Different perspectives on the effectiveness of job design
Discuss Job design only benefits employers through increased job performance; it has no benefits for workers.
Internal management of the business organizations is one of the major factors that are being given the major concentration in the current business scenario. This is due to the reason that in the current competitive business scenario, it is important for the contemporary business organizations to have effective internal management process in order to stay competitive in the market. Hence, there are number of factors that should be considered by the business organizations in having effective internal management. Employees are one of the major stakeholders in the internal management of the organizations and thus it is important to have the major concentration on them. Job design is the strategy that is well popular in the current business scenario and is commonly used by the business organizations to enhance the performance of the employees and the entire organization.
However, there are different views regarding the effectiveness of job design being given by different authors. According to some of the authors, job design only helps the organizations by enhancing the performance of the employees but they are having no help for the employees. On the other hand, some other authors have stated that job design is also having benefits for the employees as well similar to the employers and the organizations. This essay will discuss about the different arguments given by different authors regarding the effectiveness of the job design for both the organization and the employees.
According to Jong, Paker, Wennekers and Wu (2015), entrepreneurship ventures are the one that is having the majority of the benefits from the initiation of the job design. This is due to the reason that job design is initiated in the way that it will have the majority of the benefits for the organizations. The authors have also stated that initiation of the job design is being taken in accordance to the organizational requirement and the manner that will have the maximum benefits. Thus, the core objective of the job design is the welfare of the organization and meeting the organizational target rather considering the welfare of the employees. Thus, it can be concluded that job design will only help the organizations by enhancing the performance of the employees but it will not help the employees in relation to their job.
Another major view given in support of the statement that job design helps only the organization but not the employees is by Cullinane, Bosak, Flood and Demerouti (2013). According to them, job design is initiated at the time of the job creation and thus the job design is done according to the requirement of the organization. It is also being stated by the authors that job design is not being done based on the skill and expertise of the employees or the approach of the job design is not changed according to the requirement of the employees. Thus, the core objective of the job design is to create different favorable aspects that will help in enhancing the performance of the employees and not for the wellbeing of the employees. It is also being stated by the authors that job design is done according to the available resources and not according to the requirement of the employees. This refers to the point that different organizations are having different set and source of resources and they have their job designs accordingly. However, due to the fact that job design is done according to the available resources, the requirement of the employees becomes secondary. Therefore, it can be concluded that the core objective of the job design is to enhance the organizational performance and not the welfare of the employees.
Benefits of job design for organizations
It is important for the employees to get fit with their respective job roles in order to have the maximum set of benefits and favorable performance. However, in the case of the job design, the flexibility of the employees may get limited. This is due to the reason that in the case of the initiation of the job design, employees are bound to follow the approach stated in the job design. According to Chen, Yen and Tsai (2014), it is difficult for the employees to get job fit with the particular job design. According to the authors, job design is done according to the organizational requirements and thus the employees are having very less space for flexibility. In addition, the authors have also stated that as the job design is done according to the organizational objective, employees are having less flexibility in the job design. The authors have also stated that job design is done in order to maximize the productivity and effectiveness of the employees in order to meet the organizational requirement. Thus, from this article, it can be concluded that hob design only enhance the organizational performance by enhancing the employee effectiveness but not the welfare or benefits for the employees.
Thus, from the above discussion, it is concluded that the views given by the authors regarding the objective of the job design is relevant and holds value. However, there are some other authors who have given the view that job design is having number of benefits for the employees also as well as for the organizations. The following sections will discuss about these views of the authors
It is stated by some authors that job design helps in the health and personal benefits for the employees and this in turn helps the organization to enhance their performance. According to Shantz, Alfes, Truss and Soane (2013), job design can help the employees in having health benefits. This is due to the reason that job design includes the process of job enrichment that refers to the process of providing autonomy to the employees in regards to their own job roles. Initiation of the concept of job enrichment helps the employees to have more authority in terms of deciding and executing the strategies in respect to their job roles. Thus, according to the authors, the more will be the autonomy of the employees, the more they will have flexibility in their job roles. This flexibility will help the employees to effectively balance their professional and personal life and will lead to the enhancement of the health for them. Thus as per the authors, this is one of the major advantages for the employees that can be gained from the initiation of the job design.
Benefits of job design for employees
Job design also helps in enhancing the level of motivation for the employees. This is due to the reason that if the employees are having favorable impression and benefits from the particular job design of them then it will lead to the increase in the level of motivation for the employees. This will in turn increase the level of organizational performance. According to De Cooman, Stynen, Van den Broeck, Sels and De Witte (2013), employee motivation is directly linked with the job design. This is due to the reason that if the job design is having favorable implications on the performance of the employees, then the employees will be more motivated in their workplace. The authors have also stated that one of the major concepts being used in job design is the job rotation.
According to this concept, employees are being given rotational approach of job that will help the employees to have different set of job roles for a certain period of time. Thus, it will enable the employees to be more motivated in their job roles if they are given different challenging roles in rotational manner. In addition, it is also being stated by the authors that initiation of the job rotation in the job design process will help the business organization to reduce the monotony of the employees by having the same set of job roles. Thus, with the help of the job rotation, employees will be able to gain multiple skills in their workplace. This is due to the reason that according to the authors having the opportunity for the employees to have different rotational set of jobs enables them to gain multiple and diverse set of skills. Thus, this is one of the major benefits that can be gained by the employees from the initiation of the process of job design. Employees will become more skilled and equipped that will further help them to enhance their career opportunities.
Another major benefit that can be gained by the employees from the job design process is gaining the leadership skills. This is due to the reason that process of job design includes the concept of job enlargement. This refers to the providence of larger set of responsibilities including the managerial skills are also being provided to the employees. According to Zareen, Razzaq and Mujtaba (2013), initiation of the job enlargement in the process of job design helps the employees to have more responsibilities and valuation in the organizational processes. In addition, employees are also being given added responsibilities of managing their challenges by own. This helps in increasing the leadership and managerial skills of the employees. The more will be the managerial roles provided to the employees, the more they will become self sufficient in their managing their challenges. This will help in enhancing the leadership skills among them and this will also further help the employees to increase their competitiveness. Thus, this is one of the major benefits to be gained by the employees from having effective job design.
Conclusion
Thus, it can be concluded that job design is having advantages for both the employees and the organizations. This essay discussed about the benefits that can be gained by the employees and the organizations from having job design. This essay discussed the factor with having the views from both perspectives and by considering the different views from different authors. It is evaluated in this essay that authors who have dismissed the role of job design in enhancing the employee benefits are given their views from one perspective other than those who have supported the benefits of job design for employees.
References
Chen, C.Y., Yen, C.H. and Tsai, F.C., 2014. Job crafting and job engagement: The mediating role of person-job fit. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 37, pp.21-28.
Cullinane, S.J., Bosak, J., Flood, P.C. and Demerouti, E., 2013. Job design under lean manufacturing and its impact on employee outcomes. Organizational Psychology Review, 3(1), pp.41-61.
De Cooman, R., Stynen, D., Van den Broeck, A., Sels, L. and De Witte, H., 2013. How job characteristics relate to need satisfaction and autonomous motivation: Implications for work effort. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 43(6), pp.1342-1352.
Jong, J.P., Parker, S.K., Wennekers, S. and Wu, C.H., 2015. Entrepreneurial behavior in organizations: Does job design matter?. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 39(4), pp.981-995.
Shantz, A., Alfes, K., Truss, C. and Soane, E., 2013. The role of employee engagement in the relationship between job design and task performance, citizenship and deviant behaviours. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 24(13), pp.2608-2627.
Zareen, M., Razzaq, K. and Mujtaba, B.G., 2013. Job design and employee performance: The moderating role of employee psychological perception. European Journal of Business and management, 5(5), pp.46-55.