Unit – II: Human Resource Planning and Job Analysis
Meaning
and Definition of Human Resource Planning
Human resource planning can be
defined as the process of identifying the number of people required by an
organization in terms of quantity and quality. All human resource management
activities start with human resource planning. So we can say that human
resource planning is the principle/primary activity of human resource
management.
According
to Gordon Mc Beath, “HRP is
concerned with two things: Planning of manpower requirements and Planning of
Manpower supplies”.
According
to Beach, “HRP is a process
of determining and assuming that the organization will have an adequate number
of qualified persons, available at proper times, performing jobs which meet the
needs of the enterprise and which provides satisfaction for the individuals
involved”
Simply HRP can be understood
as the process of forecasting an organization’s future demands for and supply
of the right type of people in the right number. In other words HRP is the
process of determining manpower needs and formulating plans to meet these
needs.
Nature/Characteristics of Human Resource
Planning
Characteristics of effective human resource
planning are as follows:
1. Future Oriented: Human resource planning is prepared to
assess the future requirement of manpower in the organization. It helps
identify the size and composition of resources for future purpose.
2. Continuous
Process: Human resource
planning is a continuous process. The human resource planning prepared today
may not be applicable for future due to ever changing external forces of the
environment.
3. Optimum
Utilization of Human Resources:
Human resource planning focuses on optimum utilization of resources in the
organization. It checks how the employees are utilized in a productive manner.
4. Right Kinds and
Numbers: Human resource
planning determines the right number and kind of people at the right time and
right place that are capable of performing the required jobs.
5. Determination of
Demand and Supply: Human
resource planning is a process of determining demand for and supply of human
resources in the organization. Then a match between demand and supply
estimates the optimum level of manpower.
6. Environmental
Influence: Human resource
planning is influenced by environmental changes, hence, it is to be updated as
per the change occupied in the external environment.
7. Related to
Corporate Plan: Human
resource planning is an integral part of overall corporate plan of the
organization. It can be formulated at strategic, tactical and operational
levels.
8. A Part of Human
Resource Management System:
As a part of total human resource management system, human resource planning is
regarded as a component or element of HRM which is concerned with acquisition
and assessment of manpower.
Objectives of Human Resource Planning
1. To ensure optimum
utilization of human resources currently available in the organization.
2. To assess or forecast the
future skill requirement of the organization.
3. To provide control measures
to ensure that necessary resources are available as and when required.
4. A series of specified reasons
are there that attaches importance to manpower planning and forecasting
exercises. They are elaborated below:
Ø To link manpower planning with the
organizational planning
Ø To determine recruitment levels.
Ø To anticipate redundancies.
Ø To determine optimum training levels.
Ø To provide a basis for management
development programs.
Ø To cost the manpower.
Ø To assist productivity bargaining.
Ø To assess future accommodation
requirement.
Ø To study the cost of overheads and value
of service functions.
Ø To decide whether certain activity needs
to be subcontracted, etc.
HRP exists as a part of
planning process of business. This is the activity that aims to coordinate the
requirements for the availability of the different types of employers. The
major activities are the forecasting, inventorying, anticipating and planning.
The HR forecasts are
responsible for estimating the number of people and the jobs needed by an
organization to achieve its objectives and realize its plans in the most
efficient and effective manner. HR needs are computed by subtracting HR
supplies or number of the employees available from expected HR demands or
number of people required to produce a desired level of outcome. The objective
of HR is to provide right personnel for the right work and optimum utilization
of the existing human resources.
The objectives of human
resource planning may be summarized as below:
1.
Forecasting Human Resources Requirements: HRP is essential to determine the future needs of HR in an
organization. In the absence of this plan it is very difficult to provide the
right kind of people at the right time.
2. Effective Management of Change: Proper
planning is required to cope with changes in the different aspects which affect
the organization. These changes need continuation of allocation/reallocation
and effective utilization of HR in organization.
3. Realizing the Organizational Goals: In
order to meet the expansion and other organizational activities the
organizational HR planning is essential.
4. Promoting Employees: HRP gives the
feedback in the form of employee data which can be used in decision-making in
promotional opportunities to be made available for the organization.
5.
Effective Utilization of HR: The
data base will provide the useful information in identifying surplus and
deficiency in human resources. The objective of HRP is to maintain and improve
the organizational capacity to reach its goals by developing appropriate
strategies that will result in the maximum contribution of HR.
Significance or need or Importance of Human
Resource Planning
Human resource planning aims
at fulfilling the objectives of manpower requirement. It helps to mobilize the
recruited resources for the productive activities. The human resource planning
is and important process aiming to link business strategy and its operation.
The importances of human resource planning are as follows:
1.
Future Personnel Needs: Human
resource planning is significant because it helps to determine the future personnel needs of the
organization. If an organization is facing the problem of either surplus or deficiency in staff
strength, then it is the result of the absence of effecting HR planning. All public sector enterprises find
themselves overstaffed now as they never had any planning for personnel requirement and went of
recruitment spree till late 1980’s. The problem of excess staff has become such a prominent problem
that many private sector units are resorting to VRS ‘voluntary retirement scheme’. The excess of
labor problem would have been there if the organization had good HRP system. Effective HRP system
will also enable the organization to have good succession planning.
2.
Part of Strategic Planning: HRP
has become an integral part of strategic planning of strategic planning. HRP provides inputs in
strategy formulation process in terms of deciding whether the organization has got the right kind
of human resources to carry out the given strategy. HRP is also necessary during the implementation
stage in the form of deciding to make resource allocation decisions related to organization
structure, process and human resources. In some organizations HRP play as significant role as
strategic planning and HR issues are perceived as inherent in business management.
3.
Creating Highly Talented Personnel: Even though India has a great pool of educated unemployed, it is the discretion of
HR manager that will enable the company to recruit the right person with right skills to the
organization. Even the existing staff hope the job so frequently that organization face frequent shortage
of manpower. Manpower planning in the form of skill development is required to help the organization in dealing with
this problem of skilled manpower shortage
4.
International Strategies: An
international expansion strategy of an organization is facilitated to a great extent by HR planning. The HR
department’s ability to fill key jobs with foreign nationals and reassignment of employees from
within or across national borders is a major challenge that is being faced by international
business. With the growing trend towards global operation, the need for HRP will as well will be the need
to integrate HRP more closely with the organizations strategic plans. Without effective HRP and
subsequent attention to employee recruitment, selection, placement, development, and career planning, the growing
competition for foreign executives may
lead to expensive and strategically descriptive turnover among key decision
makers.
5.
Foundation for Personnel Functions: HRP provides essential information for designing and implementing personnel functions,
such as recruitment, selection, training and development, personnel movement like transfers,
promotions and layoffs.
6.
Increasing Investments in Human Resources: Organizations are making increasing investments in human resource development compelling the increased need for
HRP. Organizations are realizing that human assets can increase in value more
than the physical assets. An employee who gradually develops his/ her skills
and abilities become a valuable asset for the organization. Organizations can
make investments in its personnel either through direct training or job
assignment and the rupee value of such a trained, flexible, motivated
productive workforce is difficult to determine. Top officials have started
acknowledging that quality of work force is responsible for both short term and
long term performance of the organization.
7.
Resistance to Change: Employees
are always reluctant whenever they hear about change and even about job
rotation. Organizations cannot shift one employee from one department to
another without any specific planning. Even for carrying out job rotation
(shifting one employee from one department to another) there is a need to plan
well ahead and match the skills required and existing skills of the employees.
8.
Uniting the Viewpoint of Line and Staff Managers: HRP helps to unite the viewpoints of line and
staff managers. Though HRP is initiated and executed by the corporate staff, it
requires the input and cooperation of all managers within an organization. Each
department manager knows about the issues faced by his department more than
anyone else. So communication between HR staff and line managers is essential
for the success of HR Planning and development.
9.
Succession Planning: Human
Resource Planning prepares people for future challenges. The ‘stars’ are picked
up, trained, assessed and assisted continuously so that when the time comes such
trained employees can quickly take the responsibilities and position of their
boss or seniors as and when situation arrives.
10.
Other Benefits: (a) HRP helps
in judging the effectiveness of manpower policies and programmes of management.
(b) It develops awareness on effective utilization of human resources for the overall
development of organization. (c) It facilitates selection and training of
employees with adequate knowledge, experience and aptitudes so as to carry on
and achieve the organizational objectives (d) HRP encourages the company to
review and modify its human resource policies and practices and to examine the
way of utilizing the human resources for better utilization.
Disadvantages of human
resource planning
Although human
resource planning comes with so many advantages, it can also have
some disadvantages, which sometimes prevent some organizations from
engaging in it. Some of the disadvantages associated with human
resource planning include the following:
1. The future is uncertain:
The future in any country is uncertain i.e. there are political, cultural,
technological changes taking place every day. This effects the employment
situation. Accordingly the company may have to appoint or remove people.
Therefore HRP can only be a guiding factor. We cannot rely too much on it and
do every action according to it.
2. Conservative attitude of top
management: Much top management adopts a conservative attitude and is not ready
to make changes. The process of HRP involves either appointing. Therefore it
becomes very difficult to implement HRP in organization because top management
does not support the decisions of other department.
3. Problem of surplus staff:
HRP gives a clear out solution for excess staff i.e. Termination, layoff, VRS,.
However when certain employees are removed from company it mostly affects the
psyche of the existing employee, and they start feeling insecure, stressed out
and do not believe in the company. This is a limitation of HRP i.e. it does not
provide alternative solution like re-training so that employee need not be
removed from the company.
4. Time consuming activity: HRP
collects information from all departments, regarding demand and supply of
personnel. This information is collected in detail and each and every job is
considered. Therefore the activity takes up a lot of time.
5. Expensive: Human
resource planning can be quite expensive for some organizations to engage
in. The huge cost involved in HR planning can be quite unbearable for some
organizations especially for small organisation. In addition to money,
businesses also invest a great deal of time towards human resource
planning. Sometimes companies simply do not have the amount of time or money
needed to be invested into human resource planning.
6. Unproductive activity:
Another disadvantage of human resource planning is that the time and
effort used in retraining employees could have been used by the
employees to offer services or produce more goods. In the short
run, human resource planning can sometimes be unproductive. This
however, is not the case in the long run.
Process/Steps
in HRP
HRP is done by the HRD manager. He is supported by the HRD
department. He takes following Steps in the process of Human Resource
Planning HRP.
1. Review of Organisation's
Objectives: The HRD
Manager first studies the
objectives of the organisation. Then he prepares a list of all the activities
(jobs) that are required to achieve the objectives. He also does Job's
analysis.
2. Estimation of Manpower
Requirements: The HRD manager
then estimates the manpower requirement of the organisation. That is, he finds
out how many people (manager and employers) will be required to do all the jobs
in the organisation. Estimation of manpower requirements must be made in terms
of quantity and quality.
3. Estimation of Manpower
Supply: The HRD manager then
estimates the manpower supply. That is, he finds out how many managers, and
employers are available in the organisation.
4. Comparison of Manpower: The HRD manager then compares the
manpower requirements and manpower supply.
5. In case of no difference: If there is no difference between the
manpower requirements and the manpower supply, then the HRD manager does not
take any action. This is because manpower requirements are equal to the
manpower supply.
6. In case of difference: If there is a difference between the
manpower requirements and the manpower supply the HRD manager takes the
following actions:
a. Manpower Surplus: If the manpower requirements are less
then the manpower supply then there is a surplus. During manpower surplus, the
HRD manager takes the following actions: Termination i.e. removal of staff,
Lay-off, Voluntary retirement.
b. Manpower Shortage: If the manpower requirements are greater
than the manpower supply then there is manpower shortage. During manpower
shortage, the HRD manager takes the following actions : Promotions, Overtime,
Training to improve quality, Hire staff from outside, etc.
7. Motivation of Manpower: HRP also motivates the employers and
managers by providing, financial and non-financial incentives.
8. Monitoring Manpower
Requirements: The HRD manager
must continuously monitor the manpower requirements. This is because many
employees and managers leave the organisation by resignation, retirement, etc.
and new work force must take their place fill the manpower gap. This helps in
uninterruptible functioning of the organisation.
Barriers
in Human Resource Planning
Human Resource Planners face
significant barriers while formulating an HRP. The major barriers are elaborated
below:
1. HR
practitioners are perceived as experts in handling personnel matters, but are
not experts in managing business. The personnel plan conceived and formulated
by the HR practitioners when enmeshed with organizational plan, might make the
overall strategic plan of the organization ineffective.
2. HR
information often is incompatible with other information used in strategy
formulation. Strategic planning efforts have long been oriented towards
financial forecasting, often to the exclusion of other types of information.
Financial forecasting takes precedence over HRP.
3. Conflict
may exist between short term and long term HR needs. For example, there can be
a conflict between the pressure to get the work done on time and long term
needs, such as preparing people for assuming greater responsibilities. Many
managers are of the belief that HR needs can be met immediately because skills
are available on the market as long as wages and salaries are competitive.
Therefore, long times plans are not required, short planning are only needed.
4. There
is conflict between quantitative and qualitative approaches to HRP. Some people
view HRP as a number game designed to track the flow of people across the
department. Others take a qualitative approach and focus on individual employee
concerns such as promotion and career development. Best result can be achieved
if there is a balance between the quantitative and qualitative approaches.
5. Non-involvement
of operating managers renders HRP ineffective. HRP is not strictly an HR department
function. Successful planning needs a co-ordinated effort on the part of
operating managers and HR personnel.
Reasons
for increased importance for HRP/Factors affecting HRP in the organization
Human resource planning can be
defined as the process of identifying the number of people required by an
organization in terms of quantity and quality. All human resource management
activities start with human resource planning. So we can say that human
resource planning is the principle/primary activity of human resource
management.
1. Employment: HRP is affected by the
employment situation in the country i.e. in countries where there is greater
unemployment; there may be more pressure on the company, from government to
appoint more people. Similarly some company may force shortage of skilled
labour and they may have to appoint people from other countries.
2. Technical changes in the society:
Technology changes at a very fast speed and new people having the required
knowledge are required for the company. In some cases, company may retain
existing employees and teach them the new technology and in some cases, the companies
have to remove existing people and appoint new.
3. Organizational changes: Changes take place
within the organization from time to time i.e. the company diversify into new
products or close down business in some areas etc. in such cases the HRP process
i.e. appointing or removing people will change according to situation.
4. Demographic changes: Demographic changes
refer to things referring to age, population, composition of work force etc. A
number of people retire every year. A new batch of graduates with
specialization turns out every year. This can change the appointment or the
removal in the company.
5. Shortage of skill due to labour turnover:
Industries having high labour turnover rate, the HRP will change constantly
i.e. many new appointments will take place. This also affects the way HRP is
implemented.
6. Multicultural workforce: Workers from
different countries travel to other countries in search of job. When a company
plans it’s HRP it needs to take into account this factor also.
7. Pressure groups: Company has to keep in
mind certain pleasure. Groups like human rights activist, woman activist, media
etc. as they are very capable for creating problems for the company, when
issues concerning these groups arise, appointment or retrenchment becomes
difficult.
How
Human Resource Planning is made effective?
Some of the
suggestions for making manpower planning effective are as follows:
1. Integration with
organizational plans: Human resource planning must be integrated with the
organizational plans and objectives to be successful. Moreover, there should
also be a good channel of communication between the organizational planners and
the human resource planners to get a successful human resource planning.
2. Period of manpower
planning: The period of manpower planning should have a connection with the
needs and circumstances of the enterprise. The size and structure of an
enterprise as well as the anticipated changes must be taken into consideration
while going for manpower planning.
3. Proper organization: It
is necessary to organize the planning function properly in order to make it
successful. It is advisable to have a separate cell or constitute a committee
within the human resource department in order to provide adequate focus and to
coordinate the planning work at various levels.
4. Support of top
management: The top management should give full support and cooperation to make
the manpower planning effective. The support of top management facilitates the
process of getting necessary resources, cooperation and other things as per
requirement to make the planning successful.
5. Involvement of operating
executives: Human resource planning is not a function of manpower planners only
but also of the operating executives too. An effective manpower planning highly
solicits the active participation and coordination of the operating executives.
Such participation is sought to make the process of manpower planning
understandable to everyone so that chances of resistance can be rooted out in
time.
6. Efficient and reliable
information system: An adequate data base must be developed for the human
resources of an organization to facilitate the process of human resource
planning.
7. Balanced approach: Both
the quantitative and qualitative aspects of manpower should be given equal
weightage by the human resource experts. Emphasis should be more on filling the
future vacancies with right people rather than matching the existing jobs. The
matters of promotions, career planning and development, skill levels, morale
etc. should also be given due importance by the planners.
Meaning
and Definition Job analysis:
The process of studying and collecting informations relating to the
operations and responsibilities of a specific job. The immediate product of
this analysis are job description and job specification. It analyze the
content & characteristics of the job and requirements/ qualifications
needed to perform those jobs.
According
to Michael L. Jucius, “Job
analysis refers to the process of studying the operations, duties and
organizational aspects of jobs in order to derive specifications or as they
called by some, job descriptions.”
According
to DeCenzo and P. Robbins, “A
job analysis is a systematic exploration of the activities within a job. It is
a basic technical procedure, one that is used to define the duties,
responsibilities, and accountabilities of a job.”
Thus, job analysis involves
the process of identifying the nature of a job (job description) and the
qualities of the likely job holder (job specification).
Job description: Job description
is an organized, factual statement of the duties and responsibilities of a
specific job. It
should tell what is to be done, how it is done, and why. It is a standard of
function. It defines the authorized content of the job. It contains : job
title, location, job summary, duties, machine, tools and equipments, materials
used, supervision given or received, working conditions, hazards etc.
Job specification: A statement of
the minimum acceptable human qualities necessary to perform a job properly. It
is a standard of personnel and designates the qualities required for acceptable
performance. A
statement of human qualifications necessary to do the job. Usually contains
such items: education, experience, training, judgement, initiative, physical
effort, physical skills, communication skills, emotional characteristics,
sensory demands such as sight, smell, hearing and many others depends upon the
nature of job.
Importance/Uses
of Job analysis
1. Achievement of Goals: Weather and
Davis have stated, “Jobs are at the core of every organization’s productivity,
if they are designed well and done right, the organization makes progress
towards its objectives. Otherwise, productivity suffers, profits fall, and the
organization is less able to meet the demands of society, customer, employees,
and other with a stake in its success.”
2. Organizational Design: Job analysis
will be useful in classifying the jobs and the interrelationships among the
jobs. On the basis of information obtained through job analysis, sound
decisions regarding hierarchical positions and functional differentiation can
be taken and this will improve operational efficiency.
3. Organization and Manpower Planning: It
is helpful in organization planning, for it defines labour in concrete terms
and co-ordinates the activities of the work force, and clearly divides duties
and responsibilities.
4. Recruitment and Selection: Job
analysis provides you with information on what the job entails and what human
requirements are required to carry out these activities. This information is
the basis on which you decide what sort of people to recruit and hire.
5. Placement and Orientation: Job
analysis helps in matching the job requirements with the abilities, interests
and aptitudes of people. Jobs will be assigned to persons on the basis of
suitability for the job. The orientation programme will help the employee in
learning the activities and understanding duties that are required to perform a
given job more effectively.
6. Employee Training and Management Development:
Job analysis provides the necessary information to the management of
training and development programmes. It helps in to determine the content and
subject matter of in training courses. It also helps in checking application
information, interviewing test results and in checking references.
7. Job Evaluation and Compensation: Job
evaluation is the process of determining the relative worth of different jobs
in an organization with a view to link compensation, both basic and
supplementary, with the worth of the jobs. The worth of a job is determined on
the basis of job characteristics and job holder characteristics. Job analysis
provides both in the forms of job description and job specification.
8. Performance Appraisal: Performance
appraisal involves comparing each employee’s actual performance with his or her
desired performance. Through job analysis industrial engineers and other
experts determine standards to be achieved and specific activities to be
performed.
9. Health and Safety: It provides an
opportunity for identifying hazardous conditions and unhealthy environmental
factors so that corrective measures may be taken to minimize and avoid the
possibility of accidents.
10. Employee Counselling: Job analysis
provides information about career choices and personal limitation. Such information
is helpful in vocational guidance and rehabilitation counselling. Employees who
are unable to cope with the hazards and demands of given jobs may be advised to
opt for subsidiary jobs or to seek premature retirement.
Methods
of job analysis
A job is defined as a
collection of duties and responsibilities which are given together to an
individual employee. Job analysis is the process of studying and collecting
information relating to operations and responsibilities of a specific job.
There are different methods used by organization to collect information and
conduct the job analysis. These methods are:
1. Personal observation: In this method the
observer actually observes the concerned worker. He makes a list of all the
duties performed by the worker and the qualities required to perform those
duties based on the information collected, job analysis is prepared.
2. Actual performance of the job: In this
method the observer who is in charge of preparing the job analysis actually
does the work himself. This gives him an idea of the skill required, the
difficulty level of the job, the efforts required etc.
3. Interview method: In this method an
interview of the employee is conducted. A group of experts conduct the
interview. They ask questions about the job, skilled levels, and difficulty
levels. They question and cross question and collect information and based on
this information job analysis is prepared.
4. Critical incident method: In this method
the employee is asked to write one or more critical incident that has taken
place on the job. The incident will give an idea about the problem, how it was
handled, qualities required and difficulty levels etc. critical incident method
gives an idea about the job and its importance.
5. Questioner method: In this method a questioner
is provided to the employee and they are asked to answer the questions in it.
The questions may be multiple choice questions or open ended questions. The
questions decide how exactly the job analysis will be done. The method is
effective because people would think twice before putting anything in writing.
6. Log records: Companies can ask employees
to maintain log records and job analysis can be done on the basis of
information collected from the log record. A log record is a book in which employee’s
record /write all the activities performed by them on the job. The records are
extensive as well as exhausted in nature and provide a fair idea about the
duties and responsibilities in any job.
7. HRD records: Records of every employee are
maintained by HR department. The record contain details about educational
qualification, name of the job, number of years of experience, duties handled,
any mistakes committed in the past and actions taken, number of promotions
received, area of work, core competency area, etc. based on these records job
analysis can be done.
Steps in Job Analysis
The various steps of job
analysis are given below:
1. Determine the Use of the Job Analysis
Information: Start by identifying the use to which the information will
be put, since this will determine the type of data you collect and the
technique you use to collect them.
2. Collection of Background Information: According
to Terry, “The make-up of a job, its relation to other jobs, and its
requirements for competent performance are essential information needed for a
job evaluation. This information can be had by reviewing available background
information.
3. Selection of Jobs for Analysis: To do
job analysis is a costly and time consuming process. It is hence, necessary to
select a representative sample of jobs for purposes of analysis. Priorities of
various jobs can also be determined. A job may be selected because it has
undergone undocumented changes in job content. The request for analysis of a
job may originate with the employee, supervisor, or a manager.
4. When
the employee requests an analysis it is usually because new job demands have
not been reflected in changes in wages. Employee’s salaries are, in part, based
upon the nature of the work that they perform. Some organizations establish a time cycle for the analysis of each job.
For example: A job analysis may be required for all jobs every three years. New
jobs must also be subjected to analysis.
5. Collection of Job Analysis Data: Job
data on features of the job, requited employee qualification and requirements,
should be collected either form the employees who actually perform a job; or
from other employees (such as foremen or supervisors) who watch the workers
doing a job and there by acquire knowledge about it; or from the outside
persons, known as the trade job analysis who are appointed to watch employees
performing a job. The duties of such a trade job analyst are (i) to outline the
complete scope of a job and to consider all the physical and mental activities
involved in determining what the worker does.; (ii) find out why a worker does
a job; and for this purpose he studies why each task is essential for the
overall result; and (iii) the skill factor which may be needed in the worker to
differentiate between jobs and establish the extent of the difficulty of any
job.
6. Processing the Information: Once job
analysis information has been collected, the next step is to place it in a form
that will make it useful to those charged with the various personnel functions.
Several issues arise with respect to this. First, how much detail is needed?
Second, can the job analysis information be expressed in quantitative terms?
These must be considered properly.
7. Preparing Job Descriptions and Job
Classifications: Job information which has been collected must be
processed to prepare the job description form. It is a statement showing full
details of the activities of the job. Separate job description forms may be
used for various activities in the job and may be compiled later on. The job
analysis is made with the help of these description forms. These forms may be
used as reference for the future.
8. Developing Job Specifications: Job
specifications are also prepared on the basis of information collected. It is a
statement of minimum acceptable qualities of the person to be placed on the
job. It specifies the standard by which the qualities of the person are
measured. Job analyst prepares such statement taking into consideration the
skills required in performing the job properly. Such statement is used in
selecting a person matching with the job.
Meaning
and principles of Job design
Job design is of comparatively
recent origin. The human resource managers have realized that the design of a
job has considerable influence on the productivity and job satisfaction; poorly
designed jobs often result in boredom to the employees, increased turnover, job
dissatisfaction, low productivity and an increase in overall costs of the
organization. All these negative consequences can be avoided with the help of
proper job design.
Job design has been defined by
Davis (1966) as: “The
specification of the contents, methods, and relationships of jobs in order to
satisfy technological and organizational requirements as well as the social and
personal requirements of the job-holder.”
Michael
Armstrong has defined job design as “the process of deciding on the content of a job in terms of its
duties and responsibilities, on the methods to be used in carrying out the job,
in terms of techniques, systems and procedures, and on the relationships that
should exist between the job holder and his superiors, subordinates and
colleagues.”
Job design is an attempt to
create a match between job requirements and human attributes. It involves
organizing the components of the job and the interaction patterns among the
members of a work group. It helps in developing appropriate design of job to
improve efficiency and satisfaction.
Principles
of Job Design: Principles are
the bases of the approach used in job design. Robertson and Smith (1985) have
suggested the following five principles of job design:
1. To influence skill variety, provide
opportunities for people to do several tasks and combine tasks.
2. To influence task identity, combine tasks
and from natural work units.
3. To influence task significance, form natural
work units and inform people of the importance of their work.
4. To influence autonomy, give people
responsibility for determining their own working systems.
5. To influence feedback; establish good
relationship and open feedback channels.
The
various techniques of job design and redesign are discussed below:
1.
Job Simplification: In job
simplification, the complete job is broken down into small subparts; this is done
so that employee can do these jobs without much specialized training. Moreover,
small operations of the job can also be performed simultaneously so that the
complete operation can be done more quickly. For job simplification, generally
time and motion studies are used.
2.
Job Rotation: Another
technique designed to enhance employee motivation is job rotation, or
periodically assigning employees to alternating jobs or tasks. For example, an
employee may spend two weeks attaching bumpers to vehicles and the following
two weeks making final checks of the chassis. During the next month, the same
employee may be assigned to two different jobs. Therefore, the employee would
be rotated among four jobs. The advantage of job rotation is that employees do
not have the same routine job day after day. Job rotation only addresses the
problem of assigning employees to jobs of limited scope; the depth of the job
does not change. The job cycle of the actual daily work performed has not been
lengthened or changed. Instead, employees are simply assigned to different jobs
with different cycles.
3.
Job Enlargement: Another
means of increasing employee’s satisfaction with routine jobs is job enlargement,
or increasing the number of tasks performed (i.e. increasing the scope of the
job). Job enlargement, like job rotation, tries to eliminate short job cycles
that create boredom. Unlike job rotation, job enlargement actually increases
the job cycle. When a job is enlarged, either the tasks being performed are
enlarged or several short tasks are given to one worker. Thus, the scope of the
job is increased because there are many tasks to be performed by the same
worker. Job enlargement programs change many methods of operation- in contrast
to job rotation, in which the same work procedures are used by workers who
rotate through work stations. Although job enlargement actually changes the
pace of the work and the operation by reallocating tasks and responsibilities,
it does not increase the depth of a job.
4.
Job Enrichment: The concept
of job enrichment has been derived from Herzberg’s two-factor theory of
motivation in which he has suggested that job content is one of the basic
factors of motivation. If the job is designed in such a manner that it becomes
more interesting and challenging to the job performer and provides him
opportunities for achievement, recognition, responsibility, advancement and
growth, the job itself becomes a source of motivation to the individual.
JOB ENLARGEMENT vs. JOB ENRICHMENT
Job enlargement and job
enrichment are both important forms of job design in order to enhance
productivity and satisfaction of the employees. They differ from each other in
the following respects:
1. Nature of Job: The major difference between job
enrichment and enlargement lies in the nature of additions to the job.
Enlargement involves a horizontal loading or expansion, or addition of tasks of
the same nature. Enrichment involves vertical loading of tasks and
responsibility of the job holder; it improves the quality of the job in terms
of its intrinsic worth.
2. Purpose: The purpose of job enlargement is to
reduce the monotony in performing repetitive jobs by lengthening the cycle of
operation. On the other hand, the purpose of job enrichment is making the job
lively, challenging and satisfying. It satisfies the higher level needs such as
ego satisfaction, self expression, sense of achievement and advancement of Job
holders.
3. Skill
Requirement: Job enlargement
may not necessarily require the use of additional skills which the job holder
was using in performing the job before the enlargement. This is due to
similarity of additional tasks. Enrichment calls foe development and
utilization of higher skills, initiative, and innovation on the part of the job
holder in performing the job.
4. Direction and
Control: Job enlargement
requires direction and control from external sources, say supervisor. In fact,
the job holder may require more direction and control because of enlargement of
his responsibility. Enrichment does not require external direction and control
as these come from the job holder himself. He requires only feedback from his
supervisor.