Because learning changes everything.

Chapter 4
The Analysis and Design
of Work

Human Resource Management

Gaining A Competitive Advantage
THIRTEENTH EDITION
Raymond Noe, John Hollenbeck, Barry
Gerhart, Patrick Wright

© 2023 McGraw Hill, LLC. All rights reserved. Authorized only for instructor use in the classroom. No reproduction or further distribution permitted without the prior written consent of McGraw Hill, LLC.
 Learning Objectives
4-1 Analyze an organization’s structure and work-flow
process, identifying the output, activities, and inputs in
the production of a product or service.
4-2 Understand the importance of job analysis in strategic
human resource management.
4-3 Choose the right job analysis technique for a variety of
human resource activities.
4-4 Identify the tasks performed and the skills required in a
given job.
4-5 Understand the different approaches to job design.
4-6 Comprehend the trade-offs among the various
approaches to designing jobs.
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 Introduction
There is no “one best way” to design jobs and structure
organizations.
Organizations need to create a fit between environment,
competitive strategy, and philosophy and its jobs and
organizational design.
Failing to design effective organizations and jobs has
important implications for competitiveness.

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 Work-Flow Analysis and Organization
Structure 1

Work-Flow Design:
• Important in understanding how to bundle tasks into discrete
jobs.

Organization Structure:
• Need to understand how jobs at different levels relate.

LO 4-1
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 Work-Flow Analysis and Organization
Structure 2

Work-Flow Analysis:
• A means to understand all tasks required to produce high-quality
products, and the skills necessary to perform those tasks.

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 Figure 4.1 Developing a Work–Unit Activity
Analysis

Access the text alternative for slide images.

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 Work-Flow Analysis and Organization
Structure 3

Work-Flow Analysis
• Analyzing work outputs:
• Can be a product or service.

• Must also specify standards for quantity or quality of outputs:

• Can create challenges for how to efficiently process inputs to generate

outputs.

• Must decided whether to produce whole output or just parts.

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 Work-Flow Analysis and Organization
Structure 4

Work-Flow Analysis
• Analyzing work processes:
• Determine how output is generated (operating procedures).

• Team-based job design.

• Efficiency experts can improve work-flow processes.

• Lean production.

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 Employee Motivation
This job may look tedious or possibly even uninteresting.
Considering how to engage employees in seeing the benefits
of their work outside of the lab is an important way to
motivate them through their day.

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 Work-Flow Analysis and Organization
Structure 5

Work-Flow Analysis
• Analyzing work inputs:
• Raw materials.

• Just-in-time inventory.

• Equipment.

• Technology improves human operators.

• Human skills.

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 Work-Flow Analysis and Organization
Structure 6

Organization Structure
• Dimensions of structure:
• Centralization.

• Departmentalization.

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 Work-Flow Analysis and Organization
Structure 7

Organization Structure
• Structural configurations:
• Functional structure.

• High levels of centralization.

• Very efficient with little redundancy.

• Divisional structure.

• Low levels of centralization.

• More flexible and innovative.

• Not efficient.

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 Figure 4.2 The Functional Structure

Access the text alternative for slide images.

© McGraw Hill, LLC SOURCE: Adapted from J. A. Wagner and J. R. Hollenbeck, Organizational Behavior: Securing Competitive Advantage, 3rd ed. (New York: Prentice Hall, 19 98). 13
 Figure 4.3 Divisional Structure: Product
Structure

Access the text alternative for slide images.

© McGraw Hill, LLC SOURCE: Adapted from J. A. Wagner and J. R. Hollenbeck, Organizational Behavior: Securing Competitive Advantage, 3rd ed. (New York: Prentice Hall, 19 98). 14
 Figure 4.4 Divisional Structure:
Geographic Structure

Access the text alternative for slide images.

© McGraw Hill, LLC SOURCE: Adapted from J. A. Wagner and J. R. Hollenbeck, Organizational Behavior: Securing Competitive Advantage, 3rd ed. (New York: Prentice Hall, 19 98). 15
 Figure 4.5 Divisional Structure: Client
Structure

Access the text alternative for slide images.

© McGraw Hill, LLC SOURCE: Adapted from J. A. Wagner and J. R. Hollenbeck, Organizational Behavior: Securing Competitive Advantage, 3rd ed. (New York: Prentice Hall, 19 98). 16
 Work-Flow Analysis and Organization
Structure 8

Organization Structure
• Variations in an organization’s structure:
• Keep subunits small.

• Divisional structures more flexible and innovative but not very

efficient.
• May not make decisions in best interests of the company.

• In functional structures, there can be a disconnect between

perceived needs of front-line workers and management.
• Little opportunity for self-cannibalization or rogue units.

• Most appropriate in stable, predictable environments.

• “Middle-of-the-road” approach.
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 Work-Flow Analysis and Organization
Structure 9

Organization Structure
• Structure and the nature of jobs:
• Jobs in functional structures need to be narrow and highly
specialized.

• Managers of divisional structures often need to be more

experienced or high in cognitive ability relative to managers of
functional structures.

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 Job Analysis 1

The Importance of Job Analysis:

• Work redesign.

• Human resource planning.

• Selection.

• Training and development.

• Performance appraisal.

• Career planning.

• Job evaluation.

LO 4-2
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 Job Analysis 2

The Importance of Job Analysis to Line Managers:

• Must have detailed information about all jobs in work group to
understand work-flow process.
• Need to understand the job requirements to make intelligent
hiring decisions.
• Are responsible for ensuring each individual is performing
satisfactorily.
• Must ensure work is being done safely.

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 Job Analysis 3

Job Analysis Information:

• Nature of information.
• Job descriptions.

• Tasks, duties, and responsibilities (T DRs).

• Need effective balance between breadth and specificity.

• Job specifications.

• Knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (K SAOs).

• Not directly observable.

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 Job Analysis 4

Job Analysis Information:

• Sources of job analysis information.
• Subject-matter experts.

• Job incumbent.

• Supervisors.

• Social networks.

• Other sources may be customers, external job analysts.

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 Figure 4.6 Social Network within an
Organization

Replace
with social
network
vs. org
chart
diagrams
and
slides.

Access the text alternative for slide images.

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 Job Analysis 5

Job Analysis Methods:

• Position Analysis Questionnaire (P AQ).
• Information input.

• Mental processes.

• Work output.

• Relationships with other persons.

• Job context.

• Other characteristics.

LO 4-3
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 Table 4.2 Overall Dimensions of the
Position Analysis Questionnaire
Dimensions of Position Analysis Questionnaire:
• Decision/communication/general responsibilities.
• Clerical/related activities.
• Technical/related activities.
• Service/related activities.
• Regular day schedule versus other work schedules.
• Routine/repetitive work activities.
• Environmental awareness.
• General physical activities.
• Supervising/coordinating other personnel.
• Public/customer/related contact activities.
• Unpleasant/hazardous/demanding environment.
• Nontypical work schedules.

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 Job Analysis 6

Job Analysis Methods

• The Occupational Information Network (O*NET).
• Uses a common language that generalizes across jobs to describe
abilities, work styles, work activities, and work context required for
various occupations.

• Criticized for being poorly coordinated and redundant and laced

with jargon that is difficult for nonspecialists to understand.

• Accurately describes requirements for jobs.

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 Job Analysis 7

Dynamic Elements of Job Analysis:

• Jobs change and evolve over time.
• Job analysis process must also detect changes in nature of jobs.

• “Jobs” being replaced by “gigs.”

• Workers act as private contractors.

LO 4-4
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 Job Design 1

It is the process of defining how work will be performed and

tasks required in a given job.
• Job redesign.
• Changing tasks or way work is performed in existing job.

• Four basic approaches:

1. Mechanistic.

2. Motivational.

3. Biological.

4. Perceptual-motor.

LO 4-5 & LO 4-6

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 Job Design 2

Mechanistic Approach:
• Identify simplest way to structure work to maximize efficiency.

• Scientific management.
• Workers are trained in the “one best way” to do job, then selected
on their ability to do the job.

• Monetary incentives.

• Reduces need for high-ability individuals.

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 Job Design 3

Mechanistic Approach:
• Focuses on psychological and motivational potential of a job.

• Attitudinal variables are most important.

• Job Characteristics Model.

• Skill variety.
• Task identity.
• Autonomy.
• Feedback.
• Task significance.

• Job gentrification.
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 Job Design 4

Biological Approach:
• Goal is to minimize physical strain by structuring the physical
work environment around how the body works.
• Also called ergonomics.

• Applied to redesigning equipment for jobs that are physically

demanding.
• Sitting or standing for long periods can be damaging.

• Has positive psychological effects by providing climate that

values safety and health.

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 Job Design 5

Perceptual-Motor Approach:
• Design jobs that don’t exceed people’s mental capabilities and
limitations.
• Information overload can detract from performance.
• Absence presence results when interacting with multiple media.

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Key Definitions
Talent Engagement – the extent to which employees feel passionate about their
jobs, are committed to the organization, and put discretionary effort into their work.
Job Enrichment – a management concept that involves redesigning jobs so that
they are more challenging to the employee and have less repetitive work often by
allowing greater autonomy, greater meaningfulness and greater engagement.
Job Enlargement - an increase in job tasks and responsibilities through horizontal
expansion, which means that the tasks added are at the same level as those in the
current position. NOTE: This is often counter to but disguised as, job enrichment.
Meaningful Work – work that has three key characteristics: 1) Work that we
experience as having “significance and purpose”; 2) Work that contributes to our
broader sense of meaning in life; and 3)Work that enables us to “make a positive
contribution to the greater good.”

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“For, in the end, it is impossible to
have a great life unless it is a
meaningful life. And it is very
difficult to have a meaningful life
without meaningful work.”
- Jim Collins

“You can only become truly

accomplished at something you
love. Don’t make money your only
goal. Instead pursue the things you
love doing and then do them so
well that people can’t take their
eyes off of you.
– Maya Angelou

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The Triple
Bottom Line:
Pathway to
Purpose?

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Meaningful Work Has Purpose and Fosters Engagement

How important is it
for you to find work
that meets this
definition of
purpose?

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 “Super Seven” Career Success
Dimensions Increased competency and growth via continuous NOTE: 5C conducted in-
depth, longitudinal
informal
learning on-the-job and/or qualitative and
4 formal training and quantitative research
education
into what career success
Founding one’s own means to workers from
5 Improved balance blue collar to managerial
enterprise or being able 3 between work and non-
to invent and develop roles in more than a
work relationships, dozen industries from
one’s own projects, activities and interests
products, or services, participants from these
etc. within the work 34 countries: Australia,
context Austria, Belgium, Brazil,
Canada, China,
6 Colombia, Costa Rica,
Steadily making 2
Helping others in one’s Finland, France,
more money,
social environment and/or Germany, Greece, India,
wealth, incentives,
having a positive legacy and Israel, Italy, Japan,
and perks
impacts on a community or Korea, Malaysia,
7 society more broadly Mexico, Netherlands,
1
Being able to Nigeria, Norway,
consistently provide the basic Philippines, Portugal,
Gratifying work relationships as Russian Federation,
necessities for living
signified by enjoying working with Serbia, Slovakia,
people who you respect and Slovenia, South Africa,
admire Spain, Thailand, Turkey,
© Dr. Rick Cotton, Gustavson School of Business 2023. All rights UK, and USA.
reserved.

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 But, can you truly achieve
purpose without
engagement?

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Sometimes managers view engagement as a privelege…

“It’s not the sort of morale booster I had in

mind.”
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And lack of engagement as a surprise…

If you're a cowboy, and you're

dragging a guy behind your
horse, I bet it would really make
you mad if you looked back and
the guy was reading a magazine.
What is Talent Engagement… really?

Head Heart Hands

Rational Emotional Behavioural

Career & Values Align Ambassador,
Financial with Peers, Initiative,
Goals Manager Persistence,
Achieved and Discretionar
Leadership y Effort
4
1

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Q 12 – Gallup’s
Engagement Survey

12 engagement
questions Gallup
has found to be
most associated
with individual
and group
performance.
Q12 is
administered
annually to 25M
employees in 189
countries.

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Q 12 – Gallup’s Engagement Survey
More engaged organizational groups show these improvements when
comparing engagement levels for the top 25% of organizational groups
in Gallup’s Q12 database to the bottom 25%:

↑22% higher profitability

↑10% higher customer ratings
↓41% lower in quality defects
↓48% lower in safety incidents
↓37% lower in absenteeism

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Engagement Increases with Belief in Survey Follow-Up
100% 89%
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40% 32%
Engagement
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The Job Characteristics
Model (JCM)

Source: Modified based on Hackman & Oldham (1980).

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 JCM - Key Definitions
Job Characteristic Definition
Skill Variety The degree to which a job requires a variety of different activities and
involves the use of a number of different skills and talents.

Task Identity The degree to which a job requires completion of a “whole” and identifiable
piece of work – that is, doing a job from beginning to end with a visible
outcome.
Task Significance The degree to which the job has a substantial impact on the lives of other
people, whether those people are in the immediate organization or in the
external environment.

Autonomy The degree to which the job provides substantial freedom, independence,
and discretion in scheduling one’s work and in determining how to do the
work.
Job Feedback The degree to which carrying out the work activities required by the job
provides the individual with direction and clear information about his or her
performance.

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Primary Job Enrichment Strategies
Enrichment Strategy Definition

Vertical Loading Giving employees responsibilities and tasks that were formerly reserved
for managers. Primary Impact: Autonomy.

Natural Grouping Having each employee complete entire jobs or projects. Primary Impacts:
Skill Variety, Task Identity, Task Significance.

Formation of Natural Combining similar individual jobs into the same natural work unit be it by
Teams geography, business type, customer group, etc. Primary Impact: Task
Identity, Task Significance.
Opening Feedback Designing jobs to provide as much (useful) feedback as possible from the
Channels job itself, customers, supervisors, or coworkers. Primary Impact:
Feedback.
Establishing Client Having the person doing the job come into contact with the recipient of the
Relationships service. Primary Impacts: Feedback, Skill Variety, Task Significance,
Autonomy.

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Calculating a Job’s Motivating Potential Score (MPS)

A cool way to conceptualize the motivating

potential of a job… that holds merit for job
design and redesign.

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Now You Try….
1. For today’s class, we are going to calculate a Job’s
Motivating Potential Score (MPS) using the
JCM/MPS Worksheet.
2. Use the worksheet sent by email to calculate the
MPS score and to come up with job design
improvement strategies.

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MPS Norm Scores by Job Characteristic and Job Role
MPS Norms from meta-analysis of 6,930 employees holding 876 jobs in 56 organizations on 7 point Likert
scale.

Mean
MPS =
112.09

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 But beyond good job
design, how important is
getting employee input to
achieving talent
engagement?

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“We asked the employees for more
feedback, but after reprimanding those
who spoke up, none was forthcoming.”

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And Don’t Forget Job Crafting!!
Job Crafting – what employees do to redesign their own jobs in ways that
foster engagement at work, job satisfaction, resilience, and thriving.

What did you find thought-provoking or interesting about the Amy

Wrzesniewski video?

What are the benefits and downsides of job crafting to you?

 Five Different Kinds of Job Crafting

The reality is that job crafting is happening all the time as it brings out interests
and strengths. Please share an example of how you crafted a job
or………….maybe should’ve but didn’t!!

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 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oh9KcabY_rg

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 Learning Objectives
4-1 Analyze an organization’s structure and work-flow
process, identifying the output, activities, and inputs in
the production of a product or service.
4-2 Understand the importance of job analysis in strategic
human resource management.
4-3 Choose the right job analysis technique for a variety of
human resource activities.
4-4 Identify the tasks performed and the skills required in a
given job.
4-5 Understand the different approaches to job design.
4-6 Comprehend the trade-offs among the various
approaches to designing jobs.
© McGraw Hill, LLC 56
© McGraw Hill, LLC 57