Parker & Knight 2024 Flashcards
What does the article propose?
the SMART work design model
integrative: Identifying and synthesizing key higher-order work characteristics derived from core organizational design decisions and psychological outcomes
multidimensional structure: provides nuance by allowing for broad- and specific constructs, subdimensions and their theorized interrelationships
empirical evidence
Why is there a need to develop contemporary work design models?
As time passes and the workplace changes, new challenges emerge.
-> 21st century challenges need to be adressed
eg.: technology replaces tasks and not whole jobs-> need to learn to work alongside AI
or how does workdesign need to be altered to facilitate the retention of older workers
-> aspects such as free will, identity and purpose need to be considered and not just economics-based logic
What do the authors see as a danger concerning the well developed (and extendend) job characteristics model (JCM)?
-more than 30 job characteristics have been identified
-> long checklists of characteristics
-> fear of loosing the bigger picture
-> SMART model is meant to simplify
What is the brief description of the statistical analysis used in the article?
firstly: higher order confirmatory factor analysis (CFA)
secondly: validity tests (linking the factors to the theoretically relevant outcomes of job satisfaction and performance)
Disadvantages of the JCM and how does the SMART model counteract them
JCM:
-restrictive bc it only focuses on 5 core motivational aspects of work design
->introduces 5 overarching factors of work characteristics (Stimulating, mastery, autonomous, relational, and tolerable)
-focuses only on motivational psychological outcomes
eg. exclusion of job demands and relational aspects of work design
-> captures 16 work characteristics, and includes not just work characteristics that are important for motivation but also those relevant to job strain, learning, and relational outcomes
- each work characteristic is unidimensional (e.g., assessing only one type of job autonomy).
-adopt a higher order, multidimensional approach that enables both nuance and synthesis
What does “The SMART model allows nuance” mean?
e.g., includes three types of job autonomy as subdimensions
importance: allows for fine-grained understanding, such as identifying when autonomy over work methods is more important than eg autonomy over work timing
What does “The SMART model allows synthesis” mean?
importance: because high levels of covari-ation among work characteristics have been observed in several studies
->question: are individual dimensions of work characteristics meaningfully distinct or in fact interchangeable, or even redundant, from each other, or whether they are part of a broader multidimen- sional concept
*Advantages of the SMART model *over the JD-R model
-categorizes work characteristics into job demands and job resource
->5 higher order categories of work characteristics (4 of which fit within the broad category of job resources) offer a stronger foundation for understanding different elements of work design
-multiple job demands and job resources in JD-R extend beyond work characteristics (e.g., leadership, safety climate)
->focuses only on work characteristics, ->each mapps onto key organizing conditions while being psychologically important and consistent with early scholarly definitions of work design
Advantages of the SMART model over Morgeson and Humphrey’s model
- identification of four overarching categories of work characteristics (motivational, knowledge, social, and contextual)
- > only tested a lower order clustering of work characteristics, for which they found no support
-SMART model found support for its proposed grouping *
-excludes job and role demands
->includes job and role demands*
How does the SMART model help HR?
-guides practice
-theoretical and evidence-based approach for which characteristic to focus on rather than an idyosyncratic approach
-helps with designing better quality work to help decrease employee burnout and disengagement
Tayloristic work approach
breaking tasks down in order to quickly train and replace them, very low autonomy form of work design (post industrial revolution jobs)
negative outcomes shed light on need for work design
Hackman and Lawler’s theory on work design
-based on expectancy theory
-people’s job satisfaction: depends on the extent to which they achieve the expected valued outcomes in their work
-Particular “work characteristics” : thought to foster job satisfaction (through mediating psychological pro- cesses)
->job autonomy was theorized to link to people’s sense of personal responsibility
->job feedback: presumed to create the feeling that one has accomplished something
->task variety, task identity, and task significance : -> meaningfulness.
This theorizing was codified into the JCM (which is still relevant tdy).
What is the focus of most of todays work design research?
-perceptions
-objective state of job characteristics is not the focus but how they are experienced by employees
demand–control model (DCM; Karasek, 1979)
-introduced concept of job demands
-introduced characteristic of social support
-> was expanded in to the JDR
JCM
-key work characteristics: predict an array of individual-level outcomes, (work stress, job satisfaction, performance, creativity, absenteeism, turnover, accidents)
-work meaningfulness (one of three mediators)
->most important psychological state linking each of the core work characteristics to outcomes like job satisfaction
How did Morgeson and Humphrey (2006) extend the JCM
-characterized more than 2o work characteristics in 4 categories
- task characteristics (reflecting the traditional motivation perspective focused on in the JCM)
- **knowledge characteristics ** (reflecting the knowledge, skills, and abilities that a job requires)
- social characteristics (reflecting the degree of support from others, interdependence, and interaction with others present within a job)
- contextual characteristics (reflecting physical conditions of the work environment, ergonomic aspects, physical demands, and equipment use)
In short, what do the JCM, DCM and JD-R look at?
how** work design** affects motivation (the JCM)
and *strain *(the DCM and JD-R)
Enriched work
-Karasek and Theorell (1990)
-can activate and foster employee learning
-eg.: job autonomy -> facilitates workers exploring
-> hence learning the best ways to manage demands.
->a focus on learning as a result of work design has gained traction
relational work design approach (Grant, 2007, 2008)
-expanded work design theory: highlighting social work characteristics beyond social support
-designing work so that employees connect with the beneficiaries of their work (e.g., clients, end users) enables people to meet their needs for connection to others (Ryan & Deci, 2000)
->highlights a further relational process by which work design enables satisfying work
There is a lot of research on work characteristics, but a challenge remains…
…which challenge is that?
-overlap in work characteristics
-what else is important beyond the 5 characteristics in the JCM
-how different work characteristics fit together
-which work characteristics should be in primary focus
-> the SMART model aims to answer these questions
Which 3 criteria should a new model of work design address?
- integrative (= should capture the key theoretical elements of work design)
- multidimensional (= allowing for broad as well as specific constructs, with theo- rized relationships among them, we assume that causality flows from the higher order category to the work characteristic, rather than work character- istics combining to “create” the construct)
- empirically testable
Why should the SMART design introduce 5 higher order categories of work characteristics?
-work design research traditionally focused on how well-structured work environments lead to psychological benefits for employees which in turn boosts their performance
-identification of five key categories -> framework that helps explain how these organizational and psychological elements are connected
how is a work design manifested
-Need for Work Design: Organizations must divide labor among multiple people to achieve overall goals.
-Division of Labor: Work is split into different tasks and responsibilities for different workers or departments.
-Integration of Efforts: After dividing tasks, there needs to be a way to coordinate and bring these efforts together.
-Organizational Design: This process of dividing and integrating tasks creates the overall organizational structure (e.g., departments).
-Work Design: At the individual level, this broader organizational structure shapes how specific jobs and tasks are designed and assigned to employees.
How does the model want to meet the criterion of being integrative?
The model links higher-order categories of work characteristics to both organizational design decisions and psychological aspects that impact employees.
