Define job design.how has management viewed job design since
industrial revolution?
What is "job design"?
Job design refers to the way that a set of tasks, or an entire
job, is organized. Job design helps to determine:
what tasks are done,
how the tasks are done,
how many tasks are done, and
in what order the tasks are done.
It takes into account all factors which affect the work, and
organizes the content and tasks so that the whole job is less
likely to be a risk to the employee. Job design involves
administrative areas such as:
job rotation,
job enlargement,
task/machine pacing,
work breaks, and
working hours.
A well designed job will encourage a variety of 'good' body
positions, have reasonable strength requirements, require a
reasonable amount of mental activity, and help foster feelings of
achievement and self-esteem.
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Job Analysis should collect information on the following
areas:
Duties and Tasks The basic unit of a job is the performance of
specific tasks and duties. Information to be collected about these
items may include: frequency, duration, effort, skill, complexity,
equipment, standards, etc.
Environment This may have a significant impact on the physical
requirements to be able to perform a job. The work environment may
include unpleasant conditions such as offensive odors and
temperature extremes. There may also be definite risks to the
incumbent such as noxious fumes, radioactive substances, hostile
and aggressive people, and dangerous explosives.
Tools and Equipment Some duties and tasks are performed using
specific equipment and tools. Equipment may include protective
clothing. These items need to be specified in a Job Analysis.
Relationships Supervision given and received. Relationships with
internal or external people.
Requirements The knowledges, skills, and abilities (KSA's)
required to perform the job. While an incumbent may have higher
KSA's than those required for the job, a Job Analysis typically
only states the minimum requirements to perform the job.
What does or should the person do?
What knowledge, skill, and abilities does it take to perform
this job?
What is the result of the person performing the job?
How does this job fit in with other jobs in the
organization?
What is the job's contribution toward the organization's
goals?
The process may seek to obtain information about the:
work
worker
context within which the job exists
SINCE THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
Approaches to Job Design USING SOCIO TECHNICAL SYSTEMS
There are three important approaches to job design, viz.,
Engineering approach,
Human approach and
The Job characteristic approach.
Engineering Approach
The most important single element in the Engineering approaches,
proposed by FW Taylor and others, was the task idea, "The work of
every workman is fully planned out by the management at least one
day in advance and each man receives in most cases complete written
instructions, describing in detail the task which he is to
accomplish . . . This task specifies not only what is to be done
but how it is to be done and the exact time allowed for doing it."
The principles offered by scientific management to job design can
be summarised thus:
l Work should be scientifically studied. As advocated
fragmentation and routinisation of work to reap the advantages of
specialisation.
l Work should be arranged so that workers can be efficient.
l Employees selected for work should be matched to the demands
of the job.
l Employees should be trained to perform the job.
l Monetary compensation should be used to reward successful
performance of the job.
These principles to job design seem to be quite rational and
appealing because they point towards increased organisational
performance. Specialisation and routinisation over a period of time
result in job incumbents becoming experts rather quickly, leading
to higher levels of output. Despite the assumed gains in
efficiency, behavioral scientists have found that some job
incumbents dislike specialised and routine jobs.
Human Relations Approach
The human relations approach recognised the need to design jobs
in an interesting manner. In the past two decades much work has
been directed to changing jobs so that job incumbents can satisfy
their needs for growth, recognition and responsibilility, enhancing
need satisfaction through what is called job enrichment. One widely
publicised approach to job enrichment uses what is called job
characteristics model and this has been explained separately in the
ensuing section.
Two types of factors, viz. (i) motivators like achievements,
recognition, work itself, responsibility, advancement and growth
and (ii) hygiene factors (which merely maintain the employee on the
job and in the organization) like working conditions,
organisational policies, inter-personnel relations, pay and job
security. The employee is dissatisfied with the job if maintenance
factors to the required degree are not introduced into the job.
But, the employee may not be satisfied even if the required
maintenance factors are provided. The employee will be satisfied
with his job and he will be more productive if motivators are
introduced into the job content. As such, he asserts that the job
designer has to introduce hygienic factors adequately to reduce
dissatisfaction and build motivating factors. Thus, THE emphasis is
on the psychological needs of the employees in designing jobs.
The Job Characteristics Approach
The Job Characteristics Theory states that employees will work
hard when they are rewarded for the work they do and when the work
gives them satisfaction. Hence, they suggest that motivation,
satisfaction and performance should be integrated in the job
design. According to this approach, any job can be described in
terms of five core job dimensions which are defined as follows:
(a) Skill variety: The degree to which the job requires that
workers use a variety of different activities, talents and skills
in order to successfully complete the job requirements.
(b) Task identity: The degree to which the job allows workers to
complete whole tasks from start to finish, rather than disjointed
portions of the job.
(c) Task significance: The degree to which the job significantly
impacts the lives of others both within and outside the
workplace.
(d) Autonomy: The degree to which the job allows workers freedom
in planning and scheduling and the methods used to complete the
job.
(e) Feedback: The degree to which the job itself provides
workers with clear, direct and understandable knowledge of their
performance.
All of the job dimensions impact workers psychologically. The
first three dimensions affect whether or not workers view their job
as meaningful. Autonomy determines the extent of responsibility
workers feel. Feedback allows for feelings of satisfaction for a
job well done by providing knowledge of results.
The core job dimensions can be combined into a single predictive
index called the Motivating Potential Score. Its computation is as
follows:
Motivating Skill variety + Task identity + Task significance
potential = x Autonomy x Feedback
score
Jobs that are high on motivating potential must be high at least
in one of the three factors that lead to meaningful work and must
be high in both autonomy and feedback and vice versa. These three
critical psychological states lead to the outcome such as (a) high
internal work motivation, (b) high growth satisfaction, (c) high
quality work performance, (d) high general job satisfaction, (e)
high work effectiveness and (f) low absenteeism and turnover . The
model says that internal rewards are obtained by an individual when
he learns that he personally has performed well on a task that he
cares about.