Jacob Onsare (2015273)

JOB DESIGN
Job design is the process of putting together various elements to form a job, bearing in
mind organisational and individual worker requirements, as well considerations of
health, safety and ergonomics. The scientific management of Frederick Winslow Taylor
viewed job design as purely mechanistic, but the latter human relations movement
rediscovered the importance of workers’ relationship to their work and stressed the
importance of job satisfaction.

Elements of job design

Job design integrates work content (tasks, function, relationships), the rewards
(extrinsic and intrinsic) and the qualifications required (skills, knowledge, ability) for
each job in a way that meets the needs of employees and organisation.

Job design involves three steps namely:

1. The specification of individual tasks
2. Specification of the method of performing each task
3. The combination of tasks into specific jobs to be assigned to individuals
The key to successful job design lies in balancing the requirements of the
organisation and the job holder. The way a job is designed affects employee work
performance. It is crucial that organisations create an environment where workers are
motivated by jobs in which they feel challenged but at the same time, their work goes
with objectives of the company. Designing jobs properly will cause a positive impact on
motivation, performance and job satisfaction on those who perform them.
According to the hierarchical scheme of five basic needs of A.H Maslow, people need
to stay alive, to be safe, to be with others, to be respected and to do work that corresponds
to their gifts and abilities.

SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT APPROACH

Taylor’s four Principles of Scientific Management

After years of various experiments to determine optimal work methods, Taylor proposed
the following four principles of scientific management.

1. Replace rule of thumb work methods with methods based on a scientific study
of the tasks.

2. Scientifically select, train, and develop each worker rather than passively
leaving them to train themselves.

3. Cooperate with the workers to ensure that the scientifically developed methods
are being followed.
 4. Divide work nearly equally between managers and workers, so that the
managers apply scientific management principles to planning the work and the
workers actually perform the tasks.

Drawbacks of scientific management

While scientific management principles improved productivity, and had substantial

impact on industry, they also increased the monotony of work. The core job dimensions
of skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy and feedback in all were
missing from the picture of scientific management.

Advantages of Scientific Management style

On account of large scale production, per unit cost of production is considerably

reduced. By resorting to the measures of standardisation and effective supervision, better
quality products are ensured. The division of labour is also given increased importance
under this type of management because it strictly believes in the principle of scientific
management.
The work is simplified and is carried out in the most economical and efficient manner.
Scientific management is instrumental in developing health cooperation between the
management and the subordinates thereby encouraging a cordial and harmonious
relationship between the two.
This type of management is also beneficial for the workers as they start getting higher
salaries than before. The recruitment is also done on scientific lines and the right kind of
man is chosen for the exact post. Scientific management provides proper atmosphere of
work to the personnel. Proper working hours followed by rest pauses, adequate lighting,
freshening air, ensuring proper safety, and provision of many other facilities etc are made
certain.
Under scientific management the work is carried out systematically in accordance with
predetermined plans. Wastage of time is reduced to a minimum and the quality of work is
enhanced. Production operations are pre-established and this results in lesser production
delays.

HUMAN RELATIONS APPROACH

The human relations approach argues that people are emotional rather than economic-
rational beings; organisations are cooperative social systems rather than mechanical ones;
and organisations are composed of informal structures, rules and norms as well as formal
practices and procedures.
The human relations approach represents a distinct break from the classical approach.
However both share two important similarities. Firstly, they see organisations as closed
and unchanged entities. Second and relatedly, they believe that they is ‘one best way’ of
managing the organisation, regardless of the type, nature or size of the organisation, and
that their way is ‘the best way’
JOB ROTATION
Job rotation is an approach to management development where an individual is moved
through a schedule of assignment designed to give him or her a breadth of exposure to the
entire operation.
Job rotation is the surest way of keeping the employee away from complacency and
boredom of routine. It is difficult for an employee to sustain his interest in a given job for
any substantial length of time because humans have the tendency of outgrowing their
jobs through the learning and experience that they gain over a period of time.
Stimulating human mind through diversity of challenges is a sure way to bring to the
forefront its creative instincts and in taking the individual and organisational performance
to a higher plane. This is where job rotation can prove to be a handy tool.
A well planned job rotation programme in an organisation has immense potential of
positive impact on job satisfaction, engagement of people and finally on retention of
people.
For employees these outcomes include:

• Job enrichment
• Overall development
• Intrinsic motivation to perform caused by newer challenges
• Career development

Where as for an organisation, the benefits could include some of the following;
• Leadership development
• Aligning competencies with organisational requirements
• Lower attrition rates
• Performance improvement driven by unique view points of new people.

Realising the potential of job rotation

In order to realise the true potential of job rotation, there must be a planned system in
place with the policy taking the following into account.
• Organisational interest - employee commitment , attrition rates, specific business
issues etc
• Eligibility of the employees - qualifications, prior experience, aptitude,
competence etc
• Nature of the task - mandatory or voluntary
• The basis of selection of individual employees.
Advantages of job rotation

1. Burnout reduction
When employees perform the same job functions each day without variation, they
are highly likely to experience greater feelings of fatigue, apathy, boredom and
carelessness. Burnout tends to promote decreased productivity, increased
absenteeism, and increased likelihood of high staff turnover.

2. Increased employee satisfaction

When employees are not satisfied with professional endeavours, they feel
demotivated, unhappy, and irritated. Through job rotation, employees are likely to
experience satisfaction by identifying strengths and weaknesses. Furthermore
employees are able to test many positions and subsequently focus on rotating between
positions that enhance performance capacity, which in turn increases their sense of
worth.

3. Increased employee motivation

Job rotation enables employee to enhance and improve their skills,abilities and
competencies, which leads to better job performance and greater likelihood of
promotional advancement. Further, employee who are engaged in a number of
different positions throughout a company experience increased appreciation for
coworkers and the interrelation between positions, which decreases animosity and
enhances organisational commitment

JOB ENLARGEMENT
Job enlargement means increasing the scope of a job through extending the range of
its job duties and responsibilities. This contradicts with the principles of specialisation
and the division of labour whereby work is divided into smaller units, each of which is
performed repetitively by an individual worker.
In order for an employee to be provided with job enlargement, they will need to be
retrained in new fields which can prove to be a lengthy process. Job enlargement is the
horizontal expansion of a job. It involves the addition of tasks of the same level of skill
and responsibility.

Advantages of job enlargement

• Reduction in operator fatigue and relief from boredom where work is specialised
and repetitive.
• Operator can exercise more control over his working speed and use a wider range
of skills.
Disadvantages of job enlargement
• Although personal satisfaction is increased, it may not produce a more technically
efficient product. Reductions in output and quality have been noted in a number
of cases
• More time and cost in training is involved
• Some workers resist change and hence may not wish for enlargement in their jobs.
• The actual system of production may not leave much scope for enlargement of
jobs.

JOB ENRICHMENT
Job enrichment is a job design technique that is a variation on job enlargement. Job
enrichment adds new sources of job satisfaction by increasing the level of responsibility
of the employee. It is a vertical restructuring method in that it gives the employee
additional authority, autonomy and control over the way the job is accomplished.
Job enrichment should be distinguished from job enlargement. In job enrichment, the
attempt is to build into jobs a higher sense of challenge and achievement.

How to enrich a job

A job may be enriched by giving it variety, and also may also be enriched by;
• Giving the worker more latitude in deciding about such things as work method,
sequences and pace, or by letting them make decisions about accepting or
rejecting materials.
• Giving workers a feeling of personal responsibility for the tasks they do
• Taking steps to make sure that people can see how their tasks contribute to the
finished products and the welfare of the enterprises.
• Giving people an accurate feedback on their job performance.
• Involving workers in analysis and change of physical aspects of the worker
environment such as layout of office or plant, temperature, lighting and
cleanliness

Limitations of job enrichment

1. Technology
There are some jobs which are highly technical, requiring skill. It will be difficult
to enrich such jobs because of associated cost. In work stations utilising specialised
machinery and assembly line techniques, it may not be possible to make every job
meaningful.
 2. Cost
There is no guarantee that the extra cost of an enrichment programme will be
offset by the expected returns. However, the increase in cost may be compensated by
reduced absenteeism and labour turnover.

3. Attitude of managers
Top managers and personnel specialists tend to apply their own scale on other
people’s personalities. In most cases job enrichment is usually imposed on the
employees - they are told about it rather than consulted.

4. Attitude of workers.
Some employees complain that enriched jobs provide too many opportunities to
commit mistakes. Some fear that the increased productivity being sought may even mean
loss of jobs

5. Reaction of union leaders

There has been little or no support for job enrichment by union leaders. If job
enrichment was so important to workers, it could have translated into united demand
but this has never happened.

6. It is easier to introduce only if there is an end product

7. Some people don’t want more responsibility and this must not be considered a
substitute for an appropriate pay scheme

Advantages of job enrichment

• More workers are able to do various jobs; thus can overcome the problem
of absenteeism
• Teams can do their own checking hence less supervisors are needed.
• Reduction in labour turnover and absenteeism may occur.

References

http://www.oppapers.com/essays/Job-Design/174989
http://www.netmba.com/mgmt/scientific/
http://dailyojo.com/tags/
http://www.blackwellreference.com/public/
http://www.alagse.com/hr/hr9.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Job_enlargement
www.weorange.sk/horanic
http://www.businessdictionary.com/
http://www.brighthub.com/office/entrepreneurs/articles/55274.aspx