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Running head: JOB DESIGN 2

JOB DESIGN 2

Job Design

Aerial Carter

Columbia Southern University

Job Design

Job design is the process of assembling various elements to form a job. Putting in mind the organization and individual employee requirements. Health, safety and ergonomics ought to be taken into consideration, thus, job design is the way set tasks are organized. Poor job design can impact the worker’s efficiency, morale and safety.

Therefore, upon watching the video, the current job design impairs the employee efficiency, safety and lowers their morale. Job efficiency is the ability of the workers to do more work in less hours by embracing the use of machines. But, in the video, employee efficiency is very low. The two workers in the video are performing the task by using their hands. A task which they could have done in few seconds while using a machine, ended up taking a whole one minute. In this scenario, the workers are young, meaning they ought to have done the work with energy. Secondly, the site is poorly arranged, everything ought to be in its proper place. I can see the blocks being enclosed between the tractor and the timbers, thus consuming a lot time for the workers to arrange them.

Secondly, in the video the working environment is not safe for the employees. One worker is seen standing on a raised surface, while picking blocks, which are much at a lower surface. They should had removed the barrier, so that it would be comfortable while picking the block. “However, from the look of things, they are straining their muscles (Mbadou &Mbohwa, 2013).” This is posing a risk to their backs and for pronged working conditions like that, they are likely to develop backache problems. Additionally, they are prone to physical injuries due to the narrow range of motion, which leads to physical injury. Some body parts, in this case the hands, wrists and arms are being overused, resulting to pain and reduced physical capability. Thus, it’s not safe for them.

Concerning employee morale, some observable aspects ought to be taken into consideration. First, job monotony as observed in the video. The task was short, and we know that, the shorter the task, the more frequent workers will need to repeat. Thus, repeating the same task for 30 seconds, in five days, can barely be considered a fulfilling job. It will lower the morale of the workers. Therefore, the working environment ought to offer, good, safe and challenging tasks for efficient production. Using the hierarchy of controls, job design can be improved as follows:

Engineering control involves changing the physical arrangement of the workplace, so it can reduce the degree of risk factors and lessening the likelihood of injuries. Administrative controls pertain to workplace policies, practices and procedures that lessen the exposure of workers to risk conditions. Nonetheless, they are regarded less effective than engineering, because they do not eliminate the hazard. But, “they are recommended in cases where engineering controls are exorbitant (H. Landis “Lanny” Floyd, 2017)” Examples of administrative controls comprises of additional employees in lifting the task, rest breaks and house for keeping tools. The less effective is PPE, since the worker is still exposed to the risk factors. Examples are providing knee pads, anti-vibration gloves when using powered hand tools.

Controls for MSD Hazards

The recommendations above incorporate ergonomic guidelines of a well-designed job since, a good working environment offers a safe and comfortable working condition for the workers. In return, they will the economic return will improve the safety, reduce absenteeism, curb employee turnover, raise the morale of employees and improve public relations.

Reference Page

H. Landis “Lanny” Floyd, P. C. (2017). COVER Story: Systematic safety. CSU LIBRARY: PLANT ENGINEERING. Mbohwa, A. F. (2015). The Impact of Work Design and Stress on Employees Productivity at a Call Centre. South Africa: International Conference on Law, Entrepreneurship and Industrial Engineering. Retrieved from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/6843/2e5739a5cd0798e853b4bf220a9067e8dcb5.pdf