Exploring job crafting : Diagnosing and Responding to the Ways your Employees and Coworkers Change their Jobs

Description

Recent research has developed an in-depth understanding of how workers change their jobs on their own to improve their performance and well-being, a process called job crafting. This research suggests that managers, coworkers, and organizations need a better understanding of how to manage job crafting to capitalize on its benefits and reduce its costs. This article will help organizations diagnose the occurrence of job crafting, recognize the differences between goal-oriented approach job crafting as opposed to withdrawal-oriented avoidance job crafting, and recognize the seven specific types of job crafting (i.e., work role expansion, social expansion, work role reduction, work organization, adoption, metacognition, and withdrawal). The article concludes with a set of recommendations for managers, coworkers, and organizations on how best to diagnose and manage job crafting. Specific recommendations include: 1) Develop an awareness of job crafting and evaluate the job crafting observed; 2) Support positive instances of job crafting; 3) Consult with employees or colleagues to provide better options for avoidance job crafting and other detrimental job crafting; 4) Monitor job crafting and provide feedback; and 5) Develop organizational support systems and interventions to manage positive and negative forms of job crafting, thus using job crafting to enhance organizational effectiveness.