Chapter 13

1. Chapter 13 Work Design

2. Chapter Outline • Conceptual Frameworks for Analyzing How People Respond to Their Work Tasks • Work Redesign Options • Technology and New Work Designs • Job Redesign in the Canadian Context: The Role of Unions • Flexible Work Arrangements

3. Questions for Consideration Work Design • How can we use job design to increase an individual’s motivation to perform? • How is technology changing the organization of the workplace? • What kinds of flexible work arrangements are available in the workplace?

4. Exhibit 13-1Examples of High and Low Job Characteristics Skill Variety High variety The owner-operator of a garage who does electrical repair, rebuilds engines, does body work, and interacts with customers Low variety A body shop worker who sprays paint eight hours a day Task Identity High identity A cabinet maker who designs a piece of furniture, selects the wood, builds the object, and finishes it to perfection Low identity A worker in a furniture factory who operates a lathe solely to make table legs Task Significance High significance Nursing the sick in a hospital intensive care unit Low significance Sweeping hospital floors Autonomy High autonomy A telephone installer who schedules his or her own work for the day, makes visits without supervision, and decides on the most effective techniques for a particular installation Low autonomy A telephone operator who must handle calls as they come according to a routine, highly specified procedure Feedback High feedback An electronics factory worker who assembles a radio and then tests it to determine if it operates properly Low feedback An electronics factory worker who assembles a radio and then routes it to a quality control inspector who tests it for proper operation and makes needed adjustments

5. Critical psychological states Personal and work outcomes Core job dimensions Skill variety Experienced High internal Task identity meaningfulness work motivation Task significance of the work High-quality Experienced work-performance Autonomy responsibility for outcomes of the work High satisfaction with the work Knowledge of the Feedback actual results of Low absenteeism the work and turnover activities Employee growth- need strength Exhibit 13-2The Job Characteristics Model

6. Skill variety Task identity Task significance + + Motivating Potential Score (MPS) = Autonomy X X Feedback 3 Exhibit 13-3Computing a Motivating Potential Score

7. Designing Enriched Jobs • How does management enrich an employee’s job? • Combine tasks. This increases skill variety and task identity. • Create natural work units. This increases employee “ownership” of the work and improves the likelihood that employees will view their work as meaningful and important . • Establish client relationships. This increases skill variety, autonomy, and feedback for the employee. • Expand jobs vertically. This seeks to partially close the gap between the “doing” and the “controlling” aspects of the job. • Open feedback channels.

8. Work Redesign Options • Job Rotation • The periodic shifting of a worker from one task to another. • The strengths of job rotation are that it reduces boredom and increases motivation through diversifying the employee’s activities. • Job Enlargement • The horizontal expansion of jobs. • Job enlargement attacks the lack of diversity in overspecialized jobs, but does little to instill challenge or meaningfulness to a worker’s activities. • Job Enrichment • The vertical expansion of jobs. • An enriched job organizes tasks so as to allow the worker to do a complete activity, increases the employee’s freedom and independence, increases responsibility, and provides feedback. • Team-Based Work Designs

9. Technology and New Work Designs • Continuous Improvement Processes • Total Quality Management • Re-engineering Work Processes • Flexible Manufacturing Systems

10. Total Quality Management • Philosophy of management that’s driven by the constant attainment of customer satisfaction through the continuous improvement of all organizational processes • seeks to reduce variability in output, resulting in lower costs and higher quality

11. Exhibit 13-5 What Is Total Quality Management

12. Exhibit 13-6The PDCA Cycle Act Plan Check Do

13. Examining Failures in TQM • Some firms were not performing TQM, just calling it that • Some managers have unrealistic expectations, and effect results too quickly • Some programs did not assure employees’ job security • Some firms did not provide adequate training • Some firms did not appreciate the complexity of changes involved

14. Elements of Re-engineering • Identifying an Organization’s Distinctive Competencies • Assessing Core Processes • Reorganizing Horizontally by Process

15. TQM Incremental improvements Bottom-up participative decision-making Re-engineering Quantum leaps in performance Driven by top management Re-engineering versus TQM

16. Flexible Manufacturing Systems • Integration of computer-aided design, engineering, and manufacturing to produce low-volume products at mass-production costs • Change happens by changing computer programs, not producing new parts • Pratt and Whitney in Halifax can produce 127 different engine models, up from 20 models for the flexible mfg. system was introduced • Employees: high tech skills, initiative, self-managing • Organizations: organic structures, teams

17. Responses to Flexible Work Arrangements • 94 percent of flex workers are very satisfied with their work arrangements • 70 percent of flex workers reported less stress • 81 percent of flex workers said they were more effective at balancing work and their outside lives • 63 percent of managers would highly recommend flex work arrangements. • 37 percent of managers reported that flex work led to an increase in employee efficiency • 48 percent of employees use flex work to deal with family responsibilities and child and/or elder care • 36 percent of employees said they would leave the company if flex work were not available • 78 percent of employees on flexwork said their opportunities for advancement were the same or better than when they worked a traditional schedule

18. Types of Flexible Scheduling • Compressed workweeks • Shorter workweeks • Flextime • Job Sharing • Telecommuting • Hotelling

19. Flexible hours Common core Common core Flexible hours Lunch 6A.M. 9A.M. 12noon. 1P.M. 3P.M. 6P.M. Time during the day Exhibit 13-7Example of a Flextime Schedule

20. Summary and Implications • An understanding of work design can help managers design jobs that positively affect employee motivation. • Technology is changing people’s jobs and their work behaviour. • TQM can increase employee stress as individuals discover performance expectations are constantly being increased. • Reengineering is eliminating millions of jobs and completely reshaping the jobs of those who remain. • Flexible manufacturing systems require employees to learn new skills and accept increased responsibilities. • Technology is making many job skills obsolete while shortening the life span of almost all skills. • Work conditions and design variables directly influence employee satisfaction. • Alternative work schedule options have grown in popularity.