What are the major factors which affect job design?
What are the major factors which affect job design?
Ans.
Factors Affecting Job Design
A well defined job will make the job interesting and satisfying for the employee and the result will be increased in the performance and productivity.
If a job fails to appear compelling and leads to employee dissatisfaction, it simply means that the job has to be redesigned on the basis of feedback from the employee. Thus, various factors that affect a job design can be classified as under:
(1) Organizational Factors: In an organisation, people assemble and work together in order to achieve some common objectives. There are some important factors which shape an organisation, are called organisational factors. These factors are as under:
(i) Work Nature: There are various elements of a job and job design. These elements are required to classify the various tasks into a job or into a set of jobs. These tasks are planning, executing, monitoring, controlling etc. and all these tasks are to be taken into consideration while designing a job.
(ii) Work Flow: Product and service type are determined on the basis of sequence of work flow. So due to this nature, work flow includes a balance between various products or service processes and a job design ensures this.
(iii) Culture: Organisational culture determines the way of tasks which are carried out at the work places. Practices or methods or standards are laid out for carrying out a certain task. So, these practices often affect the job design especially when the practices are not aligned in the interest of the unions.
2. Environmental Factors: Environmental factors affect the job design to a considerable extent. These factors include both the internal as well as the external factors. The factors include other related factors like employees skills and abilities, their availability and their socio-economic and cultural prospects. The management faces two types of environment:
(i) Internal Environment:
(a) Strategy,
(b) Structure,
(c) Personnel capability,
(d) Financial capability,
(e) Marketing capability,
(f) Operating capability,
(g) Technical capability,
(h) Internal powers and relationship capability.
(ii) External Environment:
(a) Micro Environment:
(1) Suppliers,
(3) Competitors,
(2) Customers or clients,
(4) Market intermediaries
(5) Public.
(b) Macro Environment:
(1) Economic environment,
(2) Political and legal environment,
(3) Socio cultural environment,
(4) Technological environment,
(5) Ecological or natural environment,
(6) International environment etc.
3. Behavioural Factors: Behavioural factors or human factors are those that pertain to the human need and that to be satisfied for ensuring productivity at work place, Behavioural factors include the elements like autonomy, diversity, feedback etc. A brief explanation of these are as under:
(i) Autonomy: Employees want to work in a favourable atmosphere like without fear and in positive terms. Employees should work in an open environment. It promotes creativity, independence and increases efficiency.
(ii) Feedback: Feedback is the degree for which the job provides clear and timely information about performance results. Feedback should be an integral part of work. Each employee should receive proper feedback about his work performance.
(iii) Diversity: Repetitive jobs often make work monotonous which create problem. A job should carry sufficient diversity and variety so that it remains interesting with every passing day. Job variety or diversity should be given due importance while designing a job.
(iv) Use of Skills and Abilities: Jobs should be employee rather than process centered. Though due emphasis needs to be given to the latter but jobs should be designed in a manner so that an employee is able to make full use of his abilities and performs the job effectively.
Thus these are the factors which affect a job design.
