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Job DesignKnowledge Center |
Contributed by: Munadil Shafat
23 items • 15.685 visits
What is Job Design? Meaning.![]() In Human Resource Management, Job Design (JD) is the process or activity of specifying the contents, methods and relationship of jobs in order to satisfy the technological and organizational requirements as well as the social and personal requirements of the job holder (the employee). History and Background of Job DesignIts principles are geared towards how the nature of a person's job affects their attitudes and behavior at work, particularly relating to certain characteristics including skill variety and autonomy. In other words, the aims of JD are to improve job satisfaction, through-put and quality and to reduce employee problems (e.g., grievances, absenteeism). It is also referred to as "Work Design" or "Task Design". In 1980, organizational psychologists Hackman and Oldham, in their book "Work redesign" proposed a "Job Characteristics Model". According to them, "JD has an effect on motivation, work performance, and job satisfaction". 5 Job CharacteristicsTheir model identified 5 core job characteristics that trigger 3 psychological states which in turn help achieve those positive outcomes. In short the 5 core job characteristics are as follows:
3 Critical Psychological StatesAn enriched job with the above 5 characteristics will prompt the following 3 psychological states:
The model postulates that an individual experiences positive affect to the extent that he learns (knowledge of results) that he personally (experienced responsibility) has performed well on a task that he cares about (experienced meaningfulness) 3 ModeratorsAccording to job characteristics theory, the higher a job scores in these 5 job characteristics, the more likely the job holder will experience the 3 psychological states mentioned. But individual differences moderates the level of impact of the job characteristics over the psychological states. In essence, they identified 3 moderators i.e.
Motivating Potential Score (MPS)The model was tested using data obtained from 658 employees working on 62 different jobs in seven organizations. It can also be used to assess the Motivating Potential Score (MPS) of particular jobs. MPS is an index based on the following formula: MPS = {(Skill variety + Task identity + Task significance) / 3 } * Autonomy * Feedback Jobs that score low on MPS should be redesigned and the jobs with high MPS are expected to give the following positive outcomes for the employees concerned:
Sources: Hackman, J.Richard; Oldham, Greg R. (1976), "Motivation through the design of work: test of a theory", Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 16(2): pp. 250279.
Compare with: ">Job Rotation, Job Enlargement and Job Enrichment | Organizational Commitment | Scientific Approach | Hawthorne experiments |
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