MN7181-HRM and the Design of Work

"job design”

The specification of the contents, methods, and relationships of jobs in order to satisfy technological and organizational requirements as well as the social and personal requirements of the job holder (Davis, 1966).

Job design specifies the contents of jobs in order to satisfy work requirements and meet the personal needs of the job holder, thus increasing levels of employee engagement (Armstrong, 2014)

Job design is the one of the core elements of enhancing effectiveness and productivity of the employees towards achieving perspectives of the organisation. Job design should be aligned with the employees’ talents, interests, relationships which are needed for the success of the job.

Job design is a very important core function of staffing and also is a continuous and ever evolving process that is aimed at helping employees make adjustments with the changes in the workplace. The end goal is reducing dissatisfaction, enhancing motivation and employee engagement at the workplace. If the jobs are designed properly, then highly efficient staff will create and in addition to join the organisation effectively. Form the satisfaction they are getting through, they will be motivated and will improve the productivity and profitability of the organisation. On the other hand, if the jobs are designed unproductively, then it will result in absenteeism, high labour turnover, conflicts, and other labour problems.

       

Robertson and Smith (1985) suggest the following five principles of job design

·         To influence skill variety, provide opportunities for people to do several tasks and combine tasks.

·         To influence task identity, combine tasks and form natural work units.

·         To influence task significance, form natural work units and inform people of the importance of their work.

·         To influence autonomy, give people responsibility for determining their own working systems.

·         To influence feedback, establish good relationships and open feedback channels.

According to Armstrong (2006) the main job design approaches are:

·         Job rotation                             - which comprises the movement of employees from one task to another to reduce monotony by increasing variety.

·         Job enlargement                      - which means combining previously fragmented tasks into one job, again to increase the variety and meaning of repetitive work.

·         Job enrichment                        -which goes beyond job enlargement to add greater autonomy and responsibility to a job and is based on the job characteristics approach.

·         Self-managing teams (autonomous work groups) – these are self-regulating teams who work largely without direct supervision. The philosophy on which this technique is based is a logical extension of job enrichment.

·         High-performance work design          -which concentrates on setting up working groups in environments where high levels of performance are required.

It can clearly be concluded that a good job design helps a lot in motivating employees and making them able to perform better than expected by the organisation. Furthermore, if the employees are motivated and satisfied they would produce superior quality performance in optimal time and lead to growing profits.

References

UKEssays. November 2013. The impact of job design on employee motivation. [online]. Available from: https://www.ukessays.com/essays/management/the-impact-of-job-design-on-employee-motivation-management-essay.php?vref=1 [Accessed 6 January 2019].

Juneja, P. (2019). Training and Development - A Key HR Function. [online] MSG MANAGEMENT STUDY GUIDE. Available at: https://www.managementstudyguide.com/training-development-hr-function.htm [Accessed 4 Jan. 2019].

(Davis, 1966): Robertson and Smith (1985) cited at Armstrong, 2006. A Hand Bok of HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PRACTICE. 10th ed.