Work Design & Technology

Work design & technology Sarmiento Cornejo Legua

Conceptual Framework for analyzing work task

TASK CHARACTERISTICS THEORIES   Theories

that seek to identify task characteristics in jobs, how these characteristics are combined to form different jobs, and their relationship to employee motivation, satisfaction, and performance.

Requisite task attributes theory  Pioneered

by Turner and Lawrence in the mid-

1960s  They developed a research study to assess the effect of different kinds of jobs on employee satisfaction and absenteeism.  Defined job complexity in terms of six task characteristics: variety, autonomy, responsibility, knowledge and skill, required social interaction; and optional social interaction.

JOB CHARACTERISTICS MODEL 



Identifies five job characteristics and their relationship to personal and work outcomes.



A



conceptual framework for designing motivating jobs that create meaningful work experiences that satisfy employees’ growth needs.

SKILL VARIETY  The

degree to which the job requires a variety of different activities so the worker can use a number of different skills and talent.

  High

Variety: The owner-operator of a garage who does electrical repairs, rebuild engines, does body work, and interacts with customers.



 Low

Variety: A body shop worker who sprays paint eight hours a day.

TASK IDENTITY  The

degree to which the job requires completion of a whole and identifiable piece of work.

  High

Identity: A cabinetmaker 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  The

degree to which the job has a substantial impact in the lives or work of other people



 High

Significance: Nursing the sick in a hospital intensive care unit



 Low

Significance: Sweeping hospital floors

Autonomy   The

degree to which the job provides substantial freedom, independence, and discretion to the individual in scheduling the work and in determining the procedures to be used in carrying it out.



Autonomy  High

Autonomy: A salesperson who schedules his or her own work for the day, makes visits without supervision, and decides on the most effective sales techniques for each particular potential customer.



 Low

Autonomy: A salesperson who is given a specific number of leads each day and is required to use a standardized sales script with each potential customer.



Feedback   The

degree to which carrying out the work activities required by the job results in the individual obtaining direct and clear information about the effectiveness of his or her performance.

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.



Exhibit 16–6

Job Characteristics Model

Source: J.R. Hackman and J.L. Suttle (eds.). Improving Life at Work (Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman, 1977). With permission of the authors.

13

  The

model says that internal rewards are obtained by individuals when they learn(knowledge of results) that they personally (experienced responsibility) have performed well on a task that they care about (experienced meaningfulness).

Motivating potential score A

predictive index suggesting the motivating potential in a job.  Computation of MPS: 

MPS=SV+ TI+ TS * Autonomy* Feedback  3 

Social information Processing Model   People

respond to their jobs as they perceive them rather than to the objective jobs themselves

  The

model argues that employees adopt attitudes and behaviors in response to the social cues provided by others with whom they have contact.

Technology & New Work Design

What is technology?

Technology is... 

“How an organization transform its input into output.”



Technology is... “Machinery & equipment that utilize sophisticated electronics & computers to produce those output.” 

Theme:  

“Substitute machinery for human labor in transforming inputs into outputs.”

Examples:  

Introduction of electricity Computerization of equipment & machinery

ISSUES related to TECHNOLOGY & WORK



Continuous improvement processes



Process reengineering



Mass customization

CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT PROCESSES  

Seeking the constant attainment of customer satisfaction through the continuous improvement of all organizational process.

CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT PROCESSES

“GOOD is NOT good ENOUGH.”

“Excellent performance can & should be improved on.”

CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT PROCESSES TQM programs seek to constantly reduced VARIABILITY. Eliminate Variation

Increase Uniformity

Lower cost & higher quality

Implication to Employees 

No longer be able to rest on their previous accomplishments & successes.

 

Increased stress from work climate.

 

Implication to Employees  

Tension/Pressure.



“Race with no finish line can never be won.”







Prime source for improvement idea.

PROCESS REENGINEERING

“How you would do things if you could start all over from the scratch.”

PROCESS REENGINEERING Key Elements:



 Organization's  Assessing

core processes.

 Reorganizing    

distinctive competencies.

horizontally by process.

Reengineering vs. TQM Reengineering



“Take something that is





TQM



“Improve something



irrelevant, throwing it

that is basically

out & starting over.”

okay.”

Implication to Employees 

Lots of people lost their jobs.



Different jobs.



Suffer from uncertainty & anxiety.

Mass customization

MASS CUSTOMIZATION

Production processes that are flexible enough to create products and services that are individually tailored to individual customer.

MASS CUSTOMIZATION 

Advantages:





Customers don't have to compromise.



Manufacturers create more satisfied customers while increasing production efficiency.



MASS CUSTOMIZATION 

Disadvantages:





Creates increased coordination demands on management.



Requires employees to go through significant training.



Requires increase in flexibility's

OB in an e-world Electronic technology as an area of tech is a great factor creating change in organizations.

Objectives: To define an e-organization  To know the affect it is having on both the individual and group behavior in the wokplace 

Definition of Related Terms: 

e-business  The

full breath of activities included in a successful Internet-based enterprise 





Developing strategies for running Internet based companies Improving communication between employees, suppliers, and customers Collaborating with partners to electronically coordinate design & production

 e-commerce A

subset of e-business  The sales side of electronics business  

Shopping on the Internet How business can set up Web sites on w/c they sell goods, conduct transactions, get paid, & fulfill orders

What’s an e-organization? 

The applications of e-business concepts to all organizations.  E-orgs not only include business firms, but also hospitals, schools, museums, government agencies, and the military. 

U.S. Internal Revenue System  It now provides access to taxpayers over the Internet 



3 Underlying Components of the E-org:  Internet A

worldwide network of interconnected computers.

 Intranets  An

organization’s private Internet Online news, secure document sharing, & email

 Extranets  Extended

intranets accessible only to the selected employees and authorized outsiders 



Dashboards that expose supply-chain management or enterprise resource-planning data to suppliers Self-service performance-reporting sites for clients of marketing firms

An e-org is defined by the degree to which it uses global(Internet) and private(intranet & extranet) network links.  Type A’s – Traditional organizations  Small retailers and service firms

 Type B’s – Contemporary organizations w/ heavy reliance on intranets and extranets.

 Type C’s – Most small e-commerce firms

 Type D’s – Full e-orgs that have completely integrated global and private networks.  eBay, Cisco Systems, Amazon.com, and Wal-Mart

What Defines an E-Org? Exhibit 16-1

B

High Intranet &extranet linkages Low

NOTE: As an organization moves from a Type A toward a Type D, it increases the degree to which it takes on e-org properties.

A

D C

Low

High Internet linkages

None

Degree of e-orgness Full

Selected Implications for Individual Behavior  

Motivation  Are

there unique challenges to motivating employees in e-organizations?  The 



answer appears to be “yes.”

Employees in e-orgs are more susceptible to distractions that can undermine their work effort and reduce their productivity. The Internet has significantly broadened these distractions to include:  Surfing the net  Playing online games  Stock trading  Shopping at work  Conducting “cyber affairs”  Searching for other jobs online

 

Weather Channel, Amazon.com, TheOnion.com, & eBay





cyberloafing  The

act of employees using their organization’s Internet access during formal work hours to surf non-job-related Web sites and to send or read personal e-mail.  Evidence

indicates that it is consuming a lot of time among workers who have internet access. 





Survey indicate, for instance, that 24.5% of U.S. employees with Net access spend at least 1 hour each workday visiting sites unrelated to their job. In addition, estimates indicate that nearly 1/3 of employees’ Internet use at work is recreational and that cyberloafingis costing U.S. employees approx. $3million a year for every 1,000 employees with Internet access.

 When

are employees motivated to do “something else” or increasingly use the Net as a diversion?  If



the work itself isn’t interesting or creates excessive stress.

 What

are the solutions to this problem?

 Making

jobs more interesting to employees  Providing formal breaks to overcome monotony  Establishing clear guidelines so employees know what online behaviors are expected 

Approved Acceptable Use Policy for Information Technology (IT) Resources of the UP System [UPAUP]

 Installing

web-monitoring software » Although there is evidence that such efforts can undermine trust in the organization and adversely affect employee morale.



 

Ethics  Electronic

surveillance of employees by employers is an issue that pits an organization’s desire to privacy.  The

development of increasingly sophisticated surveillance software only adds to the ethical dilemma of how far an organization should go in monitoring the behavior of employees who do their work on computers.

A

recent survey found that 41.5% percent of U.S. employers actively monitor or restrict employees’ Web activity. 

The Web activity of every one of Xerox’s 92,000 employees

 Employees

argue that they need surveillance controls. These controls allow them:   

To make sure employees are not goofing off That employees are not distributing organization secrets To protect the organization against employees who might create a hostile environment for other employees 

The dilemma of electronic surveillance of employees and employee privacy rights is exacerbated by the increasingly blurring line between work and non-work time for employees.

Selected Implications for Group Behavior

Decision Making 

Two projections:  First,

individual decision-making models are likely to become increasingly obsolete. 

E-orgs are typically team-based communities. So group decision-making models will offer greater relevance.

 Second,

the thoughtful, rational models of decision making will be replaced by action models.  Success

e-organizations will replace rational decision making models with action models (value experimentation) that:   



Utilize trial and error. Gather and assimilate data quickly. Accept failure and learn from it.



E-orgs don’t have the luxury of trying to finetune decisions in search for perfection.  E-orgs



make decisions with often very limited information and, as a result, don’t fear making mistakes. * This increases the probability of errors and the need to be able to recover fast from mistakes and move on.

Communication 

E-orgs’ rules of communication are designed around comprehensive, integrated information networks, traditional hierarchical levels no longer constrain communication. 

Virtual meetings allow people in geographically dispersed locations to meet regularly.



The downside of this open communication network is communication overload. 

E-mail, specifically, is overwhelming many employees. A recent poll found out that the typical employee receives between 11 & 20 work-related e-mails a day and that 25% of workers report getting more than 30 e-mails a day



These frequent incoming communication interruptions 

cost employees valuable time



erode their ability to concentrate



can affect their work productivity

Politics & Networking  E-politicians

are likely to rely much more on cyber-schmoozing via the electronic grapevine.  The

normal face-to-face activities of effective politicians (e.g. impression management) will be supplemented by cyber-schmoozing 

*Schmoozing - to converse casually, especially in order to gain an advantage or make a social connection. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/schmoozing

 Online

networking will become increasingly popular and effective as a supplement to more traditional political channels.

Will e-Orgs Redefine Interpersonal Relationships?  Electronic

technology has redefined work possibilities.  Employees

are no longer constrained by time or place in doing their work.

What are the implications of these e-orgs to interpersonal relationships?



Preliminary evidence from Stanford University study indicated that the more time people spent online, the less time they spent in real-life relationships with friends and family.  However,

data from more recent surveys suggest that Stanford conclusions may have been premature.

 The

latest data indicate that only a small percentage of Internet users spend less time with family and friends than before they went online  The

majority of the Internet users report no negative social effects from logging on.

 Internet

has different effects on extroverts and introverts.  Extroverts

are using the Internet to widen their social network.  Introverts use the Internet undermining their offline social interactions.

 Creates

new ways to interact with work colleagues.  Employees

will develop “office” friendships with people thousands of miles away.  “Good interpersonal skills” may increasingly mean not only the ability to interact effectively with people face to face, but may include the skills to communicate warmth, emotion, trust, and leadership through written words on a computer screen.

Physical Work Condition & Work Space Design

PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT 

Temperature



Noise



Lightning



Air Quality

PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT

“Even relatively modest variations in temperature, noise, lightning, or air quality can exert appreciable effects on employee performance and attitude.”

WORK SPACE DESIGN     

Size Arrangement Privacy Feng Shui Workspace Design & Productivity

SIZE 

Square feet per employee



Determinant: “STATUS”





“The higher an individual in the organization's hierarchy, the larger the office he or she typically got.”

SIZE 

Egalitarian Organization



− − −

Reducing the space dedicated to specific employee. Eliminating space allocations based on hierarchical position. Making more space available in which group or teams can meet.

ARRANGEMENT  

Distance between people & facilities. Influences social interaction.

PRIVACY 



Function of the amount of space per person & arrangement of that space. Trend: −

−

Phasing out of closed offices & replacing them with open office plans that have few, if any, walls or doors. Cave vs. Cube debate

PRIVACY 

What about individual differences?



−

Further research is needed.

FENG SHUI 

“Chi” or life force.





Managers layout buildings & offices so as to use chi to gain greater strength & harmony in the workplace.

FENG SHUI-based suggestions     

Office location & layout Desk Position Water Plants & flowers Reflections

Does Feng Shui work?

WORKSPACE DESIGN & PRODUCTIVITY 

Work space designs increase employee access, comfort, & flexibility & likely influence motivation & productivity positively.

 

“Cognitive Ergonomics” −

Matching office to the brain work

Job Redesign Options

Job Redesign Options

Guidelines for enriching a job

FIGURE

7.3

Team-Based Work Designs Revisited The

Job Characteristics Model (JCM) predicts high performance of groups when: Group members use a variety of high level skills.  The group task is a whole and meaningful piece of work.  Outcomes of the group’s work has significant consequences for other people.  The group has substantial autonomy in deciding how they do the work.  Work on the task generates regular, trustworthy feedback. 

Managers

should try to ensure

that: Individual members have the necessary task relevant expertise to their work  The group is large enough to perform the work  Members possess interpersonal as well as task skills  Membership is moderately diverse in terms of talents and perspectives 

Work Schedule Options

Flextime 

Employees work during a common core time period each day but have discretion in forming their total workday from a flexible set of hours outside the core.

  “Flexible

work hours”

Example of a Flextime Schedule Flexible hours 6 a.m.

Common core

9 a.m.

Lunch

12 noon

Common core 1 p.m.

3 p.m.

Time during the day

Flexible hours 6 p.m.

Benefits claimed for flextime:  Reduced

absenteeism  Increased productivity  Reduced overtime expenses  Lessening in hostility towards management  Elimination of tardiness  Reduced traffic congestion around work sites  Increased autonomy and responsibility for employees that may increase employee satisfaction

Job Sharing  The

practice of having two or more people split a 40-hour-a-week job.

  Allows

an organization to draw on the talents of more than one individual in a given job.

  Opens

up the opportunity to acquire skilled workers who might not be available on a full-time basis.

From the employee’s perspective; job sharing:  Increases

flexibility

    Can

increase motivation and satisfaction for those to whom a 40-hour a week job is just not practical.

Major drawbacks from management’s perspective:   Finding

compatible pairs of employees who can successfully coordinate the intricacies of one job.

Telecommuting  Employees

do their work at home on a computer that is linked to their office.



 THE

VIRTUAL

 Used

to describe employees who work out of their home on a relatively permanent basis.

What kinds of jobs lend themselves to telecommuting? 3

CATEGORIES:  ROUTINE

INFORMATION-HANDLING TASKS  MOBILE ACTIVITIES  PROFESSIONAL AND OTHER KNOWLEDGERELATED TASKS

Sources: Behavior, 10th edition by Robbins, Stephen C.  www.itbusinessedge.com/topics/show.aspx? t=680  compnetworking.about.com/library/weekly/ aa083199.htm  http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/sablynskic/ch_1 4_16_17.htm  http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sch moozing  Organizational