Job characteristics

Job characteristics seem essential for most tasks of Work and Organizational Psychology that involve describing and comparing jobs in a standardized way. The history of job characteristics highlights that underlying theories have varied considerably over time, emphasizing either the environmental or psychological side. This back-and-forth between determinism and subjective idealism limits theory development and distracts from fundamental challenges in organizations and society. The present entry develops a definition of job characteristics based on activity theory that offers a holistic view of work activities as systems in which subjects use instruments on objects to produce outcomes. These activity systems are explicitly connected to collectives in a mutual relationship. Aside from developing this definition, we conclude from a critical review of old and new approaches that job characteristics bear potential for humanistic and management purposes.