What is Job Design – 3 Main Approaches: Engineering Approach, Human Relations

Approach and Socio-Technical Approach (With Issues)

Different approaches to job design have been proposed over the years. While the
earlier approaches concentrated on just the ‘technical’ aspect and ignored the ‘human’
aspect, the latter approaches tried to add a ‘human touch’.

1. Engineering Approach:
Scientific management, developed by Frederick W. Taylor, gave rise to the engineering
approach to job design. The key element of this approach was the ‘task idea’ that led to
job specialization. The ‘task idea’ is the work of every workman that is fully planned and
laid out by the management, at least one day in advance.
The workers are given specific instructions on to what is to be done, how it is to be done
and the exact time to be taken to complete the work. This results in the worker using
none of his mental or intellectual skills and just doing what he has been asked to do.
According to principles of scientific management, the role of management in job design
is as follows:
(i) The manager determines one best way of performing the job.
(ii) The manager employs individuals according to their abilities, which have to match
the needs of job design.
(iii) The manager undertakes all planning, organizing, and controlling of a job. The
workers have to be trained to perform the job ‘in one best way’ as decided by the
management.
For many years, the engineering approach was very popular, as it had many
advantages. Management could hire unskilled labor for almost all operative jobs in the
organization, as these jobs were usually designed for people with limited skills or
experience. Though specialization offered economic benefits and enhanced
organizational performance, resistance to this approach grew as the time progressed.
Many behavioral scientists found that the job incumbents disliked jobs which were
routine and too specialized. Workers felt that overspecialization hindered the
development of meaningful interpersonal relationships with the managers as well as co-
workers.
Some of the demerits of overspecialization were:
(i) Repetition – Performing the same tasks repeatedly resulted in boredom. The work
was so mechanized and systematic, that the mental faculties of the workers were not
being utilized.
(ii) Mechanical Pacing – All the workers had to work continuously at a predetermined
pace. The workers could not take any breaks nor relax. The pace of work was the same
for all the employees, and differences in individual capabilities were not taken into
account.
(iii) No End Product – Due to over-specialization, employees were manufacturing bits
and pieces and not turning out any identifiable end product. Hence, they had little pride
or enthusiasm in their work.
(iv) Little Social Interaction – Employees had limited chances of interacting on a casual
basis with their co-workers as the assembly line required constant attention. This made
it difficult for employees to build significant social bonds at work.
(v) No Personal Input – Lack of personal control over the job in terms of choosing the
methods by which the jobs were to be performed, the tools that were to be used, the
work procedure, or the pace, resulted in employees losing interest in the job as there
was nothing they could improve or change about their jobs.

2. Human Relations Approach:

The human relations approach introduced a ‘human touch’ to deal with the problem of
over-specialized jobs. Under this approach, over-specialized jobs needed to be
redesigned to become more satisfying and rewarding to the employees. It was felt that
the workers have social needs which necessitate casual interactions with supervisors
and co-workers. So, scope for flexibility had to be introduced in job design.

According to the theory of motivation proposed by Herzberg, there are two factors that
affect the job satisfaction-the motivators and hygiene factors. The hygiene factors help
in tackling dissatisfaction among the workers and preventing a negative job
environment. Some of these factors are the working conditions, organizational policies,
interpersonal relations, pay and job security.
For example, a decent pay and job security keep the employee from getting dissatisfied,
but cannot keep him motivated. But at the same time, poor pay can cause
dissatisfaction. Motivating factors on the other hand have the power to enhance the
employees’ satisfaction.
Achievement, growth, responsibility and recognition are some of the common motivating
factors. These are termed the higher-level needs of the employee and have a positive
impact on his satisfaction and consequently his performance.
The first three characteristics – skill variety, task identity and task significance – give the
job holder the satisfaction that he is adding value to himself and the organization. These
also motivate him to perform better. Autonomy in performing the tasks and activities in
his job, gives the employee a sense of responsibility and commitment.
This would also enhance the employee performance. Feedback in turn helps the
employee analyze his performance and identify his strengths and weaknesses.
Negative feedback might help him change and improve while positive feedback would
reinforce his performance. The core job dimensions for a job are analyzed and
combined into a single predictive index, the motivating potential score.
Jobs that are high on motivating potential must be high at least in one of the three
factors, (skill variety, task identity or task significance), that lead to an experience of
meaningfulness in the work. They must also be high on autonomy and feedback.
3. Socio-Technical Approach:
The socio-technical approach to job design is another alternative to the
scientific/engineering approach, which resulted in highly specialized jobs where the
advantages of specialization were gradually negated by its disadvantages, namely,
dissatisfaction and fatigue among the employees.
In the socio-technical approach, both the technical system and the social system are
emphasized. According to this approach, jobs should be designed taking a holistic view
of both physical and social environments. Ideally, this merges the technical needs of the
organization with the social needs of the employees.
The basic characteristics of a job according to the socio-technical approach are:
(i) A little challenging and demanding — A job should offer intellectually challenging and
demanding goals to the job holder. In the absence of any challenges, the employee
might soon lose interest in monotonous job, which offers no stimulation to his intellect or
personality.
(ii) Variety and novelty — The job should offer something new to the employee to avoid
and job enrichment are some of the methods of redesigning a job to offer variety and
novelty to the employee.
(iii) Social support & recognition — Social support and recognition to his achievements
motivates an employee to continuously improve his performance. In the absence of any
motivational factors, the employee’s performance deteriorates.
(iv) Desirable future — Every job should offer good future prospects to the job holder in
terms of increased responsibility, pay and status. It should take him a step further
towards his career goals and help him in achieving those goals.
(v) Decision-making authority — Responsibility without authority retards the
performance of an employee. Decision-making authority in a job gives the incumbent
the freedom to act within his locus of control. It also makes the job incumbent feel more
responsible and committed to his job.
(vi) Correlation with social lives — The job of an employee should correlate with his
family and social life. The members of his family and close social circle should be able
to identify with his job and his professional life.

What is Job Design– Steps to Redesign Job of Employees

Job design should not be taken as a static concept but should be taken as dynamic
concept. This is due to the fact that contextual variables affecting job performance keep
on changing. Such variables are technological development, socio-cultural expectations
from jobs, use of ergonomics in designing jobs, organizational practices, and individual
factors influencing job performance. As a result, jobs once designed cannot remain
effective for a long period of time.
Therefore, there is a need for redesign of jobs that is, designing jobs again in the light of
new perspectives. In this redesigning process, many jobs may be eliminated altogether;
contents of many jobs have to be changed; many jobs may require introduction of new
or additional motivating factors.
It has been estimated that because of rapid pace of technological development, the
nature of jobs will change in every decade. Therefore, personnel have to fit job
demands rather than fitting the jobs with personnel requirements.
In job redesign, certain steps have to be followed in a sequence.

These steps are as follows:

1. Identification of Jobs to be Redesigned:
The first step in job redesign is to identify the jobs to be redesigned. Job redesign is not
an automatic process but when any change in contextual variables affecting jobs takes
place, it affects the quality of job performance.
For example, when organization’s information systems are changed from one form to
another form, say from manually-operated to computer-based, this change affects the
job performance of related persons, say accounts clerks. In the new situation, the jobs
of accounts clerks have to be redesigned to suit the new situation. Similar contextual
changes may take place in other jobs.

2. Identification of Contents to be Redesigned:

After identifying the jobs to be redesigned, contents that are to be changed have to be
identified. This is done through the process of job analysis. By undertaking job analysis
process, new job description for each job is prepared which shows the contents of the
job as well as its relationship to other jobs. Simultaneously, job specification for each job
is prepared.

3. Effecting Redesigning:
Based on job description, a job is redesigned. Whenever, there is any change in the
nature of any job because of change in contextual variables, its core dimensions remain
the same. These core dimensions are skill variety, task identity, task significance,
autonomy, and feedback. Therefore, redesigning is affected in these dimensions.

4. Evaluating Effect of Redesigning:

When a job is redesigned, it is put in operation on experimental basis. During this
period, attempt is made to evaluate how the redesigned job is facilitating or constraining
the job holder and other jobs with which it is linked. Feedback is received from all the
persons concerned—job holder, his superior, his subordinates, HR professionals
concerned and, if possible, those outsiders who interact with the redesigned job holder.
In the light of this feedback, further redesigning is effected, if required. When everything
is satisfactory, the redesigned job becomes the part of the organization’s jobs.