1. The Mechanics of Job Design – A Positive Outlook
Written by: Adam Queay
n8314292
MGB 200 – Leading Organisations
Tutor: Glenda Waring
Wednesday, 12:00 noon.
Word Count: 2,494

2. 1.0 The Job Characteristics Model Abroad
The Job Characteristics Model (JCM) (Hackman. Oldman. 1976.) is a job design model that refers to
the correlation between the characteristics of a task set by an organisation and the level of
employee motivation, satisfaction and performance. This model was originally generated from
Motivator-Hygiene (M-H) Theory (Herzberg. Mausner. Snyderman. 1959.) that suggested job
satisfaction stemspurelythrough the fulfilmentof employeegrowthandesteem desires - known as
the motivators. Alternatively, other factors such as job status/security, working conditions and
remuneration, the hygiene’s, could not promote job satisfaction - they merely prevent job
dissatisfaction.
1.1 The Concept Within
The difference between M-H Theory and the JCM is that the JCM depicts 5 characteristics of a task
that will positivelystimulateanemployee’s psychological state and therefore produce a number of
outcomesbeneficial to boththe employee andthe organisation. The JCM alsoacknowledgesthe fact
that individual differences, comparable to ‘hygiene’elements of M-HTheory, may in fact disrupt the
ordinary outcomes of the model. The five core job characteristics that should promote a healthy
psychological state for employees are:
1. Skill Variety: the use of different skills and talents required in carrying out activities to
complete a specific job (Hackman. Oldman. 1976.)
2. Task Identity: encouragement of employees to think that the task is meaningful and
worthwhile towards the completion of a ‘whole’ identifiable piece of work, or simply; the
bigger picture. (Coelho. Augusto. 2010.)
3. Task Significance:the degree towhich the task substantially affects others; be it internally,
withinthe organisation(e.g. colleagues and/or other projects of colleagues) or; externally,
within society. (Hackman. Oldman. 1974.)
4. Autonomy:the degree towhichemployeescanfindfreedom, independence and discretion
within their job particularly relating to the scheduling of tasks and determining respective
procedures. (Hackman. Oldman. 1974.)
5. Feedbackfrom the Job:the degree towhichthe employee obtainsadirectandclear amount
of feedbackonthe the effectiveness of his or her performance regarding how they carried
out a job. (Hackman. Oldham. 1975.)
When these core job characteristics are produced effectively by an organisation 3 favourable
psychological stateswill,intheory, be achieved by employees. Firstly, job characteristics 1, 2 and 3
contribute to the meaningfulness that an employee feels within an organisation by designing jobs
that use an individual’sspecificsetof skillsto full capacityandpromotingthe image of importance in
the biggerpicture of the organisation.Anemployee that experiences meaningfulness will feel that
theircontributionsare worthwhileandimportant.Secondly,the psychological state of responsibility
is achieved through autonomy within tasks and is primarily attributable to the level of personal
accountability of their actions or efforts. Finally, knowledge of results generally originates from
superiors, colleagues or clients and acts as a guidance, or “feedback”, regarding the positive or
negative impact of their work contribution (McShane. Olekalns. Travaglione. 2013). Without the
satisfaction of these critical psychological states employees will be left feeling insignificant in the
organisation and can suffer from decreased motivation, work effectiveness and satisfaction.

3. Hackman and Oldman (1976) suggested that, if the optimum critical psychological states are
achieved, then the result will be an increase in employee;
- Work motivation;
- Growth satisfaction (continuation of M-H Theory’s motivator);
- General job satisfaction and therefore;
- Work effectiveness.
As mentionedearlierthere are some factorsforindividualsthatmayaffectthe fluencyof this model
such as the knowledge andskill of employees, context satisfaction (aligned with the “hygiene’s” of
M-H Theory) and/or an individual’s need for personal growth. These factors moderate the
relationshipbetween core jobcharacteristics,critical psychological states and employee outcomes.
(Reeves.2010.) However,assumingminimal individual differences, the employee outcomes listed
above will rise relative totheirpsychological mindsetsand will be verybeneficialforthe organisation
and the employee. Alternatively, workeffectiveness will decrease relative to employee motivation
and satisfaction if the above mentioned psychological states of employees are not achieved.
1.2 The Motivational Link
The JCM is a model that is closely linked to multiple motivational theories that have the ability to
affect an employee’s direction, intensity and persistence of their voluntary behaviour i n the
workplace (Mitchel.1997).It isrelatedtothe contenttheoriesof motivation that focus on initiating
a particular behaviour, or “outcome”, in an employee rather than evaluating how behavioural
decisionsare made throughprocesstheories(Stotz.Bolger.2010). Suchcontenttheoriesinclude the
previously covered M-H Theory (Herzberg. Mausner. Snyderman. 1959) as well as; Achievement
Needs Theory (McClelland. 1961); Maslow’s Needs Hierarchy (Maslow. 1943) and; a simplified
versionof the needshierarchybyAlferder(1969) – ERG Theory. All of these theories basically cover
what an employee “needs” in their workplace rather than situations they would prefer. Generally
these needs relate to overall self-efficacy, acknowledgement of contributions and the feeling of
moving forward as an individual.
Another way of describing the impact that employee emotional and cognitive motivation has on
workrelatedgoalsisthroughthe relative level of employeeengagement (Bakker.Schaufeli.2008.).A
highlevel of employeeengagement promotesanemployee’s attitudinal attachmentto their job and
company, intention to act in the company’s best interest and a willingness to invest discretionary
effort in achieving organisational goals. (Jesuthasan. 2003.)
1.3 Attitudes in the Workplace
Work-related attitudes are a major contributing factor in achieving employee productivity and
organisational welfare (Yankelovich. 1983). The four main types of work-related attitudes are:
- Job satisfaction: the general attitude an employee has towards their job (aligned with The
JCM outcome);
- Employee engagement: as above (associated with The JCM outcome of ‘motivation’);
- Organisational commitment: a three dimensional concept that includes; affective
commitment (emotional attachment to the organisation – i.e. the want to stay – derived
froman employee’spositivepsychological state intheirjob);continuance commitment (the

4. employeeconsideringthe costof leavingthe business –i.e.the need to stay) and; normative
commitment(feelingsof obligationtowards the organisation – i.e. I ought to stay). (Meyer.
Allen. 1991.) and;
- Perceived organisational support (POS): the extent to which an employee feels the
organisationvaluestheircontributionsandcaresabouttheirwell-being(Eisenberger.Fasolo.
Davis-LaMastro. 1990).
It isquite prevalentthatthe employee attitudes covered run hand in hand with the overall concept
of The JCM. Not only do these notions promote the ideology that increased work satisfaction and
motivationleadtobetterorganisational performance,theyalsoassistin reducing psychological and
behavioural stress which, in turn, decreases levels of absenteeism (Chadwick-Jones. Nicholson.
Brown. 1982.) and employee turnover (Parasuraman. Alluto. 1984).
1.4 Job Design and Organisational Effectiveness
Promoting a positive mindset for employees is vital for an organisation because of the potential
benefitsinreduced turnover costs, decreased absenteeism and most importantly effectiveness of
employees (McKenna.1987).Such positivitycanbe directlygeneratedthroughthe applicationof the
JCMby designingjobs thatencourage employee motivation and satisfaction, resulting in increased
effectiveness.Onthe other hand, if these characteristics are not met, the outcomes of motivation,
satisfaction and performance will diminish respectively.
2.0 Retail – A Motivational Industrie?
As a full-time university student I worked a casual job at Industrie Clothing, a men’s retail clothing
store, for four and a half years under 4 different managers at two stores – DFO Brisbane and
Jindalee. Over this period I experienced positive and negative job characteristics, psychological
states and outcomes relevant to The JCM – the latter that ultimately resulted in my resignation.
At DFO I was trained by a very good manager not only how to sell like an expert, but also how to
merchandise the store, dress mannequins appropriately, train new staff and have the ability to
complete management tasks (e.g. end of day procedures). Such skill variety was a significant
contributingfactorwhenitcame to task identityand significance as, not only would I configure the
store and think,‘Wow,thatlooksgood,’butI wouldsee the salesof my colleagues, and the store as
a whole, rise/fall relatively as customers either liked or disliked the new store arrangement. I was
trustedwitha vastamount of responsibility to do what I thought was needed in the store and then
at the endof the weekwe wouldbe givenfeedbackfrommanagementregardingsales,contribution
to store upkeep, what needed to change for the following week and how our store performed
against others in the state.
Levels of accountability decreased dramatically when I moved to Jindalee as I was not being
supervised nor did I discuss results with management. I would simply arrive at work to a checklist,
regardlessof whatI thoughtwere appropriate tasks for the day, and I would spend the day moving
boxes or doing petty chores and selling when I had time.

5. Comparingthese twoscenariosIknowthatI feltextremelymotivatedtodowell forthe store at DFO
as I was continuallygrowingthroughextratraining,significantstore contributionanddailyfeedback.
There was one individual difference considering contextual satisfaction – as I was younger than
other employees I was being paid a lower rate regardless of my individual output. I contacted the
national managerandwas rewardedapay rise due to myeffortsthat saw my positive psychological
state return.
In termsof my work-relatedattitude IwasverysatisfiedwithmyjobwhenIwasgiventhe autonomy
to decide what I thought was best for the company. With such satisfaction I had every intention to
do mybestfor the companyas a completelyengagedemployee.Ifeltmostlyaffective commitment
towardsIndustrie whileIwasat DFO however,once IshiftedtoJindalee andsatisfactiondecreased I
became committedata normative levelasIfeltthe organisation had supported me for a long time.
However this change was detrimental as I began to act less in the best interests of Industrie and
more for my own individual benefit.
3.0 Recommendations
Firstly, managersneedtomake employeesfeel needed by compiling skill variety, task identity and
task significance into the design of jobs and not letting any of these objectives lack. For example,
eventhoughIcontinuedtocomplete arange of tasksat Jindalee,Iwasstill notsatisfied with my job
as theywere insignificant tasksthatcouldnot be identifiedwhen looking at the store as a whole. In
orderto promote a meaningful mindset for an employee all three of those characteristics must be
present.
Secondly, management need to build a high level of trust in employees to allow them to be
responsible fortheirownindependentworkload(Yang.Choi.2009). Once I was given the autonomy
to create my own schedule of tasks I found I was far more efficient and motivated to do the best I
could for the shop.
Thirdly, employees should be provided with knowledge of results that promotes self-efficacy and
overall individual growth (Kuhnen. Tymula. 2010). When a task is not carried out effectively
encouraging feedback should still be given by management. I found that I responded far better to
negative feedback when my performance was reviewed at the end of the week and the manager
and I looked at what could have improved and what I did well.
Finally, when considering promoting positive employee attitudes management must successfully
apply the five job characteristics that have been discussed. As a result an employee experiencing
favourable psychologicalstateswillbe;satisfiedwiththeirjob;engagedwithinthe organisation and;
affectivelycommittedtothe business.IfoundthatI feltmostof these attitudes when management
playedanactive role in my job design, supported my contributions and I was given the freedom to
make my own decisions.
Therefore, these steps depict that management can play an enormously positive role in the work
effectiveness of an employee purely through job design. By promoting individual emotions of
meaningfulness and responsibility an employee will develop a thirst for positive feedback on
contributions.Thesepsychological statesare directlyattributable tohow motivated and satisfied an

6. employee is regarding a particular job/task and their drive for personal growth will be fulfilled
alongside their effective outlook on work.
4.0 Self-Reflection – Summarising Old and New Knowledge
Throughout writing this case analysis I have developed; a new understanding about the outcomes
possible fromsuccessful jobdesign;anappreciationforthe needof individual growth to endure job
satisfaction;an outlook on employment goals that does not revolve around contextual factors and
finally; my skills in applying management theories or models to past or future experiences.
Before thiscase analysis on the JCM I thought job satisfaction and motivation was derived through
workingwithgoodpeople,inanenjoyable workenvironmentandbeingsufficientlyrewardedformy
efforts.Afterstudyingthismodel I have learnt that my main motivational drive has been achieving
goalsnot onlyformyself,butforthe organisation.WhenIwas at Industrie I was most satisfied with
my position when I could see the impact I created in my store, in the state and even nationwide –
not when I was earning the most money. Over time at DFO I progressed from a new employee to
someone who was relied on, who taught others and made their own decisions based on what I
thought was best for my store – this growth was where my true sense of satisfaction originated. I
have always been an independent person and never thought feedback was something I desired.
However,whenIthinkaboutthe issuesIhadregardingremunerationitwas more a factor that I was
not being praised for my efforts to the same extent as I was used to with my previous manager.
Throughthe ideologiesof the JCM Iwas merelyseekingsome feedbackonmyeffortsfromsomeone
much higher in the managerial hierarchy.
WhenI was relocatedI began to become less engaged and committed to my role. At the time I put
thisdown to not getting along with my manager or because it was a far less active store. Analysing
the JCMhas allowedme tosee thatit was neitherof these factors rather; it was the fact that I could
no longer see my tasks contributing to the overall greater good of the company. No doubt poor
managementwasa contributingfactorbecause myjobswere assigned to me and I would not put in
any discretionary effort as I was enduring poor psychological states which, in turn, decreased
satisfaction in my job and levels of growth which lead to poor motivation and becoming a less
effective employee.
I thinkthisself-analysisonpastexperiences has helped me see the way theoretical courses such as
Leading Organisations canbe put intopractice.Ihave already foundmyself evaluatingsituationsand
picking up good and bad managerial practices under my current employer. I strive to continue this
throughout my career to make sure I stay satisfied in my job and someday my employees will too.

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