Master of Science / Department of Psychological Sciences / Patrick A. Knight / For decades psychologists have studied ways in which organizations can redesign jobs to achieve improved performance and worker satisfaction. Recently there has been interest in job crafting, the process by which workers themselves change their jobs to achieve similar ends. This study examined the relationships between job crafting and (a) worker autonomy and (b) proactive personality. It was found that both autonomy and proactive personality were positively related to job crafting, with proactive personality being more strongly related to job crafting than was autonomy. Thus, the potential for both situational and individual characteristics to influence job crafting was found.

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Den ekonomiska samhällssituationen har orsakat mycket neddragningar inom offentlig sektor. Dessutom är personalbristen stor inom den svenska äldreomsorgen. Denna personalgrupp har redan idag de största ohälsotalen och sjuktalen tenderar att öka. En trend som genererar stora kostnader såväl på samhällsnivå som för enskilda arbetsgivare. Denna studie ämnar undersöka begreppet job crafting, hur individen kan påverka olika faktorer i sin arbetsmiljö, och hur job crafting påverkar hälsa. Urvalsgruppen bestod av yrkesverksamma chefer och deras arbetsgrupper inom äldreomsorgen i norra Sverige och utgjordes av 94 procent kvinnor och sex procent män (N=177, M=44). Datainsamling skedde via enkäter baserade på mätinstrument som anses väl beprövade och valida. De fyra hypoteser gällande sambandet mellan job crafting och hälsa kunde inte bekräftas, trots att tidigare forskning uppvisat ett samband. Analys av valda variabler förväntades uppvisa ett linjärt samband, som istället visade sig vara kurvlinjärt där hälsan förbättrades då strategier av job crafting utövades på en medelnivå. Det icke-linjära sambandet gjorde det rimligt att anta att kontextuella förutsättningar för personal inom äldreomsorgen försvårar processen för job crafting samt att för hög grad av job crafting får en negativ effekt på hälsa.   The financial situation in society has brought on many cutbacks in the public sector. In addition, Sweden has a severe staff shortage in elder care. Personel in this kind of work already peak at the sick leave statistics and the number is showing rising tendencies. This causes great costs both for society and for individual employers. The aim of this study was to examine the concept of job crafting, i.e how individuals can make changes within the boundaries of their work environment and the way these changes effects their well- being. The selection group is representative for the profession within Swedish elder care with 94 percent women and 6 percent men (N=177, M=44). Data collection have been made by a survey answered by leaders and their work groups and the instruments used for constructing the survey is well tested and valid. Four hypothesis were presented claiming a connection between variabels concerning job crafting and health but they could not be confirmed even though previous research has shown that fact. The expected results were to illustrate a linear connection but it turned out to be curved. The result made it possible to assume that contextual conditions for personel within elder care makes it difficult to engage in job crafting. Thus, an unfavorable high level of job crafting will have negative effect on health. / Forskningsrådet för hälsa, arbetsliv och välfärd, projektnummer: 2015-00708

Knowledge Based System (KBS) development is a difficult and challenging task, in particular in knowledge intensive domains. The traditional view of knowledge engineering is one of mining experts' knowledge and somehow transforming it into a machine usable form. This process, in general, suffers from insufficient or misconstrued representation of experts' problem solving behaviour. It is also unstructured and unduly biased at an early stage by design and implementation issues - normally in the form of incremental prototyping. We believe that both knowledge acquisition and KBS development for real life applications will require a 'structured' approach. This approach should harness a KBS developer's ability in extracting knowledge and developing systems. The structure should also be sufficiently flexible to allow the knowledge engineer to use his sense of creativity in developing a KBS. This thesis puts forward such a structured approach, in which KBS development is carried out in an engineering fashion. A process in which the worker is provided with an environment for developing knowledge based systems as an engineering process, as opposed to that of an artform or crafting. The main emphasis of this work is that part of the process which deals with the analysis and design phases in developing KBS. The analysis is performed at an 'epistemological' level, not coloured by design or implementation issues. The output of this phase captures both an expert's problem solving capability, and the business constraints placed upon the intended system. This is then used by the design process in order to create an optimal, workable, and elegant design architecture for the ultimate system.

La presente investigación tuvo como objetivo identificar cual es la relación entre los estilos de liderazgo y el engagement, y cuál es el rol que desempeña el job crafting en los colaboradores de una empresa de servicios de laboratorio y certificaciones en el Perú. Para ello, se plantearon dos hipótesis: una hipótesis sobre el efecto directo que tiene el estilo de liderazgo sobre el engagement, y la otra hipótesis es que el job crafting media la relación entre el estilo de liderazgo y el engagement. Se diseñó un estudio bajo un enfoque cuantitativo, explicativo, predictivo y transversal donde participaron 254 colaboradores de la empresa. Se aplicaron los instrumentos con la intención de medir las variables de liderazgo (MLQ) según el modelo de Bass y Avolio (1990), Job crafting y Engagement (UWES). Los hallazgos evidencian que los estilos de liderazgo predominantes en la empresa de servicios de laboratorio y certificaciones en el Perú son el transformacional y transaccional, los cuales se encuentran fuertemente correlacionados con las tres dimensiones del engagement y del job crafting. Se encontró que los estilos de liderazgo transformacional y transaccional tienen un efecto directo sobre el engagement mientras que el estilo de liderazgo pasivo evitador tiene un efecto negativo sobre el mismo. Asimismo, se encontró que el job crafting media la relación positiva entre los estilos de liderazgo transformacional, transaccional y el engagement. Por otro lado, el job crafting media la relación negativa entre el estilo de liderazgo pasivo evitador y el engagement. Los resultados muestran que los estilos de liderazgo transformacional y transaccional se relacionan de manera significativa y positiva con la actitud de aceptación ante el cambio organizacional.

As mudanças tecnológicas, sociais e econômicas que ocorreram nas últimas décadas trouxeram alterações para o mundo do trabalho, modificando a relação entre empresas e empregados. Uma posição impactada por essas mudanças foi a do executivo, que, para responder de maneira constante e rápida a essas mudanças, tem uma rotina de trabalho permeada por excesso de trabalho, superficialidade e baixa autonomia. Acredita-se que esse cenário tenha distanciando os executivos do modelo contemporâneo de carreira proteana caracterizado pelo autogerenciamento da carreira e pela orientação para valores pessoais. Supõe-se que o job crafting - construção autônoma do trabalho por meio da modelagem das tarefas, cognição e relações - e engajamento no trabalho - estado mental positivo caracterizado por vigor (energia), dedicação (significância) e absorção (envolvimento) - podem estar relacionadas à atitude de orientação para a carreira proteana. O objetivo do estudo foi realizar uma pesquisa quantitativa para identificar a relação entre as três variáveis - orientação para a carreira proteana; job crafting; e engajamento no trabalho - em amostra de 361 executivos brasileiros, por meio de instrumentos já validados para o contexto do país. Por meio da aplicação de uma survey e da análise dos dados com a técnica de modelagem de equações estruturais, comprovou-se o modelo conceitual proposto de que a atitude de carreira proteana (através da dimensão autodirecionamento) prediz comportamentos cognitivos de job crafting e, consequentemente, um estado mental positivo de engajamento no trabalho. / Technological, social and economic transformations that have taken place in the last decades have brought changes to the work life that have also modified the relationship between companies and employees. The executive position was also impacted so that its work routine has become permeated by overwork, superficiality and low autonomy to respond to these changes constantly and rapidly. We argue that this scenario has held off executives from the contemporary protean career characterized by career self-management and personal values orientation. We also believe that job crafting - autonomous construction of work through the modeling of tasks, cognition and relationships - and work engagement - a positive mental state characterized by vigor (energy), dedication (significance) and absorption (involvement) - may be related to the orientation attitude toward the protean career. The objective of the present study was to conduct a quantitative research to identify the relationship between the three variables - protean career, job crafting and work engagement - in a sample of 361 Brazilian executives through research instruments validated to the national context. Through the application of a survey and structural modeling analysis, we proved the proposed conceptual model in which the individual protean career attitudes (through its self-direction dimension) predicts cognitive behaviors of job crafting and consequently a positive mental state of work engagement

As mudanças tecnológicas, sociais e econômicas que ocorreram nas últimas décadas trouxeram alterações para o mundo do trabalho, modificando a relação entre empresas e empregados. Uma posição impactada por essas mudanças foi a do executivo, que, para responder de maneira constante e rápida a essas mudanças, tem uma rotina de trabalho permeada por excesso de trabalho, superficialidade e baixa autonomia. Acredita-se que esse cenário tenha distanciando os executivos do modelo contemporâneo de carreira proteana caracterizado pelo autogerenciamento da carreira e pela orientação para valores pessoais. Supõe-se que o job crafting - construção autônoma do trabalho por meio da modelagem das tarefas, cognição e relações - e engajamento no trabalho - estado mental positivo caracterizado por vigor (energia), dedicação (significância) e absorção (envolvimento) - podem estar relacionadas à atitude de orientação para a carreira proteana. O objetivo do estudo foi realizar uma pesquisa quantitativa para identificar a relação entre as três variáveis - orientação para a carreira proteana; job crafting; e engajamento no trabalho - em amostra de 361 executivos brasileiros, por meio de instrumentos já validados para o contexto do país. Por meio da aplicação de uma survey e da análise dos dados com a técnica de modelagem de equações estruturais, comprovou-se o modelo conceitual proposto de que a atitude de carreira proteana (através da dimensão autodirecionamento) prediz comportamentos cognitivos de job crafting e, consequentemente, um estado mental positivo de engajamento no trabalho. / Technological, social and economic transformations that have taken place in the last decades have brought changes to the work life that have also modified the relationship between companies and employees. The executive position was also impacted so that its work routine has become permeated by overwork, superficiality and low autonomy to respond to these changes constantly and rapidly. We argue that this scenario has held off executives from the contemporary protean career characterized by career self-management and personal values orientation. We also believe that job crafting - autonomous construction of work through the modeling of tasks, cognition and relationships - and work engagement - a positive mental state characterized by vigor (energy), dedication (significance) and absorption (involvement) - may be related to the orientation attitude toward the protean career. The objective of the present study was to conduct a quantitative research to identify the relationship between the three variables - protean career, job crafting and work engagement - in a sample of 361 Brazilian executives through research instruments validated to the national context. Through the application of a survey and structural modeling analysis, we proved the proposed conceptual model in which the individual protean career attitudes (through its self-direction dimension) predicts cognitive behaviors of job crafting and consequently a positive mental state of work engagement

Magister Commercii (Industrial Psychology) - MCom(IPS) / The modern working environment is characterised by global competitiveness, digitisation, and a greater need to employ and retain the knowledge worker. With increased pressure to sustain a competitive advantage, organisations must shift management strategies and focus on fostering positive work outcomes to mitigate high turnover costs and enhance organisational effectiveness. In the South African environment, organisations are confronted with challenges such as skills shortages and high turnover, impacting the ability to attract, develop, and retain highly skilled Information Technology (IT) professionals.

My dissertation focuses on self-perceived status as a driver for newcomers to initiate change in the organizations they join, either by trying to modify the tasks they are assigned to do (job crafting), implementing changes that affect how others do their work (taking charge), or making broader suggestions for improvement to the organization (voice). Although research has noted the actions that organizations take to socialize and to assimilate newcomers into the way things are conventionally done, my research centers the focus on the agency that newcomers display. I find that self-perceived status, how much prestige, respect, or admiration a newcomer thinks he/she enjoys in a group, plays an important role in determining newcomer change oriented behaviors. I also examine if newcomer self-perceived status influences the target of change oriented behaviors towards coworkers or supervisors. I find some support for the moderating influences of both individual level differences (e.g., self-monitoring) and organizational contextual factors (e.g., socialization tactics that aim to affirm newcomers' unique values and skills in the new organization) on the relationship between self-perceived status and the propensity to engage in change oriented behaviors. I test my hypotheses with a variety of methods including a field study and two laboratory experiments. / text

Counterproductive work behavior (CWB) is deliberate behavior by employees that harms the interests of their organization or its members. Previous research suggests that job stress, including a variety of individual job stressors, lead to CWB (e.g., Penney & Spector, 2005; Fox, Spector, & Miles, 2001; Spector, Fox, & Domagalski, 2006) and that CWB is an ineffective coping strategy for dealing with job stress (Shoss, Jundt, Kobler, & Reynolds, 2015). Job crafting is a form of individual-level job redesign that has been shown to reduce the negative effects of stress, but less is known about job crafting’s relationship with CWB or whether it could function as a more effective coping mechanism for job stress. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of job crafting as a moderator of the relationship between job stress and CWB. Additionally, this study examined job crafting’s relationship to CWB and to five common job stressors: interpersonal conflict, workload, job insecurity, role ambiguity, and organizational constraints. Three hundred participants completed a two-part online study through Amazon Mechanical Turk, the first of which assessed participants’ experience of the job stressors of interpersonal conflict (Interpersonal Conflict at Work Scale; Spector & Jex, 1998), workload (Quantitative Workload Inventory; Spector, 1998), organizational constraints (Organizational Constraints Scale; Spector & Jex, 1998), job insecurity (Job Insecurity Scale; Mauno, Leskinen, & Kinnunen, 2001), and role ambiguity (Role Ambiguity Scale; Rizzo, House, & Lirtzman, 1970). The first study session also assessed participants’ work locus of control (Work Locus of Control Scale; Spector, 1988) and negative affectivity (Negative Affectivity subscale of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule; Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988). The second study session was conducted five days after the first study session and assessed participants’ frequency of engagement in CWB (CWB-Checklist; Spector et al., 2006) and frequency of job crafting (Job Crafting Scale; Tims, Bakker, & Derks, 2010). Correlation and hierarchical regression analyses were utilized to test for relationships among these variables and moderation effects. The results showed that composite job stress (the combined, average score across each of the job stressor scales) and each of the five job stressors individually were significantly, positively correlated with CWB. However, within the hierarchical regression analyses, only composite job stress, interpersonal conflict, workload, and role ambiguity were significant predictors of CWB. In addition, job crafting did not predict CWB or moderate the effects of composite job stress or any of the five individual job stressors on CWB. These results suggest that job stress does lead to CWB, but job crafting is likely neither an effective coping mechanism for job stress nor an effective means of reducing CWB in organizations.