What is Job
What is a job?
● A collection of tasks, duties, and responsibilities assigned to an individual worker
● Actual hands-on tasks we do to accomplish the duties and responsibilities for which we
are paid or rewarded
What is a job design?
● The organization of activities to create the optimum level of performance
● The process of organizing work into jobs
Main determinants of job design
● Organizational factors
● People issues/needs
● Legal and union requirements
Organizational factors
● Management styles
● Bureaucratic structure
● Products or services produced
● Technology requirements
● General economic health of enterprise
1. Issues of productivity gains and efficiency for survival
2. Laboratories must be highly productive and cost-conscious
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Technological advances, personnel evaluation, user-friendly workstations
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Need for people who are technically and legally qualified to perform the
production process
Job redesign
● Process by which managers reconsider what employees are expected to do
● Matching the right people with the right job to achieve a workforce that is productive in
both volume and economics
Organization Needs
● Revising job content
○ Recollecting and revising job-related information to determine inconsistency
between a person and the job
● Analyzing job-related information
○ To determine the hindrances in performing job-related tasks and duties and
investigate why an employee is not able to deliver the expected output
● Altering job elements
○ Design a job that encourages employees to work harder and perform better
● Reformation of job description and specification
○ Makes sure that the worker place at a particular place is able to deliver what is
expected of him
● Reshuffling the Job-related tasks and duties
○ Reallocating of new or altered tasks and functions to employees to motivate the
performers while increasing their satisfaction level.
People Issues/Needs
● People’s skills and limitations
● Personal motivational needs
● Behavior characteristics
● Expectations
● Social mores
● Workforce availability
● Ability to function in the conditions of the work environment
1. Herzberg’s Motivators
a. Opportunity for achievement
b. Recognition for one’s role in the success of the group
c. Challenging work
d. Responsibility
e. Chance for advancement and growth
2. Job Behavior factors (5) - where managers can intervene in the job design process to
help satisfy the people's needs...
a. Autonomy: Independence, freedom and responsibility that workers can exercise
in performing their duties
b. Variety: Extent to which team members are given the opportunity to perform a
variety of tasks and use different skills
c. Task Identity: Extent to which the work being done is identified with the final
product
d. Task Significance: Degree to which the team’s work is valid and has
significance for both internal and external stakeholders of the organization
e. Feedback: Immediacy and clarity of the feedback affects effectiveness of the
employee’s performance
3. Worker selection
a. Match individual needs, desires, and expectations with specific jobs available in a
facility
4. Job enrichment - Efforts to make work more meaningful and satisfying by
INCREASING the level of autonomy, control, and responsibility for job performance in
areas that allow professional growth
a. Skill variety
b. High task identity
c. Human interaction and respect
d. Autonomy in work procedures, work flow and quality measurements
e. Timely performance feedback
Job enlargement
● Increasing the number of tasks for which an individual is responsible
● Can be effective motivational tool if it offers professional growth
Job design - Continuous and ever-evolving process that is aimed at helping employees
● Helps the firm find the most efficient way to operate
○ Employee input
○ Employee training
○ Work/Rest Schedules
○ Adjustments
● Improve the quality of work life and satisfaction for your employees
○ Leads to smoother running, more profitable business
Problems associated with job design
1. Unless lower-level needs are satisfied, people will not respond to opportunities to satisfy upper-level needs
2. May raise employees expectations beyond what is possible
3. May be resisted by labor unions to see the effort as an attempt to get more work for the same pay
JOB ANALYSIS
● Process of collecting and analyzing information about tasks, workflow and jobs being
done in an organization
● Aims to develop:
○ Job description
○ Work standards
○ Performance appraisal systems
Job Analysis Process
1. Identification of job analysis purpose
2. Who will conduct job analysis
3. How to conduct the process
4. Strategic decision-making
5. Training of job analyst
6. Preparation of job analysis process
7. Data collection
8. Documentation, verification, review
9. Developing job descriptions and job specification
Purpose of job analysis
● Provide an objective description of the job itself
Results of job analysis
● Job description
Factors considered in job analysis
1. Working conditions
a. Physical environment
i.
Location
ii.
Lighting
iii.
Temperature
iv.
Noise
v.
Ventilation
2. Technology - methodology and instrumentation
3. Job specification
a. Education
b. Experience
c. Licenses
d. Skills
e. Other personal characteristics
4. Availability of Labor
5. Personal Interaction
6. Legal aspects
a. Licenses
7. Workflow
a. STATs
b. Routine Tests
c. TAT
8. Work itself
a. Actual tasks and duties
9. Work process
a. Coordination with other jobs and departments
Methods of Job analysis
● Industrial Engineering
● Data Collection
● Dictionary of Occupational Titles
● Functional Job Analysis
Industrial Engineering
● Breaking down each tasks into its smallest components
○ Identify areas for improvement
● Each step is timed and studied in order to eliminate unnecessary motions
Strategies for data collection
1. Interview staff, supervisors and customers
2. Hire a job analyst to make observations
3. Have workers fill out checklists about their work
4. Take with experts
5. Get employees to maintain logs or diaries of their tasks
6. Use a combination of these techniques
Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT)
● Coding system that allows for analysis and comparison on jobs based on a nine-digit
code
○ FIRST 3 - Occupational category of the job
○ NEXT 3 - Degree of functional difficulty
○ LAST 3 - Descriptive title of jobs within the same occupational category
Functional Job Analysis
1. What workers do in relation to data, people, and jobs
2. What methods and techniques the workers use
3. What machines, tools, and equipments the workers use
4. What materials, products , subject matter, or services the workers produce
APPLICATION OF JOB DESIGN INFORMATION
● Staffing
● Scheduling
● Job Description and Performance Appraisals
Staffing
● Establishing how many and what types of personnel are needed to meet the labor
requirements of the laboratory
● Ensures there is appropriate personnel to deliver a timely, high quality service that meets
the needs of the patients
Scheduling
● Matching the people now working in the laboratory with current workload requirements
● Determines where and when employees work and results in a schedule posted on a
periodic basis
● Schedules:
○ Traditional work schedule
○ Alternative work schedule
■ Compressed Work Cycle
■ Flexible Working Hours
■ Job Sharing
● Making a schedule
○ Select type of schedule
○ Establish staffing levels
○ Develop staff pool
○ Schedule terminology and keys
○ Time Frame
○ Skeleton Stage
○ Routine stage
○ Fill in gaps
○ Post schedule
Factors in considered in making a schedule
1. Availability of staff
2. Type of volume of work performed
3. Workplace itself
Job Descriptions and Performance Appraisals
● Formal written documents of job design
○ Forms used in conducting performance appraisal system
○ Job description
Performance Appraisals
● Formal communication system
○ Used by an organization to assess and provide feedback to employees about job
performance expectations