Business Report - Work Design At CERA - Assessment Answer

Business Report Assignment

Introduction

Work design is referred to as the process of defining the way work will be performed and the tasks that will be required in a given job (Kramar et al., 2014). Following this definition, job redesign refers to the changing of the way work is performed in an existing job/ work description. Job redesign however relies on information about the existing job design, which is obtained through job analysis. This will form the first part of this report- an analytic look at the existing job design in Rachael’s drafting department taking in to account the activities that take place, the skills and attributes required and how the work done relates to other jobs around it. Following this analysis, the next step will be to look at the existing options for job redesign. According to Agrawal, (2014), this can take one of four approaches i.e. the motivational approach, the mechanistic approach, the biological approach and the perceptual-motor approach. Thus the second part of this report will focus on an in-depth look at each of these approaches, with the aim of finding the one that works best for Rachael and her team. Finally, this report will look in to the existing modern day trends within the corporate society and their impact on work design. This part will also explore the possible challenges Rachael and Israel (HR Manager at CERA) may face when developing a suitable job design for Rachael’s drafting department.

Job Analysis

Job analysis is by definition a process aimed at identifying the details to a particular job and the way it relates to other surrounding jobs (Edwards et al., 2013). Job analysis takes the following in to account: what is done in a job, what are the skillsets and attributes required, how the job works and how it relates to other surrounding jobs. The importance in doing a job analysis is that it provides a starting point for work design (or redesign) and makes it easier to identify those areas that need improvement.

The first step in job analysis is determining the training needs for the job in question. Since this report specifically focuses on Rachael’s drafting department, the job requirements for drafting in an engineering and research firm will be taken in to account. The requirements for this include:

1. Fluency in computer-aided design programs and technical literacy
2. A good comprehension of mathematical calculations
3. Good communication skills
4. Evidence of educational training from a recognized institution
5. The ability to work fast while under pressure without compromising on quality (Ullah, 2013).

After the minimum requirements for hire have been met, the next step in job analysis would be to identify the various duties, responsibilities and work relationships within the department. This could be achieved through issuing questionnaires and interviews, or through conducting surveys and observation (Oke et al., 2012). The aim here is to ensure that as much information as possible is collected about how things are done within an office. Next, a look in to the working environment is required, with the aim of establishing the necessary tools an equipment that need to be made available to a given group of employees so as to ensure a conducive working environment. In Rachael’s department, some of these tools include: computers, printing machines, drawing papers and general office stationary; desks and chairs of particular heights, lengths and widths; adequate working and circulation space and adequate quantities of natural and artificial light (Hendry, 2011). If any of these requirements are not provided, it could promote under-performance from the employees and compromise the working environment’s ability to allow for innovative thinking.

Next would be to look in to the employees’ goals and objectives, with the aim of finding out whether they are in line with those of the organization. Again this could be achieved through interviews and questionnaires as well as general observation. Here, the focus should be to determine whether what the employees present on paper as their goals and objectives is being translated and manifested in their working procedures and working cultures (Khan et al., 2013). If this is not the case, then there is a problem that needs to be identified and addressed.

Finally, the job analysis process should end with a look in to the compensation patterns of the various employees within a department. In Rachael’s department, are there employees who earn more than others? Do they have the same qualifications and workloads? What is the basis/ reason for paying one employee more than another employee in the same department? How do the employees feel about the current compensation system? All this information could be collected using questionnaires to be filled by the employees of the drafting department at their own convenience, (Martínez-Sánchez et al., 2011)

Work Re-design

Once the job analysis is concluded and all the relevant data has been collected, the next step would be to develop an effective work re-design strategy. The aim of this strategy should be to promote innovative thinking within the CERA’s drafting department, which is under Rachael Amaro. As Anca-Ioana, (2013) explains, there is a wide array of studies that show a positive relationship between a good work design strategy and task performance. However, the traditional view towards task performance focused mainly on those tasks within an employee’s work description, without taking in to account an employee’s non-explicit contribution to an organization. Since CERA is looking for employee performance both within and beyond their work descriptions, it is important to develop a work design strategy that promotes this type of performance from the employees in Rachael’s department. This said, there are four work re-design approaches available to choose from. These are:

1. The motivational approach
2. The mechanistic approach
3. The biological approach
4. The perceptual-motor approach

This part of this report will look at each of this approaches individually, with the aim of identifying the approach best suited for Rachael’s drafting department.

The Motivational Approach

The aim of the motivational approach is to constantly re-energize a company’s employees so that they maintain an impulse and desire to work and give their best. Accordingly, there are five core dimensions to the motivational approach:

1. Task Variety- This is a ‘jack of all trades’ approach that involves giving employees a wide variety of tasks to perform to prevent them from getting bored with the monotony of performing one task. This approach is however only suitable in those scenarios where the employees enjoy what they are doing.
2. Task Identity- This approach aims at identifying employees who are able to identify with the task at hand, and are hence able to derive more pride and satisfaction when the task is completed.
3. Task Significance- This approach aims at those tasks that contribute something wider. The task, for example, could be beneficial to society or a societal group such as a children’s home, or a home for the aged. The problem is that not all tasks will provide this type of satisfaction.
4. Autonomy- This involves giving a certain degree of freedom to workers to engage in those projects that interest them. The idea is that they will get more satisfaction from doing something that they love to do. Success stories of autonomy include Wikipedia, Fedex and Google- google gives their employees 20% time to do whatever they see fit and this resulted in innovations like Gmail and Google News (Armstrong, 2011). However, this approach is not always successful and precious time could end up getting wasted.
5. Feedback- This involves making the employee aware of how effective he/she was in the performance of a task. This feedback can come in the form of an awarded bonus or increased customer satisfaction points, or awards like employee of the year. All this is done in a bid to motivate employee performance

The Mechanistic Approach

This approach involves work re-design through specialization, simplification and defining skill requirements.

1. Specialization- Some tasks are highly specialized, in that they follow a strict procedure in their execution. Specialization advocates for the identification of such tasks to ensure order in their performance.
2. Simplification- Some tasks are simple, in that they do not require specialized training to ensure their performance e.g. printing. When such tasks are identified, labor can be distributed more efficiently.
3. Skill Requirements- Some tasks are complicated, in that they require a certain skillset in order to ensure their performance. Again, when these tasks are identified, labor can be distributed more effectively, (Griese et al., 2012).

The Biological Approach

This approach works best for heavy industry jobs or jobs that involve the repetition of specific tasks. The aim of the biological approach is to create a work design that reduces the amount of physical effort exerted by a single employee in the performance of their delegated duties. With this, this approach takes in to account strength, endurance and size difference.

1. Strength- Tasks that require a lot of muscular strength should be allocated to muscular individuals while tasks requiring lesser muscular strength allocated to less muscular individuals.
2. Endurance- This directly correlates with the system of shift change, where the time difference between work shifts depends on the amount of endurance required in the performance of a given task.
3. Size difference- This is in reference to anthropometrics, where certain measurements like eye height, leg room and reach are taken in to consideration when allocating duties e.g. taller members of staff are allocated in areas where their height can be put in to good use, (Camelo-Ordaz et al., 2011).

The perceptual-motor approach

This approach focuses on redesigning the work plan through focusing on maximizing the mental capabilities of the employees, but not exceeding them. Accordingly, this approach takes in to account: user friendliness, memory requirements, information input and output requirements; and stress levels.

1. User friendliness- Is the work environment user friendly? Are the facilities e.g. computers easy to learn and use? This system advocates for an environment where the available facilities are easy to learn and use.
2. Memory requirements- How much information are the employees required to know off head e.g. at the customer service desk? This system advocates for the bare minimum information to be remembered so as to reduce mental strain.
3. Information input and output- How much work do the employees need to perform on a daily basis? This system advocates for realistic employee expectations so as to allow them enough time to develop innovative ideas.
4. Stress levels- Is the work environment stressful on the mind? Is there disturbing interference such as noise? This system advocates for a conducive environment so as to reduce employee stress levels, as stress is bad for innovative thinking (Cabello-Medina et al., 2011).

From the analysis above, I find the mechanical approach best suited to promote employee innovation in Rachael Amaro’s drafting department. The activities of specialization, based on ability; skill requirement, based on experience; and simplification, based on the type of work; directly correlate with the types of activities likely to be performed in a drafting office. Additionally, the shortcomings of the mechanical approach in promoting employee innovation can be supplemented by introducing activities like autonomy, from the motivational approach, or user-friendliness from the perceptual-motor approach. The end result could be a blend of activities from different approaches, combined in to one system that works best for the employees of CERA’s drafting office.

Emerging Trends

Work design is an ever-evolving process that is subject to change. In line with this, perhaps the biggest contributor to change in work design is technological advancement. Al-Laham, (2013) explains a situation in the post-World-War II era where industrial development was at an all-time high and many of the work design strategies developed focused on reducing physical strain and work distribution strategies. Technological advancement however revolutionized task performance and human labor was replaced by machine labor, (Bornay-Barrachina et al., 2012). The result was that aspects that were considered to be traditionally important, like physical strength, became obsolete concepts because, with the aid of a machine, a weaker individual could lift heavy objects effortlessly. This changed the dynamics of the skills required to perform specific tasks and as a result, work design approaches like the biological approach are not as relevant nowadays as they used to be. Furthermore, the introduction of the computer revolutionized the approach towards design by changing the required skillset. An employee no longer needed to know how to draw to be recognized as a designer. As a result of revolutions like these, work design approaches like the mechanistic approach and the perceptual-motor approach have gained popularity in modern society due to their relevance (Bonet et al., 2011).

The introduction of talent management as the norm in modern society has pushed work design strategies to new limits. As can be witnessed from commercially successful enterprises like Silicon Valley and Microsoft, HR managers are continuously looking and snatching away talented individuals to join their organizations. As a result, retaining talented and innovative employees has never been a more difficult task. As Sohail et al., (2012) explains, the issue is not so much to do with the amount of money paid to the employees but rather the conduciveness of the work environment and the amount of satisfaction derived from working. Following this, HR managers need to develop work strategies that make the most of their employees’ abilities to reduce the risk of losing them to rival firms (Nica et al., 2011).

Conclusion and Recommendations

The aim of this report was to suggest a possible work re-design strategy to be adopted by Rachael Amaro that would improve innovative thinking among her employees in the drafting department at CERA. Before this could be achieved however, the first section of this report focuses on conducting a job analysis so as to get a general view of the existing working conditions and the existing working design. Following this analysis, this report has gone on to propose four different work re-design approaches available to Rachael, namely: the motivational approach, the mechanical approach, the biological approach and the perceptual-motor approach. The report has taken an in-depth look at each of these four approaches, describing what they entail and where they are most suitable. Consequently, the mechanical approach was identified to be the most appropriate choice for Rachael’s situation, because it was the most relevant. A further suggestion was made that some activities such as autonomy, from the motivational approach and user-friendliness from the perceptual-motor approach could be adopted to supplement the mechanical approach so as to make it a more successful strategy. Finally, with regards to the emerging trends, this report has identified talent management to be an emerging trend in the corporate world, where talented individuals are constantly being poached away from their organizations and put in to better use. Consequently, this report has called upon the HR manager at CERA to develop a work design that will make the most of CERA’s employees so as to prevent them from being poached away by competing organizations.