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Summary of lectures for Work Organization and Job Design EBB601B05 (2021)
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lOMoAR cPSD| 233498Contents
Lecture 1- Work (design) from an organizational behavior perspective ................................................ 2
Lecture 2- Work (design) from an OM perspective ............................................................................... 7
Lecture 3 Part 1- Formal and informal decision-making processes ..................................................... 20
Lecture 3 Part 2- Antecedents from an OM perspective ...................................................................... 24
Lecture 4 Part 1 - Outcomes of work design ........................................................................................ 32
Lecture 4 Part 2 .................................................................................................................................... 39
Lecture 5- HRM&OBPart 1 ................................................................................................................. 42
Lecture 5 –PART 2 - Hardcore OB Part.............................................................................................. 49
Lecture 6: Digitalization & the transformation of work: consciously aware or adopting status quo? . 56
Final notes WOJD ................................................................................................................................ 64
, lOMoAR cPSD| 233498
Lecture 1- Work (design) from an organizational behavior perspective
Defining work (design)
• Work is defined as an activity in which a person exerts physical and mental effort to
accomplish a given (set of) task or perform a duty (Groover, 2014)
• “Work design describes how jobs, tasks, and roles are structured, enacted, and modified,
as well as the impact of these structures, enactments, and modifications on individual,
group, and organizational outcomes.” (Grant & Parker, 2009: 319)
o Put in other words, “[H]ow to divide labor and how to integrate effort.” (Parker,
Van den Broeck, & Holman, 2017)
Most of the work design research started in the 70’s and 80’s.
1. Job Simplification/ Scientific management (1776- present)
Taylor’s Scientific Management – Start of work design research
• Job simplification and specialization (core idea) – Make work as simple and as dumb as
possible and then make people specialize.
o Workers perform manual work
▪ Repeating single, highly simplified, and specialized activities
o Managers perform mental work
▪ Monitoring and rewarding
• Impressive productivity effects
o Cheaper, constant output, efficiency, mass production
• Detrimental psychological effects
o Absenteeism, strikes, turnover
• Still widely applied today
2. Job characteristics (1939- present) -not only focus on work efficiency but also taking
employee into account
Herzberg’s two-factor theory
• Two factors that influence performance:
- Hygiene factors (bare minimum an employer needs to provide)
o Company policies, interpersonal relations, supervision, salary, working
conditions.
o If these conditions are not satisfied, it will lead to dissatisfaction.
- Motivator factors
o Achievement, advancement, nature of work, recognition, responsibility
o This presence of these factors leads to satisfaction.
• Main idea behind the theory? Strive for Job enrichment and enlargement.
• Mixed empirical evidence
o No differences hygiene and motivator factors
o Limited support job satisfaction – however, the main assumptions hold.
, lOMoAR cPSD| 233498
McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y
• Two assumptions about people
o Theory X – Treating people like children.
▪ Indolent, passive, irresponsible
o Avoid initiative and responsibility
o Constant need for direction
o Motivated by economic rewards
▪ Perform to meet expectations
o Theory Y
▪ Motivated and satisfied
o Seek initiative and responsibility
o Self-control and self-direction
o Self-motivated to complete tasks
▪ Perform beyond expectations
Job Characteristics Theory
Motivating Potential Score
o ((𝑆𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑉𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑡𝑦 + 𝑇𝑎𝑠𝑘 𝐼𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑡𝑦 + 𝑇𝑎𝑠𝑘 𝑆𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 )/ 3 )× 𝐴𝑢𝑡𝑜𝑛𝑜𝑚𝑦 × 𝐹𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘
▪ Autonomy and feedback are crucial, more than skill variety, tasks identity and task
significance. 0 autonomy or feedback would result in 0 motivation
• Strengths
o Concrete job characteristics
o Explanation why effects occur
(mediators)
o Explanation when effects occur
(moderators)
o Substantial empirical evidence
• Weaknesses
▪ Important variables neglected
▪ Limited support for psychological
mechanisms
▪ Limited support for absenteeism,
performance, and turnover
Idea? Maximize personal and work outcomes – high quality work performance, through high
internal work motivation and satisfaction.
• If you increase the psychological states it will lead to higher personal and work outcomes
How to do it?
5 job characteristics that influence the critical psychological states
- Skill variety, task identity and significances influence how work is experienced.
- Autonomy influences the experienced outcome responsibilities.
- Feedback influences the knowledge of actual results of work activities and implications.
It shows how to design work, what it does to a person and how to maximize the outcome. This is
moderated by the presence of 3 variables- they differ per person.
, lOMoAR cPSD| 233498
3. Sociotechnical Systems and Autonomous Work Groups (1951 – present)
Sociotechnical Systems and Autonomous Work Groups – OM approach to work design
• Joint optimization of social and technical systems – combining human and technology.
o Shift to (semi-) autonomous work groups
▪ Control and execution of work tasks
• Balance socio-psychological needs of workers and requirements for
effective and efficient operation of technology and equipment.
o Job specialization and job rotation
▪ Less boring and learn more
o Enhanced productivity, quality, satisfaction, lower costs
▪ Most effective in uncertain contexts – in unexpected situations or difficult to
plan in advance. An autonomous work group is more effective in this type of
scenario than a manager taking the decision on his own.
Main idea? Shift autonomy from the manager to the group. Allows more flexibility through job
rotation.
• Mixed evidence
o Motivational effects and well-being clear
o Performance outcome effects unclear, it doesn’t mean it is better.
So people are more motivated but evidence is not clear as to whether they perform better
4. Job demands/Job resources/ Role theory (1947 – present)- acknowledging that work can be
stressful to people and how to reduce it
Job demands-control model
• Control may buffer the negative demand effects
• Short-term effects: Motivation and well-being
• Long-term effects: Learning, mastery, and reduced strain
• Resulted in other model: Job-Demands-Control-Support Model
▪ Social support as antidote to job demands
▪ Spurred research on job stress
• Empirical evidence is mixed
o Clear main effects on burnout, stress, and well-being
o No convincing evidence for interaction effects – demand & autonomy
Idea? This theory implies that stress levels depend on how much autonomy (decision latitude) you have
over your work and not entirely on how demanding the job is.
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