Bad Job Experience

Assignment #2 (15%)
JCM
Due: Week 7 Sunday Midnight
Q1: Describe the worst job
Describe the worst job you have ever had. Any kind of work experience (including part
time) is acceptable.
If you do not have any work experience, then you may interview your family members or
friends for their worst job.
Each member should analyze his/her worst job using each of the five dimensions of the
Job Characteristics Model (JCM) and provide specific examples.
Q2: Redesigning the job using the JCM
Imagine that you are a manager and has the power to redesign the worst job you
described in Question 1. How would you redesign this job using the JCM?
Again consider each of the five dimensions of the JCM and comment on how you would
specifically improve each of the five dimensions.
Try to make your solutions as practical as possible. In other words, I want to see you
provide solutions that can actually be implemented to this job in order to make it better.
Provide research references to support your points. You don’t have to provide a specific
reference for your specific job. Research general academic papers on JCM and apply
their study findings to your job.
Below are some sample questions you may consider in your analysis
1. Example- Skill variety
Describe the different identifiable skills required to do this job. What is the nature
of the oral, written and or quantitative skills needed? Physical Skills? Does the job
holder get the opportunity to use all of his or her skills?
Based on these questions, you can think of practical ways to improve the “skill
variety” dimension of the job.
For other dimensions of JCM, use your “critical thinking skills” to come up with your
own questions to consider in your analysis.
Note
* Since everyone has different work experiences, if I see any similarity between the
content of your assignment and someone else in the class, then I will be very suspicious.
** I highly recommend that you read through the course guideline before you start your
assignment so you know what my expectations are.
[IMPORTANT] Requirements
1. Format (follow the APA style)
a. Title page (include the word count)
b. Introduction (short introduction about the three questions)
c. Section 1: Question 1
d. Section 2: Question 2
e. Conclusion (shot conclusion that summarizes your main findings)
f. References
2. Word limit: maximum 2500 words
a. From title page to references
b. Total words from start to finish can be maximum 2500 words
c. [IMPORTANT] Include your word count on the title page
3. DO NOT directly copy the assignment questions to your assignment
a. This will increase your similarity score
4. Be sure to include proper text citations and APA style references for all sources
a. Try to type them yourself instead of using the citation builder
5. References: At least 5 (the more the better)
6. Read my tips on lowering the similarity score below
Remember “relative grading” (competition) and your grades will follow this
distribution
**Assuming class size = 20 students
How long does it take for me to grade your assignment?
• 2 weeks
• Feedback will be post under the “feedback” section on the course website
I have a friend who took this course and is it ok to look at his previous assignment
just as a reference?
• This is still plagiarism and cheating!
• Your assignment = Your ideas only
• During exam, you’re not allowed to look at other people’s work under any
circumstances
o same rules apply for assignments
Consequences of plagiarism
• Explicit
o 1st offense: Zero on the assignment and one strike on your permanent
student record
o 2nd offense: Automatic failure of the course
o 3rd offense: Expelled from the school
• Implicit
o This is a small school and everybody carries around their own reputation
o If you get caught cheating, you will be labelled as a “cheater” and you will
carry this reputation for the rest of your stay in this school
If you have TROUBLE with Turninit submission, trying one of these two things
(solves it 99% of the time)
1. Wait an hour or two or three and try submitting again
2. Try using a different web browser or computer
**Please note that I don’t have any authority over the Turnitin system so I can’t help
you if you have trouble with submission and you need to contact the IT department.
So it is really a good idea to submit your assignment couple days before the due date so
you still have time to fix it if you experience submission problems.
If you submit your assignment at the last moment and experience submission problems,
there is nothing I can do for you.
If you email me on the weekends with problems
I am sure you don’t like receiving work emails on the weekends and that is the same for
me so I will reply back on Monday.
The Turnitin similarity score
1. Acceptable range: up to 20% (remember I’m already giving you 5% extra than the
university policy)
2. Between 20 to 30%: I will deduct up to 30% of your grade depending on the case
3. Over 30%: Automatic fail
4. You only get one chance to submit your assignment in Turninit
5. If you use Grammerly as an initial check for similarity score, remember that
Turninit will add a minimum of extra 15%-20% to the score you get from
Grammerly so don’t trust it
What if I did an honest work but still went over 20%?
• If you do a poor job of researching for references, you will include many
references that other students have already used
– And this will increase your similarity score
• There are millions of articles available so you should really do a good job of
researching
• If you go over 20% regardless of the reasons, penalties will apply
Tips on lowering similarity scores
1. No direct quotes from references (not even one sentence). Always paraphrase
everything and include proper citation.
a. In other words, DON’T COPY ANY QUOTES from the references.
2. Do a good job of researching so your references are not going to overlap with
other students’ assignments
a. If it only took you 30 minutes to find a particular reference, chances are
very high that previous students already used those so if you use the same
reference, it will increase your similarity score
b. Avoid searching through Google and don’t include online news articles
c. Go to the library (not just our school but also other libraries) and search
for books
d. Search for online journal articles from scholarly portals