Assignment 7-1:

1. Describe a job you have/had and then create a table and rate that job using Hackman and
Oldham’s score job characteristics (see pages 413-414, “Psychological Components of Job
Design”) using a scale of 1 to 10 for each characteristic. Your table should have a column for
each of the five desirable characteristics (see pages 413-414) and a column for your rating.
After creating the table, answer the following:

a. Explain each your ratings and why?

b. What about the job could be changed to give it a higher score?

Answer:

Job Description

I would take my first job as an uber driver for this one, and I rate myself pretty good in
it as this job taught me various set of skills. I could perform any function that goes into the job
of taxi service in my two years’ experience. This job demands set of different skills, mostly, I
did meaningful duties which contributed to the company’s success. One Uber Driver can either
make or break the whole company’s reputation. I was fulfilling the expectations of the people
by cooperating with them according to their convenience while maintaining an overall
demanding work environment, from fixing the sudden repairs in the car, to meeting the
demands of people and handling different people on daily basis. All this while, I learned what
goes into the process of online booking, routes, fares, ratings, assigning drivers, profit margin,
etc. After certain time, I felt the need to grow my skills, thus decided to come up with my own
app of online taxi service. Wherein, I was required to implement my skills related to business
app functioning, app programming, routes mapping, distribution of authority, distribution of
wages, marketing strategy, and business plan.

Job Ratings
Characteristics (1-10)
Skill variety 8-10

Job Identity 8-10

Job significance 10-10

Autonomous 5-10

Feedback 8-10

PART-A

Explanation for the ratings

Skill variety (8-10): No matter how good you are at something, there is always a room for
improvement. In my entire working period, I was able to develop and hone my skills to a great
extent. Having said that, I believe, there are some areas of mine which are unexplored. I still
have a long way to become a pro at what I do. Also, I firmly believe in the saying, there is
something to learn in each day.

Job identity (8-10): With my association with Uber, I was made clear in the starting itself
regarding my job duties. I knew when to start and when to finish a task at hand. Most often,
there was no confusion with the job duties which were allotted to me; however, whenever I had
some doubts, I would immediately consult the concerned person and I made sure that my
concerns are resolved.

Job significance (10-10): I believe, my work as an Uber driver has greatly benefitted the
organization as well as the society. With Uber, safety is assured, which is most significant to
the society. with the capability of Uber drivers, people reach their destinations at reasonable
cost and on time. It felt nice knowing that I could be of any help to the people as they put their
complete faith and trust in me to safely take them to their destination. At the end of the day, I
had satisfaction to know that my job as an Uber driver has an impact on the organization or
society.

Autonomy (5-10): This aspect of my job I feel is poor as I was mostly supposed to complete
the job assigned to me by following the instructions provided over the app with routine tasks.
The freedom to complete the tasks the way I want and authority over it is extremely less. I
would have rated better if my job had been little bit more flexible and provided leniency in
achieving my daily targets according to situations.
Feedback (8-10): Whenever I did any mistake in any of my work then I was promptly given
honest and helpful feedbacks that would always push me to work hard and make sure to never
repeat that mistake again, and for my excellent performances also, I used to receive positive
feedbacks. However, many times the feedback comes from the customers having unfeasible
expectations or they simply remark my work to conceal their negligence and for things which
were not in my control like traffic jams, usual routes blockage, bad weather as a result of which
I got negative remark on my work. Hence, I would give 8/10 in this regard (Konz, S., and
Steven Johnson, 2007).

PART-B

I think my job would have been better in all aspects mentioned above if the company
had been employee oriented. Also, I believe, the following factors, such as employee
empowerment, job enrichment, good work-life balance, attractive fixed salary, job security,
and work appreciation play an important role in improving the score of the job as a whole.
Since, the job of an Uber driver is very demanding and challenging, there should be scope for
rewards, bonuses as well as recognition. This will not only improve the well-being of the
employee but also pushes them to perform better (Pfeffer, Jeffrey, 2005).

2. A hotel housekeeper, Alison Harvey, was observed five times on each of four task elements,
as shown in the following table. On the basis of these observations, find the standard time for
the process. Assume a 10% allowance factor.

ELEMENT PERFORMANCE OBSERVATIONS

RATING (MINUTES PER CYCLE)
(%) 1 2 3 4 5
Check minibar 100 1.5 1.6 1.4 1.5 1.5
Make one bed 90 2.3 2.5 2.1 2.2 2.4
Vacuum floor 120 1.7 1.9 1.9 1.4 1.6
Clean bath 100 3.5 3.6 3.6 3.6 3.2

Solution:
In order to know the standard time for the process, first we need to find out the average
time for each of these elements using the equation given below (Muthusamy, S. K., J. V.
Wheeler, and B. L. Simmons, 2005):

𝑠𝑢𝑚 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚 𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡

Average observed time= 𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑏𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠

1.5+1.6+1.4+1.5+1.5
Average time to check minibar= 5

7.5
=
5

= 1.5 min

2.3+2.5+2.1+2.2+2.4
Average time to make one bed= 5

11.5
= 5

= 2.3 min

1.7+1.9+1.9+1.4+1.6
Average time to vacuum floor= 5

8.5
= 5

= 1.7 min

3.5+3.6+3.6+3.6+3.2
Average time to clean bath= 5

17.5
= 5

= 3.5 min

Now, find out the normal time for each of these elements using the equation mentioned
below:

Normal time= (Average observed time) *(Performance rating)

Normal time to check minibar= (1.5) (1)

= 1.5 min

Normal time to make one bed= (2.3) (0.9)

= 2.07 min

Normal time to vacuum floor= (1.7) (1.2)

= 2.04 min

Normal time to clean bath= (3.5) (1)

= 3.5 min

Compute the total normal time as shown below,

Total normal time= 1.5+2.07+2.04+3.50

= 9.11

Standard time for the job is computed using the formula, we get:

𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑛𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑙 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒

Standard time= 1−𝐴𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟

9.11
= 1−0.10

9.11
= 0.9

= 10.12 min

Thus, the standard time for the process is 10.12 min.

References:

Konz, S., and Steven Johnson. Work Design: Industrial Ergonomics, 7th ed. Scottsdale, AZ:
Holcomb Hathaway, 2007.

Muthusamy, S. K., J. V. Wheeler, and B. L. Simmons. “Self-Managing Work Teams.”

Organization Development Journal 23, no. 3 (Fall 2005): 91–104.

Pfeffer, Jeffrey. “Producing Sustainable Competitive Advantage Through the Effective

Management of People.” Academy of Management Executive 19, no. 4 (2005): 133.

Salvendy, G., ed. Handbook of Human Factors and Ergonomics, 3rd ed. New York: Wiley,
2006.
Shahrokh, Shahraki, and N. A. Bakar. “Relationship Between Human Factors Engineering and
Productivity.” Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business 3, no. 3 (July
2011): 744–750.

Sonne, Michael, D. L. Villalta, and D. M. Andrews. “Development and Evaluation of an Office

Ergonomic Risk Check List.” Applied Ergonomics 43, no. 1 (January 2012): 136–138.