THE INFLUENCE OF JOB TITLES AND NATURE OF BUSINESS ON THE MOTIVATING POTENTIAL SCORE OF ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT PERSONNEL

THE INFLUENCE OF JOB TITLES AND NATURE OF BUSINESS ON THE MOTIVATING POTENTIAL SCORE OF ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT PERSONNEL Raja Hjh. Munirah Raja Mustapha Hj. Hazman Shah Abdullah ABSTRACT Human and social factors, the economy, new management styles, and the introduction of new technology into the workplace have changed the nature of office work that led to a shift in behavior and work roles. Jobs have been redefined and broadened to accommodate these changes. Studies have shown that a good technique of enriching jobs would be to provide workers with a variety of challenging tasks so they would perceive their jobs as meaningful and rewarding which would enhance their level of satisfaction. Other key variables like job titles, nature of business workers are employed in, and level of education have been found to influence the perception levels of the characteristics of a job. This study makes an attempt to relate job titles of administrative support personnel and the nature of business they worked in with their Motivating Potential Score. Results indicated that support personnel in higher job titles and those working in the hotel industry perceived higher levels of the job characteristics. As a conclusion, the role of the job as a key motivator must not be discounted. As jobs transform, the content must be rebalanced to maintain interest and satisfaction. As evidenced in this study, employee satisfaction is the key to sustainable profitability in the service industry. Keywords: Job Title, Administrative Support Personnel, Secretaries, Job Characteristics, Service Industry, Motivating Potential Score INTRODUCTION Just how satisfactory are person-job relationships in contemporary organizations? Are most people prospering in their work, or at least as comfortable with their jobs? Or are most employees working in jobs that are grossly inappropriate for their personal needs, skills, and aspirations? There is a good deal of controversy about the matter. Some researchers argue with vigour that we are currently in the midst of a major work ethic crisis that foreshadows revolutionary changes in how work will be designed and managed in the future (Oshagbemi, 1997; Norris, 1998; Rothstein, 1998). Studies have shown that there is a poor fit between large numbers of people and the work they do (Marino, 1993; Zeffane, 1994). This misfit occurs when the person is too much for the job or the job is too much for the person. Apparently there are millions of people in this society for whom work is neither a challenge nor a personally fulfilling part of life (Oshagbemi, 1997). Results from studies have indicated that job titles, ranks, length of work experience, level of education, and the nature of business the workers are employed in, affect employees perceptions of their jobs (Igbaria, Pavari & Huff, 1989; Marino, 1993; Zeffane, 1994). One group of workers that have received very little attention in studies relating to job satisfaction is the administrative support personnel. Job satisfaction-related studies have indicated that the type of business the workers are employed in, their job titles, and their level of education have a direct, positive and significant effect on their perception of job characteristics that relates to job satisfaction. Results of these studies show that support personnel holding higher job titles and who are employed in certain types of businesses perceived higher levels of job characteristics than others. Hackman & Oldham (1980) postulated that the job perceptions of workers that promote internal motivation are characterized by five attributes called job characteristics: skill variety, task significance, autonomy, feedback from work, feedback from agents, and dealing with others. In their Job Characteristics Model, Hackman and Oldham (1980) suggested that workers who rate their jobs high on these characteristics have high work motivation, job satisfaction, and job performance. Thus, rather than simply enlarging jobs, managers can enrich jobs by increasing the presence of these five job characteristics. 678

The Job Characteristics Theory (JCT) Hackman and Oldham (1980) have developed their own approach that is a hybrid of the behavioral and systems approach. They emphasize on the importance of individual differences and the need to analyze specific requirements of each organization. The focus is on the actual work that people perform in organizations and emphases are also made on the distinctions between design work for individuals and designing work for groups and the importance of collecting diagnostic data about a work system before it changed. Hackman and Oldham (1980) described this theory as a theory of internal motivation. Internal motivation results from a good person-job fit. The theory is based upon the basic premise that the relationship between the person and the job influence organizational productivity and the quality of the work experience for the employee. The Job Characteristics Model (JCM) is preferred for use in job redesign studies mainly because it is more recent compared to other job design theories and the most influential paradigm in contemporary job design research (Rothstein, 1998). More importantly, this approach focuses on the objective characteristics of individuals and the job itself, whereas the traditional approaches, for example, Classical Organization Theory, and Sociotechnical Theory emphasizes on rational efficiency in organizational functioning (Hackman & Oldham, 1980). In essence, other approaches focuses on the macro effect of the organization while the JCM looks at specific differences of individuals to job characteristics. Figure 1 describes JCM in an attempt to account for the interrelationships among certain job characteristics; critical psychological states associated with motivation, satisfaction, and performance; and job outcomes. The Job Characteristics Theory, which is a motivation through the design of work theory, is an approach to answer questions on how work can be structured so that it is performed effectively, and at the same time, jobholders find the work personally rewarding and satisfying. The JCM identifies the five job characteristics as skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback from job. These five characteristics provide a key to objectively measure jobs. This is of value to those responsible for job design because the higher the scores of job characteristics, the higher the level of job enrichment and work motivation. In other words, jobholders are more likely to perceive their jobs as good jobs that are meaningful and challenging. The five job characteristics, the dimension of the JCM used in this study, were defined by Hackman and Oldham as follows: Skill variety: "The degree to which a job requires a variety of different activities in carrying out the work, involving the use of a number of different skills and talents of the person." Task identity: "The degree to which a job requires completion of a "whole" and identifiable piece of work, that is, doing a job from beginning to end with a visible outcome." Task significance: "The degree to which the job has a substantial impact on the lives of other people, whether those people are in the immediate organization or the world at large." Autonomy: "The degree to which the job provides substantial freedom, independence, and discretion to the individual in scheduling the work and in determining the procedures to be used in carrying it out." Feedback from job: "The degree to which carrying out the work activities required by the job provides the individual with direct and clear information about the effectiveness of his or her performance." (Hackman & Oldham, 1980). 679

FIGURE 1 The Job Characteristics Model JOB CHARACTERISTICS CRITICAL PERSONAL PSYCHOLOGICAL AND WORK STATES OUTCOMES Skill Variety Experienced High internal Task Identity meaningfulness work of work motivation Task Significance Experienced High quality Autonomy responsibility work for outcomes performance of work High satisfaction Knowledge of with the work the actual Feedback results of Low work absenteeism activities and turnover Source: Hackman & Oldham (1980). Work Redesign, p. 77. Motivating Potential Score (MPS) Hackman and Oldham combined these characteristics to represent a single Motivating Potential Score (MPS) that serves as an indicator of the meaningfulness, complexity, and challenge of a job. Five is the first positive, satisfactory score on the scale measuring the job characteristics (Hackman & Oldham,1980). When an increase in these job characteristics takes place in a job, the JCM defines this as job enrichment. This model predicts that jobs with more skill variety, task identity, and task significance will result in the worker experiencing more meaningfulness of the work, which is the first critical psychological state. With more autonomy, the worker will experience more responsibility (the second critical psychological state) and with more feedback, the worker will experience more knowledge of the actual results of the work done (the third critical psychological state). Increases in meaningfulness, responsibility, and knowledge of results, predict greater job satisfaction, higher work motivation, better work performance, and lower levels of absence and labor turnover. It appears necessary for all three of these critical psychological states to be present for strong internal work motivation to develop and persist. Because a given job can be very high on one or more of the five characteristics and simultaneously quite low on others, Hackman and Oldham (1980) suggests the use of a single index, the Motivating Potential Score (MPS), which reflects the overall potential of a job to foster internal work motivation on the part of job incumbents. Following the model as shown in Figure 1, a job high in motivating potential must be high on at least one of the three characteristics that prompt experienced meaningfulness, and high on both autonomy and feedback as well, thereby creating conditions that 680

foster all three of the critical psychological states. When numerical scores are available, they are combined as follo ws: Motivating Skill + Task + Task Potential = Variety Identity Significance X Autonomy X Feedback Score (MPS) 3 The formula suggests that a very low score on either autonomy or feedback will reduce the overall MPS of the job very substantially. This is so since the model requires that both experienced responsibility and knowledge of results be present if int ernal work motivation is to be high, and autonomy and feedback, respectively, are the job characteristics that prompt those two psychological states. On the other hand, a low score on one of the three job characteristics (skill variety, task identity, and task significance) that contributes to experienced meaningfulness cannot, by itself, seriously compromise the overall motivating potential of a job. Following the above formula, the lowest possible MPS for a job is 1 and the highest possible is 343 (7 3 ). Hackman and Oldham, therefore, hypothesized that a high autonomy level of a job will yield a high MPS. It is emphasized that the objective "motivating potential" of a job does not cause employees who work on that job to be internally motivated, to perform well, or to experience job satisfaction. Instead, a job that is high in motivating potential merely creates conditions such that if the incumbent performs well the worker is likely to experience a reinforcing state of affairs as a consequence (Hackman & Oldham, 1980). RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The data for this study was collected via questionnaires which were mailed to 1,200 administrative support personnel in the service organizations in the Klang Valley. A two-stage sampling method was employed for this study. The Job Diagnostic Survey (JDS) by Hackman & Oldham (1980) was used to collect the data for this study. To determine the internal consistency of the job characteristics dimension of the JDS, Cronbach alpha was computed which yielded coefficients above.80 for all the five dimensions studied (skill variety, alpha =.85; task identity, alpha =.84; task significance, alpha =.81, autonomy, alpha =.85; and feedback from work, alpha =.89). To study the effect of job titles and nature of businesses on the motivating potential scores, a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed. Descriptive statistics were also computed for means and standard deviations. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS Profile of Sample A total of 1,200 questionnaires were mailed and after two follow-ups, 509 responses were returned, representing a 42% response rate. About 20% (102) of the respondents were employed in the banking and financing institutions while 17.2% (87) and 10.7% (54) were in the construction/development and educational institution respectively. The majority of the respondents worked in private companies while 19.4% (98) were from public or government organizations. About 37.5% (190) of the respondents were secretaries, 12.6% (64) were confidential secretaries, and 12.3% (62) were executive secretaries. The balance was stenographers, senior secretaries, administrative assistants, administrative secretaries, and other job titles that include personal assistants, office managers, and office executives. Summary of Findings The following summary is organized two sections. Findings and discussions on the influence of job titles on the Motivating Potential Score (MPS) are provided first, followed by the discussions on the influence of nature of business on the MPS. 681

Influence of Job Title on MPS The means and standard deviations for the MPS by job title are presented in TABLE 1. The highest MPS mean were in the senior secretary category, followed by administrative assistants and confidential secretary categories. TABLE 1 Means and Standard Deviations of MPS by Job Title Job Title N Mean Std. Deviation Administrative Assistant 27 149.66 56.45 Administrative Secretary 19 115.38 69.39 Executive Secretary 62 153.86 64.55 Confident ial Secretary 64 149.64 62.81 Senior Secretary 30 182.74 70.55 Secretary 190 136.91 58.90 Stenographer 59 130.46 62.70 Others 53 146.45 57.13 Total 504 143.46 62.42 One-way ANOVA indicated that there was a significant difference betw een the job titles on the MPS (TABLE 2). To identify which job title was significantly different on MPS, Scheffe contrast was computed. TABLE 2 Analysis Of Variance Of The Mean Differences Of MPS And Job Title Source of Variance Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.* Between Groups 90049.201 7 12864.172 3.412.001 Within Groups 1870160.481 496 3770.485 Total 1960209.681 503 *Scheffe MPS Motivating Potential Score As presented in TABLE 3, significant difference in MPS between job titles were only detected between senior secretary and administrative secretary (p <.05); senior secretary and secretary (p<.05); and senior secretary and stenographer (p <.05). Data indicated that senior secretaries scored the highest MPS compared to other job titles, which means that workers with higher job titles and more experience perceived themselves to be more motivated than others. TABLE 3 Job Title Categories With Significantly Differing MPS Job Title Mean Job title Mean Level of Significance Senior Secretary 182.74 Administrative Secretary 115.38.054 Secretary 136.91.047 Stenographer 130.46.047 682

Influence of Nature of Business on MPS The means and standard deviations for the MPS by nature of business are presented in TABLE 4. Respondents who worked in hotels scored the highest MPS mean indicating that support workers in this type of business were exposed to a more variety of work which require them to use more highend skills to deal with more challenging work. TABLE 4 Means and Standard Deviations of MPS by Nature of Business Nature of Business n Mean Std. Deviation Banking & Financing 102 150.84 59.83 Engineering 9 167.65 81.33 Trading 11 154.50 52.28 Telecommunications & Info. Tech. 43 144.98 48.27 Transportation 37 133.17 61.89 Construction/Development 87 131.12 61.61 Educational Institution 54 133.81 62.34 Hotel (Hospitality) 29 190.63 60.82 Public Service/Government 39 146.76 67.10 Health Care 13 104.97 61.02 Broadcasting & Publishing 16 148.63 52.17 Legal Services 9 104.80 54.10 Food Services 16 148.31 46.46 Consultation 13 116.50 66.76 Research & Dev. 15 143.72 73.27 Others 13 178.42 69.15 Total 506 143.65 62.46 To identify which nature of business was significantly different on MPS, One-way ANOVA was used. Results indicated that there was a significant difference between the nature of business on the MPS (TABLE 5). TABLE 5 Analysis of Variance of the Mean Differences of Nature of Business and MPS Source of Variance Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. Between Groups 158243.866 15 0549.591 2.852.000 Within Groups 1812239.718 490 3698.448 Total 1970483.584 505 Using the Bonferroni contrast, significant differences in MPS between nature of business were detected between hotel and transportation (p <.02); hotel and construction (p<.001); hotel and education (p <.01); hotel and health (p<.003); hotel and consultancies (p<.01); and hotel and legal services (p<.03) (TABLE 5). This confirms that respondents who worked in hotels scored the highest MPS as compared to those working in other types of service industries and that these support workers are in a better position to welcome efforts of job enrichment in their work. 683

TABLE 5 Business Categories With Significantly Differing MPS Nature of Business Mean Nature of Business Mean Level of Significance* Hotel 190.63 Transportation 133.17.019 Construction 131.12.001 Education 133.81.007 Health 104.97.003 Consultancies 116.50.035 Legal Services 104.80.029 * Bonferroni CONCLUSIONS Influence of Job Title on Motivating Potential Score (MPS) Senior secretaries, executive secretaries, administrative assistants, and confidential secretaries scored the highest MPS mean as indicated in the findings of this study. It can be concluded that workers with higher job titles, presumably with higher qualification and more experience, perceived high levels of the job characteristics. Influence of Nature of Business on MPS Finally, results also indicated that support workers who were employed in hotels scored the highest MPS mean. This indicated that support workers employed in the hotel industry, especially those working in business centres, would experience high internal work motivation since they are exposed to different kinds of work which require them to use a variety of skills to perform several high-end management-related tasks. In other words, besides being multi-skilled, these support workers would not only have more opportunities of experiencing meaningfulness of work, they would also be able to experience greater responsibility for work outcomes and receiving knowledge about the results of work since they interact directly with the hotel customers who are business executives of other organizations. IMPLICATIONS OF STUDY Consistent with other studies (Marino, 1993; Oshagbemi, 1997) administrative support personnel in this study with higher job titles and those employed in hotels perceived their jobs to provide opportunities to experience meaningfulness of work, responsibility for outcomes of the work, and knowledge of results of the work. The study did point to significant difference in the perceived job content of jobs with higher job titles. However, any cosmetic or superficial change of nomenclature of jobs will not benefit the employee or the employer. As people are promoted or move up the hierarchy, there must be greater room for growth. Promotion to a higher position should be motivating. It is important that the nature of the job in effect allows greater role and room for the individual to achieve greater satisfaction. Secondly, with rapid change in the workplace precipitated by the new management styles and the explosive growth in new technology, HRM managers must continue to be vigilant on how the work technologies and processes are remaking the jobs and always seek to rebalance and humanize the jobs to maintain high level of motivation. Thirdly, the higher MPS scores in the hospitality industry are worth taking note of. This industry requires substantial emotional labour. For these employees there is significant encounter and interaction with the guests. This may provide opportunities to serve and 684

obtain feedback as compared to those employed in the backroom operation or in other types of businesses where the customers do not come in contact with the employees as often. In summary, the role of the job as a key motivator must not be discounted. As jobs transform, the content must be rebalanced to maintain interest and satisfaction. In service industries, employee satisfaction is the key to sustainable profitability (Schlesinger & Heskett, 1991). REFERENCES Hackman, J. R. & Oldham, G. R. (1980). Work Redesign. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. Igbaria, M., Pavari, F. N., & Huff, S. C. (1989). Microcomputer Applications: An Empirical Look at Usage. Information and Management, 16, 187-196. Marino, P. (1993). The Use of Information Technology and its Relationship to Job Characteristics of Administrative Support Personnel. The Journal of Office Systems Research Association, 11(3), 1-14. Norris, D. (1998). Predicting nurses job satisfaction and ethical practice from Job Characteristics. (Doctoral Dissertation, University of Michigan, 1998). Dissertation Abstracts International, 9840615. Oshagbemi, T. (1997). The influence of rank on the job satisfaction of organizational members. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 12(8), 1-14. Rothstein, H. (1998). An extension of the Job Characteristics Model for a service economy. (Doctoral Dissertation, City University of New York, 1997). Dissertation Abstracts International, 58/09. Schlesinger, L. A. & Heskett, J. L. (1981). The service driven service company. Harvard Business Review, October-November, 71-81. Zeffane, R. M. (1994). Computer usage and job satisfaction: An empirical exploration. Information Management and Computer Security, 2(2), 1-33. 685