Task Autonomy Research Articles

EFFECT OF REWARD AND PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT ON EMPLOYEE PRODUCTIVITY: A STUDY OF SELECTED LARGE ORGANIZATIONS IN THE SOUTH-EAST, OF NIGERIA

This study examined the effect of reward and performance management on employee productivity in an organization. It is a study of large private sector organizations selected from some states of the South-East, Nigeria. As a descriptive survey design, a sample of 336 was determined from the population of 2081 senior employees of Serbmilla Industries, Onitsha, Nigeria Breweries PLC Ama-Enugu and Nigeria Bottling Company, Irrete, Owerri, Imo-State. Units of Observation (Sampling points) were selected through the method of systematic sampling. Out of the 336 copies of the questionnaire distributed, 321 were completed and returned thus showing a response rate of 95.5 percent which we considered very adequate. Through the application of Chi-Square (χ2) inferential statistics, pearson product moment correlation coefficient and t-test for significance of ‘r’, as the tools of analysis, the result showed that task autonomy significantly affects employee productivity. Also, the analysis revealed that task involvement influences job satisfaction and productivity. It was equally found from the analysis of data that tasks significance and employee empowerment enhances employee performance in the organization. It was concluded that empowered organizational climate would help to create a pool of committed and selfmotivated individuals with visions, creativity, innovation and technical powers to convert the threat of change into opportunities for business growth and development. It was recommended among others that the management should try to create an environment conducive for maximum utilization of employees’ skills, competencies creativity and talents for the benefit of all stakeholders in the organization.

Team Foresight in New Product Development Projects

In today’s uncertain business environments, management tools, originally designed for more stable environments, no longer serve the purpose of the organization because high levels of uncertainty make the future difficult to predict entirely. In this sense, foresight, which implies both anticipating and designing the future in a proactive manner, seems to be a rising concept. Despite growing awareness of the importance of foresight capability in terms of predicting and enacting the future, empirical research on team foresight is scant. Based on sensemaking theory, this research explores the antecedents and consequences of team foresight within the context of new product development. In studying the data from 255 new product development projects using the partial least squares structural equation modeling, this study discovers that team flexibility—in terms of operational flexibility, task autonomy and resource flexibility—is a significant antecedent of team foresight. Moreover, the results particularly emphasize that new product development teams, with a proficiency in visualizing the future through making sense of technology-, market-, and project-related information, can successfully produce new products of quality in a timely manner. Managerial and theoretical implications of the study are discussed.

Contextualized Relationship Between Knowledge Sharing and Performance in Software Development

We study how the knowledge that software developers receive from other software developers in their company impacts their performance. We also study the boundary conditions of this relationship. The results of our empirical study indicate that receiving knowledge from other software developers in the company is positively related to the performance of the knowledge-receiving software developers. Moreover, this relationship was stronger when the software developers had high rather than low task autonomy, when they had high- rather than low-quality social exchanges with their supervisors, and when the software development firms used formal knowledge utilization processes. Theoretically, these results contribute to a better understanding of the processes through which software developers utilize the knowledge that they receive from their peers in the firm. Practically, they show software development firms how emphasizing the task, social, and institutional dimensions of the software development process can help them increase knowledge utilization and performance in software development.

The perceived treatment of employees from designated groups in the workplace

This article reports on employees’ perceptions of the treatment of employees from designated groups in the workplace. The objective of the study was to identify the components of workplace treatment that indicate the perceived treatment of employees from designated groups. The study further investigated the influence of demographic factors on these perceptions. A quantitative approach was followed, and a questionnaire was developed to collect data pertaining to employees’ biographical details and their perceptions of the treatment of employees from designated groups in the workplace. The population consisted of 29 688 employees at a leading South African bank and a sample of 1720 was used. A disproportionate, stratified sampling method was adopted and a sample of 349 employees participated. Factor analysis, correlations, T-tests and analysis of variance statistics were computed to achieve the objectives. The factor analysis identified four factors relating to the treatment of employees from designated groups: task autonomy, respect, responsibility and realistic expectations. The results of the T-tests revealed that race, years of service and staff category do influence employees’ perceptions of the treatment of workers from designated groups in terms of task autonomy and respect. Black respondents, unlike white respondents, believe that employees from designated groups are not treated with respect, nor are they accorded task autonomy. This study represents a vital step towards a better understanding of the dimensionality of perceptions of fair and just treatment and should ultimately contribute to more effective treatment of all employees in the workplace.

The perceived treatment of employees from designated groups in the workplace

This article reports on employees’ perceptions of the treatment of employees from designated groups in the workplace. The objective of the study was to identify the components of workplace treatment that indicate the perceived treatment of employees from designated groups. The study further investigated the influence of demographic factors on these perceptions. A quantitative approach was followed, and a questionnaire was developed to collect data pertaining to employees’ biographical details and their perceptions of the treatment of employees from designated groups in the workplace. The population consisted of 29 688 employees at a leading South African bank and a sample of 1720 was used. A disproportionate, stratified sampling method was adopted and a sample of 349 employees participated. Factor analysis, correlations, T-tests and analysis of variance statistics were computed to achieve the objectives. The factor analysis identified four factors relating to the treatment of employees from designated groups: task autonomy, respect, responsibility and realistic expectations. The results of the T-tests revealed that race, years of service and staff category do influence employees’ perceptions of the treatment of workers from designated groups in terms of task autonomy and respect. Black respondents, unlike white respondents, believe that employees from designated groups are not treated with respect, nor are they accorded task autonomy. This study represents a vital step towards a better understanding of the dimensionality of perceptions of fair and just treatment and should ultimately contribute to more effective treatment of all employees in the workplace.

치위생과정(ADPIE)의 임상적용 가능성과 실천방안 모색

치위생과정을 임상에서 활용하고 정착시키기 위한 방안을 모색하고자 SEM을 이용하여 치과위생사 업무 자율성과 치위생과정의 임상적용 기대효과 및 장애요인이 임상적용 의향에 미치는 효과를 분석하고, 치위생과정에 대한 태도가 임상적용 의향에 미치는 매개효과를 검증한 결과는 다음과 같다. 가설적 모형은 <TEX>${\chi}^2=421.67$</TEX>, GFI=0.858, CFI=0.915, TLI=0.896, RMR=0.039, RMSEA=0.099로 적합한 것으로 나타났다. SEM을 검증한 결과, 치과위생사 업무 자율성(<TEX>${\beta}=0.398$</TEX>, p<0.05)과 치위생과정 기대효과(<TEX>${\beta}=0.363$</TEX>, p<0.01)는 치위생과정 태도에 정(+)의 방향으로, 치위생과정 태도(<TEX>${\beta}=0.678$</TEX>, p<0.05)는 임상적용 의향에 정(+)의 방향으로 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 치과위생사 업무 자율성(<TEX>${\beta}=0.269$</TEX>, p<0.05)과 기대효과(<TEX>${\beta}=0.246$</TEX>, p<0.01)는 치위생과정 태도를 매개로 임상적용 의향에 간접적인 영향을 미치는 것으로 확인되었다. 위의 결과로 치과위생사의 업무 자율성, 치위생과정에 대한 기대효과와 태도는 임상적용 의향에 영향을 미치는 중요한 요인임을 확인하였다. 따라서 치위생과정을 임상에 정착시키기 위해서는 치과위생사 역량을 제고하여 업무 자율성을 확보해야 하며, 치위생과정에 대한 경영적 효과와 가치에 대한 객관적인 검증이 이루어져야 한다. This study was aimed to analyze factors affecting intention on clinical application by task autonomy of dental hygienists, expected effect and obstructive factor on clinical application of assessment, dental hygiene diagnosis, planning, implementation, and evaluation (ADPIE). Meanwhile, it proved mediating effects of "attitude toward ADPIE" when it came to "intention on clinical application". The data was collected from 237 dental personnel in capital region from March 28, 2014 to May 2, 2014. To analyze the suitability of a theoretical model and hypothesis testing, SPSS 21.0 and AMOS 18.0 program were used. The theoretical model was accepted as it resulted in <TEX>${\chi}^2=421.67$</TEX> while showing goodness of fit index=0.858, comparative fit index=0.915, Tucker-Lewis index=0.896, root mean square residual=0.039, and root mean square error of approximation=0.099. The result showed "task autonomy of dental hygienists (<TEX>${\beta}=0.398$</TEX>, p<0.05)" and "expected effect on ADPIE (<TEX>${\beta}=0.363$</TEX>, p<0.01)" had a positive effect on "attitude toward ADPIE". Also, "attitude toward ADPIE" had a positive effect on "intention on clinical application". In addition, "task autonomy of dental hygienists" and "expected effect on ADPIE" had an indirect influence on "intention on clinical application" via such intermediary as "attitude toward ADPIE". According to the above results, the task autonomy of dental hygienists, expected effect on ADPIE, and attitude toward ADPIE were confirmed to be significant factors when it came to the intention on its clinical application. Therefore in order to settle ADPIE in the clinical practice, improvement of task autonomy for dental hygienists as well as their expectation and attitude on ADPIE must be promoted.

The Relationship Between Job Characteristics and Work-Family Conflict Among Married Women Employed in Clinical Wards of Shiraz University-Affiliated Hospitals

Background: Work and life have the greatest and strongest bond with an individual and the society. Their balance has a high value. If the relationship between work and life is not managed, the conflict between these two will result in irreparable damage to individuals, organizations and communities. Objectives: The main objective of the current study is to investigate the relationship between job characteristics and work-family conflict among married women employed in clinical wards of Shiraz University-affiliated hospitals. Patients and Methods: The study population included 180 married women who work in clinical wards of four university-affiliated hospitals in Shiraz. We used the improved Leiden Quality of Work Life Questionnaire by Van der Doef and colleagues and the work-family conflict questionnaire by Kelloway and colleagues to measure participants' responses. One-way ANOVA and Pearson linear correlation coefficient were used for data analyses. Results: There was a negative relation between job characteristics and work-family conflict. Respondents experienced higher levels of work-to-family conflict than family-to-work conflict. There were significant negative relations between skill variety, task autonomy, task significance, job security, social support of colleagues and supervisors with work-family conflict and positive significant relations between time, work pressure and hazardous exposure with work-family conflict. Conclusions: work-family conflict of employed women could be reduced by rearranging job characteristics and conditions. Job resources such as social support should be strengthened and job demands should be adjusted commensurate with the physical and mental capabilities of staff.

Effect of Job Redesign on Employee Performance in Commercial Banks in Kisumu, Kenya

Job redesign is the restructuring of the elements of work in order to make it more encouraging and inspiring for the employees. Even though redesign has been recommended as a means of improving performance in organizations, its effect on the performance of employees in the banking sector in Kenya, has not been empirically investigated, yet all banks have embraced it as a core strategy. This study sought to determine the effect of job redesign on the performance of employees in commercial banks in Kisumu City. The study adopted a cross sectional survey research design. A sample of 297 randomly selected staff of commercial banks was picked. Questionnaires and interview schedules were used to collect primary data. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics. The study established that task identity, task variety and task significance affects the performance of employees of commercial banks in Kisumu, but that task autonomy does not affect the performance of employees of commercial banks in Kisumu. The study concludes that job redesign affects the performance of employees and recommends that commercial banks create a high degree of task identity for their employees.

Do Retailers Really Profit from Ambidextrous Managers? The Impact of Frontline Mechanisms on New and Existing Product Selling Performance

When manufacturers introduce a new product to the market, downstream retail partners are faced with inherent trade‐offs. Retail sales personnel have to support the new product's introduction with substantial sales efforts but also sell the existing products in stock, before storage and devaluation costs spin out of control. This study shows how retail sales managers can guide sales personnel's performance of new and existing product selling, respectively. The authors argue that a manager may prioritize selling new products, existing products, or both (i.e., have an ambidextrous selling orientation). Based on data gathered from sales representatives and company databases of a large European consumer electronics retailer, the authors perform a time‐lagged partial least squares analysis to test empirically their conceptual model. The authors find that ambidextrous sales managers outperform their singular‐oriented counterparts if they properly align their orientation with a frontline management mechanism consisting of task autonomy, performance feedback, and employee age. More specifically, ambidextrous managers promote net profit obtainment if they grant their sales employees task autonomy and give little performance feedback. In addition, a remarkable finding is that older sales agents tend to outperform their younger counterparts when working under an ambidextrous manager. The authors discuss the implications of these findings.

Working together versus working autonomously: a new power-dependence perspective on the individual-level of analysis.

Recent studies have indicated that it is important to investigate the interaction between task interdependence and task autonomy because this interaction can affect team effectiveness. However, only a limited number of studies have been conducted and those studies focused solely on the team level of analysis. Moreover, there has also been a dearth of theoretical development. Therefore, this study develops and tests an alternative theoretical perspective in an attempt to understand if, and if so why, this interaction is important at the individual level of analysis. Based on interdependence theory and power-dependence theory, we expected that highly task-interdependent individuals who reported high task autonomy would be more powerful and better performers. In contrast, we expected that similarly high task-interdependent individuals who reported less task autonomy would be less powerful and would be weaker performers. These expectations were supported by multi-level and bootstrapping analyses performed on a multi-source dataset (self-, peer-, manager-ratings) comprised of 182 employees drawn from 37 teams. More specifically, the interaction between task interdependence and task autonomy was γ =.128, p <.05 for power and γ =.166, p <.05 for individual performance. The 95% bootstrap interval ranged from .0038 to .0686.

Do job resources affect work engagement via psychological empowerment? A mediation analysis

The present study explores whether psychological empowerment may act as a personal resource mediating the motivational process from job resources (i.e., task autonomy, skill utilization, social support from supervisors and social support from colleagues) to work engagement. Regression analysis using MEDIATE macros in a sample of Chilean public workers (N=1,313) lent support to the mediation hypothesis: Psychological empowerment carried the effect of task autonomy, skill utilization, and social support from supervisors on work engagement. These results suggest that job resources may increase the perception of being empowered at work, which then represents an important factor to enhance work engagement. Psychological empowerment is thus a pathway to promote wellbeing in organisations.

The Structural Context of Team Learning: Effects of Organizational and Team Structure on Internal and External Learning

This paper reports on a study of structural antecedents to team learning. In a study of self-managed pharmaceutical research and development teams, we first find that more team-level structure is associated with more internal learning as well as more external learning. We then establish that more organizational-level structure is negatively associated with both internal and external learning. We find that psychological safety mediates the positive relationship between team structure and team learning, and that task autonomy constraints mediate the negative relationship between organizational structure and team learning. Investigating the interaction effect between team and organizational structure, we find, unexpectedly, that organizational structure supports external team learning under conditions of less team structure. Specifically, when teams have less team structure, the relationship between organizational structure and external team learning is positive. This structure substitutability finding suggests that although more organizational structure, on average, hurts external team learning, there are situations in which it helps. An important implication of the study is that multiple levels of structure, and their interactions, should be taken into consideration when assessing structural effects on team learning.

Leadership ethical orientations, mindfulness and procurement contract performance in the COMESA central governments

Purpose – In this study, the authors seek to examine the prevalence and relationships between constructs of mindfulness, task autonomy, inter‐functional coordination, teamwork, contract implementation and monitoring which have been largely ignored or not fully explored in previous empirical research; and attempt to use them to predict contract performance.Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses descriptive and analytical research designs guided by multi‐methods qualitative and quantitative research approaches to collect and analyze data predicting contract performance in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) member states. Data was collected from a representative sample of ten countries and subsequent sampling was done at the government ministries. Contracts were the unit of analysis as suggested by Brousseau and Glachant.Findings – The study findings reveal that deontology, mindfulness procurement task performance, competence of the procurement staff, inter‐functional coordinati...

Cooperation despite contingency: what accounts for cooperative behaviour of contingent managerial workers?

Previous empirical results have revealed two particular mechanisms influencing cooperative or extra-role behaviour of contingent employees. These are the mechanism of instrumentality, mainly driven by contingent employees’ desire for a permanent position, and the mechanism of social exchange, based on the ‘norm of reciprocity’ (Gouldner in Am Sociol Rev 25:161–178, 1960) between employer and employee. For the most part the cooperative behaviour studied among contingent workers has been restricted to non-managerial positions. But is it also possible to transfer these mechanisms to contingent employees in managerial positions? A quantitative study of contingent (self-employed) workers in managerial positions (also called ‘interim managers’) was carried out among 133 German interim managers. The results of regression analysis reveal that social exchange as well as instrumentality mechanism can facilitate cooperative behaviour of contingent employees in managerial positions. However, the aspects of social exchange, especially task autonomy, seem to be more relevant to the cooperative behaviour of these individuals.

The impact of feedback from job and task autonomy in the relationship between dispositional resistance to change and innovative work behaviour

Building on an interactionist approach, the present study investigated the moderating role of two task design characteristics, namely task autonomy and feedback from job, in the relationship between dispositional resistance to change and innovative work behaviour. Consistent with a trait activation perspective, it was specifically hypothesized that dispositional resistance to change would have a stronger, positive association with innovative performance when autonomy and feedback were high than when they were low. In a sample of 270 employees from the public sector, task autonomy was found to significantly interact with both composite resistance to change and with three of the four dimensions (routine seeking, short-term thinking, and emotional reaction). Simple slope analyses specifically revealed that individuals high in short-term thinking and emotional reaction exhibited positive relationships with innovative behaviour only in the case of high task autonomy, whereas in the case of low autonomy the relationship was nonsignificant. Furthermore, feedback from job was found to moderate the relationship between overarching dispositional resistance to change, short-term thinking, and emotional reaction, on one hand, and innovative performance, on the other, such that a positive and significant association emerged only in the case of high feedback.

Autonomy and task performance: Explaining the impact of grades on intrinsic motivation.

The use of grades to motivate constitutes an unresolved theoretical controversy. In 2 experiments carried out with different age groups and academic tracks, a standard-grade condition was compared with a condition in which differential scoring engendered higher grades and with a no-grade condition. The relative power of task performance and task autonomy to explain differences in subsequent intrinsic motivation (self-report task interest and continuing motivation for the task) was assessed. Results show that, compared with the standard-grade condition, both high-grade and no-grade conditions enhanced the 2 forms of subsequent intrinsic motivation. However, although task performance explained higher levels of task interest in the high-grade condition, it failed to explain higher levels of continuing motivation for the task. Task autonomy, conversely, explained the higher levels of both task interest and continuing motivation for the task experienced in the nongraded condition. Results are discussed in the light of an integrative model that differentiates the mediational role of task performance and autonomy, 2 traditional major explanations of the link between grades and intrinsic motivation.

Is Task Autonomy Beneficial for Creativity? Prior Task Experience and Self-Control as Boundary Conditions

In this study we elaborate on the autonomy–creativity relationship by identifying potential boundary conditions. Specifically, we hypothesized that when task autonomy is provided people's reactions are shaped by the level of their prior experience or skills and by whether or not they have previously worked on a task autonomously. We further hypothesized that self-control would moderate the autonomy–creativity link. The analysis of data collected from 148 individuals who completed 2 sets of creativity tasks under different task conditions revealed that task autonomy reduces creative performance when there is no prior task-relevant experience. Individuals with high self-control showed similar levels of creativity regardless of the level of task autonomy. In contrast, those with low self-control performed more creatively under a no autonomy condition than under an autonomy condition. Our findings highlight the need for considering various boundary conditions when considering changes in the effects of task autonomy on creativity.

How working in cross-functional teams relates to core attributes of professional occupations and the moderating role of personality.

In this study, we related the extent to which professional workers participate in cross-functional teams (CFTs) to 3 facets of professional occupations: domain distinctiveness, accountability, and task autonomy. Furthermore, we investigated whether these relationships are moderated by 3 personality traits: extraversion, emotional stability, and openness to experience. The data were collected using a survey involving 2,068 Dutch medical specialists. The results show that, overall, working in CFTs is negatively related to domain distinctiveness, positively related to accountability, and negatively related to task autonomy. For those low on extraversion and low in openness to experience, we found negative relationships between working in CFTs and domain distinctiveness. Emotional stability weakens the positive relationship between working in CFTs and accountability. Emotional stability and openness to experience weaken the negative relationship between working in CFTs and task autonomy.

Motivational Orientations and Task Autonomy Fit: Effects on Organizational Attraction

The main purpose of this study was to investigate whether there is congruence between applicant needs (i.e., motivational orientations) and what is available (i.e., task autonomy) from an organizational perspective based on the fit between needs and supply. The fit between work motivation and task autonomy was examined to see whether it was associated with organizational attraction. This experimental study included two phases. Phase 1 participants consisted of 446 undergraduate students, of whom 228 were recruited to participate in Phase 2. The fit relations between task autonomy and intrinsic motivation and between task control and extrinsic motivation were characterized. Findings indicated that the fit between work motivation and task autonomy was positively associated with organizational attraction. Based on these results, it may be inferred that employers should emphasize job characteristics such as autonomy or control orientations to attract individuals, and focus on the most suitable work motivations for their organizations.

Don't bother me: learning as a function of task autonomy and cognitive demands

This study examined why various levels of task autonomy differ in their learning outcomes. We conducted an experimental study in which 119 undergraduate students learned a computer task. During the learning phase, (no versus moderate versus full) autonomy and (cognitively undemanding versus cognitively demanding interruptions) demands were manipulated in a 3 × 2 between-participants design. The results showed that in the no and full autonomy conditions, receiving cognitively demanding interruptions decreased learning outcomes compared to receiving cognitively undemanding interruptions. However, having moderate autonomy resulted in equally positive learning outcomes in both cognitive demands conditions. Thus, having autonomy while learning a new task is essential; however, having too much autonomy may lead to adverse learning outcomes when cognitive demands are high.