Job Design

 

Job design is the process of creating a Job in order to perform tasks and thereby meeting the organization objective and inspiring and rewarding employees in the same time. And it is a one of critically important activity that means well design Jobs contribute to higher productivity and Quality of work while bringing Job satisfaction to employees. Then, HR manger have to actively participate for Job design activity. In modern business context, job design is a ongoing activity that have to be done repeatedly,  because it  necessitate the new Jobs as company business activity is bound to change usually. Then  organization’s internal  have to be  reformed  and restructured  in order to  cope with change, hence jobs roles is also needed to be changed accordingly.

Definition of Job Design

Job design is the process of identifying and compiling of roles and responsibilities of particular job then it is also accompanied by identifying the required Qualifications, skills experience that have to be possessed  by relevant employees in order to perform that job role consistently. Further, Job design is also encompassed by  formulating the working standard, procedures, methods, required quality level and hierarchal relationship with other job position of organization, and also extent of remuneration for related job etc.

Why Job Design is Important

Job Design is one of a critically important activity of Business management. Cohesive and consistent job design contribute performance of Organization and also employees satisfaction as well. If each job’s  roles and responsibilities have been designed cohesively, It streamline the function of organization and it smothering the activity flow of organization, thence it enhance the overall performance of organization exponentially. On the other hand, it enhance job satisfaction of employees.

More importantly, if each job Position’s roles and responsibilities have been  clearly defined and delineated, it reduce the interface and collisions between different job roles of organization. Then cause to reduce disputes among employees which in turn positively contribute to organization success and also it create a positive working environment for employees   which is often appreciated & anticipated by employees.   

Factors have to be considered for Job Design

Job Design is complex and challenging demanding Higher level of analytical skills, creativity and professionalism over the scope of work, and communication skills, because multiple Have to be considered for this activity. Followings are the factors that have to be considered as job designing

 Company objectives

Different company may have different objectives, and also particular company objective can changes from time to time as a respond to  changes in Business world, and the context of external business environment, also Internal reasons such as changes in leadership etc. then there can be different objectives such as Diversification of business, surviving, merging, expanding etc.

Then what ever the company objective it cause to shape the job role of particular company, the company internal structure have to be reformed according to company objective because nature of work activity, Type, Quality and the scale is related to company objective.

For example

Lets take a textile company, now the company have a objective to diversify it’s business activity, under that they decided to start a tourist company, Now,  they can not applied  organization structure, that they used to textile to manage tourist company, instead, they have to identify the scope of tourist  business and , thence design the job roles and responsibilities accordingly.

 External environment

External environmental factors cause to determine  the constituent of   roles and responsibility of particular  job, and to decide the required qualifications for perform particular job, If the influence of external factors is higher on a particular business, the employee who perform particular job, should have a higher level of professionality and appropriate leadership style, and related academic and non academic qualification.

Further, hierarchical relationship related to particular job, have to be structured according to external factors,

For example

Lets take a construction industry, construction industry is highly sensitive to external environment such as economic, political and natural

Then lets take a example a Bridge project, The bridge projects are  intrinsically  highly prone to Weather changes such as high flood or heavy rain, Because of that, related technical officers and engineers job role  have to be redesign according to environmental conditions of particular location where the project is taken placed

 Production process and level of Quality

The roles and responsibility of a particular job is largely determined by the production process. Procedures, Technologies, type of machinery, and level of skills, experience & professionality of relevant employees is largely depend on the type of the production and the process and level of Quality.

For example

Apparel industry have different technologies and machinery to produce textile production, and they have a specific production process, but construction industry use different machinery and technologies for their construction activities. More importantly, they have entirely different production process when comparing it with textile industry

Then, level of Quality of same production have to be considered to designing job role, because if it must be deployed highly skilled employees to increase the Quality of a particular production and different machine, may be different procedures, technologies, testing and Quality control methods etc.

For example, Lets take two  Construction projects, One is tourist hotel construction  project and another is a industrial construction project. Both are building construction projects, how ever for tourist construction project needs high Quality finishings and interior decoration compared to industrial projects, therefore the relevant technical officers and supervisors have to focus on the Quality of finishings rather that industrial building projects, then they have to adhere  separate working procedures, they may need to use different technologies, they may need higher level of Qualifications or skills etc, hence, job role of have to be decided according to the required Quality level of production  

Hence job roles, responsibility  and required Qualification of workers, hierarchical relationship between Job position and also rewarding methods have to be determined according to production type,  process and level of Quality.

Conclusion

Job design is  a crucial activity of business management and also HR manger have to actively participate for that activity, and it is complex and challenging activity demanding higher level of creativity, Knowledge and analytical skills. Then, the production process, company objectives and environmental factors have to be considered as designing job.  

 Reference

Erik Van Vulpen, 2020, AIHR Academy(Online), Job Design; A practitioners Guide, Available at- https://www.aihr.com/blog/job-design/ , [ Accessed on 13^th December 2021]

Adam Robinson, 2021, Hierology today( online),  5 steps to design a job that motivates employees, Available at- https://hireology.com/blog/design-a-job-that-motivates-employees/ , [ Accessed on 14^th December 2021]

Hitesh Bhasin, 2021, MMarketing91( Online), Job Design – Meaning Characteristics and Principles, Available at- https://www.marketing91.com/job-design/ , [ Accessed on 15^th December 2021]

Gaurav Akrani, 2011, Kalyan city life( Online),  What is Job Design? Meaning, Importance, Factors Affecting, Available at-  https://kalyan-city.blogspot.com/2011/09/what-is-job-design-meaning-importance.html, [ Accessed on 14^th December 2021]