Task Identity Research Articles

In depth analysis of motivational factors at work in the health industry

Background:Motivation of health workers is necessary to generate the organizational commitment towards the patients and the hospital and therefore the knowledge about what motivates and satisfies them is very essential.The aim of the project was to investigate and analyze the various factors that help in motivation of the health workers while performing their clinical duties in the hospital.Materials and Methods:A simple random study was conducted among 100 employees of our institute, which included doctors, staff nurses and paramedical staff. One hundred employees from Gian Sagar Institute were chosen randomly for the purpose of our study. All the employees were enquired by the questionnaire method as well as by individual interviews regarding the various motivating and demotivating factors at the work place. Detailed enquiries were performed regarding the various aspects concerning the job factors and work satisfaction. All the answers and findings were observed and recorded.Results:Statistical Analysis Used: Simple non-parametric tests like mean, percentages and chi square tests were employed to analyze the data.The demographic profile of all the employees showed only minor differences which were statistically non-significant. Skills, task identity, task significance, autonomy, feedback, environment, job security and compensation were observed to be the important factors for the motivation of employees. The depth and the extent to which these factors were studied at work in the hospital showed remarkable differences.Conclusion:All the factors studied in this project are essential basis for organizational commitment, but feedback represents the factor with the highest motivation potential especially among the younger population.

Burnout in Nonhospital Psychiatric Residential Facilities

This study evaluated levels and risk factors of burnout in a sample of mental health professionals employed in nonhospital psychiatric residential facilities of northern Italy. Nurses, nurse assistants, and educators completed a questionnaire evaluating demographic variables, burnout (Maslach Burnout Inventory), job characteristics (Job Diagnostic Survey), workload, relationships with colleagues, and support from supervising coordinators. A total of 202 (83% response rate) questionnaires were analyzed. Logistic linear regressions were used to estimate predictors of burnout dimensions. Burnout risk was widespread. Low feedback about job performance, poor support from coordinators, and young age predicted emotional exhaustion. Low feedback about job performance predicted feelings of depersonalization. Low task identity and young age predicted reduced feelings of personal accomplishment. Interventions to prevent burnout among employees should be developed. These include providing feedback about performance, clearly identifying the tasks of the job, and providing support.

Encouraging knowledge sharing among employees: How job design matters

AbstractJob design is one of the most frequently researched practices in the Human Resource Management (HRM) literature, and knowledge sharing has become an important and heavily researched managerial practice. The links between these practices, however, have received little attention in the literature. We argue that job design matters to knowledge sharing for motivational reasons. Specifically, jobs contain characteristics that stimulate different kinds of motivation toward knowledge sharing, which have different effects on individual knowledge sharing behavior. We develop six hypotheses that unfold these ideas and test them on the basis of individual‐level data collected within a single firm. The hypotheses are tested in a LISREL model that confirms that job characteristics, such as autonomy, task identity, and feedback, determine different motivations to share knowledge, which in turn predict employees' knowledge sharing behaviors. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Burnout in Nonhospital Psychiatric Residential Facilities

This study evaluated levels and risk factors of burnout in a sample of mental health professionals employed in nonhospital psychiatric residential facilities of northern Italy.Nurses, nurse assistants, and educators completed a questionnaire evaluating demographic variables, burnout (Maslach Burnout Inventory), job characteristics (Job Diagnostic Survey), workload, relationships with colleagues, and support from supervising coordinators. A total of 202 (83% response rate) questionnaires were analyzed. Logistic linear regressions were used to estimate predictors of burnout dimensions.Burnout risk was widespread. Low feedback about job performance, poor support from coordinators, and young age predicted emotional exhaustion. Low feedback about job performance predicted feelings of depersonalization. Low task identity and young age predicted reduced feelings of personal accomplishment.Interventions to prevent burnout among employees should be developed. These include providing feedback about performance, clearly identifying the tasks of the job, and providing support.

Job Involvement: A Brief of Literature

Job involvement is an integral and growing concept in organizational behaviour. This paper surveys the literature on job involvement. The studies reviewed reveals that job satisfaction, stress, commitment, job authority, job enrichment, task identity, mental health, age, tenure, job anxiety, quality of life and burnout has been found significantly related with job involvement. It has also been observed that job involvement was higher among private sectors employees as compared to those in the public sectors.

Job characteristics, work attitudes and behaviors in a non‐western context

PurposePrevious studies on job characteristics have been performed mainly in Western contexts. More empirical evidence is needed to understand the important job characteristics of positive job outcomes in a non‐Western context. Therefore, this research has two objectives: to assess the impact of five job characteristics on work attitudes and behaviors in the UAE, and to test the mediating impact of distributive justice on the job characteristics‐work outcomes relationship.Design/methodology/approachThe study reports responses of 350 employees from five large organizations operating in Dubai. Data were collected on a structured questionnaire containing standards scales of job characteristics, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, turnover intentions, distributive justice, and some demographic variables. After testing scales reliability and validity, the proposed linear relationships were tested using a series of separate hierarchical regression analyses. Proposed mediation hypotheses were tested using Baron and Kenny's recommendations.FindingsConsistent with studies conducted in a Western context, the study showed that skill variety and feedback have functional impacts on job satisfaction, organizational commitment and turnover intentions. Contrary to Western studies, the study reported that task identity and task significance have functional effects on work attitudes and behaviors. Autonomy also showed unexpected positive relationship with turnover intentions. Additionally, distributive justice mediates some of the relationships between job characteristics and work outcomes.Research limitations/implicationsThe limitations of common method bias and cross‐sectional data are discussed in the light of implications for future research. Nevertheless, the results provide new insights on the influence of job characteristics on work outcomes in a non‐Western context of the UAE. Also, the study reported evidence for the mediating impact of distributive justice on the job characteristics‐work outcomes relationship.Practical implicationsThe study has implications for enhancing work behaviors and attitudes. In general, enhancing certain job characteristics can result in higher‐level employee outcomes. Also, managers should improve some of the contextual factor (i.e. distributive justice) in order to enhance the impact of job characteristics on work outcomes.Originality/valueThe study is considered to be one of the first to examine the job characteristics‐work outcomes relationship in a non‐western context of the UAE. Also, it is among the first studies to test the role of distributive justice as a mediator for the job characteristics‐work outcome relationship.

Expanding the link between core self-evaluations and affective job attitudes

The present study examined the differentiated relationship between core self-evaluations and affective job attitudes. In previous research, job characteristics were proposed to mediate this relationship. However, the facets of the job characteristics model have not yet been assessed separately. In the present study we tested which job characteristics (i.e., skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback) mediate the relationship between core self-evaluations and job satisfaction as well as organizational commitment in a sample of 199 employees. Results revealed that core self-evaluations were related to job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Task significance was found to mediate these relationships. These findings are discussed with respect to the level on which people regulate their actions.

Linking Organizational Structure, Job Characteristics, and Job Performance Constructs: a Proposed Framework

A growing emphasis has been given on employees’ job performance as a source of competitive advantage to promote responsiveness in enhancing overall organizational effectiveness. Although performance depends very much on personality traits, other external factors, also known as system factors or opportunities to perform, have a significant amount of influence on employees’ task and contextual performance. Constraints to perform, such as bureaucratic structure and ineffective job design, will influence individual task and contextual performance negatively. Such circumstance inadvertently hinders high organizational performance. This paper proposes that organizational structure, namely formalization and centralization, have direct effects on employee task performance and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Also, this paper posits that job characteristics, namely skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback, exert influence on employee task performance and OCB. To examine the applicability of the proposed framework, seven main propositions are identified and analyzed.

Exploring the antecedents of organizational identification: the role of job dimensions, individual characteristics and job involvement

This study aims to identify the antecedents of organizational identification such as job involvement and job dimensions in a health care setting. Organizational identification is an important work attitude that affects nurses' performance and job satisfaction. Hence, exploring antecedents of organizational identification in a health care setting is vital in understanding the role of organizational identification in nurse- and patient-related outcomes. A research model, which incorporates job design, individual characteristics, job involvement and organizational identification, was developed and tested. The research was conducted via a survey in a hospital setting in Turkey (n = 148). The results revealed that job involvement, which is the degree of importance of one's job to one's self-image, is related to organizational identification. Among job dimensions, task identity and autonomy explained a significant proportion of variance in job involvement. Although job dimensions are not directly related to organizational identification, they have effects on job involvement, which is also an important construct. The results suggest that nurses' jobs should be designed with higher levels of task autonomy and task identity to increase their job involvement and in turn their organizational identification.

Relationship Between Job Characteristics And Job Performance Of Agricultural Extension Agents In Imo And Rivers State, Nigeria

The agricultural extension agent is a key stakeholder in extension systems. The nature of their work is so important that it has overriding effect on their job performance. This study investigates the relationship between job characteristics and job performance of agricultural extension agents in Imo and Rivers States, Nigeria. A structured questionnaire was administered to 193 extension agents made up of 98 and 95 from Imo and Rivers States respectively. Findings revealed that feedback and task identity significantly affected job performance of extension agents. It was recommended that role clarity can be boosted by allowing agents participation in task assignments. Keywords: job characteristics, job performance, agricultural extension agentsGlobal Approaches to Extension Practice Vol. 3 (1) 2007: pp. 56-60

Work system design to improve the economic performance of the firm

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to look at job design, motivation and teamwork. As the market gets more competitive, companies must change their plan of attack on almost a daily basis. They need to answer the question: what is the best way to do business? As employers look at job design they will find that it is not the only factor that indicates how productive employees are in the workplace. Motivation also determines how much energy employees will expend, as well as what tasks will be accomplished, and in what amount of time it will be completed.Design/methodology/approachIncreasing productivity among employees is the key to a successful work group and firm. This paper will look at job design, motivation in the workplace and teamwork as they continue to be the major factors that determine the amount of work an individual does within a firm. Job design includes three main categories: job enlargement, job rotation, and job enrichment. The job characteristics model, a more recent approach to job design, includes five core job characteristics that include skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and job feedback.FindingsThe paper presents plenty of evidence that organizations are increasingly relying on teams to handle work once taken on by one person. Self‐managed teams are given the authority to make decisions that were once reserved for managers. Cross‐functional teams are used to improve coordination among different departments involved in carrying out a joint project. Many organizations are implementing these teams successfully into their structure. The result is that they are finding them to be more productive and prosperous than the work of single individuals.Practical implicationsWork teams such as self‐directed teams and cross‐functional teams are becoming increasingly popular among firms in today's work environment. Teams can work together in a dynamic business world to gain an edge over the competition.Originality/valueOverall, job design, motivation, and teamwork tie together and create a work environment that can either help or hurt an organization. If a proper plan is implemented, then the firm should be more productively successful.

Crafting Strategy: The Role of Embodied Metaphors

This article presents an approach to strategizing through a process of crafting embodied metaphors - physical constructions that can be touched, moved, examined from various angles and serve as engaging occasions for sense making. In this context strategy is viewed as a crafting practice, where actors construct their perceptions of strategic issues, metaphorically as well as literally, both through and into embodied metaphors within facilitated workshops. We analyse an episode of a strategy team constructing an embodied metaphor of their ideal strategizing process, and suggest that embodied metaphors are an effective means of intervention that can help managers to debate specific strategic challenges in a generative fashion. We show how the process of constructing and interpreting of embodied metaphors can provide access to a deeper understanding of organizational, divisional or task identities, and address other important benefits of the process, such as the potential for shifts in the mindsets of strategists and the ability to engage actors not ordinarily involved in strategizing. Finally we offer some suggestions on how to foster a productive strategizing process of crafting embodied metaphors.

Organizational Factors Associated with Job Characteristics: Evidence from Frontline Service Employees

Job design is an effective manner for influencing the conduct of employees. However, research has not yet considered how job characteristics are associated with other organizational factors to promote employee attitudes and behaviors in a more sustainable way. The authors develop a structural model that addresses this gap with data from services. The results provide broad support for the proposed model, indicating that, perceptions of a customer‐oriented culture, autonomy, and behavior‐based evaluation systems are associated with task variety, identity, and supervisory support.

Instruction effects in task switching

The present study examined the effect of instructions on sequential task preparation using a cuing paradigm with three tasks. All task transitions were predictable, whereas task identity was unpredictable in switches but predictable in repetitions. In Experiment 1, predictability (predictable vs. random) was manipulated while preparation time (i.e., the cue-stimulus interval, or CSI) remained constantly short. In Experiment 2, CSI was manipulated for predictable task transitions. Both experiments showed clear instruction effects, but these were restricted to predictable task repetitions, for which predictability determined the identity of the upcoming task. Predictability effects were small in task switches and were not modulated by instruction, suggesting that preparation is mainly task-specific rather than switch-specific. Together, these results suggest that intentional processes contribute to predictability benefits in task repetitions, probably by enhancing the monitoring of sequential transitions in working memory in order to maintain activation in task repetitions.

Task-switching under explicit and transition cueing: common and distinct underlying neural mechanisms

Event Abstract Back to Event Task-switching under explicit and transition cueing: common and distinct underlying neural mechanisms J. A. Periáñez1 and F. Barceló1* 1 Universitat de les Illes Balears, Spain Two types of task-switch cues have been used as interchangeable methods to investigate preparatory cognitive control. ‘Explicit’ cues specify which task should be performed next (e.g., color vs shape task), whereas ‘transition’ cues inform only about the need to switch or repeat the task, but say nothing about task identity. To date few studies have explored whether switching from one task to another may involve different cognitive and neural mechanisms depending on cueing type. To address this issue, behavioral responses and event-related potentials (ERPs) were measured while 17 subjects performed an intermittently-instructed task-switching paradigm using transition versus explicit cues. Behavioral analyses revealed significant switch costs under transition cueing that were not influenced by practice (i.e., similar costs between trial blocks). However, under explicit cueing behavioral switch costs were apparent only in the second trial block due to faster reaction times to task-repeat trials as compared to the first block of trials. ERP analyses revealed that cue-locked P3 amplitudes (400-450 ms) mirrored behavioral effects, with cue-locked P3 differences between task-switch and repeat trials in those conditions showing behavioral switch costs. These results support the purported relationship between behavioral task-switch costs and cue-locked P3 activity (Barcelo, Periañez & Knight, 2002). In addition, partly different neural mechanisms seem to underlie the distinct behavioral and ERP responses found under explicit vs transition task-cueing procedures. The putative neural networks involved are discussed according to current models of cognitive control of task-switching. Conference: 10th International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience, Bodrum, Turkey, 1 Sep - 5 Sep, 2008. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Decision Making and Response Selection Citation: Periáñez JA and Barceló F (2008). Task-switching under explicit and transition cueing: common and distinct underlying neural mechanisms. Conference Abstract: 10th International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience. doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.09.2009.01.207 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 08 Dec 2008; Published Online: 08 Dec 2008. * Correspondence: F. Barceló, Universitat de les Illes Balears, Mallorca, Spain, barcelo.paco@gmail.com Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers J. A Periáñez F. Barceló Google J. A Periáñez F. Barceló Google Scholar J. A Periáñez F. Barceló PubMed J. A Periáñez F. Barceló Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.

Understanding Organizations through Embodied Metaphors

We outline the dominant, positivist approach to conceptualizing and researching organizations through multi-level research that views levels as independently existing, hierarchically nested entities, and problematize this view by offering an alternative approach based on embodied realism. We operationalize this approach through a study of three organization development workshops where organizational actors constructed artifacts we label embodied metaphors. We propose that analysis of embodied metaphors can enable access to actors' first-order conceptions of organizational levels and related organizational dimensions and reveals alternative qualities and interrelations among them; can support a clinical approach to organizations; provides a window to organizational, divisional or task identities; and poses substantial challenges to established conceptions of ontology and method in organization theory.

Associations Between Organizational/Individual Factors and the Intentions of Employees

This study of a university school foodservice operation examines whether a positive or negative association exists between the individual and organizational factors and the intentions to stay or leave the current job for foodservice employees or internal customers. The individual factors include job status, service length, age, education level, and job position. The organizational factors include several job characteristics, intrinsic motivation, formalization, participative decision-making and psychological stress. Job characteristics indicated a significant positive impact on university retention across the job characteristics of autonomy, feedback, dealing with others, and variety. The organizational factors of perceived formalization and participative decision-making also had a significant positive impact on university employee retention. The organizational factors of intrinsic motivation, task identity, and friendship opportunities did not have a statistically significant positive or negative impact on university employee retention yet had the directions of relationship that was expected. Finally, psychological stress had a negative impact on university employee retention. The article ends with suggestions for future research and limitations of the current study.

Relationship between social support and occupational stress

To explore the relationship between social support and occupational stress. A cross-sectional survey involving 654 career people from different industries was conducted. Social support, the occupational stressors, personalities, and occupational strain were measured by using Occupational Stress Instrument. The people from different occupations got different level of social support. Social support scores were significantly positively related to interpersonal relation, responsibility for people, responsibility for thing, advancement and participation, task identity, training adequacy, challenge, autonomy, job satisfaction, mental health, affective ambulance, positive emotion, self-esteem and coping strategy (P<0.05 or P<0.01), negatively to careers, role conflict, role ambiguity, job future ambiguity, negative emotion, depression symptoms, daily life stress and work locus of control scores (P<0.05 or P<0.01). The scores of interpersonal relation, responsibility for people, responsibility for thing, advancement and participation, task identity, training adequacy, challenge, autonomy, job satisfaction, mental health, affective ambulance, positive emotion, self-esteem and coping strategy with sufficient social support were significantly higher than those of deficient social support (P<0.05 or P<0.01). The scores of role conflict, role ambiguity, job future ambiguity, negative emotion, depression symptoms, daily life stress and work locus of control were higher than those of the latter (P<0.05 or P<0.01). Stepwise regression analysis showed that social support was the predictor of depression (R(2)>0.05). Social support affects occupational stress largely and plays an important role in maintaining mental health of career people. The people from different occupations get different level of social support.

Job satisfaction among information system (IS) personnel

This study examines relationships between achievement motivation and job characteristics on job satisfaction among IS personnel. The analytical results reveal that the dimensions of the achievement motivation of IS personnel are perseverance, competition and difficulty control. Regarding job characteristics, the job characteristics of IS personnel are task identity, professionalism, feedback, autonomy and significance. Moreover, the dimensions of the job satisfaction of IS personnel are social, job-related and self-actualization satisfaction. Job characteristics affect the job satisfaction of IS personnel and job characteristics and job satisfaction are positively related. Regardless of whether IS worker achievement motivation is high or low, IS workers engaged in jobs with high job characteristics have higher job satisfaction. Jobs with the features of feedback, professionalism and autonomy can most easily increase the job satisfaction of IS personnel.

Nursing Satisfaction and Job Enrichment in Turkey

Survey research was conducted with the aim of better understanding nurses' perceptions of organizational factors which relate to their job satisfaction and motivation in Turkey. Nurses (N = 290) who were employed at a training and research hospital, part of the Turkish Republic Ministry of Health, were included. The questionnaire used was developed for this study based on Hackman and Oldman's job enrichment theory. The results showed that only one third of the nurse leaders and one in five of the staff nurses reported being satisfied with their job. The participants saw the five core job dimensions of Hackman and Oldman's work design model: skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback as important for nurses. Nursing was described by the participants as hard and challenging, but they also found it meaningful and said that it gave them the opportunity to use their skills and abilities.