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Hackman and Oldham’s job characteristics model is a framework that businesses use to design jobs that facilitate employee motivation. Hackman and Oldham’s job characteristics model was released in 1975 by organizational psychologists J. Richard Hackman and Greg R. Oldham. To determine why some employees lost interest in their roles, Hackman and Oldham studied 658 workers in 62 jobs across seven companies and published their results twelve months later. The results became known as the Hackman and Oldham job characteristics model which remains popular with organizations today. The model is based on prior research conducted in the 1960s. Organizational theorists of the time started to realize that production lines (touted for their efficiency) were also somewhat inefficient because mundane, repetitive tasks made workers less motivated and productive. Hackman and Oldham’s model is based on the idea that the key to maintaining motivation in the workplace lies in the job itself. In other words, while mundane tasks decreased productivity, more varied tasks had the opposite effect. The researchers also believed that this idea had merit irrespective of the role or industry. Hackman and Oldham’s five core job characteristicsHackman and Oldham identified five job characteristics that enrich a role and cause employee motivation, satisfaction, and performance to increase. The five characteristics include:
The three critical states of Hackman and Oldham’s modelBefore we list the three critical states, it is worth mentioning that job satisfaction pertains to various intrinsic and extrinsic aspects of the job. It is not satisfaction in the context of happiness or self-contentment. Hackham and Oldham described these aspects in terms of three psychological states that are linked to the five characteristics mentioned earlier. Each state improves one’s motivation whilst at work, so let’s now look at how the five characteristics and three states interact. Meaningfulness of workMeaningful work has meaning to the employee and is something they can relate to on some level. This form of work is fundamental to intrinsic motivation. In other words, the employee is motivated by some inherent aspect of the work and does not see their presence in the workplace as solely to collect a salary, for example. Characteristics that fall under this psychological state include:
ResponsibilityEmployees feel responsible for their job when they are provided with the freedom, discretion, and independence to work as they see fit. This relates to the characteristic of task autonomy. Knowledge of outcomesKnowledge of outcomes means the employee is aware of how their inputs (work or effort) translate into outputs (performance). Knowledge of outcomes refers to the characteristic of feedback which, as we noted earlier, comes from others or the job itself. Hackman and Oldham’s job model best practicesTo use Hackman and Oldham’s research to their advantage, organizations and managers should at the very least:
What psychological states did Oldham and Hackman?It states that there are five core job characteristics (skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback) which impact three critical psychological states (experienced meaningfulness, experienced responsibility for outcomes, and knowledge of the actual results), in turn influencing work outcomes ...
What is Hackman and Oldham Job Characteristics Model?Hackman and Oldham's (1974) job characteristics model suggested that five core job dimensions affect certain personal and work related outcomes, including job satisfaction. The five core job dimensions identified are autonomy, feedback, skill variety, task identity, and task significance.
What are the three psychological states in the Job Characteristics Model?The three psychological states, which are also the conceptual core of the theory, include (1) Experienced Meaningfulness of the Work, (2) Experienced Responsibility for the Outcomes of the Work, and (3) Knowledge of the Results of Work Activities.
What are the 5 Job Characteristics Model?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.
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