Cross-functional Team Job Design: A Quasi-Experimental Test of Worker Well-being Examining a Matrix Versus Holacrac

Positive worker well-being and job design can benefit organizations. Positive well-being reduces absenteeism, increases performance, and improves workplace culture. Job design also contributes to worker well-being by providing autonomy, which can improve job performance and career satisfaction, while lowering stress and emotional exhaustion. For organizations that use knowledge workers in cross-functional teams, these benefits may be stifled by differences in team management, leadership style, and job design. The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to survey knowledge workers in cross-functional team job designs identified as a matrix or Holacracy to determine if there is a statistically significant relationship between job design and Seligman's (2011) PERMA model, overall well-being or negative emotion. Participants were knowledge workers in cross-functional teams that self-identified as being in either a matrix or Holacracy. Data was collected from 98 participants using the PERMA-Profiler; however, a listwise approach resulted in 95 surveys used for analysis. MANCOVA analysis provided a test of between subjects' effects indicating whether there was a statistically significant relationship between job design the variables tested. The findings indicate job design does influence engagement and meaning but not positive emotion, worker relationships, sense of accomplishment, overall well-being, or negative emotion. The findings also indicate matrix and Holacracy job designs provided workers with a greater ability to focus on motivations centered on individual growth, job autonomy, and task achievement, which led to an increased sense of engagement and meaning. This study contributes to the understandings of how job design contributes to overall well-being and that job design changes that increase autonomy and self-direction may improve the sense of engagement and meaning. Based on this understanding three recommendations for application and future research are offered.