L5 - Motivation and Job Design Flashcards
1
Q
How is Job Design defined?
A
the process of assigning tasks to a job, including the interdependency of those tasks with other jobs Bratton (2010)
2
Q
How is Job Redesign defined?
A
collective name given to techniques designed to increase one or more of the variety, autonomy and completeness of a person’s work tasks Arnold (2010)
3
Q
What was work like before the Industrial Revolution?
A
- Method –> Hand tools
- Location –> Home
- ownership/tools –>Tools owned by workers
- Output –> Low output, sold locally, manufactured to order
- work –> Worker manufactured the entire item
- Hours –> As many as the worker would and could, according to demand and season
- Dependence –> Multiple sources of sustenance: other employers, own garden, other labour
4
Q
What was work like after the Industrial Revolution?
A
- Method –> Machines
- Location –> Factory
- Ownership/tools –> Large scale - expensive machines owned by others
- Output –> High output, worldwide market, made in anticipation of demand
- Work –> Repetitive jobs, division of labour, Assembly line, workers stationary
- Hours –> Set daily hours - long days around the year
- Dependence –> Reliance on factory owners, Urban living made personal farming and gardening impractical
5
Q
What were the 5 principles of Frederick Taylor’s five principles of Scientific Management?
A
1- A clear division of tasks and responsibilities between management and workers.
2- Use of scientific methods to determine the best way of doing a job.
3- Scientific selection of the person to do the newly designed job.
4- The training of the selected worker to perform the job in the way specified.
5- Surveillance of workers through the use of hierarchies of authority and close supervision
6
Q
What was Taylor’s approach to ‘job design’?
A
- Perhaps the most prominent single element in modern scientific management is the task idea.
- The work of every workman is fully planned out by the management at least one day in advance, and each man receives in most cases complete written instructions, describing in detail the task which he is to accomplish, as well as the means to be used in doing the work.
- And the work planned in advance in this way constitutes a task which is to be solved, as explained above, not by the workman alone, but in almost all cases by the joint effort of the workman and the management.
- This task specifies not only what is to be done but how it is to be done and the exact time allowed for doing it. (Taylor, 1910)
The Principles of Scientific Management
7
Q
What is Theory X View of Workers (McGregor, 1960)?
A
- Theory X managers tend to take a pessimistic view of their people, and assume that they are naturally unmotivated and dislike work. As a result, they think that team members need to be prompted, rewarded or punished constantly to make sure that they complete their tasks.
- Work in organizations that are managed like this can be repetitive, and people are often motivated with a “carrot and stick” approach. Performance appraisals and remuneration are usually based on tangible results, such as sales figures or product output, and are used to control staff and “keep tabs” on them.
- According to McGregor, organizations with a Theory X approach tend to have several tiers of managers and supervisors to oversee and direct workers. Authority is rarely delegated, and control remains firmly centralized. Managers are more authoritarian and actively intervene to get things done.
- Although Theory X management has largely fallen out of fashion in recent times, big organizations may find that adopting it is unavoidable due to the sheer number of people that they employ and the tight deadlines that they have to meet.
8
Q
What does the style of management under theory X assume workers are like?
A
- Dislike their work.
- Avoid responsibility and need constant direction.
- Have to be controlled, forced and threatened to deliver work.
- Need to be supervised at every step.
- Have no incentive to work or ambition, and therefore need to be enticed by rewards to achieve goals.
9
Q
What are the downsides of theory X?
A
- Theory X style of management fosters a very hostile and distrustful atmosphere- An authoritarian organization requires many managers just because they need to constantly control every single employee, and the method of control usually involves a fair amount of threat and coercion.
- At times, an employer that is overly threatening will lead to dissatisfaction among employees, or they might even attempt to blame each other in order to save themselves from the threats.
- Conversely, Coercion might work better with the prospects of bigger rewards for more, but employees might purposely try to cheat or attempt to hide the truth itself. Also, employees might try to sabotage the efforts of each other in order to make it easier for them to achieve the rewards.
10
Q
What kinds of workplace or task appear to follow scientific management principles?
A
- Call centres
- Fast food
- Some student groups: when self-organising students can often veer towards greater authoritarianism. Some students placed in leadership roles direct, tell, control, rather than engaging the group in dynamic decision-making processes.
11
Q
How can people become ‘part of the machinery of the organisation?
A
“Machine minders”
- Increasing automation
- Deskilling (eg. call centres)
- Increasing use of shiftwork
- Total Quality Management
- Targets, audits, governance
- All these strategies are based on the idea:
- People can be shaped to become part of the machinery of the organization
Is this a bad thing???
12
Q
What is McDonaldisation (Ritzer, 1993)?
A
- In essence, McDonaldization is the process of rationalization, albiet taken to extreme levels. Rationalization is a sociological term that simply means the substitution of logically consistent rules for traditional (or illogical) rules. One of the fundamental aspects of McDonaldization is that almost any task can (and should) be rationalized.
- The process of McDonaldization takes a task and breaks it down into smaller tasks. This is repeated until all tasks have been broken down to the smallest possible level. The resulting tasks are then rationalized to find the single most efficient method for completing each task. All other methods are then deemed inefficient and discarded.
- The result is an efficient, logical sequence of methods that can be completed the same way every time to produce the desired outcome. The outcome is predictable. All aspects of the process are easily controlled. Additionally, quantity (or calculability) becomes the measurement of good performance.
13
Q
What are the 4 principles of McDonaldisation (Ritzer, 1993)?
A
- Efficiency –> The optimum method of completing a task. The rational determination of the best mode of production. Individuality is not allowed.
- Calculability –> Assessment of outcomes based on quantifiable rather than subjective criteria. In other words, quantity over quality. They sell the Big Mac, not the Good Mac.
- Predictability –> The production process is organized to guarantee uniformity of product and standardized outcomes. All shopping malls begin to look the same and all highway exits have the same assortment of businesses.
- Control –> The substitution of more predictable non-human labor for human labor, either through automation or the deskilling of the work force.
14
Q
What are the benefits of McDonaldisation (Ritzer, 1993)?
A
Benefits for the employer:
- Straightforward
- Measurable
- Clear
For the employee:
- As for the employer
- Also signals low expectations of them, so the employee may feel justified in thinking about other topics while working.
15
Q
What are the limitations of McDonaldisation (Ritzer, 1993)
A
Limitations for the employer:
- Hard to engage employees in problem-solving, decision-making
- May find it hard to gain the good will of employees in terms of flexibility about doing extra tasks
For the employee:
- No stretch
- No increased in interest – as it is the same task they repeat
- Limited collaboration with other employees
- Lack of opportunity to use their brain.
16
Q
What is the Job Characteristic model (Hackman and Oldman’s, 1980)?
A
- Hackman abd Oldman’s 1980
- The job characteristics model, designed by Hackman and Oldham, is based on the idea that the task itself is key to employee motivation.
- Specifically, a boring and monotonous job stifles motivation to perform well, whereas a challenging job enhances motivation. Variety, autonomy and decision authority are three ways of adding challenge to a job. Job enrichment and job rotation are the two ways of adding variety and challenge.
- It states that there are five core job characteristics hich impact three critical psychological states
- in turn influencing work outcomes (job satisfaction, absenteeism, work motivation, etc.).
- The five core job characteristics can be combined to form a motivating potential score (MPS) for a job, which can be used as an index of how likely a job is to affect an employee’s attitudes and behaviors.
17
Q
What are the 3 psychological states of the Job Characteristic model (Hackman and Oldman’s, 1980)?
A
- Meaningfulness of work:
- That labour has meaning to you, something that you can relate to, and does not occur just as a set of movements to be repeated. This is fundamental to intrinsic motivation, i.e. that work is motivating in an of itself (as opposed to motivating only as a means to an end). - Responsibility:
- That you have been given the opportunity to be a success or failure at your job because sufficient freedom of action has given you. This would include the ability to make changes and incorporate the learning you gain whilst doing the job. - Knowledge of outcomes:
- This is important for two reasons. Firstly to provide the person knowledge on how successful their work has been, which in turn enables them to learn from mistakes. The second is to connect them emotionally to the customer of their outputs, thus giving further purpose to the work (e.g. I may only work on a production line, but I know that the food rations I produce are used to help people in disaster areas, saving many lives).
