Job Design

1
Job Design

• Case The Portman Hotel
• Job Diagnostic Survey

2
From Earlier

• SWA is an excellent example of
• Alignment (strategy ? HR imperatives ? HR levers)
• Internal HR consistency
• Credible and trustworthy implementation by
  leaders
• HR function that is a true business partner
• Evidence that HR is viewed as an asset
• SWA evolves its strategy around its culture and
  HR system
• The system has been tested (and flourished) in
  tough times.
• The company invests in people and in HRM, and
  views these as investments, not costs.

3
Portmans Vision
We know that if we want customers treated better
we should treat each other better. We want to
make the Portman the most fulfilling, fun work
experience that anyone on the staff has ever had.
We want to be the best employer in San
Francisco, to show our trust and pride in each
person on our staff, and to work in ways that
help each person to grow, both personally and
professionally.
4
Portman Hotel Recommendations

• What are your main recommendations to Portman for
  addressing the problems they are experiencing?
• How much should Portman be willing to spend to
  implement your proposals? Be specific.
• How would you go about implementing these
  recommendations?

5
Portman Hotel Organization
Pat Mene Managing Director
Joe Villa
Director of Marketing
Assistant Manager (Vacant)
Director of Human Resources
Spencer Scott Guest Room Svcs
6
Portman Hotel Alignment consistency

• Organizational Alignment
• Congruence of HR practices with (a) strategy and
  business context (technology, environment,
  people, culture) (b) key success factors they
  are supposed to promote
• HR Consistency
• Consistency within the set of HR policies and
  practices
• Technical complementarities
• Message congruence
• Reputational consistency (over time)
• Interpersonal consistency (among subgroups)
• A critical challenge is to sustain this alignment
  and consistency in dynamic or changing
  environments.

7
Strategic HR Alignment at Portman
Key HR Success Factors

• Strategy and Vision
• Differentiation
• Service!
• High cost
• Total experience
• Reputation

1. Zero defect 2. Cooperation,
3. Reputation service empowered
teamwork, PVs who are fast,
seamlessness flexible, agile, show
initiative
Degree of Alignment
(- / 0 / )__ ___________ Zero defect
Teamwork Reputation

• Human Resource Levers
• Recruitment/Selection
• Training/Development
• Reward and Recognition
• Due Process
• Careers/Promotions
• Job Design/Teamwork
• Employment security
• Measurement
• Information Sharing
• Culture

8

• Flexible deployment
• Board with more responsibilities
• Perform tasks outside their official
  responsibilities
• As long as a quests request is moral and
  legal...
• Staffing
• If you want friendly people you have to hire
  friendly people
• Talent, not experience
• life theme consistent, recurring pattern of
  thought, feeling and behavior
• Themes assertiveness, pride, responsibility,
  positivity, Gestalt
• 9000 applicants for 350 jobs
• Structure
• extending the bottom portion of the
  organizational triangle
• Spencer Scott had over 60 PVs directly reporting
  to him
• Decentralized
• 50 cleaning and 50 serving guest (actual 80
  cleaning)

• Pay and Reward System
• Reward people for growth without upward
  progression
• Independent capitalists
• Base pay about that of a maid but expected large
  tips (200/week)
• Benefits
• Associate of the Month and Associate of the Year
• Guaranteed hours
• Performance Management
• Quarterly written reviews
• 3 warnings for similar offenses before
  termination
• Leadership
• Supervisors were added
• Very little discipline - reward positive work
• Training
• Two week training course
• Cleaning, making drinks, and reading the guest
• 5-star Teams

9
Portman Hotel Key Take-Aways

• Portman also illustrates some important lessons
  about job design
• The PV job bundles star and guardian elements

10
Stars, Guardians, Foot Soldiers

• Stars
• Big upside for success, low downside for failure
• High reward dispersion
• Many are called, few are chosen
• Experimental recruitment
• Individual ability is key
• Guardians
• Failure penalized severely
• Low reward dispersion
• Careful screening/orientation
• Slow advancement from within
• Fit often important (to facilitate
  communication and coordination)

• Foot Soldiers
• Performance evaluation focuses on acceptable
  performance
• Performance-based rewards can be used at
  aggregate level
• Seniority or politics may be used in hiring and
  reward allocations

11
Portman Hotel Key Take-Aways

• Stars, Guardians, Foot Soldiers
• In jobs that bundle star and guardian elements,
  the latter will tend to swamp the former, due to
• Risk-aversion.
• Differences in controllability (usually easier
  to prevent disaster than to ensure success).
• If possible, unbundle star from guardian tasks.
• If it is not possible to unbundle
• Provide insurance and put special emphasis on
  star elements.
• Rely on intrinsic motivation, social rewards,
  and/or promotion, which usually foster the
  desired mix of risk-taking and caution better
  than do explicit incentives.

12
Portman Hotel Key Take-Aways

• More broadly, it usually works best to bundle
  together tasks that
• Have similar measurement properties (i.e., easy
  or hard to measure)
• Involve similar skills/recruitment demands
• Involve similar market wage demands
• Are complementary (e.g., sales and follow-on
  service)
• Are comparable in terms of the workers ability
  to control outcomes

None of these applies to the Portman PVs
13
Job Design Parameters (Gordon, 1999)

• Level breadth of job content (i.e, job
  enrichment enlargement)
• motivation extrinsic versus intrinsic
• when for example, complementary or process
  improvement
• promotes flexibility and commitment
• social contact pros versus cons
• Variability over time in task assignment (i.e,
  job rotations)
• Type of knowledge and skillslearning curves
• Customers and clients effects of changes
• knowledge of core business or next on line
  departments

14
Job Design Parameters (Gordon, 1999)

• Mix of tasks given to the individual or group at
  one time
• variation in the mix of noise in performance
  measures
• variation in the mix of risk involved and
  allowed
• Individual or team
• types autonomy over process versus broader
  autonomy
• cooperation, motivation,
• in-group versus out-group
• task identity
• increased knowledge
• Level of autonomy
• alignment with interests
• ambiguous tasks
• information holders

15
Job Characteristics Model (Hackman Oldman, 1980)
CORE JOB CHARACTERISTICS
CRITICAL PSYCHOLOGICLAL STATES
MOTIVATING POTENTIAL SCORE
Skill Variety
Task Identity

• High Internal Motivation
• High Growth Satisfaction
• High General Job Satisfaction
• High Work Effectiveness

Task Significance
Autonomy
Feedback from Job
Moderators
16
High Commitment Work Systems

• Joint optimization of social and technical
  systems
• Participative designs
• Minimal, rather than complete, design
• Open systems
• Autonomous work groups
• Boundary location and control
• Control variances at the source
• Enriched jobs
• Shared power, information, and rewards
• Egalitarian and humanitarian values

17
Alternative Work Arrangements

• Telecommuting
• Flexible Hours
• flextime
• staggered week
• compressed work week
• flexyear?
• Part-time
• job sharing
• job splitting
• contingent workers

18
Training Development

• Training Development
• Knowledge Management
• Succession Planning

19
Evaluation of Training

• Level 1 Survey Participant Reactions
• Level 2 Assessment Participant Learning
• Level 3 Transfer Participant Performance, use
  of skills knowledge back on the job
• Level 4 Impact Return on training investment
  (ROI)

20
Preserving Training Investments

• Bonding
• Training institutes
• Screening (based on trainability and
  stability)
• Other HR practices
• Career pathing
• Broad job design empowerment
• Pay for knowledge and/or seniority
• Benefits
• To safeguard investment (e.g., health care)
• To promote loyalty (e.g., dependent care)
• Dress it up as gift
• Train people in groups

21
Why Long-Term Employees Create Value

• Training
• Wages paid during training yield little return
  fixed training costs are recouped over long-term.
  
• Efficiency
• Long-term employees are more efficient, require
  less supervision, and may be more motivated.
• Customers
• Loyal employees are better at identifying,
  serving, and retaining the best customers. They
  are often a major source of customer referrals.
• Employee Referral
• Long-term employees often generate the best flow
  of high-caliber job applicants.

22
The Loyalty Effect
1. Revenues and market share grow as the best
customers are swept into the companys business,
building repeat sales and referrals
2. Sustainable growth enables the firm to attract
and retain the best employees who, with the
delivery of superior value to the customer,
increase pride and loyalty.
3. Loyal, long-term employees learn on the job to
reduce costs and improve quality, which enhances
customer value.
4. Spiraling productivity and the increased
efficiency of dealing with loyal customers builds
a cost advantage that is difficult to imitate.
This also attracts loyal investors.
5. Loyal investors behave like partners. They
stabilize the system, reduce the cost of capital
and ensure the reinvestment of cash needed to
increase the companys value-creation potential.
Fred Reichheld Director, Bain The Loyalty
Effect HBS Press, 1996
23
Some Evidence

• A consulting study showed that reducing truck
  driver turnover 50 could increase profits by 50
• A study of brokerage houses showed that
  increasing broker retention by 10 increased
  broker value by 155.
• Retail stores in the top third on employee
  retention were also in the top third in
  productivity (22 higher sales per employee.
• Fast food stores with low turnover had profit
  margins 50 higher than stores with high turnover.

Source Reichheld, The Loyalty Effect
24
Companies That Train Best
Based on a recent survey of more than 1,000
companies and in-depth case studies of training
in 7 firms, Watson Wyatt, the HR consulting firm,
concluded that Companies that link employee
skill development to business strategy have 40
higher total shareholder return than companies
that do not
25
Take-Aways

• Protecting investments in training may require
• Career paths and internal labor markets
• Broad job design and empowerment
• Benefits to promote loyalty
• A culture that emphasizes teamwork and loyalty
• Incentives that promote ownership
• Development needs to be aligned and support
  job-relevant and value-relevant attitudes and
  behaviors
• Dont underestimate non-monetary rewards
• Companies can motivate largely through
  self-esteem and personal growth, framing training
  in developmental terms

26
Training Development

• Knowledge Management

27
Knowledge Management Knowledge

• "Knowledge is a fluid mix of framed experience,
  values, contextual information, and expert
  insight that provides a framework for evaluating
  and incorporating new experiences and
  information. It originates and is applied in the
  minds of knowers. In organizations, it often
  becomes embedded not only in documents or
  repositories but also in organizational routines,
  processes, practices, and norms."
• Working Knowledge, Tom Davenport and Laurence
  Prusak (1998)

28
Knowledge Management

• Types of Knowledge
• Explicit knowledge
• Implicit knowledge
• Tacit knowledge

29
Explicit Knowledge

• Can be directly and completely transferred from
  one agent to another
• Normally codified so that we can touch, see,
  hear, feel, and or manipulate them
• Books
• Reports
• Data files
• Other forms that have a physical manifestation

Conrad, Newman, Murray (2000). The Knowledge
Management Theory Papers
30
Implicit Knowledge

• Meaning is not explicitly captured, but can be
  inferred
• Incomplete codification
• Need for additional context
• Most difficult concept of the three
• Gray zone
• Often confused with tacit
• Represent vast bulk of human communications

Conrad, Newman, Murray (2000). The Knowledge
Management Theory Papers
31
Tacit Knowledge

• What you cannot talk about
• Knowing more than you can say
• Defy expression and codification
• Have very far reaching influences
• May be the most insidious and powerful of the
  three
• Bound up in culture, values, and feelings

Conrad, Newman, Murray (2000). The Knowledge
Management Theory Papers
32
Knowledge Management
START
Can it been articulated?
Tacit
No
No
Yes
Yes
Explicit
Implicit
Conrad, Newman, Murray (2000). The Knowledge
Management Theory Papers
33
Knowledge Management StudySpring 2000

• Ángel Cabrera Bill Collins
• Instituto de Empresa
• Jesús F. Salgado
• Universidad de Santiago de Compostela

34
Objectives

• To identify the variables that determine
  individual participation in knowledge exchange
  initiatives
• To identify the interventions that could deal
  with the human issues involved in knowledge
  management systems

35
Basic Model

• Person Variables
• Self-effacacy
• Organizational Commitment
• Agreeableness
• Conscientiousness
• Openness to Experience

• Environmental Variables
• Perceived Support
• Extrinsic Rewards
• Intrinsic Rewards
• Job Autonomy

Intentions to act and actual Behavior
Knowledge Sharing Behavior

• System Variables
• Availability
• Quality

36
Relationships of Person, Environment and System
Variables With KM Behavior
37
Results

• Person Variables
• Self-effacacy
• Organizational Commitment
• Agreeableness
• Conscientiousness
• Openness to Experience

R2 .10

• Environmental Variables
• Perceived Support
• Extrinsic Rewards
• Intrinsic Rewards
• Job Autonomy

Knowledge Sharing Behavior
R2 .03
R2 .01

• System Variables
• Availability
• Quality

38
Results

• All three sets of variables are related with
  increased KM behaviors
• Person variables showed the strongest and most
  consistent relationship
• self-efficacy
• openness to experience
• organizational commitment (predicted knowledge
  sharing, but its independent contribution
  dissipated when other variables were included).

39
Results

• All three sets of variables are related with
  increased KM behaviors
• For the organizational variables, the most
  important effect had to do with normative
  pressures
• perceptions of support from colleagues and
  supervisors towards knowledge sharing.
• Extrinsic rewards accounted also for some of the
  variance, but its contribution did not stand out
  when other factors were added.

40
Results

• All three sets of variables are related with
  increased KM behaviors
• The system variables had significant but
  comparatively weaker relationships
• perceived availability of systems
• perceived quality of contents

41
Implications Personality

• Openness to experience is the most relevant
  personality dimension in predicting knowledge
  sharing
• Openness to experience also correlates highly
  with coping with changes
• Conscientiousness correlates with performing, not
  with innovating

42
Implications Self-efficacy

• A necessary condition for people to exchange
  ideas is that they feel competent at what they
  do.
• Self-efficacy can be improved by
• Providing adequate training
• Managing careers and assignments to match
  individual competencies and to provide success
  experiences
• Modeling

43
Implications Rewards

• Align reward policies (especially intrinsic ones)
  with knowledge sharing
• Align project assignments with knowledge
  production and sharing
• Inform promotion decision with knowledge sharing
• Provide recognition to knowledge stars

44
Implications Systems

• Provide easy access to knowledge sharing tools
• Devise systems to control the quality of the
  information in the repositories
• Editorial filters
• Separate knowledge communities

45
Implications Support

• Involve leadership in knowledge management
  initiative
• Preach with your example
• Develop ownership during the design of the
  initiative

46
Succession Planning

• Purpose and benefits
• To plan a sequence of personnel moves so that
  candidates for key positions are known in advance
  of actual need
• permits mentoring and developmental activities
• Smooths transitions
• helps grow your own future executives
• manage diversity
• shorten the learning curve for future executives
• increase commitment and loyalty
• Need a vision

Orellano Miller, 1997, 1999
47
Succession Planning

• Goals
• Identification of critical management positions
  in the organization
• Identification of future vacancies in those
  positions
• Identification of managers who would potentially
  fit into these vacancies

Orellano Miller, 1997, 1999
48
Succession Planning

• Critical elements
• CEO and top management support
• integration with strategic business planning
• incorporation of job profiles that identify
  critical competencies
• a system for communicating the system to managers
• a system for identification, nomination, and
  selection
• a system for reviewing performance of nominees
• determination of training and development needs
• a system for monitoring development plan progress
• a system of feedback and encouragement
• identification of gaps in management succession
• time lines for succession

Orellano Miller, 1997, 1999
49
Why Pay to Train?

• Why would a firm pay for general training?
• Because its managers are stupid?
• According to neoclassical economics, the worker
  must pay for general OJT, either literally or
  through foregone earnings. Firm and employees
  must split the costs (and benefits) of
  firm-specific human capital in order to continue
  their mutually beneficial relationship and
  prevent hold up problems.

50
Why Pay to Train?

• Why else might a firm pay for general training?
• Some specific human capital presumes general
  skills
• No choice (labor scarcity or deficient
  educational system requires it)
• To give itself an incentive to use workers
  productively and efficiently
• Gift exchange and symbolism
• Employees reciprocate gift with loyalty and
  effort
• Focuses employee attention on strategic and
  developmental objectives
• Training presupposes Caring