This is a long article and may be challenging. Take your time. Stick with it, and you’ll get the basic ideas. In the article, E. O. Wilson discusses the origins of ethics and the differences between the transcendentalist and empiricist views on the origins of ethics. As you read, keep the following questions in mind. Answer the last question in writing (handwritten or typed, approx. 1 page in length). This is due in class on the first day of class. It will count as your first homework assignment and points earned for it will be calculated as part of your class participation grade.

1. What is the difference between the transcendentalist and empiricist views regarding the origin of ethics?
2. If the empiricists are correct, does this mean that people have no free will when it comes to making ethical decisions?
3. According to Wilson’s theory, why did human beings come to develop “moral sentiments”?
4. According to Wilson, the creation of ethical principles begins with the biology of the brain but is affected by cultural and historical factors. Which do you think is more important in forming ethical principles, nature or culture?

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In the background materials you had a chance to view some videos and read about the traditional “top down” approach of job redesign as well as the newer “bottom up” approach of job crafting. Before starting on this assignment, make sure you have thoroughly reviewed the videos and readings and understand the key job redesign and job crafting strategies. Once you have finished reviewing the background materials, apply what you’ve learned to the specific scenarios and questions below. Make sure to cite at least one of the required readings for each answer, and try to cite at least four of the readings or videos in your answer. Your paper should be 4–5 pages in length:

1. The ABC Corporation has a team of telemarketers. The job description for the telemarketers is pretty basic: They call up potential customers who have visited his company’s web page and requested information about the product. Telemarketers’ performance evaluations depend mostly on their monthly sales as well as customer satisfaction surveys, and they receive monthly feedback reports. Their supervisor gives them some initial training, but these telemarketers have a lot of freedom to choose how and when to call customers. For example, they are free to customize their own sales pitch as long as they don’t mislead potential customers. Also, they are not required to fill out a time card or work at the office (they can work from home, if they want). As long as they are making enough monthly sales they are free to set their own schedules. While the telemarketing team is performing well, the company is concerned about high turnover among telemarketers and wants to do some job enrichment. Which of the five core job dimensions discussed in Bauer and Erdogan (2012) or page 9 of Griffin (2007) do you think should be revised the most during a job redesign intervention? Which ones do you think do not need to be revised? Explain your reasoning and cite some of the required readings in your answer.
2. At the Grand Valley Medical Clinic there are four high-ranking employees. These include Dr. Roberts who specializes in pediatric medicine, Dr. Wilson who specializes in heart surgery, Dr. Drake who specializes in eye medicine, and Nurse Desser who does basic health check-ups for patients and refers patients to specialists as needed. They have all been working at the clinic for a long time and have strong performance records, but management is worried they are becoming bored and dissatisfied with their jobs and there is concern they might all leave unless their jobs change. However, given the high degree of training required for each of their specializations management is not sure how to go about making their jobs less monotonous and more rewarding. In general, would you recommend management undergoes a traditional job redesign approach or a job crafting approach? Which specific job redesign strategy or job crafting strategy would you recommend? For example, if you choose job redesign discuss whether you would recommend job rotation, enlargement, enrichment, etc. If you choose job crafting, refer to one of the specific strategies or interventions discussed in Wrzesniewski (2014) or Dik and Duffy (2012).
3. Transwest Airlines has decided to hire you as a job crafting consultant for two groups of their employees. One group consists of airline pilots. The pilots of course have one main task that dominates their job description—flying the airplanes safely. The second group consists of Transwest’s online marketing team, who engage in many different tasks such as designing the company’s webpage, handling calls from customers, and promoting the airline through social media. Before arriving at the airline to do interviews and make recommendations, you first need to do some reading on what general approach you will use. As a first step, review Dik and Duffy (2012), where they discuss task crafting, relational crafting, and cognitive crafting. Which of these three types of job crafting do you think would be most appropriate for pilots, and which one do you think would be most appropriate for the online marketing team? Also, read up on “job-crafting swap meets” in Wrzesniewski (2014). Do you think a swap meet would be appropriate for either pilots or online marketers? Any other strategy from Wrzesniewski (2014) that you think would be useful for either pilots or online marketers?
4. Conclude your paper with a discussion of A) what you think the main similarities and differences are between job redesign and job crafting, and B) what you think are the main advantages and disadvantages of job redesign and job crafting.

References:

Griffin, R. (2007). Chapter 6: Organization structure and design. Principles of Management. Houghton Mifflin, New York. http://college.cengage.com/business/griffin/sas_principles/1e/assets/students/know_bank/griffin_sas_KB_6.1.pdf

Wrzesniewski, A. (2014). Chapter 6: Engage in job crafting. In Dutton, J. E., & Spreitzer, G. M. (eds). How to Be a Positive Leader: Small Actions, Big Impact. San Francisco, CA, USA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

Dik, B. J., & Duffy, R. D. (2012). Chapter 7: Job crafting. Make Your Job a Calling: How the Psychology of Vocation Can Change Your Life at Work. West Conshohocken, PA: Templeton Press.

Bauer, T., & Erdogan, B. (2012) Chapter 6.1: Motivating employees through job design. Introduction to Organizational Behavior. Flatworld Knowledge.

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