The properties and uses of the Job Diagnostic Survey (JDS) are described. The JDS is intended (a) to diagnose existing jobs to determine if (and how) they might be redesigned to improve employee motivation and productivity, and (b) to evaluate the effects of job changes on employees. The instrument is based on a specific theory of how job design affects work motivation, and provides measures of (a) objective job dimensions, (b) individual psychological states resulting from these dimensions, (c) affective reactions of employees to the job and work setting, and (d) individual growth need strength (interpreted as the readiness of individuals to respond to "enriched" jobs). Reliability and validity data are summarized for 6S& employees on 62 different jobs in 7 organizations who have responded to a revised version of the instrument.
A conceptual framework specifying the conditions under which jobs will facilitate the development of internal motivation for effective performance was developed and tested. The 5s were 208 employees of a telephone company who worked on 13 different jobs. Primary independent variables were: (a) a measure of strength of desire for the satisfaction of "higher order" needs (e.g., obtaining feelings of accomplishment, personal growth); and (6) descriptions of jobs on four core dimensions (variety, autonomy, task identity, feedback). It was predicted and found that when jobs are high on the four core dimensions, employees who are desirous of higher order need satisfaction tend to have high motivation, have high job satisfaction, be absent from work infrequently, and be rated by supervisors as doing high quality work. A number of supplementary analyses were reported, and the implications of the results for future research on job effects and for the design of jobs were discussed.Researchers and managers alike are increasingly attending to the way jobs are designed as an important factor in determining the motivation, satisfaction, and performance of employees at work. This is not to say that jobs previously have been seen as irrelevant to organizational administration. On the contrary, earlier in this century when scientific management was in its prime, considerable research effort was expended to find ways that jobs could be simplified, specialized, standardized, and routinized. At the same time, industrial psychologists were developing rather complex and sophisticated procedures for describing and analyzing jobs in terms of their simplest components, as a means of evaluating the skill levels required for different jobs. The results of job analyses have been used to
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