Job Design Strategies

 

 

(Robinson, 2021)

 

Job design is the process of organizing job tasks, duties, and responsibilities to maintain employee satisfaction and engagement. It involves identifying the necessary knowledge, skills, and abilities needed for the job and the tasks and responsibilities that have to be performed. Job design is a constant, ongoing process as the global environment of roles, duties, responsibilities, and employee needs and the market is constantly shifting (Frislid, 2023).

Successful job design helps align both business and employee values, resulting in reduced turnover and increased productivity. Regular job design also allows organizations to stay up-to-date on the ever-evolving work expectations and landscape to attract top talent and provide current employees the opportunity to succeed in their positions and enhance their overall competencies (Indeed, 2023). Furthermore, proper job design can address potential hazards and ergonometric concerns and help prevent workplace injuries and illnesses. Clearly defined benchmarks in the job design also make it easier to recognize and reward exceptional work performances. (Seema, 2023). Some job design strategies used by organizations to increase productivity and efficiency include:

 

(iEduNote, 2023)

 

Job Rotation

Job rotation is a unique, common strategy where the organization moves employees to different jobs within the organization to help them develop new skills, gain exposure and learn new roles. Employees in job rotation are uniquely placed to cover absences for employees in other teams or departments and gain an understanding of the full operation of the organization. This can prove useful in succession planning, minimizing skills gaps, and keeping employees engaged and adaptable to ever-changing roles (Frislid, 2023). According to Fargri et al. (2010), job rotation enhances employees’ problem-solving skills and helps them gain an understanding of their job holistically.

 

Job Enrichment

Job enrichment is focused on creating opportunities for an employee to find greater levels of satisfaction in their current employment. This can be done by grouping related tasks to promote role clarity, helping them build relationships and role significance by introducing new partners and stakeholders, or finding ways to provide developmental feedback and career pathing. An organization should look into several factors when working toward job enrichment, including skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback (Frislid, 2023). An enriched job will have more responsibility, autonomy, various tasks, and growth opportunities (iEduNote, 2023).

 

Job Enlargement

Job enlargement refers to adding more responsibilities to an existing role. This helps the employee learn new skills and work on new, related tasks. For example, if there is an appliance technician who regularly works only on refrigerators, the organization can expand their role to include washing machines. This can apply to a white-collar job as well, such as enlarging the position of an accountant who only does expense reporting to include assisting with general ledgers. Job enlargement helps reduce monotony and gives employees the opportunity to take on additional responsibilities (Frislid, 2023).

 

Job Simplification

Job simplification involves removing tasks or responsibilities from an existing role to make it more specific. This strategy can be adopted for many reasons. One, the job has taken on more responsibilities over time and can no longer be managed by one person. Two, the organization wants to create a role focused on specific tasks to get more productive in completing them (Frislid, 2023).

 

Job Reengineering

Job reengineering, also known as job redesign or work redesign, involves restructuring the tasks, duties, and responsibilities of a specific job to make it more encouraging and inspiring to the employee. Job reengineering includes revising, analyzing, altering, reforming, and reshuffling job-related content and dimensions to increase the variety of functions and assignments to motivate employees and make them feel like an important asset to the organization. The ultimate goal of job reengineering is to place the right person in the right role and achieve the maximum output while improving their satisfaction levels (Juneja, 2023).

(Juneja, 2023)

 

Conclusion

Job design is a systematic approach to creating jobs and roles that motivate employees and add value to the organization. There are various strategies used by organizations to design jobs, and each has its own benefits and drawbacks. However, it is critical for organizations and managers to have a sound knowledge of job design and implement it effectively to achieve organizational success.

 

References

Faegri, T. E., Dyba, T. & Dingsoyr, T., 2010. Introducing knowledge redundancy practice in software development: experiences with job rotation in support work. Information and software technology, 5(2), pp. 1118-1132.

Frislid, C. E., 2023. Job design. [Online]
Available at: https://eddy.com/hr-encyclopedia/job-design/
[Accessed 28 April 2023].

iEduNote, 2023. Job design: definition, approaches, techniques, and strategies. [Online]
Available at: https://www.iedunote.com/job-design
[Accessed 28 April 2023].

Indeed, 2023. Job design: definition, importance, and strategies. [Online]
Available at: https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/job-design
[Accessed 28 April 2023].

Juneja, P., 2023. Job redesign: meaning, process and its advantages. [Online]
Available at: https://www.managementstudyguide.com/job-redesign.htm
[Accessed 28 April 2023].

Robinson, A., 2021. 5 steps to design a job that motivates employees. [Online]
Available at: https://hireology.com/blog/design-a-job-that-motivates-employees/
[Accessed 28 April 2023].

Seema, 2023. Job design. [Online]
Available at: https://www.preservearticles.com/human-resource-management/job-design/job-design/31378
[Accessed 28 April 2023].