Job design is one of the core functions of human resource management that can be defined as the process of organizing work as group of tasks, arranging and defining the job process and structure at the workplace. It includes work arrangement and rearrangement. It is related to the specification of contents, methods and relationship of jobs in order to satisfy technological and organizational requirements as well as the social and personal requirements of the job holder. Job design involves integrating job responsibilities or content and certain qualifications that are required to perform the job. It specifies the contents of jobs in order to satisfy work requirements and meet the personal needs of the job holder that helps in increasing the level of employee engagement. The techniques of job design includes job enlargement, job enrichment, job rotation and job simplification.
According to Popplewell and Wildsmith, “Job design involves conscious efforts to organize tasks, duties and responsibilities into a unit of work to achieve certain objectives.”
Job design aims on:
Checking the work overload.
Checking upon the work under load.
Ensuring tasks are not repetitive in nature.
Ensuring employees do not remain isolated.
Ensuring jobs remain updated.
Defining work processes clearly.
Defining work hours clearly.
Improving job satisfaction.
Improving quality of work.
Reducing employee problems.
Reducing on-the-job fatigue, stress and human error.
Raising productivity levels by offering non-monetary rewards.
The factors affecting job design can be broadly classified as:
Organizational Factors: It includes task features, work flow, ergonomics and work practices.
Environmental Factors: It includes social and cultural expectations, employee ability and availability.
Behavioral Factors: It includes autonomy, use of abilities, feedback and variety.
As listed in (Armstrong, 2012), the factors affecting job design are:
1. Characteristics of jobs
Every job has three fundamental characteristics: job range, job depth and job relationships. Job range is the number of tasks a person is expected to perform while doing a job. The more number of tasks, the greater will be the job range. Job depth is the degree of influence or discretion that an individual possesses to choose how a job will be performed. Job relationships refers to the interpersonal relationships between job holders and their managers and co-workers. The example of low job range is the traditional assembly line job where workers were specialized to perform only one function. The higher level positions in any organization have more job depth as they have a say in decision making process.
2. Task Structure
Task structure refers to the degree to which the task is made clear to the employee who has to do it. The employee should know what steps are to be taken to complete the task assigned to him successfully. A job consists of a number of tasks combined together. The abilities and competencies needed to perform these tasks may vary. So the task structure determines whether to assign the task to a single person or a group of persons. Similarly multiple tasks can also be assigned to an individual. The internal elements of task structure consists of planning, implementing and controlling. For instance if a worker in assembly line is not sure about the tasks he has to perform, it will have negative impact on the people whose work is dependent on that worker as well as the overall productivity of the organization.
3. Intrinsic Motivation
Another factor affecting job design is the intrinsic motivation. If the job offers challenging opportunities to the employees that will broaden their knowledge and skills, they will be self-motivated to do the job and very less supervision is needed. If the outcomes derived from a particular job is attractive and that address the higher level need of a person, that job can provide intrinsic motivation to him. If an employee loves to travel and do research works, assigning him with the job to prepare a feasibility study report by visiting the new proposed site will motivate him intrinsically. Even if the payment is not increased, he will do it happily as he loves the job.
4. Job Characteristic Model
Hackman and Oldham has proposed this model which states that there are several core job characteristics that have certain impact on the workers. The five job characteristics suggested by this model are skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy and feedback. Skill variety is associated with the opportunity to do a variety of job activities using various talents and skills. Task identity is related with the extent to which a job involves doing a complete piece of work from beginning to end while task significance is the impact a job has on others. Autonomy is the freedom to schedule one’s work activities and decide the procedures. Feedback is the information about the performance of an individual or team. All these aspects provide intrinsic motivation and enhance the job performance. For instance if a worker is given a job that does not match his skill sets and knowledge level and in addition to that he has to work under the instruction of someone else, the result will be poor as he will not put his heart and soul in the job.
5. Implication of Group Activities
An organization cannot exist in isolation. There are different teams within the organization and these teams have significant impact on one another’s performance. In any organization, the end result is the combined efforts of all the groups involved. There are formal and informal groups within the organization that affects the dynamics of the job. The group work can enhance the productivity of an organization through continuous support and constructive feedbacks. For example, if a manufacturing company decides to launch a new product, the research and development team will work on the concept, manufacturing unit will look over the production, marketing unit will help to make the product known in the market and sales department will look after the sales of the product. Here the jobs of these departments are interrelated to each other that should be considered in designing the job in this particular organization.
References
Armstrong, M. (2012). Armstong’s Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice.
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Job design is one of the core functions of human resource management that can be defined as the process of organizing work as group of tasks, arranging and defining the job process and structure at the workplace. It includes work arrangement and rearrangement. It is related to the specification of contents, methods and relationship of jobs in order to satisfy technological and organizational requirements as well as the social and personal requirements of the job holder. Job design involves integrating job responsibilities or content and certain qualifications that are required to perform the job. It specifies the contents of jobs in order to satisfy work requirements and meet the personal needs of the job holder that helps in increasing the level of employee engagement. The techniques of job design includes job enlargement, job enrichment, job rotation and job simplification.
According to Popplewell and Wildsmith, “Job design involves conscious efforts to organize tasks, duties and responsibilities into a unit of work to achieve certain objectives.”
Job design aims on:
The factors affecting job design can be broadly classified as:
As listed in (Armstrong, 2012), the factors affecting job design are:
1. Characteristics of jobs
Every job has three fundamental characteristics: job range, job depth and job relationships. Job range is the number of tasks a person is expected to perform while doing a job. The more number of tasks, the greater will be the job range. Job depth is the degree of influence or discretion that an individual possesses to choose how a job will be performed. Job relationships refers to the interpersonal relationships between job holders and their managers and co-workers. The example of low job range is the traditional assembly line job where workers were specialized to perform only one function. The higher level positions in any organization have more job depth as they have a say in decision making process.
2. Task Structure
Task structure refers to the degree to which the task is made clear to the employee who has to do it. The employee should know what steps are to be taken to complete the task assigned to him successfully. A job consists of a number of tasks combined together. The abilities and competencies needed to perform these tasks may vary. So the task structure determines whether to assign the task to a single person or a group of persons. Similarly multiple tasks can also be assigned to an individual. The internal elements of task structure consists of planning, implementing and controlling. For instance if a worker in assembly line is not sure about the tasks he has to perform, it will have negative impact on the people whose work is dependent on that worker as well as the overall productivity of the organization.
3. Intrinsic Motivation
Another factor affecting job design is the intrinsic motivation. If the job offers challenging opportunities to the employees that will broaden their knowledge and skills, they will be self-motivated to do the job and very less supervision is needed. If the outcomes derived from a particular job is attractive and that address the higher level need of a person, that job can provide intrinsic motivation to him. If an employee loves to travel and do research works, assigning him with the job to prepare a feasibility study report by visiting the new proposed site will motivate him intrinsically. Even if the payment is not increased, he will do it happily as he loves the job.
4. Job Characteristic Model
Hackman and Oldham has proposed this model which states that there are several core job characteristics that have certain impact on the workers. The five job characteristics suggested by this model are skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy and feedback. Skill variety is associated with the opportunity to do a variety of job activities using various talents and skills. Task identity is related with the extent to which a job involves doing a complete piece of work from beginning to end while task significance is the impact a job has on others. Autonomy is the freedom to schedule one’s work activities and decide the procedures. Feedback is the information about the performance of an individual or team. All these aspects provide intrinsic motivation and enhance the job performance. For instance if a worker is given a job that does not match his skill sets and knowledge level and in addition to that he has to work under the instruction of someone else, the result will be poor as he will not put his heart and soul in the job.
5. Implication of Group Activities
An organization cannot exist in isolation. There are different teams within the organization and these teams have significant impact on one another’s performance. In any organization, the end result is the combined efforts of all the groups involved. There are formal and informal groups within the organization that affects the dynamics of the job. The group work can enhance the productivity of an organization through continuous support and constructive feedbacks. For example, if a manufacturing company decides to launch a new product, the research and development team will work on the concept, manufacturing unit will look over the production, marketing unit will help to make the product known in the market and sales department will look after the sales of the product. Here the jobs of these departments are interrelated to each other that should be considered in designing the job in this particular organization.
References
Armstrong, M. (2012). Armstong’s Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice.