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Motivated, engaged employees are a valuable asset to any organization – if not the single most important asset in successful companies! The principle behind the Job Characteristics Model (JCM) is that it’s the task itself that’s key to employee motivation. Find out more about the JCM and its benefits. Job Characteristics TheoryThe Job Characteristics Model (JCM) is based on the Job Characteristics Theory (JCT) first postulated by organizational psychologists J. Richard Hackman and Greg Oldham in 1975. In a nutshell, the JCT states that task design plays a major role in employee motivation, performance, and satisfaction. It examines various aspects that determine whether a job or task is fulfilling and meaningful and addresses the question from the perspective of both the organization and the individual employee. In doing so, it correlates a job or task’s characteristics with the responses and satisfaction level experienced by the person carrying out the work. So, what is the Job Characteristics Model?The JCM builds upon JCT principles to create a schematic and practical model. Although the JCM is relatively old, it’s still widely used to this day. The model specifies the conditions under which employees remain motivated to perform their job to the best of their abilities. So, let’s take a closer look at the JCM! Core job characteristicsCore job characteristics are an important element of the JCM. Hackham and Oldham identified five such characteristics*:
Psychological statesPsychological states are a second important element of the JCM. These relate to employee motivation and satisfaction levels while performing a given task or job. Hackham and Oldham identified three such states*:
ModeratorsReality, however, isn’t always as cut and dry as a theoretical model. No two employees will respond to a job or task in the same way. For example, variety isn’t necessarily a prerequisite for everyone to experience fulfillment in their work. The factors that determine the attitude someone has to their work are known as ‘moderators’ within the JCM. We’ve identified three such moderators:
What are the benefits to your organization?Applying the Job Characteristics Model offers numerous benefits. Below, you’ll find several options: 1. Combining more varied jobs and tasksThe Job Characteristics Model helps make employees’ jobs and tasks more appealing, varied, and challenging. You can rotate and redefine jobs so that employees have to use more of their skills, and their work becomes less monotonous and repetitive. 2. DecentralizingThe JCM encourages ‘decentralization’. This involves delegating tasks to the lowest possible organizational level, encouraging autonomy, self-reliance, and personal responsibility. 3. Assigning tasks to groups and teams more easilyThe JCM offers an opportunity to encourage and structure teamwork more effectively within your organization. Create clearly defined teams that are dedicated to the particular job they perform. Teamwork and cooperation also result in a clearer focus on the output that team members produce. Employees also become more engaged and committed when they can clearly see the larger picture and the effect their work has on the organization as a whole. 4. Sharing ideasKnowledge sharing is a powerful impulse for progress. The JCM is a great tool for encouraging employees to exchange ideas and opinions among themselves. 5. Creating a stronger bond between employees and customers/end-usersBy clearly mapping job characteristics, you also help bring employees and customers/end-users closer together. Employees experience how customers and end-users evaluate their work, which results in useful and valuable feedback that helps elevate their perception of their work. A bond then emerges between employees and the people who benefit the most from their work. 6. Reducing staff turnoverFulfilled and intrinsically motivated employees are less likely to look elsewhere for employment. By applying the JCM properly, you’ll also help reduce staff turnover, which is highly beneficial to your operational continuity. Quantify to qualifyTo get the most out of the JCM, it’s advisable to work out exactly who can do what well and what they like doing. Skills matrices are an ideal way to keep track of skills and competences in a clear, orderly, schematic fashion. Working with skills matrices has many benefits, especially if you use special-purpose skills management software.
Why not make a start with one of our Excel skills matrix templates or take a more professional approach with a look at our special-purpose skills management software? Schedule a live demo now! *Hackman, J.R. & Oldham, G.R. (1975). “Development of the job diagnostic survey”, Journal of Applied Psychology, 60(2) What are the 5 core job characteristics?The five core characteristics of job design are skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and job feedback. Including these characteristics in your jobs affects the following work-related outcomes — motivation, satisfaction, performance, absenteeism, and turnover.
Which of the following is a core job characteristic?The first three core job characteristics – skill variety, task identity and task significance – have a direct impact on the individual worker's experienced meaningfulness of work.
Which core job characteristics affect experienced responsibility for work outcomes?According to the theory, certain core job characteristics are responsible for each psychological state: skill variety, task identity, and task significance shape the experienced meaningfulness; autonomy affects experienced responsibility, and feedback contributes to the knowledge of results.
Which of the following core job characteristics leads to the critical psychological state of experienced responsibility for outcomes of the work?The dimensions of skill variety, task identity, and task significance combine to elicit the critical psychological state of experienced meaningfulness of the work. Autonomy elicits the state of experienced responsibility or control, and feedback leads to experiencing knowledge of the results of one's work efforts.
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