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Center for

Organizational Scholarship

P SITIVE

Job Crafting Exercise

By

Justin M. BergResearch and Development Consultant

Jane E. DuttonRobert L. Kahn Distinguished University Professor of

Business Administration and Psychology

Amy WrzesniewskiAssociate Professor of Organizational Behavior

Yale School of Management

Stephen M. Ross School of Businessat the University of Michigan

INTRODUCTION

A job is a collection of tasks and the relationships that come with doing those tasks in an organization. Although jobs are typically designed for employees by managers, employ-ees are often able to redesign their own jobs so that they are better aligned with their motives, strengths, and passions. This concept is known as “job crafting,” and people who engage in this kind of behavior are called “job crafters.” Job crafters can carry out at least three different forms of job crafting:

Task Crafting: Job crafters can change the boundaries of their jobs by taking on more or fewer tasks, expanding or diminishing the scope of tasks, or altering the way they perform tasks.

Examples: An accountant creating a new method of filing taxes to make her job less repetitive. Or an artistic machine operator volunteering to design a new logo for his company.

Relational Crafting: Job crafters can change their relationships at work by alter-ing the extent or nature of their interactions with other people.

Examples: A computer technician offering help to co-workers as a way to have more social connections. Or a bus driver making an effort to converse with passengers.

Cognitive Crafting: Job crafters can change the way they think about their jobs by altering how they perceive tasks or viewing the tasks involved in their job as a collective whole as opposed to a set of separate tasks.

Examples: A hospital cleaner seeing his work as a means to help ill people rather than cleaning space. Or an insurance agent viewing her job as “working to get people back on track after a car accident” rather than “processing car insurance claims.”

This exercise is aimed at helping you identify opportunities to beneficially craft your job by encouraging you to look at your job in a new way. To accomplish this, you will view the tasks that make up your job as a flexible set of building blocks, which can be reorganized, restructured, and reframed to make your job more engaging and fulfilling.

Throughout the exercise, you will see examples of each step from a surgeon named Dr. Krafti, as well as examples from two other people at the end of the exercise. Please note that these examples are included to clarify the instructions and are not the only ways to approach this exercise.

© 2008 Regents of the University of MichiganBerg, Dutton, & Wrzesniewski: Center for Positive Organizational Scholarship

PART #1

Gauging Your Current Job Design:Creating a Before Sketch

Instructions:

1. On page 3, write each task involved in your job on an orange Task Block like Dr. Krafti’s example on page 2 (tasks taking the most time, energy, and attention in the largest blocks; middle group in the medium blocks; those taking the least time, energy, and attention in the smallest blocks).

Note: Do not be concerned if your tasks overlap slightly because job crafting is about how you perceive the structure of your job, not how the job is formally designed. For this reason, your Before Sketch may look different now than when you first started your job.

2. Once you have completed your Before Sketch, take a few minutes to consider the Reflection Questions on page 4.

1© 2008 Regents of the University of MichiganBerg, Dutton, & Wrzesniewski: Center for Positive Organizational Scholarship

Before you decide how you would like to craft your job, you should have an idea of how much time, energy, and attention you currently spend on each task relative to the other tasks involved in your job. So the first part of the exercise is creating a Before Sketch of your job that will help you gauge how your time, energy, and attention is currently allocated.

You will use the orange Task Blocks on page 3 to create your Before Sketch.

Dr. Krafti’s Before Sketch

2

Mos

t am

ount

of t

ime,

ene

rgy,

and

atte

ntio

nLe

ast a

mou

nt o

f tim

e, e

nerg

y, an

d at

tent

ion

Med

ium

am

ount

of t

ime,

en

ergy

, and

att

entio

n

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

OperatingSeeing

patients at office

Paperwork & dictating

cases

Consults for other physicians

Phone calls to patients & other doctors

Hospital rounds

Attending lectures,

grand-rounds, conferences

Talking to patients’ family

members

Teaching residents

Learning new

techniques

_____________________’s Before Sketch

3

Most am

ount of time, energy, and attention

Least amount of tim

e, energy, and attention

Medium

amount of tim

e, energy, and attention

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

Reflection Questions: Before Sketch

1. How do you feel about the way your time, energy, and attention is currently allocated? Why do you feel this way?

2. How has the division of your time, energy, and attention changed since you first started your job?

3. Does anything about your Before Sketch surprise you?

4 © 2008 Regents of the University of MichiganBerg, Dutton, & Wrzesniewski: Center for Positive Organizational Scholarship

PART #2

Crafting a More Engaging and Fulfilling Job:Creating an After Diagram


Now you are going to identify opportunities to beneficially craft your job by creating an After Diagram.

Your After Diagram will depict a visual plan for how you would like to craft your job and serve as a goal for you to work toward in the future.

IMPORTANT: Creating your After Diagram will require you to consider several things at the same time. You should begin by reading through all the instructions (pages 6-9) then go back and complete each step with the big picture in mind.

6

Dr. Krafti’s Crafting Element Stickers


Motive:

High status in the field

Motive:

Save lives

Motive:

Meaningful relationships

Motive:

Enjoyment

STRENGTH:

Knowledge of the field

STRENGTH:

Publicspeaking

STRENGTH:

Peopleskills

Passion:

Teaching others

Passion:

Learning latest

surgical technology

Instructions:

1. Identifying Crafting Elements: On the next page, fill in the Crafting Element stickers as follows (see Dr. Krafti’s example below):

Motives: Write from 1 to 4 outcomes that you would like to obtain through work.Examples: Satisfaction, Meaning, Financial compensation, Human connection, Friend-ship, Benefits for the common good

Strengths: Write from 1 to 4 of your strongest assets, including skills, attributes, and talents, that you feel are relevant or could be relevant to your current job.

Examples: Artistic ability, Strong writing skills, Persuasive communicator, Fluent in a foreign language, Expertise in filmmaking, Background in sales

Passions: Write from 1 to 4 activities or topics that deeply interest you at work. To help with this, think about the activities or topics in which you often find yourself getting completely absorbed. Note that passions are action words with “-ing” suffixes, while motives are end goals that you would like to get out of work.

Examples: Reading, Writing, Learning, Teaching, Problem solving, Competing

Crafting Element Stickers

Motive: Motive:Motive:Motive:

STRENGTH:

Passion:

Motive: Motive:Motive:Motive:

STRENGTH:STRENGTH:STRENGTH:

STRENGTH: STRENGTH:STRENGTH:STRENGTH:

Passion: Passion: Passion:

Passion: Passion: Passion: Passion:

2. Crafting New Task Blocks: In this step, you will be using the sheet of green Task Block stick-ers that follows this page.

Keeping in mind that you will eventually try to incorporate the Crafting Elements you wrote down into your After Diagram, write all the tasks that you would like to or must include in the green Task Block stickers according to how much time, energy, and atten-tion you would like to spend on them. Use your Before Sketch as a frame of reference.

Feel free to add tasks that were not previously part of your job, especially if they will help you achieve a motive, utilize a strength, or fulfill a passion.

To better incorporate your Crafting Elements, you can alter the nature, scope, way you approach, or manner in which you perform a task by specifying the desired change in parentheses after the task title (see Dr. Krafti’s example on the next page).

You may end up adjusting your new set of Task Blocks as you arrange your After Diagram during the next step.



Dr. Krafti’s After Diagram Task Blocks

*Note that Dr. Krafti added the task of “giving lectures,” moved “learning new techniques” to a medium-sized block, and switched “consults for other physicians” to a smaller block.

TASK

Operating

TASK


cases (use as a time to

reflect and plan)

TASK

Consults for other

physicians (also learn

from colleagues)

TASK


TASK

Seeing patients at office (make meaningful connections)

TASK

Hospital rounds

(opportunity to enhance status and

share knowledge)

TASK

Attending lectures,


TASK

Talking to patient family

members

TASK

Teaching residents (about

technical skills & bedside manner)

TASK

Learning new

techniques

TASK

Giving lectures

Task Block Stickers for After DiagramM

ost amount of tim

e, energy, and attentionLeast am

ount of time, energy,

and attentionM

edium am

ount of time,

energy, and attention

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

TASK

3. Arranging Your After Diagram: While being careful not to peel away the backing, remove all the yellow, blue, and red Crafting Element and green Task Block stickers from this booklet. Lay them out in front of you and start creatively playing around to find an arrangement that satisfies the following two criteria:

Each Crafting Element sticker is placed where tasks are structured to help you achieve the motive, enable you to utilize the strength, or provide you with opportunities to fulfill the passion. If necessary, you can create more than one Crafting Element sticker for the same motive, strength, or passion.

Tasks are organized so that you can draw Role Frames around groups of tasks that you would like to view as serving a common purpose (see the three examples on the follow-ing pages). Role Frames are designed to help you engage in a form of cognitive job craft-ing called “role reframing,” which occurs when you perceive the purpose of a task or group of tasks in a meaningful or strategic way.

4. Making It Stick: Once you have settled on an arrangement, separate the large perforated page labeled After Diagram from this booklet. Peel and place the stickers onto the page in your chosen formation and draw any Role Frames you would like to include. If you wish, write notes in the diagram or on the back of the page to help you remember your job crafting plans.

5. Reflecting: Now that you have completed your After Diagram, take a few minutes to con-sider the Reflection Questions on page 13.



Example 1: Dr. Krafti’s After Diagram

TASK

Operating

TASK


cases (use as a time to

reflect and plan)

TASK

Consults for other

physicians (also learn

from colleagues)

TASK


TASK

Seeing patients at office (make meaningful connections)

TASK

Hospital rounds

(opportunity to enhance status and

share knowledge)

TASK

Attending lectures,


TASK

Talking to patients’ family

members

TASK

Teaching residents (about

technical skills & bedside manner)

TASK

Learning new

techniques

TASK

Giving lectures

Motive:

High status in the field

Motive:

Save lives

Motive:

Meaningful relationships

Motive:

EnjoymentSTRENGTH:

Knowledge of the field

STRENGTH:

Publicspeaking

STRENGTH:

Peopleskills

Passion:

Teaching others

Passion:

Learning latest

surgical technology

Role: To make a positive difference in patients’ lives

Role: To develop personally and professionally

Role: To educate others


Example 2: An Administrative Assistant’s After Diagram

TASK

Planning events and meetings

TASK

Attending meetings (use as opportunity to learn with

and help others)

TASK

Making copies,

faxes, & phone calls

TASK

Ordering office

supplies

TASK

Writing reports

Motive:

Promote sharing of information and resources

Motive:

Be my personal best

Motive:

Connect with more people

STRENGTH:

Large social network

STRENGTH:

Persistence

STRENGTH:

Curiosity

Passion:

Learning with other

people

Passion:

Helping people

change for the better

Role: Building community

Role: Doing necessary work to enable me to do more desirable tasks

Role: Developing self and others

TASK

Maintaining website and schedules

TASK

Training new assists. (stay

in touch with

trainees aftrerwards)

Motive:

Promote sharing of information and resources

Motive:

Be my personal best

TASK

Building relationships

with key people


Example 3: A Cook’s After Diagram

TASK

Preparing dishes (use free time to

try new recipes and

plate arrangements)

TASK

Communicating with servers (ask them to

relay feedback from

customers)

TASK

Keeping kitchen

clean and orderly

TASK

Coordinating with other

cooks

TASK

Learning new

recipes

Motive:

Expression of my creative side

STRENGTH:

Artistic ability

Passion:

Creating new dishes and

recipes

Role: Express my creativity through culinary artwork

TASK

Taking inventory

and ordering needed supplies

STRENGTH:

Attention to detail

Motive:

Make friendsPassion:

Getting to know people

____

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Reflection Questions: After Diagram

1. Which aspects of your After Diagram are the most exciting to you?

2. Can you think of three things that you could do during your next work week to help make your After Diagram a reality? What about over the next six months?

3. What will be some of the main challenges involved in making your After Diagram a reality? Can you think of any strategies that might help you overcome these challenges?



The theory and research behind the Job Crafting Exercise is primarily from two sources:

Berg, J.M., Dutton, J. E., & Wrzesniewski, A. (2007). What is job crafting and why does it matter? Center for Positive Organizational Scholarship:http://www.bus.umich.edu/Positive/POS-Teaching-and-Learning/TheorytoPractice.htm.

Wrzesniewski, A., & Dutton, J. E. (2001). Crafting a job: Revisioning employees as active crafters of their work. Academy of Management Review, 26(2), 179–201.

The cook’s example After Diagram was inspired by:

Fine, G.A. (1996). Kitchens: The Culture of Restaurant Work. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Center for

POrganizational Scholarship

SITIVE

Stephen M. Ross School of BusinessUniversity of Michigan701 Tappan StreetAnn Arbor, MI 48109

(734) 647-8154 phone(734) 615-4323 faxwww.bus.umich.edu/[email protected]

The Job Crafting Exercise helps people identify opportunities to make positive changes to their own job designs by encouraging them to view their jobs in a new way - as a flexible set of building blocks rather than a fixed list of duties. Using this perspective, each partici-pant puts together a visual plan for redesigning his or her job to be more engaging and fulfilling.

Stephen M. Ross School of Businessat the University of Michigan

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