Job Characteristic Model

Whereas Herzberg advocated the creation of "good jobs, Richard Hackman and Greg
Oldham built on that concept by attempting to define our understanding of what a "good job"
actually looks like. In other words, what are the characteristics of motivating jobs? In the Job
Characteristic Model Hackman and Oldham (1975) identified five core dimensions for evaluating
the immediate work environment. They say that any job can be analysed for its motivating
potential by using these five dimensions. The job can then be redesigned in order to eliminate
its dissatisfying aspects.

The five dimensions are (Arnold et al 1998 p. 204):

Skill variety: skill variety describes the degree to which a job requires the implementation of a
number of different skills, abilities or talents. These activities should not only be different, but
they also need to be distinct enough to require different skills.

Task identity: task identity defines the extent to which a job requires completion of a whole and
identifiable piece of work. Task significance: task significance refers to the importance of the
job; the degree to which the job has an impact on the lives of other people, the immediate
organization or the external environment. Autonomy: autonomy is the degree to which the
jobholder is free to schedule the pace of his or her work and determine the procedures to be
used. Feedback: feedback is the degree to which the individual doing a job obtains information
about the effectiveness of the performance. Feedback does not only refer to supervisory
feedback, but also the ability to observe the results of ones own work. These core dimensions
turned out to be associated significantly with job satisfaction and a high employees' motivation.
18 Hackman and Oldham's model claims that attention to these five job characteristics produces
three critical psychological states (Tosi et al 2000 pp. 135-136): Meaningfulness of work: this
results from the belief in the intrinsic value/meaning of the job. For example, teachers may
experience meaningfulness of work, even in difficult working conditions, because of the
conviction that their efforts make a difference in the lives of their pupils. Experienced
responsibility for outcomes of work: job efforts are perceived as causally linked to the end
results of the work. Knowledge of the actual results of work activities: this can be qualified as
feedback. The employee is actually able to judge the quality of his or her performance.
According to the model different job dimensions contribute to different psychological states. Job
meaningfulness can be defined as the product of three dimensions: skill variety, task identity
and task significance. Experienced responsibility is a function of autonomy and knowledge of
results is dependent on feedback. The psychological state that receives the most attention in
Hackman and Oldham's study is the meaningfulness of work (Tosi et al 2000 p. 136). Finally,
the presence of these critical states can in turn increase the probability of positive work
outcomes, especially for employees with a high growth-need. The positive work outcomes are
(Tosi et al 2000 pp. 134-135): High internal work motivation: motivation is caused by the work
itself. High quality performance: this results from the meaningfulness of work. Quality,
however, does not necessarily imply quantity. High job satisfaction. Low absenteeism and
turnover