Module 3 - SLPJob Redesign

As with the Case Assignment, make sure you have thoroughly reviewed the background readings and understand the key concepts of job redesign and job crafting. Then think about your own job and workplace and how these concepts apply to your own work life. Once you have finished reviewing the background readings and have carefully thought about how these concepts relate to your own job, write a 2- to 3-page paper answering the following questions:

1. Of the three main types of job redesign (job enlargement, job rotation, job enrichment), which one do you think would be the most effective in your current workplace? Explain your reasoning, and cite Sarma (2009) or Armstrong (2014) as part of your answer.
2. Suppose your supervisor decides to use job enrichment to redesign your job. Of the five core job characteristics discussed on page 73 of Sarma (2009) or page 146 of Armstrong (2014), which one do you think should be changed as part of your job redesign?
3. Which specific job crafting strategy or intervention do you think would be most effective at your organization or for your specific job? Refer to one of the specific strategies or interventions discussed in Wrzesniewski (2014) or Evans (2013).

SLP Assignment Expectations

• Answer the assignment questions directly in 3 to 4 written pages.
• Stay focused on the precise assignment questions; dont 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.

Module 3 - BackgroundJob RedesignRequired 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. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8X0HCGKaLA

Wrzesniewski, A. (2015). Job crafting - Amy Wrzesniewski on creating meaning in your own work. Re:Work with Google. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_igfnctYjA

Now for a more in-depth view of job design dig into the following two readings. The first one is a relatively simple overview, and the second one is a little more detailed:

Sarma, A. (2009). Chapter 6: Job redesign. Personnel and Human Resource Management. Mumbai, IND: Himalaya Publishing House.

Armstrong, M. (2014). Chapter 11: Work, organization, and job design. Armstrong's Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice (13th Edition). London, GBR: Kogan Page Ltd. [Ebrary]

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. [Ebrary]

Finally, take a look at this very detailed overview of job crafting, as compared to traditional job redesign techniques. The following overview is the toughest reading of this module.

Evans, C. (2013) Chapter 10: Job design: From top-down managerial control to bottom-up job crafting. In Evans, C., & Holmes, L. (Eds.). Re-Tayloring Management: Scientific Management a Century On. Abingdon, Oxon, GBR: Gower Publishing Limited. [Ebrary]

Pay special attention to page 178 of this overview.

Optional Reading

Demerouti, E. & Bakker, A. (2013). Chapter 17: Job crafting. In Peeters, Maria C.W., de Jonge, Jan, and Taris, Toon W., (eds.). Introduction to Contemporary Work Psychology. Somerset, NJ, USA: John Wiley & Sons. [Ebrary]

Gryna, F. M. (2004). Chapter 6: How can we redesign work at the job level. Work Overload! : Redesigning Jobs to Minimize Stress and Burnout. Milwaukee, WI, USA: ASQ Quality Press. [Ebrary]

Mishra, M. (2010). Chapter 6: Job design and job satisfaction. Organisational Behaviour and Corporate Development. Mumbai, IND: Himalaya Publishing House. [Ebrary]