Job Design

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Job Design

Published by: sadikshya

Published date: 01 Jun 2021

Job Design photo

Job Design

Job design is the primary function of organizational structure. It is the process of determining an individual’s work-related responsibilities. It is the process of a logical breakdown of a complex work into small and manageable units.

A single person is physically and psychologically unable to perform the entire complex job even if he is an expert in certain sectors of business. Division of work facilities workers to choose the job on the basis of their interest and ability.

Job design facilitates grouping activities, a delegation of authority and responsibility, and coordination of activities among the subordinates. It also helps to maintain a formal relationship among individuals so that they can perform their work effectively for achieving common objectives.

Approaches/ Techniques of job design

Job design is the process of determining individual work’s related responsibilities. it is done to make individuals responsible for a limited set of activities.

The following are the common approaches to job design:

1. Job Specialization

It is the process of dividing the overall task of an organization into smaller component parts and each job is entrusted to the capable employee. The development of specialization ensures simplicity and accuracy in performance. It minimizes the wastages of resources and brings uniformity in organizational functions.

2. Job Rotation

Job rotation implies the movement of employees from one job to another. In job rotation employees perform different jobs having the same nature. It increases the intrinsic reward potential of a job as different skills and abilities are necessary to perform it. The main benefit of job rotation is that employees become competent in different jobs.

3. Job Enlargement

It is the process of horizontal expanding the number of tasks assigned to a given job. Enlargement of more tasks to a job does not mean that new knowledge and skill are necessary for doing it. In job enlargement, all employees perform a wide variety of tasks which reduces the level of job dissatisfaction.

4. Job Enrichment

It is the process of vertical expansion of tasks assigned to a given job. It gives employees to perform more tasks of higher-level skills and responsibility. It provides an opportunity for employees to maintain self-control over how to do their jobs. Job enrichment has both positive and negative impacts.

5. Job Characteristics

The job characteristics approach assumes that jobs can be designed to help get employment opportunities and to make them feel they are doing meaningful and valuable work. This approach specifies that enriching certain elements of jobs alerts people’s psychological states to enhance their work effectiveness.

6. Work Team

In the work team, a group is assigned responsibility for designing the work system to be used in performing an interrelated set of jobs. In this system, the workflows from one worker to another and each worker has a specified job to perform.