Conceptual Case: Please try to answer within 10 minutes.

Answer the following questions (Question a,b, and c) based on the case presented:

There are a number of ways in which organizations are trying to apply techniques to improve performance. For example, redesigning traditional, bureaucratic organizations and specialized jobs has emerged as a way to enhance employee satisfaction and performance. This can be done by restructuring the organization so that it is a more enjoyable, pleasant place in which to work. This is actually being accomplished in a number of different ways in the real world. At Inhale Therapeutic Systems, a small start-up company in northern California that focuses on novel drug delivery technology, everyone, including the president of the company, sits in large cubicles (they call them bullpens) with four other people of various ranks and functions. There are no walls or barriers between any of them. This arrangement forces people to talk to each other, while limiting the amount of time they spend gossiping, and reduces the need to write memos and use email as, in most cases, the people to whom these messages would be directed are sitting in the same bullpen. Every nine months the company reshuffles everyone and assigns new bullpen partners. This arrangement has seemed to promote teamwork and reduce office politics. At West Bend Mutual Insurance Company, top management decided to make the workplace as comfortable as possible for people. Management put money where their mouth was by purchasing equipment that allows those in certain workstations to adjust the temperature, fresh air, and noise levels. Researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have studied the impact of these changes and concluded that those who are allowed to control their own climate are at least 3 percent more productive than those who are not. The company management believe that these productivity increases are even higher, probably more in the range of 5 to 10 percent. In addition, the novel workstations have become an asset in recruiting and retaining workers. Other companies are approaching the motivation challenge by asking: What else can we do to make the organization an enjoyable place to work? At Sun Microsystems, some members of top management are asking an even more radical question. Noting that many of their employees are never in the office because they are out in the field with clients or working from home, they ask: Why should we heat, cool, and clean offices when so few people ever use them? This has led management to consider reducing office space; if personnel who never come to the office need to get together for occasional meetings or face- to-face interactions, they can rent space at hotels or conference centers. Although this may not be the route Sun eventually takes, it does show that the old way of having everyone in their office from 9 to 5 may become a thing of the past. An interesting issue that is beginning to emerge concerns too much of a good thing. Is it possible that the new work arrangements such as those at Inhale Therapeutic Systems or West Bend Insurance will result in facilitating so much interaction that people become overstimulated or distracted? Moreover, the changes that are being made today may soon be outmoded by changes in tomorrows technology, resulting in the need to reorganize the workplace again. On the positive side, however, some work design experts note: The good news . . . is that those involved in forging the new workplace realize there is no ideal, no cookiecutter workplace template they can plop on top of

organizations. And its a rare alternative-office space that doesnt get adapted as trial runs reveal elements that dont work or could work better. One thing weve realized is that not only must we assess whats possible but how far and how fast it can move. That would seem to signal an end to the age of the corporate edifice complex and a new era of workspaces that work.

a. How does redesign of jobs lead to improved performance and job satisfaction? In your answer, include a discussion of the following figure. b. How do the examples in this case relate to the job characteristics model as discussed in this chapter? c. Are we likely to see more workplace redesign in the future? Why or why not?