Design of a work system, management assignment help

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Kindly find attached text book pages for the assignment, I would want you to cite some references from that text book, and also other website referencing mandatory.

  • Write a 6 page paper that describes the critical factors to consider in the design of a work system.
  • What particular role does technology play in the design of work system?
  • Describe a successful or unsuccessful attempt at job redesign that you experienced or observed. What factors contributed to the success or failure of the change initiative. How could the l attempt have been managed better?
  • Your paper should include a title page with your name, the title of your paper, the course number and the date you are submitting the paper. Also include references for sources cited in your paper. The title page and reference list do not count toward the number of pages for this assignment.

REFERENCES MANDATORY FROM WEBSITES AND ALSO FROM THE TEXT BOOK PAGES PROVIDED.

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Kindly find attached text book pages for the assignment; I would want you to cite some references from that text book, and also other website referencing mandatory. • Write a 6 page paper that describes the critical factors to consider in the design of a work system. • What particular role does technology play in the design of work system? • Describe a successful or unsuccessful attempt at job redesign that you experienced or observed. What factors contributed to the success or failure of the change initiative. How could the l attempt have been managed better? • Your paper should include a title page with your name, the title of your paper, the course number and the date you are submitting the paper. Also include references for sources cited in your paper. The title page and reference list do not count toward the number of pages for this assignment. REFERENCES MANDATORY FROM WEBSITES AND ALSO FROM THE TEXT BOOK PAGES PROVIDED. "art 1 The Context of Strategie tunan Resource Progement Chapter 6 Design and Redesign of Work Systems | 239 must he second component ili the terciopment of human resource (HR) management strategy, in consider the implications of its future plans on how tasks and responsibilities should be addition to srategic workfurce pluring, is the design of work systems. The organization assigned to individuals and group's zithin the organization and decide how to redesign existing work systems. A model for the design of work systems is presented in Exhibit 6.1. Design of Work Systems In Exhibit 6.1, three primary coasiderations are presented that decision makers need to consider in designing jobs: what workers do, what workers need, and how jobs interface with other jobs within the organization. important What Workers Do One of the more challenging tasks in organizations is allocating specific tasks and job responsibili ties to employees. Those who assign responsibilities need to ensure that employees are not over- whelmed by their jobs yet at the same time ensure that employees have sufficient work to keep them both productive and motivated. In addition, job titles and content serve as an basis of comparison for employees within the organization relative to status, power, and appropri- ateness of compensation. There are various strategies for the design of individual jobs. Those responsible for designing jobs and work systems need to fully assess the skills, knowledge, and abilities required by the nization both currently and in the future and consider both existing and possible future technolo- gies. As noted in Chapter 5, a critical component of strategic workforce planning is anticipating changes in the organization's environment. Work systems need to be constantly assessed and eval- uated to ensure that the organization has assigned workers tasks and responsibilities that assist in achieving organizational objectives. Early approaches to work system design focused on individual employees' jobs. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, industrial engineering prescribed work systems with jobs that had very narrow task assignments, thus giving rise to the term "job specialization." orga- These systems attempted to promote efficiency in industrial operations by allowing workers to specialize in particular tasks and gain high levels of competence in their work. Jobs had a limited number of tasks assigned that required little thought but precise execution. Not surprisingly, although these efforts toward simplified, specialized jobs provided efficiency, they also resulted in creating jobs that were boring and monotonous for employees. Because employees were not encouraged to go beyond a basic robotic function in most of their work, they were consequently unable to contribute to the organization in any meaningful way. This does not mean, however, that job specialization is inappropriate or never works. In fact, United Parcel Service, as discussed in Chapter 1, uses techniques of job specialization extensively. Job specialization can be a viable strategy for the design of work systems in organizations that require high levels of efficiency and cost minimization in order to compete effectively. It can also be appropriate for organizations that employ workers who do not seek to grow and be challenged in their careers. Initial efforts to relieve this boredom and design more stimulating work for employees focused on providing them with tasks outside the scope of their previously narrowly defined jobs. Job enlargement provides some variety by increasing the number of tasks, activities, or jobs to help alleviate the boredom of highly specialized work. A variation of job enlargement is job rotation, where workers rotate across different specialized positions within the organization. Both techni- ques of designing jobs rest with providing employees with more variety in the tasks they perform. However, although these approaches add variety to tasks, they do not necessarily involve giving employees more responsibility. This does not mean that efforts to allow or require workers to per- form additional tasks are necessarily useless. Employees who assume responsibility for additional tasks can have their understanding of organizational production processes enhanced and have a greater appreciation of how their specialized job contributes to the overall organization. Several studies have documented the success of both job enlargement and job rotation. Shortly after World War II, IBM instituted a job enlargement program and found a significant increase in product quality and a reduction in down or idle time.? Pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly utilized a popular job rotation program that allowed employees to qualify for salary increases and promo- tions while enhancing career development opportunities." Job rotation has become increasingly popular in recent years as a key tool by which employees are developed through exposure to different roles and functions within an organiza- tion. Job rotation has been a long-standing practice for senior executives who benefit from gaining sense of not only how different functions operate but how they contribute to the entire organization. More recently, job rotation has been offered increasingly to employees at the middle and lower levels of the organization as a means of facilitating communication and fostering collaboration across different divisions of the organizations or across regions. Job rotation is also a means of facilitating individual professional development. A recent survey by the Society for Human Resource Management found that 43 percent of employers offer some form of job rotation to facilitate the development of proficiencies not required as part of an individual employee's current job responsibilities. Younger employees in particular seek out these kinds of opportunities with prospective employers, so job rotation can aid in both attract- ing and retaining younger workers. Job rotation is increasingly being seen as a key means for HR professionals to further their careers. In order for HR to be a true strategic partner, HR executives must understand fully not only the functional aspects of HR management but also the nature of the organization's business. One of the best ways to obtain this understanding is to work within the organization in an oper- ating division outside the HR function. Ironically, for many years, HR has developed programs that rotate employees across functions such as marketing, finance, operations, and accounting, providing those in rotation with a better grasp of the entire organization and an appreciation for how individual functions contribute to overall strategy. HR executives, however, are usually not part of such programs because of the traditional “administrative" role that HR played. To partici- pate in an organization's success at the highest levels, HR executives need to avail themselves of opportunities to "learn the business" by actually participating in and learning about the entire organization and its various units. Until they do so, they cannot contribute to the organization as a true strategic partner. EXHIBIT 6.1 A Model for the Designs of Work Systems What Workers Do What Workers Need Work Systems How Jobs Interface with Other Jobs © Cengage Leaming Chapter 6 Design and Redesign of Work Systems | 241 240 Part 1 The Context of Strategic Human Resource Management Job Rotation at General Electric EXHIBIT 6.2 The Job Characteristics Model General Electric (GE) has always been a leader in employee development among large orga- nizations. For many years, entry-level HR managers have been placed in a two-year job rota- tion program on joining the organization. New hires spend three 8-month rotations within the HR function. Although they might end up in different business units or divisions, these rotations were still within the HR domain and confined to areas such as labor relations, com- pensation, staffing, and benefits. The goal of this program was to develop strong HR general- ists who could eventually become senior HR executives within GE. In the mid-1990s, GE added cross-functional rotations to the mix, whereby individuals would leave HR for at least Core Job Dimensions Critical Psychological States Personal and Work Outcomes Skill variety Task identity Task significance Experienced meaningfulness of the work High internal work motivation one rotation, working in areas such as audit, marketing, finance, or operations. This rotation program can continue throughout the employee's career as new skills, competencies, experi business and develop HR solutions to key business challenges faced by divisions. Autonomy High-quality work performance among their non-HR peers given this experience and are also better able to understand the 5 Experienced responsibility for outcomes of the work High satisfaction with the work Feedback Knowledge of the actual results of the work activities Low absenteeism and turnover Employee Growth Need Strength Source: J. R. Hackman and G. R. Oldham, "The Relationship Among Core Job Dimensions, the Critical Psychological States, and on-the-job Outcomes, " The Job Diagnostic Survey: An Instrument for the Diag- nosis of Jobs and the Evaluation of Job Redesign Projects, 1974. . Job enrichment initiatives involve going beyond merely adding tasks to employees' jobs. Job enrichment involves increasing the amount of responsibility employees have. Work is designed so that employees have significant responsibility for their own work. In many cases, the employee becomes more accountable for his or her own performance because responsibilities for quality and productivity that were previously assigned to the employee's supervisor are redirected to the employee . This process of reassigning what were formerly supervisory responsibilities to employees is commonly referred to as vertical loading. To assist organizations in designing enriched jobs, a model was developed that illustrated the relationships between redesigned jobs and ultimate performance and behavioral outcomes. The Job Characteristics Model is presented in Exhibit 6.2. This model suggests that five core job characteris- tics can impact certain employee psychological states that will impact certain work-related outcomes. These five core job characteristics are: (1) skill variety, the extent to which the work allows an employee to use a variety of acquired skills; (2) task identity, the extent to which the work allows an employee to complete a "whole” or “identifiable” piece of work; (3) task significance, the extent to which the employee perceives that his or her work is important and meaningful to those in the orga- nization or those outside of the organization; (4) autonomy, the extent to which the employee is able to work and determine work procedures at her or his own discretion, free of supervision; and (5) feed- back, the extent to which the work allows the employee to gain a sense of how well job responsibilities are being met. The model argues that work systems can be designed to enhance motivation, perfor- mance, and satisfaction and reduce absenteeism and turnover. Frequently, the job characteristics model can be utilized to allow workers to assemble an entire product or provide a wider range of services to customers . For example, at Motorola's Communica, tions Division, individual employees assemble, test, and package paging devices, whereas previously these tasks were performed on an assembly line with 100 workers performing 100 different steps Similarly, the job responsibilities of a group of employees may be enriched by allowing the work group the autonomy to complete an entire range of tasks in a manner determined by the group. Organizations are increasingly developing job requirements around specific competencies that employees are expected to have and/or develop to maintain their value to the organization in the future. Competencies are fluid, meaning that they change and evolve as the organization, its strategy, and the environment in which it operates both change and evolve. A focus on competencies helps the organiza- involve, at a minimum, interviews of key executives, behavioral interviews of best and worst per- onsuming to develop. Typically they formers on various jobs, and reviews of performance data, which allow correlations to be devel- oped between competencies and performance. A variety of competency models can be developed . . Organization-wide competencies are those that are important for all employees, regardless of position or level in the organization. Division-based competencies relate to a specific business function (such as information tech- nology), area of operation (such as geographic region), business unit (individual product or service line), or customer group (such as business-to-business). Role-based competencies are those specific to a level of management (such as divisional vice president) or specific role (such as profit and loss responsibility) in the organization. Job-based competencies are those specific to an individual job, which have been proven to correlate to higher success in that job (such as customer service representative or accounts receivable manager). Individual competencies often have performance of behavioral dimensions, which provide a basis for assessment and rating. As an example, Lominger International , a division of Korn/Ferry, has developed a competency called “strategic skills," which has the subcomponents of dealing with ambiguity, creativity, innovation management, perspective, and strategic ability. Competency mod- els are complex and expensive to develop, and many of these that have been developed are unneces- sarily complex . Employees and managers should be directly be involved in their development because, as the end users, if these individuals have difficulty using the competency model , ambiguities about specific performance expectations can result . Competency models should be able to channel employee efforts toward organizational strategic objectives and simultaneously provide employees with a means of receiving specific feedback related to their professional development. Competency models can be extremely difficult and time cons within any organization around four different levels of assessment: 12 Part 1 The Context of sign and Redesign of Work Systems | 243 What Workers Need The design of work systems also needs to consider what workers need and want in order to carry out their job responsibilities. Certainly, all employees do not work for the same reasons nor do they expect the same things from their employers. However, employers must consider a number of important universal consid- erations in designing work systems to ensure that workers are motivated, productive, and happy. The first of these considerations is the changing demographics and lifestyles of the labor mar- ket. As noted in Chapter 2, there are some significant differences in the composition of the who are considered the breadwinners of their families. In fact, white males now make up less have generic needs. Employees expect their employers to understand their needs and respect than 50 perceni of the U.S. workforce. Organizations need to realize that employees no them as individuals. Worker needs will vary among and between those of different age groups, genders, races, religions, physical abilities, sexual orientations, and marital and family status. To perform at peak levels, employees need to remain free from bias or prejudice in hiring, treatment, performance management, compensation, and advancement decisions and programs. This diver- sity of worker needs creates a significant challenge for allocating work in organizations. Organizations also need to be more aware of employee needs for work-life balance. All employ- less loyal to genera- tion ago. Employers who design work systems that do not allow employees to have the balance they also suffer from burnout and perform at less than optimal levels. One recent that 42 percent of working adults were willing to assume a salary reduction in order to gain more flex. ibility in their work schedules and 83 percent reported that flexibility in work schedule is one of the most important factors considered when searching for a job or employer. themselves, the Growth and Leadership Center of Mountain View, California, was established to work with executives from nearby Silicon Valley. Leading employers such as Sun Microsystems: Intel , and Netscape sent employees at risk for burnout to the center for weekly coaching sessions. A typical 10-week program costs $12,000 per employee. Such excessive costs can be avoided through the development of work systems that are strategically designed to allow the organization's employ- ees to retain the right balance in their life activities and can be a key catalyst to high performance. A third consideration in determining what employees want is ensuring that employees have some form of representation, or "voice.” More highly skilled and trained workers do not expect to be micromanaged. They expect to use their training and experience to make a contribution to the organization, and they expect the organization to listen to their concerns. Systems for employee input are not only motivational to employees, but they also allow the organization to fully utilize its existing human capabilities by encouraging employees to get involved in work- related issues that impact them. Work systems need to be designed so employees have sufficient voice to allow them to contribute their perspectives and expertise. In unionized organizations, employee voice is formalized and centralized. However, less than 20 percent of the U.S. workforce is unionized. Unions also restrict the individual employee's right to have an independent voice, apart from the majority. In the absence of and even with a formal union, employers need to design their work systems to ensure that employees are able to commu- nicate their needs and concerns in a constructive manner within an atmosphere of mutual respect. Both employees and the organizations win when this is accomplished. One final consideration that needs to be incorporated in work system design under worker needs is workplace safely. The United States has established numerous guidelines for employers, administered by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which oversees the Occupational Safety and Health Act. The Act largely addresses employer liability for on-the-job injuries and occupationally acquired diseases. In addition to the traditional concerns of hazardous products or waste and unsafe physical conditions, increasing attention is being paid to safety issues regarding technology. Ergonomics is a relatively new science that explores the relationship between injuries and physical office working conditions. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health recently reported that musculoskeletal disorders related to the neck, shoulders, elbow, hand, wrist, and back generated more than $13 billion in worker compensation claims. 12 Consequently, OSHA has been developing national standards related to ergonomics. The near-constant use of computers with video display monitors has ignited debate concern- ing radiation hazard and the potential long-term effects of sustained gazing at video display moni- tors on an individual's vision. Because many employees also spend significant amounts of time at their desks or workstations, concern is also being addressed toward the ergonomics of worksites. Work systems and jobs need to be designed to be consistent with employees' physical capabilities and allow them to perform their jobs without any undue risks. desire in their life activities will find workers who not only are less committed to the organization bu who may survey found Flexible Work at State Street State Street is a Boston-based multinational financial service provider with more than 29,000 employees in 26 countries. In 2009, an executive committee was convened to address the need to provide for better work-life balance of its employees than the existing informal, ad hoc, practices in place. The global nature of State Street's operations also mandated flexibility in work across time zones to facilitate collaboration and decisive, timely decision making. The result was the development and implementation of a formal Flex Work Program, which has become known simply as Flex. The program began as an employee-initiated activity to one that is manager-initiated in considering goals, strategies, and operating issues of the work unit and responsibilities of spe- cific positions. Managers utilize Flex as a strategic business tool to enhance team efficiency, optimize workflow, and make more optimal use of physical space. 67 percent of State Street employees engage in Flex with an equal number of men and women participating. The essence of Flex is that employees and managers are given an array of options regarding how, when, and where they work, including flexible start and finish times to the work day, compressed work schedules, reduced hours, flexible work sites, and job-sharing options. turnover, and better operating efficiencies company wide. Increased employee engagement State Street reports heightened employee satisfaction, productivity and loyalty, decreased and creativity have been reported by managers and the organization has calculated that Flex results in employees driving 140,000 fewer miles per week, resulting in time and energy con- sumption savings, not to mention environmental benefits. 10 How Jobs Interface with Other Jobs The final component of designing jobs is an understanding of how individual jobs may have inter- dependencies with other jobs as well as how individual jobs can or should interface with others. There are three traditional types of task interdependence: pooled, sequential, and reciprocal. Pooled interdependence is where individual employees can work independently of each other in performing their tasks but utilize some coordination of their activities. Bank loan officers utilize this kind of work system. Each loan officer works independently of peers, yet the work of each officer is coordinated within the rules and procedures outlined by the bank for lending. In addition, experi- enced loan officers may often assist newer officers with specific tasks or questions they might have. Sequential interdependence refers to work that flows from one individual to another, where one individual depends on the timely completion of quality work from another coworker. Mass- production assembly line workers utilize this kind of work system. Here, the output of one employee becomes the input for the next employee. Timely completion of work to be “passed on” is essential to avoid any slack or downtime, which creates inefficiencies and may strain rela- tions between coworkers. physical health and wellness programs and are contracting with outside employee-assistance pro- An increasing number of employers are establishing stress management programs as well as to the particularly stressful work environments in which many high-technology executives find grams to ensure that employees retain an essential balance among their life activities. In response Chapter 6 Design and Redesign of Work Systems | 245 244 | Part 1 The Context of Strategic Human Resource or hockey team Reciprocal interdependence occurs when the workflow is not linear (as in sequential interde- pendence) but random. Employees can process work so that its flow is not necessarily predictable utilize reciprocal interdependence, as would the different departments within a hospital. Employ- and often spontaneous to suit an immediate situation. Teammates on a basketball ees in a reciprocal interdependence need to be flexible and are often configured as a team, with When the work of one employee interfaces with another, concern must be paid to designing higher levels of coordination and attention. In designing work systems, organizations need to con- the work system to allow as efficient a flow as possible. Higher levels of interdependence require itate control of processes and communication among the interdependent tasks. For example, sider the implications that the levels of interdependence have for management practices that facil- higher levels of interdependence might require more frequent meetings between employees, regu- lar status reports, and more careful monitoring of performance and processes by management The design of organizational work systems is not an easy task. Allocation of tasks and responsi- bilities must be balanced with worker needs. Consideration must also be paid to the need for interde- pendencies among workers. Because changes in technology and changes in workforce composition continue to present ongoing challenges , the design of work systems is not a static activity. time and training for managers in an attempt to move the company culture from the man agement of people to the management of results. The program has resulted in productivity increases averaging 35 percent and voluntary turnover decreases as much as 90 percent in the divisions in which ROWE has been implemented . In one procurement division alone, turnover dropped from 36.6 percent to less than 6 percent in one year. Initially developed as a “guerrilla" operation, unknown to and unsanctioned by management and focused strictly on flextime, the early pilot run illustrated that flextime was an oxymoron and actually required much additional work to track employee's time, but, more importantly, flextime enhanced employee communication and teamwork by transcending the traditional eight- hour workday. ROWE's success is based on the three key commandments ingrained into the system: (1) There are no work schedules; (2) every meeting is optional; and (3) employ- ees should render no judgment as to how coworkers spend their time. Best Buy has found that ROWE enhances their ability to recruit new employees and retain existing employees and has allowed the organization to refocus its performance management system on goal- setting and outcomes-based measures. The team-based nature of Best Buy's work environ- ment ensures that employees who fail to abide by the system are pressured by their team members and eventually select out of Best Buy. The program has also resulted in significant cost savings relative to real estate and employee retention, as desktop computers and offices have been replaced with laptops, cell phones, and PDAs.14 Teams at Dow Chemical Michigan-based Dow Chemical has been a leader in the use of employee teams since it began the practice in Europe in 1994. The large, bureaucratic organization felt that it was not using the skills and talent of its employees as well as it might, which led to a restructuring of plant operations. Work processes, from budgeting to actual production, were examined, and a three-tiered system was developed for rating the degree of autonomy each team displayed. With the goal of removing day-to-day control and responsibility from a supervisor and giv- ing it to a team-allowing individuals to contribute more fully to the organization-Dow developed audit systems that assessed teams and their independence. Rewards were devel- oped commensurate with team performance and autonomy. The teams have saved Dow more than $1 billion in their first 10 years of operation. The process also has allowed Dow staff engineers to spend more time on improving plant processes rather than its operations. 13 The key strategic challenge in designing and staffing jobs is ensuring an optimal “fit" between the needs of employees and the needs of the organization. Ironically, employers are often very unaware of the needs and concerns of their own employees. A 2008 Job Satisfaction Survey Report, prepared by the Society for Human Resource Management, surveyed the top needs of employees as well as the perceptions of HR professionals as to employees' top needs. Of the top four employee needs—which, in order, were job security, benefits, compensation, and safety-only ben- efits appeared on the list of responses of HR professionals. The consequences of poor “fit" between employees and employers can be significant in terms of productivity, motivation, and willingness to remain in the organization. Strategic Redesign of Work Systems The redesign of work systems represents one of the most radical, yet common, changes taking place in organizations from an HR perspective. Traditional work systems that stressed individual- ized jobs that were specialized and hierarchical have inhibited organizations and hindered perfor- mance. Current and future work systems are becoming much more broadly defined and stress designing jobs not solely around technical measures for efficiency but around strategic choices made by management. The greater the volatility in an organization's environment, the greater the need for more flexible and adaptive work systems. In fact, a new model for organizational effec- tiveness requires organizations to be agile or infinitely adaptable. Although redesign efforts may initially be a very time-consuming process, well-designed flexible work systems can provide an organization with the ongoing ability to respond quickly to a changing environment. Although key decision makers can and do approach work redesign from a more macro, holis- tic perspective, individual employees' main concerns usually involve their individual jobs. This is not to say that employees are not concerned about larger, systemic types of organizational change; understandably, individuals have the greatest concern about changes that directly impact their careers and livelihoods. Many of the most significant change initiatives being undertaken in con- temporary organizations involve job design-notably, what workers do, what workers are given and need in terms of resources, how jobs interface with each other, and skills requirements. Changes in these areas may be referred to in a number of ways, particularly re-engineering, but the bottom line is that employees' jobs are changing faster than they ever have before, particularly in light of how information-processing technology is impacting the nature of work. The trend toward re-engineering has resulted in numerous changes in the fundamental ways in which work is carried out. Unnecessary activities that add no value are eliminated; tasks are outsourced; work is consolidated; and divisions are restructured in the interest of increased efficiency and enhanced performance. These efforts often result in the establishment of cross-functional teams that have a very high potential for conflict as areas of responsibility are redefined and positions are eliminated. At the same time, these changes can have a negative impact on employee motivation and morale, as workers may feel some threat to their job security. Therefore , management needs to consider and plan for those possible effects prior to implementation, when redesign initiatives are initially being considered. Work at Best Buy In the mid-2000s, Minneapolis, Minnesota-based consumer electronics retailer Best Buy adopted a new program that allowed most of its 4,000 corporate staff employees to work off-site without restriction. The Results-Only Work Environment (ROWE) has since been rolled out to the 100,000 employees who work in Best Buy's retail stores. The program attempts to provide employees with better work-life balance and allows employees to com- plete their work whenever and wherever they choose. The program has required significant Part 1 The Context of Strategic Human Resource Management Chapter 6 Design and Redesign of Work Systems | 239 he second component in the development of human resource (HR) management strategy, in addition to strategic workforce planning is the design of work systems. The organization must assigned to individuals and groups within the organization and decide how to redesign existing consider the implications of its future plans on how tasks and responsibilities should be work systems. A model for the design of work systems is presented in Exhibit 6.1. Design of Work Systems In Exhibit 6.1, three primary considerations are presented that decision makers need to consider in designing jobs: what workers do, what workers need, and how jobs interface with other jobs within the organization What Workers Do One of the more challenging tasks in organizations is allocating specific tasks and job responsibili- ties to employees. Those who assign responsibilities need to ensure that employees are not over- whelmed by their jobs yet at the same time ensure that employees have sufficient work to keep them both productive and motivated. In addition, job titles and content serve as an important basis of comparison for employees within the organization relative to status, power, and appropri- ateness of compensation. There are various strategies for the design of individual jobs. Those responsible for designing jobs and work systems need to fully assess the skills, knowledge, and abilities required by the orga- nization both currently and in the future and consider both existing and possible future technolo- gies . As noted in Chapter 5, a critical component of strategic workforce planning is anticipating changes in the organization's environment. Work systems need to be constantly assessed and eval- uated to ensure that the organization has assigned workers tasks and responsibilities that assist in achieving organizational objectives. Early approaches to work system design focused on individual employees' jobs. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, industrial engineering prescribed work systems with jobs that had very narrow task assignments, thus giving rise to the term "job specialization." These systems attempted to promote efficiency in industrial operations by allowing workers to specialize in particular tasks and gain high levels of competence in their work. Jobs had a limited number of tasks assigned that required little thought but precise execution. Not surprisingly, although these efforts toward simplified, specialized jobs provided efficiency, they also resulted in creating jobs that were boring and monotonous for employees. Because employees were not encouraged to go beyond a basic robotic function in most of their work, they were consequently unable to contribute to the organization in any meaningful way. This does not mean, however, that job specialization is inappropriate or never works. In fact, United Parcel Service, as discussed in Chapter 1, uses techniques of job specialization extensively. Job specialization can be a viable strategy for the design of work systems in organizations that require high levels of efficiency and cost minimization order to compete effectively. It can also be appropriate for organizations that employ workers who do not seek to grow and be challenged in their careers. Initial efforts to relieve this boredom and design more stimulating work for employees focused on providing them with tasks outside the scope of their previously narrowly defined jobs. Job enlargement provides some variety by increasing the number of tasks, activities, or jobs to help alleviate the boredom of highly specialized work. A variation of job enlargement is job rotation, where workers rotate across different specialized positions within the organization. Both techni- ques of designing jobs rest with providing employees with more variety in the tasks they perform. However, although these approaches add variety to tasks, they do not necessarily involve giving employees more responsibility. This does not mean that efforts to allow or require workers to per- form additional tasks are necessarily useless. Employees who assume responsibility for additional tasks can have their understanding of organizational production processes enhanced and have a greater appreciation of how their specialized job contributes to the overall organization. Several studies have documented the success of both job enlargement and job rotation. Shortly after World War II, IBM instituted a job enlargement program and found a significant increase in product quality and a reduction in down or idle time.? Pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly utilized a popular job rotation program that allowed employees to qualify for salary increases and promo- tions while enhancing career development opportunities." Job rotation has become increasingly popular in recent years as a key tool by which employees are developed through exposure to different roles and functions within an organiza- tion. Job rotation has been a long-standing practice for senior executives who benefit from gaining a sense of not only how different functions operate but how they contribute to the entire organization. More recently, job rotation has been offered increasingly to employees at the middle and lower levels of the organization as a means of facilitating communication and fostering collaboration across different divisions of the organizations or across regions. Job rotation is also a means of facilitating individual professional development. A recent survey by the Society for Human Resource Management found that 43 percent of employers offer some form of job rotation to facilitate the development of proficiencies not required as part of an individual employee's current job responsibilities.* Younger employees in particular seek out these kinds of opportunities with prospective employers, so job rotation can aid in both attract- ing and retaining younger workers. Job rotation is increasingly being seen as a key means for HR professionals to further their careers. In order for HR to be a true strategic partner, HR executives must understand fully not only the functional aspects of HR management but also the nature of the organization's business. One of the best ways to obtain this understanding is to work within the organization in an oper- ating division outside the HR function. Ironically , for many years, HR has developed programs that rotate employees across functions such as marketing, finance, operations, and accounting, providing those in rotation with a better grasp of the entire organization and an appreciation for how individual functions contribute to overall strategy. HR executives, however, are usually not part of such programs because of the traditional “administrative" role that HR played. To partici- pate in an organization's success at the highest levels , HR executives need to avail themselves of opportunities to "learn the business" by actually participating in and learning about the entire organization and its various units. Until they do so, they cannot contribute to the organization as a true strategic partner. EXHIBIT 6.1 A Model for the Designs of Work Systems What Workers Do What Workers Need Work Systems How Jobs Interface with Other Jobs Cengage Leaming "art 1 The Context of Strategie tunan Resource Progement Chapter 6 Design and Redesign of Work Systems | 239 must he second component ili the terciopment of human resource (HR) management strategy, in consider the implications of its future plans on how tasks and responsibilities should be addition to srategic workfurce pluring, is the design of work systems. The organization assigned to individuals and group's zithin the organization and decide how to redesign existing work systems. A model for the design of work systems is presented in Exhibit 6.1. Design of Work Systems In Exhibit 6.1, three primary coasiderations are presented that decision makers need to consider in designing jobs: what workers do, what workers need, and how jobs interface with other jobs within the organization. important What Workers Do One of the more challenging tasks in organizations is allocating specific tasks and job responsibili ties to employees. Those who assign responsibilities need to ensure that employees are not over- whelmed by their jobs yet at the same time ensure that employees have sufficient work to keep them both productive and motivated. In addition, job titles and content serve as an basis of comparison for employees within the organization relative to status, power, and appropri- ateness of compensation. There are various strategies for the design of individual jobs. Those responsible for designing jobs and work systems need to fully assess the skills, knowledge, and abilities required by the nization both currently and in the future and consider both existing and possible future technolo- gies. As noted in Chapter 5, a critical component of strategic workforce planning is anticipating changes in the organization's environment. Work systems need to be constantly assessed and eval- uated to ensure that the organization has assigned workers tasks and responsibilities that assist in achieving organizational objectives. Early approaches to work system design focused on individual employees' jobs. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, industrial engineering prescribed work systems with jobs that had very narrow task assignments, thus giving rise to the term "job specialization." orga- These systems attempted to promote efficiency in industrial operations by allowing workers to specialize in particular tasks and gain high levels of competence in their work. Jobs had a limited number of tasks assigned that required little thought but precise execution. Not surprisingly, although these efforts toward simplified, specialized jobs provided efficiency, they also resulted in creating jobs that were boring and monotonous for employees. Because employees were not encouraged to go beyond a basic robotic function in most of their work, they were consequently unable to contribute to the organization in any meaningful way. This does not mean, however, that job specialization is inappropriate or never works. In fact, United Parcel Service, as discussed in Chapter 1, uses techniques of job specialization extensively. Job specialization can be a viable strategy for the design of work systems in organizations that require high levels of efficiency and cost minimization in order to compete effectively. It can also be appropriate for organizations that employ workers who do not seek to grow and be challenged in their careers. Initial efforts to relieve this boredom and design more stimulating work for employees focused on providing them with tasks outside the scope of their previously narrowly defined jobs. Job enlargement provides some variety by increasing the number of tasks, activities, or jobs to help alleviate the boredom of highly specialized work. A variation of job enlargement is job rotation, where workers rotate across different specialized positions within the organization. Both techni- ques of designing jobs rest with providing employees with more variety in the tasks they perform. However, although these approaches add variety to tasks, they do not necessarily involve giving employees more responsibility. This does not mean that efforts to allow or require workers to per- form additional tasks are necessarily useless. Employees who assume responsibility for additional tasks can have their understanding of organizational production processes enhanced and have a greater appreciation of how their specialized job contributes to the overall organization. Several studies have documented the success of both job enlargement and job rotation. Shortly after World War II, IBM instituted a job enlargement program and found a significant increase in product quality and a reduction in down or idle time.? Pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly utilized a popular job rotation program that allowed employees to qualify for salary increases and promo- tions while enhancing career development opportunities." Job rotation has become increasingly popular in recent years as a key tool by which employees are developed through exposure to different roles and functions within an organiza- tion. Job rotation has been a long-standing practice for senior executives who benefit from gaining sense of not only how different functions operate but how they contribute to the entire organization. More recently, job rotation has been offered increasingly to employees at the middle and lower levels of the organization as a means of facilitating communication and fostering collaboration across different divisions of the organizations or across regions. Job rotation is also a means of facilitating individual professional development. A recent survey by the Society for Human Resource Management found that 43 percent of employers offer some form of job rotation to facilitate the development of proficiencies not required as part of an individual employee's current job responsibilities. Younger employees in particular seek out these kinds of opportunities with prospective employers, so job rotation can aid in both attract- ing and retaining younger workers. Job rotation is increasingly being seen as a key means for HR professionals to further their careers. In order for HR to be a true strategic partner, HR executives must understand fully not only the functional aspects of HR management but also the nature of the organization's business. One of the best ways to obtain this understanding is to work within the organization in an oper- ating division outside the HR function. Ironically, for many years, HR has developed programs that rotate employees across functions such as marketing, finance, operations, and accounting, providing those in rotation with a better grasp of the entire organization and an appreciation for how individual functions contribute to overall strategy. HR executives, however, are usually not part of such programs because of the traditional “administrative" role that HR played. To partici- pate in an organization's success at the highest levels, HR executives need to avail themselves of opportunities to "learn the business" by actually participating in and learning about the entire organization and its various units. Until they do so, they cannot contribute to the organization as a true strategic partner. EXHIBIT 6.1 A Model for the Designs of Work Systems What Workers Do What Workers Need Work Systems How Jobs Interface with Other Jobs © Cengage Leaming Chapter 6 Design and Redesign of Work Systems | 241 240 Part 1 The Context of Strategic Human Resource Management Job Rotation at General Electric EXHIBIT 6.2 The Job Characteristics Model General Electric (GE) has always been a leader in employee development among large orga- nizations. For many years, entry-level HR managers have been placed in a two-year job rota- tion program on joining the organization. New hires spend three 8-month rotations within the HR function. Although they might end up in different business units or divisions, these rotations were still within the HR domain and confined to areas such as labor relations, com- pensation, staffing, and benefits. The goal of this program was to develop strong HR general- ists who could eventually become senior HR executives within GE. In the mid-1990s, GE added cross-functional rotations to the mix, whereby individuals would leave HR for at least Core Job Dimensions Critical Psychological States Personal and Work Outcomes Skill variety Task identity Task significance Experienced meaningfulness of the work High internal work motivation one rotation, working in areas such as audit, marketing, finance, or operations. This rotation program can continue throughout the employee's career as new skills, competencies, experi business and develop HR solutions to key business challenges faced by divisions. Autonomy High-quality work performance among their non-HR peers given this experience and are also better able to understand the 5 Experienced responsibility for outcomes of the work High satisfaction with the work Feedback Knowledge of the actual results of the work activities Low absenteeism and turnover Employee Growth Need Strength Source: J. R. Hackman and G. R. Oldham, "The Relationship Among Core Job Dimensions, the Critical Psychological States, and on-the-job Outcomes, " The Job Diagnostic Survey: An Instrument for the Diag- nosis of Jobs and the Evaluation of Job Redesign Projects, 1974. . Job enrichment initiatives involve going beyond merely adding tasks to employees' jobs. Job enrichment involves increasing the amount of responsibility employees have. Work is designed so that employees have significant responsibility for their own work. In many cases, the employee becomes more accountable for his or her own performance because responsibilities for quality and productivity that were previously assigned to the employee's supervisor are redirected to the employee . This process of reassigning what were formerly supervisory responsibilities to employees is commonly referred to as vertical loading. To assist organizations in designing enriched jobs, a model was developed that illustrated the relationships between redesigned jobs and ultimate performance and behavioral outcomes. The Job Characteristics Model is presented in Exhibit 6.2. This model suggests that five core job characteris- tics can impact certain employee psychological states that will impact certain work-related outcomes. These five core job characteristics are: (1) skill variety, the extent to which the work allows an employee to use a variety of acquired skills; (2) task identity, the extent to which the work allows an employee to complete a "whole” or “identifiable” piece of work; (3) task significance, the extent to which the employee perceives that his or her work is important and meaningful to those in the orga- nization or those outside of the organization; (4) autonomy, the extent to which the employee is able to work and determine work procedures at her or his own discretion, free of supervision; and (5) feed- back, the extent to which the work allows the employee to gain a sense of how well job responsibilities are being met. The model argues that work systems can be designed to enhance motivation, perfor- mance, and satisfaction and reduce absenteeism and turnover. Frequently, the job characteristics model can be utilized to allow workers to assemble an entire product or provide a wider range of services to customers . For example, at Motorola's Communica, tions Division, individual employees assemble, test, and package paging devices, whereas previously these tasks were performed on an assembly line with 100 workers performing 100 different steps Similarly, the job responsibilities of a group of employees may be enriched by allowing the work group the autonomy to complete an entire range of tasks in a manner determined by the group. Organizations are increasingly developing job requirements around specific competencies that employees are expected to have and/or develop to maintain their value to the organization in the future. Competencies are fluid, meaning that they change and evolve as the organization, its strategy, and the environment in which it operates both change and evolve. A focus on competencies helps the organiza- involve, at a minimum, interviews of key executives, behavioral interviews of best and worst per- onsuming to develop. Typically they formers on various jobs, and reviews of performance data, which allow correlations to be devel- oped between competencies and performance. A variety of competency models can be developed . . Organization-wide competencies are those that are important for all employees, regardless of position or level in the organization. Division-based competencies relate to a specific business function (such as information tech- nology), area of operation (such as geographic region), business unit (individual product or service line), or customer group (such as business-to-business). Role-based competencies are those specific to a level of management (such as divisional vice president) or specific role (such as profit and loss responsibility) in the organization. Job-based competencies are those specific to an individual job, which have been proven to correlate to higher success in that job (such as customer service representative or accounts receivable manager). Individual competencies often have performance of behavioral dimensions, which provide a basis for assessment and rating. As an example, Lominger International , a division of Korn/Ferry, has developed a competency called “strategic skills," which has the subcomponents of dealing with ambiguity, creativity, innovation management, perspective, and strategic ability. Competency mod- els are complex and expensive to develop, and many of these that have been developed are unneces- sarily complex . Employees and managers should be directly be involved in their development because, as the end users, if these individuals have difficulty using the competency model , ambiguities about specific performance expectations can result . Competency models should be able to channel employee efforts toward organizational strategic objectives and simultaneously provide employees with a means of receiving specific feedback related to their professional development. Competency models can be extremely difficult and time cons within any organization around four different levels of assessment: 12 Part 1 The Context of sign and Redesign of Work Systems | 243 What Workers Need The design of work systems also needs to consider what workers need and want in order to carry out their job responsibilities. Certainly, all employees do not work for the same reasons nor do they expect the same things from their employers. However, employers must consider a number of important universal consid- erations in designing work systems to ensure that workers are motivated, productive, and happy. The first of these considerations is the changing demographics and lifestyles of the labor mar- ket. As noted in Chapter 2, there are some significant differences in the composition of the who are considered the breadwinners of their families. In fact, white males now make up less have generic needs. Employees expect their employers to understand their needs and respect than 50 perceni of the U.S. workforce. Organizations need to realize that employees no them as individuals. Worker needs will vary among and between those of different age groups, genders, races, religions, physical abilities, sexual orientations, and marital and family status. To perform at peak levels, employees need to remain free from bias or prejudice in hiring, treatment, performance management, compensation, and advancement decisions and programs. This diver- sity of worker needs creates a significant challenge for allocating work in organizations. Organizations also need to be more aware of employee needs for work-life balance. All employ- less loyal to genera- tion ago. Employers who design work systems that do not allow employees to have the balance they also suffer from burnout and perform at less than optimal levels. One recent that 42 percent of working adults were willing to assume a salary reduction in order to gain more flex. ibility in their work schedules and 83 percent reported that flexibility in work schedule is one of the most important factors considered when searching for a job or employer. themselves, the Growth and Leadership Center of Mountain View, California, was established to work with executives from nearby Silicon Valley. Leading employers such as Sun Microsystems: Intel , and Netscape sent employees at risk for burnout to the center for weekly coaching sessions. A typical 10-week program costs $12,000 per employee. Such excessive costs can be avoided through the development of work systems that are strategically designed to allow the organization's employ- ees to retain the right balance in their life activities and can be a key catalyst to high performance. A third consideration in determining what employees want is ensuring that employees have some form of representation, or "voice.” More highly skilled and trained workers do not expect to be micromanaged. They expect to use their training and experience to make a contribution to the organization, and they expect the organization to listen to their concerns. Systems for employee input are not only motivational to employees, but they also allow the organization to fully utilize its existing human capabilities by encouraging employees to get involved in work- related issues that impact them. Work systems need to be designed so employees have sufficient voice to allow them to contribute their perspectives and expertise. In unionized organizations, employee voice is formalized and centralized. However, less than 20 percent of the U.S. workforce is unionized. Unions also restrict the individual employee's right to have an independent voice, apart from the majority. In the absence of and even with a formal union, employers need to design their work systems to ensure that employees are able to commu- nicate their needs and concerns in a constructive manner within an atmosphere of mutual respect. Both employees and the organizations win when this is accomplished. One final consideration that needs to be incorporated in work system design under worker needs is workplace safely. The United States has established numerous guidelines for employers, administered by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which oversees the Occupational Safety and Health Act. The Act largely addresses employer liability for on-the-job injuries and occupationally acquired diseases. In addition to the traditional concerns of hazardous products or waste and unsafe physical conditions, increasing attention is being paid to safety issues regarding technology. Ergonomics is a relatively new science that explores the relationship between injuries and physical office working conditions. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health recently reported that musculoskeletal disorders related to the neck, shoulders, elbow, hand, wrist, and back generated more than $13 billion in worker compensation claims. 12 Consequently, OSHA has been developing national standards related to ergonomics. The near-constant use of computers with video display monitors has ignited debate concern- ing radiation hazard and the potential long-term effects of sustained gazing at video display moni- tors on an individual's vision. Because many employees also spend significant amounts of time at their desks or workstations, concern is also being addressed toward the ergonomics of worksites. Work systems and jobs need to be designed to be consistent with employees' physical capabilities and allow them to perform their jobs without any undue risks. desire in their life activities will find workers who not only are less committed to the organization bu who may survey found Flexible Work at State Street State Street is a Boston-based multinational financial service provider with more than 29,000 employees in 26 countries. In 2009, an executive committee was convened to address the need to provide for better work-life balance of its employees than the existing informal, ad hoc, practices in place. The global nature of State Street's operations also mandated flexibility in work across time zones to facilitate collaboration and decisive, timely decision making. The result was the development and implementation of a formal Flex Work Program, which has become known simply as Flex. The program began as an employee-initiated activity to one that is manager-initiated in considering goals, strategies, and operating issues of the work unit and responsibilities of spe- cific positions. Managers utilize Flex as a strategic business tool to enhance team efficiency, optimize workflow, and make more optimal use of physical space. 67 percent of State Street employees engage in Flex with an equal number of men and women participating. The essence of Flex is that employees and managers are given an array of options regarding how, when, and where they work, including flexible start and finish times to the work day, compressed work schedules, reduced hours, flexible work sites, and job-sharing options. turnover, and better operating efficiencies company wide. Increased employee engagement State Street reports heightened employee satisfaction, productivity and loyalty, decreased and creativity have been reported by managers and the organization has calculated that Flex results in employees driving 140,000 fewer miles per week, resulting in time and energy con- sumption savings, not to mention environmental benefits. 10 How Jobs Interface with Other Jobs The final component of designing jobs is an understanding of how individual jobs may have inter- dependencies with other jobs as well as how individual jobs can or should interface with others. There are three traditional types of task interdependence: pooled, sequential, and reciprocal. Pooled interdependence is where individual employees can work independently of each other in performing their tasks but utilize some coordination of their activities. Bank loan officers utilize this kind of work system. Each loan officer works independently of peers, yet the work of each officer is coordinated within the rules and procedures outlined by the bank for lending. In addition, experi- enced loan officers may often assist newer officers with specific tasks or questions they might have. Sequential interdependence refers to work that flows from one individual to another, where one individual depends on the timely completion of quality work from another coworker. Mass- production assembly line workers utilize this kind of work system. Here, the output of one employee becomes the input for the next employee. Timely completion of work to be “passed on” is essential to avoid any slack or downtime, which creates inefficiencies and may strain rela- tions between coworkers. physical health and wellness programs and are contracting with outside employee-assistance pro- An increasing number of employers are establishing stress management programs as well as to the particularly stressful work environments in which many high-technology executives find grams to ensure that employees retain an essential balance among their life activities. In response
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