Definition

Job design involves systematic attempt to organize tasks, duties and responsibilities into a unit of work to achieve certain objectives. Job design is the process of a) Deciding the contents of the job. b) Deciding methods to carry out the job. c) Deciding the relationship which exists in the organization.

Job design is the conscious efforts to

organize It involves
identification of individual tasks

tasks,

duties

and

responsibilities into one unit of work.

specification of methods of performing

the tasks
combination of tasks into specific jobs

to be assigned to individuals

JOB REDESIGN - aimed at reducing or overcoming job

dissatisfaction and employee alienation arising

from repetitive and mechanistic tasks. Through job redesign, organizations try to raise productivity levels by offering non-monetary rewards such as greater satisfaction from a sense of personal

achievement in meeting the increased challenge and

responsibility of one's work. Job enlargement, job enrichment, job rotation, are the various

techniques used in a job design exercise.

The complexity of the work - to be carried out, both in terms of its variety or breadth and its technical difficulty or depth.

The work processes involved -It might be desirable for one person to be involved in an entire process, or the work flows may be such that the work process has to be divide between several different people.

The nature of the people currently employed in the organization-The extent to which jobs can be redesigned

depend largely on the kind of people employed

The timescales - where immediate responses are required. The geographical scattering of the organizations activities . The effect of information technology The growth level of an organization & available The level of resources available expertise need to perform a task. Availability of human resource in the environment.

Engineering Approach
The most important single element in the

Engineering approaches, proposed by FW Taylor, 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

The scientific management principle

Work should be scientifically studied
Fragmentation and reutilization of work

will reap the advantages of specialization

Work should be arranged so that workers

can be efficient

Employees selected for work should be matched to the demands of the job
Employees should be trained to perform

the job
Monetary compensation should be used to

reward successful performance of the job

 Walker and Guest

Repetition: Performing a few tasks repeatedly led to boredom

Mechanical pacing: Assembly line

workers were compelled to maintain a certain regular pace of work and could not take needed breaks

 No end product: Not turning out any identifiable end product led to less enthusiasm in work Little social interaction: Because the assembly

line demanded constant attention, there was

very little opportunity to interact on a casual basis and share work experiences

No input: No opportunity to choose the

methods for performing their jobs

the tools which they used the work procedures This created little interest in the job because there was nothing which employees could improve or change

Hackman and Oldham Employees will work hard when

they are rewarded for the work they do

when the work gives them satisfaction

Any job can be described in terms of five core job dimensions:

Skill variety: The degree to which the job

requires workers to use a variety of different

activities talents skills

in order to successfully complete the job requirements

 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
Task significance: The degree to which the job

significantly impacts the lives of others both

within and outside the workplace

 Autonomy: The degree to which the job allows

workers freedom in planning, scheduling and

the methods used to complete the job
Feedback: The degree to which the job itself

provides workers with clear, direct and

understandable knowledge of their

performance

Modern management recognizes the disadvantages of highly specialized jobs specialization increases cost of employee absenteeism and turnover, and decreases productivity and quality

HR managers have to balance employees human needs and employers economic goals

Job rotation Job enlargement Job enrichment

Job design involves periodic assignment of an employee to completely different

sets of job activities.

job rotation is low in both impact and

complexity because it typically moves

employees from one routine job to

another.

 At

McDonald's, cross-functional job rotations are encouraged, globally and in India. "It is a winwin situation -- win for the organization, the team and the employee," says Amit Jatia, joint venture partner and managing director, McDonald's, Western India

It is an effective way to develop multiple skills in employees, which benefits the organization while creating greater job interest and career options for the employee. Job rotation may be of considerable benefit if it is part of a larger redesign effort and/or it is used as a training and development approach to develop various employee competencies and prepare employees for advancement.

Job enlargement combines into one job with two or more tasks which are to be performed. SometimeS it iS called horizontal loading aS all taSkS involve the same level of responsibility .The job enlargement approach often has positive effects on employee effectiveness. However, some employees view job enlargement as just adding more routine, repetitive tasks to their already boring job. Other employees regard it as disturbing their time to perform their core jobs.

Job Enlargement is the horizontal expansion of a job. It involves the addition of tasks at the same level of skill and responsibility. It is done to keep workers from getting bored. It is different than job enrichment Thus the worker who previously only bolted the seat to legs might attach the back as well

Job enlargement and job rotation approaches are useful in many work settings. One of their biggest advantages is that : They offer a form of training. They allow workers to learn more than one task, thus increasing their value to the employer. As they allow workers to perform many tasks, they can be used more flexibly as circumstances require

Examples: Small companies may not have as many opportunities for promotions, so they try to motivate employees through job enlargement.

Frederick Herzberg, suggested a clear and diStinct job deSign method called job enrichment.

Job enrichment seeks to add profundity to a job by giving workers more control, responsibility, and freedom of choice over how their job is performed.
It occurs when the work itself is more challenging, when there is prospect for growth, and when responsibility, feedback, and recognition are provided. Nonetheless, employees are the final

judges of what enriches their jobs.

Herzberg developed the following set of principles for the enrichment of jobs: removing some controls while retaining accountability increasing personal accountability for work; assigning each worker a complete unit work with a clear start and end point; granting additional authority and freedom to workers; making periodic reports directly available to workers rather than to supervisors only; the introduction for new and more difficult tasks into the job

provide variety in terms of the kind of work carried out allow people to get direct feedback on

results;

allow scope for development by enabling the job to become bigger as the person becomes more skilled and knowledge; have clear objectives and outputs;

 have

clear reporting lines; give people some control over output and pace; give people the opportunity to comment and suggest changes to the work process; be supported by the appropriate level of resources and effective process