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Summary Work Organisation and Job Design
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Work organization and job designWeek 1
Lecture
Holistic multilevel model of work design
Operations management is the management of transformation processes that bring together
inputs and resources to products and/or services on the initiative of clients.
Types of transformation processes:
- Production: transforming materials into semi-products, parts of finished products.
Examples: steel, components, wheels, engines, computers, and cars.
- Logistics: moving materials, products, or people. Example: warehousing and
transportation.
- Service: providing intangible benefits or experiences. Examples: banking, education,
theatre, and self-checkout.
- Knowledge: creating new knowledge, and solving problems. Examples: R&D, data
analysis, and management.
Some transformation processes can be fully automated, such as lights-out manufacturing,
account creation, password reset, customer service, and employee recruitment. However,
when they require human work, the design of work is crucial. Operations management
examines work design as part of transformation processes.
,Human work is an activity in which a person exerts
physical and mental effort to accomplish a given task or
perform a duty.
The pyramid structure of a task →
Work is made up of tasks, each of which involves
activities that require physical and/or mental efforts.
A job is a collection of tasks meaningfully grouped
together that a worker is assigned to perform.
A career consists of the sequence of multiple jobs that a
worker performs during their working life.
To transform inputs into outputs, workers perform tasks usually
with the help of technology.
Tasks, workers, and technology form the basic elements of a work
system. A work system is situated in a workplace. Multiple
workplaces are grouped together in a production environment with
social and physical characteristics. The production environment is
embedded in the larger organisation.
Work design refers to how tasks, workers, technology, the production environment, and their
interactions are structured, enacted, and modified and the impact of these structures,
enactments, and modifications on individual, group, and organisational outcomes.
The process of work design is how tasks, workers, technology, the production environment,
and their interactions are structured and modified.
The outcome of work design is how it results in work that workers perform, which has specific
tasks, knowledge, social, and work context characteristics.
Morgeson and Humphrey identified 21 work characteristics in four categories:
1. 7 task characteristics: task variety, identity, significance, autonomy (= work scheduling,
decision-making, method), and feedback. These characteristics are the aspects of the
work itself.
2. 5 knowledge characteristics: complexity, specialisation, skill variety, information
processing, and problem-solving. These characteristics are the cognitive and skill
requirements of the task.
3. 5 social characteristics: social support, feedback, initiated interdependence, received
interdependence, and interactions with external parties. These characteristics are the
social and interpersonal aspects of work.
4. 4 work context characteristics: ergonomics, physical demands, work conditions, and
equipment use. These characteristics refer to the aspects of the physical environment
and work conditions.
Based on this, they made the work design questionnaire, a widely used tool to measure and
analyse how work design influences work motivation, attitudes, and workers' performance.
Typical operations management questions in work design:
- What different types of tasks can be distinguished and are needed?
• Executive tasks directly add value to the inputs.
• Preparatory tasks make executive tasks possible; preparing parts, tools, and
information.
• Inspection tasks control the success of executive tasks; quality control.
• Supportive tasks facilitate the continuation of executive tasks; maintenance,
administration, and continuous improvement.
, - Who/what performs which tasks in the transformation process? Workers, machines, or
customers?
- How to group the different tasks?
• Performed by one employee at one workstation or divided among several?
• Task bundling provides more task variety, identity, significance, and autonomy, and
thus increases the motivational potential of work.
• Task bundling requires more knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA) of workers.
- How to group workplaces in a production structure/environment?
- How to optimize the design of work so that transformation processes produce goods
and/or services at the desired costs, dependability, flexibility, quality, and speed?
Organisational behaviour refers to the study of human behaviour in organisations at the
individual, team, and organisational levels. It plays a role in the process of work design: how
managers and workers are influenced by their motivation, KSA, and opportunity when
designing work. It also plays a role in the outcomes of work design: how workers perceive,
experience, and respond to the characteristics of the work they perform.
The process of work design results in
work performed by workers. The first
category of human effects is that workers
form perceptions of the quality of their
work based on the quality of the tasks,
knowledge, social, and work context
characteristics.
The second category of human effects of
work design is that perceived quality of
work characteristics influences
psychological mechanisms in workers.
The third category of human effects on work design is that the phycological mechanism in
workers influences their work outcomes.
Job characteristics model: five job characteristics trigger three critical psychological states.
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