HRM and Design of Work

Job Design

Definition of Job Design

According to Michael Armstrong, "Job Design is the process of deciding on the contents of a job in terms of its duties and responsibilities, on the methods to be used in carrying out the job, in terms of techniques, systems and procedures, and on the relationships that should exist between the job holder and his superior subordinates and colleagues."

Job design plays a crucial role in the achievement of organizational as well as personal goals. Job design is defined as specifying the contents or methods of any job in such a way that various requirements of the job holder can be effectively satisfied (Buchanan, 1979). These requirements may include social, technological, personal and organizational desires. Job design is related to the process of transformation of inputs to outputs and it also takes into consideration the human factors as well as organizational factors which are of very much importance in the achievement of desired performance. When employees get involved and are familiar with the job design they become more motivated to take active part in the achievement of organizational goals and as a result performance of employees increases which positively impacts the outcomes.  

According to  mbaskool.com  ,Job design is the process of organizing work as group of tasks, arranging and defining the job process and structure at the workplace depending on the job analysis performed. The job design takes into account the organizational objectives to be achieved along with trying to minimize on–the-job fatigue, stress and human error.  Job Design is done specifically to reduce the mechanical aspects of the job and make sure that the employee derives job satisfaction from the assigned roles and responsibilities.

Process of Job Design

   

Figure 1: Job Design  

Job Simplification   

Job simplification is breaking the job into relatively easier sub-parts with the intention to enhance the individual’s productivity by minimizing the physical and mental efforts required to perform a complex job.Once the complex task is divided into the relatively easier tasks, each task is assigned to the individuals who perform these over and over again. By doing the same thing again and again, the employees gain proficiency in the jobs assigned to them and as a result, the profitability of the organization increases

Job Rotation   

Job rotation is a management approach where employees are shifted between two or more assignments or jobs at regular intervals of time in order to expose them to all verticals of an organization. It is a pre-planned approach with an objective to test the employee skills and competencies in order to place him or her at the right place. In addition to it, it reduces the monotony of the job and gives them a wider experience and helps them gain more insights.

Job rotation is a well-planned practice to reduce the boredom of doing same type of job everyday and explore the hidden potential of an employee. The process serves the purpose of both the management and the employees. It helps management in discovering the talent of employees and determining what he or she is best at. On the other hand, it gives an individual a chance to explore his or her own interests and gain experience in different fields or operations.

Job Enrichment

This is a job design technique used to increase the satisfaction among the employees by delegating higher authority and responsibility to them and thereby enabling them to use their abilities to the fullest.In other words, job enrichment is the opportunity given to the employees to explore their abilities when some tough task is assigned to them. The job enrichment is the vertical restructuring of moral excellence in which more authority, autonomy, control is given to the employees to perform a given set of a job. 

Job Enlargement                  

Job Enlargement refers to the horizontal expansion of jobs wherein more and more activities, and tasks are added to the existing job scope at the same level in the organization.Further, job enlargement means maximizing or widening  the scope of duties and responsibilities of an employee  by composing  the related activities to his existing job profile and generally without any change in his authority and his level in the hierarchy in the organization.The purpose behind the job enlargement is to increase the employee flexibility and reduce the monotony that occurs gradually over a period of time. Often, the employees are not required to get the training for the task-related activities because he is already aware of that and is doing for quite some time.

References

• Armstrong, M. (2006). ‘A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice’, 10th edn., London, Kogan
• Job Designand techniques[Online] available at: https://www. businessjargons.com/job-design.html [Accessed on: 21^st September 2018].
• Figure 1 :Job Design: [Online] Available at :https:// https://businessjargons.com/job-design.html /[Accessed 21 September 2018].