JOB DESIGN:Engagement, Disengagement, Social Information Processing, Motivation

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Organizational Psychology (PSY510)

LESSON 39

JOB DESIGN

While designing jobs, certain factors need to be taken into consideration to ensure that employees are

satisfied with their jobs. According to William Kahn, most previous views of job design take a static

view of dynamic organizational involvement. In other words, old theories consider a constant

behaviour from employees in terms of their motivation, involvement in job, and satisfaction from the

job. It should be taken into account that people's reactions to their jobs change from time to time. In

this regards, four factors need to be looked at:

1. Engagement

It may be defined psychological, physical and emotional involvement of people with their jobs.

Engagement can be created by three factors:

Meaningfulness of job: It is when the worker perceives his job to be useful and worthwhile.

Psychological Safety: It is when the worker sees to threat to his status, job or career.

Psychological Ability: It is when the worker perceives that he has the physical, psychological and

emotional resources to complete the job.

2. Disengagement

It can be describe by the statement "going through motions." It is the situation when the employee

detaches himself or herself from the job. People who are at a given moment personally disengaged

are emotionally distant, hiding what they think and feel to the point of stifling any sense of energy

or creativity that might be given to the job. Such conditions might be created by unsuitable

environmental factors.

3. Social Information Processing

People can look at the same job and evaluate id differently. The fact the people respond to their

jobs as they perceive them rather than to the objective jobs themselves is the central thesis of social

information processing (SIP) model. The SIP model argues that employees adopt attitudes and

behaviours in response to the social cues provided by others with whom they have contact. These

others can be co-workers, supervisors, friends, family members, or customers. A number of studies

generally confirm the validity of the SIP model. For instance, it has been shown that employee

motivation and satisfaction can be manipulated by such subtle actions as a co-worker or boss

commenting on the existence or absence of job features like difficulty, challenge, and autonomy. So

managers should give as much (or more) attention to employees' perceptions of their jobs as to the

actual characteristics of those jobs. They might spend more time telling employees how interesting

and important their jobs are. And managers should also not be surprised that newly hired

employees and people transferred or promoted to a new position are more likely to be receptive to

social information than those with greater seniority.

4. Motivation

Motivation of employees in a job ebbs and flows. People change on a daily basis showing different

levels of motivation and not being absolutely consistent in their behaviour. Various factors play

their role in changing level of motivation of employees.

Job Design must take all of the above mentioned factors into account.

Additional Considerations in Job Design

Following are some of the additional considerations that need to be taken into account while designing jobs:

1. Quality Of Work Life

It is a concept where managers pay attention to employee's empowerment and participation to bring

about an overall improvement in the organizational climate. It improves motivation. J. Lloyd Suttle

defined quality of work life as the "degree to which members of a work organization are able to satisfy

important personal needs through their experiences in the organization." Quality of work life programs

focus strongly providing a work environment conducive to satisfying individual needs. The emphasis on

improving life at work developed during the 1970s, a period of increasing inflation and deepening

recession. The development was rather surprising, because an expanding economy and substantially

increased resources are the conditions that usually induce top management to being people oriented

programs. Improving life at work was viewed by top management as means of improving productivity.

2. Socio Technical Design (Std)

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Organizational Psychology (PSY510)

The socio-technical design concept refers to mangers paying attention to creating a balance between

social and humanistic elements of the job and the technical, mechanical aspect of the job. The balance

improves motivation and performance. It is an approach to organization design in which the

organization is viewed as an open system structured to integrate the technical and social subsystems

into a single management system. The technical subsystems are the means by which inputs are

transformed into outputs while the social subsystem includes the interpersonal relationships that

develop among people in organizations. Employees learn one another's work habits, strengths,

weaknesses, and preferences while developing a sense of mutual trust.

3. High-Performance Work Practices (HPWP)

High performance work practices refer to reaching a fit between people, technology, information and

work. It is actually creating an organizational culture that supports organizational change to fit

employees' needs and organization's needs.

As the definition suggests, HPWPs must become a way of thinking about people, work, and

performance. In this vein, a total organizational culture must be devised, highlighting variable including

a focus on the organization's strategy, a systematic organizational design, encouragement of innovation,

measures of internal an external customer service, cooperation, teamwork, and a new organizational

value system. In addition, this culture supporting HPWPs incorporate higher levels of open

communication and trust, and leaders must be focused on both employees and the organization's

needs. Recent analyses have found the HPWPs are indeed positively related with both financial and

operation performance.

Goal Setting

Goal setting is a very useful method of enhancing employee performance. From a motivational perspective,

a goal is a desirable objective. Goals are used for two purposes in most organizations. First, they provide a

useful framework for managing motivation Managers and employees can set goals to help attain an overall

goal. Second gaols are an effective control device; control is monitoring by management of how well the

organization is performing. Comparing people's short-term performances with their gaols can be an

effective way to monitor the organization's long-run performance.

Social learning theory perhaps best describes the role and importance of goal setting in organizations. This

perspective suggests that feelings of pride or shame about performance are a function of the extent to

which people achieve their goals. A person who achieves a goal will be proud of having done so, whereas a

person who fails to achieve a goal will feel personal disappointment, and perhaps even shame. People's

degree of pride or disappointment is affected by their self-efficacy, the extent to which they feel they can

still meet their goals even if they failed to do so in the past.

Research in the past has shown nine important factors related to goal setting, all of which must be

considered while setting goals:

Goal Specificity: It is the clarity and precision of the goal. A goal of "increasing productivity" is not very

specific; a goal of "increasing productivity by 3 percent in the next six months" is quite specific. Some goals,

such as those involving costs, output, profitability, and growth, are readily specified. Other goals, such as

ethics, and socially responsible behaviour, are much harder to state in specific terms. Specificity has been

shown to be consistently related to performance. Specific goals set are more motivating than general goals

set by managers. Such goals generate higher commitment by employees.

Goal Difficulty: It is the extent to which a goal is challenging and requires effort. If people work to achieve

goals, it is reasonable to assume the will work harder to achieve more difficult goals. But goal must not be

do difficult that it is unattainable. If a new manager asks her sales force to increase sales by 300 percent, the

group may become disillusioned. A more realistic but still difficult goal--perhaps a 50 percent increase--

would be a better incentive. A substantial body of research supports the importance of gaol difficulty.

Feedback: Feedback is the degree to which an employee is given direct and clear information about the

effectiveness of his or her performance. Feedback can enhance goal achievement.

Timely feedback: Feedback to employees about performance needs to be complete, direct and timely. A

feedback provided at the end of the year may not be as effective as the one provided during the

performance. It may improve performance greatly.

Goal Acceptance: Goal acceptance is the extent to which a person accepts a gaol as her or her own while

goal commitment is the extent to which he or she is personally interested in reaching the goal.

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Organizational Psychology (PSY510)

Self efficacy: It is the extent to which an individual believes that her or she can accomplish the goal even if

he or she has failed in the past to do so. Employees high on self-efficacy set and achieve challenging goals.

Task complexity and quality: The more complex the task and the better quality the goals, the more the

chances of goals be achieved.

Benchmarking: It is a technique of goal setting which compares an organizational function with others

that are the best in the field, therefore setting standards for the employees to achieve.

Management by Objectives (MBO)

Management by objectives emphasizes participatively set goals that are tangible, verifiable, and measurable.

It is not a new idea. In fact, it was originally proposed by Peter Durcker more than 40 years ago as a means

of using goals to motivate people rather then to control them.

MBO consists of five steps:

Setting overall objectives

MBO's appeal undoubtedly lies in its emphasis on converting overall organizational objectives into

specific objectives for organization units and individual members. Setting the overall objectives for the

organization is the first step.

Developing the organization

The second step of MBO consists of developing the organization to achieve the objectives. In includes

leveraging necessary resources to reach the set goals, including human resources, financial resources,

etc.

Set individual goals

MBO operationalizes the concept of objectives by devising a process by which objectives cascade down

through the organization. The organization's overall objectives are translated into specific objectives for

each succeeding level in the organization. But because lower unit managers jointly participate in setting

their own goals, MBO works from the bottom up as well as from the top down. The result is a

hierarchy of objectives that links objectives at one level to those at the next level. And for the individual

employee, MBO provides specific personal performance objectives. Each person, therefore, has an

identified specific contribution to make to his or her unit's performance. If all the individuals achieve

their goals, then their unit's goals will be attained and the organization's overall objective become a

reality.

Periodic review

The next step in MBO after setting goals at all levels in the organization is to review periodically the

performance of all these levels and correct any deviations from these goals at any level.

Final feedback and appraisals

The final ingredient in an MBO program is feedback on performance. MBO seeks to give continuous

feedback on progress toward goals. Ideally, this accomplished by giving ongoing feedback to individuals

so they can monitor and correct their own actions. This is supplemented by periodic managerial

evaluations, when progress is reviewed. This applies at the top of the organization as well as the

bottom. Formal appraisal meetings also take place at which superiors and subordinates can review

progress toward goals and further feedback can be provided.

Effects and Hindrances

Some of the factors that hinder goal setting and their achievement are:

· Psychological resistance

Goals that are not psychologically acceptable by employees may result in causing the employees to

resist. Therefore, psychological resistance becomes a hindrance to setting effective goals.

· Higher goals with lower compensation

When employees are given challenging goals to achieve and they feel that they are not being adequately

compensated for these goals, they tend to react negatively towards goal achievement and it becomes a

hindrance for the organization.

· Restructuring

Restructuring of the organization might be demodulating for the employees and may cause a hindrance

in goal achievement.

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Organizational Psychology (PSY510)

Downsizing

Downsizing is a reduction in organizational workforce. It is also often demodulating for the employees

and might cause the goal achievement process to be hindered.

Reliance on temporary workers

Reliance on temporary workers is often a hindrance in goal setting since these employees can leave the

organization at critical times and might cause the goal achievement to be marred.

REFERENCES

Luthans, Fred. (2005). Organizational Behaviour (Tenth Edition). United States: McGraw Hill Irwin.

Mejia, Gomez. Balkin, David & Cardy, Rober. (2006). Managing Human Resources (Fourth Edition).

India: Dorling Kidersley Pvt. Ltd., licensee of Pearson Education in South Asia.

Robbins, P., Stephen. (1996). Organizational Behaviour (Seventh Edition). India: Prentice Hall, Delhi.

Huczynski, Andrzej & Buchanan, David. (1991). Organizational Behaviour: An Introductory Text

(Second Edition). Prentice Hall. New York.

Moorhead, Gregory & Griffin, Ricky. (2001). Organizational Behaviour (First Edition). A.I.T.B.S.

Publishers & Distributors. Delhi.

FURTHER READING

Goal-Setting Theory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goal-

Setting_Theory

Goal-Setting Theory: http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/goals.htm

Goal Setting Theory: http://www.people.vcu.edu/~mlwillia/10_10_00/index.htm

Motivation: Goal-Setting Theory and Equity Theory:

http://choo.fis.utoronto.ca/FIS/Courses/LIS1230/LIS1230sharma/motive5.htm

Personal goal setting information and resources: http://www.timethoughts.com/goal-setting.htm

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