specific training information would be beneficial to Joe?
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EXTRA EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISES
The following alternative exercises to supplement the material in the textbook can be obtained
from:
Marcic, Dorothy & Seltzer, Joe. Organizational Behavior: Experiences and Cases, 5th Ed.
South Western College Publishing Company, 1998.
Redesign Jobs. p. 227-228. Time: 30 minutes.
Purpose: To consider how jobs can be redesigned.
Design Your Own Job. P. 229-231. Time: 25 minutes.
Purpose: To explore the dimensions of the job characteristics model.