Page 118 - Psychological Management of Individual Performance

98 organizational design and organizational development

BOX 5.1 Definition of criteria for the design of order processing, work systems, work
groups, individual work tasks (see Ulich, 1989; Strohm & Ulich, 1998)

Criteria for the design of order processing
(1) Number of interfaces
The number of internal and external interfaces within the total order processing.

(2) Quality of interfaces
The degree to which the information and partial results, which are exchanged at the inter-
faces, fulfill defined quality standards.

(3) Necessary and unnecessary redundancies
The degree to which redundancies within the order processing are necessary and planned
or unnecessary and therefore a waste of resources.

(4) Quality of planning
The degree to which order processing is planned realistically, carefully, and with sufficient
degrees of freedom for the regulation of fluctuations and disturbances.
(5) Functional integration
The degree to which order processing is characterized by self-contained partial processes.

Criteria for the design of work systems
(1) Independence of the organizational unit
This criterion concerns the degree to which an organizational unit performs whole tasks,
so that it is in a position to register fluctuations and disturbances where they arise and to
counter-balance them itself.
(2) Relatedness of tasks within the organizational unit
This criterion examines the various part tasks within an organizational unit as to their
relatedness in terms of content.

(3) Unity of product and organization
Using this criterion, the degree to which resulting products and outputs can be assigned to
the organizational unit in terms of both quality and quantity is assessed.

(4) Polyvalence of the employees
This criterion examines the extent to which employees within an organizational unit are
qualified to fulfill or perform various part tasks so that they lend mutual support to one
another and save flexibility within the organizational unit.
(5) Technical-organizational convergence
This criterion assesses the degree to which there is an optimal fit between technological
requirements and conditions and organizational requirements and conditions.

Criteria for the design of work groups
(1) Task-related self-regulation
This criterion concerns the extent to which a work group performs collectively and inde-
pendently task-related processes of goal setting, planning, performing and controlling.