Why is job design important and how does it align with business?

 

What is job design?

     

Job design is a process that organizations use to establish new jobs or add tasks to existing ones. This helps a corporation to more easily achieve its objectives by having more personnel execute more responsibilities within the organisation. Job design can include creating a new role or simply altering the list of tasks that a present post entails. For example, a corporation may assign responsibilities to a graphic design role that go beyond design process . It comprises merging the relevant roles and qualifications to complete a specific task or project in order to increase value and maximize performance.

 

Job design can help managers determine the following

1.  How an employee completes tasks
2. The tasks an employee must be able to perform
3. The order in which the employee needs to complete the tasks

 

Definition

Job designing is one of the main characteristics of a productive organization which follows proper HRM practices. there are three methods which used by the HR managers to design the jobs. These methods help to analyze the job, design its content and to decide how the job must be carried out in order to achieve the organizational goals and objectives (Rajguru, 2022). 

 

Job Rotation

 “Job rotation involves shifting a person from one job to another, so that he is able to understand and learn what each job involves. The company tracks his performance on every job and decides whether he can perform the job in an ideal manner. Based on this he is finally given a particular posting. Job rotation gives an idea about the jobs to be performed at every level. Once a person is able to understand this he is in a better understanding of the working of organization (Ortega, 2001).”

Advantages of Job Rotation

I.   Providing opportunity to broaden the knowledge

II.  Avoid fraudulent practices of the employees

III. Avoiding the monopoly in job and give the chance to learn new things

IV. Providing of employee motivation  

Disadvantages of Job Rotation

I.   Frequent interruptions due to sudden shifting of the job positions

II.  Uniformity of the quality work get disrupted as new worker takes time to learn the new job, and may cause mistakes in the process. 

III.  Misunderstanding with Union members as they might think that employees are being punished by assigning different jobs frequently. 

 

Job Enlargement

"Job enlargement involves combining various activities at the same level in the organization and adding them to the existing job. It increases the scope of the job and also called the horizontal expansion of job activities. The new activities which are added should belong to the same hierarchy level in the organization. Job enlargement provides a greater variety of activities to the individual so that it increases the interest to perform the job and to get maximum use of employee’s skill (Raza and Nawaz, 2011)."

Advantages of Job Enlargement

 I.   Improve and increase the employee's skill levels

 II.  Get the opportunity to learn more which ultimately improves the earning capacity

 III. Wide range of activities perform by a single person reduces the company employee count which ultimately saves salary cost of the company 

Disadvantages of Job Enlargement

 I.   No additional payment for the extra work and it burden the work efforts

 II.  Increase frustration of the employees

 III.  Misunderstanding with Union members as they might think as it is an exploitation of employees.

 

Job Enrichment

"Job enrichment adds few motivators to a job to make it more rewarding, challenging and interesting. The motivators are 

• Giving more freedom
• Encouraging participation
• Giving employees the freedom to select the method of working
• Allowing employees to select the place at which they would like to work
• Allowing workers to select the tools that they require on the job
• Allowing workers to decide the layout of plant or office

Job enrichment gives lot of freedom to the employee but at the same time increases the responsibility. There are some employees which are in hunger of power and responsibility. for such workers, Job enrichment is the best option (Umstot et al., 1976)." 

Advantages of Job Enrichment

  I.   Improve decision making ability of the employees

  II.  Able to identify potential employees for future promotions

 III. Identifies higher order needs of the employees according to Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and Need theory. 

 IV. Reduces the workload of senior staff

Disadvantages of Job Enrichment

 I.   As Job enrichment is totally based on the assumption that the employees are fully educated to make decisions, it may cause problems due to mismatch of work with decisions.

 II.  Superiors may feel that power is being taken away from them and given to the junior’s and this might lead to ego problems

 III.  For the employees which are totally dissatisfied with the organization, Job enrichment will not become a motive anymore.

 

Why is job design important and how can it help?

 

There are several reasons why job design is important and how it can help businesses and managers, with some of these including:

Align businesses with employees: Successful job design can help to align both organizations and employee values. This can lead to a decrease in turnover while also increasing output.

Secure a competitive advantage: The expectations and landscape of work are constantly changing, and regular job design enables businesses to keep current with these changes in order to attract top personnel. It can also provide current employees with opportunities to advance in their careers and improve their overall skills.

Increase employee motivation: Well-designed roles and responsibilities can help motivate employees and avoid job duty confusion.

Job design also impacts administrative factors, such as:

Repetitiveness: Making sure tasks aren't repetitive can keep employee motivation and morale up.

Defined work process: Ensuring that staff understand the details of their job process helps to avoid confusion.

Conclusion

job design is critical for aligning responsibilities with corporate goals and increasing efficiency. Job rotation, enlargement, and enrichment all provide distinct advantages, including diverse experience, skill development, and enhanced job satisfaction. However, they do create obstacles, such as potential disruptions, greater workloads, and employee reluctance. A well-executed job design plan balances these variables to improve both performance and employee satisfaction.

 

References

1.      Indeed, (2024) “Job Design: Definition, Importance and Strategies”. [online] Available at: https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/job-design. Accessed 5^th August 2024.

2.      Ortega, J., 2001. Job rotation as a learning mechanism. Management science, 47(10), pp.1361-1370.

3.      Rajguru, K., 2022. What is Job Design?. [online] Available at:https://www.economicsdiscussion.net/human-resource-management/what-is-job-design/31762. Accessed 5^th August 2024.

4.      Raza, M.A. and Nawaz, M.M., 2011. Impact of job enlargement on employees' job satisfaction, motivation and organizational commitment: Evidence from public sector of Pakistan. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 2(18).

5.      Umstot, D.D., Bell, C.H. and Mitchell, T.R., 1976. Effects of job enrichment and task goals on satisfaction and productivity: Implications for job design. Journal of Applied Psychology, 61(4), p.379.