ORGANISATION DESIGN & EMPLOYEE BEHAVIOUR

An organization structure does have significant effect on its employees. It is very

difficult to generalize to link organizational structure to employee performance and
satisfaction. For example: some employees are most efficient and satisfied when work task
are standardized – in mechanistic structures. Work specialization leads to higher employee
productivity but it is at the cost of reduced job satisfaction. But such statement do not surface
individual differences and type of job tasks the employees do. Conversely, there are persons
who like the routine and repetitiveness of highly specialized jobs. Some employees desire
work that makes less intellectual demands and provides job security. Actually it is
complicated to support with full evidence any connection between span of control and
employee performance, through large span might contribute to higher employee performance
due to the implication of more distant supervision and more opportunities to perform. The
difference of such evidence lies in the individual differences. Hence, no one conclusion can
be summarily made. Hence, there is a linking between job satisfaction and centralization.
Participative decision making is constructively related to job satisfaction but individual
differences do surface.

The decentralization-satisfaction relationship is at its strongest with low self-esteem

employees, because of less confidence in their skills. In summary, to make the most of
employee performance and satisfaction, one has to focus on individual differences such as
personality, experience and the work tasks. In fact, the organizational structure gets affected
due to the influence of the national culture also. It is important to note that people do not
select employers at random. They are attracted to organizations that best suit their personal
characteristics. For example: job candidate preferring predictability would seek out and take
employment in mechanist structure while those who want autonomy would want in an
organic structure. Today, we are in the world of uncertainty, competition, globalization and
high technology which includes computer advancement and communication technology.
Hence, there is a possibility that the world may shift towards electronically configured
organic organization. Technology permits organizations to stay close to the customer to settle
jobs where cost are lower and take decisions rapidly. It is because of this that individuals may
like to stay in organizations where decision can be at the lower level of management. This
type of quick decision-making at lower levels may result in increasing profitability. In India,
however the technology revolution may not change the organization structure at a fast rate,
most probably because decision-making may be swift, information exchange may also be
precise and quick but the individual concepts and actions may not undergo competitive
change. Even focus on speed thus has its own limits. The organization, be it bureaucratic or
virtual, also has its own limitations. In India, the shift is taking place in the organizational
structure, but is at a slow rate.

Work design

Some of the choices left with managers to redesign or modify the makeup of employee jobs
are

 Job rotation – This means regular shifting of a worker from one task to another to
avoid dissatisfaction of the employees suffering from the routine work. This is also
known as cross training. Job rotation is implemented for increasing the flexibility and
also sometimes to steer clear of lay-offs. The strength of the job rotation lies in
minimisation of employee boredom and amplifies the motivation through various
activities. This proves advantageous the organization particularly if the employee has
wide range of skills. Since job rotation is followed by employee training, it may
increase the organizations cost, but that may eventually compensate by higher
productivity.

 Job enlargement- This means horizontal expansion of jobs that means to enlarge the
number and the variety of tasks that an individual can execute. This leads to variety in
jobs. This however may not be appropriate to employees due to lack of diversity in
the specialized jobs.

 Job enrichment – This refers to vertical expansion of jobs. This means enlargement
in the degree to which the worker controls the planning, execution and evaluation of
his work. In job enrichment the employee does total activity with freedom and
independence and having extra responsibility. This will definitely increase the
employee’s own performance. The advantages of the organization are in the form of
reduced absenteeism and turnover cost with higher employee satisfaction.

 Team based design – Many organizations do have working in groups and teams. We
are fully conscious about individual based work design than that at the group level.
For that reason, a group or team involvement can be thought to play a part to both the
employees and the organizations in certain ways or certain points mentioned here
with: 1) the group members to use very high-level skills 2) the group tasks is
significant with probable output vision 3) the output result is outcome oriented to
other employees 4) it should create a trusting feedback about its work performance 5)
Stipulations of sizable economy for individuals to work.