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Purpose - Learning at work generalises through socialisation into behaviours away from the workplace. The aim of this study is to give empirical evidence of a positive relationship between job design, self-efficacy, competence efficacy and personal initiative at work, and proactive job search while under notice of redundancy and in unemployment. Design/methodology/approach - The results are based on a detailed work task analysis and self-reported data by individuals who had been made redundant (n=176). Findings - The paper finds that the theoretical model received substantial, but not full support. Job design has impact on personal initiative through self-efficacy and competence-efficacy as mediating variables between job design and personal initiative. Personal initiative at work affects proactive job search when facing unemployment. Research limitations/implications - A limitation is that the respondents in general had jobs that were low-skilled and routine. It is likely that a research group with larger differences in job design would show stronger relations between job design and personal initiative. Practical implications - Work task analysis identifies conditions at work that minimise and mitigate individual initiative and makes it possible to correct them in order both to enhance organisational effectiveness and the individuals' long-term employability. Originality/value - The paper proposes that autonomy and complexity, which are the aspects most predominant in the study of how job design affects personal initiative and self-efficacy, are too limited. The sequential completeness provides a broader or narrower scope of work tasks and more or less feedback which is crucial for learning and mastery-experiences. Demand on cooperation, demand on responsibility, cognitive demand and learning opportunities affect initiative-taking as well.

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Purpose - What is required of job design and production planning, if they are to result in a work group taking a self-starting approach and going beyond what is formally required of it? This paper aims to contribute to group research by testing a theoretical model of relations between job design on the one hand (captured as completeness, demand on responsibility, demand on cooperation, cognitive demand, and learning opportunities), and reflexivity and learning processes within natural work groups in industry on the other hand. Design/methodology/approach - The results are based on detailed task analyses and questionnaires from 40 work groups at the shop-floor level in manufacturing industry in Sweden. Findings - Job design and work routines show strong effects on reflexivity and learning processes. Four dimensions of job design - completeness, demand on cooperation, cognitive demand and learning opportunities - impact on reflexivity and learning processes. Job design correlates with social routines, and social routines with work routines. Practical implications - It is crucial to create a job design that puts challenging demands on the group if group processes are to be characterized by reflexivity and learning. Managers have a challenging task to provide both a space and a climate that supports reflexivity and learning. All functions affected by production planning need to be involved in job design to balance conflicts between productivity and innovation. Originality/value - Detailed task analysis is worthwhile as it captures aspects that are prerequisites for innovative groups not previously accounted for.

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