Operations Management: An Integrated Approach, 5th Edition

JOB DESIGN

Designing a Job

Job design specifies the work activities of an individual or a group in support of an organization's objectives. You design a job by answering questions such as: What is your description of the job? What is the purpose of the job? Where is the job done? Who does the job? What background, training, or skills does an employee need to do the job? For example, if one of your company's objectives is to establish itself as a leader in customer service, jobs must be designed to encourage and reward good customer service practices. In addition, performance measurements for each job must validate the behavior that supports the company's objective. Let's look at three additional factors in job design: technical feasibility, economic feasibility, and behavioral feasibility.

Job design

Specifies the contents of the job.

Technical Feasibility The technical feasibility of a job is the degree to which an individual or group of individuals is physically and mentally able to do the job. The more demanding the job, the smaller is the applicant pool for that job. Suppose your company requires the candidate for a job to be capable of lifting up to 250 pounds. Few people will qualify for the job. But if the company can reduce the lifting requirement to 50 pounds, many more people will qualify.

Technical feasibility

The job must be physically and mentally doable.

Good job ...