Module Assignment

Background

Required Reading

Start out this module by viewing this two videos that will give you an overview of both traditional job redesign techniques as well as the newer concept of job crafting:

Hartzell, S. (2015). Types of job redesign: Job enrichment, enlargement & rotation. Intro to Business.

Wrzesniewski, A. (2015). Job crafting - Amy Wrzesniewski on creating meaning in your own work. Re:Work with Google.

Now for a more in-depth view of job design dig into the following two readings. Pay special attention to the concepts of job rotation, job enrichment, and job enlargement. Also, pay attention to the core job characteristics such as task variety, autonomy, etc. discussed in both readings:

Bauer, T., & Erdogan, B. (2012) Chapter 6.1: Motivating employees through job design. Introduction to Organizational Behavior. Flatworld Knowledge.

Griffin, R. (2007). Chapter 6: Organization structure and design. Principles of Management. Houghton Mifflin, New York.

Now that you have read up on traditional approaches to job design, read up on job crafting. This reading is by Amy Wrzesniewski, who you saw in one of the videos above:

Wrzesniewski, A. (2014). Chapter 6: Engage in job crafting. In Dutton, J. E., & Spreitzer, G. M. (eds). How to Be a Positive Leader: Small Actions, Big Impact. San Francisco, CA, USA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers. [EBSCO eBook Collection]

Finally, this chapter provides a solid overview of job crafting including some relational, cognitive, and task crafting:

Dik, B. J., & Duffy, R. D. (2012). Chapter 7: Job crafting. Make Your Job a Calling: How the Psychology of Vocation Can Change Your Life at Work. West Conshohocken, PA: Templeton Press. [EBSCO eBook Collection]

Module - Case: Assignment

In the background materials you had a chance to view some videos and read about the traditional "top down" approach of job redesign as well as the newer "bottom up" approach of job crafting. Before starting on this assignment, make sure you have thoroughly reviewed the videos and readings and understand the key job redesign and job crafting strategies. Once you have finished reviewing the background materials, apply what you've learned to the specific scenarios and questions below. Make sure to cite at least one of the required readings for each answer, and try to cite at least four of the readings or videos in your answer. Your paper should be 4-5 pages in length:

1. Relax Lines, Inc. is a luxury cruise line that has hired you as a job crafting consultant for two groups of their employees. The first group is the ship crew. The crew have responsibility for safety, navigation, and maintenance of the ship. The second group is the hospitality staff. The hospitality staff is tasked with making sure the passengers are enjoying themselves and are properly entertained with various events that this staff plans and prepares. Before arriving at the cruise line to do interviews and make recommendations, you first need to do some reading on what general approach you will use. As a first step, review Dik and Duffy (2012), where they discuss task crafting, relational crafting, and cognitive crafting. Which of these three types of job crafting do you think would be most appropriate for the ship crew, and which one do you think would be most appropriate for the hospitality staff? Also, read up on "job-crafting swap meets" in Wrzesniewski (2014). Do you think a swap meet would be appropriate for either ship crew members or hospitality staff? Any other strategy from Wrzesniewski (2014) that you think would be useful for either pilots or online marketers?

2. The ABC Corporation has a team of telemarketers. The job description for the telemarketers is pretty basic: They call up potential customers who have visited his company's web page and requested information about the product. Telemarketers' performance evaluations depend mostly on their monthly sales as well as customer satisfaction surveys, and they receive monthly feedback reports. Their supervisor gives them some initial training, but these telemarketers have a lot of freedom to choose how and when to call customers. For example, they are free to customize their own sales pitch as long as they don't mislead potential customers. Also, they are not required to fill out a time card or work at the office (they can work from home, if they want). As long as they are making enough monthly sales they are free to set their own schedules. While the telemarketing team is performing well, the company is concerned about high turnover among telemarketers and wants to do some job enrichment. Which of the five core job dimensions discussed in Bauer and Erdogan (2012) or page 9 of Griffin (2007) do you think should be revised the most during a job redesign intervention? Which ones do you think do not need to be revised? Explain your reasoning and cite some of the required readings in your answer.

3. Suppose a sports injury clinic has three main practitioners. First, there is a general practitioner doctor who does the basic diagnosis of the injury and works with the patient to come up with an overall treatment program. This doctor also prescribes medicine as needed. Then there is a surgeon who specializes in sports injuries. This doctor only does surgery. Finally, there is a physical therapist who helps patients with exercise programs to help them recover. The owner of the clinic though becomes worried that these three practitioners are becoming bored and dissatisfied with their jobs and there is concern they might all leave unless their jobs change. However, given the high degree of training required for each of their specializations management is not sure how to go about making their jobs less monotonous and more rewarding. In general, would you recommend management undergoes a traditional job redesign approach or a job crafting approach? Which specific job redesign strategy or job crafting strategy would you recommend? For example, if you choose job redesign discuss whether you would recommend job rotation, enlargement, enrichment, etc. If you choose job crafting, refer to one of the specific strategies or interventions discussed in Wrzesniewski (2014) or Dik and Duffy (2012).

4. Create a table with the definitions of the three main types of job redesign (job enlargement, job rotation, job enrichment) and the three main types of job crafting (task crafting, relational crafting, and cognitive crafting). Then write two paragraphs explaining which of the three types of job crafting are most similar to any of the three types of job redesign, and on what you think are the key differences between job crafting and job redesign based on the definitions in your table.

Assignment Expectations

• Answer the assignment questions directly in 4 to 5 written pages.

• Stay focused on the precise assignment questions; don't go off on tangents or devote a lot of space to summarizing general background materials.

• Make sure to use reliable and credible sources as your references. Articles published in established newspapers or business journals/magazines are preferred. If you use articles from the Internet, make sure they are from credible sources.

• Reference your sources of information with both a bibliography and in-text citations. See the Student Guide to Writing a High-Quality Academic Paper, including pages 13 and 14 on in-text citations. Another resource is the "Writing Style Guide," which is found under My Resources in the TLC portal.