Discussion 1:

Failure to differentiate or integrate or both may result in poorly designed jobs, which may lead to performance problems. In contrast, well-designed jobs improve productivity and enhance employee satisfaction. Four approaches to job design developed during the 20th century include scientific management, job enlargement/job rotation, job enrichment, and the job characteristics theory.

Describe and compare four traditional approaches to the design of work in America.

Discussion 2:

* As a manager, how would you balance the need for a work adjustment for an employee with a disability with your need to design jobs that meet organizational performance goals?

* What issues would you need to consider to ensure the well-being of an employee with a disability with regard to job control, uncertainty, and conflict?

* Recommend an appropriate course of action and justify your response.

Discussion 3:

How would you describe an organization such as the military on each of the basic design dimensions? For example, is it a very formal organization or an informal organization?

Summarize the structural configuration of the military. Do you need more information than you have to be comfortable with your classification and description? Where could you get the information?

Discussion 4:

Organizational cultures exist in all organizations and have important effects on the morale and motivation of organizational members. Cultures are communicated through artifacts, values, and basic assumptions that are both visible and invisible. Employees need to understand organizational culture in order to be effective within the organization.

Identify a company with a visible organizational culture. What do you think are the company's values? How do you think this culture contributes to the performance of the organizations' employees? Explain.

Discussion 5:

* Summarize the four stages of career development.

* What do you think will be/has been the most stressful stage of your career?

* What type of stressors do you think will/did affect you? How did that impact the career decisions you made?

* What is the key to career survival?