Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Job Design Theory'

Although much is known about employee empowerment and work designs, numerous companies and management practitioners struggle to implement empowerment initiatives effectively because it is not known which approach best facilitates individual levels of psychological empowerment. Traditional job design theory focuses on the role of managers and portrays employees as passive grantees of empowerment. Employees may influence their own empowerment by taking an active role in work design. The primary purpose of this correlational study was to examine whether job crafting or idiosyncratic deals are more or less empowering than job design and how work locus of control influences these relationships. It was hypothesized that job crafting would be the strongest correlate with psychological empowerment. A quantitative cross-sectional survey was designed with measures adapted from existing instruments. A sample of 150 adults, drawn from various industries in the United States, completed a voluntary, online survey. Data analysis, which used Pearson correlations, revealed that job crafting had a stronger relationship with psychological empowerment than did idiosyncratic deals and management-driven job design for employees with high internal work locus of control. Findings from this study may help organizational leaders understand how employees with high internal tendencies are psychologically empowered when actively engaged in designing their own work. Employees may then feel empowered to advance the company's social agenda and make personalized contributions to the greater society, essentially becoming goodwill ambassadors for the organization.

The Five-Factor (FFM) and job characteristics models provide parsimonious frameworks to explain personal and situational influences on work behavior. However, the two are seldom studied in concert, despite theory and empirical evidence indicating that personality traits are more valid under some job conditions than others. The purpose of my dissertation is to address the lack of systematic knowledge regarding the joint influences of personality and job characteristics by testing and extending the major propositions of the theory of purposeful work behavior (TPWB; Barrick, Mount &Li, 2013). Because the TPWB focuses only on task and social characteristics of jobs, I propose a theoretical extension to the theory whereby I examine the way traits interact with contextual characteristics (e.g., physical demands, working conditions) of jobs to influence work outcomes. Further, I extend the TPWB by examining the occupational values from the theory of work adjustment (Dawis &Lofquist, 1975), which are broader and situated at a higher taxonomic level than jobs, moderate the FFM-criterion correlations. Using a meta-analytic design, I tested the extent to which job characteristics and occupational values moderate the relationships between the FFM and job performance, contextual performance, and job satisfaction. The overall results were mixed, with some findings indicating that personality trait validities are substantially higher under conditions of congruent job characteristics, and others indicating no such moderating effects, or moderating effects in contrast to what I proposed in my hypotheses. The mixed results may be due to gravitational processes that take place when individuals select jobs. I also examined the relative importance of the job characteristics and occupational values frameworks, and found that job characteristics were more important moderators of the FFM traits than occupational values across almost all trait-criterion combinations. I discuss significant implications and limitations, along with directions for future research along the lines of furthering the study of the joint influences of person and situation on work outcomes.

Thesis (Ph.D. in Nursing) -- University of Colorado, 2005.
Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 225-249). Free to UCDHSC affiliates. Online version available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations;

Bemanningsbranschen växer och allt fler personer blir anställda via bemanningsföretag. Bemanningsföretagens viktigaste uppgift är att öka flexibiliteten på arbetsmarknaden. De gör det lättare för företagen att snabbt anpassa arbetsstyrkan till efterfrågan. Samtidigt finns problem och risker med att hyra in personal. Flertalet studier kring dessa problem tangerar ämnena motivation och/eller inhyrda medarbetare, men forskningen är begränsad vad gäller inhyrda medarbetares motivation. Under antagandet att graden av motivation, generellt sett, är lägre hos inhyrda medarbetare än hos anställda medarbetare, syftar denna studie till att undersöka vilka motivationsrelaterade skillnader som finns mellan anställda och inhyrda medarbetare på ett bank- och försäkringsbolag; Företaget. Med hänsyn till att ämnet är relativt outforskat genomförs en explorativ fallstudie genom kvalitativa semi-strukturerade intervjuer med sex medarbetare på Företaget. Studien kan liknas vid en pilotstudie, som kan ligga till grund för framtida, mer omfattande forskning. Studien inleds med en deduktiv ansats och tar teoretiskt avstamp från fem olika motivationsteorier: Expectancy Theory och Equity Theory, är att hänföra till Intrinsic Motivation (inre motivation), medan Goal-Setting Theory och Job Design representerar teorier om Extrinsic Motivation (yttre motivation). Slutligen används Self-Determination Theory som är ett hybridperspektiv som fördelar tyngdpunkten jämnt mellan Intrinsic Motivation och Extrinsic Motivation. Därefter övergår studien till en mera induktiv ansats där respondenternas uttalanden i intervjuerna, tillsammans med teorierna, ligger till grund för en kategorisering i sju motivationsfaktorer: Mål, Lön, Uppskattning – utvecklingsmöjligheter och andra belöningar, Samhörighet, Självständighet och eget ansvar, Meningsfullhet samt Omväxling. Skillnaderna i motivation mellan anställda och inhyrda medarbetare på Företaget analyseras därefter med utgångspunkt från dessa sju kategorier. De motivationsrelaterade skillnader som framkommer genom studien är framför allt följande: Inhyrda medarbetare motiveras av karriärutvecklingsmöjligheter i större utsträckning än anställda, Mål är viktigare bland inhyrda än bland anställda medarbetare. Lön är en viktigare motivationsfaktor för inhyrda medarbetare, dock endast på lång sikt. Bland övriga motivationsfaktorer märks inte lika tydliga skillnader. Med anledning av studien föreslås att framtida forskning i ämnet bör ske i form av mera omfattande studier, gärna av kvantitativ karaktär. Forskningen bör omfatta fler respondenter, på fler företag, ur en större variation av yrkesgrupper, med en högre grad av anonymitet för respondenterna

For decades researchers, analysts, and organizational professionals have utilized correction equations to adjust for the effects of various statistical artifacts. However, every correction method has certain assumptions that must be satisfied to work properly. These assumptions are likely rarely satisfied for range restriction corrections. As a result, these correction methods are used in a manner that can lead to incorrect results. The current study employed a Monte Carlo design to examine the direct range restriction correction. Analyses were conducted to examine the accuracy of adjustments made with the direct range restriction correction when its assumption of perfect top-down selection was violated to varying degrees. Analyses were conducted on two datasets, each representing a population of 1,000,000 cases. The following variables were manipulated: the population correlation, the selection ratio, and the probability that the hypothetical applicant would accept the job if offered. Results of the accuracy of the direct range restriction correction equation for the optimal (all job offers accepted) versus realistic (job offers refused at various rates) conditions demonstrated small differences in bias for all conditions. In addition, small differences in squared bias were observed for most of these conditions, with the exception of conditions with both low selection ratios and low probabilities of job offer acceptance. In a surprising finding, the direct range restriction correction equation exhibited greater accuracy for realistic job offer acceptance (some job offers refused) than for optimal job offer acceptance (all offers accepted). It is recommended that researchers further explore the violations of assumptions for correction methods of indirect range restriction as well.

Understanding organizational behavior (OB) has profoundly influenced organizational performance and how people behave in organizations. Researchers have suggested various micro and macro organizational behaviors to be the impetus for high-performing organizations. Through a policy capturing approach this study builds on these findings by specifically examining the perceptions of micro and macro organizational behaviors in an organizational setting. The participants (n =181) completed a Micro and Macro Organizational Behavior Perceptions Questionnaire. Results showed perception differences exist between subordinates and supervisors. Additionally, participants perceived job satisfaction to be the most important micro organizational behavior, whereas organizational design was perceived to be the most important macro organizational behavior. However when comparing hierarchal positions in the organization, supervisors weighted leadership as the most important and subordinates weighted job satisfaction as the most important organizational behavior. While these findings only scratch the surface as to how organizational behavior is perceived, the implications challenge leaders to close the OB perception gap. Correspondingly, organizational behavior thinking may result in improving individual and organizational performance.

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Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
This is a study of approximations based on parametric decomposition methods used in open queueing networks for modeling discrete job-shop manufacturing systems. These approximations play an important role in evaluating the performance of productive systems and have proved effective in many situations. Besides, these approximations are relatively easy to apply requiring fewer data compared to other methods because they use the average rate and SCV (square coefficient of variation) as the only parameters to characterize the network arrival and service processes. This work is aimed at analyzing and comparing several approximations since they are not yet available in the literature. Hence, several network situations were tested in order to identify the most adequate approximation for each situation. Firstly, a two-station network was analyzed followed by the analysis of a five-station network and lastly, a real example of a semiconductor plant, analyzed by Bitran e Tirupati (1988), was used. In order to reach these goals, the state of the art of approximation methods to evaluate the performance of open queueing networks was studied, and the approximations were compared using the experiment planning technique, important factors for building network configuration and data analysis The findings of this work demonstrate that approximations can be highly efficient to evaluate the performance of discrete job-shop manufacturing systems. Regardless of the configurations studied, it is worth mentioning that approximations 3 and 2, in general, showed the best results if compared to the other values obtained from simulations to evaluate the performance of open queueing networks, OQN,. The other approximations tended to overestimate E(Lj) when the number of stations is higher. This study intends to contribute to the development of computing systems in order to support project decisions and the planning and control of discrete manufacturing systems using approximations based on the parametric decomposition method
Esta dissertação estuda as aproximações baseadas nos métodos analíticos paramétricos de decomposição usados em redes de filas abertas que modelam sistemas discretos de manufatura do tipo job-shop. Estas aproximações possuem um importante papel na avaliação do desempenho de sistemas produtivos e vem se mostrando eficiente para uma grande diversidade de situações. Além disso, são aproximações relativamente fáceis de serem aplicadas, necessitando poucos dados em relação a outros métodos, pois utilizam apenas a média e o scv (coeficiente quadrático de variação) como parâmetros para caracterizar os processos de chegadas e os processos de serviço da rede. O foco deste trabalho está em realizar análises e comparações entre diversas aproximações, pois ainda não existe nenhuma comparação mais efetiva entre elas na literatura. Para isso, diversas situações de redes foram exploradas para identificar quais aproximações são mais adequadas para quais situações. Primeiramente é analisado uma rede com 2 estações, posteriormente uma outra com 5 estações e por fim usou um exemplo real de uma fábrica de semi-condutores, analisada por Bitran e Tirupati (1988). Para que seja possível atingir esses objetivos, estudou-se o estado da arte das aproximações dos métodos de avaliação de desempenho para redes de filas abertas, e comparouse as aproximações por meio de técnicas de planejamento de experimentos, parte importante na construção das configurações das redes e análise dos resultados. Os resultados apresentados nesta dissertação mostram que essas aproximações podem ser bem eficientes ao avaliar o desempenho de sistemas discretos de manufatura do tipo job-shop. Independente das configurações analisadas, vale destacar a Aproximação 3 e a Aproximação 2, em geral, obtendo os melhores resultados, entre as aproximações, em comparação aos valores obtidos pela simulação para avaliar o desempenho de redes de filas OQN. As outras aproximações demonstraram certo comportamento em sobreestimar E(Lj), quando o número de estações aumentam. Este estudo pretende contribuir para o desenvolvimento de sistemas computacionais 13 para apoiar decisões de projeto, planejamento e controle dos sistemas discretos de manufatura, usando aproximações baseadas em métodos de decomposição paramétrico

Despite a strong commercial trend towards wearable technology, this thesis considers the distal devices that have played an important role in our lives for over twenty years. Suggesting that the distance we have had between our bodies and our devices has given us the space to form meaningful relationships; the research explores how these relationships change when our devices migrate onto and into our bodies in the form of wearable technologies. The methodology of performative scenarios is developed to examine examples of relationships between people and their devices. Using examples of technologies that live with us now to inform the design of future technological developments reflects a post-phenomenological perspective calling for a materially oriented design approach. This thesis will explore this approach through focusing on the question; what would we lose if our distal devices became wearable devices? Ideations aiming to prevent any loss caused by the transition of devices from distal to wearable will provide examples of post-phenomenological wearable technology that not only maintains our relationships with our devices, but also helps our relationships to grow.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1988.
Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 297-331).

碩士
國立雲林科技大學
企業管理系
105
In recent years, the hypermarket has been enormous business growth, faced with the greatest risk is the staff of the problem, especially in the holidays, students after graduation season, many employees choose to leave, resulting in labor shortage problems. The case firm believed that multifunctional staff is not easy to train, and that the current organizational structure does not have a normal interdisciplinary arrangement. In order to solve the above problems and implement the pipeline management policy, to integrate and simplify the work in order to effectively use the human resources, and improve the staff in the store time, increase the number of customer service opportunities, the purpose is to achieve "the simplified, detailed division of labor." This study adopted the case study method, combined with the current pipeline management policy of C Company in Taiwan, to participate in the observation and individual in-depth interviews, the study of the relationships among employee tasks arrangement and work outcome by the theory of job design. The main conclusions of this study are as follows: 1.In the pipeline management policy, the employee work efficiency slow down, the staff of the work pressure diminished, staff turnover rate increased significantly, the company continued in the loss of outstanding talent, resulting in the overall operation is very difficult. 2.From the organizational policy to the undertable noncooperation implementation, there are many things are unable to change, and then evolved into "on the policy, under the countermeasure" results. 3.Through the adjustment of individual pay structure, improve the quality of work, adequate manpower, perfect pre-service training may help to break the high turnover rate，the lowing down ability, incentives and other vicious circulatory factors. 4.Organizational design and work design should be consistent with the current adjustment of the work of the design of human resources caused by the vicious cycle of the problem may be considered to return to the department system, but can change from the department to do a small pipeline management policy, through this mode of operation, the same can be implemented to the concept of pipeline management policy, but also keeps to the store executives, and the staff rebound to the lowest, so that the excellent staff will be do continue to stay in this company, to achieve real work efficiency and create a win-win situation.

The study centres on the development of a didactically justified design model of a competency based modular training system for the Printing, Newspaper and Packaging Industries. The design model is represented in a diagram form identifying the components of the design model in relation to their systems function. The components of the design model are; training needs analysis, aims and objectives of training, the learner initial situation, the code of practice for training within industry, the pre-interactive training phase, the interactive training phase and training outcomes. Checklists are developed for using the design model as well as some practical examples of the implementation of the design model in creating a training system which features sound andragogic didactic principles and practices. The use of the design model enables the development of a practical competency based modular training system which meets the unique requirements of the Printing, Newspaper and Packaging Industries.
Educational Studies
M. Ed. (Didactics)

Cette thèse présente une revue des réflexions récentes et plus traditionnelles provenant de la théorie des systèmes, de la créativité en emploi, des théories d’organisation du travail et de la motivation afin de proposer une perspective psychologique de la régulation des actions des individus au sein d’environnements de travail complexes et incertains. Des composantes de la Théorie de la Régulation de l’Action (Frese & Zapf, 1994) ainsi que de la Théorie de l’Auto-Détermination (Deci & Ryan, 2000) sont mises en relation afin d’évaluer un modèle définissant certains schémas cognitifs clés associés aux tâches individuelles et collectives en emploi. Nous proposons que ces schémas cognitifs, organisés de manière hiérarchique, jouent un rôle central dans la régulation d’une action efficace au sein d’un système social adaptatif. Nos mesures de ces schémas cognitifs sont basées sur des échelles de mesure proposées dans le cadre des recherches sur l’ambiguïté de rôle (eg. Sawyer, 1992; Breaugh & Colihan, 1994) et sont mis en relation avec des mesures de satisfaction des besoins psychologiques (Van den Broeck, Vansteenkiste, De Witte, Soenens & Lens, 2009) et du bien-être psychologique (Goldberg, 1972). Des données provenant de 153 employés à temps plein d’une compagnie de jeu vidéo ont été récoltées à travers deux temps de mesure. Les résultats révèlent que différents types de schémas cognitifs associés aux tâches individuelles et collectives sont liés à la satisfaction de différents types de besoin psychologiques et que ces derniers sont eux-mêmes liés au bien-être psychologique. Les résultats supportent également l’hypothèse d’une organisation hiérarchique des schémas cognitifs sur la base de leur niveau d’abstraction et de leur proximité avec l’exécution concrète de l’action. Ces résultats permettent de fournir une explication initiale au processus par lequel les différents types de schémas cognitifs développés en emplois et influencé par l’environnement de travail sont associés à l’attitude des employés et à leur bien-être psychologique. Les implications pratiques et théoriques pour la motivation, l’apprentissage, l’habilitation, le bien-être psychologique et l’organisation du travail dans les environnements de travail complexes et incertains sont discutés.
This thesis review recent and more traditional thinking of the system theory, creativity in the workplace, job design and motivation theories to propose a psychological perspective to the regulation of individual action in complex and uncertain work environments. Components from the Action Regulation Theory (Frese & Zapf, 1994) and the Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000) are put in relation in order to test a model of key cognitive schemas related to the accomplishment of collective and individual tasks in the workplace. We propose that these hierarchically organized cognitive schemas are central to efficient action regulation in adaptive social systems. Our measures of these cognitive schemas are based on scales proposed in literature on role ambiguity (eg. Sawyer, 1992; Breaugh & Colihan, 1994) and are put in relation with measures of satisfaction of psychological needs (Van den Broeck, Vansteenkiste, De Witte, Soenens & Lens, 2009) and psychological well-being (Goldberg, 1972). Data from 153 full-time employees from a video game company were collected across 2 time periods. Results indicate that different types of cognitive schemas associated with the individual and collective goals are related to different types of psychological need satisfaction and that psychological need satisfaction is related to psychological well-being. Our results also support the hypothesis of a hierarchical organization of these cognitive schemas based on their level of abstractness or proximity with concrete action. These results begin to explain the process through which different types of cognitive schemas developed in, and influenced by, the working environment relate to employee attitudes and well-being. Theoretical and practical implications for motivation, learning, empowerment, psychological well-being and job design in complex and uncertain work environment are discussed.

The durability and success of businesses depend on the quality of their workforce and rely on the challenge to attract and recruit talent in a business change and technology-driven era. New joiners (millennials especially) give more relevance to work-life balance, career opportunities, learning through training, workshops, coaching, and a competitive salary (PWC, 2011). The scope of the case study is to see how ManWinWin, a small Portuguese enterprise that only can pay below average, is attracting and retaining its employees. This case study was based on Yin (2003) methodology. Therefore, we used four sources of information: interviews, documents, questionnaires, and direct observation converging in a triangulation way. They converged in four main topics: employer branding, culture, motivation and benefits. Our sample was the entire company employed at the time (thirteen employees and four managers). The researcher interviewed the employees, then a quantitative questionnaire was asked to be filled, which adds quantitative information. Qualitative outcomes were analysed according to the template analysis of King (2012) through categories and subcategories, and quantitative results were analysed by descriptive statistics using SPSS. The main findings are that managers feel that ManWinWin employees are much more motivated than they revealed in the answers. However, the study concluded that their intention to leave was very low, proposing that the benefits used for motivating employees may be effective. Nonetheless, there is room for improvement. The last section of this study focuses on what can ManWinWin do to enhance the positive aspects of our findings and tackle the negative ones.
A durabilidade e o sucesso das empresas dependem da qualidade da sua força de trabalho e dependem do desafio de atrair e recrutar talentos numa era de mudança empresarial e de tecnologia. Os novos colaboradores (especialmente os millenials) dão maior relevância a temas como o equilíbrio entre a vida profissional e familiar, oportunidades de carreira, formação, workshops e coaching, e ter um salário competitivo (PWC, 2011). O âmbito deste estudo de caso é ver como a ManWinWin, uma pequena empresa está a atrair e a reter os seus empregados mesmo só podendo pagar abaixo da média. Este estudo de caso foi baseado na metodologia Yin (2003), pelo que utilizámos quatro fontes de informação: entrevistas, documentos, questionário e observação direta convergindo de forma triangular, relativamente a quatro tópicos principais: Employer branding, cultura, motivação e benefícios. A amostra foi toda a empresa empregada na altura (treze empregados e quatro gestores). Os empregados foram entrevistados e depois foi preenchido um questionário. Os resultados qualitativos foram analisados de acordo com a análise do modelo de King (2012) através de categorias e subcategorias e os resultados quantitativos foram analisados através de estatísticas descritivas utilizando o SPSS. As principais conclusões são que os gestores sentem que os funcionários da ManWinWin estão mais motivados do que os próprios revelaram. No entanto, o estudo concluiu que a sua intenção de sair da empresa é muito baixa. O que pode sugerir que os benefícios utilizados para motivar os trabalhadores possam estar a ser eficazes. No entanto, há margem para melhorias, e a última secção deste estudo centra-se no que a ManWinWin pode fazer para melhorar os aspetos positivos das nossas conclusões e enfrentar os negativos.