Organizational Behavior Chapter 14

Work Context

Work dimension defined by the Work Value Scales study which is measured by items such as "the amount of responsibility on the job."

Job Context

Work dimension defined by the Work Value Scales study which is measured by items such as "the policies of my company."

Former chair of ITT Harold Geneen

"If I had enough arms and legs and time, I'd do it all myself"

Social information-processing model

A contemporary model of work design that suggests that the important job factors depend in part on what others tell a person about the job. Emphasizes the interpersonal aspects of work design. People's perceptions and reactions to their jobs are shaped by information from other people in the work environment. Makes an important contribution to the design of work by emphasizing the importance of other people and the social context of work.

Job Characteristics Model (JCM)

A framework for understanding person-job fit through the interaction of core job dimensions with critical psychological states within a person. Created by Richard Hackman and his colleagues by modifying the original model of the Job Characteristics Theory.

Job Enlargement

A method of job design that increases the number of activities in a job to overcome the boredom of overspecialized work. A traditional approach to solving not only the problem of boredom but also the difficulty of coordinating work.

Growth Need Strength

A moderator of Richard Hackman's Job Characteristics Model which is defined as the desire to grow and fully develop one's abilities.

work autonomy

A recent sequence of two studies conducted in Egypt aimed to disaggregate...

Career

A sequence of job experiences over time.

Job

A set of specified work and task activities that engage an individual in an organization. Composed of a set of specific tasks, each of which is an assigned piece of work to be done in a specific time period. The basic building blocks of an organization's task-authority structure and are considered the micro-structural element to which employees most directly relate. Result from Differentiation. Not the same as an organizational position or a career. An employee's specific work and task activities in an organization.

Job Rotation

A variation of job enlargement in which workers are exposed to a variety of specialized jobs over time.

cross-training

A variation of job enlargement in which workers are trained in different specialized tasks or activities.

Frederick Taylor

Advocated an approach to work design known as Scientific Management, which emphasizes work simplification.

Isolated Jobs

Although one was identified at Coastal Corporation during the early 1970s, what kind of jobs are rare?

changing task and relationship configurations in their work

Although the meaning of work differs among countries, new theorizing about crafting a job also suggests that individual employees can alter work meaning and work identity by:

organization

Although work has different meanings for different people, from an organization's viewpoint, work is related to the structure of jobs, and jobs fit into the larger structure of an...

Henry Sims and Andrew Szilagyi

An alternative to the Job Characteristics Model is the Job Characteristics Inventory (JCI) developed by:

Scientific Management

An approach to work design first advocated by Frederick Taylor, emphasizes work simplification. Jobs designed through this approach have a limited number of tasks, and each task is scientifically designed so that the worker is not required to think or deliberate.

Job Enlargement

Approach to job design that was intended to overcome the problem of boredom associated with scientific management's narrowly defined approach to jobs. A method of job design that increases the number of activities in a job to overcome the boredom of overspecialized work

job tasks (especially when those tasks are either mandatory or mundane.)

As important as work meaning is to improving outcomes, it is not easy to infuse meaning into:

1. Social information-processing model 2. Ergonomics and Interdisciplinary Framework 3. International Perspectives on the Design of Work 4. Health and Well-being

Because each of the traditional job design approaches has limitations, several alternative approaches have emerged over the past couple of decades. What are these four alternatives that are in the process of being tried and tested?

Work Value Scales (WVS)

Completed by 5,550 people in an international study across ten occupational groups in twenty different countries. Is composed of thirteen items measuring various aspects of the work environment, such as responsibility and job security.

Experienced Meaningfulness of the work

Critical Psychological state of the Job Characteristics Model. The degree to which the employee experiences the job as one that is generally meaningful, valuable, and worthwhile

Experienced responsibility for work outcomes

Critical Psychological state of the Job Characteristics Model. The degree to which the employee feels personally accountable and responsible for the results of the work he or she does.

Knowledge of results

Critical Psychological state of the Job Characteristics Model.. The degree to which the employee knows and understands, on a continuous basis, how effectively he or she is performing the job.

Job Enrichment

Designing or redesigning a job by incorporating motivational factors into it. Builds on Herzberg's two-factor theory of motivation, which distinguished between motivational and hygiene factors for people at work.

goal congruence

Employees with highly developed emotional intelligence skills will be more likely to respond positively to:

A new proposal to modify the job characteristics model suggests that psychological ownership is an important factor in job design.

FACT:

Organizations are sets of task and authority relationships through which people get work done.

FACT:

environment

Full engagement requires the strategic management of one's energy in response to the:

work specialization

IBM concluded that job enlargement countered the problems of:

Organizational Position

Identifies a job in relation to other parts of the organization.

Hackman and Oldham

In an earlier study, administered the Job Diagnostics Survey to 658 employees working on sixty-two different jobs in seven business organizations.

high in core characteristics

In regards to the study forming the Job Characteristics Theory, workers with rural values and workers with strong religious beliefs preferred jobs:

low in core characteristics

In regards to the study forming the Job Characteristics Theory, workers with urban values and those with weaker religious beliefs preferred jobs:

the Netherlands

In what country is work defined most positively and with the most balanced personal and collective reasons for doing it?

1. United States 2. Belgium 3. Israel

In what three countries is work defined by people in a relatively middle position between positive and least positive?

1. Germany 2. Japan

In what two countries is work defined least positively and with the most collective reason for doing it?

less favorably/poorly

Individuals with low growth need strength respond to jobs with high Motivating Potential Scores in what way?

Job Characteristics Theory

Initiated during the mid-1960s. A traditional approach to the design of work that makes a significant departure from the three earlier approaches. Emphasizes the interaction between the individual and specific attributes of the job; therefore, it is a person-job fit model rather than a universal job design model. Originated in a research study of 470 workers in forty-seven different jobs across eleven industries.

1. Overall Mission 2. Goals

Jobs in organizations are interdependent and designed to make a contribution to what two aspects of the organization?

1. Mechanically controlled work pace 2. Repetitiveness 3. Minimum skill requirements 4. Predetermined tools and techniques 5. Minute division of the production process 6. Requirement for surface mental attention rather than thoughtful concentration

Mass production jobs have six characteristics:

Work

Mental or physical activity that has productive results and is organized into jobs. Effortful, productive activity resulting in a product or a service. An especially important human endeavor because it has a powerful effect in binding a person to reality.

Richard Hackman

Modified the original model of the Job Characteristics Theory with his colleagues by including three critical psychological states of the individual and refining the measurement of core job characteristics.

predictions

One comparative analysis of the Job Characteristics Inventory and Job Diagnostics Survey found similarities in the measures and in the models':

Most Important 1. Significant increase in product quality 2. Reduction in idle time, both for people and for machines. Less Obvious Benefits 1. Enhanced worker status 2. Improved manager-worker communication

One of the first studies of the problem of repetitive work conducted at IBM after World War II which implemented a job enlargement program during the war and evaluated the effort after six years. What were the two most important important results? What were the two, less obvious, and measurable benefits?

lower employee turnover, increased productivity, and increased profitability.

Organizations with larger percentages of employees who are engaged at work experience what three things?

Pattern E

Pattern of people who define work as a physically and mentally strenuous activity. It is generally unpleasant and devoid of positive affect.

Pattern F

Pattern of people who define work as an activity constrained to specific time periods that does not bring positive affect through its performance.

Pattern C

Pattern of people who define work as an activity from which profit accrues to others by its performance and that may be done in various settings other than a working place. Work is usually physically strenuous and somewhat compulsive.

Pattern A

Pattern of people who define work as an activity in which value comes from performance and for which a person is accountable. It is generally self-directed and devoid of negative affect.

Pattern B

Pattern of people who define work as an activity that provides a person with positive personal affect and identity. Work contributes to society and is not unpleasant.

Pattern D

Pattern of people who define work as primarily a physical activity a person must do that is directed by others and generally performed in a working place. Work is usually devoid of positive affect and is unpleasantly connected to performance.

Motivating Potential Score

People with high growth need strength respond favorably to jobs with high...

engagement

Psychological conditions related to job design features are a particular concern of the Job Characteristics Model. One study of more than 200 managers and employees in a Midwestern insurance company found that meaningfulness, safety, and availability were three important psychological conditions that affected employees':

Motivating Potential Score (MPS)

Richard Hackman and his colleagues say that the five core job characteristics interact to determine an overall:

Pattern A, B, C, D, E, and F

Six patterns people follow in defining work, helping to explain the cultural differences in people's motivation to work.

1. Critical psychological states 2. Personal and work outcomes 3. Employee needs

The Job Characteristics Inventory primarily measures core job characteristics. It is not as comprehensive as the Job Diagnostics Survey because it does not incorporate what three things?

(1) Combining tasks into larger jobs (2) forming natural work teams to increase task identity and task significance (3) establishing relationships with customers (4) loading jobs vertically with more responsibility (5) opening feedback channels for the job incumbent

The Job Diagnostics Survey was useful for job redesign efforts through one or more of five implementing concepts:

MPS=[Skill variety]+[Task identity]+[Task significance]/3x[Autonomy]×[Feedback]

The MPS indicates a job's potential for motivating incumbents. An individual's MPS is determined by the following equation:

1. Other people provide cues we use to understand the work environment. 2. Other people help us judge what is important in our jobs. 3. Other people tell us how they see our jobs. 4. Other people's positive and negative feedback helps us understand our feelings about our jobs

The Social Information-processing model has four basic premises about the work environment:

1. Work Content 2. Job Context

The Work Value Scales study found two common basic work dimensions across cultures:

responsibility and job security

The Work Value System (WVS) is composed of thirteen items measuring various aspects of the work environment, such as:

Job Characteristics Inventory (JCI)

The alternative to the Job Characteristics Model that primarily measures core job characteristics. While not as comprehensive as the Job Diagnostics Survey, it does give some consideration to structural and individual variables that affect the relationship between core job characteristics and the individual.

emotional intelligence of employees.

The degree to which work engagement functions as a bridge between goal congruence and deviant behaviors depends on the:

Engagement

The expression of oneself as one performs in work or other roles.

behaviors

The extent to which employees are engaged in their jobs has an impact on workplace:

Herzberg's two-factor theory of motivation

The idea of two work dimensions supports:

Find the deeper meaning of work tasks

The key to help employees generate meaningful work beyond simply performing tasks:

1. Germany 2. Belgium 3. Israel 4. Japan 5. the Netherlands 6. the United States

The patterns that people follow in defining work were studied in which six countries?

Integration

The process of connecting jobs and departments into a coordinated, cohesive whole.

Differentiation

The process of subdividing and departmentalizing the work of an organization.

Work Simplification

The standardization and the narrow, explicit specification of task activities for workers.

1. A person's values 2. Religious beliefs 3. Ethnic background

The study which initiated the Job Characteristics Theory found that core job characteristics did not affect all workers in the same way. What three factors influenced how a person responded to a job?

Job Diagnostic Survey (JDS)

The survey instrument designed to measure the elements in the Job Characteristics Model. The most commonly used job design measure, was developed to diagnose jobs by measuring the five core job characteristics and three critical psychological states shown in the model.

1. Time and motion studies 2. Differential piece-rate systems of pay 3. Scientific selection of workers

The three elements of scientific management which all focus on the efficient use of labor to the economic benefit of the corporation.

Job Enlargement/Rotation

The two approaches that came into being to solve the perceived problems of overspecialization that arose from lack of variety.

1. Differentiation 2. Integration

The two larger issues in the design of organizations are the competing processes of:

Meaning of Work

The way a person interprets and understands the value of work as part of life. Differs from person to person, from culture to culture, and from profession to profession.

Job Rotation and Cross-training

Variations of Job Enlargement:

Gallup's Q12 Survey

Was used to improve engagement for a clinical nutrition group at St. Mary's/Duluth Clinic Health System with successful results.* Despite its importance to company success, however, only one-third of employees in a recent study reported that they were engaged in their work

1. Skill Variety 2. Task Identity 3. Task Significance 4. Autonomy 5. Feedback

What are the five core job characteristics of the Job Characteristics Model by Richard Hackman?

1. Job variety 2. Autonomy 3. Responsibility 4. Interpersonal interaction

What are the four, core job characteristics of the Job Characteristics Theory?

1. Helps avoid performance problems 2. Improves productivity 3. Enhances employee well-being

What are the three benefits of good job design?

1. Experienced meaningfulness of work 2. Experienced responsibility of the outcomes of the work 3. Knowledge of the actual results of work activities

What are the three critical psychological states of the individual in the Job Characteristics Model by Richard Hackman?

1. Differentiates and integrates tasks 2. Improves productivity 3. Enhances employee well-being

What are the three elements of a good job design?

1. The variety scales in the two models appear to have different effects on performance 2. The autonomy scales in the two models appear to have different effects on employee satisfaction.

What are the two differences between the Job Characteristics Inventory and the Job Diagnostics Survey?

1. It is based on an oversimplified motivational theory 2. Lack of consideration for individual differences among employees

What are two criticisms of Job Enrichment?

1. Adding to a worker's activities by means of job enlargement . 2. Giving a worker different activities by means of job rotation.

What are two ways that variety be added to the workplace job?

The role of management and the industrial engineer is to calibrate and define each task carefully.

What is the role of management and the industrial engineer according to Frederick Taylor?

The role of the worker according to Frederick Taylor is to execute the task.

What is the role of the worker according to Frederick Taylor?

Inflexible Jobs

What kind of jobs are rigidly structured and have an adverse effect, causing stress to employees and limit their career growth.

Smart Jobs

What kind of jobs stimulate learning and growth and thus serve as building blocks for a person's career?

Badly designed jobs

What may result in an organization from a failure to differentiate, integrate, or both, causing a variety of performance problems?

1. Job enlargement/job rotation 2. Job enrichment 3. Job characteristics theory

What three approaches to job design were developed during the twentieth century? The traditional approaches to the design of work ]which emphasized objective core job characteristics.

1. Increased job satisfaction 2. Employee well-being 3. Performance

What three workplace outcomes is Meaningful Work linked to?

1. Generating purpose 2. Generating meaning

What two concepts concerning workers present a major challenge for many of today's managers and supervisors?

1. Individuals 2. Cultures

What two things are important to understand and appreciate the differences between in regards to the meaning of work?

Task and Authority Relationships

What two things define an organization's structure?

1. Separate work method 2. Work schedule 3. Work criteria autonomy

What were three separate facets of work autonomy indicated by the two studies conducted in Egypt?