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Job Survey
Introduction
Objective: To learn how job design affects performance.
Time: About 25 minutes.
Instructions: Take the survey below. Once you have completed it, you should total your scores. Topics to discuss include the following:
- Normally, persons who are in a position of leadership will have scores that are higher than their workers. Why is this?
- If your employees were to take this survey today, what do you think their average scores would be?
- If possible, have them administer the survey to some of their employees and then discuss opportunities for improving the job design.
- Discuss Hackman & Oldham's Five Dimensions and how they help to motivate a job holder. Ask for a few examples of how a job could be redesigned under each of the five dimensions.
Job Design Questionnaire
Directions: Listed below are some statements about your job. For each statement, darken in your response based on how much you agree or disagree with it?
| My job provides: | Strongly Disagree | Disagree | Slight Disagree | Undecided | Slight Agree | Agree | Strongly Agree |
| 1. much variety. |
(1) | (2) | (3) | (4) | (5) | (6) | (7) |
| 2. allows me the opportunity to
complete the work I start. |
(1) | (2) | (3) | (4) | (5) | (6) | (7) |
| 3. is one that may affect a lot
of other people by how well the work is performed. |
(1) | (2) | (3) | (4) | (5) | (6) | (7) |
| 4. lets me be left on my own to
do my own work. |
(1) | (2) | (3) | (4) | (5) | (6) | (7) |
| 5. provides feedback on how well
I am performing as I am working. |
(1) | (2) | (3) | (4) | (5) | (6) | (7) |
| 6. provides me with a variety of
work. |
(1) | (2) | (3) | (4) | (5) | (6) | (7) |
| 7. is arranged so that I have a
chance to do the job from beginning to end. |
(1) | (2) | (3) | (4) | (5) | (6) | (7) |
| 8. is relatively significant in
the organization. |
(1) | (2) | (3) | (4) | (5) | (6) | (7) |
| 9. provides the opportunity for
independent thought and action. |
(1) | (2) | (3) | (4) | (5) | (6) | (7) |
| 10. provides me with the
opportunity to find out how well I am doing. |
(1) | (2) | (3) | (4) | (5) | (6) | (7) |
| 11. gives me the opportunity to
do a number of different things. |
(1) | (2) | (3) | (4) | (5) | (6) | (7) |
| 12. is arranged so that I may
see projects through to their final completion. |
(1) | (2) | (3) | (4) | (5) | (6) | (7) |
| 13. is very significant in the
broader scheme of things. |
(1) | (2) | (3) | (4) | (5) | (6) | (7) |
| 14. gives me considerable
opportunity for independence and freedom in how I do my work. |
(1) | (2) | (3) | (4) | (5) | (6) | (7) |
| 15. provides me with the feeling
that I know whether I am performing well or poorly. |
(1) | (2) | (3) | (4) | (5) | (6) | (7) |
Scoring for job design questionnaire
The survey is designed to analyze five dimensions of the job:
Skill Variety - Total the scores for questions 1, 6, 11: _______
Task Identity - Total the scores for questions 2, 7, 12: _______
Task Significant - Total the scores for questions 3, 8, 13: _______
Autonomy - Total the scores for questions 4, 9, 14: _______
Feedback About Results - Total the scores for questions 5, 10, 15: _______
The lower scoring dimensions (normally, anything below 15) should be investigated to see if the job environment can be improved.
About The Survey
An analysis of job factors by Katz and Van Maanen
(1977) identified three clusters that were important to workers as job
satisfiers. They named these clusters "Loci of Work Satisfaction" and described
them as follows:
KATZ & VAN MAANEN'S LOCI OF WORK SATISFACTION
- The job itself - corresponding to intrinsic factors.
- The interaction context - corresponding to contextual factors such as co-workers, supervisors, and other people in the job environment. This interaction context, is the social environment that a worker needs. Other behavioral theorists have also deemed the importance of the social environment that a worker needs on the job.
- Organizational policies - corresponding to contextual factors such as pay and promotions.
Hackman and Oldham (1975) further broke the first Loci of Work Satisfaction - intrinsic factors (The job itself) into five dimensions. Any given job can be analyzed, utilizing these five dimensions for its motivating potential. The job can then be redesigned to eliminate what is bothering the workers. Listed below are the five dimensions of motivating potential:
HACKMAN & OLDHAM'S FIVE DIMENSIONS OF MOTIVATING POTENTIAL
- Skill variety - the degree to which a job requires a variety of challenging skills and abilities.
- Task identity - the degree to which a job requires completion of a whole and identifiable piece of work.
- Task significance - the degree to which the job has a perceivable impact on the lives of others, either within the organization or the world at large.
- Autonomy - the degree to which the job gives the worker freedom and independence in scheduling work and determining how the work will be carried out.
- Feedback - the degree to which the worker gets information about the effectiveness of his or her efforts, either directly from the work itself or from others.
References:
1. Katz, R. & Van Maanen, J. (1977). "The Loci of
Work Satisfaction." Human Relations, 30. pp. 469-486.
2. Hackman, J. R. & Oldham, G. R. (1975). "Development of the Job Diagnostic
Survey." Journal of Applied Psychology, 60, pp. 159-70.