Impact Of Job Design On Employee Performance

Print   

02 Nov 2017

Disclaimer:
This essay has been written and submitted by students and is not an example of our work. Please click this link to view samples of our professional work witten by our professional essay writers. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of EssayCompany.

Human Resource is the most important resource compared with other resources like machine, material, land, etc. In the organizational context, the effectiveness of human resource depends on designing the job according to human capability and characteristics. Job design is the most important function of Human Resource Management. It indicates that, designing of contents, methods, functions of a job.

The education is the most important to produce a total man with the knowledge, attitudes and skills required not only for the present world but also for that of the future. In the case of delivery of quality education, the teachers are the most crucial & valuable resource.

The performance of an employee is that, how well an employee performs his or her task duties and responsibilities. Employees’ performance is also crucial. Because the achievement of goals and objectives of the organization is assessed by performance of its resources, employees’ performance should be assessed and maintained periodically. Teachers also one of the employees category in the education sector. Therefore, the teachers’ performance also is crucial in education sector. (Hussain Ali and Aroosiya, n.d)

There is an established body of knowledge supporting the idea that certain jobs and goal setting can enhance performance. This research focuses on motivating performance through job design. It is experienced that well designed jobs can have a positive impact on both employee satisfaction and the quality of performance. It is proposed that a well-defined job would enhance motivation, satisfaction and performance of the employees. Thus, for both academicians and practitioners, job design takes on special importance in today’s human resource management. It is essential to design jobs so that stress can be reduced, motivation can be enhanced, and satisfaction of employees and their performance can be improved so that organizations can effectively compete in the global marketplace. (Pooja Garg and Renu Rastogi,2005)

JOB DESIGN

Job Design is the process of putting together various elements to form a job, bearing in mind organizational and individual worker requirements, as well as considerations of health, safety, and ergonomics. Job Design typically refers to the way that a set of tasks, or an entire position is organized.

what tasks are done

when and how the tasks are done

how many tasks are done

in what order the tasks are done

factors which affect the work

organization of the content and tasks

Good design incorporates the relationship with organizational goals and values and should be well understood in order to align and prioritize the job’s responsibilities. The design should: 

Allow for employee input. Employees should have the option to vary activities according to personal needs, work habits, and the circumstances in the workplace.

Give employees a sense of accomplishment.

Include training requirements so employees know what tasks to do and how to do them properly.

Provide good work/rest schedules.

Provide feedback to the employees about their expected performance. (University of Guelph,2012)

BENEFITS OF JOB DESIGN

The following are the benefits of a good job design:

Employee Input: A good job design enables a good job feedback. Employees have the option to vary tasks as per their personal and social needs, habits and circumstances in the workplace.

Employee Training: Training is an integral part of job design. Contrary to the philosophy of "leave them alone’ job design lays due emphasis on training people so that are well aware of what their job demands and how it is to be done.

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

Adjustments: A good job designs allows for adjustments for physically demanding jobs by minimizing the energy spent doing the job and by aligning the manpower requirements for the same.

Job design is a continuous and ever evolving process that is aimed at helping employees make adjustments with the changes in the workplace. The end goal is reducing dissatisfaction, enhancing motivation and employee engagement at the workplace.(Management study guide,2008)

TECHNIQUE OF JOB DESIGN

Various techniques of job design are

Job Enlargement

Job Enrichment

Job Rotation

 

Job Enlargement

Job enlargement expands job horizontally. It increases job scope; that is, it increases the number of different operations required in a job and the frequency with which the job cycle is repeated. By increasing the number of tasks an individual performs, job enlargement, increases the job scope, or job diversity. Instead of only sorting the incoming mail by department, for instance, a mail sorter’s job could be enlarged to include physically delivering the mail to the various departments or running outgoing letters through the postage meter. Job enlargement decreases some boredom but it is not enough to motivate as nature of work remain same.

Job Rotation

Job rotation is the systematic and planned rotation of individuals in pre-determined jobs  (other than their own) so they can gain additional knowledge or skills.  It is done quite a bit for developing managers (because they need to be familiar with operations overall) and also used with others who want to advance to a new role or become more knowledgeable in their current job role.

Some of the major benefits of job rotation are:

It provides the employees with opportunities to broaden the horizon of knowledge, skills, and abilities by working in different departments, business units, functions, and countries

Identification of Knowledge, skills, and attitudes required

It determines the areas where improvement is required

Assessment of the employees who have the potential and caliber for filling the position

Job Enrichment

Job enrichment is an approach to job design.  The focus is to increase the depth of the job (by the amount of discretion and responsibility the job holder has).  It is different from job enlargement (which focuses on increasing the number of tasks a job holder is responsible for performing (more work  /tasks to do!)

In job enrichment, additional tasks are not the focus for the goal, but an increase in tasks could be a result of giving the job holder more authority, discretion, and responsibility for decision making in their current role. It is the most effectively motivating tool used by the organizations which enhances the decision making skills of the managers and helps in their overall development. (allsubjectsforyou,nd)

JOB DESIGN APPROACH

The job characteristics approach was popularized by Hackman and Oldham. According to this approach there is a direct relationship between job satisfaction and rewards. They said that employees will be their productive best and committed when they are rewarded appropriately for their work. They laid down five core dimensions that can be used to describe any job - skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy and feedback.

Skill variety: The employees must be able to utilize all their skills and develop new skills while dealing with a job.

Task Identity: The extent to which an identifiable task or piece or work is required to be done for completion of the job.

Task Significance: How important is the job to the other people, what impact does it create on their lives?

Autonomy: Does the job offer freedom and independence to the individual performing the same.

Feedback: Is feedback necessary for improving performance. (Management study guide,2008)

EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE

Job performance is defined as it focuses directly on employee productivity by assessing the number of units of acceptable quality produced by an employee in a manufacturing environment, within a specific time period. Hence the researcher has developed the working definition for study purpose is that, achievement of targets of the tasks assigned to employees within particular period of time. The success of business depends on employees’ performance. One of the most effective ways to increase business performance and profit is to increase the performance

of employees, from the lowest levels of the organization to senior management .Performance improvement is not only a result of well functioning system but also depends on effective human resource strategies that succeed in recruiting and maintaining a committed and motivated workforce.

The dimensions of performance on which an employee is evaluated are called the criteria

of evaluation. Some several criteria becomes needed in order to evaluate job performance of an employee accurately. The data or information that managers receive on how well employees are performing their jobs can be of three different types. Trait-based information, Behavior-based information, Result based information. Trait-based information identifies a subjective character of the employee such as attitude, initiative or creativity. Behavior-based evaluations of job performance focus on what is included in the job itself . Results are outcomes produced by the employee. Result based information consider employee accomplishment.

For jobs in which measurement is easy and obvious, a results-based approach works well. (Hussain Ali and Aroosiya, n.d)

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The research identifies the various key factors related to job design on employee’s performance. How an education sector make employees performance better in their jobs through job design.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The main aim of this study is to see the following:-

The purpose of this study is to find reasons of job design that its impact on the performance.

To find out what are the factors through which employees performance can be satisfied.

To explore the aspects of the job that employees value the most.

SCOPE

This research has been undertaken in schools within the Karachi, targeted will be Gulshan , Gulshan-e-Iqbal , Gulshtan-e-Jhaur, primary data has been collected through the school teachers.

Delimitation

During the formation of this report certain factors have been considered which may vary due to change in economic factors and change in situation. Respondents may be reluctant to give appropriate response.

CHAPTER # 2

RESEARCH METHOD AND PROCEDURE

2.1 Research design

The research design consists of the following steps to be followed:

Purpose of the study

Sampling

Instrument and data collection

2.2 Purpose of the study

The purpose of this study is to find reasons employee satisfaction about job design.

2.3 Sampling

Identification Of Target Population

The target population consisted of employees working in private schools.

Sample Size

The sample size consists of 15 employees of any 4 schools who were asked to fill out questionnaires (refer annexure A). I have used the most convenient sampling method.

2.4 Instrument and data collection

Secondary Data

Secondary sources of data has been the relevant and related published material available in the library and the pertinent data acquired from the web. References thereto, wherever applicable, are given in the last section of the research.

Primary Data

Primary data for this research has been gathered by the help of questionnaire.

Scoring for job designed questionnaire

To analyze five dimensions of the job: Skill variety, Task Identity, Task Significance, Autonomy, and Feedback

Job Design Questionnaire

Directions: Listed below are some statements about your job. For each statement, darken in your response based on how much you agree or disagree with it? The questionnaire finds out the extend to which one possess job design. The 15 questions items are divided in to 5 factors . Likert scale is use to evaluate answers.

Employee performance:-

The perceived degree of employee past performance was operationalized into three dimension such as trait , behaviors, and result. A questionnaire was developed to measure the variable of employee performance and it has 6 question and were divided into three factors traits, behaviors and result. Likert scale was used to evaluate the answers

CHAPTER # 3

LITERATURE REVIEW

Article 1

Happiness: - The Neglected Role of Job Design

Science Daily (May 31, 2011) — People who are given greater variety and independence in their jobs feel both less stressed and more satisfied, according to findings which suggest that several management practices designed to make employees more efficient also make them happier.

Employees are also more likely to be happy when management readily shares information and consults with them, the study shows.

Stephen Wood, the University of Leicester Professor of Management who led the research, said: "The way jobs are designed has a huge impact on employees' sense of happiness at work. But this is in danger of being neglected, at a time when people are worrying about unemployment, job security and the fairness of large salaries."

The research measures two separate forms of well-being: anxiety and job satisfaction. It tests to see whether either is different in workplaces where executives practice what management gurus call "high performance work systems": boosting performance by giving people greater involvement in their own companies. This includes granting employees more variety and autonomy -- what Wood calls "enriched jobs." It also includes "informative management": telling people more about changes in their company, including staffing and its overall financial performance. Another example is greater consultation between bosses and employees where both sides can put forward their views: "consultative management."

Professor Wood says: "The current government's desire to measure our well-being seems largely to have provoked public debates about whether money can make us happy. This research shows there are ways of treating people at work that can make them happier, which have little to do with money."

The study is reported in a paper written by Professor Wood and Lilian de Menezes, Professor at Cass Business School in London. The paper suggests that in particular, "Enriched jobs appear to be key to well-being at work." The report adds: "An enriched job may also increase opportunities for skill use and development, job variety, and the sense of being valued or playing a significant role in the organization or society, thus adding to the potential impact on well-being."

Taking the findings into the practical realm, the authors recommend: "Our study implies that priority should be given to initiatives that enrich jobs, enhance consultation and improve information sharing and consultation." Wood also stresses that future surveys of well-being organized by the government should include the quality of work. The government is still discussing how precisely to measure well-being.

The study also shows that performance-related pay, one widely-used management tenet of high performance work systems, makes no difference to satisfaction or stress. Performance-related pay includes bonuses given to City workers and other employees.

The research is based on data from the government's 2004 Workplace Employee Relations Survey, which involved 22,451 employees at 2,295 workplaces in the UK. Professors Wood and de Menezes used data gathered from questionnaires filled out by the employees and the interviews with managers at the same workplaces.

For example, managers were asked whether they designed core jobs so employees had "a lot" of influence over how they did their work at one extreme, or no influence at the other. Employees were asked about their well-being at work, such as whether they felt tense "all of the time" at one end, to "never" at the other.

The analysis then correlated the measures of management practice, such as how managers design jobs, with the measures of the well-being of employees.

While the study presents practical evidence of how to make people happier at work, other research suggests there has been a long-term decline in job autonomy -- although it may have stabilized recently at a low level. Individual autonomy at British call centers, for example, is exceptionally low compared with other countries, according to another study by Professor Wood and David Holman of Manchester Business School.

Article 2

Job Design

By (Kapil Dev n,d) Productivity is vital for any organization. However, managers should take care that the process of productivity improvement does not dehumanize jobs. Dehumanization of jobs could lead to degradation of workers' performance.

Job design principles can address problems such as work overload, work under load, repetitiveness, limited control over work, isolation, delays in filling vacant positions, excessive working hours, and limited understanding of the whole job process. Managers try to design jobs in such a way that they are technically, behaviorally and economically feasible for workers as well as the organization.

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.

Job design is affected by organizational, environmental and behavioral factors. A properly designed job will make it more productive and satisfying. Job design requires the assembly of a number of tasks into a job or a group of jobs. An individual may carry out one main task which consists of a number of inter-related elements or functions. On the other hand, task functions may be split between a team, working closely together or strung along an assembly line. In more complex jobs, individuals may carry out a variety of connected tasks; each with a number of functions, or these tasks may be allocated to a group of workers or divided between them.

Job design decisions are based on elements like job content, degree of specialization required, and work environment in the organization. Job design helps managers carry out job analysis and develop job specifications.

Thus job design helps managers conduct activities like recruitment and selection, orientation and training. While making the decision to employ a new employee, job design plays an important role in determining factors such as -How many hours per week the job is for? Will the job be ongoing or short term? Where will the job be located? What will the wage be? Can the job be completed in a flexible way?

To hire the right candidates who suit their work environment and requirements recruiters need a platform to get across to the job seekers. It also important for the job seekers to pick up a job that suits their personality and interest as the first step will play a deciding role in shaping their career and position in life

Article 3

Understanding Employee Performance

By: Adam Smith

Accurately tracking and reporting employee performance can present a huge problem for even the smallest of companies, not to mention much larger corporations. The value of tracking employee performance is quite apparent. When all is said and done your business needs to be profitable. If employee performance is not closely watched the business will continue to allow underperforming employees to hurt the bottom line. The health of the business depends on understanding and making informed decisions based on employee performance research.

To this end a few business software technology companies have developed dashboard solutions to ease the burden of tracking and understanding employee performance data. Fittingly this dashboard software solution is commonly referred to as a performance dashboard.

The information displayed by the performance dashboard is based on the leading indicators of performance that your organization has identified. These leading indicators are also thought of as key performance indicators. A key performance indicator serves as a variable that helps quantify the level of performance any given employee is realizing. For instance, in a sales environment one key performance indicator might be the level of sales dollars a particular representative brings in each month.

Continuing with this example, as management examines the performance dashboard - which displays the key performance indicators and their values for each employee - surely they will want to know which employees are underperforming in terms of the amount of sales dollars they bring in each month. Management will probably weight the key performance indicators as they see fit Psychology Articles, then use the information displayed on the performance dashboard to rank the sales representatives from best to worst. In this manner they can objectively examine employee performance across the board and hopefully identify ways to improve the performance of underperforming employees.

The real value of a performance dashboard really lies in being able to bring all relevant information together in one spot and present it in such a way that the information is understandable and can be interpreted accurately. A performance dashboard enhances the decision making process as it relates to employee performance by saving managers valuable time and providing them with equally valuable information so they can make the right decision.

Any business that relies heavily on its employee workforce should seriously consider using a performance dashboard to analyze employee performance. A performance dashboard has proven its worth by helping countless managers get the most out of their employees by identifying the strengths and weaknesses of their workforce. Weaknesses can be fortified once they are recognized but if you are lacking the ability to identify the key performance indicator that weighs in below average across the board then you will have a hard time righting the ship. A performance dashboard helps you determine which key performance indicator is a problem area and will require additional training to boost employee performance.

Article 4

Human Factors in Job Design

By : N Nayab

Job Design, or the way of combining tasks to organize complete jobs, plays a key role in ensuring workplace efficiency and employee morale. The success of a job design initiative depends on many factors, of which human factors rank paramount. Read on for the common human factors in job design.

Job design is the process of deciding the contents of a job, the techniques, systems, and procedures required to carry out the job, and the relationship of the jobholder with other workers. It determines the nature and number of tasks done, the way of doing such tasks, and the order of doing such tasks in a job. The key elements of job design include pacing tasks to machines, scheduling work and break hours, work layout and handling procedures, job rotation, job enlargement, and job enrichment.

The human factor is the science of understanding human capability and the application of the same to the design, development, and deployment of systems and services.

The process of job design entails considering all factors that affect work, and human factors guidelines rank paramount. A proper job design eliminates employee issues related to work overload or under load, repetitiveness and monotony, isolation, and comprehension of the whole job process.

Physical Factors

Job design determines the extent of muscular energy required for the job. Human factors in job design strive to minimize the energy expenditure and force requirements, and they also accommodate considerations of human capabilities when designing the job. The ways of doing so include:

Balancing static and dynamic tasks.

Designing rest breaks.

Providing task variety and job enlargement to avoid excessive static body positions and repetitive movements.

Coordinating tasks to balance workload for the individual and the team.

Providing allowance for adjustment periods for new employees and for employees returning from vacations or extended leaves to "get in shape"

Designing work pattern and process to ensure safety of employee.

Ergonomics

An important consideration of job design is workplace ergonomics. Improperly designed jobs can cause various injuries such as carpel tunnel syndrome, tennis elbow, and other conditions, arising out of repetitive movements, extreme temperatures, use of improper tools, and other work-related aspects.

Job-design ergonomics concentrates on optimizing the workstation and tools and ensuring that the worker remains aligned with the work process in the best possible way, eliminating awkward body positions, and ensuring minimal strain or musculoskeletal injury. Consideration of human factors also emphasizes designs that reduce the potential for human error.

Mental Factors

A good job design strikes a balance between mental and physical activity required for the work.

A good job design strives to incorporate human factors guidelines by allowing the worker to vary activities according to personal needs, work habits, and specific workplace circumstances. For instance, the job design may allow workers some degree of choice of time to do mental tasks, allowing them to perform such tasks during their best state of alertness.

Job design helps to strike a balance between boring and extremely difficult tasks through task variety, job rotation, job enlargement, and job enrichment. For instance, job design provides an assembly line worker some inspection or quality control jobs to alleviate the stress of repeated and monotonous work.

Human Factors

Incorporation of human factors in job design raises worker self-esteem and produces feelings of achievement and self-esteem, and also contributes greatly to eliminating stress from the workplace. This in turn reduces employee-related problems such as grievances and absenteeism and increases job satisfaction, leading to better efficiency and productivity.

Article 5

Job Design Principles and Techniques of Job Design in HRM

By Devang Jhaveri

Job Design Principles and Techniques of Job Design in HRM

It is rarely possible for jobs to be designed to incorporate all the characteristics listed when discussion is all about Human Resource Management. Some will need to be traded off against others. Following are the key principles of job designing in Human Resource Management.

Job design principles

Form a coherent whole, either independently or with related jobs. Performance of the job (or jobs) should make a significant contribution to the completion of the product or service, a contribution which is visible to the job holder.

Provide some variety of pace, method, location and skill

Provide feedback of performance, both directly and through other people

Allow for some discretion and control in the timing, sequence and pace of work efforts

Include some responsibility for outcome

Provide some opportunity for learning and problem-solving (within the individual’s competence)

Be seen as leading towards some sort of desirable future

Provide opportunity for development in ways that the individual finds relevant.

Job Design Techniques

Job Rotation: Job Rotation is a movement of employee from job to job. In job rotation employee perform different jobs, but, more or less, jobs of the same nature.

Job Enlargement: The combining of various operations at a similar level in to one job to provide more variety for workers and thus increase their motivation and satisfaction represents an increase in job scope

Job Enrichment: The combining of several activities from a vertical cross section of the organization in to one job to provide the worker with more autonomy and responsibility; represent an increase in job depth.

Autonomous Teams: A self-directed work team is an intact group of employee who are responsible for a "whole" work process or segment that delivers a product or service to an internal or external customer.

High Performance Work Design: It is a means of improving performance in an environment where positive and demanding goals are set. It starts from principles of autonomous group working and develops an approach, which enables groups to work effectively together in situation where the rate of innovation is high. Operation flexibilities are important and there is, therefore, the need for employee’s to gain and apply new skills quickly with minimum supervision.

Work Simplification: "A job is broken down in to small sub parts and each part, is assigned to one individual" is called work simplification.

Improved Job Design and Job Satisfaction

The introduction of teamwork also provides some attractions to those who advocate a better quality of working life and who are seeking ways of enriching jobs through better design. Whilst accepting that teams choose to operate in different ways, many of the desirable job characteristics as identified by Hackman and Oldham are capable of being fulfilled through teamwork. These include:

Variety of tasks – requiring the use of several skills

Autonomy – of the operator in deciding the order or pace of work

Identity – the task forms a whole job or larger part of the whole job

Responsibility – individuals accountable to each other for what is produced

Feedback – constant information on how the operator is performing

Social contact – constant opportunity (except perhaps in some cell working arrangements where individuals can feel isolated) for interaction with colleagues

Balanced workload – team members can help each other to even out peaks and troughs in their work

Minimal role ambiguity or conflict – the team has the opportunity to deal swiftly with any problem of 'who does what'. In the modern TQM culture, teams are required to ensure quality standards are given higher emphasis than simply reaching output quotas

Achievement and development – with the finished product often in view, and with their responsibilities for quality in mind; team members can be satisfied with a job well done

The general increase in the level of interpersonal skills required provides good opportunities for learning and development.

CHAPTER # 4

DATA PRESENTATION

CHAPTER # 6

REFERENCES

Chp1

Hussain Ali and Aroosiya, 2010, IMPACT OF JOB DESIGN ON EMPLOYEES’ PERFORMANCE, ICBI 2010 - University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka , viewed 3rd nov 2012

http://www.kln.ac.lk/fcms/ICBI2012/images/ICBM/dccs/Microsoft%20Word%20-%20HRM013.pdf

Pooja Garg, Renu Rastogi, (2006) "New model of job design: motivating employees' performance", Journal of Management Development, viewed 1st nov’12

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1556757&show=html

University of Guelph,2012,Human Resourse,Job design,viewed 6th nov 2012

http://www.uoguelph.ca/hr/hr-planning/job-design

Management study guide,2008, Job Design - Meaning, Steps and its Benefits ,viewed 6th nov 2012

http://www.managementstudyguide.com/job-design.htm

Management study guide,2008, Job Design - Approaches to Job Design ,viewed 6th nov 2012

http://www.managementstudyguide.com/job-design.htm

all subjects for you,nd,Job design viewed 6thnov 2012

http://www.allsubjects4you.com/Management-job-design.htm

Chp 3

Science News Happiness: The Neglected Role of Job Design ScienceDaily (May 31, 2011) ,viewed 20th nov 12

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110531092002.htm

Job Design - Vital For Organizations,enziarticles, Kapil Dev ,viewed 23rd nov 12

http://ezinearticles.com/?Job-Design---Vital-For-Organizations&id=2828194

Understanding Employee Performance, Adam Smith viewed 23rd nov 12

https://www.brantjobs.ca/understanding-employee-performance.htm

Human Factors in Job Design ,By : N Nayab ,viewed 23rd nov 12

http://www.brighthub.com/office/human-resources/articles/102861.aspx

Human-Resources,Devang Jhaveri, Job Design Principles and Techniques of Job Design in HRM viewed 23rd nov12

http://www.evancarmichael.com/Human-Resources/3437/Job-Design-Principles-and-Techniques-of-Job-Design-in-HRM.html

Appendix

For this purpose I took a standard questionnaire from http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/jobsurvey.html which help to complete my primary data.



rev

Our Service Portfolio

jb

Want To Place An Order Quickly?

Then shoot us a message on Whatsapp, WeChat or Gmail. We are available 24/7 to assist you.

whatsapp

Do not panic, you are at the right place

jb

Visit Our essay writting help page to get all the details and guidence on availing our assiatance service.

Get 20% Discount, Now
£19 £14/ Per Page
14 days delivery time

Our writting assistance service is undoubtedly one of the most affordable writting assistance services and we have highly qualified professionls to help you with your work. So what are you waiting for, click below to order now.

Get An Instant Quote

ORDER TODAY!

Our experts are ready to assist you, call us to get a free quote or order now to get succeed in your academics writing.

Get a Free Quote Order Now