Fundamentals of Performance Improvement: A Guide to Improving People, Process, and Performance, 3rd Edition

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Job Analysis/Work Design Interventions

Sociologists define work as “the creation of material goods or services, which may be directly consumed by the worker or sold to someone else … includes not only paid labor but also self-employed labor and unpaid labor …. provides material and personal benefits.”¹ A performance improvement practitioner says that work is “one version of performance” or what the worker must do on the job.² No matter the type, function, or industry represented, all organizations perform three different types of work:

• Direct work fulfills the mission and goals of the organization.
• Management work guides personnel, material, and organizational resources and aligns the organization with the direct work that needs to be accomplished ...