Job Design

Many of us assume the most important motivator at work is pay. Yet decades of research point to a different factor as the major influence over worker motivation: job design. How a job is designed has a major impact on not only employee motivation, but other critical organizational outcomes such as job satisfaction, organizational commitment, absenteeism, and turnover.

Scientific Management and Job Specialization

Perhaps the earliest attempt to design jobs came during the era of scientific management. Scientific management is a philosophy based on the ideas of Frederick Taylor as presented in his 1911 book, Principles of Scientific Management. Taylor’s book was among the most influential business books of the 20th century; the ideas presented had a major influence over how work was organized in the following years. Taylor, a mechanical engineer in the manufacturing industry, saw the inefficiencies inherent in employees’ production methods and argued that a manager’s job was to carefully plan the work to be performed by employees (Figure 1). He also believed that scientific methods could be used to increase productivity. As an example, Taylor found that instead of allowing workers to use their own shovels, as was the custom at the time, providing specially designed shovels increased productivity. Further, by providing training and specific instructions, he was able to dramatically reduce the number of laborers required to handle each job.^[1],[2]

Scientific management proposed a number of ideas that have been influential in job design in the following years. An important idea was to minimize waste by identifying the most efficient method to perform the job. Using time–motion studies, managers could determine how much time each task would require and plan the tasks so that the job could be performed as efficiently as possible. Therefore, standardized job performance methods were an important element of scientific management techniques. Each job would be carefully planned in advance, and employees would be paid to perform the tasks in the way specified by management.

Furthermore, job specialization was one of the major advances of the scientific management approach. Job specialization entails breaking down jobs into their simplest components and assigning them to employees so that each person would perform a select number of tasks in a repetitive manner. There are a number of advantages to job specialization. Breaking tasks into simple components and making them repetitive reduces the skill requirements of the jobs and decreases the effort and cost of staffing. Training times for simple, repetitive jobs tend to be shorter as well. On the other hand, from a motivational perspective, these jobs tend to be boring and repetitive and therefore associated with negative outcomes such as absenteeism.^[3] Also, job specialization is ineffective in rapidly changing environments where employees may need to modify their approach according to the demands of the situation.^[4]

Today, Taylorism has a bad reputation, and it is often referred to as the “dark ages” of management when employees’ social motives were ignored. However, it is important to recognize the fundamental change in management mentality brought about by Taylor’s ideas. For the first time, managers realized their role in influencing the output levels of employees. The concept of scientific management has had a lasting impact on how work is organized. Taylor’s work paved the way to automation and standardization that is virtually universal in today’s workplace. 

Job Characteristics Model

The job characteristics model is one of the most influential attempts to design jobs with increased motivational properties.^[5] As shown in Figure 2 below, the model describes five core job dimensions leading to three critical psychological states, resulting in important work-related outcomes including motivation.

Core Job Characteristics

The Job Characteristics Model has five core job dimensions (Video 1).

Skill variety refers to the extent to which the job requires a person to utilize different skills. A car wash employee whose job consists of directing customers into the automated car wash demonstrates low levels of skill variety, whereas a car wash employee who acts as a cashier, maintains carwash equipment, and manages the inventory of chemicals demonstrates high skill variety.

Task identity refers to the degree to which a person is in charge of completing an identifiable piece of work from start to finish. A web designer who designs parts of a website will have lower task identity, because their work blends in with other web designers’ work; in the end it will be hard for any one person to claim responsibility for the final output. The web designer who designs an entire website, however, will have high task identity.

Task significance refers to whether a person’s job substantially affects other people’s work, health, or well-being. A janitor who cleans the floors at an office building may find the job low in significance, thinking it is not a very important job. However, janitors cleaning the floors at a hospital may see their role as essential in helping patients get better. When they feel that their tasks are significant, employees tend to feel that they are making an impact on their environment, and their feelings of self-worth are boosted.^[6] 

Autonomy is the degree to which a person has the freedom to decide how to perform his or her tasks. As an example, an instructor who is required to follow a predetermined textbook, covering a given list of topics using a specified list of classroom activities, has low autonomy. On the other hand, an instructor who is free to choose the textbook, design the course content, and use any relevant materials when delivering lectures has higher levels of autonomy. Autonomy increases motivation at work, but it also has other benefits. Giving employees autonomy at work is a key to individual as well as company success, because autonomous employees are free to choose how to do their jobs and therefore can be more effective. They are also less likely to adopt a “this is not my job” approach to their work environment and instead be proactive (do what needs to be done without waiting to be told what to do) and creative.^{[7],[8],[9],[10]}

Feedback refers to the degree to which people learn how effective they are being at work. Feedback at work may come from other people, such as supervisors, peers, subordinates, and customers, or it may come from the job itself. A salesperson who gives presentations to potential clients, but is not informed of the clients’ subsequent decisions, has lower feedback at work. If this salesperson receives notification that a sale was made based on the presentation, feedback will be higher.

Motivation 3.0

More recently, Daniel Pink’s Motivation 3.0 framework has expanded upon traditional job design theories like the job characteristics model by emphasizing the psychological drivers of autonomy, mastery, and purpose (Figure 3). These concepts align closely with the intrinsic motivation fostered by well-designed jobs, providing a modern perspective on how to engage and inspire employees in today’s evolving workplace.

In his widely-read book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us,^[16] Pink highlights the critical role of intrinsic motivation, emphasizing that it is not a static characteristic. Instead, he argues that intrinsic motivation can vary based on the degree of autonomy individuals experience, the opportunities they have to pursue mastery, and the sense of purpose, or meaning, they derive from their work.

Pink refers to the paradigm in which individuals are intrinsically motivated as Motivation 3.0. By contrast, Motivation 1.0 describes people’s basic need to survive as their main drive, and Motivation 2.0 includes managing employees using positive and negative reinforcement. According to Pink, autonomy, mastery, and purpose are all essential to realize and maintain optimal levels of motivation (Video 2).

Empowerment

Another contemporary approach to motivating employees through job design is empowerment. The concept of empowerment extends the idea of autonomy. Empowerment may be defined as the removal of conditions that make a person powerless.^[17] The idea behind empowerment is that employees have the ability to make decisions and perform their jobs effectively if management removes certain barriers. Thus, instead of dictating roles, companies should create environments in which employees have discretion to make decisions about the content and context of their jobs.

Employees who feel empowered believe that their work is meaningful. They tend to feel that they are capable of performing their jobs effectively, that they have the ability to influence how the company operates, and that they can perform their jobs in any way they see fit, without close supervision and other interference. In cases of very high levels of empowerment, employees decide what tasks to perform and how to perform them, in a sense managing themselves.

Research has distinguished between structural elements of empowerment and felt empowerment. Structural empowerment refers to the aspects of the work environment that give employees discretion, autonomy, and the ability to do their jobs effectively. The idea is that the presence of certain structural factors helps empower people, but in the end empowerment is a perception (Figure 4).^{[18],[19],[20]}

Empowerment of employees tends to be beneficial for organizations, because it is related to outcomes such as employee innovativeness, managerial effectiveness, employee commitment to the organization, customer satisfaction, job performance, and behaviors that benefit the company and other employees.^{[21],[22],[23],[24],[25]} At the same time, empowerment may not necessarily be suitable for all employees. Moreover, the idea of empowerment is not always easy to implement, because some managers may feel threatened when subordinates are empowered. If employees do not feel ready for empowerment, they may also worry about the increased responsibility and accountability. Therefore, preparing employees for empowerment by carefully selecting and training them is important to the success of empowerment interventions.

Contemporary Issues in Job Design

The concept of job design is particularly relevant in the face of two significant shifts in how work is performed: the rise of remote work and the increasing adoption of artificial intelligence. Both trends challenge traditional approaches to job design but also present unique opportunities to enhance motivation and performance when implemented thoughtfully.

Remote Work

Almost overnight, the COVID-19 pandemic made remote work (also referred to as flexible work arrangements, telecommuting, or working from home) a standard way of operating for many organizations. While the concept of a virtual office was slowly becoming more common in the years before this crisis, there was still considerable resistance from managers and organizations due to concerns about diminished control, decreased supervision, and potential productivity losses. The pandemic, however, forced a rapid shift in perceptions as organizations adapted to remote work out of necessity.

Today, remote work has persisted in many organizations, and its benefits—such as increased flexibility, reduced commuting, and greater autonomy—have become more widely recognized. For employees, this shift has often meant more control over when and how they work—a factor closely aligned with autonomy, a key component of both the job characteristics model as well as Daniel Pink’s framework of intrinsic motivation. However, some organizations are reconsidering the role of remote work, citing concerns about collaboration, organizational culture, and the potential erosion of feedback loops critical to job satisfaction and performance. Effective remote work policies must balance flexibility with strategies to foster communication, collaboration, and alignment with organizational goals.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Alongside the rise of remote work, the increasing adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming how tasks are performed and redefining the nature of work. From a job design perspective, AI offers both opportunities and challenges. By automating routine and repetitive tasks, AI can enhance job autonomy, allowing employees to focus on more engaging and meaningful aspects of their roles. Additionally, it can support mastery by providing tools and insights that enable employees to perform their tasks more effectively. However, AI also raises concerns about job security and the dehumanization of work, emphasizing the need for organizations to adopt and integrate these technologies while maintaining a sense of purpose and task significance for employees.

Chapter Review