Ch3. The Analysis and Design of Work

Question 1

Work Flow Design

Answer 1

(first, identify the outputs)
- Important in understanding how to bundle tasks into discrete jobs

• The process of analysing the tasks necessary for the production of a product or service, prior to allocating and assigning these tasks to a person

Question 2

Organization Structure

Answer 2

• Need to understand how jobs at different levels relate
• The relatively stable and formal network of vertical and horizontal interconnections among jobs that constitute the organization

Question 3

Work Flow Analysis

Answer 3

• Provides a means for managers to understand all tasks required to produce a high quality product and the skills necessary to perform those tasks

1. Analysing work outputs
   + Can be a product or service
   + Must specify standards for the quantity or quality of outputs
2. Analysing work processes
   + The activities that members of a work unite engage in to produce a given output
   + How is the output generated (operating procedures)?
   + Procedures include all tasks that must be performed by each person in the unit
   + Team based job design in: complex work or overloaded workload
   + Team based job design -> team bonus
   + Problem of team based job design: too reliable or disrupted member
   + Avoid production waste: unnecessary movement, overburdening people or machines, and inconsistent
   + Lean production: process to leverage technology, along with small numbers of flexible, well trained, and skilled personnel to produce more custom based products at less cost
   + “Batch work” methods: large groups of low skilled employees churn out long runs of identical mass products that are stored in inventories for later sale (tạo sản phẩm giống nhau hàng loạt)
3. Analysing work inputs
   + Raw materials: materials to be converted into the work unit’s product (Just-in-time inventory)
   + Equipment: technology and machinery to transform the raw materials into the product (Problem of “de-skilling” the work)
   + Human skills: lowest-cost employee who can do the work well

Question 4

Dimensions of structure (centralization: author, decentralization: function) (Organization structure)

Answer 4

+ Centralization: the degree to which decision making authority resides at the top of the organizational chart (vs decentralized)

+ Departmentalization: the degree to which work units are grouped based on functional similarity or similarity of work flow

Question 5

Job analysis information: job description

Answer 5

• A list of tasks, duties, and responsibilities (TDRs) that a job entails
• Need to be written broadly to avoid anyone saying “it is not my job”
• Not to unclear to avoid disagreement and conflict of what the job entails

Question 6

Job analysis information: job specification

Answer 6

A list of knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics ( that an individual must have to perform the job

+ Knowledge: the needed factual or procedural information for successfully performing a task (thực tế, thủ tục)

+ Skill: level of proficiency at performing a task

+ Ability: general enduring capability that an individual possesses (enduring: bền bỉ)

+ Characteristic: personality traits such as achievement motivation or persistence

Question 7

Sources of job analysis information

Answer 7

• Subject matter experts
• Job incumbent (công việc đương nhiệm)
• Supervisors
• Social networks

Question 8

Job analysis methods

Answer 8

• Observation
• Questionnaire
• Interview

Question 9

Dynamic Elements of Job Analysis

Answer 9

• Jobs change and evolve over time
  + The job analysis process must also detect changes in the nature of jobs
• De jobbing
  + Viewing organizations as a field of work needing to be done rather than a set of discrete jobs held by specific individuals

Question 10

The importance of job analysis

Answer 10

• Work redesign
• Human resource planning
• Selection
• Training and development
• Performance appraisal (đánh giá hiệu suất)
• Career planning
• Job evaluation

Question 11

The Importance of Job Analysis to Line Managers

Answer 11

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

Question 12

Job design

Answer 12

the process of defining how work will be performed and the tasks that will be required in a given job (Ex when the work does not yet exist)

Question 13

Job redesign

Answer 13

changing the tasks or the way work is performed in an existing job (Ex workloads within an existing work unit are increased)

Question 14

Mechanistic Approach (manual works)

Answer 14

• Has roots in classical industrial engineering
• The focus is identifying the simplest way to structure work that maximizes efficiency
• Designing jobs around the concepts of task specification, skill simplification, and repetition

Eg: Cook spaghetti:

• A washes tomatoes
• B cuts tomatoes
• C mins the onions
• > repeat the tasks

Question 15

Scientific Management

Answer 15

• One of the earliest and best known statements of the mechanistic approach
• Productivity could be maximized by taking a scientific approach to the process of designing jobs
• Workers are trained in the “one best way” to do a job, then selected on their ability to do the job
• Less dependent on individual workers
• Monetary incentives (mechanistic: doing simple tasks again and again -> boring -> need incentives)

Question 16

Motivational Approach (creative industry, marketing, service…)

Answer 16

• has roots in organizational psychology and management literature
• emerged as a reaction to mechanistic approaches to job design
• focuses on the job characteristics that affect psychological meaning and motivational potential
• views attitudinal variables (such as satisfaction) as the most important outcomes of job design
• focus on increasing the meaningfulness of jobs

Question 17

Motivational Approach: Job

Characteristics Model

Answer 17

Core job dimensions:
+ Skill Variety
+ Task Identity
+ Task significance

Critical Psychological States:
+ Experienced meaningfulness of the work
+ Experienced responsibility for outcomes of the work
+ Knowledge of the actual results of the work activities

Personal and Work Outcomes:
\+ High Internal Work Motivation
\+ High-quality Work Performance
\+ High satisfaction with the work
\+ Low absenteeism and turnover

Question 18

Job Characteristics Model

Answer 18

• skill variety: variety of skills required to perform the tasks
• task identity: what a job requires completing a whole piece of work from the beginning to end
• autonomy: the degree to which the job allows an individual to make decisions about the way work is done
• Feedback: clear information that one receives of performance effectiveness
• task significance important impact of the jobs

Question 19

Biological Approach (fire fighter, builders, pilot…)

Answer 19

• Come primarily from the study of body movements, also called ergonomics
• Examines the interface between individuals’ physiological characteristics and the physical work environment
• Applied to redesigning equipment for jobs that are physically demanding
• Aim to minimize physical strain on the worker by structuring the physical work environment around the way the human body works
• Redesigning the machines and technology to minimize occupational illnesses
• Provides a climate that values safety and health

Question 20

Perceptual Motor Approach (Hospitality, lecture, customer service - access many information)

Answer 20

• Focuses on human mental capabilities and limitations
• The goal is to design jobs in a way that ensures they do not exceed people’s mental capabilities and limitations
• Focus on improving reliability, safety, and user reactions by designing jobs to reduce their information processing requirements
• Based on the least capable worker
• Recent changes in technological capabilities create information processing errors:
  + Absence presence results when interacting with multiple media
  + External disruptions
  + “Hand off” of information error
• Situation - Background - Assessment - Recommendation method
• To standardize communication protocols at the hand off point

(Handoff points can be defined as, ‘points of. transfer or exchange of information, knowledge, and/or material)

Question 21

Divisional structures tend to be more flexible and innovative because of

Answer 21

their work-flow focus

(division: unstable environment, employees can make decisions on their own -> save time for unpredictable situations)
(functional: the top make decisions, when employees need to report to the top-level -> have to wait for the top to make decisions and deliver -> it takes time)

Question 22

Caroline has increasingly become more frustrated with her current job. She visits her HR department to discuss her skills and aspirations as she does not want to leave the company. HR recommends she complete

Answer 22

career planning

Question 23

Due to their work-flow focus and proximity to a homogeneous consumer base, divisional structures tend to be less flexible and innovative.

Answer 23

F

Question 24

More and more people use computers to do their work today. As a result, spelling, grammar, and math basic skills are decreasing

Answer 24

True

Question 25

The tasks performed as a part of job analysis

Answer 25

have a passive, information-gathering orientation.

Question 26

Which of the following questions should be addressed right after the inputs required for production have been established?

Answer 26

What tasks are required in the production of the output?

Question 27

source of information for job analysis

Answer 27

• Job incumbents
• Supervisors
• Subordinates customers

organizational charts, job announcements, position descriptions;

direct or indirect (e.g., review of video) observation;

input from management, employees and/or a relevant subject matter expert, obtained through interviews or via questionnaires.

Question 28

Daihi created a job posting with the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to perform the job. He will get qualified candidates to apply.

Answer 28

F

Question 29

source of information for job analysis (chắc chọn trade asso)

Answer 29

• Job incumbents, supervisors, subordinates customers
• Existing job descriptions
• Manager
• Current job incumbents
• Line managers
• The top management team
• The SMEs
• Online sources such as

organizational charts, job announcements, position descriptions;

direct or indirect (e.g., review of video) observation;

input from management, employees and/or a relevant subject matter expert, obtained through interviews or via questionnaires.

Question 30

job requirement

Answer 30

job requirement

Question 31

job requirement

Answer 31

job requirement

Question 32

Structural configurations

Answer 32

functional structure:
+ High levels of centralization
+ Very efficient with little redundancy (dư thừa)
+ Might have problems of subunit conflicts (xung đột strong đơn vị)

Question 33

divisional structure (product structure, geographic structure, client structure)

Answer 33

+ Low levels of centralization
+ More flexible and innovative
+ Not efficient

Question 34

Structure and the nature of jobs

Answer 34

+ Jobs in functional structures need to be narrow and highly specialized, little authority or responsibilities

+ Managers of divisional structures often need to be more experienced or high in cognitive ability relative to managers of functional structures

+ Problems might occur with tall and narrow’s organizational structure

+ Job analysis refers to the process of getting detailed information about jobs

+ It is important for organizations to understand and match job requirements and people to achieve high-quality performance