Foundations of Management

job sitmPlification The process of reducing the

number of tasks that each

worker performs.

job enlargement lncreasing

the number of dlfferent tasks

in a given job bY changing the

division of labor.

Chapler -len

Managersofeveryorganizationmustanalyzetherangeoftaskstobeperformedandthen create jobs that best al1ow the organization

to glve customefs the goods and selvices they want'

Indecidinghowtoassigntaskstoindividualjobs,however,managersmustbecarefulnotto take iob simplification, ,"n. pro..r, of reducing

the number of tasks that each worker performs'

too far.1e Too much job simplihcation may ,Jdott efhciency rathef than increase it if workers

findtheirsimplifiedjobsboringandmonotonous,becomedemotivatedandunhappy,andasa result, Perform at a low level'

Job Enlargement and Job Enrichment In an attempt to create a division of labor and design

individual jobs to encourage workers

to perform at a higher level and be more satisfied *itt'l tt-ttit work' several researchers have

proposedwaysotherthanjobsimpiifrcation-tog,ouptasksintojobs:jobenlargementandjob enrichment

:t-;"Xilr*-*emt is increasing the number of different.tasks in 1ql]TlXi:':t1f i:

,rJ;i",:i:i':;?T:1;'Fo, .*u.p1., because Subwav food servers make the food as well as

T1-^:l^- L^Linrl inh

:::,:'il'il:ifi#;i. #;Jffi;; ti"l"i'""' 'coonuto's

rood servers rhe idea behind job .-.:11 -^,l.,na ?.^tprlnm

::;H'J[l'l # ;.': ;:;- ;; ;; ; "i"'t' p "r:'*,: 1-:1 :.: " *:: J:i::*,T,'^"J :1"# ;1fl::[.li*";:ffifi:;;'; *".i;,; io o.'roi11' " n1*n T]:511',::?::1-":*li:::il; l.iliil1i:1H,i#ffi ;;;;;;.'provided,n'.1':Tl1ltr";Y3i:1'*,'.1-":1, i: il[ ;,"J;:;; ;;;; i, n al fa st_fo o d c hai.n has m a d e a. c ommrli:l: :" ..ilt'^,::::T:r

*' ffi ilffi., . J.i,r.r f"c.,.ut. orders at lightning speed to the delight

of its customers'

MANAGEMENT INSIGHT

Pal's Sudden Service Takes Training SeriouslY Morethan60yearsago,Fred..Pal,,Bargerstartedafast-foodrestaurantthatfocused on the usual fare of burgers, fries, hot dogs'

and shakes' Headquartered in Kingsport'

Tennessee, pa1,s Suddei Service has 2g l0cations in and around the Kingsport area

and other towns in southwest Virginia'2l

WhatmakesPal,sSuddenServiceuniqueisitsdevotiontospeed,accuracy,hiring' and training. The fast-tood chain is not

your typical eatery. There is no sit-down service

at its restaurants. customers drive up to a window, place their orders face-to-face with

an employee, pull around to the other side of the building' take their food' and drive

off_inanaverageof30seconds,whichisfourtimesfasterthanthesecortd-fas/esrquick. serve restaurant chain in the country'22 Not only

is Pal's

fast, but its pinpoint accuracy is astounding' According

to the company, Pa1's employees make only 1 mistake in

Employee i:a 'inq s a big part of the success story at Pal's Sud-

denService.-l.necrlve-lhrueateryisknownforitsquick,aCCurate service, with cusicmeT order and plckup experiences

lasting

an average of 30 seconds. Employees undergo more than 1 20

hours of iraining before ihey are a Lovred to work on their own

iilCarol M. Highsmirh Bulenlarge Gertl Images

every 3,600 orders.23

On. ,"uron for the company's success is its hrring

and training process Pal's employs approximately 1'100

workers, 909'" of whom work part time and 40% of whom

are teenagers between the ages of 16 and 18' The com-

pany has-created and fine-tuned a screening system to

irut ut. candidates, which is a survey of agree/disagree ,,u,.*.nr, based on the attitudes and attributes of Pa1's

top performers.2a-'Orr.. employees have been hired' they are immersed

in more than 120 hours of training before they are allowedtoworkontheirown,andtheymustbecertified in each of the jobs they perform' But that's not

enough'

j** enrl*h*:e::t lncreasing the degree of responsibility a worker has over his or herjob

llana!;rE Crgeriiz.rtronal 3trr.r.t!ri-e . i. ,l-

Every day on every work shift in every restaurant, the Training Tracker soli\\ are s] sre::. randomly generates the names of two to four employees to be recertified in their to'r, tasks, much like taking a pop quiz as part of your work. If an employee fails the rest. he or she gets retrained before doing the job again. According to the company. the aver- age employee gets tested two or three times a month. Thom Crosby, Pal's presideni- CEO, believes that managers are educators and responsible for coaching and trainlng employees as part of their daily routine. In fact, it is Pal's policy that every manager (including the CEO) must identify a coaching and training target they engage witir eyery day to discuss a relevant topic.25

Pal's Sudden Service was the first restaurant company of any size to win the presti- gious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, whlch recognizes business excellence, innovation, and leadership. As a result of this award in 2001, the company created its Business Excellence Institute as a way to share its best practices with other compa- nies, including 3M, The Coca-Cola Company, Boston Market, YN4CA, and Siemens.26 Quick and accurate orders, exceptional customer service, and intensive training for all employees continue to be the recipe for success at Pal's Sudden Service.

,fut l':t:'itill'rlc';ll is increasing the degree of responsibility a worker has over a job by, for exam- ple, ( 1 ) empowerhg workers to experiment to find new or better ways of doing the job, (2) encour- aghg workers to develop new skills, (3) allowing workers to decide how to do the work and giving them the responsibility lor decidilg how to respond to unexpected situations, and (4) allowing workers to monitor and measure their own performance.zT The idea behind job enrichment is that increasing workers' responsibility increases their involvement in their jobs and, thus, improves their interest in the quality of the goods they make or the services they provide.

In general. managers who make design choices that increase job enrichment and job enlarge- ment are likely 1s ilcrease the degree to which people behave flexibly rather than rigidly or mechan- ically. Narrow. specialized jobs are likely to lead people to behave in predictable ways; workers who perform a variety oftasks and who are allowed and encouraged to discover new and better ways to petform their jobs are likely to act flexibly and creatively. Thus, managers who enlarge and enrich jobs create a flexible organizational structure, and those who simplify jobs create a more formal structure. If workers are grouped into self-managed work teams. the organization is Iikely to be flexible because team members provide suppolt for each other and can learn from one another.

The Job Characteristics Model J. R. Hackman and G. R. Oldham's job characteristics model is an influential model of job design that explains in detail how managers can make jobs more interesting and motivating.2s Hackman and Oldham's model also describes the likely personal and organizational outcomes that will result from enriched and enlargedjobs.

According to Hackman and Oldham. every job has five characteristics that determine hou' motivating the job is. These characteristics determine how employees react to their work and lead to outcomes such as high performance and satislaction and low absenteeism and turnover:

Skill varietv: The extent to which a job requires that an employee use a wide range of dii ferent skills, abilities, or knowledge. Example: The ski1l variety required b-v the job ol .t research scientist is higher than that called for by the job of a Burger King food server.

Task identifi,: The extent to which a job requires that a worker perform all the tasks recl.- sar).to complete the job, from the beginning to the end of the production process. E:r.::'- p1e: A craltslvorker who takes a piece of wood and transforms it into il clrstor-t1-lt;.-ii l::r has higher task identity than does a worker who performs only one of the nur::e: -.. ::-r. tions required to assemble a flat-screen TV.

Th.sltsigttificctirce. The degree to which a worker feels his or her job rs :::e. of its effect on people inside the organization. such as cog'orkers. ,: ::- the organization. such as customers. Erample: A teacher uho see: ::': :'

ChaPter Tefi

effortsinawell-educatedandwell-adjustedstudentenjoyshlghtasksignificancecompared to a dishwasher who monotonously washes dishes

as they come to the kitchen'

*Auton|my:Thedegreetowhichajobgivesanemployeethefreedomanddiscretionneeded toscheduledifferenttasksanddecidehowtocalrythemout.Example:Salespeoplewho have to plan their schedules and decide how

to allocate their time among different custom-

ershaverelativeiyhighautonomycomparedtoassemblylineworkers,whoseactionsare determined by the speed of the production iine'

a L.eedback,The extent to which actually doing a job provides a worker with clear and direct

l.nformationabouthowwellheorshehasperformedthejob.Example:Anairtrafficcon- rol1er whose mistakes may result in a midair collision

receives immediate feedback on job

performance, a person who compiles statistics for a business magaz\te often has litt1e idea

of when he makes a mistake or does a particularly good job'

Hackman and oldham argue that these five job characteristics affect an employee's motiva-

tion because they affect three critical psychological states' The more that employees feel that

their work is meaningftrl and that they are responsible for work outcomes and responsible for

knoving how those oLttcomes alfect others, the more motivating work becomes and the more

Likely employees are to be satished and to perform at a high level. Moreover, employees who

havejobsthatarehighlymotivatingarecalledontousetheirskiilsmoreandtoperformmole tasks. and thsy are given more resplnsibility for

doing the job. A11 of the foregoing are charac-

teristic of jobs and employees in ne^iule structures where authority is decentralized and where

emplol,ees commoniy work with others and must learn new skills to complete the range of

tasks lor u'hich their group is responsible'

Groupinerobsfl,:fffiT*riffi -,.{:#ii::}{J3";#t#xi*:}ffi intoFunctions**-'.'i,".T:T;"f ;:.-,h:^;^:,::;,:;::,,,H1:ii".,:':H,i?,T'i1.; andDivisions:;Tffi ;***it*l:i-"T:T'ffi :J::Lll3J&"fi ;:ffi :,'ffi:;

Designingil#ll#:",:*:n"*x;ilff HilllL,lLimiHTffi J1:

organLzaii;;,^rffiiili'*,tr-**ii1#;:furum:#t*ltn: Structureh",""#tr,'tr**f.:::f ffi ;ffi"-'ff;;T:li:T.l?T:I"ffi ::ii

ates effective from ineffective managers and creates a high-performing organization'

LgtS"3 Describe the tyPes of

organizaiional

s'rruciures managers

can design, and

explain whY iheY

choose one structure

over another.

functional structure An

organizational struciure

composed of all the dePari-

ments that an organization

requires to Produce its goods

cr services.

Functional Structure AJunctionisagroupofpeople,workingtogether,whopossesssimilarskillsorusethesamekind

of knowledge, tools, o, i.Jniqo., to p.iror* their jobs. Manufacturing, sales, and research

and development are olten organized into functional departments' A functional structure is

an organizational structure coitpored of all the departments that an organization requires to

produceitsgoodsorservices.Figurel0.2showsthefunctionalstructurethatPierllmpotls, a home furnishings company, uses to supply its customers

with a range of goods from around

the world to satisfy thei;desires for new and innovative products'2e

Within Pier 1,s organizational structure, the main functions include finance and administra-

tion, merchandising (purchasing the goods), g1oba1 sourcing (managing the vendors who sup-

p1-vthegoods),marketirrgandsales,planningandallocations(managingcreditandproduct distribution), and human resources. Each

job inside a function exists because it helps the func-

tion perform the activities necessary for high organizationai performance' Thus' within the mar-

kethg function are all ,t"r. jot, necessary to efficiently advertise Pier 1',s products to increase

theirappealtocustomers-lsuchaspromotion,digitalmedia,andvisualcommunication)'