Job design refers to the process of structuring work in an organization. It involves determining the tasks and responsibilities of a job, as well as how those jobs fit into the broader organizational structure.
Some key elements of job design include:
- Task variety – Does the job involve performing a range of different activities and using different skills? Greater variety tends to increase employee motivation and satisfaction.
- Autonomy – Does the job allow freedom, independence and discretion to the employee in carrying out work? Jobs with autonomy lead to higher performance and satisfaction.
- Feedback – Does the job intrinsically provide feedback to the employee about their performance? Regular feedback is important for guiding behavior.
- Significance – Does the job substantially impact other people inside or outside the organization? Jobs with significance lead to greater meaningfulness.
The way jobs are designed has important implications for organizations. Well-designed jobs that are motivating and meaningful for employees can lead to greater productivity, performance quality, and job satisfaction.
In designing jobs, organizations must also consider how roles and departments coordinate to achieve organizational objectives. This is the domain of organizational design.
Approaches like departmentalization, cross-functional teams, and matrix structures allow organizations to group jobs and departments to optimize workflow, communication, and efficiency.
Finding an organizational design that complements job design is key for overall organizational effectiveness.
The choices organizations make about job and organizational design have a substantial impact on performance, adaptation, and employee well-being.
Careful consideration of these choices can help structure work to achieve an organization’s goals.
The Job Design Skills workbook has been developed to meet the needs of a wide range of audiences.
Potential audiences include companies providing training to their employees, individuals looking to develop their own job design skills, coaches and mentors providing one-to-one supports, educators teaching job design skills, and learning professionals providing courses.
This workbook is flexible and can be used within a variety of learning and work environments.
When learners have completed this workbook they will be able to define the key concepts associated with job design and will be able to:
- Explain the role of job design and the organization.
- Describe the main approaches to job design and outline the main advantages and disadvantages of each approach.
- Understand and be able to implement alternative work schedules.
