Job Design

Harry Kogetsidis

School of Business

Lecture’s topics

• What is job design and why is it important?
• How can a number of relevant approaches

and models assist in job design?

Job Design

Job design

consists of the formal

specifications

and informal expectations of an employee’s

work-

related activities.

Job Design

Job design

consists of the formal

specifications

and informal expectations of an employee’s

work-

related activities.

The employee’s formal duties –

should be

clearly stated in their job

description.

Job Design

Job design

consists of the formal

specifications

and informal expectations of an employee’s

work-

related activities.

What else is expected the employee

will do

that is not stated in their job

description.

Job Design

Job design

consists of the formal specifications

and informal expectations of an employee’s

work-

related activities.

At the same time the employee’s expectations
must also be met.

What the employee wants from his or her job.

Job Design

Job Design

Job Employee
design motivation

Employee performance

Product quality

Job Design

Typical behavioural job design models attempt to
link particular

job characteristics

with the desired

psychological state of the employee, so that

higher

levels of motivation can be achieved.

e.g. the Job Characteristics model

Job Desirable Characteristics

The

JCM

attempts to link five important

aspects of

an employee’s work (job characteristics)

with the

desired psychological state of the employee.

Job Desirable Characteristics

Skill variety

– the extent to which a job makes use of

different

skills and abilities.

Task identity

– the extent to which a job involves

completing a

whole identifiable piece of work rather than simply a part.

Task significance

– the extent to which a job has an

impact

on other people, both inside and outside the organisation.

Job Desirable Characteristics

Autonomy

– the extent to which a job allows the

employee to

exercise choice and discretion in their work.

Feedback

– the extent to which the job itself (as

opposed to

other people) provides the employee with information

on their

performance.

Job Desirable Characteristics

A motivating potential score (MPS) can then be

produced

for every job using the following formula:

(

SV

+

TI

+

TS

)

MPS = --------------------- x

AU

x

FB

3

Approaches to Job Design

There are a number of approaches to job

design

that can be used to bring these desirable job
characteristics to employees’ work.

These include

job rotation

,

job enlargement

and

job enrichment

.

Job Rotation

Job rotation

involves a worker changing job

roles

with another worker on a periodic basis.

Job rotation could reduce repetition in the job and

increase

skill variety but could also disrupt the smooth flow

of work.

Job Enlargement

Job enlargement

involves allocating a larger

number of tasks to workers.

Job enlargement could also make the job less

monotonous

and therefore provide a more meaningful job.

Job Enrichment

Job enrichment

is about allocating extra

tasks

which involve more decision making, greater
autonomy and greater control over the job.

If successfully implemented, job enrichment can

increase

all five desirable job characteristics.

Job Enlargement vs Job

Enrichment

Empowerment

Empowerment

means giving employees

more

authority and responsibility in decision

making,

which enables them to make changes to the

job

itself and how this is performed.

Empowerment

The concept of

empowerment

is particularly

relevant to service operations, as customers

and

employees are expected to interact during the
service delivery process.

As the process may be performed in a very different way each

time,

the employee will require higher levels of autonomy in order to

satisfy

individual customer needs.

Other aspects of Job Design

In addition to behavioural factors, job design

should

consider the physical effect of work on the

employee.

e.g. - room temperatures

- amount of working space provided
- interaction with computer terminals
etc.

Other aspects of Job Design

To assist with the physical design of a job, data
related to the physical attributes of a human

being

should be considered.

anthropometric data

e.g. What is the average size, shape or strength of

various

parts of the human body?

A work area

Another work area

Group work

Think of a job hat you have done sometime in your
life. In small groups, talk about your experience in
that job paying particular attention to different

aspects

(both behavioural and physical) of its design. Use the
various concepts and tools introduced in this lecture
as a guide in your assessment.