Idiosyncratic Jobs in Formalized Organizations

Abstract

Suzanne Estler, James G. March, Jeffrey Pfeffer, W. Richard Scott, Myra Strober, members of the Personnel Office and senior administrators of Stanford University, and many anonymous informants contributed substantially to this research. Valuable assistance in data analysis was provided by W. Burkhardt, Charles Lehner, and Walter Meyers. The following people improved the analysis and reporting of results: Ramon L. Aldag, Randall B. Dunham, Herbert G. Heneman, Ill, John W. Meyer, Gerald R. Salancik, Donald P. Schwab, and two anonymous ASQ reviewers. This research was funded in part by the National Institute for Mental Health, Stanford University, the University of Wisconsin Business School Research Fund, the University of Wisconsin Graduate School, and the Scandinavian Center for Research on Organization Theory. A study of approximately 1,600 job transitions is used to test the assumption made in several organizational literatures that the mix of activities in a job is established in advance of and independent of the characteristics of any particular individual. Based on alternative theories and prior research, the paper defines and measures the occurrence of idiosyncratic jobs whose duties reflect the interests or abilities of current employees (evolved jobs) or others (opportunistic hires). Idiosyncratic jobs account for between 7 and 12 percent of new jobs in a highly formalized system in which such jobs should be least likely to be found. Some theory suggests that such jobs should be harmful, while other theory and field research suggest they may also be the product of benign opportunism by managers in response to ambiguity and uncertainty. This paper identifies six conditions argued to embody such ambiguity and uncertainty and tests the proposition that they enhance the creation rate of idiosyncratic jobs. The results, while modest, support the hypothesis that both types of idiosyncratic jobs occur more frequently when there is change in size and that evolved jobs occur more frequently under conditions of mission ambiguity and resource uncertainty.*

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