BBR 3251 JOB DESIGN AND EVALUATION

Definition of job
A specific task done as part of the routine of one's occupation for an agreed price. Job is
impersonal. It is not about the person, its about what is to be done. Job is a type of a position in
an organization.
Hierarchy of job structure
1. Element – is the smallest unit into which a job or work can be divided.
a. E.g - switching on a drill motor is an element of a job of drilling,
- igniting vehicle engine is an element of job of driving
2. task or function – is a distinctive activity of a job which is meaningful. Drilling a hole in
a given plate is a task of drilling job.
3. Duty – a number of tasks assigned to individual worker/employee. The employee has an
obligation to perform the task/duty.
4. Position - is set of duties performed by an employee. Position is personal to employee.
5. Job – job is a type of a position in an organization. A single jog may involve many
positions and duties. E.g in an office that employs 10 typists, there are 10 positions but
one job (typing).
6. Job family – this is the classification of similar jobs (jobs requiring similar skills ) under
one family or groups. E.g driving (truck drivers, bus drivers, earth movers etc ),
machinists – operating different machines,
7. Occupation – classification of similar jobs found across the organization based on distinct
and well-known avocations or trade. Eg accountants, system analysts, engine mechanics
etc

JOB ANALYSIS (JA)

Definition
J.A. is the process of determining the activities, duties, and responsibilities of the job (job
description), with the desired attributes of the person who is most suitable to hold the job (job
specification). This will also assist arranging jobs in a hierarchical order in relation with each
other (job evaluation) for the purpose of fixing compensation (job pricing)
Importance of Job Analysis
1. Job design - It provides information about what work is to be performed on the job. It
helps in identifying the work, grouping it on the basis of similarity of features, defining
relationship amongst different jobs and authority-responsibility structure required to
perform those jobs. It, thus, helps in designing the organization structure.
 2. Human resource planning - It helps in knowing the types of task to be performed,
quality and quantity of people required to perform the job. It also helps in determining the
competencies required to execute the job (knowledge, skills, attitudes and experience)

3. Recruitment and selection - It helps in identifying the sources of human resources. It

aims at maintaining balance between the jobs (tasks and responsibilities of the job) and
the job holders (skills, knowledge and experience of job holders).

4. Placement - It helps in placing the right person at the right job (job fitting). Thus,
reduces incongruence and job misfit.

5. Training and development -It helps in organizing resources , time and priorities for
training and developing the employees. It also help in identifying gaps in competencies
available in an organization.

6. Job evaluation - Job analysis evaluates jobs in terms of their worth and helps in fixing
compensation for the respective jobs and creates orderliness in terms of reporting
structures

7. Performance appraisal - Employees’ performance is appraised against job standards to

make it conform to desired performance and identify training needs as well as
recognitions for high performers.

Job analysis helps in effectively identifying the characteristics of jobs at different levels
so that interventions so desired e.g promotions, restructuring, transfers etc are worth the
effort and benefits to the organization arising out of the costs (higher compensation,
payment to outside experts for appraisals, etc.).

Elements of Job Analysis

1. Job Description
Job description is prepared on the basis of data collected through job analysis. Job description is
a functional description of the contents of what a job entails. It is a narration of the contents of a
job. It is a description of the activities and duties to be performed in a job. It also shows
relationship of the job with other jobs, the equipment and tools required, the nature of
supervision, working conditions and hazards of the job etc. Thus, job description is a written
statement of what a job holder does, how it is done, and why it is done.

Purposes of Job Description

1. Grading and classification of jobs
2. Placement and orientation of new employees

3. Promotions and transfers

4. Outlining for career path

5. Developing work standards

6. Counselling of employees

7. Delimitation/scope of authority

8. Establish job relationships

2. Job Specification
Job specification focuses on the person i.e, the job holder. Job specification is a statement of the
minimum levels of qualifications, skills, physical and other abilities, experience, judgment and
attributes required for performing job effectively. In other words, it is a statement of the
minimum acceptable qualifications that an incumbent must possess to perform a given job. It sets
forth the knowledge, skills and abilities required to do the job effectively.

Job specification specifies the physical, psychological, personal, social and behavioural charac-
teristics of the job holders.

Uses of Job Specification

1. HR planning

2. Performance appraisal

3. Hiring

4. Training and development

5. Job evaluation and compensation

6. Health and safety

7. Employee discipline

8. Work scheduling

9. Career planning
Difference between job descriptions and job specifications

1. Job Evaluation:
Job evaluation is a comparative process of establishing the value of different jobs in a
hierarchical order. It allows one to compare jobs by using common criteria to define the
relationship of one job to another. This serves as basis for grading different jobs and developing
a suitable pay structure for them.

2. Job Pricing

Compensation describes the cash rewards paid to employees in exchange for the services they
provide. It may include base salary, wages, incentives and/or commission. To determine an
appropriate compensation for a position, organizations must,

a) Establish the value of the position based on your organizational requirements (JD, JS &
Job evaluation)
b) Understand what the market is paying for a similar position – labour surveys
c) Affordability
d) Attraction and retention of quality HR
Processes of conducting Job Analysis

1. Planning the Job Analysis

Identify the objectives of the job analysis
 To update current job descriptions,
 To revise current compensation programs in the organization.
 To redesign the jobs in a department or division of the organization.
 To change the structure in parts of the organization to align it better with business
strategies.
a) -Obtain top management support and employee buy-in.
2. Preparations for Job Analysis
a) Identify the jobs under review.
b) Identify who will conduct the JA.
c) Review existing documentation eg Existing job descriptions, organization charts,
previous job analysis information, and other industry-related resources all may be useful
to review.
d) Communicate and explain the process to all key stakeholders eg managers, unions
officials
e) Allocate resources and time

3. Conducting the Job Analysis

The methods selected will determine the time line for the project.
Sufficient time should be allotted for obtaining the information from employees and managers.
Data from job analysis should be sorted by job, the job family, and organizational unit. This step
allows for comparison of data from similar jobs throughout the organization.

4. Developing Job Descriptions and Job Specifications

DJ and JS can be developed by either consultants or employees/managers themselves
First, use of employees/managers may bring in bias of them writing the job descriptions and job
specifications to reflect what they do and what their personal qualifications are, not what the job
requires.

Second, managers and employees vary in their writing skills.

Thirds, validation may cause conflict of interests since managers and employees are supposed to
participate in the validation

Managerial style of the supervisors/managers and the culture of the organization may also affect
the quality of the JD and JS.
Use of experts outside the organization has been widely recommended

5. Maintaining and Updating Job Descriptions and Job Specifications

HR department responsibility ensures that job descriptions and specifications stay.
current. The HR department monitors changes in the business environments and ensures that
current JD and JS serves the purpose of be reviewed accordingly.

Methods/techniques in Job Analysis

1. Observation method – the analyst observe the job understudy directly. Even though the
method gives the advantages of direct observation, it has the limitation of the worker being
conscious of the analyst and in some cases, observation is not possible e.g a doctor treating a
patient
2. Recording method/diary - Here workers are assigned the responsibility of recording their
activities during the performance of their jobs.
Advantages: it gives first hand information
Disadvantages
1. It is not verifiable whether the employee faithfully write down all his activities.
2. That the information will not contain such things as environment, posture, tools or workers
relationship with supervisor
3. Interview method: this involves interviewing a number of workers doing the same job and
eliciting required information.
Advantages.: 1. Accurate
Disadvantages: 1.Time consuming
4. Structured questionnaires - listing out various duties and responsibilities and structured in
form of questionnaire to be completed by the employees
Disadvantages; 1.No feedback or cross-questioning opportunity
5. Conference method.- This is the method of exchanging idea and gathering information, with
the help of experts and supervisors.

JOB EVALUATION
Definition
1. Job evaluation is defined as an attempt to determine and compare the demands which the
normal performance of particular jobs make on normal workers without taking into
account individual abilities or performance of the workers concerned (ILO)
2. To establish on an agreed logical basis, the relative values of different in plant or factory
(ILO)
3. Is the process of analysis and assessment of jobs to ascertain reliably their relative worth
using the assessment as a basis for a balanced wage structure (British Institute of
Management )
4. Is the evaluation or rating of jobs to determine their position in a job hierarchy (Bureau of
Labour Statistics , USA)
Objectives of Job evaluation
Louden and Newton identified the following objectives
1. Secure and maintain complete , accurate impersonal descriptions of each distinct job and
occupations in the organization
2. Provide a standard procedure for determining the relative worth of a job in the
organization – the standards must be empirical and evidence based
3. Determine rate of pay that is fair and equitable in relation to other jobs
- Like jobs for like pay
4. Promote fair and accurate considerations for promotions and transfers

Principles of J.E

1. J.E must evaluate the job but not the man (doer of the job )
2. Elements used for J.E most be common to most jobs for uniformity eg skills,
creativity
3. Clear definition and consistency of these elements make J.E more accurate
4. Secure willing cooperation from employees and supervisors – they must fully
participate
5. Minimize number of wages within each grade

Method of J.E
There are 4 common methods. 2 qualitative and 2 quantitative
Qualitative methods
1. Ranking
Job ranking are normally done by committee of experts formed by the organization.
The committee is composed of representatives from both management and employees(unions).
Procedure
- Formation of expert committee/teams
- Selection of jobs – select the jobs to evaluated eg clerical, admin jobs
- Ranking by department – first the mother departments rank the jobs based on
the importance and difficulty of doing that job
- Integration – combine the ranking of each department into one ranking at the
committee level
Advantages – simple to do and easy to understand ,

- fast and inexpensive

Disadvantages
 - subjective and influenced by personal bias
-specific job requirement are not taken into account- differences in responsibilities and
difficulties of doing the job
2. Classification
Classification predetermines job grades on certain criteria eg skills , knowledge , responsibilities
This method is most commonly used in public services eg civil servants, government
corporations etc
Procedure - prefix or determine grades /classifications
-prepare job descriptions
- identify each jobs in each grades
-allocate all the jobs to each grades
Advant ages - simple, easy to understand and flexible
-new jobs can be easily fixed to the predetermined classifications/grades
- pay fixing is simple because one pay apply to all members within the
classification/grades
Disadvantages - differences in difficulties of doing the job within same grade is ignored
- Unsuitable for modern day jobs where special skills, talents are emphasized
- Lacks scientific bases for forming classes/grades – somehow subjective
3. Factor comparison methods
-This is a quantitative and analytical method. This method overcomes the disadvantages
identified in the ranking and classification method
-In essence the method actually ranks job but the ranking is based on objective criteria
which are factors related the job
- expert committee is used in this method

Procedure – select important job factors used in J.E. Some common factors are
o Mental ability
o Physical ability
o Responsibility
o Work environment
- Rank the factors for key jobs - at this stage the committee evaluate each
factor against the key job and assess their weightage and indicate them in the
forms of ranking
 Illustration
ranking of factors
s Jobs Skill Mental Physical Respon Working
n s ability ability sibility conditions
1 Machinist 2 3 5 2 3
2 Cashier 4 3 2 4 3
3 Typist 3 2 2 1 2
4 Electrician 5 3 3 3 5
5 Driver 1 4 5 3 4

Rate the ranks in terms of money value for each factor. The rate are pre-determined by the expert
committee based on existing laws or regulation
Example – Machinist

Factors Rankings Rates per Job price

hour (ksh.)
Skills 2 4.0 8
Physical ability 5 2.0 10
Mental ability 3 3.0 9
Responsibility 2 2.0 4
Working condition 3 2.0 6

Advantages

 The value of the job is expressed in monetary terms.

 Can be applied to a wide range of jobs.
 Can be applied to newly created jobs.

Disadvantages

 The pay for each factor is based on judgements that are subjective.
 The standard used for determining the pay for each factor may have built in biases that
would affect certain groups of employees (females or minorities).

4. Point rating

-This is the most popular method of J.E. It is an advanced method on the factor comparison.
 -Just as in factor comparison method, key job factor as identified. These factor are further sub-
divided into degrees eg the factor `experience` can be sub-divided into no experience, less
experience, experience with 2 years, with 5 years etc . This sub-division makes the method to be
more accurate.
Procedure – for point rating method
a) Identify compensable factors
Compensable factors form a basis for judging job value and should represent elements common
to the jobs to be evaluated. The compensable factors are generally grouped into a few major
categories, eg
1. Skill
2. Responsibilities
These major categories can then be further subdivided and defined. eg
1. Skill
 Experience
 Knowledge/Education
 Ability
2. Responsibilities
 Fiscal/Budget
 Confidential Information
 Safety
 Supervisory and Project Management
 Degree of Independent Work/Supervision Received
 Complexity of Duties
 Consequences of Error
Note that factors may vary from organization to organization and workplaces, hence this list is
not exhaustive.
b) Assign Points to Factors
Each factor should be divided into levels or degrees to which points are assigned. eg ,
“experience” factor into 5 levels with points distributed as follows:
1. No experience (entry level) = 10 points;
2. 1-3 years’ experience = 30 points;
3. 4-6 years’ experience = 50 points;
4. 7-10 years’ experience = 75 points;
5. Over 10 years’ experience = 100 points.
c) Weigh Factors or Categories of Factors
Determine which factors are most important to particular jobs and assign respective weights to
those factors. eg
Multiply the weight you have assigned each factor by the points assessed in the previous step.
For example, a job that requires 4-6 years’ of experience is given a respective factor point value
of 50 points. Hence value for the experience factor equaling to 75 (50 points x 1.5 weight).

d) Categorize Job
Jobs can then be grouped by total point score and assigned to wage/salary grades so that
similarly rated jobs would be placed in the same wage/salary grade or assigned the same pay
rate.
JOB PRICING
Determinant of job prices
Divided into internal and external determinants

Internal factors
1) Bargaining power/strength of trade unions e.g CBA, strike
2) Productivity - Adequate cash flow, sufficient return on investment, efficiency of
production system may cause management to give extra pay to workers
3) Existing differential/custom and practice,
1) organization have their own culture of payment e.g world bank, Microsoft
are known well payers
2) Encouragement of bonuses and over time by some organization increases
levels of pay
4) Organization and technology applications
1) Stable organization with internal and external stability pay with ease and
fairly high
2) BPR may involve restructuring of pay structures &levels
3) Use of modern technology may raise efficiency, hence reduce operation
cost and thus pay more

External factors
1. Comparability with going rate/market rate
 Employers and unions and staff compare their pay with similar players in
the industry in the economy
2. labour market conditions,
 Employees paradise e.g Europe
 Employers paradise e.g Kenya
3. Cost of living - when inflation is high employers are forced to raise their pay
4. Government Action. Minimum wages e.g in Kenya 13,572 (2021)
5. Regional laws
 Regional laws may demand certain level of compensation for certain common
jobs. E.g East African community, European union, etc

JOB DESIGN
Job design means deciding the contents of a job, duties and responsibilities of the job doer, the
methods of doing the job, and the relationships between the job holder and colleagues. It also
involves the process of putting together various job elements to form a job, bearing in mind
organizational and individual worker requirement and considerations of health, safety and
ergonomics (the study of people's efficiency in their working environment

Definition of Job Design

Job design refers to how a set of tasks, or an entire job, is organized. Job design helps to
determine:

a) what tasks are done,

b) how the tasks are done,
c) how many tasks are done and
d) In what order the tasks are done.

Through job design, organizations try to raise productivity levels by offering non-monetary
rewards such as greater satisfaction from a sense of personal achievement in meeting the
increased challenge and responsibility of one’s work.

Common challenges that require proper job designing

1) work overload,
2) work under load,
3) repetitiveness,
4) limited control over work,
5) isolation,
6) shift work,
7) delays in filling vacant positions,
8) excessive working hours, and
9) limited understanding of the whole job process.

Features of competent Job Design

Good job design accommodates employees’ mental and physical characteristics by paying
attention to:

1) Muscular energy - such as work/rest schedules or pace of work, and

2) Mental energy - such as boring versus complicated tasks.
 3) Allows for employee input - this means employees should have the option to vary
activities according to personal needs, work habits, and the circumstances in the
workplace,
4) accomplishment - Gives an employee a sense of accomplishment,
5) Training and development - employee enabled tasks to do and how to do them properly,
6) feedback – Provides feedback to the employees about their performance,
7) Balances static and dynamic work.

Job design is an ongoing process. The goal is to make adjustments as conditions or tasks change
within the workplace.

Factors Affecting Job Design

A well-defined job will make the job interesting and satisfying for the employee. The result is
increased performance and productivity. If a job fails to appear compelling or interesting and
leads to employee dissatisfaction, it means the job has to be redesigned based upon the feedback
from the employees.

1. Organizational Factors.
2. Environmental Factors.
3. Behavioral Factors.

1. Organizational Factors

These are,

a) Work Nature: There are various job elements, and job design is required to classify
various tasks into a job or a coherent set of jobs. The various tasks may be planning,
executing, monitoring, controlling, etc., and all these are to be considered while
designing a job.
b) Ergonomics: Ergonomics aims to design jobs so that the physical abilities and individual
traits of employees are taken into consideration to ensure efficiency and productivity.
c) Workflow: Product and service type often determines the sequence of a workflow. A
balance is required between the various product or service processes, and a job design
ensures this.
d) Practice and Culture: Organizational culture determines the way tasks are carried out at
the workplace. Practices are methods or standards laid out for carrying out a certain task.
These practices often affect the job design, especially when the practices are not aligned
to the interests of the unions.

2. Environmental Factors
 a) Environmental factors affect job design to a considerable extent. These factors include
both internal as well as external factors. They include factors like employee skills and
abilities, their availability, and their socio-economic and cultural prospects.

b) Employee availability and abilities: Employee skills, abilities, and availability play a
crucial role in designing jobs. The above-mentioned factors of employees who will
perform the job are taken into consideration. Designing a more demanding job and above
their skill set will lead to decreased productivity and employee satisfaction.
c) Socio-economic and cultural expectations: Jobs are nowadays becoming more
employee-centered rather than process-centered. They are, therefore, designed to keep the
employees into consideration. In addition, the literacy level among the employees is also
on the rise. They now demand jobs that are to their liking and competency and which
they can perform the best.

3. Behavioral Factors

Behavioral factors or human factors pertain to human needs and need to be satisfied to
ensure productivity at the workplace.

They include:

a) Autonomy: Employees should work in an open environment rather than one that
contains fear. It promotes creativity, independence and leads to increased
efficiency.
b) Feedback: Feedback should be an integral part of the work. Each employee
should receive proper feedback about his work performance.
c) Diversity: Repetitive jobs often make work monotonous, which leads to
boredom. A job should carry sufficient diversity and variety so that it remains as
interesting with every passing day. Job variety/diversity should be given due
importance while designing a job.
d) Use of Skills and abilities: Jobs should be an employee rather than process-
centered. Though due emphasis needs to be given to the latter, jobs should be
designed so that an employee can make full use of his abilities and perform the
job effectively.
e) Technology – technology affect the way work is designed, organized and
executed in an organization eg use of internet, intranets, working from home

Benefits of Job Design

The following are the benefits of good job design:

1) Employee Input - good job design enables good job feedback. Employees have the
option for various tasks as per their personal and social needs, habits, and circumstances
in the workplace.

2) Employee Training - Training is an integral part of job design. Contrary to the

philosophy of “leave them alone,” job design emphasizes training people to be well
aware of their job demands and how it is to be done.

3) Work/Rest Schedules- Job design offers work and rest schedule by clearly defining the
number of hours an individual has to spend in his/her job.

4) Adjustments - A competent job design allows for physically demanding jobs by

minimizing the energy spent doing the job and aligning the human resources
requirements for the same.

5) Job design is a continuous and ever-evolving - process aimed at helping employees

make adjustments to the changes in the workplace. The end goal is reducing
dissatisfaction, enhancing motivation, and employee engagement at the workplace.

APPROACHES TO JOB DESIGN

Job design is aimed at outlining and organizing tasks and responsibilities associated with a
certain job. It integrates job responsibilities and qualifications or skills that are required to
perform the same.

There are various methods or approaches to doing this.

1. Human Approach.
2. Engineering Approach.
3. Job Characteristics Approach.

1. Human Approach

The human approach of job design emphasized designing a job around the people or employees
and not around the organizational processes.

In other words, it recognizes the need for designing jobs that are rewarding (financially and
otherwise) and interesting at the same time.
According to this approach, jobs should gratify an individual’s need for recognition, respect,
growth, and responsibility.

Herzberg`s two factor theory

In the late 1950s, Herzberg surveyed numerous employees to find out what particular work
elements made them feel exceptionally good or bad about their jobs. The results indicated that
certain job factors are consistently related to employee job satisfaction, while others can create
job dissatisfaction. According to Herzberg, motivating factors (also called job satisfiers) are
primarily intrinsic job elements that lead to satisfaction. Hygiene factors (also called job
dissatisfiers) are extrinsic elements of the work environment

Herzberg’s motivation and hygiene factors are used to explain human approach of job design.

Motivating factors hygiene factors

1) Achievement 1. Company policy

2) Recognition 2. Supervision

3) Work itself 3. Working conditions

4) Responsibility 4. Interpersonal relationships at work

5) Advancement 5. Salary and benefits

6) Growth 6. Job security

2. Engineering Approach

The engineering approach was devised by FW Taylors et al.

In 1913, Frederick W.Taylor published Principles of Scientific Management, ushering in a new

way of understanding the modern organization. Scientific management is a management-oriented
and production-centered perspective of organizational communication.

Taylor believed that the reason most organizations failed was because they lacked systematic
management. That management must rest upon clearly defined laws, rules, and principles, as a
foundation.
According to this approach, the work or task of each employee is planned by the management a
day in advance.

The instructions for the same are sent to each employee, describing the tasks to be undertaken in
detail. The details include what, how, and when of the task and the time deadlines. The approach
is based on the application of scientific principles to job design.

3.Job Characteristics Approach

Hackman and Oldham (1974) popularized the job characteristics approach. According to this
approach, there is a direct relationship between job satisfaction and rewards.

They said that employees would be productive and committed when rewarded appropriately for
their work.

According to the Job Characteristics Model by Hackman and Oldham (1974) , five core job
characteristics were to invoke three psychological states in employees leading to personal and
work results viz,

They laid down five core dimensions that can be used to describe any job viz,

a) Skill variety: The employees must utilize all their skills and develop new skills while
dealing with a job.
 b) Task Identity: The extent to which an identifiable task or piece of work is required to
complete the job.
c) Task Significance: How important is the job to other people, what impact does it create
on their lives?
d) Autonomy: Does the job offer freedom and independence to the individual performing
the same.
e) Feedback: Is feedback necessary for improving performance.

Indexing Scores

Scores can be given to all five indicators (above), which are subsequently combined. This
number functions as an indicator for the general motivating potential of a task or job that is
examined. The index, will represent how the job positively or negatively impacts the employee’s
attitude and behaviour.

The number is called the MPS (Motivating Potential Score). The formula for calculating the
MPS is as follows:

MPS = (skill variety + task identity + task significance) / 3 * autonomy * feedback

According to Hackman and Oldham, a low MPS score means that employees don’t experience
high intrinsic motivation and that the job or task must be redesigned.

From the equation, the conclusion can be drawn that feedback and autonomy have more impact
on motivation than the other indicators.

Furthermore, Hackman and Oldham indicate that an employee can only experience the three
psychological states if they have a high score on all five indicators.

Techniques of Job Design

The following are the most common techniques in job designing

1. Job Simplification.
2. Job Rotation.
3. Job Enlargement.
4. Job Enrichment.
5. Job Reengineering.

1. Job Simplification/specialization
Job simplification means breaking down jobs into small parts, and each part is assigned to an
individual.

Specifically, work simplification is mechanical pacing of work, repetitive work processes,

working only on one part of a product, predetermining tools and techniques, restricting
interaction amongst employees, few skills requirements. Work simplification is used when jobs
do not require specialized skills.

2. Job Rotation

Job rotation means systematically moving workers from one job to another.

Advantages

a) it increases the intrinsic reward potential of a job because of the different skills and
abilities needed to perform it.

b) Workers become more competent in several jobs,

c) improve the self-image and personal growth.

d) the worker becomes more valuable to the organization.

Disadvantages

a) job efficiency may not increase – more of quantitative levels

b) jobs not improve the relationships between tasks, while activities and objectives remain
unchanged.

c) training costs rises,

d) may de-motivate intelligent and ambitious trainees who seek specific responsibilities in
their chosen specialties.

3. Job Enlargement

Job enlargement means assigning workers additional same-level activities. Job enlargement
changes the jobs to include more and/or different tasks. It means expanding the number of tasks
or duties assigned to a given job. Job enlargement is naturally opposite to work simplification.
Adding more tasks or duties to a job does not mean that new skills and abilities are needed.
There is only horizontal expansion.

It is with the same skills taking additional responsibilities like extending working hours etc. Job
enlargement may involve breaking up the existing work system and redesigning a new work
system.

4. Job Enrichment

Job enrichment is the improvisation of both task efficiency and human satisfaction by building
into people’s jobs greater scope for personal achievement and recognition, more challenging and
more opportunity for individual advancement and growth.

An enriched job will have more responsibility, more autonomy (vertical enrichment), more
variety of tasks (horizontal enrichment), and more growth opportunities. The employee does
more planning and controlling with less supervision but more self-evaluation.

5. Job Reengineering

Re-engineering means redesigning a business process so that small multi-disciplinary self-

managing teams get the task done together, all at once. Reengineering identifies the desired
outcome of a system or subsystem and restructures jobs and even departments to increase
performance radically.

Often this is done by eliminating unneeded steps and clustering related responsibilities into one
job or team organized around the process.

Issues in Job Design

These are alternative work patterns that are equally effective in handling an organization’s
functions.

1. Telecommuting / Work from Home

Telecommuting or work from home is considered the best alternative to working from the actual
office. The concept of a virtual office is gaining more and more popularity because of the ease
and convenience associated with it.

Using computer networks, telephones, and an internet connection, employees can communicate
and perform the job from home. It eliminates the need to come to an office every day and offers
employees the convenience to work from the comfort of their homes.
limitations

 lack of employee socialization

 weakens team spirit

 weakens skills upgrade

2. Job Sharing

It is the second most preferable alternative of traditional working styles where two or more
individuals share a full-time job. They divide the tasks, responsibilities, and compensation
according to their mutual consent.

This option is generally used by women on maternity leave or have family and kids to look after
but wants to continue their job. Presently , organizations are open to this working style where
two or more individuals can share a job.

3. Flexi-Working Hours

organizations allow their employees to work according to the timings that suit them best. There
are 3-4 working schedules, and individuals can choose any one of them depending upon their
availability. Employees can work in early hours as well as night hours.

This is good for those individuals who have college or some other engagements during the day or
specific hours of the day. The best part is that, unlike telecommuting, flexible timings give them
a chance to interact with other employees too.

4. Alternative Work-Patterns

Companies allow their employees to work on alternate days, months or seasons. The concept is
common in the European and American world of work. They also have the option of working
two to three full days and can relax after that. Employees can work for a fixed number of hours
and attend to their personal needs during the left days.

5. Techno-stress

Techno-stress is the latest technology to check employees’ performance even when they choose
to work from home. Because of the introduction of new machines, their performance can be
electronically monitored even when they are not aware of it.
 6. Task Revision

Task revision is modifying existing work design by reducing or adding the new job duties and
responsibilities to a specific job.