Job design

Job design: process of defining how work will be performed and the tasks that will be required in a given
job.

Job redesign: Changing the tasks or the way work is performed in an existing job.
To effectively design jobs: one must thoroughly understand the job as it exists (through job analysis) and
its place in the larger work unit’s work-flow process (work-flow analysis).

Main job design approaches:

Mechanistic approach (has roots in classical industrial engineering):

 Identify the simplest way to structure work that maximizes efficiency, entails reducing the
complexity of the work to provide more human resource efficiency.
 Focuses on designing jobs around the concepts of task specialization, skill simplification, and
repetition.

Motivational approach (has roots in organizational psychology and management literature): focuses on
 The job characteristics that affect psychological meaning and motivational potential, and it
views attitudinal variables (such as satisfaction) as the most important outcomes of job design.
 Increasing the meaningfulness of jobs through such interventions as job enlargement, job
enrichment, and the construction of jobs around socio-technical systems.
Biological approach (ergonomics) (comes primarily from the sciences of biomechanics, work physiology,
and occupational medicine):
 Concerned with examining the interface between individuals’ physiological characteristics and
the physical work environment.
 Minimize physical strain on the worker by structuring the physical work environment around the
way the human body works.
 Focuses on outcomes such as physical fatigue, aches and pains, and health complaints.
Perceptual–motor approach (has roots in human-factors literature):
 Focuses on human mental capabilities and limitations.
 Design jobs in a way that ensures they do not exceed people’s mental capabilities and
limitations.
 Tries to improve reliability, safety, and user reactions by designing jobs to reduce their
information-processing requirements