Annotated Bibliography – Impact of Technology on Job Design
Joshua Anderson
June 17, 2023
BUSI610: Organizational Design and Structure
Dr. Matasha Murrell Jones
Awada, M., Becerik-Gerber, B., Liu, R., Seyedrezaei, M., Lu, Z., Xenakis, M., Lucas, G., Roll,
S. C., & Narayanan, S. (2023). Ten questions concerning the impact of environmental
stress on office workers. Building and Environment, 229, 109964.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2022.109964
There are many factors to take into account when designing a job. Introducing any of these
factors brings about a certain level of stress. It is important for the job designer to attempt to
limit as much stress as they are able to, thereby ensuring that the employee does not suffer too
greatly. Keeping a job as simple as it can be will often help in that situation. Many times, though,
a job can only be simplified so far. It is in these instances that the job designer understands where
stress can be eliminated and avoided in other situations. When there is too much stress, the
designer must try to alleviate the issue in other ways. An increase in pay or extra days off will
often offset these stressors.
Berretta, S., Tausch, A., Peifer, C., & Kluge, A. (2023). The Job Perception Inventory:
Considering Human Factors and needs in the design of human–ai work. Frontiers in
Psychology, 14. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1128945
Artificial Intelligence has created a paradigm shift when it comes to job design. No longer are
jobs solely made for a human to complete. Now, it is important that, while humans may still be
involved in the job, that Artificial Intelligence is considered when designing the job. Bringing
Artificial Intelligence into the mix allows for a job to be completed quicker and, often times,
with fewer errors. While this might seem great on the surface, it is important to consider human
factors when designing these new jobs. While Artificial Intelligence works without taking a
break and without emotions, designers must realize that humans require time to recuperate and
deal with their emotions from time to time. The psychology of job design is an area that needs
further study.
Böckerman, P., Bryson, A., Kauhanen, A., & Kangasniemi, M. (2019). Does job design make
workers happy? Scottish Journal of Political Economy, 67(1), 31–52.
https://doi.org/10.1111/sjpe.12211
When considering job design, is it important to consider the happiness and well-being of the
employee that the job is designed for? Taking into account that an employee gets compensated to
do their job, there is only so much that a job designer can do to ensure happiness. If an employee
is truly concerned about their happiness, they will search out a position that fulfills those needs.
In reality, there are too many external factors to account for when it comes to employee
happiness. If a job is designed properly, the paycheck that goes along with the job should be all
that is required by the designer to ensure that they have done their part to provide for the
employee’s well-being. There are benefits that could be provided, if the employer wishes, to help
with that quest, but it is up to the employee to work on their happiness. If they want to feel a
level of happiness in their job that they currently are not, it may be time for that employee to find
a new position.
Cebulla, A., Szpak, Z., Howell, C., Knight, G., & Hussain, S. (2022). Applying ethics to AI in the
workplace: The design of a scorecard for Australian workplace health and safety. AI &
SOCIETY, 38(2), 919–935. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-022-01460-9
As a standalone product, Artificial Intelligence has no moral or ethical standing. It is nothing
more than programming in a computer. Therefore, it is essential that the programmer take into
account the moral and ethical standards that are necessary to keep the workplace healthy and
safe. When these programmers do this, Artificial Intelligence can then work toward creating and
designing jobs that not only keep the employee safe and healthy, but also can become more
efficient. When this occurs, employees are more likely to stay in a position that Artificial
Intelligence has designed. When Artificial Intelligence takes the moral and ethical issues out of
design, it is likely that employees will end up being placed into situations that a human designer
would have never considered.
Cimini, C., Romero, D., Pinto, R., & Cavalieri, S. (2023). Task Classification Framework and
job-task analysis method for understanding the impact of smart and digital technologies on
the operators 4.0 job profiles. Sustainability, 15(5), 3899.
https://doi.org/10.3390/su15053899
With the advent of technology, the digital transformation that is involved in job design has
brought about a fourth Industrial Revolution. Many aspects of this new effort behind job design
leaves out the human aspect of work. Instead, many jobs that were one human based are now
technology first jobs. While this has made certain aspects of jobs easier, it is important to realize
that without a human interfacing with that technology, it becomes more likely that the job fails
and a redesign eventually will become required. It is, therefore, important for any industry to
make sure that the human element is considered when designing a job.
Deng, H., Duan, S. X., & Wibowo, S. (2022). Digital Technology Driven Knowledge Sharing for
Job Performance. Journal of Knowledge Management, 27(2), 404–425.
https://doi.org/10.1108/jkm-08-2021-0637
In this new era of technologically driven job design, management is quick to share data in order
to quickly change job design in an effort to make the jobs more efficient and the economics
become more profitable. As data is continually gathered, this sharing has become more
widespread. This allows for a quicker turnaround and a more rapid evolution of jobs in every
organization. Just as it is important to continually update a job’s design, it is even more important
to update the digital technology. In doing so, it allows for newer and more precise data to be
collected. The ever-changing amount of data that is collected, therefore, continues the cycle of
the job design evolution. This is all done in the name of efficiency and eventually profits.
Dierdorff, E. C., & Morgeson, F. P. (2013). Getting what the occupation gives: Exploring
multilevel links between work design and occupational values. Personnel Psychology,
66(3), 687–721. https://doi.org/10.1111/peps.12023
Studies have shown that job design does create more efficient positions and more efficient
employees. What most studies have not shown is that efficient job design will create a more
satisfied employee. With the employee becoming more efficient and skilled at their position,
employees can become more satisfied in their position and, therefore, a more satisfied individual
outside of their work environment. Thus, it is important when designing a job to consider more
than just the job efficiency, rather, it is important to consider the overall health and well being of
the employee. A more satisfied and fulfilled employee will perform better on the job. Indeed, it is
a circular pattern that can lead to good outcomes on the job as well as away from it.
He, G., Liu, P., Zheng, X., Zheng, L., Hewlin, P. F., & Yuan, L. (2023). Being proactive in the
age of AI: Exploring the effectiveness of leaders’ ai symbolization in stimulating employee
job crafting. Management Decision. https://doi.org/10.1108/md-10-2022-1390
As management becomes more enamored with the idea of Artificial Intelligence and what it can
bring to an organization, they also need to realize that they need to beware of what is going on
with their employees. With the more accepting employers, Artificial Intelligence will continue to
grow, possibly causing job design to focus solely on the Artificial Intelligence tools. This can
cause dissatisfaction amongst the remaining employees. From a management perspective,
though, by eliminating these employees, it may be possible to become more efficient and
profitable in the long run. It is with these managers, though, that employee involvement in the
organization tends to decrease. The balancing act between the two entities is one for management
to continue to work on daily.
Kruse, P., Chipeta, E. M., & Ueberschär, I. (2023). What keeps social entrepreneurs happy?
exploring personality, work design, external support, and social impact as resources of
Social Entrepreneurs’ mental well-being. Sustainability, 15(5), 4109.
https://doi.org/10.3390/su15054109
In an effort to keep employees satisfied with their positions, it is important to consider the social
impacts that job design has on them. The buzzword for employees recently has been work-life
balance. If a job is designed properly, an employee will not complete their day and leave too
drained to continue their day from a personal standpoint. It is important that the employees have
the support of their management team internally as well as their friends and family externally.
Knowing that they have different levels of support from multiple sources will lead to greater
satisfaction moving forward in their position. Management should always, then, take this into
account. It fosters an environment where the mental well-being of everyone is cared for.
Nurmi, N., & Hinds, P. J. (2020). Work design for global professionals: Connectivity demands,
connectivity behaviors, and their effects on psychological and behavioral outcomes.
Organization Studies, 41(12), 1697–1724. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840620937885
Often times, when designing a job, it is important to consider the job design of the employees on
either side of this employee. In an assembly line setting, in particular, it is important to realize
that each job is interconnected. Today, though, with the advent of different technologies, it is
possible that employees no longer see each other in a face-to-face setting. Because of this, job
design has changed significantly over the past two decades. When jobs that have traditionally
been done with employees having considerable interpersonal relationships go away, how are the
remaining employees affected? Additionally, as these relationships disappear, how are work
outcomes affected? It is important to study both of these things in order to better design jobs
going forward into the future. Organizations would be wise in ensuring that employees are kept
satisfied while also making the jobs as efficient as possible when considering adding technology
to them.
Oldham, G. R., & Fried, Y. (2016). Job Design Research and Theory: Past, present and future.
Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 136, 20–35.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2016.05.002
Job design is the theory that each job can be optimized to ensure its most efficient model. The
history and the philosophy behind the concepts of job design are discussed in the article. When
considering how job design came about, the idea that a scientific approach to job design is
central to the idea of modern job design. As management continues to learn and advance the
theories of job design, industries will look to organizations that become ever more efficient. With
their added efficiencies, other organizations will mimic their design in the hopes that the same
efficiencies will be seen in their organizations as well. The discussion on the future of job design
will show that jobs can become highly simplified, and many unnecessary actions will eventually
be eliminated.
Parent-Rocheleau, X., & Parker, S. K. (2022). Algorithms as work designers: How algorithmic
management influences the design of Jobs. Human Resource Management Review, 32(3),
100838. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hrmr.2021.100838
For as long as there have been jobs to design, there has been a team of experts that have worked
to make those jobs as efficient and as profitable as possible. With the introduction of Artificial
Intelligence and with the work of algorithms, much of the work in job design is now handled
outside of the scope of the management team. These algorithms can use the data that has been
collected across any number of jobs and streamline the job design process. When it does this,
jobs become more simplified and efficient. Additionally, these algorithms can include Artificial
Intelligence into these newly designed jobs, providing an even greater amount of efficiency to
the job design. All of this is done to provide the most cost-effective job design that can be had
with the inputs that are provided.
Parker, S. K., & Grote, G. (2020). Automation, algorithms, and beyond: Why work design
matters more than ever in a Digital World. Applied Psychology, 71(4), 1171–1204.
https://doi.org/10.1111/apps.12241
Even with the advances in technology, it is important that jobs are designed with the human
employee in mind. Understanding what the employee needs – both physically and mentally –
ensures that when the job is designed it is optimized for the employee. When this occurs, not
only with the employee be satisfied with the job and the effort that they put into it, but the job
itself will be completed with an honest effort on the employee’s behalf. When both of these
criteria are met, it is possible for management to further simplify the job, making it as efficient as
possible. These newly found efficiencies will ultimately help the bottom line of the organization.
Qiu, H., Li, M., Bai, B., Wang, N., & Li, Y. (2022). The impact of AI-enabled service attributes
on service hospitableness: The role of employee physical and psychological workload.
International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 34(4), 1374–1398.
https://doi.org/10.1108/ijchm-08-2021-0960
Frontline employees – ones that the customer sees and is greeted by – are the one group of
employees that felt they were safe from the introduction of Artificial Intelligence. Unfortunately,
that seems to be changing. Customers can still be expected to be greeted by a human employee
when that needs to be done. It is what the frontline employee can offer to the guest where
Artificial Intelligence will make a difference. No longer is the frontline employee limited by their
own shortcomings. Instead, Artificial Intelligence will be able to answer questions posed by
guests that an employee may not have been able to do. The issue at hand, then, is how does the
cold and robotic nature of Artificial Intelligence affect the way the frontline employee
approaches the guest. The impact of this has yet to be determined but the need to know grows
more urgent by the day.
Verma, S., & Singh, V. (2022). Impact of artificial intelligence-enabled job characteristics and
perceived substitution crisis on innovative work behavior of employees from high-tech
firms. Computers in Human Behavior, 131, 107215.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2022.107215
If the introduction of technology to job design is considered the start of the fourth Industrial
Revolution, then the beginning of Artificial Intelligence might be considered the end of the
fourth and the beginning of the fifth revolution. By introducing Artificial Intelligence to job
design, it appears that many current job designs could become obsolete in the next few decades.
Artificial Intelligence impacts all levels of job design and impacts job behaviors of employees in
a variety of industries. As it becomes more pervasive, jobs that were once considered safe from
automation will be lost. The evolution of jobs that was considered fast with the introduction of
technology will now move into overdrive. Even as jobs are redesigned, additional changes will
become necessary as Artificial Intelligence becomes more ingrained in the daily life of an
organization.
