hrm a: work process design overview

HRM A – G. Grote ETHZ, WS 06/07

HRM A: Work process design

Overview24.10. Introduction; Work and organizational perspective on HRM

31.10. Organization as socio-technical system; Management of uncertainty in organizations as basis for process design

7.11. Methods for analyzing wor k processes

14.11. Tutorial Work process analysis

21.11. Job design: Effects f or motivation, competence development and health

28.11. Tutorial Job analysis

5.12. Job and organizational design embedded i n organizational change

12.12. Methods for work process design

19.12. Key factors in HRM: Motivation , satisfaction, performance

9.1. Assumptions about human nature as core of job and organizational design

16.1. Interaction of "fit task to human" and "fit human to task"

23.1. Discussion of student projects

30.1. Hans Vogt (Head of Safety SBB): Using work process design to anticipate HR-requirements; Review of lectur e - exam preparation


Assumptions underlying work and organizational design (from Ulich, 1998)

Assumption about human nature

Economic man Social man Self-actualizing man

Complex man

Assumption about organizations

Technical system

Social system Soziotechnical system

Design concept Tayloristic rationalization

Human Relations

Job enrichment Individualization

Organizational strcuture

Centralized; individual tasks

Centralized; group-oriented

Decentralized; individual and group tasks

Assessment criteria

Efficiency; occupational health

Satisfaction; psychosocial well-being

Personal development


The five principles of Taylorism

1. Separation of planning and doing– Responsibility for planning at management level; implementation as sole

shopfloor responsibility

2. "one best way" of task execution – Definition of the more efficient way of task execution based on scientific

methods; every worker executes only one step in the overall task

3. Selection of the best person– Definition of qualification profile for each task step, selection of the

appropriate person

4. Reduction of training– Training for the more efficient way of executing each task step, workers are

easily replaced

5. Control– Surveillance of adherence to the prescribed work methods and of

achievement of required results





Complex man


Technical system



Human Relations






Assessment criteria





Discovery of social man: Human Relations movement

Hawthorne Studies

(1) Study on the relationship between lighting and performance based on tayloristic rationalization -> performance increases throughout the study, even when lighting is reduced again to "moon light quality"

(2) Study on the relationship between breaks and performance based on tayloristic rationalization-> Performance increases independent of design of breaks “Hawthorne effect”: Social factors are crucial for

behavior, e.g. social attention through being studied

(3) Systematic support for group cohesion influences performance through formation of group norms





Complex man


Technical system



Human Relations






Assessment criteria





Criteria for humane work tasks (from Ulich, 1998)

Promotion of physical health • Tasks which are not detrimental to physical and psycho-physiologicalwell-being

Promotion of psycho-social health • Tasks which are not detrimental to psycho-social well-being

Completeness • Taks which include planning, execution, feedback, and correction

Variety • Tasks with different cognitive and physical demands

Social interaction • Tasks which require or allow cooperation

Development Autonomy • Tasks with decision latitudeeof personality Learning and

development• Tasks which require the use of existing qualifications and the

acquisition of new qualifications

Time control • Tasks with time buffers in planning and execution

Meaning • Tasks whose outcomes are useful for society

Task compatibility • Tasks whose demands are compatible with qualifications andexpectations


Objectives of job design

• Autonomy:Self-determination regarding goals and rules for goal achievement.

• Control:Influence on situations in order to achieve goals which can be self-determined or determined by others.

Prerequisite for effective use of control: Transparency and predictability of work situation.





Complex man


Technical system



Human Relations






Assessment criteria





Considering individual differences in job design

• Participative und differential-dynamic job design:Involvement in organizational change decisions and offer of choices regarding job design options allows for consideration of indiviual needs and competencies

• „Job crafting“:Opportunities for self-determined adaption of work tasks according to changing individual needs and competencies

• Management by Objectives (MbO):Systematic furthering of individual motivation through tailored goals and ways for goal achievement

General objective:

no fixation of individual differences, but individually tailored support


Assumptions about human nature (Schein, 1988)Economic man

- Employees are primarily motivated by economic incentives and will do whatever affords them the greatest economic gain.

- Since economic incentives are under the control of the organization, the employee is essentially a passive agent to be manipulated, motivated and controlled by the organization.

- Feelings are, by definition, irrational and, therefore, must be prevented from interfering with a person's rational calculation of self-interest.

- Organizations can and must be designed in such a way as to neutralize and control people's feelings.

Social man - Social needs are the prime motivator of human behavior, and interpersonal relationships the prime shaper of a sense of

identity.

- As a result of the mechanization entailed in the Industrial Revolution, work has lost much of its intrinsic meaning, which now must be sought in social relationships on the job.

- Employees are more responsive to the social forces of the peer group than to the incentives and controls of management.

- Employees are responsive to management to the extent that a supervisor can meet a subordinate's needs for belonging, for acceptance. and for a sense of identity.

Self-actualizing man - There are physiological, safety, affiliative, self-esteem and self-actualization needs; people seek a sense of accomplishment

in their work, especially if other needs are more or less fulfilled. - Employees are capable of using autonomy and independence based on a long-range time perspective, development of

necessary skills, and flexible adaptation to circumstances. - People are primarily self-motivated and self-controlled; externally imposed incentives and controls are likely to be

threatening and to reduce motivation. - If given a chance, employees will voluntarily integrate their own goals with those of the organization. Complex man - Human needs fall into many categories and vary according to stage of development and total life situation. - Needs and motives interact and combine into complex motive patterns; new motives are learned through organizational

experience. - If the job itself consists of a variety of skills, numerous motives may be operative at different times and for different tasks.


Case: Work organization in an insurance company

In an insurance company, standard claims are processed with the aid of a computer system. Eachwork unit handles only claims of one type of insurance (liability, accident, home etc.); additionallywithin each group, employees are specialized in particular types of claims (bicycle accidents, caraccidents etc.). The time spent daily at the computer system is about 6 hours. The main work is theregistering of the claim. The actual processing and decision on accepting or rejecting the claim are ofminor importance as the cases are usually quite clear. Although the demands on t he employees'qualifications are thus fairly low, all employees are highly skilled. Working conditions like lighting,room climate, furnishing and compu ter ergonomics are good due to a recent refurbishing whichinvolved ergonomics specialists. Complaints about monotony, headaches and isolation have howeverbecome quite frequent recently and some employees have already announced their intention to quit,to the astonishment of the unit head. Additionally, an increase in automatically registered errors wasfound as well as a decrease in performance of some of the employees.

Imagine yourself as a consultant to the insurance company. Adopt the four views on humanmotivation and answer the following two questions from each of these viewpoints:- How would you describe the main problems in this work unit?- Which solutions would you suggest to the company?


Goal setting theory

• Motivation through self-determined achievement of goals.

• Goals have to be...... clear and specific,

... very difficult without being unrealistic

... accepted and longer-term.

• There hase to be continuous feedback on goal achievement.


Practical implementation of goal setting theory: Management by objectives

(Drucker, 1954) • Systematic alignment of individual and

organizational goals– Breaking down strategic goals to each level of the

organization– Spezific, measurable, achievable, realistic goals for each

employee– Participative decision making– Clearly definied time frame for goal achievement– performance evaluation and feedback

• But: “MbO is just another tool, it is not the great cure for management inefficiency. It works if you know the objectives, 90% of the time you don´t.”


Formerly

Fir

m $

t

Em

plo

yee

Legal and psychological contracts

Job security

Hard WorkLoyalty E

mp

loye

e

Fir

m

Today

Em

plo

yee

t + Goal achievement

Fir

m $ + Goals

Hard WorkLoyalty

Employability

Em

plo

yee

Fir

m

Work flexibility, Downsizing

Legal contract

Psychological contract


Flexible working: Change from a tradtional to a new contract? (Raeder & Grote, 2001)

Traditional contract New contract

Job security / Life-long employment

Flexibility / Accepting insecurity

Internal promotion Internal development

Specialization Goal / Performance orientation

Loyalty/ Identification

Employability / Focus on own competencies


Fit between expectations and offers – Employee perspective

Degree of company flexibility Content of psychological contract

low medium high

Learning opportunities -- -- --

Security - -- ---

Company offer - Employee expectation

Professional development - --- --

Flexibility + - --

Performance orientation = = =

Employee offer - Company expectation

Skill spectrum = + =


(Non-)Fit of employer offers and employee expectations (Wittekind, Raeder & Grote, 2005)

Security and commitment

Learning opportunities in work task

Opportunities for development within the firm

Competence development

Participation in decision-making

Flexibility

-1.5 -1.0 -0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5

Unt. A (Sicht Mitarbeitende) Unt. B (Sicht Mitarbeitende)Unt. C (Sicht Mitarbeitende) Unt. D (Sicht Mitarbeitende)Unt. E (Sicht Mitarbeitende) Unt. A (Sicht Führung)Unt. B (Sicht Führung) Unt. C (Sicht Führung)Unt. D (Sicht Führung) Unt. E (Sicht Führung)


(Non-)Fit of employee offers and employer expectations (Wittekind, Raeder & Grote, 2005)

Performance orientation

Employee flexibility

Loyalty

Employability

-1.5 -1.0 -0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0Unt. A (Sicht Mitarbeitende) Unt. B (Sicht Mitarbeitende)Unt. C (Sicht Mitarbeitende) Unt. D (Sicht Mitarbeitende)Unt. E (Sicht Mitarbeitende) Unt. A (Sicht Führung)Unt. B (Sicht Führung) Unt. C (Sicht Führung)Unt. D (Sicht Führung) Unt. E (Sicht Führung)


Career orientations in Switzerland (Swiss HR-Barometer 2006, Grote & Staffelbach)

Versus Looking ahead at your work life, which of the following would you choose?

%

Being employable in a range of jobs 52 48 Having job security

Managing your own career 80 20

Having your organization manage your career for you

A short time in lots of organizations 25 75 A long time with one organisation

A series of jobs at the same kind of level

46 54 Striving for promotion into more senior posts

Living for the present 45 55 Planning for the future

Work as marginal to your life 16 84 Work as central to your life

A career is not important to you 66 34

Career success is very important to you

Commitment to yourself and your career

51 49 Commitment to the organisation

Traditional career Independent career Disengaged career


Career orientations in Switzerland (Swiss HR-Barometer 2006, Grote & Staffelbach)

Traditional career - 39%more men, lower education level, longer tenuremore participation, more personnel development more employer offers (especially job security, loyalty, career opportunities)higher commitment, higher life satisfaction, higher work-life balance

Independent career - 36%younger, higher education level, higher income, shorter tenure, more in insurance and banking, higher employabilitymore work flexibility, less personnel developmentmore expectations regarding interesting work, learning opportunities, and taking on responsibilitylower commitment, lower job satisfaction, higher intention to quit

Disengaged career - 13%more women, older, lower education level, lower incomeless participation, less personnel developmentlower expectationslower motivation, lower job satisfaction, lower life satisfaction


Swiss HR-Barometer 2006:Factors influencing intention to quit


Psychological contract as leadership instrumentPsychological contracts ...…complement and super-impose

legal contracts.…contain reciprocal, though not

necessarily correspon-ding expectations and offers between employee and employer.

…are derived from verbal agreements as well as from behaviors of contract partners and other members of the organization.

The more corresponding

and the more explicit the

agreement

the sounder the psychological contract.

hrm a: work process design overview

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