Title: Organizational Design, Diagnosis, and Development
1Organizational Design, Diagnosis, and Development
- Session 21
- Techno-structural Interventions, IV
- Work Design
2Objectives
- To review the application of Socio-technical
systems to job design - To review the Demand -Control model of job strain
- To review Action Theory approach to job design
- To understand the implications of the demands of
modern manufacturing for job design - To understand the implications of information
technologies teleworking on job design
3Sociotechnical System Model
Environmental Forces
Social Organizational Culture Leadership
styles Motivational practices Communication
Technical Production process Work
setting Technology dimensions
Moderators Work roles Goals Skills Abilities
4Socio-technical Principles
- Innovativeness
- Human resource development
- Environmental agility
- Cooperation
- Commitment/energy
- Joint optimization
5Self-Managed Work Groups
- Team task design
- Task differentiation Responsibility for product
or service - Task control Control of task behaviors
- Boundary control Decision latitude
- Group process
- Organizational support
6Demand -Control Model of Job Strain
- Decision latitude and psychological demands
- Job strain level and activity level
- Interaction of demands and decision making
- Social support
7Decision Latitude and Psychological Demands
- Decision latitudes - Combination of decision
making authority and opportunity to use and
develop skills on the job - Psychological demands - The mental workload or
intellectual requirements of the job
8Job Strain Level and Activity Level
- Job strain level - level of stress derived from
the workplace. Job strain relates positively to
feelings of passivity and helplessness on the job - Activity level - Level of job demands in relation
to decision latitude. - High activity - lawyers, engineers, teachers,
nurses - Low activity - clerks, janitors
9Interaction of Demands Decision Making
Interaction of Demands Decision Making
Job demands
High
Low
Active learning, etc.
High
Active
Low Strain
Job Decision Latitude
High Strain
Passive
Risk of psychological strain illness
Low
10Social Support
- Buffering effect of social support
- Social isolation carries risks
- Social isolation combined with high strain
carries higher risk factors for ill health
11The Action Process
Decision
Plan generation
Goal Development
Execution monitoring
Feedback
12Goal Development
- Goal is most important concept in action theory
- Goal attributes
- difficulty
- specificity
- hierarchy
- time range
- valence
13Plan Generation
- Detailedness
- Inclusiveness
14Execution Monitoring
- Flexibility
- Speed
- Monitoring
15Feedback
- Concurrent vs terminal
- Extrinsic vs intrinsic
- Immediate vs delayed
- Verbal vs non-verbal
16Levels of Action Regulation
- Sensori-motor
- Flexible action plans
- Intellectual level
- Heuristic level
17Implications for Work Design
- Employees should choose own strategy
- Work should have complete actions
- Minimize obstacles
- Design for activity
- Design for control complexity
- Emphasis on selection
- Design for feedback
- Design for job expansion
18Advanced Manufacturing Technology
- CAD - Computer aided design uses computers to aid
in the design of a product - CAM - Computer aided manufacturing links
computers to manufacturing equipment so that the
equipment is controlled via computer - CAPR - Computer aided production management is
the planning control of production resources - CIM - Computer integrated manufacturing uses the
computer as the spine for all aspects of design,
manufacturing, assembly and inspection
19Cellular Manufacturing
- Traditional factories - all machines of one type
grouped together, e.g. all drills, all borers,
etc. - Cell technology - groups all machines required
for producing a product into a cell - Advantage is simpler flow of work
- Group people and machinery around the product,
may include engineering, purchasing, etc
20Just - In - Time Production
- JIT is an inventory control process which
minimizes stockpiling parts and finished products - Inventories typically a control system to handle
fluctuations in demand and unexpected problems -
Just- In- Case - Lower inventories require coordination between
suppliers and producers
21Work Content
- AMT leads to deskilling -
- concern stems from machines taking over decision
process and skills to concern with statistical
numerical control - JIT takes buffers out of the system
- TQM pressures workers
- AMT leads to enrichment and enhanced skills
22Contingency Approach
- Contingency approach says, It depends.
- Management commitment to initiative
- Environmental uncertainty
- Cognitive demands and the non-routine
- Interdependence or collaboration needed
- Production responsibility and error cost
- Performance visibility
- Workload
23Supporting Job Designs
- Uncertainty in production
- High uncertainty - enriched job designs
autonomy - Low uncertainty - standard job design and level
of autonomy - Uncertainty and needs for performance-related
knowledge
24Office Technologies
- Word processing
- Presentation packages
- Data bases
- Spreadsheets
- Information storage and retrieval
- Internet capability (information search
strategies)
25CommunicationTechnologies
- E-mail
- Audio teleconferencing
- Video conferencing
- Electronic conferencing
- Asynchronous
- Anytime
- Anywhere
26Design Implications
- Job design
- Initially some de-skilling
- Ability to develop multiple skills in
applications - Task lines blur between skill areas
- Flexible job descriptions
- Organizational design
- Flatter
- Decentralized
27Teleworking
- A definition Trips to work are substituted with
a home-based or telecenter based work-site. - Benefits Productivity,Reduction of absenteeism,
Retention, Employee safety, Disaster Mitigation,
Environmental benefits - Costs Isolation, Reduced corporate culture,
loyalty, Added effort, Perceived inequitable
treatment
28Implications for Design
- Goal setting
- Complete tasks
- Minimize obstacles
- Feedback
- Emphasis on selection
29Backwards Forwards
- Summing up Todays session covered work design
from the perspective of socio-technical theory,
demand-control model, and action theory.
Implications of advanced manufacturing and
information technologies were explored for work
design. - Looking ahead Next time we examine human
resource interventions, particularly performance
management