Organizational Behavior 2024_5A1O03

Session 4. Work design and job crafting

Dr. Lotta Harju

31/1/2024 harju@em-lyon.com
Reminder: Book assignment
1. Choose a group (note: two groups for each book)
2. Read the book assigned to the group and identify its main points/ideas
(find pdf –versions at BS)
3. Develop a case in video format (max. 6 min) illustrating the key
arguments/ideas of the book and their implications for organizational
practice. Submit by 5.2.2024 (will be reviewed at class 7.2.2024)
4. Prepare arguments for both the strengths and limitations of the book. For
example, identify why/where the book and its notions are feasible and
applicable today and why/where they may not be. These will be debated at
class 7.2.2024.

Ø Ability to analyze, apply and present ideas / theories to discuss current

organizational challenges
Ø Find instructions in BS (course content ->course assignments)
 1.-2. Decision making 6. Leadership
- online

2. Group Theory Organizational 5. Personality

behavior - online

3. Motivation and well-being at work 4. Job design and job crafting

 Work design
The content and organisation of
one’s work tasks, activities,
relationships and responsibilities

The way our work is designed

affects how we feel at work, as well
as our health, well-being and
performance

Parker, 2014
Which tasks should she do?
Which decisions should she make?
Should she work in a team?
Who else should be in a team?
Job characteristics theory

Skill variety
Meaningfulness of
Task identity
work
Task significance

Motivation
Responsibility for Performance
Autonomy work outcomes Satisfaction

Knowledge of the
Feedback reults of work

Hackman & Oldham, 1975

 I often have more than 30 rooms to clean in exactly the same way,
which makes the job monotonous and boring. What I dislike most,
though, is the stress due to a very pressed time frame: we have
maximum 18, preferably 16, minutes to finish a room, regardless of
how much work effort every room needs.

Management thoroughly controls that we do our work according to the

rules and regulations, especially when it comes to time effectiveness. I
often meet cleaners running between rooms to be able to keep up the
demand of 16 minutes per room.

Almost all cleaners complain about aching shoulders and backs due to
the stress and heavy work.

Lundberg & Karlsson, 2011

Job demands and resources model

motivational process
Job resources Work
stimulating and helpful + engagement
aspects of work

Job demands
straining aspects of
work that require Burnout
physical, mental or
emotional effort
+
health impairement process

Demerouti et al. 2001

What can be done: Job re-design

+
- +

Optimize job demands Build job resources

 Effects of digitalization on job demands and
resources
+ More information enables better decision making
Autonomy and + Flexible work can increase autonomy
control - Automated decision making (e.g., algorithmic mgmt)
- Constant connectivity

+ Upskilling: no more dull and dirty work,

Skill variety
- increased standardization and meaningless tasks
- decline in active skill use (automation)

+ Wearables and data enabled feedback

Feedback - impaired situational awareness
- punitive feedback (algorithmic management)

+ Better cooperation and coordination via digital

Cooperation
technologies
and social
- isolation, miscommunication and misunderstanding
support
+ reduced physical demands
Job demands
- increased mental demands, red-tape and
surveillance

Parker & Grote, 2022; Parent-Rocheleau & Parker, 2022

In a study among 218 HR professionals,
only those who had expertise in
organizational psychology and had
autonomy in their own jobs were
inclined to design motivating jobs
Parker et al., 2019
Case: Working less without sacrificing productivity

▪ Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14qL_ol_zec
▪ Read (5 min – BS -> course content -> session 2):
▪ The case

In groups: Help Lee, Andy and Lisa to make a decision (10 min)

▪ Discuss:
▪ Is reducing work hours feasible at the Worm? How could they pull it off?
▪ How could reducing work hours affect job demands and resources? Are there
potential new risks emerging from working less hours?
Job crafting: employees redesigning their jobs

Employee-initiated changes to their work tasks or

roles, work environment or work-related thoughts to
match the work with one’s needs and/or desires

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AE_hjOLDtU

Amy Wrzesniewski on job crafting

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_igfnctYjA&list=PLvz
TP1rSmJc34GGLxRZcdSbnpAU9aNfMp&index=1

Bruning & Campion, 2018; Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001

I used to work as a chef at a restaurant, and I can employ that experience with
the children. For example, on Christmas time when we bake cookies I put on
my chef's outfit and the kids think I look like a snowman. I also play drums, and
I've used that by organizing drumming workshops for the children and things
like that. – Early childhood educator

We have a maintenance man cleaning the office, who speaks

English. I always try to say something to him. I think beforehand
what I will talk about and the words I will use. Yesterday we talked
about the weather. –Nurse

Even if you cannot influence your job much, you can

influence how you think about it. I try to look at negative
customer feedback as a development opportunity. I have to
turn it around and think about what I will learn from it,
instead of letting it get to me – Call center agent

Harju et al., 2024

Bottom-up approach to job re-design

+
- +

Optimize job Build job

demands resources
I like my work, but lately I have felt bored. Days are busy, there are all kinds of things to
do and always something more coming, but still it is all the same somehow. And the thing
I really want to do, like being creative, write and communicate, I do not really have time
for. Like, the day starts and I am checking my e-mails and there are all these urgencies
and requests and ‘little queries’ that take half a day to handle. All day I am just reacting
and trying to keep up and then the next day is the same… - Alex, project manager in a
professional firm

In small groups: How could Alex craft her job?

 Job crafting may enhance
engagement and prevent boredom

Job crafting
Bore-out
+

Work
engagement

Harju et al., 2016

Is job crafting always good for you?

Burnout

Increasing + +
resources and Workload
challenges
+

Decreasing - Learning
+
job demands requirements

Work
engagement

Harju et al., 2021

Takeaways

▪ Work can be re-designed by increasing job resources

and optimizing job demands
▪ However, lack of knowledge and potential ‘double-edged
sword’ effects may complicate effective work design
▪ Employees may also take initiative by crafting their jobs
▪ Job crafting can enhance engagement and well-being at
work but may also cause strain
▪ Designing good quality jobs is the employer’s
responsibility
 1.-2. Decision making 6. Leadership

2. Group Theory Organizational 5. Personality

behavior

3. Motivation and well-being at work 4. Job design and job crafting

Job characteristics theory
Job demands and resources theory
Top-down and bottom-up job re-design
Readings
Bruning, P. F., & Campion, M. A. (2018). A role–resource approach–avoidance model of job crafting: A multimethod
integration and extension of job crafting theory. Academy of Management Journal, 61(2), 499-522.
Demerouti, E., Bakker, A. B., Nachreiner, F., & Schaufeli, W. B. (2001). The job demands-resources model of
burnout. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(3), 499.
Hackman, J. R., & Oldham, G. R. (1975). Development of the job diagnostic survey. Journal of Applied
psychology, 60(2), 159.
Harju, L. K., Hakanen, J. J., & Schaufeli, W. B. (2016). Can job crafting reduce job boredom and increase work
engagement? A three-year cross-lagged panel study. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 95, 11-20.
Harju, L. K., Kaltiainen, J., & Hakanen, J. J. (2021). The double-edged sword of job crafting: The effects of job crafting
on changes in job demands and employee well-being. Human Resource Management, 60(6), 953-968.
Lundberg, H., & Karlsson, J. C. (2011). Under the clean surface: working as a hotel attendant. Work, employment and
society, 25(1), 141-148.
Parker, S. K. (2014). Beyond motivation: Job and work design for development, health, ambidexterity, and more. Annual
review of psychology, 65, 661-691.
Parker, S. K., Andrei, D. M., & Van den Broeck, A. (2019). Poor work design begets poor work design: Capacity and willingness
antecedents of individual work design behavior. Journal of Applied Psychology, 104(7), 907–928.
Parker, S. K., & Grote, G. (2022). Automation, algorithms, and beyond: Why work design matters more than ever in a digital
world. Applied Psychology, 71(4), 1171-1204.
Schaufeli, W. B., Desart, S., & De Witte, H. (2020). Burnout Assessment Tool (BAT)—development, validity, and
reliability. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(24), 9495.
Wrzesniewski, A., & Dutton, J. E. (2001). Crafting a job: Revisioning employees as active crafters of their
work. Academy of Management Review, 26(2), 179-201.