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Effects of Job Redesign: A Field Experiment 1
Author(s) -
Lawler Edward E.,
Hackman J. Richard,
Kaufman Stanley
Publication year - 1973
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1973.tb01294.x
Subject(s) - job satisfaction , psychology , autonomy , interpersonal communication , job design , job attitude , social psychology , job characteristic theory , job security , interpersonal relationship , quality (philosophy) , work (physics) , applied psychology , job performance , engineering , mechanical engineering , epistemology , political science , law , philosophy
A telephone company project to redesign the job of directory assistance operator was: studied in order to determine the effects on workers of “job enrichment” programs. The change increased the amount of variety and the decisionmaking autonomy in the operator's job. However, no change in work motivation, job involvement, or growth need satisfaction occurred as a result of the changes; instead, the changes had a significant negative impact on interpersonal relationships. After the changes, the older employees reported less satisfaction with the quality of their interpersonal relationships, and those supervisors whose jobs were affected by the changes reported less job security and reduced interpersonal satisfaction. Implications of these findings for the theory of job redesign proposed by Hackman and Lawler (1971) are discussed.