HRM and the Design of Work (Lecture 5)

Work Design

Work Design is the “study, creation, and modification of the composition, content, structure, and environment within which jobs and roles are enacted concerns who is doing the work, what is done at work, and the interrelationship of the different work elements, and the interplay of job and role enactment with the broader task, social, physical, and organizational context” (Morgeson and Humphrey, 2008).

When going through below diagram of Mishra, (2010) work design is collectively address the issues of job design and work measurement.

Figure i: Work System Design, Job design and Work measurement (Mishra, 2010)

Source: http://www.mbanetbook.co.in/2010/05/pom-work-desing-or-desing-of-work.html

 

Job Design

“Job design specifies the contents, methods and relationships of jobs in order to satisfy work requirements for productivity, efficiency and quality, meet the personal needs of the job holder and thus increase levels of employee engagement” (Armstrong, 2009).

According to Armstrong, (2009) there are three characteristics of all jobs,

1. Job range – the number of operations a job holder performs to complete a task.
2. Job depth – the amount of discretion a job holder must decide job activities and job outcomes.
3. Job relationships – the interpersonal relationships between job holders and their managers and co-workers.

History of Work design

Further it is more clearly understand history of work design when going through the below diagram of Pasquini, (2012). 

Figure ii: Considering the impact of Work Design (Pasquini, 2012)

Source: https://techknowtools.com/2012/10/31/considering-the-impact-of-work-design/

Taylor known as scientific management, is a foundation for management and managerial decisions. Frederick Taylor developed this theory to develop a “science” for every job within an organization (Taylorism).

According to Dahlstrom, (2017), identify four major stages in the last 120 years.

Figure iii: A Brief History of Why Works Sucks (Dahlstrom, 2017)

Source:https://topdog-innovation.com/2017/09/04/a-brief-history-of-why-work-sucks-part-1-of-4-taylorism/

According to the Buchanan, (1994) after Taylorism ‘Maslow’ s influence is clearly stamped across the work design theories and practices of the latter half of the twentieth century. 

Maslow Hierarchy of Needs

Abraham Harold Maslow, An American Psychologist and Philosopher proposed that human beings are driven by different factors at different times. These driving factors are hierarchical, in the sense that we generally start at the bottom layer and work are way up. Maslow wanted to understand what motivated people. He believed that people possess a set of motivation systems unrelated to rewards or unconscious desires (Maslow, 1943). 

Figure iv: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (McLeod, 2018)

Source: https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html

There are some limitations concern on his methodology used in his theory. In his methodology he has used qualitative method called biographical analysis to prove his theory. In this biographical analysis, he has developed qualities as characteristic of specific group of people (McLeod, 2017). When analyzing this from a scientific view there reveals lot of loop holes in this theory.

References

Ajay Mishra, (2010). Work System Design - Job design and Work measurement. [Online]
Available at: http://www.mbanetbook.co.in/2010/05/pom-work-desing-or-desing-of-work.html
[Accessed 13 9 2018].

Armstrong, M., (2009). Armstrong’s Handbook Of human resource Management practice 11th edition.

Laura Pasquini, (2012). Considering the Impact of Work Design. [Online]
Available at: https://techknowtools.com/2012/10/31/considering-the-impact-of-work-design/
[Accessed 13 9 2018].

McLeod, S., (2007). Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Retrieved April 12, 2017.

Maslow, A.H., (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological review, 50(4), p.370.

Morgeson, F.P. and Humphrey, S.E., (2008). Job and team design: Toward a more integrative conceptualization of work design. In Research in personnel and human resources management (pp. 39-91). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Saul McLeod, (2018). Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. [Online]
Available at: https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html
[Accessed 13 9 2018].

Tom Dahlström, (2017). A BRIEF HISTORY OF WHY WORK SUCKS. [Online]
Available at: https://topdog-innovation.com/2017/09/04/a-brief-history-of-why-work-sucks-part-1-of-4-taylorism/
[Accessed 13 9 2018].