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Human Behavior in Organization (HBO) How Can Jobs Be Redesigned?

MODULE No. 7 Let’s look at some of the ways that the JCM can
be put into practice to make jobs more
motivating.
More About Motivation: From
 Job Rotation. The periodic shifting of an
Concepts to Applications employee from one task to another.

Motivating by Changing the Nature of  Job Enlargement. Increasing the

number and variety of tasks that an
the Work Environment individual performs results in jobs with
more diversity.
Research on motivation is focused on
approaches that link motivation concepts to  Job Enrichment. The vertical expansion
changes in the way work is structured. of jobs, increasing the degree to which
the worker controls the planning,
Increasingly, research in job design provides execution, and evaluation of the work.
stronger evidence that the way the elements in a
job are organized can act to increase or Alternative Work Arrangements
decrease effort.

We’ll first review the job characteristics model  Flextime. Flexible work hours.
and then discuss some ways jobs can be
redesigned.  Job Sharing. An arrangement that
allows two or more individuals to split a
traditional 40-hour-a-week job.
The Job Characteristics Model
 Telecommuting. Refers to employees
Developed by J. Richard Hackman and Greg who do their work at home at least two
Oldham, the job characteristics model (JCM) days a week on a computer that is
proposes that any job can be described in terms linked to their office.
of five core job dimensions.

Job design. The way the elements in a job are Don’t Forget Ability and Opportunity
organized.
When you attempt to assess why an employee
Job characteristics model (JCM). A model may not be performing to the level that you
that proposes that any job can be described in believe he or she is capable, take a look at the
terms of five core job dimensions: skill variety, work environment to see if it’s supportive.
task identity, task significance, autonomy and
feedback.  Opportunity to perform. High levels of
performance are partially a function of
1. Skill variety. The degree to which the an absence of obstacle that constrain
job requires a variety of different the employee.
activities.
Employee Involvement
2. Task identity. The degree to which the
job requires completion of a whole and  Employee involvement. A participative
identifiable piece of work. process that uses the input of
employees and is intended to increase
3. Task significance. The degree to which employee commitment to the
the job has a substantial impact on the organization’s success.
lives or work of other people.
The underlying logic is that by involving workers
4. Autonomy. The degree to which the job in the decision that affect them and by
provides substantial freedom and increasing their autonomy and control over their
discretion to the individual in scheduling work lives, employees will become more
the work and in determining the motivated, more committed to the organization,
procedures to be used in carrying it out. more productive, and more satisfied with their
jobs.
5. Feedback. The degree to which
carrying out the work activities required Examples of Employee Involvement
by the job results in the individual Programs
obtaining direct and clear information
about the effectiveness of his or her  Participative Management. A process in
performance. which subordinates share a significant

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degree of decision-making power with  Gainsharing. A formula – based group

their immediate superiors. incentive plan.

 Representative participation. Workers  Employee Stock Ownership Plans.

participate in organizational decision (ESOP). Company-established benefit
making through a small group of plans in which employees acquire stock,
representative employees. often at below-market prices, as part of
their benefits.
 Quality circles. A work group of
employees who meet regularly to How to Pay : Rewarding Individual
discuss their quality problems, Employees Through Skill-Based Pay
investigate causes, recommend Plans.
solutions, and take corrective actions.
Organizations hire people for their skills, then
Rewarding Employees typically put them in jobs and pay them based
on their job title or rank.
In deciding what to pay employees, and how to
pay them, management must make some  Skill-based pay. A pay plan that sets
strategic decisions In this section, we consider pay levels on the basis of how many
four major strategic rewards decisions that need skills employees have or how many jobs
to be made: they can do.

What to Pay : Establishing a Pay Linking Skill-Based Pay Plans to

Structure Motivation Theories

There are many ways to pay employees. The Paying people to expand their skill levels is also
process of initially setting pay levels can be consistent with research on the achievement
rather complex and entails balancing internal need. High achievers have a compelling drive
equity – the worth of the job to the organization to do things better or more efficiently. By
(usually established through a technical process learning new skills or improving the skills they
called job evaluation) – and external equity – the already hold, high achievers will find their jobs
external competitiveness of an organization’s more challenging.
pay relative to pay elsewhere in it’s industry
(usually established through pay surveys). Skill-Based Pay in Practice

How to Pay : Rewarding Individual A number of studies have investigated the use
Employees Through Variable-Pay and effectiveness of skill-based pay. The overall
Programs conclusion, based on these studies, is that skill-
based pay is expanding and that it generally
Variable-pay program. A pay plan that bases a leads to higher employee performance,
portion of an employee’s pay on some individual satisfaction, and perceptions of fairness in pay
and/or organizational measure of performance. system.

Piece –rate plans, merit-based pay, bonuses, Flexible Benefits : Developing a Benefits
profit –sharing, gainsharing and employee stock Package
ownership plans are all forms of variable – pay
programs.  Flexible benefits. A benefits plan that
allows each employee to put together a
 Piece-Rate Pay. A pay plan in which benefit package individually tailored to
workers are paid a fixed sum for each his or her own needs and situation.
unit of production completed.
Intrinsic Rewards : Employees
 Merit-Based Pay. A pay plan based on Recognition Programs
performance appraisal ratings.
Employee recognition programs range from a
 Bonus. Pay program that rewards spontaneous and private “thank you” up to
employees for recent performance widely publicized formal programs where
rather than historical performance. specific types of behavior are encouraged and
the procedures for attaining recognition are
 Profit –sharing plan. An clearly identified.
organizationwide program that
distributes compensation based on
some established formula designed
around a company’s profitability.

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