,Chapter 1
Work: a set of coordinated and goal-directed activities that are conducted in exchange for
something else. Three elements:
1. Goal directed activities: actions at work are intended to bring about a particular
previously specified result.
2. Coordinated activities: workers should follow routines, procedures and guidelines.
3. Exchange for something else: work is compensated.
Psychology: people’s behavior, motivations, thoughts and emotions.
Sustainable performance: maximizing work performance as well as worker health and
well-being.
Organizational psychology: about the context in which work activities are conducted.
Personnel psychology: about the characteristics of the person conducting a particular work
task (gender, age, ethnicity, level of education, etc.) or selecting or hiring new staff.
Unemployment rate: the share of the labor force that is without work but available for and
seeking employment.
Employment provides 5 classes of social benefits:
• Time structure
• Opportunities for social contact
• Sharing of a common purpose
• Social identity or status
• Regular activity
New ways of working (NWW):
• Flexibility in the timing of work → employees have more autonomy in deciding when
they work.
• Flexibility in the place of work
• Facilitation of new media technologies
2 major trends responsible for ongoing changes in organizations:
• Globalization / commerce without borders → creates global economy with
opportunities and threats
• ICT → where and when work is performed
I-deals: individual employees negotiate with an employer to adapt work arrangements to
better meet their personal needs.
Intensification of work: increasing work hours and work pressure, the need for lifelong
learning and the ability and willingness to continuously change the type of work one does.
All methods can be categorized using 4 different approaches:
1. Behavior description approach: focus is on actual behaviors employees display in
executing task.
2. Behavior requirements approach: focuses on actual behavior employees should
display to perform the task in successful way.
3. Ability requirements approach: tasks are analyzed in terms of employees’ abilities,
knowledge, skills and personal characteristics.
2
, 4. Task characteristics approach: analyses objective characteristics of a task,
independent from behavior that is actually displayed or that should be displayed or
the abilities needed.
Task analysis 3 categories:
1. Data-collection techniques: interviews, survey questionnaires, observations and
organizational documents and records.
2. Task-representation techniques: graphic descriptions (flow charts and hierarchical
networks)
3. Task-simulation techniques: computer modelling and computer aided design
programs. Two types:
o Those which try to simulate the dynamic aspects of tasks in work environment
simulation models (mock-ups)
o Those which are used for ergonomically laying out work environments
(workspace designs)
3
, Chapter 3
Job design: concerned with the activities of workers, and relates to the duties and tasks
required to perform their work, and how those tasks and duties are structured and
scheduled.
Job characteristics model
This model concentrates on 5 key features/characteristics of work:
• Skill variety (SV): impact the experienced meaningfulness of work.
• Task identity (TI): jobs with task identity allow worker to produce or deliver an
identifiable, complete outcome. Impact the experienced meaningfulness of work.
• Task significance (TS): impact on other people. Impact the experienced
meaningfulness of work.
• Autonomy (AU): making decisions. Influences the experienced responsibility for the
outcomes of work.
• Feedback from the job (FB): influences the knowledge of the result of work.
𝑆𝑉 + 𝑇𝐼 + 𝑇𝑆
𝑀𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑝𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑒 = × 𝐴𝑈 × 𝐹𝐵
3
Growth need strength: the extent to which people have a need to develop and grow
psychologically.
Problems of JCM: only examines a narrow range of job characteristics, ignores the social
elements of work and concentrates on the positive features of work.
Demand-control-support model (DCSM)
Two components: job demands and decision latitude. Combination of these components
creates 4 classes of jobs:
• Passive jobs: low on job demands, low on decision latitude.
• High-strain jobs: high on job demands, low on decision latitude.
• Low-strain jobs: low on job demands, high on decision latitude.
• Active jobs: high on job demands, high on decision latitude.
4
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