DESIGN OF

INDIVIDUAL
POSITIONS

Reporter: AMERODEN, JANALODING G.

PA 217 A
DESIGN PARAMETERS BY MINTZBERG
(1983)

�Job Specialization

�Behaviour Formalization

�Training and Indoctrination

 JOB SPECIALIZATION

Jobs can be specialized into ‘breadth’ or ‘scope’

and ‘depth’.

(a) Breath or Scope - how many different tasks and

how broad or narrow is each of these tasks
(horizontal job specialization)

(b) Depth - control over the work (vertical job

specialization)
HORIZONTAL JOB SPECIALIZATION
It is the predominant form of division of labor, an
inherent part of every organization, indeed every
human activity. Adam Smith in his ‘The Wealth of
Nations’ showed that even in 1776, division of
labor has been very often taken notice of as proven
by the trade of the pin maker.

Horizontal specialization focuses the attention of

the worker by repetition while facilitating
standardization and learning. In the end, it allows
the individual to be matched to the task.
VERTICAL JOB SPECIALIZATION
It separates the performance of the work from the
administration of it. Organizations specialized jobs
in the vertical dimension in the belief that a
different perspective is required to determine how
the work should be done.
PROBLEMS WITH
SPECIALIZATION

�Ineffective communication and control

�Unbalance in the working

�Lack of initiative and motivation

JOB ENLARGEMENT
a. Horizontal Job Enlargement - the worker
engages in a wide variety of the tasks associated
with producing products and services.

b. Vertical Job Enlargement - not only does the

worker carry out more tasks but he also gains more
control over them.
 BEHAVIOR FORMALIZATION
Behavior may be formalized in three basic ways:

a. By the position – specifications being attached

to the job itself

b. By the work flow – specifications being

attached to the work

c. By rules – specification being issued in

general
REASONS FOR FORMALIZATION OF
BEHAVIOR ARE THE FOLLOWING:
a. It reduces variability, ultimately to predict and
control it;

b. It also used to attain precise and carefully

predetermined coordination of work;

c. It is also used to ensure the machinelike

consistency that leads to efficient production; and

d. It is also used to ensure fairness to clients.

 TRAINING AND
INDOCTRINATION
The intention of this is to ensure that the jobholder
develops the necessary behaviors before beginning
to work.

Training refers to the process by which job-related

skills and knowledge are taught.

Indoctrination is the process by which

organizational norms are acquired.

Both amount to the internalization of accepted

patterns of behavior in the workers.
RELATING THE POSITION DESIGN
PARAMETERS
Specialization, formalization, and training and
indoctrination are completely independent design
parameters. In essence, two fundamentally different
kinds of positions are unskilled and professional.
Unskilled because the work is highly rationalized with
extensive specialization in both the horizontal and
vertical dimensions, and it is often coordinated and
controlled by direct formalization of behavior.

Professional because the work is complex, it cannot

easily be specialized in the vertical dimension of
formalized by the organization’s techno structure.
 SHUKRAN!
THANK YOU!