What is the degree to which a job requires a variety of different activities?

Term
LG1- Describe the job characteristics model and evaluate the way it motivates by changing the work environment.Definition
Motivation by job design: the job characteristics model
-The job characteristics model: JCM: a model that proposes that any job can be described in terms of five core job dimensions: skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy and feedback.
o 1. Skill variety: the degree to which a job requires a variety of different activities
o 2. Task identity: the degree to which a job requires completion of a whole and identifiable piece of work
o 3. Task significance: the degree to which a job has a substantial impact on the lives or work of other people
o 4. Autonomy: the degree to which a job provides substantial freedom and discretion to the individual in scheduling the work and in determining the procedures to be used in carrying it out.
o 5. Feedback: the degree to which carrying out the work activities required by a job results in the individual obtaining direct and clear information about the effectiveness of his/her performance.
o Motivating potential score: MPS: a predictive index that suggests the motivating potential in a job. MPS=1/3(skills variety+ task identity + task significance) x autonomy x FeedbackTerm
LG2- Compare and contrast the thee main ways jobs can be redesigned.Definition
How can jobs be redesigned?
oJob rotation (cross-training): the periodic shifting of an employee from one task to another
Advantages
• A means of increasing flexibility and avoiding layoffs
• boredom, increases motivation through diversifying the employee’s activities, and helps employees better understand how their work contributes to the organization
• Management has more flexibility in scheduling work, adapting to changes, filling vacancies
Drawbacks:
• Training costs are increased
• Productivity is reduced by moving a worker into a new position just when efficiency at the prior job is creating organizational economies
oJob enlargement: increasing the number and variety of tasks that an individual performs. Job enlargement results in jobs with more diversity
Jobs with more diversity
oJob enrichment: the vertical expansion of jobs, which increases the degree to which the worker controls the planning, execution and evaluation of the work
 Increase of the employee’s freedom, independence, responsibility
 Provides feedback
 Combining tasks, forming natural work units, establishing client relationship, expanding job vertically, opening feedback channelsTerm
LG3- Identify three alternative work arrangements and show how they ight motivate employees.Definition
Flextime-flexible working hours
Advantages:Reduced absenteeism, increased productivity, reduced overtime expenses, reduced hostility toward management
Job sharing-an arrangement that allows two or more individuals to split a traditional 40-hour-a-week job
Advantages:Increases flexibility, draw on the talent of more than one individual in a given job
Teleworking-working from home at least two days a week on a telephone or computer that is linked to the employee’s office
Advantages:Increased productivity, decreased turn-over, less sick leave days, improved moral, larger pool of people
Ability and opportunity
Opportunity to perform: absence of obstacles that constrain the employee. High levels of performance are partially a function of the opportunity to perform.Term
LG4-Give examples of employee involvement measures and show how they can motivate employees.Definition
Employee involvement: A participative process that uses the input of employees and is intended to increase employee commitment to an organization’s success
- Examples of employee involvement programs
o Participative management: a process in which subordinates share a significant degree of decision-making power with their immediate superiors
o Representative management: a system in which workers participate in organizational decision making through a small group of representative employees
o Quality circles: a work group of employees who meet regularly to discuss their quality problems, investigate causes, recommend solutions, and take corrective actionsTerm
LG5- Demonstrate how different types of variable-pay programmes can increase employee motivation.Definition
1-What to pay: establishing a pay structure
o Balancing internal equity- the worth of the job to the organization (usually established through a technical process called job evaluation)- and external equity- the external competitiveness of an organization’s pay relative to pay elsewhere in its industry (usually established through pays surveys)
2-How to pay: rewarding individual employees through variable-pay programs
o Variable pay program: a pay plan that bases a portion of an employee’s pay on some individual and/or organizational measure of performance
o Piece-rate pay: a pay plan in which workers are paid a fixed sum for each unit of production completed
o Merit-based pay: a pay plan based on performance appraisal ratings
o Bonuses: a pay plan that rewards employees for recent performance rather than historical performance
o Skill-based pay: a pay plan that sets pay levels on the basis of how many skills employees have or how many jobs they can do
o Profit-sharing plans: an organization-wide program that distributes compensation based on some established formula designed around a company’s profitability
o Gain-sharing: a formula based group incentive plan
o Employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs): a company-established benefits plan in which employees acquire stock, often at below-market prices as part of their benefits
o Evaluation of variable pay
 Variable-pay programs increase motivation and productivity
4-Intrinsic rewards.Term
LG6- Show how flexible benefits turn benefits into motivatorsDefinition
3-Flexible benefits: developing a benefits package
o Flexible benefits: a benefits plan that allows each employee to put together a benefits package individually tailored to his/her own needs and situation
 If a woman with small children, then short hours, teleworking, child care or job sharing…

Is the degree to which a job requires completion?

What is skill variety in job design?

What does job enrichment include?

Which term refers to the degree that a job affects other people's lives or work?