Chapter 6

Motivation and Job

Design
Its about person-job fit
 Chapter 6 Study Questions
What are the alternative job design
approaches?
What are the keys to designing motivating
jobs?
How are technology and job design related?
What alternative work arrangements are
used today?

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 Figure 6.1

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 What are the alternative job
design approaches?
Job design
process through which managers plan and
specify job tasks and the work arrangements
that allow them to be accomplished

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 What are the alternative job
design approaches?
Scientific management
Sought to improve work efficiency by creating
small, repetitive tasks and training workers to
do these tasks well

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 What are the alternative job
design approaches?
Job simplification
Standardizes work procedures and employs
people in clearly defined and highly specialized
tasks
Intent is to increase efficiency, but it may be
decreased due to the motivational impact of
unappealing jobs

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 What are the alternative job
design approaches?
Job enlargement
Increases task variety by combining into one
job two or more tasks that were previously
assigned to separate workers
Job rotation
Increases task variety by periodically shifting
workers among jobs involving different tasks

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 What are the alternative job
design approaches?
Job enrichment
The practice of enhancing job content by
building motivating factors such as
responsibility, achievement, recognition, and
personal growth into the job

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 What are the alternative job
design approaches?
Ways to increase job depth
Allow workers to plan
Allow workers to control
Maximize job freedom
Increase task difficulty
Help workers become task experts
Provide performance feedback
Increase performance accountability
Provide complete units of work

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 What are the alternative job
design approaches?
Concerns about job enrichment
Job enrichment can be very costly
Controversy concerning whether pay must be
increased when jobs are enriched

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 Figure 6.2

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 What are the keys to designing
motivating jobs?
Job characteristics model
provides a data-based approach to creating job
designs with good person-job fit that maximize
the potential for motivation and performance

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 What are the keys to designing
motivating jobs?
Core job characteristics
Skill variety
Degree to which a job requires a variety of different
activities and involves the use of a number of
different skills and talents of the individual
Task identity
Degree to which the job requires the completion of a
whole and identifiable piece of work; one that
involves doing a job from beginning to end with a
visible outcome

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 What are the keys to designing
motivating jobs?
Core job characteristics (cont.)
Task significance
Degree to which the job is important and involves a
meaningful contribution to the organization or
society in general
Autonomy
Degree to which the job gives the employee
substantial freedom, independence, and discretion
in scheduling the work and in determining the
procedures used in carrying it out

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 What are the keys to designing
motivating jobs?
Core job characteristics (cont.)
Job feedback
Degree to which carrying out the work activities
provides direct and clear information to the
employee regarding how well the job has been done

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 What are the keys to designing
motivating jobs?
Motivating potential score
MPS indicates the degree to which the job is
capable of motivating people.
A jobs MPS can be raised by enriching the
core characteristics.

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 What are the keys to designing
motivating jobs?
Critical psychological states
When the core characteristics are highly
enriched, three critical psychological states are
positively influenced
Experienced meaningfulness of work
Experienced responsibility for work outcomes
Knowledge of actual results of work activities

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 What are the keys to designing
motivating jobs?
Enriched core job characteristics will create
positive psychological states, which in turn
will create positive work outcomes only
when:
Employee growth-need strength is high.
The employee has the requisite knowledge and
skill.
Employee context satisfaction exists.

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 What are the keys to designing
motivating jobs?
Social information processing theory
Social information in organizations influences
the way people perceive their jobs and respond
to them

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 What are the keys to designing
motivating jobs?
Managerial and global implications of
enriching jobs
Not everyones job should be enriched
Job enrichment can apply to groups
Culture has a substantial impact on job
enrichment

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 How are technology
and job design related?
Sociotechnical systems
Reflects the importance of integrating people
and technology to create high-performance
work systems

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 How are technology
and job design related?
Automation
using a machine to do work previously
accomplished by a human

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 How are technology
and job design related?
Flexible manufacturing systems
Adaptive computer-based technologies and
integrated job designs that are used to shift
work easily and quickly among alternative
products.

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 How are technology
and job design related?
Process reengineering
the analysis, streamlining, and reconfiguration
of actions and tasks required to reach a work
goal

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 How are technology
and job design related?
Typical activities of process value analysis
1. Identify the core processes
2. Map the core processes in respect to workflows
3. Evaluate all tasks for the core processes
4. Search for ways to eliminate unnecessary tasks
5. Search for ways to eliminate delays, errors, and
misunderstandings
6. Search for efficiencies in how work is shared
and transferred among people and departments

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 What alternative work
arrangements are used today?
Compressed work weeks
Any scheduling of work that allows a full-time
job to be completed in fewer than the standard
five days
4/40 is most common form

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 What alternative work
arrangements are used today?
Compressed work weeks
Advantages
For workers: added time off
For organizations: lower absenteeism and improved
recruiting of new employees
Disadvantages
For workers: increased fatigue and family
adjustment problems
For organizations: work scheduling problems,
customer complaints, and possible union opposition

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 What alternative work
arrangements are used today?
Flexible working hours
Gives individuals a daily choice in the timing of
their work commitments
Advantages:
For workers: shorter commuting time, more leisure
time, more job satisfaction, and greater sense of
responsibility
For organizations: less absenteeism, tardiness, and
turnover; more commitment; and higher
performance

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 What alternative work
arrangements are used today?
Job sharing
One full-time job is assigned to two or more
persons who divide the work according to
agreed-upon hours
Advantages.
For workers: less burnout and higher energy level
For organizations; attracting talented people who
who would otherwise be unable to work

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 What alternative work
arrangements are used today?
Telecommuting
Work done at home or in a remote location via
use of computers and advanced
communication linkages with a central office or
other employment locations
Variants of telecommuting
Flexiplace
Hoteling
Virtual office

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 What alternative work
arrangements are used today?
Advantages of telecommuting
For workers: flexibility, comforts of home, and
choice of work locations consistent with ones
lifestyle
For organizations: costs savings, efficiency, and
improved employee satisfaction
Disadvantages of telecommuting
For workers: isolation from co-workers,
decreased identification with work team, and
technical difficulties with computer linkages

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 What alternative work
arrangements are used today?
Part-time work
Temporary part-time work
An employee is classified as temporary and works
less than the standard 40-hour work week
Permanent part-time work
An employee is classified as a permanent member
of the workforce and works less than the standard
40-hour work week

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 What alternative work
arrangements are used today?
Advantages of part-time work
For workers: appeals to people who want to
supplement other jobs or do not want full-time
work
For organizations: lower labor costs, ability to
better accommodate peaks and valleys of
business cycle, and better management of
retention quality

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 What alternative work
arrangements are used today?
Disadvantages of part-time work
For workers: added stress and potentially
diminished performance if holding two jobs,
failure to qualify for benefits, and lower pay
rates than full-time counterparts

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