Assignment:
Increasing Autonomy
Objective Your objective is to gain experience in redesigning a job to increase employee autonomy.
Procedure Assume the role of a manager in charge of a group of artists that draws pictures for greeting cards. You currently assign the artists their individual tasks. Each artist is given a particular kind of card to work on (one works on birthday cards for female relatives, one on birthday cards for children, and so on). You inform each artist of the market research that has been done on his or her particular category of cards. You also communicate to each artist your ideas about what you would like to see in the cards he or she creates. The artists then produce sketches based on this information. You review the sketches, make changes, sometimes make the decision to abandon an idea or suggest a new one, and eventually give the artists the go-ahead to proceed with the drawing. You thought everything was working pretty smoothly until you accidentally overheard one of your subordinates complaining to another that you are stifling his creativity. This exchange brought to mind another troubling incident. One of your artists who had drawn some of the company’s best-selling cards quit a few months ago to work for a competitor. You began to wonder whether you have designed the artists’ jobs in the best way possible. You decide to administer the Job Diagnostic Survey to your subordinates. They complete it anonymously, and you are truly shocked by the results. Most of your subordinates indicate that their jobs are low on autonomy. Being an artist yourself, you are disturbed by this outcome because you see autonomy as a necessary ingredient for creativity.
Q1. Develop an action plan to increase levels of autonomy in the artists’ jobs. Although you want to increase autonomy, you also want to make sure your group creates cards that are responsive to market demands and customer taste.
Q2. The class divides into groups of three to five people, and each group appoints one member as spokesperson to present the group’s recommendations to the whole class.
Q3. Group members take turns describing their own specific action plans for increasing autonomy in the artists’ jobs while making sure the cards are responsive to market demands and customer taste.
Q4. Discuss the pros and cons of the different alternative action plans and create an action plan that group members think will best increase autonomy while at the same time meet the organizational goal of creating best-selling cards.
When your group has completed those activities, the spokesperson will present the group’s action plan to the whole class.
Your answer must be typed, double-spaced, Times New Roman font (size 12), one-inch margins on all sides, APA format and also include references.