What are the three major elements of Hackman and Oldhams job characteristics model C?

What is the best way to design work so that people are engaged and perform well? The Job Characteristics Model provides recommendations on how to best enrich jobs in organizations and was designed by Hackman and Oldham in 1976 and updated in 1980 (Hackman & Oldham, 1976, 1980). The model provides five characteristics that state how best to design work including:

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skill variety,
task identity,
task significant,
autonomy, and
feedback.

The Job Characteristics Model states that these characteristics influence outcomes of motivation, satisfaction and performance. The model also includes intervening variables of meaningfulness, responsibility, and knowledge of results.

Skill variety

Skill variety occurs when the individual engages in a wide range of activities that require different skills.

Task identity

Task identity occurs when the employees completes a whole segment of work from start to end.

Task significance

Task significance occurs when the job has real meaning through making an impact on people.

Autonomy

Autonomy occurs when employees have freedom and discretion in deciding how to carry out their work. Feedback is when employees are given clear feedback on their performance effectiveness (Oldham & Hackman, 2010).

How can you measure job characteristics?

To assess whether jobs provide enrichment and also to test their model, Oldham and Hackman created the Job Diagnostic Survey (JDS). The JDS is a self-report measure that assess employees’ assessment of the five job characteristics (Hackman & Oldham, 1980).

The JDS also assesses employees’ Growth Need Strength. Growth Need Strength assesses how much the employee values opportunities to grow and develop at work. The Model also makes the assumption that the job holder has the appropriate knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) to do the work.

How to apply the Job Characteristics Model?

The Job Characteristics Model has been applied across different settings, roles, and organizations.

Job Characteristics Model applied to entrepreneurs

One application focused on the utility of the model for entrepreneurs. The model was applied using those characteristics that focused on the “work itself” done by entrepreneurs (Batchelor, Abston, Lawlor & Burch, 2014). The authors provide a series of propositions that need to be tested but they provide initial demonstration of how the Job Characteristics Model can be applied to entrepreneurs.

The application is interesting because the Model was originally designed for those who worked for an organization. The authors argue that entrepreneurs tend to have higher internal motivation because they work for themselves and enjoy the freedom and autonomy that comes from owning their own business (Batchelor et al., 2014).

Using the Job Characteristics Model to increase student motivaton

The Job Characteristics Model was also applied within a Business School setting to increase student motivation, which is still a problem within educational settings (Sukumar, Tandon & Pointer, 2007). The researchers utilized the model through designing course characteristics aligned with the JCM, such as task type, student autonomy, and formal evaluation (Sukumar et al., 2007). The authors suggest various classroom activities to increase the five JCM characteristics.

To increase task variety, they suggest activities that require several skills such as oral and written communication and decision-making. Tasks can include short case analyses, group assignments and experiential exercises (Sukumar et al., 2007).

With task identity, educators are encouraged to design courses that allow students to experience achievement based on tangible outcomes and can include development of business or marketing plans for new products or a semester-long management game, with student groups competing in a simulated marketplace (Sukumar et al., 2007).

It is also important that students appreciate that the KSAs they acquire through college courses are important in the real world to increase task significance. Activities can include application of KSA to explain a current business event or to develop projects for external organizations.

The JCM also states that individuals must have agency and control in their work and this is also important for students. One way for students to gain autonomy is through involving students in the design of a course, with boundaries set by the instructor.

Finally, the authors prescribe incorporating evaluation and feedback within business courses with feedback being timely and substantive. This feedback can be immediate such as gaining feedback from professors and students when giving a class presentation (Sukumar et al., 2007).

What is the evidence behind the Job Characteristics Model?

There is evidence to support the Job Characteristics Model although the research suggests some ambiguity in the validity of the model. An initial 1987 meta-analytic review examined 200 studies that had include the Job Characteristics Model within their research (Fried & Ferris, 1987). They found support for the multiple dimensions of the JCM, but it was unclear on the exact number. However, they did find that the job characteristics were related to psychological and behavioral outcomes with a role for psychological states as intervening factors.

However, although there were correlations between the job characteristics and psychological states, the pattern showed less support for the JCM. For example, task identity was related to responsibility yet had weaker relationships with meaningfulness or knowledge of results. However, skill variety and task significance both showed strong relationships with meaningfulness than with the other two psychological states (Fried & Ferris, 1987).

However, there were few relationships between the psychological states and performance; in fact, the strongest relationships were between job characteristics and outcomes. Task identity, job feedback, MPS had strong relationships with work performance but there was no relationship with performance and meaningfulness, responsibility, and feedback (Fried & Ferris, 1987).

A recent review that focused on work design research provided a critique of the JCM through examination of more recent research (Parker, Morgeson & Johns, 2017). They concur with Fried and Ferris (1987) that although the JCM is related to several affective and behavioral outcomes, the specific model has received weaker support.

Recent research finds that there is a lack of support for growth need strength as a moderator with limited support for the mediational mechanisms (Parker et al., 2017). The only intervening variable that has gained support as an important psychological state is meaningfulness (Parker et al., 2017).

Benefits of the Job Characteristics Model

The main benefit of the JCM is that it provides professionals with a template on how to design jobs through the five core characteristics. The research on the JCM have demonstrated key work design variables including the following (Parker et al., 2017):

job characteristics,
job attitudes,
complexity,
feedback design,
variety and
skill utilization.

In addition, the JCM characteristics are related to job analysis so can be used in designing jobs to aid in selection and job training.

What are the limitations of the Job Characteristics Model?

As stated previously, the main limitation of the JCM is that some of the key theoretical linkages within the model are not supported. The other limitation of the JCM is that the model was developed in the 1980s when job design was well aligned with fixed roles within organizations. However, the workplace has changed and there is now an emphasis on core competencies that are applicable across a wide range of settings and jobs.

CQ Net - Management skills for everyone! provides a review of leadership competencies models that demonstrate this shift. However, the JCM can still be useful in helping organizations understand how to craft jobs that motivate and empower employees.

Conclusion

The JCM is a recognized and valuable model that enables professionals to consider how best to design jobs. Although there are certain flaws in the JCM, most of the elements within the framework are supported through empirical evidence. Professionals can utilize elements of the JCM to help consider how best to design jobs.

Job Characteristics Model: this article provides a practical explanation of the Job Characteristics Model (JCM). After reading, you’ll understand the basics of this powerful human resource management and self-development tool.

What is Hackman and Oldham’s Job Characteristics Model?

The Job Characteristics Model is a theory that is based on the idea that a task in itself is the key to the employee’s motivation. In short, a boring and monotonous job with negative stress is disastrous to an employee’s motivation whereas a challenging, versatile job has a positive effect on motivation.

The theory specifies five job characteristics that are predicted to benefit individuals’ psychological state and job results. The theory also encompasses individual variables that may function as moderators to represent the relationship between the job characteristics and outcome variables.

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Work redesign began in the 60s and is aimed at restructuring tasks and responsibilities to make employees more motivated. The idea arose to enrich jobs in ways that would boost motivation instead of merely simplifying the job characteristics to a series of repetitive tasks.

The Job Characteristics Model arose from this point of view. In 1980, Richard Hackman and Greg Oldham presented the definitive form of the Job Characteristics Model in their book ‘Work Redesign’. They also created the instruments Job Diagnostic Survey (JDS) and the Job Rating Form (JRF) for assessing constructions based on the theory.

The Design

According to the definitive version of the Job Characteristics Model, five core job characteristics were to invoke three psychological states in employees.

These five characteristics lead to a lot of favourable personal and work results. The moderators must moderate the connections between the job characteristics and psychological states, and between the psychological states and the outcomes.
Hackman and Oldham define the five job characteristics as follows:

Skill Variety

Skill variety refers to the degree to which a job demands different activities in the execution of the tasks, where various skills and talents of the working person are used.

A monotonous job with repetitive tasks doesn’t help the employee to develop a variety of talents. A worker who does alternating work is probably more satisfied with his job than a person who routinely produces the same work each and every day.

Having different tasks, more responsibility and more independence will be beneficial to a person’s intrinsic motivation.

Task Identity

This is the degree to which the work demands a complete process or product. This means that a certain job within the package of tasks has a clear beginning and ending, allowing a person to work on a complete process rather than small parts.

Employees often value carrying out a complete process. Such a work cycle ensures that they are more involved in their work and will most likely feel more responsible than their colleagues who only take on a small part of the process.

Task Significance

Task significance is the degree to which the job has a substantial impact on the lives of other people within the organisation, but also on society as a whole.

Feeling the meaningfulness of work is important for the employee’s motivation. This can be encouraged when they help others to improve in a physical, financial, psychological or any other field.

Autonomy

Autonomy within a job refers to the degree to which an employee can work independently. The freedom to plan the workday and set up new procedures that must be followed increases one’s sense of responsibility, which in turn benefits motivation.

Within managerial positions, supervisory and ministerial positions, employees often enjoy a higher level of autonomy, but this isn’t just the case for managerial or high positions. Other employees can also have a strong sense of responsibility and autonomy when they’re given the freedom to carry out their tasks independently by means of personal initiatives.

Feedback

For the performance of the employees, it’s important that they are informed of the effectiveness of their recent performances. Feedback can also have a positive effect on their motivation.

When managers tell employees they’re doing a good job, this will motivate them to continue in the same way. When they hear that their actions didn’t meet the requirements, they will respond accordingly and try to improve their performance.

Indexing Scores

Scores can be given to all five indicators, which are subsequently combined. This number functions as an indicator for the general motivating potential of a task or job that is examined. The number, the index, will represent how the job positively or negatively impacts the employee’s attitude and behaviour.

The number is called the MPS, the Motivating Potential Score. The formula for calculating the MPS is as follows:

MPS = (skill variety + task identity + task significance) / 3 * autonomy * feedback

According to Hackman and Oldham, a low MPS score means that employees don’t experience high intrinsic motivation and that the job or task must be redesigned.

From the equation, the conclusion can be drawn that feedback and autonomy have more impact on motivation than the other indicators.

Furthermore, Hackman and Oldham indicate that an employee can only experience the three psychological states if they have a high score on all five indicators.

Job Characteristics Model and psychological states

The conceptual core of the theory is the series of three psychological states that mediate between task attributes and the outcomes.

The psychological states apply to the individual, who assigns the scores himself, and therefore doesn’t represent the characteristics or tasks within a certain job. When an employee assigns a high score to all five job characteristics, he will experience all three of the psychological states and he is highly intrinsically motivated.

The three psychological states are:

Experienced Meaningfulness

The experienced meaningfulness of the work is the degree to which the employee experiences the work to be inherent and meaningful, something that adds value to the experience.

Meaningfulness is characterised by three of the job characteristics discussed above: Skill variation, task identity and task importance.

Experienced Responsibility

The experienced feeling of responsibility is formed by the amount of autonomy the job offers and demands.

Knowledge of Results

Knowledge of results is formed by feedback systems within a company. It indicates the degree to which the task holder is provided with direct and clear information on the effectiveness of his or her performance.

The final part of the Job Characteristics Model describes that when the five core job characteristics are present and the three psychological states are reached, the following results are likely to be achieved for the employee concerned:

High Performance

A good performance of an employee consists of high quality of the delivered work and a large quantity of work. That is, productivity increases when the employee experiences the three psychological states.

High Motivation

An employee can be motivated by external sources, such as monetary rewards, but the most valuable motivation comes from within. Intrinsic motivation is attained through valuable, responsible and autonomous work.

High Satisfaction

A simple definition of satisfaction is an employee’s level of satisfaction with his or her job. Hulin and Judge provided a more complex definition for the satisfaction level, referring to a multi-dimensional psychological reaction to someone’s job. These reactions can be both cognitive, affective and behavioural.

Job Characteristics Model: moderators

Even Hackman and Oldham recognised that the Job Characteristics Model isn’t fully waterproof and applicable to everyone. Different individuals will have a different view of the same job that is considered to have a highly motivating potential.

This grey area is bridged by a set of inherent properties or characteristics. These are termed moderators. The following moderators ensure that the gap between the function characteristics and the psychological states is bridged:

Knowledge & Skill

The knowledge and skill moderator states that an employee who has the knowledge, skills and competences, has a better chance of experiencing positive emotions at work.

The reverse is also true. If an employee doesn’t feel he possesses the right knowledge or skills to carry out this role, he will not experience the three psychological states and will therefore become demotivated.

Growth Needs Strength

‘Growth needs strength’ refers to the degree to which an employee desires to grow and develop. If the employee has a high need to grow, he will most likely respond faster to new opportunities and take on new challenges. This employee will more easily experience the three psychological states.

However, if the employee doesn’t have the desire to grow, he won’t reach the psychological states.

Context Satisfaction

The context, working conditions, is the third moderator that can hinder access to the three psychological states.

The context is about matters such as the manager, wage, benefits and job security. When the employee is satisfied with all these ancillary matters, he will be more positive and reach the psychological states more easily.

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Now It’s Your Turn

What do you think? Are you familiar with the explanation about the Job Characteristics Model? What do you believe are factors that contribute to a better performance and higher satisfaction on the work floor? Do you have anything to add to or any tips regarding the theory of the Job Characteristics Model?

Share your experience and knowledge in the comments box below.

More information

Hackman, J. R., & Oldham, G. R. (1976). Motivation through the design of work: Test of a theory. Organizational behavior and human performance, 16(2), 250-279.
Hackman, J. R. (1980). Work redesign and motivation. Professional Psychology, 11(3), 445.
PLoher, B. T., Noe, R. A., Moeller, N. L., & Fitzgerald, M. P. (1985). A meta-analysis of the relation of job characteristics to job satisfaction. Journal of applied psychology, 70(2), 280.

How to cite this article:
Janse, B. (2018). Job Characteristics Model (JCM). Retrieved [insert date] from Toolshero: hhttps://www.toolshero.com/human-resources/job-characteristics-model/

Published on: 10/22/2018 | Last update: 01/28/2022

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