Job Characteristics Model

The job characteristics model is one of the most influential attempts to design jobs with increased
motivational properties.[340]Proposed by Hackman and Oldham, the model describes five core job
dimensions leading to three critical psychological states, resulting in work-related outcomes.
Figure 6.3.

The Job Characteristics Model has five core job dimensions.

Skill variety refers to the extent to which the job requires a person to utilize multiple high-level skills. A
car wash employee whose job consists of directing customers into the automated car wash demonstrates
low levels of skill variety, whereas a car wash employee who acts as a cashier, maintains carwash
equipment, and manages the inventory of chemicals demonstrates high skill variety.
Task identity refers to the degree to which a person is in charge of completing an identifiable piece of
work from start to finish. A Web designer who designs parts of a Web site will have low task identity,
because the work blends in with other Web designers’ work; in the end it will be hard for any one person to
claim responsibility for the final output. The Web master who designs an entire Web site will have high task
identity.
Task significance refers to whether a person’s job substantially affects other people’s work, health, or
well-being. A janitor who cleans the floors at an office building may find the job low in significance, thinking
it is not a very important job. However, janitors cleaning the floors at a hospital may see their role as
essential in helping patients get better. When they feel that their tasks are significant, employees tend to
feel that they are making an impact on their environment, and their feelings of self-worth are boosted. [341]
Autonomy is the degree to which a person has the freedom to decide how to perform his or her tasks. As
an example, an instructor who is required to follow a predetermined textbook, covering a given list of topics
using a specified list of classroom activities, has low autonomy. On the other hand, an instructor who is free
to choose the textbook, design the course content, and use any relevant materials when delivering lectures
has higher levels of autonomy. Autonomy increases motivation at work, but it also has other benefits.
Giving employees autonomy at work is a key to individual as well as company success, because
autonomous employees are free to choose how to do their jobs and therefore can be more effective. They
are also less likely to adopt a “this is not my job” approach to their work environment and instead be
proactive (do what needs to be done without waiting to be told what to do) and creative. [342] The
consequence of this resourcefulness can be higher company performance. For example, a Cornell
University study shows that small businesses that gave employees autonomy grew four times more than
those that did not.[343] Giving employees autonomy is also a great way to train them on the job. For
example, Gucci’s CEO Robert Polet points to the level of autonomy he was given while working at Unilever
PLC as a key to his development of leadership talents.[344] Autonomy can arise from workplace features,
such as telecommuting, company structure, organizational climate, and leadership style. [345]
Feedback refers to the degree to which people learn how effective they are being at work. Feedback at
work may come from other people, such as supervisors, peers, subordinates, and customers, or it may
come from the job itself. A salesperson who gives presentations to potential clients but is not informed of
the clients’ decisions, has low feedback at work. If this person receives notification that a sale was made
based on the presentation, feedback will be high.
The relationship between feedback and job performance is more controversial. In other words, the mere
presence of feedback is not sufficient for employees to feel motivated to perform better. In fact, a review of
this literature shows that in about one-third of the cases, feedback was detrimental to performance. [346] In
addition to whether feedback is present, the sign of feedback (positive or negative), whether the person is
ready to receive the feedback, and the manner in which feedback was given will all determine whether
employees feel motivated or demotivated as a result of feedback.
According to the job characteristics model, the presence of these five core job dimensions leads employees
to experience three psychological states: They view their work as meaningful, they
feel responsible for the outcomes, and they acquire knowledge of results. These three
psychological states in turn are related to positive outcomes such as overall job satisfaction, internal
motivation, higher performance, and lower absenteeism and turnover. [347] Research shows that out of
these three psychological states, experienced meaningfulness is the most important for employee attitudes
and behaviors, and it is the key mechanism through which the five core job dimensions operate.
Are all five job characteristics equally valuable for employees? Hackman and Oldham’s model proposes
that the five characteristics will not have uniform effects. Instead, they proposed the following formula to
calculate the motivating potential of a given job: [348]
Equation 6.1.

MPS = ((Skill Variety + Task Identity + Task Significance) ÷ 3) × Autonomy ×

According to this formula, autonomy and feedback are the more important elements in deciding motivating
potential compared to skill variety, task identity, or task significance. Moreover, note how the job
characteristics interact with each other in this model. If someone’s job is completely lacking in autonomy (or
feedback), regardless of levels of variety, identity, and significance, the motivating potential score will be
very low.
Note that the five job characteristics are not objective features of a job. Two employees working in the
same job may have very different perceptions regarding how much skill variety, task identity, task
significance, autonomy, or feedback the job affords. In other words, motivating potential is in the eye of the
beholder. This is both good and bad news. The bad news is that even though a manager may design a job
that is supposed to motivate employees, some employees may not find the job to be motivational. The
good news is that sometimes it is possible to increase employee motivation by helping employees change
their perspective about the job. For example, employees laying bricks at a construction site may feel their
jobs are low in significance, but by pointing out that they are building a home for others, their perceptions
about their job may be changed.
Do all employees expect to have a job that has a high motivating potential? Research has shown that the
desire for the five core job characteristics is not universal. One factor that affects how much of these
characteristics people want or need is growth need strength. Growth need strength describes the
degree to which a person has higher order needs, such as self-esteem and self-actualization. When an
employee’s expectation from his job includes such higher order needs, employees will have high-growth
need strength, whereas those who expect their job to pay the bills and satisfy more basic needs will have
low-growth need strength. Not surprisingly, research shows that those with high-growth need strength
respond more favorably to jobs with a high motivating potential. [349] It also seems that an employee’s
career stage influences how important the five dimensions are. For example, when employees are new to
an organization, task significance is a positive influence over job satisfaction, but autonomy may be a
negative influence.[350]