Management

Job Design

Lecturer : P. J
Unit Title : MS 2233
Stage of the Course: Year II Semester II
 Content
• Define what Job Design means.
• Significance of Job Design.
• Approaches to Job Design.
• Understand Elements of Job Design
• Trade off between Efficiency Elements and Behavioral
Elements of Job Design.
 Job Design
• “The function of arranging tasks,
duties and responsibilities into an
organizational unit of work for the
purpose of accomplishing a certain
objective.” (Opatha , 1995)

• Jobs are the building blocks of the

organization.
 Job Design
• A Job A task is a Series of motions and
is a identifiable small work activity

Responsibilities

Tasks Duties A duty is a series of tasks and is

a larger work segment

Responsibility is the obligation of

performing the entrusted tasks and
duties successfully
Job Design
“The JD is the personnel or
engineering activity of specifying the
contents of the job, the tools and
techniques to be used, the
surroundings of the work and the
relationship of one job to other job".

(W.F Gluik, 1978)

Significance of Job Design
• Job design affects overall individual job performance.

• It has a direct impact on an individuals

o Efficiency
o Effectiveness
o Productivity
o Satisfaction
o Health and development
 Significance of JD
cont….
• Poorly designed JD- lower productivity, LT,
Absenteeism, complaints, sabotage, union etc.
- Linked with QWL- it is influenced by supervision, working
condition, pay, welfare
- Job must be interesting, challenging &
rewarding.
 Approaches to JD
o Scientific Technique

o Job Enlargement

o Job Enrichment

o Job Rotation

o Group Technique
o Ergonamics
Approaches to JD Contd…

• Scientific Technique
o A technique derived from Scientific Management.

o Aim to maximize the organizational productivity by maximizing employee

efficiency.

o Division of labour and specialization are emphasized.

Hall Marks of Scientific Job
Designing
• Maximum degree of specialization and
short job cycle
• Minimal level of skills
• Minimal time of completion of tasks
• Minimal learning time
• Maximum use of machines
• Minimal degree of flexibility of the job
• Measurability of job tasks
Approaches to JD Contd…

• Job Enlargement
o Increasing the scope of a job by including a new related duty or duties in
addition to the current duties involved.

• Job Enrichment
o Increasing the depth of a job by expanding authority and responsibility for
planning, doing and controlling the job.
Job Enrichment
Seven useful starting points
1. Remove some controls while retaining
accountability.
2. Increase the accountability of individuals for their
own work.
3. Give a person a complete unit of work
4. Grant additional authority to an employee.
5. Make periodic reports back to employee rather
than to his or her superior.
6. Introduce new and more difficult tasks.
7. Assign individual tasks which enable them to
become experts.
Approaches to JD Contd…

• Job Rotation
o Shifting an employee from one particular job to another without limiting the
employee to do a particular job only.
• Group Technique
o Designing jobs so that a group of individuals can perform it

• Professional Technique
- Designing job according to certain accepted
profession
 Approaches to JD cont…
• Ergonamics;
concerned with trying to shape jobs to fit the physical
abilities and characteristics of individuals rather than the
other way around….In addition to fulfill their legal
obligations, this accommodation helps them
(organisations) better utilize their work forces.
(R.S schuler & S.A youngblood)
 Elements of Job Design
There are two categories of elements.
1. Efficiency Elements
Division of Labour
Standardization
Specialization

2. Behavioral Elements
Skill Variety
Task Identity
Task Significance
Autonomy
Feedback
 Efficiency Elements
• Division of Labour
o Breaking jobs into their smallest components and
employing separate / different persons to do each
part separately.
• Standardization
o The “one best way” to do a certain job/task/duty
with a more simplicity and at a lower cost that is
discovered through work study and then, having
accepted it every person follows.
• Specialization
o An employee’s concentration on one particular type
of work so that the employee acquires an expertise
in that type of work.
 Behavioural Elements

• Skill Variety
o The extent to which the job requires use of different skills.

• Task Identity
o The extent to which the job involves doing some complete piece of work.
 Behavioural Elements

• Task Significance
o The extent to which the job has an impact on other people’s work.

• Autonomy
o The degree of independence and freedom of the job holder has.

• Feedback
o The extent to which clear information of results in
respect of individual efficiency and effectiveness is
provided.
 Trade off between Efficiency and
Behavioural Elements
• Efficiency Elements
o Greater specialization, less task variety, less task identity, low task
significance, and minimum autonomy.
o More efficient but less satisfaction

• Behavioural Elements
o More variety, more task identity, high task significance, more autonomy and
more feedback
o More satisfaction but less efficiency.
Job design is a Continuous Process

• Changing Environment
o IT revolution , Customer expectations

• Changing Organizational Structures

o Mechanistic to Organic

• Changing Strategies
o Due to environmental pressure
Thank You !