Jobs and the Design of

Work
Lecture 4

Dr. P. David Jawahar

Job, and Work
Job is defined as an employee’s specific work and task activities in an organisation.
Job is composed of a set of specific tasks, each of which is an assigned piece of work
to be done in a specific time period
Job is not the same as an organisational position or career
Jobs are the basic building blocks of the task-authority structure
Jobs are designed to complement and support other jobs
Jobs are interdependent and are designed to make a contribution to the organisation’s
overall mission and goals
Work is effortful, productive activity resulting in a product or service
Work is defined into jobs, and jobs fit into the larger structure of an organisation
Work is the reason why organisation exists
The structure of a job has a significant impact on human behaviour
DR. P. DAVID JAWAHAR
The meaning of Work
The meaning of work differs from person to person, from culture to culture and from
profession to profession
Six Patterns in defining Work
•An activity in which value comes from performance and for which a person is
accountable (self directed and devoid of negative affect)
•An activity that provides a person with positive personal affect and identity
(contributes to society and is not unpleasant)
•An activity from which profit accrues to others by performance and may be done in
settings other than workplace (usually strenuous and somewhat compulsive)
•A physical activity a person must do; directed by others; work performed in
workplace (usually devoid of positive affect and unpleasantly connected to
performance)
•A physically and mentally strenuous activity (generally unpleasant and devoid of
positive affect)
•Activity constrained to specific time periods (no positive affect through performance)
DR. P. DAVID JAWAHAR
Job Design
Badly designed jobs are a result of failure to differentiate or integrate

The best designed jobs are the ones which have carefully blended the right proportion
of differentiation and integration

Differentiation provides the specialization and efficiency advantage

Integration provides the meaning and context to the task

Too much differentiation creates a tunnel vision and disassociation

Too much integration creates centralized decision making and kills innovation

DR. P. DAVID JAWAHAR

Traditional Approaches to Job Design
1. Scientific Management – standardization – work simplification, explicit
specifications, no requirement to think or deliberate, efficiency focus
Arguments supporting Scientific Management
•Work simplification allowed individuals of diverse ethnic and skill backgrounds to
work together
•Work simplification led to production efficiency and eventually to profits
Limitations
•It undervalues the human capacity for thought and ingenuity. Such jobs utilize only a
portion of the human capability
•This work underutilization makes work boring, monotonous, and under-stimulating

DR. P. DAVID JAWAHAR

Traditional Approaches to Job Design
Job Enlargement – a method of job design that increases the number of activities in
a job to overcome the boredom of overspecialized jobs. Also called as Horizontal
Loading
Job Rotation – a variation of job enlargement in which workers are exposed to a
variety of specialized jobs over a time period
Cross Training – a variation of job enlargement in which workers are trained in
different specialized tasks or activities
Job Enrichment – designing or redesigning jobs by incorporating motivational
factors into them. Also known as Vertical Loading

DR. P. DAVID JAWAHAR

Traditional Approaches to Job Design

DR. P. DAVID JAWAHAR

Alternative Approaches to Job Design

DR. P. DAVID JAWAHAR

Alternative Approaches to Job Design

DR. P. DAVID JAWAHAR

International Perspectives on the Design of
Work
•The Japanese Approach – borrowed the Deming product quality ideas; encouraged
conquering industries rather than profit maximization; emphasizes performance,
accountability, and other

•The German Approach – shaped by unique educational system, cultural values and
economic system; highly organized and highly unionized; discipline and efficiency;
belief in hierarchy and authority; moved from technocentric to anthropocentric

•The Scandinavian Approach – social democratic approach; higher degree of worker

control and strong social support systems

DR. P. DAVID JAWAHAR

Work Design and Well-Being
Organisations should redesign jobs to increase worker control and reduce worker
uncertainty

Increasing Worker Control Reducing Worker Uncertainty

• Giving workers opportunity to control aspects of
work and workplace
• Designing machines and tasks with optimal response
time
• Implement performance monitoring systems for
feedback
• Provide timely and complete information
• Clear and unambiguous work assignments
• Improving communications
• Increasing employee access to information sources

DR. P. DAVID JAWAHAR

Contemporary Issues
•Telecommuting

•Alternative work patterns – job sharing, four day workweeks, flexi time

•Technology at work – virtual office, technostress

•Task Revision – the modification of incorrectly specified roles or jobs

•Skill Development

DR. P. DAVID JAWAHAR