OB: Job Creation Process

The lecture delves into the comprehensive job creation process, emphasizing the critical role of job analysis and redesign in enhancing employee performance and satisfaction. It outlines a structured approach starting with job analysis to understand duties and tasks, leading to job descriptions and specifications. The process involves designing jobs with inputs like organizational objectives, industrial engineering, ergonomics, and employee feedback to ensure efficiency and motivation. The Job Characteristics Model is discussed as a tool for diagnosing and addressing high turnover by adjusting core job characteristics to improve job satisfaction and performance. The lecture underscores the manager's role in understanding and adapting job roles to meet organizational and employee needs.

• The job creation process is a key aspect of applied performance practices, focusing on designing and redesigning jobs to align with employees' knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs), while maximizing customer experience and profitability.
• The process involves several stages: job analysis, job design, job performance, and job redesign, which should be continuously iterated upon based on performance feedback.
• Effective job creation requires understanding the specific duties and tasks of each role, which is achieved through job analysis.

"Good managers are capable of designing and redesigning jobs for employees to match the employee's KSAOs or knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics while maximizing the customer experience and making a profit."

• This quote highlights the dual focus of job creation on both employee capabilities and business objectives, underscoring the complexity of the task.

• Job analysis is the foundational step in the job creation process, involving the study of what people do in their jobs by determining specific duties, tasks, or activities.
• It is essential for managers to understand the actual functions of a job before redesigning or designing it.
• The process includes identifying which job to study, determining the information to collect, and deciding from whom to collect the data, such as incumbents and supervisors.

"The process of creating jobs and assigning people to positions is based on job analysis, which is the study of what people do in their jobs by determining the specific duties, tasks, or activities of the job."

• This quote emphasizes the critical role of job analysis as the basis for effective job creation and assignment.

• The first step is selecting the job to study; for example, choosing a food server role.
• The second step involves determining the information needed, focusing on tasks, responsibilities, and skills.
• The third step is identifying data sources, typically the job incumbents and their supervisors.
• The fourth step is deciding how to collect the data, which can include interviews, questionnaires, or direct observation.

"Here are the steps in job analysis: The first step is to figure out which job you want to study... The second step is to determine what information you want to collect... The third step is to identify from whom you will get data about the job."

• This quote outlines the structured approach to job analysis, detailing the sequential steps required for effective data collection and understanding.

• In the context of a new restaurant, job creation involves identifying necessary roles such as chef, assistant chef, food runner, wait staff, hostess, assistant manager, and janitorial crew.
• These roles are assigned based on a thorough job analysis to ensure alignment with the restaurant's operational needs and service goals.

"Let's follow the creation of a new restaurant that focuses on making and serving high-quality food in a pleasant environment... The manager needs jobs like Chef, Assistant Chef, Food Runner, Wait Staff, Hostess, Assistant Manager, and Janitorial Crew."

• This quote provides a practical example of applying job analysis to create and assign roles in a specific business context, demonstrating the process's relevance and importance.

• Data evaluation in job analysis is crucial to ensure accuracy and fairness in assessing employee roles and responsibilities.
• Employees might manipulate the importance of their tasks to influence pay or minimize undesirable duties.
• Verification of data with peers and managers is essential to maintain integrity and accuracy in job analysis.

"Sometimes employees will inflate or downplay the importance of some of their tasks, responsibilities, and skill requirements."

• Employees may alter the perception of their job duties to affect compensation or workload, necessitating careful evaluation.

"We mainly evaluate and verify this data with information from other employees who do the same job and we validate it with their managers."

• Cross-verification with peers and managers helps ensure the reliability of the data collected during job analysis.

• The job analysis report consolidates all gathered information and guides decisions on pay, selection tests, and training.
• The report serves as a foundation for developing job descriptions and specifications.

"The sixth and last step is to write the job analysis report. This is where the analyst actually details the information gathered."

• The job analysis report is a comprehensive document that outlines all the data collected and its implications for various HR functions.

• Job descriptions and specifications are critical outcomes of job analysis, detailing job tasks and required qualifications.
• Job descriptions include the title, identification, essential functions, and may have legal implications.
• Job specifications list the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) necessary for the job.

"Job analysis has two important end products: the job description and the job specification."

• Job descriptions and specifications are essential documents that define what a job entails and the qualifications needed.

"A description has at least four parts: first is the job title... then it has a section called the job identification... Finn is the list of essential functions or duties... lastly, we have the job specifications."

• Job descriptions and specifications provide a structured overview of job requirements and responsibilities, essential for hiring and performance evaluation.

• Job design involves structuring roles to align with organizational objectives and improve efficiency.
• Considerations include supervision, feedback, and decision-making authority.
• Inputs to job design include organizational strategy, industrial engineering, and ergonomic concerns.

"Job design involves things that are much different than job analysis."

• Job design is a distinct process that focuses on how jobs are structured and managed within an organization.

"There are four inputs to consider for job design: the first is the objectives or strategy of the organization."

• Organizational strategy plays a crucial role in shaping job design to align with company goals and market positioning.

"A third input is ergonomic concerns."

• Ergonomic considerations ensure that job design supports employee well-being and productivity.

• Human factor engineers focus on balancing safety and efficiency in equipment design and tool placement.
• Managers must consult with experts on the placement of stations and installation of safety features like non-slip floors.

"Design of equipment and the placement of tools is the domain of human factor engineers, and their primary concern is a balance between safety and efficiency."

• This quote highlights the importance of human factor engineering in creating a safe and efficient work environment.

• Employee input is crucial in addressing behavioral concerns and enhancing job satisfaction.
• Managers may adjust the level of interaction between staff and customers based on employee feedback.

"The fourth input is employee input. These involve behavioral concerns like type and degree of human interaction and other factors contributing to employee satisfaction."

• Employee input is essential for designing jobs that maximize motivation and satisfaction.

• Managers should be open to redesigning jobs to adapt to market changes and improve employee performance.
• High turnover rates may indicate a need for job redesign to address issues like excessive side work.

"Good managers are willing to redesign the jobs to meet changing market conditions and to both maximize employee performance and appeal to applicants and employees."

• Job redesign can help address high turnover and improve job satisfaction by adjusting tasks and responsibilities.

• The JCM helps managers diagnose job-related problems and improve job attitudes and behaviors.
• Core job characteristics include skill variety, task identity, task significance, and autonomy.

"The JCM, as it's known, is a model designed to allow managers to maximize positive job attitudes and behaviors and minimize negative ones."

• The JCM provides a framework for enhancing job satisfaction and performance through strategic job design.

• Skill Variety: Involves using a range of skills to keep the job interesting.
• Task Identity: Completing a whole piece of work enhances job satisfaction.
• Task Significance: Understanding the impact of one's job on the company or others.
• Autonomy: Allowing employees to make decisions about their work processes.

"The first is skill variety, which is simply the type and number of skills that employees get to use every day."

• Skill variety prevents monotony and enhances job interest by allowing employees to use diverse talents.

"Task identity is the degree to which a job requires the completion of a whole and identifiable piece of work."

• Task identity fosters a sense of accomplishment by enabling employees to see the results of their efforts.

"Task significance is the degree to which a job has an impact on the company or the lives of others."

• Task significance increases job satisfaction by connecting employees' work to meaningful outcomes.

"Autonomy is the degree to which restaurant managers allow food servers to decide how to perform the job."

• Autonomy empowers employees, leading to greater job satisfaction and performance.

• Job feedback from the job itself, rather than from a manager, provides clear and unambiguous information about performance.
• Three psychological states are crucial for job performance: meaningfulness of work, responsibility for outcomes, and knowledge of results.
• Meaningfulness is experienced when one's work positively impacts others, such as making a birthday celebration special.
• Responsibility is enhanced through autonomy and discretion in decision-making.
• Knowledge of results comes from automatic feedback, such as customer reactions or reviews.

"Knowing that one's performance put a special smile on the face of the birthday girl at her family celebration... a good food server performing a well-designed job can experience that firsthand."

• The quote illustrates the meaningfulness of work, emphasizing the direct impact of performance on others.

"A good food server is responsible for making good decisions."

• This quote highlights the importance of autonomy and discretion in fostering a sense of responsibility.

"A frown or a scowl or a mean comment from a restaurant customer provides immediate knowledge to the food server on how they're doing."

• The quote underscores the role of immediate feedback in providing knowledge of performance results.

• The three psychological states lead to increased intrinsic motivation, improved work performance, and high job satisfaction.
• A meaningful job with responsibility and immediate feedback enhances satisfaction, motivation, and performance.
• Well-designed jobs reduce turnover, counterproductive behavior, and the need for new customer acquisition due to employee issues.

"If one's job is meaningful and one is responsible for their own performance and they know immediately how well they are doing, that can be a very, very good thing."

• This quote summarizes the positive outcomes of having meaningful work, responsibility, and feedback.

• Managers must understand the duties, tasks, and required skills of the jobs they supervise.
• Developing comprehensive job descriptions is crucial for effective performance appraisals and avoiding surprises.
• Managers should be open to redesigning jobs to enhance employee satisfaction and motivation.
• All problems in a company are management problems, requiring managers to take responsibility and make necessary changes.
• Good managers focus on understanding positions and jobs, starting from the bottom to ensure business success.

"Every manager must understand the duties, task responsibilities as well as the required KSAOs of the jobs they supervise."

• This quote emphasizes the importance of managerial awareness of job specifics for effective supervision.

"A performance appraisal should cover all of the essential duties in the job description."

• The quote highlights the need for clear job descriptions to align performance appraisals with actual job duties.

"A good manager asks them how the job should or could be done to make them satisfied and motivated."

• This quote illustrates the importance of involving employees in job redesign to enhance satisfaction and performance.

"All problems are management problems... a good manager takes the blame when they do that they sometimes then get the credit for success."

• The quote underscores the responsibility of managers in addressing and resolving company issues.

"An understanding of the big picture is good but a clear view of the lower level machinations leads to success."

• This quote stresses the importance of managers understanding the details of lower-level operations for overall success.