Chapter 11

Chapter 112 of the Top 3 Most Useful

Theories in Org BehaviorManaging Performance

through Job Design

and Goal Setting

Scientific Management A set of principles and practices designed to

increase the performance of individual workers by stressing job simplification and job specialization.

Job simplification: The breaking up of the work that needs to be performed in an organization into the smallest identifiable tasks.

Job specialization: The assignment of workers to perform small, simple tasks.

Time and motion studies: Studies that reveal exactly how long it takes to perform a task and the best way to perform it.

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Scientific Management in Practice Pay is the principal outcome used to

motivate workers to contribute their inputs. Piece-rate pay system

Scientific management focuses exclusively on extrinsic motivation and ignores the important role of intrinsic motivation.

Specific disadvantages: Workers may feel that they have lost control

over their work behaviors. Workers may feel as if they are part of a

machine and are treated as such. Workers have no opportunity to develop and

acquire new skills.

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Job Design When employees complain about job characte

ristics Background on Job Design

Job Rotation Job Enlargement New Challenges

Job Enrichment

Job Design(Continued)

Job Design(Continued)

Job Design(Continued)

Ways to Redesign Jobs

Combine tasks so that aworker is responsible fordoing a piece of work fromstart to finish.

Skill varietyTask identityTask significance

A production worker is responsible for assembling a whole bicycle, not just attachingthe handlebars.

Group tasks into natural workunits so that workers areresponsible for an entire setof important activities rather than just a part of them.

Task identityTask significance

A computer programmer handles allprogramming requests from one division instead of one type of request from severaldifferent divisions.

Allow workers to interact withcustomers or clients, and make workers responsible formanaging these relationshipsand satisfying customers.

Skill varietyAutonomyFeedback

A truck driver who delivers photocopiers notonly sets them up but also trains customers inhow to use them, handles customer billing, andresponds to customer complaints.

Vertically load jobs so thatworkers have more controlover their work activities andhigher levels of responsibility.

Autonomy A corporate marketing analyst not only preparesmarketing plans and reports but also decides when to update and revise them, checks them for errors, and presents them to upper management.

Open feedback channelsso that workers know howthey are performing theirjobs.

Feedback In addition to knowing how many claims he handlesper month, an insurance adjuster receives his clients’responses to follow-up questionnaires that hiscompany uses to measure client satisfaction.

Change Made Job Dim Inc Example

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Advice to Managers Realize that increasing subordinates’ intrinsic motivation

decreases your need to closely supervise subordinates and frees up your time for other activities.

To increase levels of intrinsic motivation and job satisfaction, increase levels of the five core dimensions.

Do not redesign jobs to increase levels of the five core dimensions if workers do not desire personal growth and development at work.

Before any redesign effort, make sure that workers are satisfied with extrinsic job outcomes. If workers are not satisfied with these factors, try to increase satisfaction levels prior to redesigning jobs.

Make sure that workers have the necessary skills and abilities to perform their jobs. Do not redesign jobs to increase levels of the core dimensions for workers whose skills and abilities are already stretched by their current jobs.

Periodically assess workers’ perceptions of the core dimensions of their jobs as well as their levels of job satisfaction and intrinsic motivation.

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International Perspectives on the Design of Work

The Japanese Approach Emphasizes strategic level Encourages collective and

cooperative working arrangements Emphasizes lean production

lean production

Using committed employees with ever-expanding responsibilities to achieve zero waste, 100% good product, delivered on time, every time

Lean Production

International Perspectives on the Design of Work

The German Approach Technocentric - placing technology

and engineering at the center of job design decisions (traditional German approach)

Anthropocentric - placing human considerations at the center of job design decisions (more recent German approach)

International Perspectives on the Design of Work

The Scandinavian Approach encourages high degrees of worker

control encourages good social support

systems for workers

The Distinguishing Feature of Job Design in the Future

Goal Setting Goal: What an individual is trying to

accomplish through his or her behavior and actions.

Goal Setting Theory: A theory that focuses on identifying the types of goals that are most effective in producing high levels of motivation and performance and why goals have these effects.

Goal setting can operate to enhance both intrinsic motivation (in the absence of any extrinsic rewards) and extrinsic motivation (when workers are given extrinsic rewards for achieving their goals).

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(Continued)

Goal Setting Major Dimensions of Goal Setting Research on the Impact of Goal Setting

The Importance of Specific Goals The Importance of Difficult and Challenging Goals Goal Acceptance, Participation, and Commitment Self-Efficacy and Goals Objective and Timely Feedback

Characteristics of Motivating Goals

SpecificitySpecificity Often quantitative

DifficultyDifficulty Should be hard but not impossible for most

workers to achieve AcceptabilityAcceptability

Especially important when managers set goals for subordinates

FeedbackFeedback So that workers know how well they are doing

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Specific, Difficult Goals Affect Motivation and Performance by: Directing workers’ attention and

action toward goal-relevant activities Causing workers to exert higher

levels of effort Causing workers to develop action

plans to achieve their goals Causing workers to persist in the

face of obstacles or difficulties

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Limits to Goal Setting TheoryThere are two circumstances under which setting specific, difficult goals will not lead to high motivation and performance: When workers lack the skills and

abilities needed to perform at a high level.

When workers are given complicated and difficult tasks that require all of their attention and require a considerable amount of learning.

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Goal Setting(Continued)

Management by Objectives (MBO)

A goal-setting process in which a manager meets with his or her supervisor to set goals and evaluate the extent to which previously set goals have been achieved.

Although less common, MBO can also be used as a motivational tool for nonmanagers.

Necessary characteristics for MBO success: Set goals should contribute to organizational

effectiveness. Goals should be specific and difficult. A certain amount of trust and rapport must exist

between managers and their supervisors.

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Goal Setting(Continued)

Advice to Managers1. Be sure that a worker’s goals are

specific and difficult, whether set by you, by the worker, or by both of you.

2. Express confidence in your subordinates’ abilities to attain their goals, and give subordinates regular feedback on the extent of goal attainment.

3. When workers are performing difficult and complex tasks that involve learning, do not set goals until the workers gain some mastery over the task.

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Questions