Organizational Behavior (Stephen Robbins)

Chapter 4Motivating Self and Others 133

EXHIBIT 4-12 Examples of High and Low Job Characteristics

Skill Variety

High variety The owner-operator of a garage who does electrical repair, rebuilds engines, does body work, and

interacts with customers

Low variety A body shop employee who sprays paint eight hours a day

Task Identity

High identity A cabinet maker who designs a piece of furniture, selects the wood, builds the object, and finishes

it to perfection

Low identity An employee in a furniture factory who operates a lathe solely to make table legs

Task Significance

High significance Nursing the sick in a hospital intensive care unit

Low significance Sweeping hospital floors

Autonomy

High autonomy A telephone installer who schedules his or her own work for the day, makes visits without supervision,

and decides on the most effective techniques for a particular installation

Low autonomy A telephone operator who must handle calls as they come according to a routine, highly specified

procedure

Feedback

High feedback An electronics factory employee who assembles a radio and then tests it to determine if it operates

properly

Low feedback An electronics factory employee who assembles a radio and then routes it to a quality control

inspector who tests it for proper operation and makes needed adjustments

Source:G. Johns, Organizational Behavior: Understanding and Managing Life at Work,4th ed. Copyright © 1997. Adapted by permission of

Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ.

• Feedback. The degree to which carrying out the work activities required by the
  job results in the individual’s obtaining direct and clear information about the
  effectiveness of his or her performance.
  Jobs can be rated as high or low on these dimensions. Examples of jobs with high and
  low ratings appear in Exhibit 4-12.

Critical Psychological States
The JCM, presented in Exhibit 4-13 on page 134, links the five core job dimensions to
three critical psychological states:^108

• Experienced meaningfulness. The model predicts that if an employee’s task is
  meaningful, the employee will view the job as important, valuable, and
  worthwhile. (Notice how in Exhibit 4-13 skill variety, task identity, and task
  significance combine to create meaningful work.)


• Experienced responsibility for outcomes.Employees feel a sense of personal
  responsibility for results when their jobs give them greater autonomy.


• Knowledge of the actual results. Feedback helps employees know whether they
  are performing effectively. The feedback can come from managers, clients, co-
  workers, or the nature of the task itself.

feedback The degree to which

individuals obtain direct and clear

information about the effectiveness

of their performance.