Job Analysis & Job Design

Chapter 2
Part II
 Job Design
• The Job Design means outlining the task, duties, responsibilities, qualifications,
methods and relationships required to perform the given set of a job.
• In a very simple sense, job design means the ways that decision-makers choose
to organize work responsibilities, duties, activities, and tasks.

Job Redesign
• A similar process that involves changing an exiting job design.

• Bringing improvement in the existing job to:

– increase efficiency
– and effectiveness.

• Job Redesign thus involves ----changing work responsibilities, duties, activities,

and tasks which is also sometimes called work redesign.
 Definition of Job Design
• Job design is defined by Michael Armstrong as “the process of:
– Deciding the contents of the job (in terms of its duties and
responsibilities).
– Deciding methods to carry out the job (in terms of techniques,
systems and procedures)
– Deciding the relationship which exists in the organization (between
the job holder and his superiors, subordinates and colleagues)”.
 Outcomes of Poorly designed jobs
• Jobs are at the core of every organization’s productivity.
• If they are not well designed and done right, productivity suffers,
profits fall, and the organization is less able to meet the demands
of society, customers, employees, and other stakeholders.
• Poorly designed jobs often result in:
 Lower productivity
 Employees Turnover
 Absenteeism
 Resignations
 Employees dissatisfaction
 Sabotage
 Unionization
 Complaint
 Boredom
 Why Designing Jobs?
• Job designers heavily focus on behavioral research:
– to provide a work environment that helps to make jobs
motivating and satisfying for employees.
– Motivational approach aims at increasing employees enjoyment
at work and thus increasing their effort.

• It includes
– JCM
– Job enlargement
– Job enrichment
 Designing for Motivation: JCM

Job Characteristics Model (JCM)

• Employers also need to ensure that workers have a positive attitude
toward their jobs so that they show up at work with enthusiasm,
commitment, and creativity.
• A model that shows how to make jobs more motivating is the:
– Job Characteristics Model, developed by Richard Hackman and
Greg Oldham.
• Job characteristics model which focuses on building intrinsic
motivation.
• Intrinsic motivation exists when employees do work because they
enjoy it, not necessarily, because they receive pay and other rewards.
 e.g.
 Dr Atta-ur- Rehman
 Bill Gates
 Researchers, scientists, Artists etc.
This model describes jobs in terms of five characteristics:
1. Skill variety – extent to which a job requires a variety of skills to carry
out tasks involved.
2. Task identity – degree to which a job requires completing a “whole”
piece of work from beginning to end.
3. Task significance – extent to which the job has an important impact
on lives of other people
4. Autonomy – degree to which the job allows an individual to make
decisions about the way work will be carried out.
5. Feedback - extent to which a person receives clear information about
performance effectiveness from the work itself.
 Designing for Motivation: Job Enlargement
 Job Enlargement: (Skill Variety)
• Job enlargement refers to adding
challenges or new responsibilities .
• Broadening the types of tasks
performed in a job.
• Numbers of responsibilities are
increased
• It is also called “horizontal loading”
 Objectives of job enlargement
• It is to make jobs less repetitive and
more interesting.
• E.g. combining the jobs of
• Receptionist
• Typist
• File clerk------ into jobs containing all
three kinds of work.
 Job Rotation (Skill Variety)
• Enlarging jobs by moving employees
among several different jobs.
• It is common among production
teams.
• The jobs themselves are not changed,
the workers are rotated.
• The organizations benefit as workers
become competent in several jobs.
 Job Enrichment (Task ID & Autonomy)
• To Empowering workers by: adding
more decisions-making authority to
jobs (attempts to add more planning
and control responsibilities.).
• Decision making authority to Plan, Do
and Control).
• Resultant of Job enrichment :
– more motivated
– and committed workforce
 Designing for Motivation: Flexibility

Flexible work time

• Flexibility in terms of flexible working hours.
• Structuring/designing of jobs also include offering flexible work
schedules.
• Depending on the requirements of the organization and the job.
• Organizations maybe flexible in terms of when employees work.
• Alternative to traditional 40Hrs/week (8hrs* 5 days = 40
Hrs./week)workweek are:
i. Flex time (flexible time)
ii. Job sharing
iii. Compressed work week.
 Flextime

• A scheduling policy in which:

– full time employees may choose:
 starting & ending time----within guidelines specified by the
organization.
• A flextime policy enables workers to adjust a day’s hours.
– employees must work a specific number of hours per week but are free to
vary their hours of work within certain limits.
– A flextime policy enables workers to adjust a day’s hours.
– The core may be 10 am to 4 pm with the office opening at 7 am and
closing at 10pm giving employees the flexibility to work the balance 2
hours either at the start of the day or end of the day.
Benefit
• A flextime work schedule allows time for community and family interests thus
can be motivating for some employees.
 Job Sharing

– The practice that allows two or more individuals to split a traditional 40 or 60

hour week job.
– One might perform the job from 8 am to noon and the other from noon to 8 pm.
– A work option in which two part time employees carry out the tasks associated
with a single job cooperatively (cooperation) and coordinate the details of one’s
job with one another (coordination).
– Enables an organization to:
• attract
• or retain valued employees ----- who want more time to attend school or
take care of family matters.
For example:
• News anchors -----24/7 (24 hours 7 days a week)
• Nurses at hospitals (24/7) etc
• And in some cases where there is evening shift in universities (lecturers/professors).
• Policemen
• Traffic wardens
• Staff at Airport
 Compressed work week

• A schedule in which full time workers complete their weekly

hours in fewer than five days ( as Saturday and Sundays are off)
• Normal schedule--- 40 hours/week= 8 hours * 5 days

For example:
• 40 hours are to be completed in 5 days in normal schedule.
But
• If a person /employee want to complete these 40 hours in 3 days
then this is compressed work week.
• This means a person will work 14 hrs per day to complete 40
hours/week for 3 days.

• Extra days off can be enjoyed for

– Leisure
– Family
– Or volunteer activities.
 Designing for Motivation: Telework

• Flexibility can be extend to: work locations as well as work schedules

• The broad term for doing one’s work away from a centrally located office is
telework or telecommuting .

Advantages of telework
• Beneficial for those:
 who cannot afford office space or have less office space
 and provide greater flexibility to those who are disabled
 or need to be available for children or elder.
• Tele work is implemented for those people in professional, or sales job
especially those that involve working and communication on a computer
/network.
• Telework is not feasible for manufacturing jobs/workers.
For example
– Call centers; sales center are the best example of telework
• Tele work is more stronger for occasional work at home than full time
arrangement.