Module 3 SLP MGT 423 Job Redesign

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Table of Contents

6.1 Motivating Employees Through Job Design

L E A R N I N G O B J E C T I V E S

1. Learn about the history of job design approaches.

2. Consider alternatives to job specialization.

3. Identify job characteristics that increase motivating potential.

4. Learn how to empower employees.

Importance of Job Design

Many of us assume the most important motivator at work is pay. Yet, studies point to a different

factor as the major influence over worker motivation—job design. How a job is designed has a major

impact on employee motivation, job satisfaction, commitment to an organization, absenteeism, and

turnover.

The question of how to properly design jobs so that employees are more productive and more

satisfied has received attention from managers and researchers since the beginning of the 20th

century. We will review major approaches to job design starting from its early history.

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Figure 6.2

This Ford panel assembly

line in Berlin, Germany,

is an example of

specialization. Each

person on the line has a

different job.

© 2010 Jupiterimages

Corporation

Scientific Management and Job Specialization

Perhaps the earliest attempt to design jobs came during the era of scientific management. Scientific

management is a philosophy based on the ideas of Frederick Taylor as presented in his 1911 book,

Principles of Scientific Management. Taylor’s book is among the most influential books of the 20th

century; the ideas presented had a major influence over how work was organized in the following

years. Taylor was a mechanical engineer in the manufacturing industry. He saw work being done

haphazardly, with only workers in charge. He saw the inefficiencies inherent in employees’

production methods and argued that a manager’s job was to carefully plan the work to be performed

by employees. He also believed that scientific methods could be used to increase productivity. As an

example, Taylor found that instead of allowing workers to use their own shovels, as was the custom at

the time, providing specially designed shovels increased productivity. Further, by providing training

and specific instructions, he was able to dramatically reduce the number of laborers required to

handle each job.Taylor, F. W. (1911). Principles of scientific management. American Magazine, 71,

570–581. Wilson, F. M. (1999). Rationalization and rationality 1: From the founding fathers to

eugenics. Organizational Behaviour: A Critical Introduction. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Scientific management proposed a number of ideas that have been

influential in job design in the following years. An important idea was to

minimize waste by identifying the most efficient method to perform the

job. Using time–motion studies, management could determine how much

time each task would require and plan the tasks so that the job could be

performed as efficiently as possible. Therefore, standardized job

performance methods were an important element of scientific

management techniques. Each job would be carefully planned in advance,

and employees would be paid to perform the tasks in the way specified by

management.

Furthermore, job specialization was one of the major advances of this

approach. Job specialization entails breaking down jobs into their

simplest components and assigning them to employees so that each

person would perform a select number of tasks in a repetitive manner.

There are a number of advantages to job specialization. Breaking tasks

into simple components and making them repetitive reduces the skill

requirements of the jobs and decreases the effort and cost of staffing.

Training times for simple, repetitive jobs tend to be shorter as well. On the other hand, from a

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motivational perspective, these jobs are boring and repetitive and therefore associated with negative

outcomes such as absenteeism.Campion, M. A., & Thayer, P. W. (1987). Job design: Approaches,

outcomes, and trade-offs. Organizational Dynamics, 15, 66–78. Also, job specialization is ineffective

in rapidly changing environments where employees may need to modify their approach according to

the demands of the situation.Wilson, F. M. (1999). Rationalization and rationality 1: From the

founding fathers to eugenics. Organizational Behaviour: A Critical Introduction. Oxford, UK: Oxford

University Press.

Today, Taylorism has a bad reputation, and it is often referred to as the “dark ages” of management

when employees’ social motives were ignored. Yet, it is important to recognize the fundamental

change in management mentality brought about by Taylor’s ideas. For the first time, managers

realized their role in influencing the output levels of employees. The concept of scientific management

has had a lasting impact on how work is organized. Taylor’s work paved the way to automation and

standardization that is virtually universal in today’s workplace. Assembly lines where each worker

performs simple tasks in a repetitive manner are a direct result of job specialization efforts. Job

specialization eventually found its way to the service industry as well. One of the biggest innovations

of the famous McDonald brothers’ first fast-food restaurant was the application of scientific

management principles to their operations. They divided up the tasks so that one person took the

orders while someone else made the burgers, another person applied the condiments, and yet another

wrapped them. With this level of efficiency, customers generally received their order within one

minute.Spake, A. (2001). How McNuggets changed the world. U.S. News & World Report, 130(3), 54;

Business heroes: Ray Kroc. (2005, Winter). Business Strategy Review, 16, 47–48.

Rotation, Job Enlargement, and Enrichment

One of the early alternatives to job specialization was job rotation. Job rotation involves moving

employees from job to job at regular intervals. When employees periodically move to different jobs,

the monotonous aspects of job specialization can be relieved. For example, Maids International Inc., a

company that provides cleaning services to households and businesses, utilizes job rotation so that

maids cleaning the kitchen in one house would clean the bedroom in a different one.Denton, D. K.

(1994). …I hate this job. Business Horizons, 37, 46–52. Using this technique, among others, the

company is able to reduce its turnover level. In a supermarket study, cashiers were rotated to work in

different departments. As a result of the rotation, employees’ stress levels were reduced, as measured

by their blood pressure. Moreover, they experienced less pain in their neck and shoulders.Rissen, D.,

Melin, B., Sandsjo, L., Dohns, I., & Lundberg, U. (2002). Psychophysiological stress reactions,

trapezius muscle activity, and neck and shoulder pain among female cashiers before and after

introduction of job rotation. Work & Stress, 16, 127–137.

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Job rotation has a number of advantages for organizations. It is an effective way for employees to

acquire new skills and in turn for organizations to increase the overall skill level of their

employees.Campion, M. A., Cheraskin, L., & Stevens, M. J. (1994). Career-related antecedents and

outcomes of job rotation. Academy of Management Journal, 37, 1518–1542. When workers move to

different positions, they are cross-trained to perform different tasks, thereby increasing the flexibility

of managers to assign employees to different parts of the organization when needed. In addition, job

rotation is a way to transfer knowledge between departments.Kane, A. A., Argote, L., & Levine, J. M.

(2005). Knowledge transfer between groups via personnel rotation: Effects of social identity and

knowledge quality. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 96, 56–71. Rotation

may also have the benefit of reducing employee boredom, depending on the nature of the jobs the

employee is performing at a given time. From the employee standpoint, rotation is a benefit, because

they acquire new skills that keep them marketable in the long run.

Is rotation used only at lower levels of an organization? Anecdotal evidence suggests that companies

successfully rotate high-level employees to train managers and increase innovation in the company.

For example, Nokia uses rotation at all levels, such as assigning lawyers to act as country managers or

moving network engineers to handset design. This approach is thought to bring a fresh perspective to

old problems.Wylie, I. (2003, May). Calling for a renewable future. Fast Company, 70, 46–48. Wipro

Ltd., India’s information technology giant that employs about 80,000 workers, uses a 3-year plan to

groom future leaders of the company by rotating them through different jobs.Ramamurti, R. (2001).

Wipro’s chairman Azim Premji on building a world-class Indian company. Academy of Management

Executive, 15, 13–19.

Job enlargement refers to expanding the tasks performed by employees to add more variety. By

giving employees several different tasks to be performed, as opposed to limiting their activities to a

small number of tasks, organizations hope to reduce boredom and monotony as well as utilize human

resources more effectively. Job enlargement may have similar benefits to job rotation, because it may

also involve teaching employees multiple tasks. Research indicates that when jobs are enlarged,

employees view themselves as being capable of performing a broader set of tasks.Parker, S. K. (1998).

Enhancing role breadth self-efficacy: The roles of job enrichment and other organizational

interventions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 83, 835–852. There is some evidence that job

enlargement is beneficial, because it is positively related to employee satisfaction and higher quality

customer services, and it increases the chances of catching mistakes.Campion, M. A., & McClelland,

C. L. (1991). Interdisciplinary examination of the costs and benefits of enlarged jobs: A job design

quasi-experiment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 76, 186–198. At the same time, the effects of job

enlargement may depend on the type of enlargement. For example, job enlargement consisting of

adding tasks that are very simple in nature had negative consequences on employee satisfaction with

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the job and resulted in fewer errors being caught. Alternatively, giving employees more tasks that

require them to be knowledgeable in different areas seemed to have more positive effects.Campion,

M. A., & McClelland, C. L. (1993). Follow-up and extension of the interdisciplinary costs and benefits

of enlarged jobs. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78, 339–351.

Job enrichment is a job redesign technique that allows workers more control over how they

perform their own tasks. This approach allows employees to take on more responsibility. As an

alternative to job specialization, companies using job enrichment may experience positive outcomes,

such as reduced turnover, increased productivity, and reduced absences.McEvoy, G. M., & Cascio, W.

F. (1985). Strategies for reducing employee turnover. Journal of Applied Psychology, 70, 342–353;

Locke, E. A., Sirota, D., & Wolfson, A. D. (1976). An experimental case study of the successes and

failures of job enrichment in a government agency. Journal of Applied Psychology, 61, 701–711. This

may be because employees who have the authority and responsibility over their work can be more

efficient, eliminate unnecessary tasks, take shortcuts, and increase their overall performance. At the

same time, there is evidence that job enrichment may sometimes cause dissatisfaction among certain

employees.Locke, E. A., Sirota, D., & Wolfson, A. D. (1976). An experimental case study of the

successes and failures of job enrichment in a government agency. Journal of Applied Psychology, 61,

701–711. The reason may be that employees who are given additional autonomy and responsibility

may expect greater levels of pay or other types of compensation, and if this expectation is not met

they may feel frustrated. One more thing to remember is that job enrichment is not suitable for

everyone.Cherrington, D. J., & Lynn, E. J. (1980). The desire for an enriched job as a moderator of the

enrichment-satisfaction relationship. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 25, 139–

159; Hulin, C. L., & Blood, M. R. (1968). Job enlargement, individual differences, and worker

responses. Psychological Bulletin, 69, 41–55. Not all employees desire to have control over how they

work, and if they do not have this desire, they may become frustrated with an enriched job.

Job Characteristics Model

The job characteristics model is one of the most influential attempts to design jobs with increased

motivational properties.Hackman, J. R., & Oldham, G. R. (1975). Development of the job diagnostic

survey. Journal of Applied Psychology, 60, 159–170. Proposed by Hackman and Oldham, the model

describes five core job dimensions leading to three critical psychological states, resulting in work-

related outcomes.

Figure 6.3

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The Job Characteristics Model has five core job dimensions.

Source: Adapted from Hackman, J. R., & Oldham, G. R. (1975). Development of the job diagnostic survey.

Journal of Applied Psychology, 60, 159–170.

Skill variety refers to the extent to which the job requires a person to utilize multiple high-level

skills. A car wash employee whose job consists of directing customers into the automated car wash

demonstrates low levels of skill variety, whereas a car wash employee who acts as a cashier, maintains

carwash equipment, and manages the inventory of chemicals demonstrates high skill variety.

Task identity refers to the degree to which a person is in charge of completing an identifiable piece

of work from start to finish. A Web designer who designs parts of a Web site will have low task

identity, because the work blends in with other Web designers’ work; in the end it will be hard for any

one person to claim responsibility for the final output. The Web master who designs an entire Web

site will have high task identity.

Task significance refers to whether a person’s job substantially affects other people’s work, health,

or well-being. A janitor who cleans the floors at an office building may find the job low in significance,

thinking it is not a very important job. However, janitors cleaning the floors at a hospital may see

their role as essential in helping patients get better. When they feel that their tasks are significant,

employees tend to feel that they are making an impact on their environment, and their feelings of self-

worth are boosted.Grant, A. M. (2008). The significance of task significance: Job performance effects,

relational mechanisms, and boundary conditions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93, 108–124.

Autonomy is the degree to which a person has the freedom to decide how to perform his or her

tasks. As an example, an instructor who is required to follow a predetermined textbook, covering a

given list of topics using a specified list of classroom activities, has low autonomy. On the other hand,

an instructor who is free to choose the textbook, design the course content, and use any relevant

materials when delivering lectures has higher levels of autonomy. Autonomy increases motivation at

work, but it also has other benefits. Giving employees autonomy at work is a key to individual as well

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as company success, because autonomous employees are free to choose how to do their jobs and

therefore can be more effective. They are also less likely to adopt a “this is not my job” approach to

their work environment and instead be proactive (do what needs to be done without waiting to be told

what to do) and creative.Morgeson, F. P., Delaney-Klinger, K., & Hemingway, M. A. (2005). The

importance of job autonomy, cognitive ability, and job-related skill for predicting role breadth and job

performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90, 399–406; Parker, S. K., Wall, T. D., & Jackson, P.

R. (1997). “That’s not my job”: Developing flexible employee work orientations. Academy of

Management Journal, 40, 899–929; Parker, S. K., Williams, H. M., & Turner, N. (2006). Modeling

the antecedents of proactive behavior at work. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91, 636–652; Zhou, J.

(1998). Feedback valence, feedback style, task autonomy, and achievement orientation: Interactive

effects on creative performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 83, 261–276. The consequence of

this resourcefulness can be higher company performance. For example, a Cornell University study

shows that small businesses that gave employees autonomy grew four times more than those that did

not.Davermann, M. (2006, July). HR = Higher revenues? FSB: Fortune Small Business, 16, 80–81.

Giving employees autonomy is also a great way to train them on the job. For example, Gucci’s CEO

Robert Polet points to the level of autonomy he was given while working at Unilever PLC as a key to

his development of leadership talents.Gumbel, P. (2008). Galvanizing Gucci. Fortune, 157(1), 80–88.

Autonomy can arise from workplace features, such as telecommuting, company structure,

organizational climate, and leadership style.Gajendran, R. S., & Harrison, D. A. (2007). The good, the

bad, and the unknown about telecommuting. Meta-analysis of psychological mediators and individual

consequences. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92, 1524–1541; Garnier, G. H. (1982). Context and

decision making autonomy in the foreign affiliates of U.S. multinational corporations. Academy of

Management Journal, 25, 893–908; Lyon, H. L., & Ivancevich, J. M. (1974). An exploratory

investigation of organizational climate and job satisfaction in a hospital. Academy of Management

Journal, 17, 635–648; Parker, S. K. (2003). Longitudinal effects of lean production on employee

outcomes and the mediating role of work characteristics. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88, 620–

634.

Feedback refers to the degree to which people learn how effective they are being at work. Feedback

at work may come from other people, such as supervisors, peers, subordinates, and customers, or it

may come from the job itself. A salesperson who gives presentations to potential clients but is not

informed of the clients’ decisions, has low feedback at work. If this person receives notification that a

sale was made based on the presentation, feedback will be high.

The relationship between feedback and job performance is more controversial. In other words, the

mere presence of feedback is not sufficient for employees to feel motivated to perform better. In fact,

a review of this literature shows that in about one-third of the cases, feedback was detrimental to

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performance.Kluger, A. N., & DeNisi, A. (1996). The effects of feedback interventions on performance:

A historical review, a meta-analysis, and a preliminary feedback intervention theory. Psychological

Bulletin, 119, 254–284. In addition to whether feedback is present, the sign of feedback (positive or

negative), whether the person is ready to receive the feedback, and the manner in which feedback was

given will all determine whether employees feel motivated or demotivated as a result of feedback.

According to the job characteristics model, the presence of these five core job dimensions leads

employees to experience three psychological states: They view their work as meaningful, they feel

responsible for the outcomes, and they acquire knowledge of results. These three psychological states

in turn are related to positive outcomes such as overall job satisfaction, internal motivation, higher

performance, and lower absenteeism and turnover.Brass, D. J. (1985). Technology and the

structuring of jobs: Employee satisfaction, performance, and influence. Organizational Behavior and

Human Decision Processes, 35, 216–240; Humphrey, S. E., Nahrgang, J. D., & Morgeson, F. P.

(2007). Integrating motivational, social, and contextual work design features: A meta-analytic

summary and theoretical extension of the work design literature. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92,

1332–1356; Johns, G., Xie, J. L., & Fang, Y. (1992). Mediating and moderating effects in job design.

Journal of Management, 18, 657–676; Renn, R. W., & Vandenberg, R. J. (1995), The critical

psychological states: An underrepresented component in job characteristics model research. Journal

of Management, 21, 279–303. Research shows that out of these three psychological states,

experienced meaningfulness is the most important for employee attitudes and behaviors, and it is the

key mechanism through which the five core job dimensions operate.

Are all five job characteristics equally valuable for employees? Hackman and Oldham’s model

proposes that the five characteristics will not have uniform effects. Instead, they proposed the

following formula to calculate the motivating potential of a given job:Based on Hackman, J. R., &

Oldham, G. R. (1975). Development of the job diagnostic survey. Journal of Applied Psychology, 60,

159–170.

Equation 6.1

MPS = ((Skill Variety + Task Identity + Task Significance) ÷ 3) × Autonomy × Feedback

According to this formula, autonomy and feedback are the more important elements in deciding

motivating potential compared to skill variety, task identity, or task significance. Moreover, note how

the job characteristics interact with each other in this model. If someone’s job is completely lacking in

autonomy (or feedback), regardless of levels of variety, identity, and significance, the motivating

potential score will be very low.

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Note that the five job characteristics are not objective features of a job. Two employees working in the

same job may have very different perceptions regarding how much skill variety, task identity, task

significance, autonomy, or feedback the job affords. In other words, motivating potential is in the eye

of the beholder. This is both good and bad news. The bad news is that even though a manager may

design a job that is supposed to motivate employees, some employees may not find the job to be

motivational. The good news is that sometimes it is possible to increase employee motivation by

helping employees change their perspective about the job. For example, employees laying bricks at a

construction site may feel their jobs are low in significance, but by pointing out that they are building

a home for others, their perceptions about their job may be changed.

Do all employees expect to have a job that has a high motivating potential? Research has shown that

the desire for the five core job characteristics is not universal. One factor that affects how much of

these characteristics people want or need is growth need strength. Growth need strength describes

the degree to which a person has higher order needs, such as self-esteem and self-actualization. When

an employee’s expectation from his job includes such higher order needs, employees will have high-

growth need strength, whereas those who expect their job to pay the bills and satisfy more basic needs

will have low-growth need strength. Not surprisingly, research shows that those with high-growth

need strength respond more favorably to jobs with a high motivating potential.Arnold, H. J., & House,

R. J. (1980). Methodological and substantive extensions to the job characteristics model of

motivation. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 25, 161–183; Hackman, J. R., &

Lawler, E. E. (1971). Employee reactions to job characteristics. Journal of Applied Psychology, 55,

259–286; Hackman, J. R., & Oldham, G. R. (1975). Development of the job diagnostic survey. Journal

of Applied Psychology, 60, 159–170; Oldham, G. R., Hackman, J. R., & Pearce, J. L. (1976).

Conditions under which employees respond positively to enriched work. Journal of Applied

Psychology, 61, 395–403. It also seems that an employee’s career stage influences how important the

five dimensions are. For example, when employees are new to an organization, task significance is a

positive influence over job satisfaction, but autonomy may be a negative influence.Katz, R. (1978).

Job longevity as a situational factor in job satisfaction. Administrative Science Quarterly, 23, 204–

223.

OB Toolbox: Increase the Feedback You Receive: Seek It!

If you are not receiving enough feedback on the job, it is better to seek it instead of trying to

guess how you are doing. Consider seeking regular feedback from your boss. This also has

the added benefit of signaling to the manager that you care about your performance and want

to be successful.

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Be genuine in your desire to learn. When seeking feedback, your aim should be improving

yourself as opposed to creating the impression that you are a motivated employee. If your

manager thinks that you are managing impressions rather than genuinely trying to improve

your performance, seeking feedback may hurt you.

Develop a good relationship with your manager. This has the benefit of giving you more

feedback in the first place. It also has the upside of making it easier to ask direct questions

about your own performance.

Consider finding trustworthy peers who can share information with you regarding your

performance. Your manager is not the only helpful source of feedback.

Be gracious when you receive feedback. If you automatically go on the defensive the first

time you receive negative feedback, there may not be a next time. Remember, even if

receiving feedback, positive or negative, feels uncomfortable, it is a gift. You can improve your

performance using feedback, and people giving negative feedback probably feel they are

risking your good will by being honest. Be thankful and appreciative when you receive any

feedback and do not try to convince the person that it is inaccurate (unless there are factual

mistakes).

Sources: Adapted from ideas in Jackman, J. M., & Strober, M. H. (2003, April). Fear of feedback.

Harvard Business Review, 81(4), 101–107; Wing, L., Xu, H., Snape, E. (2007). Feedback-seeking

behavior and leader-member exchange: Do supervisor-attributed motives matter? Academy of

Management Journal, 50, 348–363; Lee, H. E., Park, H. S., Lee, T. S., & Lee, D. W. (2007).

Relationships between LMX and subordinates' feedback-seeking behaviors. Social Behavior &

Personality: An International Journal, 35, 659–674.

Empowerment

One of the contemporary approaches to motivating employees through job design is empowerment.

The concept of empowerment extends the idea of autonomy. Empowerment may be defined as the

removal of conditions that make a person powerless.Conger, J. A., & Kanungo, R. N. (1988). The

empowerment process: Integrating theory and practice. Academy of Management Review, 13, 471–

482. The idea behind empowerment is that employees have the ability to make decisions and perform

their jobs effectively if management removes certain barriers. Thus, instead of dictating roles,

companies should create an environment where employees thrive, feel motivated, and have discretion

to make decisions about the content and context of their jobs. Employees who feel empowered believe

that their work is meaningful. They tend to feel that they are capable of performing their jobs

effectively, have the ability to influence how the company operates, and can perform their jobs in any

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way they see fit, without close supervision and other interference. These liberties enable employees to

feel powerful.Spreitzer, G. M. (1995). Psychological empowerment in the workplace: Dimensions,

measurement, and validation. Academy of Management Journal, 38, 1442–1465; Thomas, K. W., &

Velthouse, B. A. (1990). Cognitive elements of empowerment: An “interpretive” model of intrinsic

task motivation. Academy of Management Review, 15, 666–681. In cases of very high levels of

empowerment, employees decide what tasks to perform and how to perform them, in a sense

managing themselves.

Research has distinguished between structural elements of empowerment and felt empowerment.

Structural empowerment refers to the aspects of the work environment that give employees

discretion, autonomy, and the ability to do their jobs effectively. The idea is that the presence of

certain structural factors helps empower people, but in the end empowerment is a perception. The

following figure demonstrates the relationship between structural and felt empowerment. For

example, at Harley-Davidson Motor Company, employees have the authority to stop the production

line if they see a blemish on the product.Lustgarten, A. (2004). Harley-Davidson. Fortune, 149(1), 76.

Leadership style is another influence over experienced empowerment.Kark, R., Shamir, B., & Chen, G.

(2003). The two faces of transformational leadership: Empowerment and dependency. Journal of

Applied Psychology, 88, 246–255. If the manager is controlling, micromanaging, and bossy, chances

are that empowerment will not be possible. A company’s structure has a role in determining

empowerment as well. Factories organized around teams, such as the Saturn plant of General Motors

Corporation, can still empower employees, despite the presence of a traditional hierarchy.Ford. R. C.,

& Fottler, M. D. (1995). Empowerment: A matter of degree. Academy of Management Executive, 9,

21–29. Access to information is often mentioned as a key factor in empowering employees. If

employees are not given information to make an informed decision, empowerment attempts will fail.

Therefore, the relationship between access to information and empowerment is well established.

Finally, empowering individual employees cannot occur in a bubble, but instead depends on creating

a climate of empowerment throughout the entire organization.Seibert, S. E., Silver, S. R., & Randolph,

W. A. (2004). Taking empowerment to the next level: A multiple-level model of empowerment,

performance, and satisfaction. Academy of Management Journal, 47, 332–349.

Figure 6.4

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The empowerment process starts with structure that leads to felt empowerment.

Source: Based on the ideas in Seibert, S. E., Silver, S. R., & Randolph, W. A. (2004). Taking empowerment to

the next level: A multiple-level model of empowerment, performance, and satisfaction. Academy of

Management Journal, 47, 332–349; Spreitzer, G. M. (1995). Psychological empowerment in the workplace:

Dimensions, measurement, and validation. Academy of Management Journal, 38, 1442–1465; Spreitzer, G. M.

(1996). Social structural characteristics of psychological empowerment. Academy of Management Journal, 39,

483–504.

Empowerment of employees tends to be beneficial for organizations, because it is related to outcomes

such as employee innovativeness, managerial effectiveness, employee commitment to the

organization, customer satisfaction, job performance, and behaviors that benefit the company and

other employees.Ahearne, M., Mathieu, J., & Rapp, A. (2005). To empower or not to empower your

sales force? An empirical examination of the influence of leadership empowerment behavior on

customer satisfaction and performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90, 945–955; Alge, B. J.,

Ballinger, G. A., Tangirala, S., & Oakley, J. L. (2006). Information privacy in organizations:

Empowering creative and extrarole performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91, 221–232; Chen,

G., Kirkman, B. L., Kanfer, R., Allen, D., & Rosen, B. (2007). A multilevel study of leadership,

empowerment, and performance in teams. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92, 331–346; Liden, R. C.,

Wayne, S. J., & Sparrowe, R. T. (2000). An examination of the mediating role of psychological

empowerment on the relations between the job, interpersonal relationships, and work outcomes.

Journal of Applied Psychology, 85, 407–416; Spreitzer, G. M. (1995). Psychological empowerment in

the workplace: Dimensions, measurement, and validation. Academy of Management Journal, 38,

1442–1465. At the same time, empowerment may not necessarily be suitable for all employees. Those

individuals with low growth strength or low achievement need may not benefit as strongly from

empowerment. Moreover, the idea of empowerment is not always easy to implement, because some

managers may feel threatened when subordinates are empowered. If employees do not feel ready for

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empowerment, they may also worry about the increased responsibility and accountability. Therefore,

preparing employees for empowerment by carefully selecting and training them is important to the

success of empowerment interventions.

OB Toolbox: Tips for Empowering Employees

Change the company structure so that employees have more power on their jobs. If jobs are

strongly controlled by organizational procedures or if every little decision needs to be

approved by a superior, employees are unlikely to feel empowered. Give them discretion at

work.

Provide employees with access to information about things that affect their work. When

employees have the information they need to do their jobs well and understand company

goals, priorities, and strategy, they are in a better position to feel empowered.

Make sure that employees know how to perform their jobs. This involves selecting the right

people as well as investing in continued training and development.

Do not take away employee power. If someone makes a decision, let it stand unless it

threatens the entire company. If management undoes decisions made by employees on a

regular basis, employees will not believe in the sincerity of the empowerment initiative.

Instill a climate of empowerment in which managers do not routinely step in and take over.

Instead, believe in the power of employees to make the most accurate decisions, as long as

they are equipped with the relevant facts and resources.

Sources: Adapted from ideas in Forrester, R. (2000). Empowerment: Rejuvenating a potent idea.

Academy of Management Executive, 14, 67–79; Spreitzer, G. M. (1996). Social structural

characteristics of psychological empowerment. Academy of Management Journal, 39, 483–504.

K E Y TA K E AWAY

Job specialization is the earliest approach to job design, originally described by the work of

Frederick Taylor. Job specialization is efficient but leads to boredom and monotony. Early

alternatives to job specialization include job rotation, job enlargement, and job enrichment.

Research shows that there are five job components that increase the motivating potential of a

job: Skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback. Finally,

empowerment is a contemporary way of motivating employees through job design. These

approaches increase worker motivation and have the potential to increase performance.

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E X E R C I S E S

1. Is job rotation primarily suitable to lower level employees, or is it possible to use it at

higher levels in the organization?

2. What is the difference between job enlargement and job enrichment? Which of these

approaches is more useful in dealing with the boredom and monotony of job

specialization?

3. Consider a job you held in the past. Analyze the job using the framework of the job

characteristics model.

4. Does a job with a high motivating potential motivate all employees? Under which

conditions is the model less successful in motivating employees?

5. How would you increase the empowerment levels of employees?

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