In This Article Expand or collapse the "in this article" section Job Design

  • Recent Developments
  • Changes in the Work Environment Context
  • Curvilinear Effects of Job Characteristics
  • Future Directions

Management Job Design
by
Yitzhak Fried, Ariel S. Levi, Ran Bi, Andre Taybron
  • LAST REVIEWED: 28 January 2013
  • LAST MODIFIED: 21 June 2024
  • DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199846740-0044

Introduction

Job design refers to the processes and outcomes of how work is structured, organized, experienced, and enacted. As a key contributor to individual attitudes, motivation, and work performance, job design has generated substantial interest in the scientific community. Much research has been conducted in the area of job design, leading to a better understanding of the attitudes and behaviors of employees at work. This article is a review of some key readings on job design theories and research. Unlike other changes at work, such as those associated with managerial practices, training programs, or reward systems, job design focuses solely on the work itself—namely, the tasks or activities that individuals perform in their organizations. The popularity of job design as a research topic and managerial strategy is based on its focus on the work itself. Although individuals can avoid dealing with many aspects of their work context, they typically cannot avoid dealing with their jobs, which is the primary purpose of being “at work.” Therefore, jobs represent the key contact between the employee and the organization. Consequently, the way in which jobs are designed and structured plays a major role in affecting how people react in their employing organization. Interest in the field of job design spans over one hundred years. The subject garnered tremendous attention in the twentieth century, and it continues to be highly relevant in the twenty-first century. The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic during 2019–2022 led to dramatic changes in how and where jobs were performed. In countries that imposed lockdowns to prevent the spread of the disease, many organizations required their employees to work remotely through technology. The “digitalization” of work (e.g., meetings held through technological means such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams) required many employees to engage in new tasks and learn new skills. From a job design perspective, the changes brought about by the pandemic are continuing, and their full impact has yet to be fully understood. In the following sections, key historical approaches to job design are covered, followed by a discussion of future directions in the field.

Recent Developments

Although the importance of job design to employee motivation and performance is well established, we have witnessed significant changes in the work environment that raise new challenges and questions concerning the role of job design in the twenty-first century. Several scholars have identified the major changes that have occurred in the context of work, and they have analyzed and discussed how these changes are likely to affect job design in the emerging work environment.

  • Fried, Yitzhak, Ariel S. Levi, and Gregory Laurence. “Motivation and Job Design in the New World of Work.” In The Oxford Handbook of Personnel Psychology. Edited by Susan Cartwright and Cary L. Cooper, 586–612. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.

    The authors discuss the contribution of key theories in the area of job design, focusing in particular on projected changes of work design in the changing global work environment.

  • Oldham, Greg R., and Yitzhak Fried. “Job Design Research and Theory: Past, Present and Future.” Organizational Behavior & Human Decision Processes 136 (2016): 20–35.

    DOI: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2016.05.002

    This literature review on job design summarizes historical literature, discusses streams of contemporary research, and provides future directions.

  • Parker, Sharon K., Daniela M. Andrei, and Anja Van den Broeck. “Poor Work Design Begets Poor Work Design: Capacity and Willingness Antecedents of Individual Work Design Behavior.” Journal of Applied Psychology 104.7 (2019): 907–928.

    DOI: 10.1037/apl0000383

    The authors extend research on work design by systematically exploring how individuals design work. Specifically, the authors investigate how capacity (professional expertise, explicit knowledge, job autonomy) and willingness (life values) influence work design behaviors.

  • Parker, Sharon K., Frederick P. Morgeson, and Gary Johns. “One Hundred Years of Work Design Research: Looking Back and Looking Forward.” Journal of Applied Psychology 102.3 (2017): 403–420.

    DOI: 10.1037/apl0000106

    The authors review important articles on work design, identify key research perspectives, highlight the contribution of the Journal of Applied Psychology, and suggested future research directions.

  • Parker, Sharon K., Anja Van den Broeck, and David Holman. “Work Design Influences: A Synthesis of Multilevel Factors that Affect the Design of Jobs.” Academy of Management Annals 11.1 (2017): 267–308.

    DOI: 10.5465/annals.2014.0054

    This literature review proposes a framework theorizing that the higher-level external context, the organizational context, the local work context, and individual factors influence work design.

  • Wegman, Lauren A., Brian J. Hoffman, Nathan T. Carter, Jean M. Twenge, and Nigel Guenole. “Placing Job Characteristics in Context: Cross-Temporal Meta-analysis of Changes in Job Characteristics since 1975.” Journal of Management 44.1 (2018): 352–386.

    DOI: 10.1177/0149206316654545

    This cross-temporal meta-analysis investigates changes in key job characteristics and in the link between job characteristics and job satisfaction. The results show some evidence for change in skill variety and autonomy since 1975 and interdependence since 1985.

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