Job design follows job analysis i.e. it is the next step after job analysis. It aims at outlining and organising tasks, duties and responsibilities into a single unit of work for the achievement of certain objectives. It also outlines the methods and relationships that are essential for the success of a certain job. In simpler terms it refers to what, how much, how many and the order of the tasks for a job/s.

Job design essentially involves integrating job responsibilities or content and certain qualifications that are required to perform the same. It outlines the job responsibilities very clearly and also helps in attracting the right candidates to the right job. Further it also makes the job look interesting and specialised.

There are various steps involved in job design that follow a logical sequence, those that were mentioned earlier on. The sequence is as follows:

1. What tasks are required to e done or what tasks is part of the job?
2. How are the tasks performed?
3. What amount are tasks are required to be done?
4. What is the sequence of performing these tasks?

All these questions are aimed at arriving upon a clear definition of a specific job and thereby make it less risky for the one performing the same. A well-defined job encourages feeling of achievement among the employees and a sense of high self-esteem.

The whole process of job design is aimed to address various problems within the organisational setup, those that pertain to ones description of a job and the associated relationships. More specifically the following areas are fine tuned:

• Checking the work overload.
• Checking upon the work under load.
• Ensuring tasks are not repetitive in nature.
• Ensuring that employees don not remain isolated.
• Defining working hours clearly.
• Defining the work processes clearly.

The above mentioned are factors that if not taken care of result into building stress within the employees.

Benefits of job design:

1. Employee Input: A good job design enables a good job feedback. Employees have the option to vary tasks as per their personal and social needs, habits and circumstances in the workplace.
2. Employee Training: Training is an integral part of job design. Contrary to the philosophy of “leave them alone’ job design lays due emphasis on training people so that are well aware of what their job demands and how it is to be done.
3. Work/Rest Schedules: Job design offers good work and rest schedule by clearly defining the number of hours an individual has to spend in his/her job.
4. Adjustments: A good job designs allows for adjustments for physically demanding jobs by minimizing the energy spent doing the job and by aligning the manpower requirements for the same.

Job design is a continuous and ever evolving process that is aimed at helping employees make adjustments with the changes in the workplace. The end goal is reducing dissatisfaction, enhancing motivation and employee engagement at the workplace.

Job design is the next step after job analysis that aims at outlining, and organizing tasks and responsibilities associated with a certain job. It integrates job responsibilities and qualifications or skills that are required to perform the same. There are various methods or approaches to do this. The important ones are discussed below

Human approach

The human approach of job design laid emphasis on designing a job around the people or employees and not around the organizational processes. In other words it recognizes the need of designing jobs that are rewarding (financially and otherwise) and interesting at the same time.

According to this approach jobs should gratify an individual’s need for recognition, respect, growth and responsibility. Job enrichment as popularized by Herzberg’s research is one the ways in human approach of job design. Herzberg classified these factors into two categories – the hygiene factors and the motivators.

Motivators include factors like achievement, work nature, responsibility, learning and growth etc. that can motivate an individual to perform better at the workplace.

Hygiene factor on the other hand include things like working conditions, organizational policies, salary etc that may not motivate directly but the absence of which can lead to dissatisfaction at the workplace.

Engineering approach

The engineering approach was devised by FW Taylors et al. They introduced the idea of the task that gained prominence in due course of time. According to this approach the work or task of each employee is planned by the management a day in advance. The instructions for the same are sent to each employee describing the tasks to e undertaken in detail. The details include things like what, how and when of the task along with the time deadlines.

The approach is based on the application of scientific principles to job design. Work, according to this approach should be scientifically analyzed and fragmented into logical tasks. Due emphasis is then laid on organizing the tasks so that a certain logical sequence is followed for efficient execution of the same. The approach also lays due emphasis on compensating employees appropriately and training them continuously for work efficiency.

The Job Characteristics Approach

The job characteristics approach was popularized by Hackman and Oldham. According to this approach there is a direct relationship between job satisfaction and rewards. They said that employees will be their productive best and committed when they are rewarded appropriately for their work. They laid down five core dimensions that can be used to describe any job – skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy and feedback.

• Skill Variety: The employees must be able to utilize all their skills and develop new skills while dealing with a job.
• Task Identity: The extent to which an identifiable task or piece or work is required to be done for completion of the job.
• Task Significance: How important is the job to the other people, what impact does it create on their lives?
• Autonomy: Does the job offer freedom and independence to the individual performing the same.
• Feedback: Is feedback necessary for improving performance.

These are different approaches but all of them point to more or less the same factors that need to be taken into consideration like interest, efficiency, productivity, motivation etc. All these are crucial to effective job design.