Job Designing

Introduction A

multitude

of

factors

may

affect

job

performance. Skills and abilities, perceptions, attitudes and personality characteristics are all

examples.

Additionally

the

direction

intensity and persistence of an individual’s motivation play a critical role, as does the evaluation and reward system that is used. Another critical factor is: Job Design. The

jobs

that

people

perform

in

organization are the building blocks of all organization’s structures. In fact organizations exist to enable people to do the assigned jobs. A major cause of effective job performance is job design i.e. what we get when we clarify what each employee should be doing. In a more technical form job design refers to the process by which managers decide individual job tasks and authority. Apart from the very practical issues associated with job designs,

we can appreciate its importance in social and even mental and psychological terms. Jobs can be sources of psychological stress and even mental and physical impairment. On a more positive note jobs can provide income, meaningful

life

experiences

self-esteem,

regulation of our lives and association with others. Thus the well being of the organization and

people

relates

to

how

well

the

management designs jobs. The organization must not only design jobs but also redesign the jobs according to the changing needs and situations. Thus the concept of job designing and job redesigning

are

very

important

to

organization. The main purpose of job design (or redesign) is to increase both employee motivation and productivity. Increased productivity can manifest itself in various

the

forms. For example, the focus can be that of improving quality and quantity of goods and services, reduce operation costs, and/or reduce turnover and training costs. Job design refers to the way that a set of tasks or an entire process is organized. What is job designing?

Definitions: Job designing refers to “the first instance in

which

management

creates

a

job

by

specifying its duties and responsibilities.” “The arrangement of the features of job or group of tasks to satisfy the economic and/or social needs of the worker ” “The specification of the contents, method and

relationships

of

jobs

to

satisfy

technological and organizational requirements as well as the personal needs of the job holders.”

Need for job designing? Job design helps to determine:  what tasks are done  when and how the tasks are done  how many tasks are done  in what order the tasks are done  factors which affect the work organization of the content and tasks  what is the remuneration to be paid  what are the working hours It takes into account all factors which affect the work, and organizes the content and tasks so that the whole job is less likely to be a risk to the employee How

can

job

design

organization of work?

help

with

the

Job design principles can address problems such as: 

work overload,



work under load,



repetitiveness,



limited control over work,



shift work,



delays in filling vacant positions,



excessive working hours, and



Limited

understanding

of

the

whole

job

process.

What are the overall goals of job design? Goals can be in many difference areas and include:  Task Variety

To alleviate boredom, avoid both excessive static body positions and repetitive movements. Design jobs to have a variety of tasks that require changes in body position, muscles used, and mental activities. Two methods are job enlargement and job rotation. For example, if an employee normally assembles parts, the job may be enlarged to include new tasks such as work planning, inspection / quality control, or maintenance. Alternatively, the tasks may include working in the same department, but changing tasks every hour. For example, in a laundry facility employees can rotate between various stations (sorting, washer, dryer, iron, etc) as long as it provides for a change in physical or mental expenditure.  Work Breaks / Rest Breaks Rest breaks help alleviate the problems of unavoidable repetitive movements or static body

positions. More frequent but shorter breaks (sometimes called "micro breaks") are sometimes preferable to fewer long breaks. During rest breaks, encourage employees to change body position and to exercise. It is important that employees stretch and use different muscle groups. If the employee has been very active, a rest break should include a stationary activity or stretching.  Allowance for an Adjustment Period When work demands physical effort, have an adjustment period for new employees and for all employees after holidays, layoffs, or illnesses. Allow time to become accustomed to the physical demands of work by gradually "getting in shape." Employees who work in extreme hot or cold conditions also need time to acclimatize.  Provide Training

Training in correct work procedures and equipment operation is needed so that employees understand what is expected of them and how to work safely. Training should be organized, consistent and ongoing. It may occur in a classroom or on the job.  Vary Mental Activities Tasks should be coordinated so that they are balanced during the day for the individual employee as well as balanced among a group of employees. You may want to allow the employee some degree of choice as to what types of mental tasks they want to do and when. This choice will allow the employee to do tasks when best suited to their 'alertness' patterns during the day. Some people may prefer routine tasks in the morning (such as checklists or filling in forms) and save tasks such as problem solving until the afternoon, or vice versa.

Features of a good job design Good design incorporates the employee’s relationship

with

organizational

goals

and

values and should be well understood in order to

align

and

prioritize

the

job’s

responsibilities. The design should: 

Allow for employee input. Employees should have the option to vary

activities according to personal needs, work habits,

and

the

circumstances

in

the

workplace. 

Give

employees

a

sense

of

requirements

so

accomplishment. Include

training

employees know what tasks to do and how to do them properly. 

Provide good work/rest schedules.

Provide feedback to the employees about their expected performance. Job design details Job design includes details such as:  How many hours per week the job is for?  Will the job be ongoing or short term?  Where will the job be located?  What will the wage be?  Can the job be completed in a flexible way?  Flexibility with job design Methods of Job Design The performance technologist has at his or her disposal four methods of job design. The first,

job

increase

enlargement,

motivation

by

can giving

be

used

to

employee's

more and varied tasks. Tasks that reduce the amount

of

specialization

required

by

the

employee, as well as, extending the length of time he or she has to complete them. The second, job rotation, allows an employee to work in different departments or jobs in an organization

to

gain

better

insight

into

operations. This, in itself, does not modify or redesigns the employee's job, but allows the opportunity

to

increase

his/her

skills

and

knowledge about other jobs. Job enrichment, the third method, allows the employee to take on some responsibilities normally delegated to management. The risk here

is

transferred

that too

the

employee

much

would

responsibility

be and

autonomy in the planning and control aspects of the job. Done right, however, the newfound control would invigorate the employee to work more effectively. Lastly, work simplification

is

the

analysis

of

a

job's

most

basic

components to restructure or redesign them to make the job more efficient. What

steps

should

be

taken

when

carrying out a job design project? Although there are many ways to carry out job design, the following stages are essential:  Do

an

assessment

of

current

work

practices. Is job design needed or feasible? Discuss the

process

with

the

employees

and

supervisors involved and are clear about the process or any changes or training that will be involved. \

 Do a task analysis. Examine the job and determine exactly what the tasks are. Consider what equipment

and workstation features are important for completing the tasks. Identify problem areas.  Design the job. Identify the methods for doing the work, work/rest

schedules,

training

requirements,

equipment needed and workplace changes. Coordinate the different tasks so each one varies mental activities and body position. Be careful not to under or overload the job.  Implement the new job design gradually. You may start on a small scale or with a pilot

project. Train

employees

in the

new

procedures and use of equipment. Allow for an adjustment

period

and

time

to

gain

experience with the new job design.  Re-evaluate

job

design

on

a

basis.  Make any necessary adjustments.

continual

You may also establish a committee to represent the various groups involved. Job design should involve employees, unions, the health and safety committee and managers during the entire process. Participation of all parties

increases

communication

and

understanding. Be clear that purpose of the job design is to

strengthen

the

operations

and

its

workforce, not to eliminate jobs or sets of skills. A

well

designed

job,

which

mutually

benefits the employee and the employer, lays the foundation for a successful recruitment and retention program. A carefully crafted job also frames work expectations and creates an environment

that

encourages

employee and employer to succeed. Steps in Job Re-designing

both

the

Robertson and Smith (1985) recommend the following strategy for analyzing existing jobs: Step one: Review the literature and other extant (existing) data (training manual, old job descriptions, etc.), Step two: Ask immediate managers about responsibilities and tasks required to do the job well, Step

three: Ask similar questions to the

current employee doing the job, Step Four: Observe an employee who does the job well,

and also observe the employee

who does not do the job well and note where he goes wrong. Step Five: Try to do the job yourself, careful to not attempt jobs that are very dangerous and

that

are

done

by

prolonged experience, and

employees

with

Step Six: Write a job description detailing all your findings.

Common approaches to job design? Achieving

good

job

design

involves

administrative practices that determine what the employee does, for how long, where, and when as well as giving the employees choice where ever possible. In job design, you may choose to examine the various tasks of an individual job or the design of a group of jobs. Approaches to job design include: 

Job Enlargement: Job enlargement changes the jobs to include more and/or different tasks. Job enlargement should add interest to

the

work

but

may

or

may

not

give

employees more responsibility. 

Job

Rotation:

employees

from

Job one

rotation task

to

moves

another.

It

distributes the group tasks among a number of employees. 

Job

Enrichment:

Job

enrichment

allows

employees to assume more responsibility, accountability,

and

independence

when

learning new tasks or to allow for greater participation and new opportunities. 

Work

Design

(Job

Engineering):

Work

design allows employees to see how the work

methods,

procedures

layout

link together

and

handling

as well as

the

interaction between people and machines.

Factors affecting job design? Job

design

is

affected

by

organizational,

environmental and behavioral factors. A properly designed job will make it more productive and satisfying .If a job fails on this count, it must be redesigned based on the feedback. The various factors affecting job design are the following

 Organizational factors Organizational factors include characteristics of task, work flow, ergonomics and work practices.  Characteristics of Task: Job design requires the assembly of a number of tasks into a job or a group of jobs. An individual may carry out one main task which consists of a number of inter-related elements or functions. On the other hand, task functions may be spilt between a team, working closely together or strung along an assembly line. In more complex jobs, individuals may carry out a variety of connected tasks, each with a number of functions, or these tasks may be allocated to a group of workers or divided between them. Complexity in a job may be a reflection of the number and variety of tasks to be carried out, or the range and scope of the decisions that have to be made, or the difficulty of predicting the outcome of decisions.

 The internal structure of each task The internal structure of each task consists of three

elements

Planning,

Executing

and

Controlling. A completely integrated job will include all these elements for each of the tasks involved The workers or group of workers having been given objectives in terms of output, quality and cost targets, decide on how the work is to be done, assemble the resources, perform the work and monitor

output,

quality

and

cost

standards.

Responsibility in a job is measured by the amount of authority, some one to put to do all these things. The ideal design is to integrate all the three elements.  Work Flow:

The flow of work in an organization is strongly influenced by the nature of the product or service. The

product

or

service

usually

suggests

the

sequence and balance between jobs, if the work is to be done efficiently .After the sequence of jobs is determined, the balance between the jobs is established.  Ergonomics: Ergonomics is concerned with designing and shaping jobs to fit the physical abilities and characteristics of individuals so that, they perform the jobs effectively .Ergonomics helps employees to design jobs in such a way that workers’ physical abilities and job demands are balanced .It does not alter the nature of job tasks, but alters the location of tools, switches and other facilities, keeping in view

that

handling

consideration.  Work Practices:

the

job

is

the

primary

Work practices are set ways of performing work .These methods may arise from tradition or the collective wishes of employees. Work practices were till now, determined by time and motion study which established the standard time needed to complete the given job. The study required repeated

observations

.The

accuracy

of

the

readings depended on competence of the work study engineer .Deviations from the normal workcycle caused distortions in measurements, was biased towards existing work practices with little effort at method’s improvement and could be carried out only when, production was under way.  Environmental factors Environmental factors affect the job design. These factors that have a bearing on job design are employees abilities and availability and social and culture expectations.

 Employee Abilities and Availability: Efficiency

consideration

must

be

balanced

against the abilities and availability of the people to do the work. When Henry Ford made use of the assembly line, for example , he was aware that most potential workers lacked any automobile making experience .So, jobs were designed to be simple and required little training .Therefore, considerable thought must be given, as to who will actually do the work..  Social and Cultural Expectations: During the earlier days, securing a job was the primary consideration. The worker was prepared to work on any job and under any working conditions. Now, it is not the same. Literacy, knowledge and awareness of workers have improved considerably .So also, their expectations from the job, Hence,

jobs be designed to meet the expectations of workers. Conclusion Job design serves to improve performance and motivation. Job-design starts by looking at a job with a broad perspective and swiftly moves toward identifying the specific activities required to do the job. This is done for the purpose of identifying and correcting any deficiencies that affect performance.

Example Vora Services Pvt. Ltd is a service providing concern with its operations spread all over India as well

as

overseas.

The

company

is

primarily

concerned with providing services. The back office staff

includes

various

departments

as

the

advertising

department,

finance

department,

research department, accounting department and various

other

committees

formed

for

certain

activities from time to time. Every organization has profit maximization as its main objective. To attain this objective every employee of the organization has to put in his efforts. The abilities of every employee differ from that of others. Thus employees should be selected according to the job. In order to extract the maximum from employees there should be certain job specifications on which employees should be specified. The process of describing these job specifications is termed as “job designing“. Job designing can be explained with the help of the above example:

Management Accountant

What is the work like?

As a management accountant the employee would look after your company's finances and find ways of improving profitability and growth. He will work for one company or organisation as its own in-house accountant, unlike a private practice accountant who offers accountancy and audit services to fee-paying clients. The Management Accountant work could include: 

preparing regular financial statements and accounts, such as profit and loss accounts



monitoring spending, costs and budgets



analysing the company’s financial performance



forecasting and planning future spending and profits



recommending ways increase profits

to

reduce

costs

and



making business decisions, along with other managers



carrying

out

internal

audits

of

various

departments 

providing external auditors with the company reports and financial data they need



managing a team of accounting technicians and finance clerks



overseeing

the

company's

payroll,

credit

control, and bookkeeping systems. What qualifications and experience will employers look for?

To become an accountant, the employee must qualify

with

one

of

the

six

professional

accountancy bodies. All of the professional bodies include

some

training,

but

financial most

management

management

in

their

accountants

choose to qualify with the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA).

CIMA training involves two stages: CIMA Certificate in Business Accounting – CIMA’s entry-level qualification, with five computer-based exams CIMA Professional Qualification – the second stage of training, with nine exams. The applicant entry point will depend on your previous qualifications and experience. Some management accountants choose to train with the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants

(ACCA),

taking

the

management

modules

instead

of

business audit

and

taxation options in the final part of their training. See ACCA website for more details. The Institute of Financial Accountants (IFA) also offers training in financial management. IFA is a non-chartered

organisation

with

training

at

Technician, Associate and Fellow levels. See IFA website for further details.

What

further

training

and

development

the

applicant requires?

To

become

a

fully-qualified

chartered

management accountant (ACMA), the applicant must pass the CIMA Professional Qualification and complete at least three years’ relevant work experience. To achieve the CIMA Professional Qualification he will need to complete: 

six exams at Managerial level



three exams at Strategic level



one

Test

of

Professional

Competence

in

Management Accounting, based on a case study. If he has certain relevant degrees or professional qualifications, you may be exempt from some of the Managerial stage exams.

Each paper in the Professional Qualification usually takes between three and four months. You can study full- or part-time, or through distance learning. Your employer may fund your training. . Once the applicant has qualified, the applicant should keep your professional knowledge up to date throughout your career. The professional accountancy bodies each run a programme of continuing professional development (CPD) to help members achieve this. The applicant could also choose to take a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree, which may help to further your career in business management. What salary and other benefits must be provided to the applicant? 

Trainee and part-qualified accountants could earn between Rs.17,000 and Rs.25,000 a month.



Qualified management accountants could earn Rs.25,000 to Rs.40,000.



Finance

directors

could

earn

between

Rs.50,000 to Rs.120,000 a month\ 

Figures are intended as a guideline only.

What are the hours and working conditions?

The applicant standard working hours would be 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. The applicant may need to work overtime during busy periods such as the end of the financial year. Part-time hours, flexitime and job sharing may be available. The applicant

would be office-based. Dress

code is usually formal. What skills and knowledge should the applicant need? 

good mathematical and computer skills



analytical ability and a logical approach



a good understanding of business



accuracy and attention to detail



good communication skills



the

ability

to

explain

technical

financial

information clearly 

organisational and time-management skills



honesty and discretion.

Human Resources Officer What is the work like?

Human resources (‘HR’) officers or managers, also known as personnel officers/managers, are responsible for the recruitment, development and welfare of their company's employees. As a HR officer your work would typically involve: 

recruiting staff – advertising and interviewing



working with other managers to plan future personnel needs



keeping employee records



providing staff training and development



making sure that staff have the right pay and benefits



arranging services such as staff welfare and counselling



dealing

with

grievances

and

disciplinary

procedures 

promoting equality and health and safety



advising on matters like pay negotiations, redundancy and employment law



developing HR policies and procedures, and writing staff handbooks. In large organizations, you may specialize in

one or two of these areas. In smaller companies you would usually deal with all aspects of the job. What qualifications and experience will employers look for?

The qualifications and experience you need can vary between employers, although companies will expect you to have a good standard of general education. Previous experience of office work will be an advantage. Temping can be a good first step into office work. Employers will usually prefer you to have or be willing

work

towards

qualifications

from

the

Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). You could start as an administrator in a company's HR department, and study part-time for CIPD qualifications such as the Certificate in HR Administration

or

the

Certificate

in

Personnel

Practice (CPP) whilst you are working. Alternatively, you may be able to take the CPP course at college before looking for your first HR job. Many human resources officers have a BTEC HNC/HND

or

management,

degree business

in

human

resource

management

or

psychology. If you have a degree in a non-business

subject, you could take a postgraduate course in human resources management before looking for work, although this is not essential. What further training and development does the applicant needs? The applicant must be trained on the job by the

employer. Many employers will also expect the applicant to take qualifications from the Chartered

Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), and may pay towards your study. If the applicant is new to HR, or if you are a personnel administrator looking to progress, you can take one or more of the following support-level CIPD qualifications: Level 3 Certificate in Personnel Practice (CPP) Level 3 Certificate in Recruitment and Selection (CRS) Level 3 Certificate in Employment Relations, Law and Practice (CERLAP).

The applicant can study full- or part-time at local

colleges, or by distance learning. The applicant will qualify for Associate membership of the CIPD after passing one of these qualifications. Alternatively, The applicant could take the following CIPD qualifications through work-based training: NVQ Level 3 in Personnel Support NVQ 4 in Personnel Management NVQ 5 in Personnel Strategy. The applicant could further your career into

personnel

management

by

taking

the

CIPD

Professional Development Scheme (PDS). The PDS is made up of four parts, and you will qualify for full Graduate membership of CIPD after passing all four. The

applicant

already

have

a

degree

or

postgraduate qualification in human resources or

a related subject, He may be exempt from parts of the CIPD Professional Development Scheme. What salary and other benefits can I expect? 

Personnel administrators earn around £15,000 to £18,000 a year.



Starting salaries for human resources officers can be between £18,000 and £25,000 a year.



Personnel managers can earn £25,000 to £50,000 a year or more.



Figures are intended as a guideline only.

What are the hours and working conditions?

In a full-time job you would typically work 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. Part-time work, job sharing and temporary work are often available. You would be mainly office-based but you may need to travel to meetings, especially if you worked in a company with more than one site.

What skills and knowledge will I need? 

a

tactful

and

approachable

but

assertive

manner 

good spoken and written communication skills



the ability to build good working relationships with colleagues at all levels



fairness and objectivity



discretion with confidential information



good organisational ability



high levels of accuracy and attention to detail



calmness under pressure



good administrative and computer skills.