ZeePedia

JOB DESIGN:Engagement, Disengagement, Social Information Processing, Motivation

<< JOB DESIGN:Job Rotation, Job Enlargement, Job Enrichment, Skill Variety
LEARNING:Motor Learning, Verbal Learning, Behaviouristic Theories, Acquisition >>
img
Organizational Psychology­ (PSY510)
VU
LESSON 39
JOB DESIGN
While designing jobs, certain factors need to be taken into consideration to ensure that employees are
satisfied with their jobs. According to William Kahn, most previous views of job design take a static
view of dynamic organizational involvement. In other words, old theories consider a constant
behaviour from employees in terms of their motivation, involvement in job, and satisfaction from the
job. It should be taken into account that people's reactions to their jobs change from time to time. In
this regards, four factors need to be looked at:
1. Engagement
It may be defined psychological, physical and emotional involvement of people with their jobs.
Engagement can be created by three factors:
Meaningfulness of job: It is when the worker perceives his job to be useful and worthwhile.
Psychological Safety: It is when the worker sees to threat to his status, job or career.
Psychological Ability: It is when the worker perceives that he has the physical, psychological and
emotional resources to complete the job.
2. Disengagement
It can be describe by the statement "going through motions." It is the situation when the employee
detaches himself or herself from the job. People who are at a given moment personally disengaged
are emotionally distant, hiding what they think and feel to the point of stifling any sense of energy
or creativity that might be given to the job. Such conditions might be created by unsuitable
environmental factors.
3. Social Information Processing
People can look at the same job and evaluate id differently. The fact the people respond to their
jobs as they perceive them rather than to the objective jobs themselves is the central thesis of social
information processing (SIP) model. The SIP model argues that employees adopt attitudes and
behaviours in response to the social cues provided by others with whom they have contact. These
others can be co-workers, supervisors, friends, family members, or customers. A number of studies
generally confirm the validity of the SIP model. For instance, it has been shown that employee
motivation and satisfaction can be manipulated by such subtle actions as a co-worker or boss
commenting on the existence or absence of job features like difficulty, challenge, and autonomy. So
managers should give as much (or more) attention to employees' perceptions of their jobs as to the
actual characteristics of those jobs. They might spend more time telling employees how interesting
and important their jobs are. And managers should also not be surprised that newly hired
employees and people transferred or promoted to a new position are more likely to be receptive to
social information than those with greater seniority.
4. Motivation
Motivation of employees in a job ebbs and flows. People change on a daily basis showing different
levels of motivation and not being absolutely consistent in their behaviour. Various factors play
their role in changing level of motivation of employees.
Job Design must take all of the above mentioned factors into account.
Additional Considerations in Job Design
Following are some of the additional considerations that need to be taken into account while designing jobs:
1. Quality Of Work Life
It is a concept where managers pay attention to employee's empowerment and participation to bring
about an overall improvement in the organizational climate. It improves motivation. J. Lloyd Suttle
defined quality of work life as the "degree to which members of a work organization are able to satisfy
important personal needs through their experiences in the organization." Quality of work life programs
focus strongly providing a work environment conducive to satisfying individual needs. The emphasis on
improving life at work developed during the 1970s, a period of increasing inflation and deepening
recession. The development was rather surprising, because an expanding economy and substantially
increased resources are the conditions that usually induce top management to being people oriented
programs. Improving life at work was viewed by top management as means of improving productivity.
2. Socio Technical Design (Std)
133
img
Organizational Psychology­ (PSY510)
VU
The socio-technical design concept refers to mangers paying attention to creating a balance between
social and humanistic elements of the job and the technical, mechanical aspect of the job. The balance
improves motivation and performance. It is an approach to organization design in which the
organization is viewed as an open system structured to integrate the technical and social subsystems
into a single management system. The technical subsystems are the means by which inputs are
transformed into outputs while the social subsystem includes the interpersonal relationships that
develop among people in organizations. Employees learn one another's work habits, strengths,
weaknesses, and preferences while developing a sense of mutual trust.
3. High-Performance Work Practices (HPWP)
High performance work practices refer to reaching a fit between people, technology, information and
work. It is actually creating an organizational culture that supports organizational change to fit
employees' needs and organization's needs.
As the definition suggests, HPWPs must become a way of thinking about people, work, and
performance. In this vein, a total organizational culture must be devised, highlighting variable including
a focus on the organization's strategy, a systematic organizational design, encouragement of innovation,
measures of internal an external customer service, cooperation, teamwork, and a new organizational
value system. In addition, this culture supporting HPWPs incorporate higher levels of open
communication and trust, and leaders must be focused on both employees and the organization's
needs. Recent analyses have found the HPWPs are indeed positively related with both financial and
operation performance.
Goal Setting
Goal setting is a very useful method of enhancing employee performance. From a motivational perspective,
a goal is a desirable objective. Goals are used for two purposes in most organizations. First, they provide a
useful framework for managing motivation Managers and employees can set goals to help attain an overall
goal. Second gaols are an effective control device; control is monitoring by management of how well the
organization is performing. Comparing people's short-term performances with their gaols can be an
effective way to monitor the organization's long-run performance.
Social learning theory perhaps best describes the role and importance of goal setting in organizations. This
perspective suggests that feelings of pride or shame about performance are a function of the extent to
which people achieve their goals. A person who achieves a goal will be proud of having done so, whereas a
person who fails to achieve a goal will feel personal disappointment, and perhaps even shame. People's
degree of pride or disappointment is affected by their self-efficacy, the extent to which they feel they can
still meet their goals even if they failed to do so in the past.
Research in the past has shown nine important factors related to goal setting, all of which must be
considered while setting goals:
Goal Specificity: It is the clarity and precision of the goal. A goal of "increasing productivity" is not very
specific; a goal of "increasing productivity by 3 percent in the next six months" is quite specific. Some goals,
such as those involving costs, output, profitability, and growth, are readily specified. Other goals, such as
ethics, and socially responsible behaviour, are much harder to state in specific terms. Specificity has been
shown to be consistently related to performance. Specific goals set are more motivating than general goals
set by managers. Such goals generate higher commitment by employees.
Goal Difficulty: It is the extent to which a goal is challenging and requires effort. If people work to achieve
goals, it is reasonable to assume the will work harder to achieve more difficult goals. But goal must not be
do difficult that it is unattainable. If a new manager asks her sales force to increase sales by 300 percent, the
group may become disillusioned. A more realistic but still difficult goal--perhaps a 50 percent increase--
would be a better incentive. A substantial body of research supports the importance of gaol difficulty.
Feedback: Feedback is the degree to which an employee is given direct and clear information about the
effectiveness of his or her performance. Feedback can enhance goal achievement.
Timely feedback: Feedback to employees about performance needs to be complete, direct and timely. A
feedback provided at the end of the year may not be as effective as the one provided during the
performance. It may improve performance greatly.
Goal Acceptance: Goal acceptance is the extent to which a person accepts a gaol as her or her own while
goal commitment is the extent to which he or she is personally interested in reaching the goal.
134
img
Organizational Psychology­ (PSY510)
VU
Self efficacy: It is the extent to which an individual believes that her or she can accomplish the goal even if
he or she has failed in the past to do so. Employees high on self-efficacy set and achieve challenging goals.
Task complexity and quality: The more complex the task and the better quality the goals, the more the
chances of goals be achieved.
Benchmarking: It is a technique of goal setting which compares an organizational function with others
that are the best in the field, therefore setting standards for the employees to achieve.
Management by Objectives (MBO)
Management by objectives emphasizes participatively set goals that are tangible, verifiable, and measurable.
It is not a new idea. In fact, it was originally proposed by Peter Durcker more than 40 years ago as a means
of using goals to motivate people rather then to control them.
MBO consists of five steps:
Setting overall objectives
MBO's appeal undoubtedly lies in its emphasis on converting overall organizational objectives into
specific objectives for organization units and individual members. Setting the overall objectives for the
organization is the first step.
Developing the organization
The second step of MBO consists of developing the organization to achieve the objectives. In includes
leveraging necessary resources to reach the set goals, including human resources, financial resources,
etc.
Set individual goals
MBO operationalizes the concept of objectives by devising a process by which objectives cascade down
through the organization. The organization's overall objectives are translated into specific objectives for
each succeeding level in the organization. But because lower unit managers jointly participate in setting
their own goals, MBO works from the bottom up as well as from the top down. The result is a
hierarchy of objectives that links objectives at one level to those at the next level. And for the individual
employee, MBO provides specific personal performance objectives. Each person, therefore, has an
identified specific contribution to make to his or her unit's performance. If all the individuals achieve
their goals, then their unit's goals will be attained and the organization's overall objective become a
reality.
Periodic review
The next step in MBO after setting goals at all levels in the organization is to review periodically the
performance of all these levels and correct any deviations from these goals at any level.
Final feedback and appraisals
The final ingredient in an MBO program is feedback on performance. MBO seeks to give continuous
feedback on progress toward goals. Ideally, this accomplished by giving ongoing feedback to individuals
so they can monitor and correct their own actions. This is supplemented by periodic managerial
evaluations, when progress is reviewed. This applies at the top of the organization as well as the
bottom. Formal appraisal meetings also take place at which superiors and subordinates can review
progress toward goals and further feedback can be provided.
Effects and Hindrances
Some of the factors that hinder goal setting and their achievement are:
·  Psychological resistance
Goals that are not psychologically acceptable by employees may result in causing the employees to
resist. Therefore, psychological resistance becomes a hindrance to setting effective goals.
·  Higher goals with lower compensation
When employees are given challenging goals to achieve and they feel that they are not being adequately
compensated for these goals, they tend to react negatively towards goal achievement and it becomes a
hindrance for the organization.
·  Restructuring
Restructuring of the organization might be demodulating for the employees and may cause a hindrance
in goal achievement.
135
img
Organizational Psychology­ (PSY510)
VU
·
Downsizing
Downsizing is a reduction in organizational workforce. It is also often demodulating for the employees
and might cause the goal achievement process to be hindered.
·
Reliance on temporary workers
Reliance on temporary workers is often a hindrance in goal setting since these employees can leave the
organization at critical times and might cause the goal achievement to be marred.
REFERENCES
·
Luthans, Fred. (2005). Organizational Behaviour (Tenth Edition). United States: McGraw Hill Irwin.
·
Mejia, Gomez. Balkin, David & Cardy, Rober. (2006). Managing Human Resources (Fourth Edition).
India: Dorling Kidersley Pvt. Ltd., licensee of Pearson Education in South Asia.
·
Robbins, P., Stephen. (1996). Organizational Behaviour (Seventh Edition). India: Prentice Hall, Delhi.
·
Huczynski, Andrzej & Buchanan, David. (1991). Organizational Behaviour: An Introductory Text
(Second Edition). Prentice Hall. New York.
·
Moorhead, Gregory & Griffin, Ricky. (2001). Organizational Behaviour (First Edition). A.I.T.B.S.
Publishers & Distributors. Delhi.
FURTHER READING
·
Goal-Setting Theory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goal-
Setting_Theory
·
Goal-Setting Theory: http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/goals.htm
·
Goal Setting Theory: http://www.people.vcu.edu/~mlwillia/10_10_00/index.htm
·
Motivation: Goal-Setting Theory and Equity Theory:
http://choo.fis.utoronto.ca/FIS/Courses/LIS1230/LIS1230sharma/motive5.htm
·
Personal goal setting information and resources: http://www.timethoughts.com/goal-setting.htm
136
Table of Contents:
  1. INTRODUCTION TO ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHLOGY:Hawthorne Effect
  2. METHODOLOGIES OF DATA COLLECTION:Observational method, Stability of Measures
  3. GLOBALIZATION:Aspects of Globalization, Industrial Globalization
  4. DEFINING THE CULTURE:Key Components of Culture, Individualism
  5. WHAT IS DIVERSITY?:Recruitment and Retention, Organizational approaches
  6. ETHICS:Sexual Harassment, Pay and Promotion Discrimination, Employee Privacy
  7. NATURE OF ORGANIZATIONS:Flat Organization, Neoclassical Organization Theory
  8. ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE:Academy Culture, Baseball Team Culture, Fortress Culture
  9. CHANGING ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE:Move decisively, defuse resistance
  10. REWARD SYSTEMS: PAY, Methods of Pay, Individual incentive plan, New Pay Techniques
  11. REWARD SYSTEMS: RECOGNITION AND BENEFITS, Efficiency Wage Theory
  12. PERCEPTION:How They Work Together, Gestalt Laws of Grouping, Closure
  13. PERCEPTUAL DEFENCE:Cognitive Dissonance Theory, Stereotyping
  14. ATTRIBUTION:Locus of Control, Fundamental Attribution Error
  15. IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT:Impression Construction, Self-focused IM
  16. PERSONALITY:Classifying Personality Theories, Humanistic/Existential
  17. PERSONALITY ASSESSMENT:Standardized, Basic Categories of Measures
  18. ATTITUDE:Emotional, Informational, Behavioural,Positive and Negative Affectivity
  19. JOB SATISFACTION:The work, Pay, Measurement of Job Satisfaction
  20. MOTIVATION:Extrinsic motive, Theories of work motivation, Safety needs
  21. THEORIES OF MOTIVATION:Instrumentality, Stacy Adams’S Equity theory
  22. MOTIVATION ACROSS CULTURES:Meaning of Work, Role of Religion
  23. POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY:Criticisms of ‘Traditional’ Psychology, Optimism
  24. HOPE:Personality, Our goals, Satisfaction with important domains, Negative affect
  25. EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE:EI IS Related To Emotions and Intelligence
  26. SELF EFFICACY:Motivation, Perseverance, Thoughts, Sources of Self-Efficacy
  27. COMMUNICATION:Historical Background, Informal-Formal, Interpersonal Communication
  28. COMMUNICATION (Part II):Downward Communication, Stereotyping Problems
  29. DECISION MAKING:History, Personal Rationality, Social Model, Conceptual
  30. PARTICIPATIVE DECISION MAKING TECHNIQUES:Expertise, Thinking skills
  31. JOB STRESS:Distress and Eustress, Burnout, General Adaptation Syndrome
  32. INDIVIDUAL STRESSORS:Role Ambiguity/ Role Conflict, Personal Control
  33. EFFECTS OF STRESS:Physical Effects, Behavioural Effects, Individual Strategies
  34. POWER AND POLITICS:Coercive Power, Legitimate Power, Referent Power
  35. POLITICS:Sources of Politics in Organizations, Final Word about Power
  36. GROUPS AND TEAMS:Why Groups Are Formed, Forming, Storming
  37. DYSFUNCTIONS OF GROUPS:Norm Violation, Group Think, Risky Shift
  38. JOB DESIGN:Job Rotation, Job Enlargement, Job Enrichment, Skill Variety
  39. JOB DESIGN:Engagement, Disengagement, Social Information Processing, Motivation
  40. LEARNING:Motor Learning, Verbal Learning, Behaviouristic Theories, Acquisition
  41. OBMOD:Applications of OBMOD, Correcting Group Dysfunctions
  42. LEADERSHIP PROCESS:Managers versus Leaders, Defining Leadership
  43. MODERN THEORIES OF LEADERSHIP PROCESS:Transformational Leaders
  44. GREAT LEADERS: STYLES, ACTIVITIES AND SKILLS:Globalization and Leadership
  45. GREAT LEADERS: STYLES, ACTIVITIES AND SKILLS:Planning, Staffing