Organizational Design, Diagnosis, and Development

1
Organizational Design, Diagnosis, and Development

• Session 20
• Techno-structural Interventions, III
• Work Design

2
Objectives

• To overview trends in the field of work design
• To become familiar with the engineering approach
  To review principles of job rotation and job
  enlargement
• To review the application of Herzbergs Two
  factor theory to job design
• To review Hackman and Oldhams Job
  Characteristics theory

3
Historical Development of Task Design
Low
Job Enrich- ment, J.C.T, Socio- technical Syste
ms
Specialized Craft Jobs
Job En- large ment ro- tation
Degree of Job Specialization Standardization
Scien- tific Man- age ment
High
Pre 1900s
1900-40
1940-60
1960 -
(from Griffin Task Design An Integrative
Approach, 1982
4
Trends in Job Design

• The era of craft workers
• The impact of industrialization and mechanization
• Engineering approach Scientific Management and
  Taylorism
• From fractionalization to enlargement
• Contemporary perspectives

5
Jobs in the Craft Era

• Craft jobs encompass a specialization but not
  fractionalization
• Mechanization breaks jobs into tasks
• Babbage (1832) argues specialization for
  decreasing learning time, waste and fewer tool
  changes. Also skill gets automated due to
  repetition

6
Taylor and Scientific Management

• The use of work study/measurement to determine a
  fair quota was a step forward for both management
  and the workers.
• Taylor puts a focus on systematically analyzing
  jobs and redesigning for effective use of
  personnel and technology

7
Some Major Principles of Scientific Management

• Time studies
• Functional or specialized supervision
• Standardization of tools and implements
• Standardization of work methods
• Separate Planning function

8
Frank Lillian Gilbreth

• The efficiency experts
• Goal of saving wasted motion and thus fatigue
• Applied cinematography to studies
• Wanted happy workers at all levels
• Naturally, the savings that accrue must benefit
  everyone, but saving lies at the root of fatigue
  elimination, and if every member of the
  organization, including the manager and the
  stockholders, is getting more "Happiness
  Minutes, you are surely working along the right
  lines."

9
Job Rotation

• Changing task assignments, not changing task
  itself. Move worker from one job to another to
  combat boredom
• Used at Ford, Prudential, American Cyanamid
• Consequences
• Positive Increase worker flexibility
• Negative Motivation and productivity not
  enhanced

10
Job Enlargement

• Job enlargement first used on 1940s. It involves
  horizontal expansion of tasks.
• Lengthen cycle time
• More task variety
• Some responsibility
• Programs at IBM, Social Security, Maytag
• Consequences
• Positive some enhanced satisfaction quality of
  production
• Negative No relationship to individual
  productivity, no real change in job, higher
  training costs

11
Two Factor Theory

• Herzbergs Theory developed from research into
  causes of job satisfaction and dissatisfaction
  with engineers and accountants
• Used critical incidents as the research method
• Content analysis of the incidents yielded a set
  of satisfiers and dissatisfiers

12
Herzbergs Satisfiers

• Motivators
• personal growth
• recognition
• responsibility
• promotion opportunities
• achievement

13
Herzbergs Dissatisfiers

• Hygiene
• supervision
• pay
• company policies
• working conditions
• co-workers
• job security

14
Impact of Two Factor Theory on Job Design

• Motivators influenced concepts of job enrichment
• Hygiene factors influenced concepts of quality of
  work life

15
Job Characteristics Model
Core Dimensions
Psychological States
Outcomes
Skill Variety Task Identity Task Signif.
High intrinsic motivation High job
per- ormance High job satis- faction Low
absentee ism turnover
Meaningfulness of Work

Responsibility for outcomes
Autonomy
Knowledge of Results
Feedback
16
Moderating Variables for the Job Characteristics
Model

• Growth need strength
• job is a vehicle for personal growth, sense of
  achievement, avenue for feeling success
• Knowledge and skills
• Satisfaction with extrinsic aspects of work

17
Implementing Concepts for the Job Characteristics
Model

• Combine tasks Effects skill variety, task
  identity, task significance
• Group tasks into natural work units Effects task
  significance and task identity
• Give workers contact with customers Effects
  skill variety, autonomy, feedback
• Vertically load jobs Effects autonomy
• Open feedback channels Effects feedback
• Match personal growth needs to job

18
Criticisms of the Job Characteristics Model

• Job characteristics are not distinct
• Link to critical psychological states is not
  clear
• Individual differences have an important effect
• Job outcomes are not clearly linked to job
  characteristics

19
Backwards Forwards

• Summing up Today we covered centuries in job
  design from the craft era to modern times. Along
  the way we reviewed the era of scientific
  management, job rotation and enlargement and the
  Job Characteristics Theory
• Looking Ahead Next time we continue with job
  design and consider some contemporary approaches
  as well as the implications of modern
  manufacturing and information technologies on job
  design.