Psychological Characteristics of Jobs

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Researchers and business administrators try to identify and measure those factors that affect the performance of employees. This paper will be aimed at examining psychological characteristics of jobs, in particular, autonomy, task significance, ability to receive feedback, skill variety, and task significance.

They are very important determinants of workers’ performance and motivation. Certainly, compensation and personal characteristics of an employee are also important, but these factors cannot be fully controlled by managers. In turn, psychological characteristic of jobs are directly related to the experiences of employees. Job characteristics can be explained by the way in which work-related tasks are designed.

These attributes influence people’s motivation and subsequently their performance. On the whole, the task of business administrators is to design job-related tasks in a way that gives more independence to the workers. Moreover, managers should provide workers with regular evaluations and encourage them to use various skills. These conditions are necessary for success.

Autonomy is one of the most significant job attributes that shape the individual performance. A person, who is able to schedule one’s work and determine how a specific task should be done, is more likely to be satisfied with ones job (Chung-Yan, 2010, p. 244). The thing is that these people have some sense of control over their workplace experiences.

These employees see that management puts some trust in their expertise. Thus, they are willing to show that this trust is fully justified. In contrast, those workers, who are continuously supervised, do not believe that their work is rewarding. They may think that managers do not rely on their knowledge and skills. More importantly, workplace procedures can become too time-consuming provided that employees continuously have to ask for the permission of managers (Chung-Yan, 2010, p. 248).

Thus, they may not perform as well as they can. This is the main danger that arises from lack of independence. So, autonomy can be viewed as an important determinant of performance. Thus, managers should encourage independent decisions of workers, provided that these decisions do not threat the performance of a company.

Additionally, researchers often speak about such factor as the ability to receive a feedback or evaluation from a manager. The thing is people want to make sure that they are making progress or at least properly understand job requirements. A constructive and timely feedback from a manager can help a person avoid a great number of mistakes (Breaugh, 2004, p. 512).

The most important function of job feedback is to ensure that a person understand organizational goals and performance standards (Kaymaz, 2011, p. 117). Besides, a person, who knows that he/she is making progress, can be more confident in ones skills or knowledge. This is why regular feedback is closely related to the individual performance. According to the finding Kurtuluş Kaymaz (2011) those people who can regular interact with managers and receive their feedback, usually better cope with their workplace duties (p. 127).

This is one of the issues that business administrators should take into account. Their task is to show how a worker can improve his/her performance. Secondly, they must not leave this person in suspense without providing any assessment. Judging from my own experience, I can say that it is very difficult to work without any feedback that may be given either by co-workers or managers. Therefore, lack of communication is the main pitfall that companies and managers should avoid.

The third factor that is closely related to performance is task significance. According to the findings of psychologists, it is vital for employees to feel that their work is important for the organizational goals (Grant, 2008, p. 110). Moreover, they want to know that their activities create some benefits for customers or community in general (Grant, 2008, p. 110).

If employees believe that the significance of their work is very low, they are more likely to lose motivation and their performance may eventually decline. Overall, employees need to know that their work will be valued by someone (Grant, 2008, p. 110). The experiments, conducted in different companies, indicate that an individual is more willing to reach organizations performance standards, when he/she feels that the work brings benefits to other people (Grant, 2008, p. 118).

As a rule, such employees are more motivated (Grant, 2008, p. 118). These findings can have significant implications for modern business administrators who have to demonstrate that the individual contribution of each worker is important. Unfortunately, one cannot always achieve this goal especially when a person has to a very monotonous job that is not very prestigious.

For instance, one can mention those people who work in the fast-food industry. As a rule, these workers do not believe that their individual contribution is very significant. Thus, such characteristic as task-significance depends on the type of industry or organization.

Apart from that, managers should not overlook such a factor as the degree of task identity. Overall, this concept means that a person is able to do each task from start to finish. Moreover, this person can see the outcomes of ones work (Dwyer & Fox, 2006, p. 113). In most cases, employees usually want to know that their activities result in some meaningful outcome (Dwyer & Fox, 2006, p. 113). Additionally, ability to do the entire piece of work makes a person’s job more satisfying (Dwyer & Fox, 2006, p. 113).

Moreover, people usually act more responsibly when they know that they have to compete the entire task. The research conducted by Dale Dwyer and Marilyn Fox (2006) suggests that employees feel more committed to organizational goals when they can work on a certain task from beginning to end (p. 135).

This idea should be considered by people who design jobs. Every employee should understand what kind of task or tasks he/she is responsible for. Provided that this goal is not achieved, companies will find it difficult to motivate workers or make them accountable.

Finally, one should mention that skill variety is another important determinant of performance. The thing is that every job can be more satisfying provided that a worker has to use various skills that he/she has. Moreover, job-related tasks should enable an employee to fulfill or develop ones talents (Elanain, 2009, p. 459). The problem is that in many cases, workers use only a small part of the skills that they developed during their education.

This is why they do not believe that their work experiences are satisfying. Overall, the degree of skill variety is a good predictor of a person’s satisfaction with workplace experiences (Elanain, 2009, p. 459). More importantly, it is an important determinant of a person’s performance in the workplace (Elanain, 2009, p. 459). People, who have an opportunity to demonstrate various skills, are more willing to improve their performance (Elanain, 2009, p. 459).

Therefore, business administrators should note that they must not make workplace procedures too monotonous because in this way they will completely disregard the creative potential of workers and their professional skills. Thus, managers should remember that challenging task can be very motivating for employees, because such tasks make them demonstrate their best competencies.

It has to be admitted that psychological characteristics of jobs are not the only factors that shape the performance of employees. One cannot disregard the effects of compensation or character traits of an employee. Yet, these factors cannot be manipulated by managers. In contrast, some characteristics of jobs can be manageable or changeable.

For example, one can mention autonomy or feedback. It is not difficult for Companies can make sure that employees can work independently and receive assessment from supervisors. Moreover, managers can find tasks that best fit the talents and competencies of a worker. This is why job characteristics are of great importance for managers.

These examples suggest that the performance of an individual may depend on a variety of factors. Many of them are mostly related to the way in which jobs are designed. Such characteristics as task significance, skill variety or autonomy significantly affect a person’s attitude toward ones work and toward the organization.

Business administrators can improve the performance of individual by giving them more autonomy and giving regular evaluations of their. Secondly, they should encourage employees to use various skills, especially their creative talents. This approach can greatly contribute to the improved performance of workers.

Reference List

Breaugh, J. A. (2004). Job Feedback: Giving, Seeking, and Using Feedback for Performance Improvement. Academy Of Management Review, 29(3), 512-514.

Chung-Yan, G. A. (2010). The nonlinear effects of job complexity and autonomy on job satisfaction, turnover, and psychological well-being. Journal Of Occupational Health Psychology, 15(3), 237-251.

Dwyer, D. J., & Fox, M. L. (2006). The Relationship Between Job Demands and Key Performance Indicators: Moderating Effects of Job Resources in Call Centers. Journal Of Business & Management, 12(2), 127-145.

Elanain, H. (2009) Job characteristics, work attitudes and behaviors in a non-western context. Journal of Management Development, 28(5), 457-477.

Grant, A. M. (2008). The significance of task significance: Job performance effects, relational mechanisms, and boundary conditions. Journal Of Applied Psychology, 93(1), 108-124.

Kaymaz, K. (2011). Performance Feedback: Individual Based Reflections and the Effect on Motivation. Business & Economics Research Journal, 2(4), 115-134.

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Psychological Characteristics of Jobs

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